Chapter 32: Ambition

Tarin nodded and invited Adam in. Minutes later, he and Tracel were facing each other at the living room table, both with a cup of coffee in hand.

"How long do you think these products will last us?" Adam asked.

Tracel took a drink and spoke a few seconds later.

"I don't think it will be a problem in the short term. Besides, sooner or later we'll have access to the stores in the plaza. I just hope the zombies haven't ruined the goods. But... as much as I appreciate this talk, I think we should get down to business. Are you here to question me about my plans?"

Adam shook his head.

"I know you're ambitious and that you're interested in owning the shelter. But the most important thing for me right now is to understand the situation at the suburb. As I understand it, you've made contact with other survivors outside, in other buildings."

"You're a strange leader."

"Excuse me?"

"You are very strange. You know my intentions, you know very well that I want to overthrow you and yet you can ask me something like that and expect me not to lie. From my point of view, we are in a competition for power and helping you is not beneficial to me."

"That's because I think we should all collaborate now that…"

"Yes, I understand your idea of collaboration and it is correct to some extent. But you don't seem very interested in your leadership position, why don't you collaborate and give the position to me? That way, I'm sure we can understand each other much better."

Adam looked at Tracel, trying to understand if he was serious. Before he could speak further, Tracel continued.

"You're not willing to give up your position, and if someone more suitable came along, I don't think you'd give it up so easily. You're not as ambitious as I am, but you are."

Adam conceded Tracel's point.

"You may be right, but I also don't want to give up my seat to you simply because I don't like you."

"That's strange, too. You seek my help, but then you're so sincere," Tracel sighed before continuing. I guess the best I can do for now is to help you, right? I've been in contact with some neighbors. In block 2 there are two "safe" buildings, the problem is that there is a creature in the superblock that is giving them problems. I even lost contact with the leader of one of the buildings.

Adam nodded and waited for Tracel to finish his cup of coffee.

"In block 1 there is also another building with survivors, right at the entrance to the suburb, above the bakery. Besides the superblock group, those are all the ones I've had contact with."

"Do you think there may be more?"

"That may be, but, after watching your fight against the Berserker, I've become convinced that those who didn't start cleaning their building from the beginning by this time will be dead."

Adam felt a shudder as he listened to Tracel. Again he was relieved that he had come out of his house to face the zombies.

"Something curious," Tracel continued. "Despite the fact that two groups of survivors have cleared their buildings of enemies and obtained property, none of them have established a haven. I recall that the system specified that there could only be one shelter per area. How big does that area have to be? Does it cover the entire suburb or is it larger?"

"I don't know, but I think it's important to know, although I don't think we can do anything until we explore outside."

"Another thing, this time more worrisome. The system message didn't say that there can't be more than one shelter of the same species in an area. That makes me wonder, can the zombies establish a haven?"

Adam was silent, trying to process what Tracel had told him. It wasn't just the implication of the haven, but the fact that zombies could be considered by the system as a new species and were getting the same help from it.

Before he could think of an answer, Tracel's cell phone began to ring. The man looked at the cell phone for a few seconds and then said.

"It's Indi, an acquaintance in block 2. I'll put it on speaker."

"Tracel? Can you hear me? It's urgent!"

"I hear you Indi, tell me what's going on."

"Miguel has decided to leave the building and move to the haven. Last night we were attacked by the creature I told you about, it turns out it's a zombie and according to Miguel it's a Breeder."

"Breeder?"

"Yes, we don't know much, but we think it can create others of its own kind, last night it attacked along with a group of winged zombies."

"That could be a problem, but how are they going to get away? You told me the zombie was attacking anything that came out of the apartment."

"It looks like he was injured last night or lost too many of his own, Miguel went out to the parking lot and wasn't attacked. But, worse, he says he was able to observe the superblock and it's swarming with zombies, they seem to be multiplying."

Adam and Tracel looked at each other for a second. They were just talking about the possibility of a haven in the hands of zombies and now this happened.

"I think they'd better get over here, I'm going to put you through to Adam, the haven leader."

Adam picked up the phone.

"Your name is Indi, isn't it? Can I talk to Miguel?"

"Wait a minute."

Adam took the opportunity to finish drinking all his coffee while he waited for Miguel. Neither Tracel nor he said a word until the old military man picked up.

"Are you Adam? I hope there is no problem with my group, we are in a critical situation."

"No problem, I think we'll have plenty of room, but I want you to tell me more about the superblock and the creature."

"Okay, but we'll be leaving in half an hour, so I can't talk too much."

The conversation that followed lasted a quarter of an hour. Miguel described in detail the zombie and the night attack they had suffered.

Adam said goodbye to Tracel after the short talk and called his entire team. Noah, Tarin, Miriam, Marlen and Rony met at Adam's apartment, where he explained what had happened.

"Terry, I need Rony to scout the route, Miguel and his team will wait until they have information about the obstacles along the way. We will start killing zombies from the entrance to the parking lot and ignore the buildings for now. Everyone should be on the lookout for anything approaching us."

With everything set up, the team headed to the parking lot and killed the few zombies wandering around. Adam and the others headed for the parking lot exit. The group moved forward carefully, killing all the Stalkers along the way and not taking their eyes off the nearby buildings and gardens. Rony came down and approached the group.

"Adam, I think there's something strange about the building you're passing. I don't detect any hostile presence, but I can see through the visual camera that there are some zombies in the corridors."

"I'm afraid we'll have to wait to investigate, continue to block 2 and contact Miguel's group. Remember to fly low when approaching the superblock."

"Fine, but, if I were you, I wouldn't neglect it for long. That something can hide from Rony's detection system indicates special magic, I'm sure there's an evolved zombie with a strange power in that building."

Adam nodded, but signaled Terry again to continue. His view strayed to the building where they had found the anomaly, the same building where Adam lived, only it was divided into three apartment blocks, not connected to each other. Adam's building was at the left end, while this one was in the middle.

The garden railings were covered by a large cayenne flower plant, which prevented everyone from being able to observe what was inside. For that reason, the group stayed well away from the fence until they got past that area.

"I don't like this at all," said Marlem. There are too many zombies everywhere. Are there no more survivors? There can't be that few of us.

No one in the group answered, they just kept moving forward, hoping they wouldn't run into something worse as they rounded the corner.

It didn't take them long to reach the bend that led to the main road of the suburb. The group was shocked by the spectacle. There were numerous cars that had crashed and the street was filled with zombies, hundreds of them. Not only that, Adam observed with some pessimism, numerous special boxes littered all over the street, abandoned in a panic.

"Do you think anyone who had been out of their house could have survived?" Miriam asked.

"I made it, but I was lucky to be near the superblock. Still, I left my pack too, so they could still be alive," said Noah.