POV: Ninette, Meram & Elly [DAY 56] (1/?)

[DAY 56]

The group of four consisting of Ninette, Meram, Elly and Blythe looked down at the battlefield that was taking place in the former metropolis.

Everywhere you could see the muzzle flashes of countless weapons, rocket launchers and machine guns illuminating the post apocalyptic city in their yellow light.

The smell of sulfur and gunpowder was everywhere in the air and if you opened your mouth to breathe, you could even taste the iron of the blood of the wounded and dead.

This isn't the first time the group has witnessed a major battle, therefore the smell of blood and gunpowder is nothing new to them, but nonetheless the sight of an entire city at war is still a sight not to be taken lightly.

"We don't really want to go down there, do we? I... I don't want to be on a battlefield against the Undead again!" Blythe said slightly panicked as she felt nauseous at the mere thought of entering a battlefield against the Undead again.

"We can also go back to the last town, or we can try our luck in the next town. The car still has some fuel, so we should be able to make it. Yes, it has to work!" Blythe said and afterwards turned around and walked towards the car.

But before Blythe reached the car, she was suddenly stopped by Meram.

"Don't talk nonsense. Since the Bombardment in Abeus, we've already eaten the few rations we had with us. If we don't get more food now, we'll lose more and more energy. From then on we won't be able to defend ourselves anymore and thinking will also slow down. Also, the fuel inside the car will be never enough to reach the next town. We have no choice but to search for supplies here." Meram explained as he stopped Blythe.

"Little Blythe, Meram is right. We can't make it to the next town. The car would only drive at most another 10 km or so. That's not nearly enough to make it there. Also, we don't necessarily have to take part in the battle inside the city. Just think about it Blythe. While the survivors are caught up in the chaos of the battlefield and at the same time the Undead are lured in by the gunfire and explosions, the supplies that still exist in the city are not protected. If we can figure out where some supplies are, it will be easy to loot everything we need and afterwards leave the city behind in an instant. That's the only way we can survive." explained Ninette as she grabbed Blythe's shoulder to calm her.

"Let her panic. I've already warned her that I won't hesitate to kill her if she gets in the way or hinders us. If you're not willing to do your part to help survive, then don't expect that others will do it for you. Either you help us get the supplies or you just disappear and die in some corner where you won't be a burden to anyone anymore!" Elly said suddenly as she gave Blythe a cold look.

"Elly! You can't talk to her like that, she is just a little girl! She's only 9 years old, it goes without saying that she's scared! She shouldn't be in a situation like that in the beginning! Even I am scared of going down there and I bet that you are too, so don't say something like that to her." defended Ninette as she looked at Elly.

"None of us should be in this situation, but we still are in the apocalypse. In order to survive, although one feels fear and one has doubts about whether a course of action is the right one, one must never lose heart in taking risks that might could guarantee survival. There is a big difference between feeling fear and letting fear manipulate your thoughts and actions." explained Elly.

"Our cards are on the table, we can't change our hands and we have to use what we have. The fact is, we don't have food, fuel, orientation, guns and ammunition. But we need all of these to survive. Our Opportunity to get everything is right in front of us. In the other city, one faction was in control of everything and oversaw every corner. However, here multiple factions seem to be in conflict with each other. This is the perfect chance with an acceptable risk to get everything we need, unnoticed." Elly explained as she took a closer look at the city with her binoculars.

"Sigh, well that's enough. I agree with Elly, Ninette. We have no choice but to explore the city. First, let's examine things a little more closely, maybe our position isn't as bad as we think? Maybe it will reveal itself an opportunity that would be perfect for us? We'll only find that out by exploring the city." Meram explained afterwards as he let go of Blythe and walked over to Elly.

"Little Blythe, don't be afraid. Big sister Ninette will make sure nothing happens to you, come on let's go to the others." said Ninette as she held Blythe's hand.

"ok" whispered Blythe with her head hanging down.

Afterwards, the four of them took a closer look at the city and the nearby streets through their binoculars.

"Look for buildings that might have supplies we're looking for. Best try to find nearby buildings so we can avoid the risk of a confrontation. A gas station or a small supermarket would be good. But better would be an abandoned police station or fire station, especially since we could solve the weapon problem by looting them." said Elly as she looked through her binoculars.

The group then began to search everything nearby that matched the description.

...

In their immediate vicinity there were a total of 10 places that fit Elly's requirements.

Two gas stations that were far away from each other. Three larger warehouses of an old factory. Four small apartment buildings and a small police station.

"The two gas stations are very far from each other, so we can only search one of them at most. The warehouses already look looted, but we might still find something there. Then there would be the four residential buildings, where a small Horde of Undead are also located. Furthermore, the houses look barricaded, but I can see a small greenhouse in one of the gardens which seems to be full of food. Finally, there is the small police station where there is a larger Horde of Undead wandering around. There is also a police vehicle on the streets that seems to be in good condition there. These are all places that we can search. All the others are too close to the town and battlefield there, the danger is correspondingly high that we will be discovered there." summed up Meram.

