28 Pipe Dream

The next day, at 8.15 am.

On the rooftop of a 7-stars hotel, several people assembled.

Drip.

"...we are gathered here today to pay our final respects to-"

A drizzle became a downpour.

The sounds of tears and sadness were washed away by the sky's blessing.

There were several tombstones.

'Aunt Adda, Uncle Azel, Little Sister Zany. Rest in peace.'

Erza silently prayed.

This family was the first rescue mission target yesterday.

They were found to have turned into Infected.

There were tears in Mrs. Numee's eyes. One of her three sisters is forever gone.

They buried them in the park right in front of their house, after they cleared the Horde surrounding it.

Mr. Zayf consoled his wife.

'Wife, you've become stronger!'

He got to know from Erza that his wife gave her sister and her family 'mercy'.

'Mom, keep their Evolution Nectars. Once we've found Cousin Ruiz and Cousin Nara, we give these to them. They deserve to have their parents' final inheritance for them.'

Erza told his mother after she laid them down for an 'eternal rest'.

His late Aunt Adda had three children.

They still haven't found the other two yet.

After the failed mission to save Aunt Adda, they moved on to the second mission.

They saved Nawuz, whose father was Mrs. Numee's eldest brother, the first sibling.

His father passed away before the apocalypse because of cancer.

He was found in his house in P-Town with his wife and daughter.

Erza found them lying down on the floor, feverish and severely malnourished.

They also had rashes all over their bodies.

'A tropical disease. They have dengue!'

As Naresia's weather was hot and humid, it was the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

A tiny bite would result in days of pain.

The mosquitoes transmit the disease from its saliva. Once bitten, the dengue virus would take six to eight days for the symptoms to show.

'If we were even a day late, they might've not made it.'

Mrs. Numee's Talent performed its wonders.

After rescuing Nawuz, they flew to the adjacent KG-City.

"Dear, be strong. For Big Brother Kuff, for Sister Ning."

It was Mrs. Numee's turn to soothe her husband's heart.

The tombstone they are looking at right now belonged to his nephew.

Mr. Zayf's expression was one of a man who is devastated.

He felt that he had failed his late older brother upon his nephew's death.

As the largest district in S-Region, KG-District spanned over almost 150 square kilometers.

A good chunk of their relatives lives in KG-District.

Because of time constraints, they couldn't go to every relatives' houses in one day.

The next rescue mission location was 20 kilometers from P-Town, which is the south side of the district.

They were searching for Cousin Kang, Erza's paternal cousin.

He was Mr. Zayf's nephew from his Second Brother Kuff, who had turned into an Infected.

After one successful rescue, they had hope.

For a little while, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But, as if fate were toying with them, they found Cousin Kang's dried up corpse outside his house.

The more heart-wrenching part was that he was tortured before he died.

Multiple stabs were present on his body, avoiding his vitals.

He was made to bleed to death.

It was a slow and painful way to die.

His wife's body was found a few meters away from him.

She was also tortured before she died, in a humiliating and degrading way.

Her body was found naked in the middle of the street.

Her hands were tied and her mouth was gagged.

There were multiple bruises on her face and her chest were stabbed.

She was raped and murdered.

Erza's parents could not bear to look at their nephew's body.

They saw him grow up right in front of their eyes.

The scene proved too much for them to take.

Feera and Bucky had to calm them down.

Erza too, braved himself to bury his own cousin.

Cousin Kang was the eldest cousin on his father's side.

'We're going to miss your jokes and laughter.'

He was a cheerful and comedic person.

There was never a dull moment talking with him.

Erza took a few items belonging to him and his wife, as a memoir, and also materials to track their killers!

'Rest in peace, Cousin Kang, Sister Denise. I'll avenge you one day, and I'll take care of Little Cece and Little Kevin.'

He buried them in an empty construction site, which had been abandoned since the apocalypse.

Cece and Kevin were Cousin Kang's children from his second wife, Denise.

They were only 10 and 4 this year, respectively.

Even after utilizing every method they have, they couldn't find a trace of the two children.

"Perhaps they went to Sister Julia's house?"

Feera spouted a theory after burying them yesterday.

Julia was Cousin Kang's first wife. They filed for divorce after two years of marriage.

They had a son together, Marvin.

"Unlikely, but it's worth a try. We'll look out for them when we reach her house."

Although estranged, Cousin Kang did introduce his sons and daughter.

When it was his turn to take care of Little Marvin, he would come and play at his half-siblings' house.

As they were chasing for time, they immediately flew to the final location of the four missions.

It was where they rescued Big Brother Hank and his family from the Community Hall Shelter.

They ended their funeral with a prayer, under the gloomy rain.

...

"Delicious! Delicious!"

"Is this real life? Are we in heaven?!"

Chomp, chomp.

Glub, glub.

The sounds of food being eaten and beverages being drank reverberated throughout the whole restaurant.

After the mourning ceremony on the rooftop, Erza told his relatives that food will be served at the 1st Floor.

"Aunt Numee, thank you! Thank you for saving us!"

"Little Erza, big brother owes everything to you. Tell big brother what you need, I'll make sure it gets done!"

Cousin Nawuz and Big Brother Hank profusely thank Erza's family for rescuing them.

Not only that they rescued them, they even gave them plenty of food to eat.

'Thank you, God, for sending us our own family as help!'

Having survived brutal situations where they had no food to eat and no clean water to drink, they knew how big-hearted their relatives were.

'If it was me, even I might not give my own wife to eat this much, more or less my relatives!'

