Destination

Their destination was the last city known to be an abandoned wasteland to the government and the rest of the camps, to the members who travelled the outside world and those who did not wish to be subjected to camps, it was public land with its economy and own living standards, there were walls and gates stop stopping people leaving and entering.

The main difference between the two places is that there are no strict requirements to leave to enter, they only needed to pass the corruption test. The director rehearsed these words into Yuto.

"So is this place better than the camps we were in?"

"Not exactly... Because of the extra requirements and not having freedom of entry and exit allowed the place to be more fortified and less rampant readers to invade our home, The city does have its militia but comparing the convoy and equipment of the military at the camps would be unfair, the reason the government hasn't taken care of this city yet was that they are unaware of their existence but if they were to find out, I think they would most likely formulate a plan between the remaining camps"

"If they are so superior then why would the government want to attack them?"

"They used a food-based economy, no rations and no paper money like in my times, the streets of the last city are filled with merchants daily and let's them safely sell the food they fished or hunted for, poverty in the city is very rare as those who have food will sell it for a different type of food which creates an ecosystem of unlimited food supply"

Yuto listens to the director and realises that this could be indeed a very good way to run a country, the benefits show themselves as there is no poverty and lack of food but at the cost of security.

"Why don't they try upgrading their security?"

"Food doesn't trade well against guns, I doubt any government would do that sort of trade even if they were desperate for food, both guns and food have become sacred and abundant at the same time, those in camps lack food and those in the city lack guns, it shows you the opposite side of society, so where is this leading you ask? I want all of you to make sure to throw away your ideals from the camp and blend in with the citizens, they don't like the government and their people for rejecting their entry... Even if it's not the people's fault"

Talking about the details of the city brings a smile again back to the directors face, these tiny moments remind him why he still lives and why he must persist, for all the children left and for the future of humanity, that's what this bunch of people meant, Yuto being a capable leader and Maya having the innocence to persuade people's hearts.

Kenzo the last one as qualities of being able to know the loopholes and figure out the exploits like he has been doing in many street games winning him extra rations, he isn't good at hiding them from the director but once he's forced to share them you can see a glimpse of kindness and happiness behind that act he puts up.

"Director! Why are you smiling?"

Maya caught him smiling to himself confused at this change of state so suddenly

"Nothing Maya, do not worry about me, just continue going forward with Yuto and Kenzo while I watch the back"

"Ok!"

She storms off towards Yuto and Kenzo grabbing them both by the hand while he continues watching the trio in front of him, He was proud of them all for growing so well in a world so corrupted and destroyed, nobody ever since the time before the shadows arrived down on earth as he felt more nostalgic, it was like seeing kids returning from school and having dreams of saving the world and helping everyone, it was such a pure-hearted scene in the director's mind.

"Hurry up, director!"

Maya called the director to come back to join the team and continue towards the last city. They were about halfway through the day and the sun had passed towards the east more and more rapidly, night was going to hit soon and they would have to set up camp before arriving in the city the next day.

"All right EVERYONE, we are pitching camp here tonight, we honestly don't have much to sleep on other than the floor due to the emergency escape we made but with this amount of food that we stored up, it shouldn't be hard to trade it in for sleeping bags for us all"

They all whined in annoyance while lying down on the hard floor, they knew that they wouldn't be able to reach the city in time as the sun was falling so fast but they didn't want to sleep on the floor either, they were all left at a loss not knowing what to do.

"But director, we won't get any sleep at this rate, there's no way any of us are going to sleep on the ground..."

"Did it look like I was asking Kenzo? why aren't you like Yuto more, just take what you have and use it"

Kenzo pouted at the comment left by the director but didn't utter another word for that entire night, this was a deep hit after what happened at the library and the director knew this would affect Kenzo enough to stop whining, Maya didn't have much issue sleeping as being such a small child means that you can fall asleep fast due to the excess amount of walking they had to do.

14 Hours pass by

We see the director and Yuto awake before everyone else, they have been up for around 3 hours already getting around 11 hours of sleep while Kenzo Maya needed the extra time to regenerate the energy they have lost during the constant day of walking the last city, their life was going to change the next day as they set out to find any comfort left in the outside world away from the wastelands and potential attack of monsters.