Meeting: The Point of Fate

The apocalyptic world is like a picture scroll painted by dark brushstrokes, and every place is filled with the smell of death and despair. In the ruins of the city, the survivors are like candles in the wind, struggling to survive in this barren land.

Ryan led his squad of survivors through a crumbling neighborhood. They carefully skirted around a burning wreck of a car and sprawling bodies, their vigilant eyes scanning every corner around them that might hide danger. Everyone in the group looked exhausted, but the desire to survive still shone in their eyes.

There was a young man named Jamie in the group, who had a sturdy and strong body, and was currently carrying the injured little girl on his back. The little girl's face is slightly pale because of the pain, she clutched Jamie's clothes, tears in her eyes, her body slightly trembling. There was also an old man with a homemade walking stick who looked a little strained with each step, but his eyes were resilient. The young mother, on the other hand, was holding her baby, following closely behind Ryan, her gaze looking at the surroundings from time to time, filled with worry.

"Everyone be careful, the situation here is not quite right." Ryan warned in a low voice, in his hand he was holding tightly the iron rod that had accompanied him from countless battles until now, the blood stained on the iron rod had long since dried up, but it had witnessed the hardships that they had traveled along the way.

Just then, a noisy sound came from not far away, like some kind of large creature moving, accompanied by a low growl and the sound of heavy objects colliding. Ryan immediately signaled for everyone to stop, and the group held their breath, nervously watching the direction from which the sound came.

In the other direction, Clare was leading the survivors in the hospital to find a new safe haven. They had been holding out in the hospital for far too long, with resources nearly depleted and the threat of the infected growing. Clare walked at the front of the group, her nurse's uniform long worn and torn, but the clean white undertones still seemed to symbolize the hope that had never been extinguished in her heart.

There was a young doctor in the group, Eric, who, along with Clare, was doing most of the medical treatment. He carried a backpack full of medical supplies, few of which were left, but each of which was precious. There was also a nurse, Lucas, who was close by Clare's side, an improvised weapon in her hand and both fear and determination in her eyes.

"Clare, can we really find safety walking blindly like this?" Eric asked with some concern.

Clare bit her lip, "We have no other choice, we must try."

Suddenly, the road ahead was blocked by a group of infected. These infected were in different forms, some were missing arms and legs, some were covered in blood, and their eyes were filled with a crazed desire for flesh and blood.

"Prepare for battle!" Clare shouted, as she picked up a metal pole that had been removed from a hospital bed and used it as a weapon. Eric and Lucas also raised their weapons and joined the other survivors in a defensive formation.

The infected roared and charged, and Clare swung the metal pole, hitting an infected in the head hard enough to knock it back. But more Infected surged forward, their attacks becoming more and more violent, and the defense line began to loosen.

"Don't panic everyone, stay in formation!" Clare shouted, trying to stabilize everyone's emotions.

In the midst of the battle, a survivor was unfortunately caught by the infected, and he let out a desperate cry. Seeing this, Clare rushed over without hesitation and stabbed the infected in the eye with a metal pole, successfully rescuing the survivor.

"Thank you ...," the survivor looked at Clare gratefully.

"Don't get distracted, keep fighting!" Clare responded, her gaze still firmly fixed on the infected that kept coming in front of her.

Meanwhile, Ryan's side was in great danger. The source of that cacophony gradually became clearer, and it turned out to be a huge mutated rhinoceros. Its size was several times larger than an ordinary rhino, the scales on its body flashed with a cold light under the sunlight, and its huge rhino horns were like sharp spears, every time it trampled on the ground, it made the surrounding buildings tremble slightly.

"This thing is not easy to deal with, everyone spread out!" Ryan shouted.

The crowd quickly spread out in all directions, trying to find a place to hide. Jamie put down the little girl and picked up a large stone as a weapon, preparing to fight against the mutated rhinoceros. The old man, on the other hand, took the little girl and hid behind an abandoned car. The young mother, holding her baby tightly, hid in a corner with terror in her eyes.

The mutant rhino spotted them, it lowered its head and charged towards Ryan. Ryan nimbly dodged the rhino's onslaught, and he used the obstacles around him to maneuver around the rhino. But the rhino's speed and strength was too much, and every charge made Ryan close.