They were grateful for their god-sent kin.

"Cousin Erza, any news about my family? I lost contact with them a week ago!"

Nawuz asked Erza anxiously.

"Nothing yet. Our last contact with them was also a week ago."

Erza answered carefully.

"I'm sure they're fine, Nawuz. Besides, Drai and Meer are reliable. You don't have to worry too much."

Hank interjected.

Hank is also Erza's maternal first uncle's son.

But he is the first son from his first uncle's wife, while Nawuz was a son from his second wife.

Hearing Hank's statement, Nawuz took it the wrong way.

"Don't worry? DON'T WORRY?! It's easy for you to say when you have everyone with you!"

Nawuz fumed in anger.

As the first grandson of Erza's maternal extended family, Hank was called 'Big Brother' by all his cousins as a sign of respect.

"What did you say?! IT WAS EASY? Did you know what I and Yufa had to go through to live?!!"

Hank slammed the table and shouted.

In the heat of the moment, the two men made the atmosphere turned cold.

"You two, ENOUGH."

Erza just uttered one sentence with a low and tyrannical voice.

He was seated in the middle of the table, and the pressure coming from him made Nawuz and Hank swallow their saliva in fear.

'I knew he got powerful and fought those monsters, but to think that he has become this dominant..'

'Is this the same Cousin Erza that I knew?'

Both Hank and Nawuz sat back down reluctantly.

Hank was telling the truth. His stay at the Community Hall Shelter was nothing short of agony.

He had to brave the streets to find supplies in the abandoned houses and the shop lots nearby the shelter.

He also had to go on most of the trips, because he had to support almost ten people by himself!

The shelter's rule was: We do not give food to anyone who doesn't work.

The men would also be given the guard task.

The more they volunteered and work, the more food they get.

Being a tall and strong man, Hank was a heavy-duty technician who ran his own company.

He used to carry heavy machines weighing tens of kilograms for installation.

He got by the harsh situation by utilizing his above-average strength and innate drive to provide and protect his family.

The day Erza's team arrived at the shelter, he was not on guard duty.

He already filled his guard duty yesterday.

The three S-2 Infected had reaped a lot of lives that day, especially the men who were assigned as guards.

'Big Brother Hank sure is lucky.'

Hearing his cousin's story, he couldn't help but praise the apt coincidence.

While Erza fought the three S-2 Infected, Mrs. Numee, Big Mark, and Feera searched high and low for Hank and his family.

The first to spot Hank was Feera.

Feera saw a familiar huge, tanned man walking towards a tent.

His family members couldn't be spotted as they were staying inside their tents.

The Community Hall shelter was housing over the hundreds of tents.

It was the only way for the survivors to maintain their privacy.

There was a sea of people, crammed into the hall altogether.

"BIG BROTHER HANK!"

Feera shouted across the hall.

"Little Feera? Is that really you?!"

He ran and bear-hugged his cousin.

"Husband, who are you talking t- Little Feera?!"

The owner of the voice is his wife.

She heard the commotion from inside the tent.

Her name is Amara. She was a teacher.

"Big Sister Amara! Little Karl! Little Diana!"

Feera also saw their two children's heads poking out from the plastic tent.

'Good thing the kids were safe.'

Erza, Mrs. Numee, and Big Mark followed suit.

They hugged and let their emotions go, producing warm liquids in the eyes.

The feeling of seeing your own family member in the middle of an uncertain situation was akin to have all your heart's worry melt away.

'I'm actually surprised that the base did not kick out children and throw babies outside the wall.'

Erza saw children besides his cousin's running around.

As children and babies are incapable of working or kill Infected, they were only wasting resources.

As times became more desperate, fewer and fewer children survived.

That contributed to the population declining rate!

'Big Brother Kwan must've helped defend the shelter multiple times.'

'Or he contributed a lot during the supply raids.'

Aside from Hank and Amara, his mother, Aunt Rune was with them.

Aunt Rune was the first wife of Erza's late Uncle Gale, Mrs. Numee's eldest brother.

Aunt Rune has two children.

Hank is the eldest, followed by his sister Yufa.

Yufa has three sons with her husband Aims, which are Little Meen, Little Zuh, and Little Jim.

"Cousin Nawuz, we're going to look for the rest of your family tomorrow. I promise."

Erza gave his word.

"Thank you, Erza. Excuse me, I need to cool myself off."

Nawuz left the restaurant.

"Hmph! That little punk, I just wanted to cheer him up, but I got scolded instead."

As the eldest grandchild and eldest son, Hank has a domineering personality.

Sometimes, he can't read the atmosphere and blurts out whatever he thinks.

'Swords can cut the flesh, but words can cut hearts.'

"I knew you meant well, big brother. Let him settle down first, I'll talk to him later."

Erza spoke in a respectful and understanding manner.

The rest of the family continued eating.

Burp~

They were so full from the feast. It was as if they were in a perfect dream after a horrible nightmare.

"Everyone, please listen up. We'll have lunch at 12.30 pm and dinner at 7.30 pm. I have something to announce tonight, so hope you can join us for dinner."

He also mentioned that they won't be flying out today because the heavy rain would render their missions riskier.

Besides, four missions yesterday took a toll on his team members.

They decided to call off the day and rest.

After breakfast, they went back to their respective rooms.

For the first time in days, they could sleep on comfy beds and bathe without worrying about how much water they were using!

They wished that the pandemic would end soon so they could return to this kind of lifestyle.

Unfortunately, their dreams would forever remain a pipe dream.