Future plan
"What are you talking about? Why won't you make it to see them? Please don't make such jokes sir" a voice sounded before Edward could say anything as a woman came up to them to give them their rations of the meal.
"Hahaha! Priscal, don't mind me. I was just joking with our young friend here" Fablo laughed and accepted his share of the meal and began to wolf it down.
Edward also took his share and smiled at the lady before starting to eat.
"Please don't mind him, he's like that sometimes" The woman, Priscal, smiled at Edward before walking off.
There was a brief silence as Edward and Fablo swiftly finished their meals. Letting out a satisfied sigh, Fablo looked at Edward.
"What do you plan to do from now on? Stay with us or keep moving alone?" He questioned since he believed that there must be a reason why Edward decided not to go back to his former group after escaping the zombie.
Edward stayed silent for a while, busy with his thoughts. He was currently unsure about his own condition and would like to explore the changes in him more, doing so while being in a group had its disadvantages but so did moving alone. He could also tell that Fablo was trying to get more information about why he separated from his previous group without asking directly and Edward could not possibly tell him that they already found him dead, probably.
Besides, staying with them was the reason he had followed them in the first place. He could have just left after waking up or avoided the store entirely, so wouldn't it be stupid if he decided to leave now?
"I'm staying here of course, I don't think that I will last long on my own" Edward laughed while rubbing his nose, his expression was kind of embarrassed but Fablo did not pay attention to that and simply nodded as his expression turned serious.
"Then what do you plan for the future?" Fablo asked.
Edward looked at him with a weird expression on his face. Future?
Yes, he did have plans for the future. He had a lot of thoughts, dreams, and goals, and a lot of preparations to achieve them. Not just him, but certainly everyone had one of theirs that they reviewed every day.
But all those fantasies stopped three years ago, the very night hell hosted a reunion with reincarnated souls. When the first horror showed up right in your face like a reflection of all your secret sins. Did plans for the future still matter? Did goals and dreams still count? Hell no! Ever since that fateful night, everyone's plans and dreams became one single word…
' Survive!'
Survive, live long enough to see the next day. And everything related to those dreams was not far from the dream itself. Hoping to see your families amidst that dream was just as it was…Hope. It was the only thing that could compete with everyone's main plan. Hoping to survive a zombie encirclement, hoping to run into a group of survivors to attach oneself, hoping to find supplies, hoping…hoping!
It was just that, hope! It would have been everyone's ultimate dream but hope wasn't something that could be archived or gained.
You could only hope to be lucky enough to be able to hope the next day.
So Edward was kind of lost at Fablo's question, what plans could he have aside from surviving while hoping to meet his parents and sister one day?
"Umm, survive?" He eventually replied in a doubtful tone. It was funny how even he was unsure of his own future plans, maybe because he had other plans.
"Just that? Survive?" Fablo raised an eyebrow and suddenly started laughing. Others in the hall looked over before looking away the next moment.
"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help it. Then, how about I tell you my plans?" Fablo said after a few seconds of laughter. Edward nodded and decided to listen to whatever plans this man might have thought of on such a planet.
A few minutes later and Edward was left speechless as he stared at the grinning Fablo with wide eyes, what the hulky man had just told him was so shocking that he could not find words to reply within a short time.
It was not that he had not heard of it but those only happened in fiction books and he had never seen it or heard of anyone doing such a thing in the past three years.
Fablo was actually planning to reclaim the entire city and clean it of every single zombie, then turn it into a human stronghold where every survivor could retreat to just like the human base created by the government. Just that he was not planning to control those who would seek refuge with him and let them have their freedom only on the condition to help him claim more places and rescue others!
"Eishh! What's with the shocked expression? Aren't you young people most imaginative I'm such situations? Don't you read those web novels? This is a perfect chance to put your ideas to use and become an overlord, don't you think? So what? Do you want to join me?" Fablo said with a determined and hyped expression on his face.
Edward just looked at him, still unsure of what to reply with. Now that he thought about it, no wonder the zombies in this area were so few compared to other places and the route that they took to this place seemed to have been planned out in case something tragic happened.
But did he dare to join Fablo in this absurd quest of his? If there was one thing Edward feared the most was death…and pain. And that was what he could see in the plan that Fablo had just told him. Forget about the normal zombies that were everywhere like flies, there were still the animals, plants, and insects that had undergone mutations too. And added to that were the abnormal zombies that were hidden in the city, how did they plan to carry out such a motive without adequate forces? Hell, no way was he joining in this suicide mission!
Fablo looked at the hesitation in Edward's eyes and somehow figured out what the boy was worried about, a small smirk formed on his face as he tapped Edward's shoulder.
"I know what you are thinking, but do you really think I would make such a plan without looking for ways to achieve it? Do I look that stupid to you?" Fablo said and shook his head. Edward's face was awkward as he stared at the ground. True, he had missed this point. The man did not look like someone to make such reckless plans after being around him for a while; at least it looked that way to Edward.
"Look here, remember I told you that I worked as a security guard close by? It was a factory not far from here and close by was a military base, I'm sure we can find a lot of ammunition and firearms there. So I plan to slowly clear toward the base first to get ourselves fully equipped, that's why I tried to gather a few people first. What do you think? Still doubted me?" Fablo said cheekily as he winked at Edward.
Still, Edward did not say anything immediately. The plan of getting firearms was feasible and thoughtful but there was another problem with this idea too, it was that guns make too much noise, and while this might be Fablo's actual plan, the thought of a horde of zombies rushing toward them because of the noise of their weapons made Edward's feet grow cold that he almost shivered.
"I…I will think about it" he managed to say in the end. He was already thinking of a way to reject this idea but was there anywhere else he could go? He just hoped they would allow him to stay back in the base just like the elderly people here, though he doubted that.
'Good gracious! What's wrong with this guy? Does he want to revolt against the zombies? Do you have any idea how dangerous zombies truly are?' Edward roared in his thoughts but even he knew that it was just his cowardice and fear of zombies acting out.
"Alright then, you have till tomorrow because we were already planning to start clearing the road towards the military base tomorrow. In the meantime, let's introduce you to the other members of the crew" Fablo said as he rose to his feet while dusting the dirt off his butt, Edward followed him since he was the one who was going to be introduced.
There were originally twenty people living here including Fablo himself and he was the leader since he had somehow saved each one of them one way or the other.
The twenty of them were made up of thirteen women and seven men. Edward had already met four of the men including Fablo, the scrawny man, and the other two who had followed Fablo to look for supplies. The women, Edward had met six of them who were the fat woman and the five who had been with Fablo during the supply hunt. It could be said that they were the ones he was familiar with even if it was just for a while and they actually did not talk.
There were seven other women and three men, Fablo did a brief introduction before telling everyone to go rest as the next day would be a very busy day.
Yes, it was still day and still quit some hours before night but Fablo wanted them to be fully rested before the next day so they had nothing to do the rest of the day.
Edward decided to run some quick tests on the changes in his body; he wanted to go to the lower floor.