Chapter 41: Preparations

Adam awoke to find a horde of Stalkers swooping down on the shelter from the other blocks of the development. Their little foray into block 2 seemed to have disturbed a hornet's nest. There must have been hundreds of them.

The fight lasted for hours and was exhausting, but the number of fighters had increased significantly, so in the end both buildings managed to hold on without any losses. The real problem was the number of corpses that were piling up.

"I think everyone who didn't help in the defense should take care of the bodies," said Leonard.

"The problem is that some of them are demanding payment," replied Adam.

"Then I hope to see them kill at least one Stalker tonight, because I don't agree to pay them anything," Zack was tired and angry. "Besides, who pays us to do the most dangerous job?"

"I agree that the protection you offer should not be free. I believe that, over time, the non-combatants will be able to occupy more and more vital support positions, depending on their skills."

Carlos was the representative of the non-combatants and was trying to mediate with the others. Adam put his hands to his head. In just one day he was already exhausted from being the leader. The issue with the survivors was complicated and tensions were rising between the two sides.

"Well, I hope they start to be useful very soon," Leonard pressed Carlos. Because right now we need help to eliminate the zombies and there are not enough of us.

Carlos sighed. Like Adam, he didn't like the way things were going either. He had fought the zombies, but after what happened with the Ambusher, the desire to face them disappeared.

He was beginning to see a serious problem. The fighters were, without any doubt, in complete control of the shelter. Part of him was relieved that there were people willing to fight, but on the other hand, he realized that he was falling behind in terms of levels. He was almost certain that if he tried to take on Leonard, he would lose in a humiliating way.

While Carlos was trying to think of a solution, Adam interrupted the conversation.

"I agree to pay them, but Carlos, listen to me carefully. The condition for giving you the crystals is that, in addition to collecting the bodies, you organize the survivors. We need to know their classes, skills and talents. Also, think about how they can help us."

Carlos nodded. He also thought it was a bad idea to keep the situation as it was. He firmly believed that something had to be done by the survivors, as this would help them with the severe depression he had noticed in most of them.

"I hope they start making themselves useful soon, because when food gets scarce, they'll be the first to hit the streets," said Zack.

Adam scowled at him.

"With any luck we won't go to such extremes, but I'm afraid you're partly right. We need to support each other if we want to get this shelter up and not die trying."

Miguel decided to give his opinion before the situation worsened. Zack opened his mouth to say something, but Adam interrupted.

"That's enough. Let's move on to another important matter. We need to secure the nearby buildings. We'll split into several groups and each group will take on a target. Any objections?" After no one said anything, Adam continued, "Zack, Miguel, each of you will lead a group, you can choose your members from those who are willing to take the risk."

"Do you want me to babysit the cowards? I don't think so, it will be better that all of them go with Miguel, because my group will not accept them" Zack shouted.

Miguel shook his head.

"Ok, I think that's the best option," he then turned to Adam and asked, "What will your group do, Adam?

"We'll clean up the neighboring building. Which Terry warned us about yesterday," Miguel nodded before replying.

"Be very careful. I have a bad feeling about that building."

Adam nodded, he felt the same. The unnatural silence that seemed to reign inside made his hair stand on end.

A few hours later, all the teams were ready. Miguel was with Leonard and a handful of survivors who had decided to join the fight, most notably Alfred, Carlos' son. After experimenting during the previous day, he had found a form of combat with which he was satisfied. He had managed to obtain, after numerous problems, the strength of a male gorilla. In addition, he could also bark like a dog and unleash a kind of sonic attack.

Alfred had to admit that using his skills could be quite embarrassing, but he soon found himself fascinated with what the system was capable of. To get a characteristic from an animal, he had to know it thoroughly, and luckily, thanks to his experience as a veterinarian's assistant, the system allowed him to deepen his knowledge of dogs by choosing his biologist class. However, he couldn't just copy anything he wanted. He was able to modify his hand to a dog's paw and the experience had been so uncomfortable that he abandoned such an idea immediately. Barking was the option he was most comfortable with.

Learning about gorillas didn't take that much work either, even though he didn't know much about them. This was thanks to the fact that included in his package was a book that detailed them accurately. At first, he thought he would have to spend the whole week reading, but he found he could use it like a wizard learning a spell. He just had to touch it and think about learning the contents. The result was a headache and a profound knowledge of gorillas. It didn't take long to decide on musculature.

It was also fortunate that the system adjusted the changes in his body to his human form. This prevented his muscles from being as bulky as a gorilla's, which would have been quite a problem. Alfred couldn't wait to test himself in combat, much to the horror of his father, who didn't agree with what he was doing.

Unfortunately, Ivy still wasn't able to get up after absorbing all that energy in yesterday's escape. Although, to everyone's relief, it seemed her body was adjusting to it. The biggest changes she had undergone were black veins covering part of her arms, and her eyes had become colored a dark black.

On the other hand, Zack gathered his men from block 2. Anin, who was the only one with the [Rogue] class in the whole group, and three others. A Warrior, an Archer and a Healer who had decided to start fighting; and who Zack had accepted only because he needed a healer urgently.

Adam's group met the other two at the parking lot exit. Zack would continue on to Block 3, where Tracel had lost contact with another small group of survivors. Miguel would take charge of clearing the building the dog had come out of the day before. He hoped the combat in it wouldn't be too intense for the numerous rookies that accompanied him.

Adam finally took a closer look at the block next door to the shelter. The silence that ruled over it was unnatural. The zombies inside seemed unaffected by the noise outside and none of the nearby human presences, which was strange in itself.

Suddenly, Adam felt something and turned to look down at the ground. He could feel something down there. The night before, after going to sleep, he had leveled up to level 10 and gained an interesting skill: [Advanced Geological Intuition]. It allowed him to detect valuable resources underground. Just now he could sense the presence of something emanating power a few meters below the surface. Another sample of the ridiculous abilities the system could demonstrate.

"You'd better watch this." Zack shouted from the street facing block 3. Miguel and Adam looked at each other, concerned. Zack's tone was hesitant.

They all moved closer and it didn't take long to realize what Zack was referring to. Compared to the day before, the main street of the suburb was clear of zombies, but in their place was something worse. A mass of throbbing flesh stretched from the plaza to the streets, covering numerous cars in its wake. Even as they watched, the mass seemed to spread inch by inch over the streets.

"I think this means a change of plans," said Adam.

"No," Miguel replied, to Adam's surprise. "My group is not ready for the unknown, we need more time."

Adam realized that half of Miguel's group was about to vomit.

"Just what we needed, another monstrosity on the prowl."

Adam agreed with Zack, this was already ridiculous.

"Besides," Miguel continued, "we can't forget that the Breeder could appear at any moment. If we're dealing with that mass right then, things are going to get ugly.

"Let's back off, I think I'm getting sick just looking at that thing."

Everyone agreed with Leonard and backed off immediately. Adam pulled out his phone and called Terry, who picked up in a bad mood.

"What?"

"There's trouble, we need Rony to scan the square to find out what's going on there, keep him away."

"Oh! Okay, it sounds more serious than I thought."

"I'll clear the next block over, so contact me in a few hours."

"Okay, good luck boss."

Adam put the phone away and looked at his team. They were all here. Except Tarin, who apparently had spent too much time trying to learn the [Fireball] spell and now had to rest to recover. Apparently learning something the way Tarin was trying to learn it, took a great deal of energy. Marlen, on the other hand, was not at full strength, but had slept through the previous night's attack. So she woke up with much more energy and was ready to fight.

"It's time, get ready." Adam said to everyone.