Magna Terra

"Introduce yourselves."

A charismatic voice instructed a girl and a man.

"Yes! I'm Mark Lee. Everyone calls me Big Mark! I'm from P-Island and I was a gym instructor!"

Big Mark gave his introduction confidently.

"Whoa! Your muscles are huge, dude!"

Feera initiated the first contact.

"Young man, P-Island is quite a distance from here. What brings you to K-City?"

Mr. Zayf was curious.

Big Mark told them his story.

"After getting fired from my last job, I decided to find a new job here in K-City! The fitness centers here are a whole different level."

The day he arrived in K-City, was the day the apocalypse happened.

"I didn't know anyone here, but I'm willing to work hard to survive!"

As a northerner, he is earnest but short-tempered.

"Next."

Erza pointed his thumb to person on Big Mark's left.

It was a short teenage girl.

"U-um, hello. I-I'm Kara…Kara Heinz. I'm a student here in K-City."

With six pairs of eyes looking at her, she was nervous.

"Kara…right? How old are you, dear?"

Mrs. Numee was curious.

"Six-sixteen, ma'am."

'Wait a minute!'

When Kara mentioned her age, Erza's eyes flashed with surprise.

'Kara Heinz? Sixteen?! Could it be-'

In the future, humanity would be led by several legendary figures.

These legendary figures came from various powers in different regions.

There was a queen who reigned supreme in the South East Ashiya sub-region where Naresia was located.

"Kara, do you have a birthmark on your left elbow?"

Erza cautiously asked.

'If it's true..'

"Hmm? Yes. How did you know?"

It's her!

Erza had heard rumors about the Queen of South East Ashiya.

Her alias was derived from a brown spot right below her left elbow that looks like the letter M.

'Magna Terra, Earth Princess!'

Comparing to her younger, timid self with the future poise and regal ruler she would become, the contrast is shocking.

"I saw a glance of it yesterday."

Erza brushed off her question with a simple answer.

"How did you end up here, girl? Where are your parents?"

Mrs. Numee asked with concern.

Kara told them that she was hanging out with her friends.

"I, I tried calling my parents, b-but.."

She started sniffling.

Doing her best to control her tears, her voice trembled.

"I couldn't reached them at all!"

Hearing Kara's heartfelt answer, they couldn't help to have their heartstring tugged.

A warm sensation enveloped Kara's body.

"Hush now, dear. We'll help you find your parents."

Mrs. Numee couldn't help but to soothe her sadness.

Her maternal instincts reacted to the plea of a lost child.

'I'll go crazy if I ever lost my child.'

If Kara was just another unknown survivor, he would refrain his mother from doing that.

'After all, we just met yesterday.'

Testing their sincerity and building trust is a long process.

'But the Earth Princess was a powerful yet beloved Awakened.'

She had a reputation as a helpful and determined person.

"Big Mark, Kara, you can call me Zeta."

Erza couldn't fully trust them yet, so he gave them his aliases.

"I'm Zephyr, the most good looking one!"

Feera and the others were also given code names.

That would mask their true identity.

"I'm Za- I mean, Zeus. This is Zarwi."

Mr. Zayf introduced himself and Mrs. Numee.

"Zoltan."

With a casual wave, Bucky introduced his.

Erza advised his family to always conceal their identity.

"Team, our mission today is a rescue mission. The location we're heading is O-Town. According to the satellite navigation, the best road to take would be through the East Highway."

The traffic condition was updated real-time with Bucky's abilities.

"Me and Zoltan will be the vanguard. Zarwi, Zeus and Zephyr would be in the middle. Big Mark and Kara, you're at the rear."

There were three vehicles and fifteen seats.

Erza and Bucky will drive the Marcedes, leading the way.

Feera and his parents will take the Rolls Reece and act as support.

Big Mark and Kara will take the Ferd F-160 as rear guard.

They have a total of fifteen seating capacity.

Sixth Uncle's family has four people, including First Aunt who was with them that night.

With additional two person, the plan was slightly adjusted.

"Remember, follow my instructions and stay alert!"

Erza gave a walkie talkie to both Feera and Big Mark as they are the designated drivers.

"One minute final check and we move out!"

…

Vroom!

"Bucky, is the hotel all clear?"

Bucky nodded to Erza's query.

The other three survivors left on their own.

"Good! Let's go!"

Hong!

Slowly, a metal gate opened.

Bucky used his Talent to electronically control everything in the hotel.

Erza was thankful that he picked this expensive but electronically-integrated building.

Three cars dashed out from the hotel's parking.

Splattered dead bodies littered the compund, as a result of them dumping the dead Infected out from the hotel.

