Zephyr eyed the massive boar carcass. He couldn't just leave it.
The meat would keep for a month, even in this heat. And Etherscope said it could be used for gene evolution fluid…or just eaten. Even without the lab, he could grill some steaks.
A little boost to his strength would certainly help with hauling hundreds of kilos of steel.
He'd grown up frugal. Wasting this much meat…it pained him.
Even without the extra storage, he had to take it.
This boar was a goldmine. Money was worthless now. Food was the new currency.
And this wasn't just food. It made you stronger. Compared to those zombies, regular people were helpless. This meat…it was life insurance. And it kept. Better than canned goods.
Waste not, want not. He'd find a way.
But the van…where would he put ten tons of boar?
His eyes landed on a small box truck nearby. Beat-up, probably on its last legs anyway. Trucks didn't last long on these back roads.
He tried the handle. Locked.
He headed toward the wrecked restaurant. The driver was probably inside, eating, when everything went to hell.
The key would be on the body…but the place was a charnel house, blood and gore everywhere. Finding a key in that mess…
He grabbed a wrench from a nearby garage and smashed the truck's windshield.
He climbed through the jagged opening, careful of the remaining shards.
He hopped into the driver's seat, released the parking brake, and rummaged around. Bingo. A thirty-foot tow rope. Figured. Old trucks always had one.
He hitched the truck to the van.
The back doors of the truck weren't locked, just latched. And it was empty. Even better.
"Time to get to work." Ten tons of boar. This was going to be a project.
He couldn't move the whole thing. He'd have to butcher it on site.
He tucked the dagger in his belt, went back to the garage, and grabbed a fire axe and a hacksaw.
He'd kept himself in shape in college. He swung the axe, aiming for the boar's neck. Ten tons. He'd take what he could carry.
Surprisingly, the meat was easier to chop now. Tenderized, somehow. Even the dagger sliced through it like butter. Not much tougher than regular pork.
"Zephyr! Zephyr!" Serena's panicked voice came from the van.
She'd woken up to…this. Ruined buildings, shattered glass, Zephyr gone.
"Over here!" he yelled.
Relief washed over her voice. He was alive. What about the boar? Had it run off?
She stumbled out of the van. And froze.
Zephyr, axe in hand, hacking away at the motionless boar. Dead.
The monster that had torn through those buildings like paper…dead?
She knew he hadn't done that with an axe. The van? She looked at the battered vehicle. This thing was something else.
"Zephyr, what are you doing?"
"Getting meat. It's edible." He didn't explain about the mutation. She didn't press him.
"I'll help." Butchering something this size…
She had a nasty gash on her forehead, still bleeding. He hesitated, but they needed to move fast.
He bandaged her head. They started cutting, huge slabs of dark red, lean meat, each weighing twenty, thirty pounds. Prime stuff.
They loaded the truck, meat and bone, piece by piece.
Exhausted, but thankfully uninterrupted. Zombies would have complicated things.
Back in the van, sprawled on the couch, Zephyr caught his breath. Exhausted, but exhilarated. This new world was brutal, but with the van…he had a fighting chance.