"BAHAHAHA!"
Patrick held his stomach as he pointed at Everette, who was shielding his reddened face from everyone.
"Who got you looking like a tomato!? I bet it was Ada—!"
"SHUT YA MOUTH YOU DAMN FOSSIL!"
Everette then threw him to the ground and began to wrestle with him. Ada stumbled out of the bus and saw the two of them rolling around. She walked up to the rest with an amused look.
"You guys mind forming me in on what happened?"
She pointed towards the two troublemakers. Jack turned to her with a wry smile, "Patrick was making fun of Everette's redness before that."
Afterwards, they saw Alice pulling them apart before Everette for causing trouble and Patrick for teasing him. It was almost like a mom diffusing an argument between two siblings.
***
They wandered down the street and discovered a 10-metre wooden wall that seemed to break through the concrete and asphalt, almost like they grew out of it suddenly.
It spanned for several metres before connecting to the buildings next to the sidewalk. The face of the wall that they were looking at was decorated with wooden spikes that were dyed red at the tips.
Numeral dents could be seen splayed over the wall, but even with such damage, they somehow were able to identify that the wall was created just recently.
On the top of this wall were guards who seemed to have noticed the arrival of the group.
"How did you guys create such a big wall? Especially one that seems this durable?"
Everette walked up to one of the three people that led them here. They exchanged glances before the guy with the dreadlocks answered:
"This wall and several others were created by one of the Dukes of our faction."
Ada's ears twitched at this, and she asked about the term "Dukes" he used. "Dukes? Could you expand more on that?" He looked a bit hesitant before shaking his head.
"Sorry, but I don't think I should. Maybe after you join us, then I will, but not right now."
Ada nodded in understanding before staring at the closed entrance of the wall. Lynda walked forward before calling out to one of the guards on top of the wall.
"Hey! We're back with some people representing as envoys!"
Looking down at them, the guard nodded before turning his head back around and informing those manning the gates to the wall to open it.
The doors to the gate began to turn outwards before revealing the entrance. Two slightly muscular men were shown straining themselves to push open the door.
A gap large enough for the group to fit through appeared in the door. Lynda and her group walked up to the men before greeting them.
"What's up, you guys? How's the role of being "Gate Openers" going?"
The two men scratched the back of their heads simultaneously with an embarrassed expression. "It's going good. Are these all you guys brought back?"
One of them teased, seeing that Lynda and her group brought back only six. Lynda laughed at this, "Hah! As if! These guys are just acting as envoys. Just you guys wait; I'm going to win that little competition!"
The men laughed at this before gesturing all of them to enter. After they all got in, they watched the two men push the doors closed from the outside.
Everette stared at this with a curious glint, "How do they get back in?" Lynda heard this and answered it in a casual tone:
"The people guarding the walls would throw down a rope for them to climb up with. At first, we wanted to create some kind of pully for us to close and open the door, but we decided against it."
"Oh? How come?" Jack inserted himself into the conversation.
"Hm? Well, it's not that we entirely abandoned the idea. It's just..."
They began to close in the centre of the outpost and noticed several happy faces scattered on the resident's faces and a few children playing around.
Alice watched the countless faces devoid of any kind of worry and commented with an impressed tone, "Everyone here is so happy..."
Lynda switched her attention to Alice's before quickly making a response, "It makes sense. What's the point of being sad when you're still alive, right? Compared to their last living conditions, this place is almost like heaven!"
Patrick's ears twitched at her first sentence, 'What's the point of being sad when you're still alive...' That rang out in his mind before opening his mouth to ask about the last part of her response.
"Where were you guys before?"
"We were—"
Before she could end her sentence, Alice couldn't help but gasp as she saw the scene before her. Numerous bodies littered the street.
All of them were either injured or missing some kind of limb. People who weren't tended to them to the best of their abilities and the equipment they currently have.
"All the other buildings in this area were filled up, so we had to resort to creating a rest of recovery area outside."
Ada tilted her head at this, "Why not? I'm sure there are more buildings for you to allocate them in."
She shook her head before answering, "In our leader's words, 'Despite our large numbers, we do not have the manpower needed to be able to nurse the countless wounded we have in different areas and buildings.'"
Lynda turned back to Jack before making a sullen smile, "The reason why we didn't construct a pulley is because we all are still going over a sort of mourning and recovery period?"
She then sighed, "Contradictory to my last point, I know, but... We did go through a sort of war..." Her eyes then began to blur, and her mind replayed the scene of a gruesome battle between both beasts and humans.
"War.. What do you mean by that—?" Everette asked before being interrupted by her sudden movements in a different direction.
"Anyway! Let me bring you guys to our guest building!"