He Was Almost Absorbed By The System - Part Two

Chapter One Hundred And Seventy Seven - Post Apocalypse

Another dawn rose on a vastly changed world. The city streets belonged to the gently falling rain and the shuffling zombies. Occasionally, a rat might skitter in between the shambling grey feet, seeking scraps within a dim alleyway, but pickings were slim. The low growls and scraping of shoes or limbs could not break the general silence that had fallen over the once bustling city.

A large, brass bird flapped its metallic wings once as it circled the overcast sky. It suddenly dived and a group of startled pigeons fled to the sky. Not all made it.

Not far from the strange contraption's hunting grounds, a line of smoke crept lazily upwards, scenting the air with a mix of burning wood and tantalising, cooked vegetables and herbs. Were there any nearby neighbours who had survived the outbreak and the aftermath in the week that followed, they would have risked life and limb to tear down the door of such an audacious survivor! How dare that person not only have food, something that rapidly came to be in short supply, but to make it smell like a kings feast as well?!

"I want rice," moaned Yu Long as he spoke through the lips of the one tasting the root vegetable soup. They had been fortunate to find root vegetables three doors down, after they had cleared the property of its zombie occupants.

There had been many who turned or who were bitten in this neighbourhood. The few households to have survived either attempted to flee elsewhere, their whereabouts now unknown or had died in the search for food. One or two had simply starved to death in their homes. As much as he hated to do it, he had severed the heads of their corpses, just to be on the safe side. Who knew if they might not otherwise rise once more, even if their deaths had not been Zombie related.

"I don't think that there will be much chance to procure foreign produce now," Matthew said, honestly. They had only survived this long as they had purchased plentiful, long lasting produce as they had feared such an outbreak might come. After all, Aidan and Adam had spoken of such existing in books and moving pictures. They had only needed to seek supplies after their neighbourhood have become an abandoned one.

Yu Long internally moaned, pitifully. "If we can find some more flour, there is a chance I might at least be able to make noodles of a sort," Aidan offered and the Prince relented, grudgingly.

As the personalities within the man called Hilton, bickered, a squadron assigned to seek out supplies and survivors was quietly traipsing through the area. The drizzling rain reduced their scents that the zombies could not easily find their trail. They had abandoned the steam cars in favour of walking as zombie hearing was also quite acute. Fortunately, their eyesight was weak, especially during the light of day, otherwise they would have to kill every sighted monster.

One of the men, who happened to be short of stature and craving a cigarette, took a deep breath of air as he mingled in with the heavily armed squad. This bunch of blood thirsty, muscle-minded brutes has been sent to forage near everyday since the end and yet seldom returned without anything of use. Mostly, they sauntered back in squabbling over who had the highest kill count! And so the general had instructed him to keep an eye on this troublesome lot. It was all well and good that they wished to eliminate the undead hoard, but please think also about the task at hand!

As the former clean-up crew member exhaled, he came to realise that he had registered an anomaly. Smoke... woodsmoke... and food? He sniffed the air again, his mouth began to drool. Sure enough, floating above the low lying stench of rotting corpses, damp cobblestones and blood, there was the homely scent of someone's dinner. He poked Marie, a rose of a woman with extra sharp thorns, in the back of the arm to capture her attention. She turned to glare at him with narrowed eyes. He touched his nose and pointed upwards. She simply continued to glare.