"Jamie, find a way to attack its eyes!" Ryan shouted.

Jamie nodded, and he took advantage of the gap between the rhino's charge at Ryan and quietly circled around to the rhino's flank. When the rhino turned around again, Jamie threw the boulder towards the rhino's eye with all his strength. The boulder accurately hit the rhino's eye, and the rhino let out a roar of pain as it began to frantically thump around, smashing the surrounding buildings and vehicles to pieces.

In the midst of all the chaos, Ryan saw an opportunity. He climbed into an abandoned truck and threw a wooden stick with a sharp metal head from a high place towards the rhino's other eye. The wooden stick pierced deep into the rhino's eye, and the rhino went into a complete frenzy.

"Everyone run!" Ryan shouted as he jumped down from the truck and ran in everyone's direction.

The crowd fled the scene, with the mutated rhino in hot pursuit behind them. During their escape, they came across a narrow alleyway that was filled with debris.

"Go through here, we might be able to get away from it!" Ryan said.

They rushed into the alleyway and struggled through the clutter. The mutant rhino had trouble moving in the alleyway due to its large size, and it kept struggling, knocking the debris around it into the air.

Just when they thought they were about to get rid of the rhino, the end of the alley was blocked by a high wall.

"What to do?" Jamie asked anxiously.

Ryan looked at the high wall and then at his surroundings. He realized that there were some used pipes and planks along the wall that he could use to climb up.

"Let's climb up!" Ryan said.

The crowd began to move quickly, and they made a simple ladder by putting planks on the water pipes. Jamie got the little girl and the old man up the wall first, then the young mother climbed up as well, carrying her baby. Ryan and Jamie were at the end, and when they were ready to climb, the mutant rhinoceros had already broken through the obstacles of the debris and charged towards them.

"Hurry!" Ryan shouted as he and Jamie quickly climbed up the wall. Just the moment they climbed up the wall, the mutant rhino hit the wall so hard that the wall shook violently, but luckily it didn't collapse.

They sat on the wall, breathing heavily, looking down at the still roaring mutant rhinoceros below with palpitations.

"We need to get out of here." Ryan said.

They walked along the wall to the other side and entered another neighborhood through a dilapidated building. This neighborhood was relatively quiet, but they knew that quiet didn't mean safe in the midst of this apocalypse.

On Clare's side, after a fierce battle, they finally repelled the infected. However, everyone was also exhausted, and many of them were injured.

"We can't stay here, we have to keep moving." Clare said.

They continued on through the streets, looking for a possible safe place. As they passed an intersection, they heard gunfire and shouting in the distance.

"There seems to be something going on over there, should we check it out?" Eric asked.

Clare hesitated, "Let's observe and make sure it's safe before we go over there."

They cautiously walked towards the source of the sound and found a group of people who were fighting the infected. Clare took a closer look and realized it was Ryan and the others.

"It's them!" Clare said in surprise.

Ryan and the others were fighting a group of mechanical golem that had suddenly appeared. These mechanical puppets were similar in appearance to humans, but moved mechanically and swiftly, and they held various weapons in their hands as they launched a fierce attack towards Ryan and the others.

Ryan wielded his iron rod and engaged in close combat with one of the mechanical puppets. He skillfully avoided the golem attacks, then smashed the iron rod hard into the golem joints in an attempt to destroy its mobility. Jamie, on the other hand, wrestled with another golem, and with his strength, he wrestled the golem to the ground, then kept attacking the golem head with his fists.

The young mother and the old man hid in a corner with the little girl as they nervously watched the fight. The young mother held her baby tightly and prayed that everyone would be safe.

Clare saw the danger they were in and without hesitation decided to come to their aid.

"Everyone on, help them!" Clare shouted.

She rushed towards the mechanical golem with Eric, Lucas, and the other survivors. Clare used her metal pole to attack the back core of one of the golem, a weakness she had found in her previous fights with the golem. Eric, on the other hand, used his wits to find environmental factors that he could utilize, such as tripping the golem with strings and then attacking their vitals with his weapon.

