Chapter 63 - Surging Survivors
The next day came and while everyone on the base had started working, Zach could no longer be found on Earth seeing him now on Pluto Sanctuary together with Eun Ae, Zoey, Shiela, Sophia, and Angel. Zach didn't come here for no reason seeing him sitting and waiting in front of his house while looking at the five houses in the distance.
It has been a week now since the tutorial has ended and that was the minimum time that he told Patrick and the others to come back if they could from the Sanctuary Portal Totems that he had given to them. This matter was of great importance to him since it would be a very good source of recruiting more survivors.
Looking at the shelter, Zach's house could be in the northern part while being surrounded by four other houses owned by Zoey, Shiela, Sophia, and Eun Ae. He has come to know that despite having the same 10-star rating, his house was remarkably more luxurious than the others which might be an indication that his house was different marking it as the main house of the shelter.
Looking closely, there were no other houses near them as Patrick, Kazuya, Maria, Ishaan, and Luciana's houses were all placed on the south, west, and east sides of the shelter with the Shelter Store, Shelter Evolution Pool, and Shelter Sanctuary Portal could be seen in the center so that everyone could access it.
The reason why Zach's house and the other four houses were the only ones located in the north is that Zach didn't want to be disturbed and distracted if more and more survivors came and joined the shelter as he wanted his family to live comfortably away from the presence of others.
Meanwhile, Eun Ae took the liberty to explain to Zoey, Sophia, and Shiela how the shelter works seeing them all busy inside their houses looking surprised by the wonder of the house that they were given.
After waiting for some time, Zach suddenly stood up from his seat after seeing Maria get out of her house which makes her the first to have come back. With that, he then immediately headed to where she was and asked how the situation was on her end since there was also a reason as to why he had given their time as he also told them to install the portal to a good place all the while looking for people that she could trust.
"I'm really back." Maria said with surprise as she looked at the surroundings after seeing the familiar sky once again. She then just looked at Zach who was coming in her direction and smiled after seeing him well.
"I'm glad you're here. So, how is it?" Zach then asked while looking at Maria with anticipation.
"As you can see, the portal works." Maria replied with excitement.
"Well. Let's find out which of the theories I have was correct." Zach then said before heading toward the Sanctuary Portal as it was now the time to know the truth. Together with Maria, both looked at each other first before heading towards the portal.
[Two portals from Earth have been registered as the portal's location of teleportation.]
[Please select which portal you would like to teleport.]
[Sanctuary Portal Totem – America]
[Sanctuary Portal Totem – Philippines]
Upon entering, Zach heard the voice of the system which greatly surprised him as it didn't happen when he traveled before. However, it would only mean that the second theory he had was the correct one which makes him smile knowing what it would entail.
"Sanctuary Portal – Philippines"
After choosing, Zach immediately got teleported and he immediately saw a glimpse of the situation of the place he was in seeing him in something like a community. There were a number of tents installed all over the place and while looking closely, he could be found being surrounded by unfamiliar humans.
"Calm down, everyone." Maria, who also got transported, immediately calmed down the survivors in the area upon seeing them all ready to fight while looking at Zach. After that, she then just looked at Zach apologetically upon the behavior of her fellow Filipino survivors.
"Everyone, this is Zach that I have told you about." Maria then introduced Zach to everyone since the atmosphere suddenly got awkward.
Meanwhile, Zach remains calm while looking at them. In that span of time, he had already counted the survivors in the surroundings and they totaled 34 including Maria which was already a lot. After that, he had also seen the place and he could tell that they might be in some field area in the forest upon seeing trees surrounding them.
"Is that him, Maria?" Suddenly, a middle-aged man stepped up and walked closer to Maria while looking at Zach.
"Yes, Papa." Maria replied after seeing her father.
"Hello. I'm Edgar, Maria's father. I have heard how you've saved and taken care of my daughter and I am very thankful for that." Edgar introduced himself while raising his hand wanting to shake hands with Zach. In fact, this was the first time he had seen an American person this close so he pretty didn't know what to do.
"That's no problem since it was only normal to help people who are in trouble." Zach replied before taking his hand for a handshake. After that, he then just also saw a middle-aged woman come close to them and he learned that she was Maria's mother whose name is Susan.
After that, Maria then immediately introduced the people in the area which she told them that they were some of their relatives while the rest were their neighbors. At first, they were kind of cautious of Zach however, after some time, they immediately opened their hearts to him seeing that he really was a kind person just like Maria had said.
Zach spent some time with them before finally having everyone go to the shelter so they could settle down. As they were already briefed by Maria about how the shelter works, each one of them became a resident of the shelter and immediately got their own hut.
Following Maria's coming, Ishaan was the second one to arrive. Just like what he did to Maria, Zach also followed him back to India and saw that he had gathered 53 survivors and that all of them were quite very eager to meet him upon hearing stories from Ishaan.
