Morning came and with it, a lot of issues.
The secret Service sent another agent to try and negotiate with me, only for him to end up with the same answer as before.
"Sign the contract, or piss off."
The distraught agent tried to pull his weight around but failed to understand the severity of the situation. Not only was the pressure from the people rising, but the pressure on the failing government was also threatening to crush it completely within the week.
He had to leave with his tail behind his back, unable to reach a possible or realistic answer from his point of view.
The second thing was, three people had arrived to the gate of the Safe Zone, among them was the guy from yesterday.
I know this man, I've known him for a while back then.
Harry Simons. He was an ex-marines. With a dishonorable discharge. His past wasn't fun. He has killed someone while in uniform. It was an accident from what he told me.
It happened on the day of his leave, he only wanted to get back home, he went for a drink before he could even get home. After leaving the bar, he was assaulted by some drunkard who had a deep hatred for the military. If I remember correctly, the drunk man was the father of two kids who died in service. And tried to assault sergeant Simons.
The man defended himself, however, due to him being drunk, he used excessive force.
The rest of the story is easy to guess.
It would have been considered self-defense in any other scenario, but the fact that he was still wearing a uniform, and committed manslaughter, was considered dishonorable to the uniform. He was discharged and sent to prison.
He got released a few months ago, and his personality was a bit hard to deal with.
The two others, I didn't know who they were, one of them was a woman in her mid-twenties, and another was an old man with a very grouchy look on his face.
'Perfect, this is damn good,' I smiled as I saw Harry.
The moment my eyes met the man, he spoke to me, "I completed the quota, I should be admitted, right?" he asked.
"Of course, you're more than welcome, you'll have a room with all your basic needs. With two meals a day," I said.
The man frowned at me and said, "I feel that there is a catch," he said.
"Of course, there is," I smiled back at him.
He frowned at first and said, "Let me guess, I'll act as a mercenary? Perhaps sent to scavenge on the regular," he said.
I shook my head, "No, someone like you, shouldn't be delegated to something so menial," I said.
"Someone like me? You're speaking as if you know me," he said.
"Of course I do, Sargent Harry Simons."
The man had an ugly expression on his face.
"Don't call me that," he said. And turned as if to leave, he probably didn't want to be 'used'.
"Listen," I said calmly, "I don't want you to spend your life outside, risking it, fighting those things. It'll only get worse, you alone you must have realized it, you'll not be able to survive. In face of all that stress and anger, you'll slip up. And you'll die," I said.
He didn't pay me any attention and continued walking away.
"I can help you find her. I know where she is," I said.
He stopped there and then.
He didn't even turn and stood still like a statue.
"Help me out, and I'll make sure to bring her here within the week," I said.
He turned to face me and said, "How do you know?" he asked.
"I just do, now will you help me? Or are you going to keep looking, alone," I said.
He didn't move, "I can't trust you," he said.
And then decided to leave.
Fuck…
"Wait," I said. "Wait god damn it!" I said. And followed after him.
'Damn stubborn bastard.'
"Guard, give me that," I said as I asked for one of the guard's weapons.
He frowned but didn't dare refuse my request.
"And give me all your ammo, you can get more from the storage," I said.
I was cursing as I chased after Harry.
"Hold the fuck up," I said as I stopped him from going too far away.
"What do you want kid," he said. He was pissed.
'kid, this young guy calling me kid… somehow it irked me. I was damn older than him, but let's not be too pissed about that,'
"Here," I said as I handed him the submachine gun.
"This is useless it doesn't work on those guys," he said.
"It will work, this one is special," I handed him a bag full of ammo.
"There is some ammo here, and take this," I said as I handed him a green vial.
"Drink that, it'll boost up your stats and body," I sighed.
I couldn't force him to get into the safe zone, but I can't have him die on me yet, I think I messed up trying to handle the situation using my future information, but I can't risk him dying on me.
I then wrote something on a piece of paper for him.
"Santa Monica?" he frowned, I've been there, there is nothing there."
"Because you're looking for the wrong name, Lydia West," I said.
He didn't answer me back, but he seemed to understand.
He turned and said, "Thanks, I'll see to it," he said.
He then left back to the chaos of the city.
I sighed as I went back. That man's story was very sad. The moment that event happened to him, his wife, or ex-wife in this case abandoned him and their daughter. She even changed their daughter's name so he can't find her and admitted her to an orphanage, the daughter was still only three years old. She has never seen her father before since he was in prison.
He found her back in my first life, but it was too late then, he tracked his ex-wife who told him about the name change, and once he went to Santa Monica, it was already too late as it was plagued with the Undead.
Now, he still had time, he still had a chance.
I wanted to make use of his discipline to train the squatters I have, but I'll have to suffice with helping him.
Though he is stubborn as hell, he had a great character.
I turned back to the Safe Zone.
There were no people around it, the undead was making sure of it. Any normal person prowling the streets is one of two things, either crazy or a scavenger. One day is all it took to flip the city upside down.
The concentration of the undead wasn't too big to cause everyone to perish outright, but it was still dense enough to force people into their homes. Using vehicles is a death sentence since any normal car would outright be swarmed with the undead. So they couldn't leave the city, and trying to do so on foot is nothing short of suicide. They stuck to their homes and scavenged for food and supplies.
This will be the first Phase, the adaption phase for the follow-up.
I returned to the Safe Zone and headed up towards John Dilbert.
He was using his Radio Communication network to relay orders and commands to his subordinates. He mentioned that a few of them left their positions, but the great majority decided to stick with him since he protected their families in the safe zone.
Loyalty was a fickle thing in this world. However, being on the side of John Dilbert meant survival.
Once I was in his office he said, "I was waiting for you," he said.
"Right, so your idea of a Hunter's Association, I started the paperwork and already decided on a place where to set up the main building. But aren't we rushing things?" he asked.
"Not really, once the first phase is over, skills and power will be supplied to the people. Without something like the Association to control them, they'll wreak havoc," I said.
"We're moving at a very fast pace, this will bring a lot of unwanted attention from world governments," he said.
He was right, we're acting like we know what's going on, which isn't really a good thing so early.
"Don't worry about it," I said.
"That's a very annoying sentence, you always say that when I should be worried about it," he said.
"The world governments are too preoccupied with shit, the moment they figure out how to deal with the monsters and how to rebuild themselves if they could, it'll be far too late to come and investigate or suppress us. I'll make sure we're strong enough to stand on our own when the time comes. I'll need to get the kids in shape though," I said.
"The students?" he asked.
"Oh, no, those are nothing but mouths to feed unless they prove their Value. I'll be recruiting some guys who will be very helpful for us," I said.
"Like the person, you gave a weapon to?" he asked.
He already knew.
"Yes, something like that, I'll need to leave the Safe Zone for a bit, but I have a small task for you," I said.
"It's been a very long time since someone ordered me to do something for them," John smiled.
He was right, as one of the richest and most influential people of the world, no one dared 'order' him around.
"But please, go ahead. What can I do for you?" he asked.
"Right, so it's going to be like this," I began explaining.