"One of the gas stations sounds good for fuel and maybe we can find some food there too? Also, it seems that there are the fewest Undead. I think that should be our best option." claimed Ninette.

"I think food should be the top priority. We won't go long without food and the greenhouses by the houses should give us the best chance of securing food for ourselves. The barricades look like they are still untoached, maybe there are survivors that inhabited them? The greenhouse should then probably have been taken care of by them. Therefore the chance of finding food there is high. Otherwise, I think that even though the warehouses look ransacked, they might still have supplies that could be useful to us." explained Meram.

Elly listened to both suggestions and arguments and then looked at Blythe and waited for what she had to say.

However, Blythe said nothing and only looked down at the ground.

"Well then, if that's all your suggestions, let me explain what my thoughts are." Elly said as she looked at the group.

"First, our priorities are not food, but guns and ammo. What good is supplies if you have nothing to defend against looters and thieves? Only with enough guns and ammo do we stand a chance of survival. Although Neo was a monster, one could still learn from his actions. He could afford to conquere and do everything he did because he had his own powers. With his powers he could destroy the giant undead with only one attack and thanks to his powers, he was able to get through the defenses of the camp easily. However, we don't have those powers at our disposal, therefore we need to rely on firearms and need them more than anything else." Elly explained as she looked at the group.

"But at the same time, we also need food and fuel, both of which are equally important. Therefore, I suggest splitting up our forces. Ninette and Blythe will go to the gas station further east. Search the entire area and try to find fuel and food above all. Meram will go alone to the abandoned warehouses and look for food and tools there. The houses with the greenhouse have a too high risk that there can always be survivors there. If that's the case, they won't be happy that we plunder their supplies, so the warehouses are a better place to loot." said Elly.

"Finally, I will go to the police station alone and look for weapons and ammunition there. If a group encounters any Undead, they try to quietly kill them or hide instead. If you encounter other survivors, then you should shoot first and ask any questions afterwards. But if you can, avoid a confrontation with them as well. Exactly after tree hours we will gather again here on the hill near the car. If someone doesn't get here exactly when the time is up, then assume the group didn't make it and don't hesitate to leave with the remaining supplies. Furthermore, be sure that no one discovers and follows you on your way back here. Are there still any questions?" asked Elly as she looked at her group members.

"Yes, what do we do with the guns. We only have two guns and less than two magazines, how do we divide them among the three groups?" Ninette asked as she looked at Elly.

"I suggest that Elly and you Ninette get a gun. The chances that I'll run into danger at the abandoned warehouses are small, plus I'm better with a knife anyway and I should be fine with that." said Meram suddenly.

Ninette only nodded and with that all questions were answered.

"Well, that's it. Everyone put a three hour timer on your watches and get ready to move out. Reconsider and think about the route you will take to your destination, therefore you can avoid making mistakes at crucial moments and take enough duffel bags from the car with you. Good luck." Elly said at the end and made her way down the hill, along with two duffle bags and a backpack.

"Good luck," said Blythe.

"Good luck Meram, take care." said Ninette.

"You too, Ninette and Blythe, take care of each other." said Meram.

Afterwards, everyone else also went to their respective destinations along with some duffel bags.

...

Elly, which went first, is currently sneaking around in some alleys and dodging one Undead encounter after the other.

Thanks to the loud gunfire from the city and the occasional explosion happening here and there, Elly decided to sneak a little louder than usuall to get to the police station faster.

As a result, she quickly managed to reach a hiding spot near the police station. She is currently only one street away from the police station, however she can't go any further for now, especially since there is a small Horde of Undead lurking on the street in front of the police station.

Elly can never take out that much Undead alone without drawing the attention of every undead and survivor nearby. That would be too great a risk, so she decided to take an alternative route.

The police station is a narrow but tall building, with another building to the left and right of it. Elly therefore plans to cross the street at a different point and then gain access to one of the buildings. After that she plans to access to the roof of the building, afterwards she make her way to the police station via the roofs of the different buildings, which are all not more than 2 to 3 meters apart.

The plan is a bit risky, especially since Elly doesn't know what the condition inside the buildings is. Survivors may have bunkered there or the building Elly chooses is infested with hundreds of Undead.

But in the end Elly has no real alternative plan and therefore decides for this one.

No sooner said than done, She first sneaks into an alley further away from the police station and kills two Undead there with two jabs of her spear.

Elly then crosses the street and takes cover in the one of the car wrecks along the street. She crosses the street from one car wreck to the next and finally makes it to a building painted dark green.

