Umbrella I

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Chapter 13: Umbrella I

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And so, the town was taken over in less than a day, although that certainly wasn't the end of it. The cleaning process needs to be done again and again... And again.

The majority of the population of the town either died or turned into zombies, most of them having been eaten by zombies, specifically, the deformed zombie that Silver had just met.

That made things a lot easier for the cleaning team as they followed Silver's instructions, using all kinds of cleaning solutions that are usually used against dangerous viruses.

The team was of course compromised mostly of the researchers under Silver as they knew what to do best, although they also had the help of some other individuals who have similar expertise.

The night didn't stop them as they continued with their work, those too tired could only sleep in the car, and the survivors of town were naturally given some food, water, and told to wait. Many of them were starving, some were even dying of dehydration.

All the contaminated objects in the town were either transported to the center to be burned or were disintegrated by Loyd.

And just like that, three days passed in the blink of an eye, three days of continuous work, Silver's underlings taking shifts to finish the job as fast as possible.

Thankfully, Silver always kept some of his people on the highest roofs of the town, keeping them there to watch out for incoming danger, maybe expecting another swarm of insects to pass by.

Such a scenario was expected considering the zombies' aggression and infinite desire to devour energy, so precautions were already made against them, simply hiding in tightly shut areas.

So far, the only weakness of the zombie insects is their size which they usually make up for by their unlimited numbers, but there is nothing they can do if the 'food' hid in safe tightly shut areas.

There are no known insects that can break through glass. Insects, including those with strong jaws or sharp mouthparts, do not possess the physical strength or adaptations to break or penetrate solid glass surfaces.

Silver was at least assured of that, although only temporarily as he wasn't sure what kind of monster would be born with the virus' constant evolution.

So most people just hid in their cars and waited for the swarms to hopefully pass, knowing every other possible opening in the cars was already shut tight in accordance with Silver's instructions, especially the ventilation systems.

"You told me to join you, but what are your plans?" Silver chose to stay in Albert's house as he got to know the middle-aged man quite well in the past few days, the latter agreeing to join him.

"I want to create a sanctuary, Umbrella Sanctuary," Silver responded as he took a sip of nice hot coffee.

"Umbrella?" Albert narrowed his eyes as he side-glanced at his daughter, Layla, "The shelter from the dark rain that's covering the world."

"Sure," Silver shrugged, not correcting his assumption, although Albert might've realized that Umbrella means something else entirely, "A sanctuary for people to show their talents in doomsday... To survive, maybe more?"

"More?" Albert smiled before instructing Layla, "Layla, leave us alone for a bit."

The teenager remained silent but obeyed his word, seeming like the silent type, "Quite the mature and intelligent girl, isn't she?" Silver remarked with a smile.

"Oh?" Albert raised a brow, "What gave it away?"

"You," Silver answered.

"Oh," Albert wasn't sure of how much Silver really knows or how ridiculous his ability is, so he remained silent for a while before saying, "She's my little treasure, the only light in this dark world... I joined you, but..."

He wanted to give out a warning, but his words were cut short, "Say no more... I'm far less interested in abilities than the minds of those who possess them. Well, I'm interested in having bright minds like yours by my side. With an ability or not doesn't matter."

"Why am I still underestimating you?" Albert shook his head, "But well, it's my duty as a father to be cautious in times like this, so excuse my caution... However, I would have to disagree with you, our minds without abilities wouldn't amount to much considering the first stage of the game will end in only a year."

"I understand," Silver nodded, "Research takes years, so what can we do in just one year? No, even less... Abilities have much more short-term potential, so they should be the focus in order to survive the first stage."

"So why?" Albert asked.

"I'm..." Silver stopped himself from giving out too much information, contemplating how to speak his mind, "The first stage is no challenge... I'm thinking about the latter stages."

"No challenge?" Albert was speechless, but he saw not a shred of doubt or hesitation in Silver's eyes, as if the entire world was in his hands.

"However, awakeners are indeed valuable as they can make things much quicker," Silver commented, "Also... You said before that your daughter is the only light left in this dark world... I'm giving you a heads-up. She has to join the dark to survive, not only for your sake but for hers too."

Albert frowned, looking displeased as he opened his mouth to refute... Nothing came out. What is there to rebut? Will Doomsday be kind to light? He knew that Silver was right.

Their conversation was cut short as their ears caught something, the sound of a deafening explosion coming from the distance.

Silver stood up, looking at the source of the explosion, but he saw nothing, "That's the direction of New York?"

The only thing that reached them was the loud sound of the explosion for it was far away, "A nuclear bomb?" Albert frowned.

"More likely a nuclear power plant..." Silver stroked his chin, "There are three nuclear power plants in New York, one of which might've just fallen. The electricity may be going out soon."

Most of the towns in the regions surrounding New York obtain their electricity from the city, specifically, from its nuclear power plants among other sources.

The fall of the nuclear power plants will have a major effect on the region, likely cutting off electricity from the entire city and its surroundings. Hell, the fall of even one power plant will lead to a major power failure.

"Just what's happening in the city?" Silver had to wonder, unable to predict the variables that could appear there. Curiosity was burning within him, but he quickly calmed himself down, deleting any notion of going into the city right now... He wasn't ready for that just yet.

And as Silver expected, electricity was soon cut off, confirming that indeed, one of the power plants had fallen.

"I was surprised that electricity would actually stay on for this long," Albert remarked with uneasiness, "Doomsday, huh?"

"That surprised me too, but it finally happened," Silver nodded as he stroked his chin, "However, in case of loss of personnel control, nuclear reactors are designed to automatically shut down... Why did they stay on for so long, and why did this one explode?"

"You think the disaster is manmade?" Albert asked.

"You see, that's the problem," Silver narrowed his eyes as he had a frightening guess, "I'm not certain that it's not zombie made in some way."

"What does that mean exactly?" Albert was understandably confused.

"Zombies... The T Virus as I call it. It desires energy and evolution, and it does so by proliferation which often leads to deformities at the cellular level... Nuclear radiation does that too. Don't you think that they suit each other rather well?" Silver responded, a smile slowly emerging on his face despite the bleak future of humanity.

The implications of his words made Albert shudder, but Silver kept even more frightening guesses for himself... Can Zombies gain consciousness? Can they become aware to the extent that they would be able to see the value of nuclear power plants?

No, maybe it's in their instinct to detect and seek energy. Maybe some zombies took power plants as their homes.

Maybe, just maybe, some lucky zombie found themselves in the nuclear reactor or near it, and somehow, the T Virus can devour nuclear energy... Maybe their evolution was a success.

There were so many possibilities that Silver simply couldn't think of them all, one of the reasons why he chose to move his home base to Woodbury which is about 60 miles away from New York City, but he certainly didn't forget about the facility.

Since the Emp scream which was likely the doing of an evolved zombie or an awakener, the cell service still has yet to come back, and that doesn't seem to be related to the Emp scream... The World was quickly falling into darkness. No electricity, no cell service... No humans?