Chapter 161 - Forward Outpost

Leaving the Mutated Rodents behind, Oliver, Strider, and Jack managed to shake them off their tail as soon as they left.

The creatures were so concerned about the injured and captured rodent, they forgot all about Oliver and the other humans. In fact, as soon as Oliver walked back a few steps from the cage, the creatures stopped chasing them altogether.

"I'm glad you chose to save them."

As they were rushing past the trees, Jack expressed his gratitude to Oliver. He couldn't kill all of the Mutated Rodents alone, much less escape unharmed.

"No big deal," Oliver said as he maneuvered through a thick branch, "What matters now is how those guys react."

Oliver wasn't as kind as Jack. If it were up to him, he would have already left the soldiers alone to die. It wasn't anything personal.

No, it was how Oliver would protect himself from uncertainties.

"Why?" Jack continued to ask as he jumped to another branch, "We saved them, right? Shouldn't they be thanking us?"

"Stop."

The trio had soon caught up to the soldiers, who were moving on foot. Judging by how they were gasping for air, it took some effort to maneuver through the grass.

Oliver raised a finger to his mouth, signaling for Jack to be quiet. From above, the three of them quietly watched over the soldiers as they conversed.

"Do you think those guys would catch up to us?" one of the soldiers asked as he took in a deep breath.

"Nah," another dismissed, "The rats were too much for us to handle. What can two random guys do? They don't even have guns to shoot down the things. All they had were little knives."

Clearly, this group of soldiers severely underestimated Oliver and Jack's capabilities.

'Wait.'

Motioning at Jack to wait and see how things pan out, Oliver was curious. He wanted to find out how these people would move forward without their presence involved. Then, proceed to play things by ear.

"But, they did save us," a sensible soldier added, "I mean, shouldn't we at least give them the benefit of the doubt?"

"Right," the one Oliver humiliated spoke straight after, "Stay on guard. We're leaving."

"But, boss!" the sensible one expressed his disagreement, "Shouldn't we wait for them?"

"And, what? So that they can steal something of ours again? Or, maybe let's give them all of our stuff. How does that sound? No. We're leaving, and that's final."

"Damn," Jack murmured underneath his breath as he watched the scene unfold. "Doesn't it remind you of someone?

The way that the big, burly man got angry was rather familiar to one of their friends. The overly sarcastic response to a rather innocent question was too hard to miss.

Ignoring Jack's side comment, Oliver remained indifferent as he continued watching.

"Let's move."

The group of soldiers marched onward as they headed towards the city. Not missing this chance to follow them, Oliver motioned to Jack and Strider to discreetly pursue them.

Following the group of soldiers with utmost silence, the three of them jumped from tree to tree as they watched over the soldiers from above.

"They sure are taking their time."

It was a fair observation that Jack let out as he watched these soldiers move. What's more, he could physically tell that these soldiers' morale was currently down in the dumps.

"As a soldier, what do you think of these guys?"

"These guys aren't soldiers," Jack immediately answered, in a confident tone, no less. "These guys sure have guns and the outfit for it, but the military doesn't train half-assed soldiers."

"If they aren't soldiers, then what are they?" Oliver refuted as he kept his gaze at these people, "They have access to military equipment. Their guns aren't something that normal people would have. Plus, these guys seemed rather organized during the fight back there."

"Organized, my ass," Jack continued, "These guys aren't organized for shit. In the military, we were trained with books first. It was the most fundamental training for us to learn when to cut our losses. That, back there, was something only idiots would do. Not to mention, they don't move like any soldier I've seen before. They act more like overeager recruits than anything else."

Impressed, Oliver gave Jack's assessment an approving nod.

Jack's observations on these people were distinct. Even though Oliver couldn't point these things out, the overall vibe they gave off was entirely different from the soldiers Oliver met before.

"So, who do you think these people are?" Jack asked as he tried to point some other things out.

"Can't tell. If they're not soldiers, I'd guess that the military hired them to act like one. Or, maybe they bought off the guns and equipment from some dirty soldier..."

As Oliver paused through his sentence, he jumped forward to a nearby tree branch before continuing.

"Either way, we're getting back to the city. Hopefully, we can get some answers when we get there."

The three of them continued to follow the group of people with great stealth and determination. Soon, Oliver followed the people into what seemed to be a barricade. By the look of things, the barricade housed numerous soldiers, turrets, and other military gear.

"Wait, wait," Jack reached his arm out horizontally and stopped Oliver from moving any closer.

"What's up?"

Squinting, Jack noticed something from one of the poles that the military had set up. It was something that he could easily recognize from his days as a soldier.

"Infrared."

Taking this chance to look at where Jack was staring, Oliver noticed some small cameras. If Jack hadn't stopped him just then, the whole barricade would be in an alarmed status by now.

"How do we go from here?" Oliver asked as he stood by and watched the group of people move into the barricade.

"From the look of things, this place should only be the forward outpost. We haven't reached the city just yet."