Afterwards she made her way to the front door of the dark green building. Elly learned how to pick open cars and front doors when she was at Camp Luma. That was part of the basic training at the camp that Elly also completed.

This should make looting resources easier and Elly has used the knowledge often and has become relatively good at picking locks.

So it didn't take long before the front door of the building opened and Elly gained access.

Elly closed the door behind her and saw that she was currently in a hallway with a staircase.

After that she acted a little slower and crept from one floor to the next.

The doors of the various apartments were almost all closed. While there were few that were open.

The smell of decay that came out of the rooms also indicated that there were no survivors left inside of them.

Undeterred by the stench of decay, Elly entered the open apartments and found a few Human here and there. Most of them apparently died through starving to death.

Thereafter, Elly looted everything she found useful, which honestly wasn't much. Afterwards she then headed to the roof of the building.

Arriving on the top floor, Elly found an Undead there that was missing an arm and could only limp slowly.

Elly dealt with him quickly and found a bunch of keys on him. In addition, Elly found a fire ax on the wall in a display case.

After killing and looting, Elly decided to smash the display case and then took the fire ax with her.

She then opened the door to the roof and walked outside. While doing so, her watch also suddenly began to vibrate slightly, signaling that half an hour had passed since she left.

That means she only has two and a half hours left. Elly quickly switched off the signal and then looked all around the roof.

The roof had some rubbish here and there, but other than that nothing interesting was there. Therafter, Elly looked around at the roof of the surrounding building after making sure that here roof was clear of any Undead.

The roof of the nearby building wasn't as empty as where she currently was. There are four Undead on the nearby roof who were eating some dead birds.

The door to that roof had also been forced open and it is unclear how many Undead are still wandering around on the stairwell.

Just as Elly was thinking about how to deal with these Undead without attracting attention, a huge Raven like being suddenly flew onto the roof and picked up all four of the Undead with its huge claws and flew back into the air along with them.

The giant Raven was so quick that Elly isn't sure if she was able to hide from it in time.

'It must be a Mutated Undead, like the ones in the apartments back then. I don't stand a chance against this kind of Monster. If it spots me, I can't fight it because it's too fast and I can't flee because it can fly. All I have left is to hide from it when it comes back.' thought Elly as she saw the huge Raven fly away.

The giant Mutant resembled a Raven in appearance, but actually had nothing in common with it. The mutant had four wings instead of two. A huge beak and countless red eyes all over its head. In addition, the mutant had two huge claws that looked very sharp. Also, the mutant's feathers look very sharp too, Elly doesn't even want to imagine what a fight against this monster would be like, so she decided, as long as the Raven flew far enough away, to come out of cover and continue with her plan.

With a running start, Elly jumped over the two meters distance onto the other roof with the fire ax in hand.

When she got there, she didn't look around for long, but jumped straight on to the next roof, which didn't have any Undead on it.

She managed both jumps and was now only one a few meters away from the police station.

She then looked around again on the roof but found nothing interesting there. The Undead down on the street don't seem to have discovered her either, so she decided to proceed as planned.

The police station was slightly higher than the roof where she was, so she couldn't just jump onto the roof of the building, but climbed onto the roof over the outer wall of the police building.

In the end, Elly managed to climb onto the roof of the police station.

Arriving there, suddenly three Undead who where on the roof stormed straight at Elly. All of them wore blue police uniforms and body armor.

Quickly, Elly resolutely took the ax in both hands and confronted the first Undead who charged at her.

With a lot of force, she hit the Undead's skull with the fireman's ax and killed it. Afterwards she quickly pulled the ax out and confronted the next Undead who ran at her.

Stepping to the side, she struck the ax against the Undead's forehead. However, unfortunately the Undead was still alive and Elly let go of the fire ax and pulled out her knife and stabbed the skull of the Undead, which afterwards finally died.

However, that gave the third Undead enough time to attack Elly. Leaping further to the side, Elly partly dodged the attack on her back, but her backpack was ripped open and some supplies fell down.

However, Elly reacted quickly after she dodged and rammed the knife into the skull of the last Undead, who also died at the end.

"Sigh" Elly made as she checked her backpack after the fight.

'Now I will need a new backpack, thanks to you f*cker' she thought as she kicked the Undead on the ground.

'I'd really like to put on the bulletproof vest, but with all the blood and the strong smell on it, I guess I shouldn't.' Elly thought as she examined the Undead.

'Bingo' thought Elly when she found a gun holster along with a pistol inside of one of the Undead. Otherwise, Elly found some more magazines and a frag grenade on one of the bodies.

'The police station should be equipped with light machine guns, but maybe I can find more explosives here, that would be ideal loot.' Elly thought as she went to the roof door.

However, suddenly her watch vibrated again, signaling that another half hour had passed.

'Only two hours left. I should hurry up and avoid fighting if I can.' thought Elly as she opened the roof door.

...