5 Planning for the Future

"Sharp, is that you?" William quickly took out the walkie talkie. Internally, he was glad that he brought Gloria along because he had completely forgotten about bringing a walkie talkie along with him. Since he was off duty, his own was left back at home, which must have been destroyed due to the bomb.

"Yes."

"Where are you?"

"I'm in Huan Hotel."

Huan Hotel?

William looked at the window that was headed to the east's direction. The large plate named Huan Hotel could be seen as clear as day from this position. However, the distance between this hotel and Huan hotel were more than one hundred meters.

"I'm in Yihua Hotel right at the opposite direction."

"… WHY DON'T YOU HEAD HERE?'

"The infected are coming from the east after the explosion. I can only head over to the nearby mall at the west and ended up coming here after walking a bit," William explained bitterly. Great, his comrade was on the opposite direction from his current location.

"Can you come here?"

"Negative."

"Why?"

"I'm bringing a civilian with me. Until she can adapt to the new condition and protect herself, I can't bring her out."

"Can't you just leave her alone in the hotel?"

William looked at Gloria, who was sitting on the carpeted floor and tried to turn the television on. There was still electricity in this city since the source was quite far from the capital city, but it was not known until when it would last. At the same time, there were a lot of channels that wouldn't be able to be seen anymore at this time.

Should he leave her?

"Gloria."

"Yes?"

"Do you want to come along with me or stay in this hotel with your food stash?"

Gloria blinked her eyes. Her dark eyes were looking at the walkie talkie that William was holding before she replied, "Come along."

William nodded. "Alright, you hear her answer, right?"

"…Damn you William."

"Thank you for your kind praise."

"Since when I praise you?"

William chuckled. He turned around once more and looked down to the street. There were a lot of cars left on the street, but it was still quite empty. Several infected could be seen roaming around the street.

"Do you remember the report regarding the infected?"

"Stop calling them infected, they have their name," the man named Sharp retorted. "They're called Xermo."

"That's a weird name."

"I'm not the one giving the name!"

William rolled his eyes. He knew that it was the formal name for the people who got infected and mutated to this point. The researchers had secretly researching about their behavior and all for a long time before they finally gave the nickname Xermo to them.

As for the reason, it was based on their long research of the people's behavior and bla bla bla…

William certainly didn't have the heart to read all those long reports regarding the Xermo that was filled with scientific terms. He might be a good soldier, but he has quite a poor apprehension about those terms.

"Fine, how long those Xermo lived?"

"Don't you read the report?"

"Don't you remember how poor I fare in biology back in high school?"

Sharp sighed. "Depends. Those who stay as normal Xermo won't be able to live past 30 days. However, the scientist discovered that they can evolve and grow stronger."

"Then?"

"Then it's not known what happened. The research institute is destroyed because one Xermo changed and grow stronger. He destroyed the buildings completely. They didn't manage to get the necessary data to know what caused the change and all."

William sighed. Should he be glad that the Xermo that was infected run away in different country that geographically didn't connect with Country V? Still, he knew that there might be some Xermo that changed in this place later on.

"How did the virus spread?"

"Through air?"

"Didn't that mean we're all already exposed to the virus?" William asked rhetorically.

Sharp was silent for a moment. He didn't think about it so much in the past. After all, they didn't experience any change to their body despite living for so long after they came into contact near the Xermo because of some cases.

"What are you implying?"

"Could it be that we might have already infected but not realizing it?"

"…Is the Corona Virus case from the previous time makes your brain turn weird?"

"…"

William sighed. He looked outside once more and his eyes narrowed. "Since the capital city is destroyed, what do you think will happen to Country V?"

"It'll be fine. They're already planning to move the capital city to somewhere else, so part of the officials is safe. They might be trying to find a way to rebuilt the country one way or another. Besides, the local officials from other cities might be trying to find method to survive too. Are you worrying about other cities?"

"Yes."

"That's so not like you…"

"If other cities also fall, there won't be any safe place anymore."

Sharp: "…" I should have realized that your priority is to stay safe.

"Sharp, can you collect some weapons and head over here. We'll need to do some cleaning if we wish to stay here."

"Got it. You also need to find some weapon and begin cleaning. I'll head there soon and make sure to set the walkie talkie so that I can contact you all the time."

"Sure."

William turned the walkie talkie off and noticed that Gloria had somehow managed to find a channel that was still on. It was currently giving news regarding the destruction that occurred in the capital city from outside channels.

"It's still on?"

"For now," Gloria replied. She pointed to the television. "There are three cities bombed today."

"…All in Country V?"

"Yes."

William sighed and rubbed his head. Even though Country V was considered as slightly lacking compared to many other big countries, they have high population. It wouldn't be weird if some big countries chose to target this country first before they made their move. The president had truly poked the hornet nest by deciding to participate in the war.

"Let's eat some food first."

Well, he would think about that later. For now, the most important thing would be to fill his belly with food.