Chapter 36 - Growing Threat

Night came and the late New Year party that Zach promised had started and it was probably the most joyous they ever had for the past few months. No one knew if it was fate but the addition of Sophie made the party even more eventful as it was the first time they had ever heard and watched her live seeing her performing for everyone. 

Their story was quite interesting, in fact, most of the people with her were her assistants, crew members, and bodyguards. She was actually shooting a video for her song before the calamities happened. They were quite doing well at first as they were all safe, but the following calamities were something they didn't expect. 

Just like everyone else, no matter what profession or how popular you are, everyone was forced to live as a survivor. Sophia and her crew followed and evacuated however, the place did not last long as everyone started becoming desperate. After that, they then started moving aimlessly from place to place, in fact, they had come from a far place and just so happened to see the signs telling this place, so they tried their luck. 

Sophia and her group didn't expect that the signs really were telling the truth seeing them now enjoying the party. Despite still being tired, they insist on performing wanting to repay their kindness of letting them in. 

At this moment, Zach could be found in one of the watchtowers alone while looking in the distance. He knew well that he was the one who initiated the party but it did not stop him from still being cautious since aside from him, Ethan, Mike, and Carl were also assigned to the other watchtowers looking out for possible hurricane formation. 

"It's already late at night and you're still working." Suddenly, a woman's voice interrupted the quietness of the place. Carrying two bottles of cold beers, Hannah walked towards Zach and gave him one. 

"Why are you here?" Zach asked before taking the bottle of beer in his hand and putting down the binoculars in his hand as he looked at Hannah with a smile. 

"Well. I asked around and was told that you're here alone, so I planned to visit thinking that you feel bored." Hannah answered before embracing Zach. Feeling his warm body makes her feel safe as she just continues to embrace him.

On the other hand, Zach didn't push her away and embraced her back. As they were in a high place added by the people having a party, he wasn't scared of getting caught by anyone. He then just looked at the distance seeing the people enjoying the night which also makes him quite happy thinking that despite the dangers of the calamities, the people still haven't forgotten to be happy. 

"What do you think of Sophia?" After some time, Hannah then let of Zach before asking him a question. 

"What do you mean?" Zach was confused by the sudden strange question. 

"Hehe. She's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in the base. What I wanted to say is that you're the leader of this place, if you want, you can probably have a taste of her." Hannah suddenly blurted out an opinion while giving Zach a cheeky smile. 

"Also, I felt like she's into you as I have seen her keep looking at you a while back. What do you think? If you want, I can even lend a hand." Hannah followed before looking at the party in the distance. 

"Your mind sometimes really had an absurd idea to think of it, Hannah. Yeah, you're right, I'm the leader but I'm not that kind of leader." Zach replied while putting down the beer in his hand before slowly guiding Hannah towards the corner. 

"You, Hannah, and Jenny were already enough for me." Zach followed before giving Hannah a peck on her lips. He then just looked at her eyes appreciating the beauty of her face while reminiscing the moments they all have from the beginning. 

"For now." Hannah replied as he looked at Zach with a smile before taking the first move to kiss him this time while starting to get his undress. She knew Zach wasn't like that, but she knew how important he had become to the base, and she could see several women eyeing him for a while now. She thought that instead of letting some random women take advantage of him, she might as well pick one that suits him. 

Zach could feel the eagerness of Hannah's, so he didn't let her down as he also started taking her clothes off and it didn't take long before both of them were now naked. He looked at her for a while before turning her around wanting her to face the people who were partying in the distance. 

Zach kissed Hannah's neck for a while before guiding his cock on her pussy. Following that, the temperature of the place then started rising despite the cold wind of the night. Both of them were completely focused on each other as if they were also having a party on their own. 

Three days later, Zach and the others continued working all day scouting for any hurricanes outside of the base and putting an end to each one of them. While workers shifted their attention to building more houses especially since there were now ones that had just joined them but also to expect more survivors to come. 

On the other hand, some of the newly recruited survivors have chosen to join the Rangers. It wouldn't be strange at all if it was just the men and the bodyguards, but everyone was surprised to see Sophia herself had decided to join knowing that their group was no joke at all and even prone to dangers by going outside the base. 

