GANG TAKEOVER

[Karl's First Person POV] [Abandoned Mall]

The morning light began to rise as a new day began. The sky was cloudy today, a sight for sore eyes and a pleasant touch on the skin. The chilling wind with its smell of pungent smoke rising from that heap of a burned-out body pile was disgusting, but it was nothing new. It's going to rain today. Tyger's men are working hard to clean up the blood and remaining remnants of the dead in and around the mall. One group has been working on fixing the barricade and the generator.

Jenny and Lisa were resting on the top floor. They had worked too hard and killed multiple humans for the second time last night, plus spending the entire night behind sniper rifles while maintaining their focus, they were really tired. So, let them have some rest.

All in all, everything has become silent and stable after the massacre. I watched everything silently for a couple of minutes.

Everything is normal, almost as though the war the other night never happened.

Now, all we have to do is to interrogate that Jeremy fucker and get that map out of him. Tyger searched his body, but just as I expected, he wasn't carrying the map with him. He kept babbling on about how he burned the map, but since the System quest is still active and it's telling me to secure the map from him, this motherfucker Jeremy with one foot in the grave is still lying.

For now, they stopped his bleeding and strapped him up to a chair, properly. Let's say, he'll get some VIP treatment from me very soon. But that can wait for a few hours. After all that jumping, running, and killing, we are too exhausted. Even though they are still working, I can tell from their faces that the exhaustion has finally begun to hit them.

But it doesn't mean that I'm just watching them from afar like an asshole. Of course, not. I decided to be a benevolent savior and opened the freezer's door after removing the traps. Ange and I carried the canned foods out of the freezer to the main hall. Tyger also wanted to help, but considering that I beat the crap out of her, I forced her to just sit this one through and take some rest.

"This is a lifesaver. Even after everything, to think that you would help us... Thank you," Ange stood near me and whispered as we finally shifted out enough food for everyone.

"Let's bury the past and move forward. We are all in this together, it's only fair to help out," I nodded with a smile.

"That is true," She was a bit emotional, so, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down, "Haaa... What a night it was..." She leaned on the pillar and looked outside. Her brunette hair flowed with the wind. Involuntarily, she ruffled her head, her luscious hair spreading across the morning sunlight. "Say, you really think this safe base, or whatever it is, really exists?"

"I know it sounds like a fairy tale in this fucked up world, but yeah... I do. Besides, what more could go wrong with us taking a peek in there, right? If it's safe, we are going to take over it. If it doesn't exist, then we can always continue to live as we usually do and find another place to survive. Nothing to lose and a lot to gain. As long as we survive."

I sat on the stairs and stretched my legs a bit.

She smiled, "Haha, as long as we survive huh?... Alright, I guess this is worth giving a shot," She sat beside me and looked into my eyes, "Where did you learn all these tactics and martial arts? Don't get me wrong, but your experience looks way above your age and the fact that you took down that boss of mine isn't a small deal. And if we add what you did last night, it's almost impossible to think that you are barely 19."

"Well, 18 to be precise, and as for my experience, well, don't we all have a secret or two we prefer not sharing with strangers?"

"Oh? A mysterious figure. I like that," She nodded.

I rolled my eyes at her and smirked.

"Since we are strangers and circumstances brought us together, why don't we get to know each other a little? Come to think of it, we have never really gotten to know each other other than our names. Well, not that there was any time to sit and chat before."

"Umm... Fine, I guess you got a point..."

So, we talked for a bit. Ange is from Italy. She used to work in a gun range when the apocalypse occurred. She lost her family during the outbreak and was saved by Tyger, who happened to be searching for a safe place to stay with her gang. Ever since then, she joined her gang as a sniper. And that's pretty much it about her life. They have been traveling from one place to another every few months either to avoid other gangs or due to zombies and sometimes due to lack of resources.

"You are married?" I looked at her ring finger, "Who is the lucky man?"

"Ah!" She flinched a bit and subconsciously hugged her knees. "Haaaa..." Her body shivered, and her eyes were suddenly filled with anger, "Yeah, lucky man indeed. That bastard left me to die and ran away. If not for Tyger, I don't know where I'd be. Maybe walking among those zombies. You know the reason I still kept this ring?"

"To remind you not to forget about that fucker and kill him with your own hands after shoving that ring up his ass?" I said without holding back, making her widen her eyes.

"You bet I'll," She stretched her shirt a bit, "You see this scar?" There was a large scar mark over her left breast. Someone slashed her with a machete or something like that. I wonder how painful it was. It looks like a horrible cut. "We were attacked by some thugs. There were six of them. They gave us a choice. They will let us live if he silently sits in the corner of the room and allows them to have a piece of me. And guess what that fucker did? He ran away leaving me behind." She pulled her shirt back.

"I guess you fought back, huh?" I looked into her eyes.

"You bet your ass I did. Killed three of them, with a kitchen knife, but one got me from behind and the other slashed me up in rage. The last thing I remember was Tyger's face and gunshots and then everything was black. When I woke I found out that she killed those bastards and saved me. I was out for like a month or so. And as you already know how scarce medicine is. Yet, she found a surgeon and patched me up," Ange ruffled her hair and let out a loud, long sigh, "So, I joined her team and carried out her order without a question."

"Sigh! My story is somewhat the same as yours, minus the attack part. My dad ran away a week before the apocalypse with another woman, leaving my stepmom and step-sister alone with me. We didn't even know that he had run away since we were staying in our farmhouse with our grandparents. Then the apocalypse occurred when we were returning home. It got pretty bad. We barricaded ourselves in a small cycle store and called Dad over a video call and guess what? A nude woman picked up the phone and he was strapped onto an X-shaped cross, drunk off his mind, with two dildos stuck in his ass..."

I stopped for a moment. I don't know if I should get angry or laugh at that bastard. Ange also shook her head and patted my back.

"The world is going to hell and there he was enjoying his sick pleasure with his mistress. So that's the last time we contacted him. After that, we somehow kept running and scavenging food and resources from the stores and the houses nearby until we reached home. We locked ourselves in and went out only to get food and water. But mutated zombies began to appear in that area. Our neighbors died one after another, and after three weeks of struggle, the infected broke into our house. It was pretty bad. I became the bait while Jenny and Lisa escaped to the car. Then I jumped off the second floor. Broke my arms, but thankfully I survived. Then we drove straight to our forest cabin and we were living pretty peacefully till you guys showed up... That's my story..."

As I finished telling her my story, Tyger came to us.

"Should distribute the food, now?"

"Uumm... You are asking me? Aren't you supposed to be the boss?" I questioned with a smirk.

"Well, I got beaten up by you, betrayed by my own people multiple times, you then saved our asses from Jeremy and even took the risk of going near that zombie hoard just to lure them in, so..." Tyger gave a nod as the remaining forty people gathered behind her, "So, we all came to a conclusion after a vote. Karl, you will lead us from this moment."

*****

Ping!

Mission Reward: Take over the gang

Accept [Y/N]

*****

---

Support link: pat reon.com/UnknownMaster

[15 advance chapters] [No double billing. You get 1 month regardless of the date you join]