There were no living Infected around.

'They must've gone to other parts of the city.'

The noises and chaos from shelters and bases would attract Infected.

As the military uses firearms, they would slowly draw them out and leave places with no humans deserted.

In the Marcedes, Erza is looking at the car's display screen.

It was separated to four quadrants.

Each one of them shows a different angles from the air.

The angles are from the drones Bucky controlled.

Bucky's control has been polished to the point that he could control four drones at the same time while driving!

Once the drones detected any moving objects from the sky, they would alert Bucky.

That way, they could prepare pre-emptive countermeasure.

Swoosh!

As the three cars passed through the streets, the smell of rot and death was everywhere.

The silver and grey majestic skyscrapers are now tombs to humanity's peace.

"Big bro, three kilometers on the left exit, 526 Infected."

Bucky reported to Erza.

The accurate numbers were due to the Infected-recognition software he made two days ago.

Erza nodded and took out a simple-looking Nakia phone.

"Recall rear drone."

Bucky followed Erza's instruction and controlled the drone flying at the back.

Zeeee!

A white drone came from behind the SUV and flew beside Erza's window.

Erza took the drone back inside the car.

He then attached the Nakia phone to a mechanically modified case on its bottom.

"Commence 'Scream' tactic."

Bucky nodded.

Erza released back the drone and it flew to the front of the convoy.

Erza gave command over the walkie talkie.

Feera and Big Mark responded.

…

Rooaar!!

Hundreds of Infected chase a shadow in the blue sky.

The ran furiously and even toppled over their fellow Infected.

The human-like scream from the Nakia phone attached to the drone effectively drew them over.

Vrooom!

All three vehicles start picking up speed.

"That's far enough. Bucky, drop it!"

Bucky activated the modified case on the drone and released the Nakia phone to the ground.

The reason why Erza chose this phone to distract the Infected and discard it was because of its tough exterior.

It's known to survive falls a few hundred meters from the air.

'I hope those YauTube reviews about the Nakia phone's quality is true.'

Before the apocalypse, Erza bought boxes upon boxes of phones.

Mobile phones were the best devices that he could control from a distance and produce sounds.

The ghoulish shriek of the Infected strayed far away from the highway as time passed.

Zoom!

The convoy successfully passed the Infected Horde.

A Horde that forms in the middle of a highway would usually cause by a car crash.

'People were rushing to get out from the city.'

The road that Erza's team is using was meant to enter the city.

But as law and order collapsed, road rules did not matter anymore.

'That must be the cause.'

A kilometer north from where the Horde was discovered, several cars were mashed together.

During the panic, an accident involving multiple cars created a bottleneck on the road.

The cars behind couldn't move forward or backwards.

'The only choice they had was to escape by foot.'

Traces of blood and mayhem were apparent on the hundreds upon hundreds of abandoned cars.

An Infected must've been onboard a car during the panic, and later spread the infection.

…

'Five more kilometers to destination.'

In his heart, Erza prayed that his Sixth Uncle is safe.

Upon exiting the highway, the road leading to O-Town was devoid of cars.

Ever since the highway was built, most of the traffic in O-Town was diverted to it.

Hence, the lack of resistance along the way.

The black tarmac led them to an uphill path.

A blue signboard appeared and it shows 'O-Town: 1 km'.

Erza and his family rejoiced to see a familiar signboard.

During the festive seasons, they would visit Sixth Uncle's family as a tradition.

Erza looked at the car's Navigation screen.

'Nothing at all?'

O-Town was a little suburban town.

Shops usually close before 8 pm, and the residents would eat and spend time with their family at home.

The convoy entered the town.

Erza saw moving shadows from the display screen.

"How many, Bucks?"

"48 Infected. No humans."

The battle to rescue Sixth Uncle starts!

…

Before charging in to Sixth Uncle's house, they scouted his house first.

"Can you see them?"

Erza asked Bucky.

A drone flew over to Sixth Uncle's house.

"The second floor is barricaded. I can't see anything through the windows. There's no opening in the roofs either."

Bucky said with a frown.

From an aerial point of view, they could only see that much.

They couldn't lower down the drone anymore because of its noisy rotors.

"Should we call them out through the drone?"

Bucky suggested.

Erza shook his head.

'Divide and conquer.'

When dealing with the Infected outdoors, they need to be scattered into individuals or a small group.

Otherwise, if they start gathering in one location, it will make the extermination much harder.

They were parked a kilometer away, behind a desolate alley between two shop lots.

Everyone came out of their car and assembled in front of Erza.

"Get ready. We're going to sweep the whole neighborhood."