Oliver looked around the camp and counted more than one way to move forward. But he couldn't risk getting caught over some little mistake.

"I'm pretty sure we're just a stone's throw away from the city itself," Oliver added as he looked a bit closer at his surroundings. Following this, he then proceeded to explain what he had noticed.

"The buildings are everywhere. Judging by the landscape, we're already inside the city gates. It's just been overrun by all this forest. The houses are ruined, and whatever man-made structure here are entirely gone."

"How can you tell?"

"See that?" Oliver pointed at a nearby crater that had been blasted open by some explosive, "It's the sewers. Which means we're already somewhere inside the suburbs."

"Right...," Jack nodded, "So, what now?"

"You recognize anybody in the camp?" Oliver asked as he thought to appeal to whatever military personnel that Jack had a connection with.

"Probably some acquaintances here and there. I can't tell for sure because, from where we're standing, they're more blobs than actual people with faces."

Falling silent, Oliver got to thinking. And, a few seconds later, something rather uninspiring popped into his head.

"Okay," Oliver faced Jack, "You distract them while I slip past and go by unnoticed. We meet up after a few minutes, alright?"

Jack, upon hearing Oliver's senseless plan, immediately contorted his face in utter confusion.

"You insane?" Jack whispered loudly. "I can't do that! I'm not really that rememberable, you know. I'm gonna get screwed if somebody catches me."

"It's fine," Oliver reassured, "I'll be watching your back the entire time. Besides, we can't really move forward if we sit here and do nothing. Just... act like you belong."

After a few more rounds of convincing, Jack finally agreed.

He jumped down from his vantage point and casually walked forward. He continued to do so until he reached the very edge of the outpost.

From there, Jack audibly gulped a mouthful of dry air.

Nervous, he steadily walked forward as he paid attention to how the other soldiers would react. Fortunately, though, none of them seemed to care. These people were too busy dealing with their own thing.

Gaining some confidence, Jack slightly relaxed as he maintained his pace. Looking around, he could understand why he slipped by unnoticed.

The morale within these soldiers was exceptionally low.

Most of them had depressed looks on their faces as they conducted their tasks. Some cleaned their weapons, while others seemed to be taking naps. These people were worn out.

As Jack continued to look around as he walked, he didn't pay attention to what was directly in front of him. Until that is, he bumped into someone.

Stumbling back, Jack quickly apologized.

"Woops, sorry about that," he said as he swiftly moved to the side while averting the gaze of the person he bumped into.

Things, however, did not go the way he expected.

"Jack?"

Hearing the familiar voice, Jack raised his head and looked at the person that greeted him. He couldn't help but wonder how things got to this.

"Stevie?"

Surprised, Jack couldn't find his words. The person standing in front of him was an old buddy of his back in the orphanage where he grew up. While Jack was drafted into the military, Stevie wanted to pursue journalism.

Neither of them had seen the other for quite some time.

"Almost didn't recognize you there, pal," Stevie said as he chuckled, "What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you the same thing, man. This is a military outpost. Shouldn't you be writing a story somewhere safer?"

Perched up in a nearby tree, Oliver squinted his eyes a little bit.

'What the hell is that guy doing?'

As Oliver watched, he didn't understand what Jack was going on about. From where he was sitting, Oliver could tell that Jack was chatting with some guy. If this were Jack's attempt at distracting, he was not doing a very good job.

Letting out a deep sigh, Oliver watched the two continue talking. Until that is, something caught the corner of his eye.

'Oh... things are about to get interesting...'

Coming out from a tent, the group of soldiers they encounter before appeared. As the small group headed towards Jack, Oliver should feel worried.

But he wasn't.

The real plan was for Jack to get captured all along. Even though Oliver might not know what would happen to Jack, he was willing to take this risk. It was all in the hopes of building some rapport with these people.

Step by step, the group of soldiers made their way closer to Jack. Unfortunately, as Jack was too busy talking to his old friend, he couldn't notice the group of soldiers approaching. What's more unfortunate was Jack's back was turned as he faced away from the tent.

"Hey!"

Jack had been made. The burly man, leading the other soldiers, suddenly called over Jack. To his surprise, Jack reacted the way he normally would.

He froze in the spot and didn't move a single muscle.

"Aren't you the guy who saved us?" the sensible one ran forward and put a hand over Jack's shoulder. Jack, on the other hand, was tense but not because of fear.

In his mind, he could take care of these people without breaking a sweat. But, he wouldn't do such a thing unless it was inevitable. However, he was worried about something else.

Even without Oliver being by his side at this very moment, Jack was worried about what Oliver would do to these people. He was one who would kill people even when unprompted.

"Yes," Jack stiffly answered.

"Great! Where's your partner?"

"Why do you ask?" Jack became wary all of a sudden as his voice contained a slight tinge of hostility.

"I reported what actually happened to the commander and told them what happened," the sensible soldier explained, "And, he wants to meet you two and thank you for helping us out."

The situation was panning out rather well.