The third one to arrive was Kazuya and together with him was a group of 37 survivors. The fourth to come is Luciana with 28 survivors with her and lastly, Patrick who had the highest recruited survivors which totaled to 81.
Zach had visited all their countries and all he had observed so far was that the world must have been turned into a huge forest as they were all situated and surrounded by trees with only the difference being the climate.
With that, the total number of residents in Undead Enclave now was 243 including them, and all of these people knew from the fact that they would now be working under Zach as they had already been told by Patrick, Kazuya, Maria, Ishaan, and Luciana with it.
After some time, everyone then finally settled in their own shelter from which Zach didn't betray their expectations by providing them some Evolution Coins to evolve their wooden houses and capital for their everyday expenses. Of course, it would only be a one-time thing.
When night came, Zach then called on Patrick, Kazuya, Maria, Ishaan, and Luciana back to Earth specifically in their headquarters in America which greatly surprised them knowing that they had already started building some infrastructures upon seeing the headquarters' building and many still-not-complete houses in the area.
However, what surprised them the most was the eight other Sanctuary Portals that surrounded the headquarters' building after they were told by Zach that those were portals that led to another shelter different from his and that if they wanted, they could also look around and see whether they like the place it was situated.
Right now, Zach could be found in the meeting room together with the shelter owners of the base. He called them for a meeting to introduce Patrick and the rest since this is something that they have to know upon knowing that they could now also go to other countries when the time was right.
As the two groups finally got to know each other, Zach then immediately went to discuss the matters of the other countries. Zach told Patrick and the rest about the reason behind them building houses on Earth even though they could just live in the Shelter. Hearing his reasoning, the representatives of the five countries also supported the idea.
However, that was when Zach also told them about their discovery that Earth was probably also a sanctuary on its way and that despite the calamities being over, the danger coming from beasts was now present so they didn't need to protect only the shelter but also their place on Earth since there might be a chance that the portal would be overrun by beasts leaving them no way to return.
With that, the meeting then finally comes to an end as everyone leaves the headquarters seeing Patrick and the rest heading back to Undead Enclave Shelter to disseminate the information discussed in the meeting room.
Zach, on the other hand, also went back to his house after Zoey, Sophia, and Shiela told him that they liked to stay in the Undead Enclave Shelter instead of their house on Earth since it enabled them to do more because of the unlimited electricity unlike on Earth where they were using fuel generators.
As it was already late at night, Zach decided to visit Sophia's house first wanting to see if she was still awake as he wanted to see Angel before sleeping. Knocking on her door, he didn't expect it to open from which he saw Sophia still awake while carrying Angel in her arms.
After being invited, Zach then just tried to take Angel into his arms wanting Sophia to take a rest however, right after being transferred, Angel suddenly started crying. Seeing it, he could only smile wryly and returned her to Sophia. He really couldn't understand his own daughter at all because sometimes she was doing okay when he was taking care of her and sometimes and most of the time, she would start crying.
"I'm sorry, Sophia. I could no longer imagine how much helped you were this time after taking care of Angel for me. I promised that I would return all this favor so just tell me anything if you want something in mind." Zach said while looking at Angel who immediately calmed down on Sophia's arms and he couldn't help but feel a little jealous.
"It's no problem. I have also already got attached to Angel and treated her as my own daughter." Sophia replies with a smile while looking at Angel. She had been taking care of her all this time and she felt like she could no longer be separated from her.
"However, I want you to promise that you will adhere to what you just said about giving me anything I want." Sophia followed as he looked at Zach seriously.
"Of course. Just tell me anything." Zach said with certainty.
"Then." Sophia then just put Angel in a crib before walking closer to Zach. She looked at him in the eyes before she took the initiative to move her face closer to his and kiss him on the lips.
On the other hand, Zach was quite surprised upon seeing what Sophia just did as he never would have thought of being kissed instead of being told what she wanted however, he didn't push her away or try to step back as he just continued to look at her while slowly reciprocating her back.
"Make me your woman as well, Zach. That's all I wanted." Sophia said before pushing Zach down to the sofa and sitting on his lap. In fact, she has long known the fact that aside from Jenny, Zach also had a secret relationship with Hannah and even his sister Zoey after Hannah herself told her about it.
Knowing such a thing before made her a little discouraged, however, seeing Zach suddenly introduce Eun Ae to them makes her quite a little jealous since she had long admired him even before the tutorial began and just last night when she heard them making out together, she was already certain that the feeling she had on him didn't disappear and even got stronger instead.
Zach looked at Sophia seriously and he could tell that she wasn't joking when she said it. Not knowing if he had feelings for her, his body moved on its own seeing his hands hold her waist and make herself closer to him before giving her a kiss. With that, both then completely forgot that there was a baby beside them as the two started embracing each other on the sofa.