More planning

"Do you happen to know this person, old Martin?" Fablo questioned in surprise at the old man's reaction, he did not expect such a coincidental outcome.

The skinny old man whose name turned out to be Martin nodded in response as a nostalgic expression etched on his aged face, he seemed to be reminiscing about the past.

Fablo and the others stare at him in silence, waiting for him to finish having his flashback so he can tell them how and what he knew about White Fang.

"Hey, don't give me that look! My relationship with him isn't that deep, alright? We just happened to live in the same neighborhood back then. That lad was a good man and always wanted to join the police but could not because he was looking after his daughter and sick wife. Unfortunately, his home got attacked one day when he was away and his wife and daughter were killed. Sigh, such a sad thing to happen to a good person!

White Fang was a nickname given to him by his daughter because he always wore a necklace with wolf teeth as a locket. The last time I heard of him was when he enlisted in the military, looks like he managed to survive. Not bad, not bad" old Martin said in a melancholic tone as he kept nodding his head. He looked like an old man who was talking about a kid he had watched grow; he was a lot older than White Fang anyway.

The entire place fell silent after old Martin's words, the atmosphere suddenly damped by sadness. White Fang's story was really a tragic one and it was a miracle that such a person did not become a villain after the world was plunged into chaos, he was still even willing to help save others.

Edward stared at the ground, a feeling of guilt slowly creeping up his heart. He felt bad for suspecting White Fang, he did not think he would be able to render help to another human if what happened to White Fang happened to him.

Would he still be able to think of saving whatever was left of humanity had someone murdered his little sister or mother? Edward could easily imagine himself going around hunting people down instead of zombies! He would have gone insane!

Unlike Edward, Fablo was much more experienced and was in deep thought. He still found it difficult to ignore the unusual feeling he got from the women in White Fang's shelter, he believed that there was more to things than what the old man had said. After all, even a saint could change if something tragic like that happened to him, no one was forever perfect. And who could guarantee that White Fang would remain kind-hearted after the world became lawless? Until then, they would continue being wary of White Fang's people and be cautious.

Fablo was not the only one with this thought, while some of the people in the group shared the same view with Edward and felt sorry for White Fang, a few shared similar thoughts with Fablo. Such were Lia, Priscal, and the few elderly in the group. After all, some of them had lived longer than others and had seen the twisted nature of humans and how unpredictable and unassuming they could be.

"Either way, we will keep observing until we are clear on things," Fablo said and the others nodded in agreement after which Fablo went on to speak about the agreement he had with White Fang regarding them merging their shelters and building a protective barrier around the whole area.

"Hmm, that's a good idea. When do we leave?" Old Martin said, instantly agreeing with the idea.

"It's still not safe outside yet, there's no reason to rush and end up dying outside" Lia stared at him and said expressionlessly.

Old Martin stared at her, speechless.

" Mm, she's right. We haven't cleared the area completely yet so it's not safe enough for you all to come out yet" Fablo supported Lia on the matter and the others also agreed with them. It would be difficult to protect these few elderly if a fight broke out with the zombies.

They talked for a while and decided to move over after they had cleared up the place and made sure it was zombie-free, Martin and the others would stay here until then.

After spending some time talking about this, Fablo and the others returned to meet White Fang and his people that same day. He informed White Fang about their decision to wait until they had cleared up the place before bringing the people of their shelter over.

White Fang naturally had no problem with their decision as it concerned them so he accepted whatever decision they made.

"But did you say an old man named Martin is in your shelter, and he knows me?" White Fang asked, a look of pleasant surprise on his face.

"Mm, he talked a bit about you. Sorry about your family" Fablo said softly, his eyes fixed on White Fang's face to read his reaction.

White Fang went silent for a few seconds before putting a small smile on his face.

"It's a good thing that old Martin managed to survive, it will be great to meet a familiar face after all this time. Also, I'm trying to put my painful past behind me so I'll appreciate it if it isn't brought up" White Fang said.

Fablo only stared at him wordlessly before nodding.

"Then, shall we go down to business?" White Fang said and they went straight to making their plans for clearing the remaining parts of the estate.

"These are the remaining places that have not been cleared in the estate," White Fang said as he brought out a map of the place and circled his finger around a part of it. Fablo stared at him in surprise, wondering where they got a map from.

"There are a total of thirteen buildings left and an underground parking lot, the area where you guys wanted to clear was a part of the core area with most zombies but luckily the front of it. Had it been that you guys entered deeper or went to the underground parking lot, you all would have been left with not even a finger to remember you" White Fang said, emphasizing how dangerous the place was.