91

Stay Alive

Chapter 91 – Unknown Zone

When Alan stepped outside, he felt the cold intensify, so he pulled a pair of black gloves from his pocket and put them on.

At that moment, he felt someone watching him and turned his head. To his surprise, Alan saw a shadow near the barn, not far from where he was standing. Fearing it might be an accomplice of the people he had killed, he drew his pistol and aimed in that direction.

“Don’t shoot; I won’t hurt you.”

“Who are you?” Alan was about to pull the trigger and shoot the figure holding what looked like a Japanese sword, but he stopped. He couldn’t explain why, but something about this person struck him as unusual.

As he thought about it, he noticed the white-handled sword.

A sword to fight the infected?

“I have a sick woman with me. If you can’t help us, we’ll leave. We thought this place was abandoned, and we apologize for not noticing you earlier.” The woman seemed reasonable, something rare nowadays.

People these days were very distrustful, and many killed just to eat—something Alan could understand.

“Take me to her; maybe I can help.” Alan lowered his weapon, but kept his hand on the hilt of his knife, ready for any confrontation.

It was a strong possibility, and when the woman with the sword pulled back her hood, Alan knew he was dealing with someone who had done whatever it took to survive.

“Are you military?”

“Does it matter?”

“Of course. I am too. My name’s Alan; it’d be more comfortable if you told me yours.”

“Margaret. Do you live here?” Margaret was very suspicious of Alan due to his military uniform, the ease with which he agreed to help them, and his request to be taken to Lilly—which made her uneasy.

What if Alan wanted her to take him to Lilly so he could kill them both?

With those thoughts, Margaret was about to attack, but then she saw Sophia peeking out from the second-floor window of the house.

“Is she with you?”

Alan looked at Sophia, who quickly hid, and replied, “Well, we found her on the road, so to keep her from dying, we brought her with us. But answer my question.”

“I think I’ll stop answering your questions. I have nothing to hide, but I don’t know you, so let’s leave it at that for now.”

Alan knew that if there was any kind of similarity between them, trust might grow. But things didn’t seem to be moving forward, and if they didn’t, he’d have to take other actions.

Trust was good, but it wasn’t guaranteed.

As they entered the barn, Alan said, “Yesterday, I killed some men who attacked me here. They ambushed me, but their attack was so reckless I took them out without much trouble.”

“We’ll leave once she recovers. I found her on the road, so if you have any food, that would really help.” Margaret spoke, a bit more alert after Alan’s words, as he seemed surprisingly calm.

“Were you traveling alone?”

Margaret thought for a moment and said, “Yes. Are you traveling alone too?”

“More or less. The helicopter I was in got shot down, so we had to stay here for a while due to the injuries. If you help me, maybe I can take you to my base—you could survive much longer there.”

“And now you suddenly trust me?” Margaret wanted to know why Alan had changed his mind so quickly.

Alan thought for a moment and looked at Margaret. “If neither of us trusts the other, then what’s the point of this conversation?”

“How many people are at your shelter?”

“A little over two hundred thousand. Pretty great, right? We’ve been surviving thanks to fishing, farming, and controlled hunting.” Alan looked at Lilly as Margaret brought her over, unconscious on the ground.

Upon seeing the unconscious woman, Alan picked up Andrea from the floor, but at that moment, Riya appeared at the entrance of the barn and asked, “Friends or enemies?”

“They need help; they seem like good people,” Alan said, carefully observing Alicia, who turned her head to look at the women.

Riya frowned, looked at the woman in Alan’s arms, and lowered her weapon. “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know. I found her in the forest.” Margaret was surprised to see Alicia ready to kill.

“Were any of you bitten?”

“No.”

Riya nodded and said, “If you’re coming into the house, you’ll have to hand over all your weapons. Last time, some strangers almost got us killed.”

“Of course.”

Alan smiled, proud of Alicia’s caution. “What was that about strangers?” Riya asked Alan, wanting to know what was going on.

Alan approached Riya and said, “We don’t know the situation in this area. It’d be good to have someone who does.”

“That makes sense…”