After driving around for two hours, they had yet to leave the city so Kisha decided to find a silent place to rest and eat.
She drove around but found none, Duke then told her to drive straight to the East district where the influential and powerful lived. That place was well protected.
Even if they have to deal with zombies, they will be able to handle the number and not be overwelmed. There was also a sturdy gate and walls protecting the whole district.
So Kisha obliged. "Do you also live there?" She asked.
Duke nodded and answered indifferently. "I own the whole district."
Kisha's lips twitch. "No wonder he seems confident." She thought.
Keith looked at Duke as if he were looking at a new continent, only then did he realize that the rich have different levels of richness that poor people like them would never fathom.
As they pulled over at the front gate of the Lakeside villa, Hawk from the convoy jogged straight onto the gate and did some climbing and jumping like he was doing an intense rock climbing. If it was just a normal human, they would not be able to do what he just did.
In just a few minutes, he opened the gate from the guard house, when Kisha and Eagle drove past the gate, Hawk closed it again and went inside the second car.
Duke told Kisha to go to the central part of the district where his villa is located. She drove around the silent road, noticing the fluttering curtains in some of the villa's windows, she guessed that the survivors of the district were probably hiding in their houses, they might have been waiting to be rescued.
She sneered in her heart. "As if there will be someone to rescue you. Even the government has already disbanded."
She remembered on her third rebirth, she was also like them. She always believed in the government and so, they did their best to persevere.
Zombies would crowd their hallway and they couldn't even fall asleep from the occasional banging of the door and loud growls.
When she closed her eyes, her mind would always subconciously think that their door would be crowded with zombies and eat them. She would see some survivors from time to time but they can't go past the residential area because zombies are everywhere.
But she still believed that the government was taking a little time to reorganize and help other places. Until they died from starvation, they did not hate them and believed that they must be lacking manpower to do the rescue in other places.
Not until she reached her 20th rebirth that she found out from a soldier that the higher-ups in the government used the soldiers as their own guards, securing their own families and wealth to a safe base and reorganized their position and lord over the people who came to them for refuge.
In the guise of protection, they would send the civilians to find supplies, sometimes they didn't even send soldiers and just let the civilians fend for themselves and they would very rarely send some soldiers to go with them while the majority of the forces was guarding the base.
And they even invoke heavy taxes in the base. Everything has tax. Going in the base would require an entry fee, and renting a place costs supplies but it also has additional tax and more.
The higher echelon didn't need to go outside to kill zombies or find supplies. They are well fed and protected inside, even the management was on someone else's shoulders.
"Are you okay?" Duke asked gently.
She nodded and directly parked the car in front of the villa.
They stepped down one by one. Before going inside, she went to the other car and checked on the two, they hadn't transitioned yet and were having a high fever.
"How is it?" Hawk nervously asked.
"We'll see tomorrow. Lead them in to rest."
Eagle and Hawk led Kisha's family inside the villa, Kisha was about to follow but she noticed Duke fiddling with his phone with knitted brows.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I can't contact Tristan and the others." He said a little frustrated.
The phone signal is still fine, even internet connections are still working, and electricity and water are still working too. It wasn't even 24 hours since the apocalypse started that's why Duke was worried that something unexpected happened to his subordinates.
"Give them time, they might be busy reorganizing the work distribution." She tapped him on the arm as she coaxed him.
He knew that thinking would not help in this situation, so he cleared his mind deeply inhaled some air, and exhaled. He looked straight into her eyes, some hidden emotions surging through it but he hid it as soon as he felt it.
"Duke!"
A woman's surprise voice resounded behind them. "I knew you'd be safe!" Her gentle voice sounded sweet and refreshing.
Duke and Kisha slowly turned around, Kisha saw a very elegant and noble woman of her age standing a few steps away from them. She looked behind the woman and saw a few people of different ages standing on the front poarch of the villa opposite.
Duke did not answer and only looked on indifferently. A cold aura started emitting from his body.
But the woman seemed unaffected and walked straight to greet Kisha. "Hi! I'm Melody. Melody Evans, Duke's fiancee!" She extended her hands with a sweet harmless smile.
Kisha gave Duke a side glance and answered with a voice as cold as Duke. "Kisha Aldens." But she did not extend her hands. Her expression is almost identical to Duke's.
They looked like two peas in a pod.
Melody smiled unaffectedly at them, she got closer to Duke and reached out to hold onto his arm but he looked sharply at her as a warning.
But she wanted to show her sovereignty over Duke so Kisha would back off. Her woman intuition tells her not to let Kisha get close to her man.
"I never agreed to any engagement. Miss Evans, please show some self-respect and don't touch just any man." Duke reiterated without minding if she lost some face.