5th may 2023
Following Liebe and others Ali and his group arrive at a school. The school's sign board was broken and painted over with black color, and over it was the name inscribed in big words - HAVEN.
This was the base Kevin and Aarvi had made. Kevin looked over finding resources, gathering people and assigning them roles, while Aarvi looked for a suitable location, built the base and managed everything while he was not around.
They made a perfect pair - the man who went out to earn resources and the girl who stayed at home and did everything. It irked Emily a little, as she had seen Aarvi's behavior and habits all these years, and this was probably the first time she found Aarvi being subservient to anyone and making a compromise.
Ali, however, didn't think any of it. In his mind he attested everything to the changes brought by the apocalypse. After all, would he have fought people on the road in broad daylight and not worry about it? He changed after the apocalypse and so did Aarvi.
Instead of worrying about that or fretting over all those things, he turned his focus on the 'base' in front of him.
A school turned into a survival camp - nice thought.
Aarvi was the one who suggested this location as it had plenty of space. There were enough rooms and large halls for everyone to live, sleep and store things easily. The school had all the necessary facilities like kitchen, bathrooms and dorm buildings etc. It also had items they needed to survive on the campus alone - tables, chairs could be used to make weapons or blockade. Dorm building had all the beddings and living necessities.
There was a big garden in front of the school and empty grounds behind it, which could all be used to farm if the need arises in the future.
The school was also built closely with the residential area, which means it had grocery stores, pharmacies and shopping stalls nearby - making it easy to gather resources without looking all over long distance.
Most of all with an area this big, there was also a wall surrounding the entire building and campus line, so it added an extra layer of protection from the zombies. A part of the wall and building had collapsed in the wave, but they could be repaired over time, and if not then they could still be watched over. If the zombies come, everyone can deal with them. Hell, the school had so much space that even if a horde of zombies came and surrounded everything, with how many classes and hallways there were in the school, it wouldn't be hard for them to run away or hide easily, until help arrived.
Though not everything was cherry and rainbows about choosing this place. There are always some risks involved too. Like how this base being in a densely residential area, will have more zombies to face in the future. How it's open and large, so keeping an eye on everything is hard for a small group of people. The school might sustain against brainless zombies, but if there was a fight for resources against other humans, then their advantage could be used against them. One would need a large manpower to watch everything all the time, and if not, then forcing people in groups to work all day, could also create tension between the survivors.
But these were all things in the future, as for now everyone's only enemies were zombies, and this place was a perfect fortress against brainless hordes.
"She's always smart about everything." Ali whispered as he looked around and saw everything with his own eyes. He couldn't help but smile and feel proud for her.
As Liebe said he noticed some people were trying to clear out all the rubble and start the repairs on the collapsed part of the wall. He noticed a few students in their uniforms, they were probably living here before, and later Kevin convinced them to stay here and join his base.
Ali was looking around the school base, when he saw a girl with blonde hair and a pair of glasses standing on some stairs while talking with someone.
"Aarvi" He muttered, unable to believe that she was fine and in front of him. His heart started racing when he saw her, as his face brightened with pure happiness. He noticed she was still wearing her usual clothes - a white t-shirt under a blue denim jacket, with casual black pants. She didn't have her makeup on and her hair weren't shining in the light like they used to back then, but she still looked so perfect in his eyes.
Lost in his thoughts about her, he was walking with his eyes fixed on her figure. He didn't notice the person he collided with until he had already bumped into them. "Sorry," he apologized, his gaze still distant. It wasn't until he took a closer look at the man he had bumped into that his emotions underwent an abrupt transformation. The warm feeling on his cheeks seeing her in front of him was replaced by a coldness seeping deep into his bones. The love he had felt in his heart a moment ago was replaced by a sudden surge of anger.
He had given his wooden bat to the guards outside thinking he wouldn't need it inside the safety of their base. Plus since Aarvi was here, and was their vice-leader, he didn't doubt that she'd let anyone else do anything to him either. But he regretted that decision now.
After all, the man in front of him was the guy who pushed Shiva in front of that truck, the same man who killed his best friend in front of his eyes. Ali had vowed to kill him for shiva's revenge, and he was about to shoot him to death, when he was knocked out by some weird energy and then some energy wave forced the planet into apocalypse.
Ali didn't actively look for this guy, because except for his face he knew nothing about him. He thought this guy might've died in the apocalypse, or got teleported somewhere else. Ali didn't want to give up on his revenge, yet he also didn't want to chase a ghost when everyone else he loved and cared about were missing, and there was a chance he might not see them again. So he ignored his anger and search for this killer, as he put his focus on looking for Aarvi and Liv.
Yet he was here, as if by luck, this guy he wanted to kill the most was in front of him.
"Kill him," a relentless voice chanted within his mind. "Kill him before he slips away again."
Since he didn't have any weapon, Ali himself lunged forward and grabbed the collar of Kevin's shirt, pulling his face nearer. He clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He swung his fist with all his strength and pent up anger behind it, hoping to land it straight on Kevin's face breaking it in one perfect punch.
Yet what he was expecting didn't happen. Kevin, who was looking at Ali with an equally surprised expression, grabbed his fist with his hands, stopping this punch from hitting his face.
Kevin looked at Liebe and saw him respectfully nodding his head at him, a smile came to Kevin's lips seein Ali's frustrated angry look.
Kevin clearly remembered about Ali too. The man who shot him three times before the apocalypse came, the man who was just about to kill him in the name of some stupid revenge.
If that day, that wave of energy didn't arrive at just that time, this psycho would have shot him in the head, and he would've died.
That's why he never stopped looking for Ali. He wanted his revenge too. In a world like an apocalypse, leaving an enemy in the open was never a good choice, so he found Ali's photos and spread them among few of his minions, he ordered them to report every news to him, if they ever saw this man.
He thought it would take a while, or that Ali teleported away and he wouldn't have any chance of revenge in his life - but who knew he would find this guy so easily and do so early.
In this month's time, he had learned all about Ali. He had heard Ali's name from the crowd that day, who were broadcasting his death from the sides instead of helping him, so it wasn't hard for him to learn about it.
The fact that Ali liked Aarvi was known to basically everyone in the city, and after Kevin talked with a few girls who liked to gossip in this school, he learned everything about it too.
That's why he kept Aarvi around, and even made her the vice-leader of his camp - to tie her here. Cause he knew this licking dog would one day come to his door sniffing her scent.
And here he was.
'So you finally came, my soon to be the green headed dog.' Kevin thought as he started putting pressure on Ali's hand, while getting ready to give ali a reverse punch of his own.