"Being a leader of this big group was quite tough, wasn't it? And before you say anything, I want to properly thank you for saving and letting us in." Sophia said after finally having the time to thank him as she rarely saw him in the base as he was too busy working all day. If not for her joining the Rangers and the exercises they were doing right now, she might not probably have had the chance to see and thank him. 

"I might be the leader, but everything you see here is because of the unity of everyone. I respect everyone as much as I respect myself." Zach replied while looking at Sophia. He knew himself that he was only the leader now not because he was stronger than anyone else, but because he was capable of providing them something that others can't. 

Sophia was surprised by Zach's reply as she never expected to hear such an answer from a person much younger than her. In fact, she was very surprised upon knowing that it was Zach who was running the base as she really couldn't imagine how he managed to do it, however, after learning more about him and what he did for the base, it made her also admired how capable he was. 

"And you? You must already know what this group is all about, right? Why did you still want to join the Rangers?" Zach then followed a question as he really didn't expect to see her here training like the rest. 

"I know and that is why I decided to join. The world has changed, I have seen many things on the way here and one thing is a fact, I'm just lucky that I am with the people I know. Women were quite treated differently these last few months and I don't want to be like them." Sophia answered seriously while looking back at the things she had witnessed while surviving the calamities. 

Hearing this, Zach was quite moved as all she said was the truth. These times when we don't know what will happen, the desires we all have inside start showing up for many reasons like desperation and the fact that the law and order are already gone. If you can't protect yourself, then you're good as gone especially to women. 

"You're right. No one can protect yourself but you alone." Zach said before giving Sophia a gun as it was now time for shooting practice. He then gathered everyone to get in position and fire when they were told. 

Sophia, on the other hand, just smiled while shaking her head before also moving to get in position just like the rest. With that, they then spend a couple of hours in the shooting range before heading back to the base. 

Another week passed and the base was pretty much bustling with different conversation as they didn't experience any dangers thanks to the help of the Rangers who continued to look after the place. Thanks to them, everyone has now completely recovered from their losses and moved on from what happened in the past. 

However, everyone was also getting tense since another calamity would once again come tomorrow and there was nothing they feared the most but the unknown. They could only find or work on something to entertain them to forget and remain calm. 

Meanwhile, Zach and the Rangers could be found outside the base together while looking at the distance with their binoculars. Ethan, Mike, and Carl were also there looking at the hurricane which made them all dumbfounded as it was just too big. Fortunately, it wasn't going on their location or else it would be the greatest threat they would ever face. 

"Continue to monitor it and report every fifteen minutes." Zach ordered as he also was concerned by this hurricane. They just need another day for this calamity to stop so he would no longer risk his men to put an end to it. However, if it started heading in their direction, then they had no choice but to prepare for it. 

Following that, everyone then started heading back while Ethan decided to be left behind together with some Rangers to continue monitoring the hurricane. And every now and then, Zach could hear the report coming from them which always brought tension. 

Night came, and everything seemed fine as everyone was already at their houses resting not knowing that the Rangers were still completely wide awake and still working outside the base to continue monitoring the huge hurricane in the distance. 

"Is it really that big, Zach?" Jenny inquired who was sitting on a couch while caressing his growing stomach. They had been told about it by him and they could see the anxiousness on Zach's face saying that the hurricane they had spotted really was a great threat. 

On the other hand, Zoey and the rest were also there looking at Zach worried about what he just told them. This is the first time they have seen him reacting this way which was quite unusual knowing that he was a person who didn't bat an eye on killing armed men and the savior who stopped a hurricane by himself. 

"It is. It was a completely different scale from the rest of the hurricanes we have spotted so far." Zach replied while he kept on looking at the radio in his hands. Truthfully speaking, he was anxious since he wasn't sure if the grenade would be enough to stop it knowing how big it had already become.

"This is Mike. The hurricane still has no movement of moving to the base." Suddenly, Mike's voice came out from the radio which was heard by everyone and made them feel relieved. 

"Zach, we know that you are just making sure that we were safe, however, there's no need to think too much about it." Vanessa said while looking at Zach. She knew that Zach was doing it for their safety but who knows where the hurricane would go. It's not like they would surely die if ever it comes their way as they could just probably start moving away from it. 

Zach heard his mother and there he saw Jenny looking at him worriedly which woke him up thinking that making her worry would be bad for the baby, so he immediately looked for his composure and started acting normally. Trying to forget about the hurricane outside, they then just talked about other things, happy memories that they had in the past.