Lucas and the other survivors also used their strengths to fight the mechanical golem. With everyone working together, the mechanical golem were destroyed one by one.

Ryan's heart was filled with gratitude when he saw Clare and the others come to help.

"Thank you guys." Ryan said.

"You're welcome, we are all survivors and should help each other." Clare replied.

After the battle ended, both sides sized each other up. Ryan looked at Clare, his heart filled with admiration for the brave nursemaid. Clare looked at Ryan as well, she could feel that leadership and tenacity in Ryan.

"Where are you guys from?" Ryan asked.

"We escaped from the hospital, it's not safe there anymore." Clare replied.

"We've been looking for a safe place as well, the world is becoming more and more dangerous." Ryan said emotionally.

Just then, they heard a loud roar. Several helicopters appeared in the sky, with a mysterious logo emblazoned on them.

"What's that?" Jamie asked.

"Not sure, but it doesn't look like they're coming to rescue us." Ryan frowned.

The helicopter flew in their direction and then landed in a square not far away. From the helicopter came down a group of men in black protective suits, armed with advanced weapons and moving in a neat and orderly fashion.

"Who are these people?" Eric said suspiciously.

"Whoever they are, let's hide and see what happens." Clare said.

They quickly found a hidden place to hide and observed the movements of the mysterious people. The mysterious people seemed to be searching for something in the square as they spread out and searched their surroundings.

"They seem to be looking for something important, we'd better not be found by them." Ryan whispered.

However, their movements were still discovered by a mysterious person. The Mystic pointed in their direction, then the other Mystics quickly surrounded towards them.

"Discovered, prepare to fight!" Ryan picked up his weapon and prepared for a new challenge.

Clare and the others also grabbed their weapons, knowing that another tough battle was coming.

The Mystics gradually approached, their weapons aimed at Ryan and the others. Ryan gripped his iron rod tightly, there was no fear in his eyes, only an obsession with survival.

"Who are you people?" Ryan asked loudly.

The Mystics didn't answer, they just continued to press forward. Just as the two sides were about to clash, an explosion suddenly occurred in the square. It turned out that there seemed to be some kind of trap or self-destruct device hidden underneath the plaza, and the impact of the explosion shook both the Mystic and Ryan and them to the ground.

"Is everyone okay?" Ryan shouted as he quickly got up and checked on everyone.

Clare stood up as well, her hair was a bit messy but her eyes were still determined, "We're fine, let's go while we can!"

They took advantage of the chaos caused by the explosion and fled the square. During their escape, they realized that the mysterious people didn't seem to be coming after them, perhaps the explosion had hit them hard, or they had more important things to do.

"We need to find a safe place to regroup." Ryan said.

"I know a place where we might be able to hide for a while." Clare said.

So, they headed towards the place Clare had mentioned. On the way, they talked to each other and shared their experiences of surviving the apocalypse.

Ryan recounted their journey starting from getting supplies from the supermarket and encountering various dangers along the way, including the battle with the mutated crocodile, the life and death struggle on the bridge, and the thrilling exploration in the abandoned factory. Clare, on the other hand, recounts the difficult perseverance in the hospital, the scarcity of medicines, the attacks of the infected and the grueling search for a new safe haven.

"We've all been through so much suffering, but we can't give up." Ryan said.

"Yes, as long as we have a breath in us, there is hope." Clare responded.

They arrived at the place Clare had mentioned, it was an abandoned subway station. The subway station was relatively quiet and had some facilities that could be utilized. They entered the subway station and began checking their surroundings, setting up guards and preparing to take a short break here.

During the break, Ryan and Clare sat down and continued to discuss future plans.

"We need more supplies, especially medicine and food." Clare said.

"I know, we can look for some stores or warehouses nearby, we might be able to find something useful." Ryan replied.

"Also, we need to figure out the identity and purpose of those mysterious people, their appearance is definitely not a coincidence." Clare frowned.

"Well, they seem very organized and well armed, we have to be careful." Ryan said.

Just as they were discussing, Jamie came over, "Ryan, we found some strange symbols and markings in a corner of the subway station, come take a look."

Ryan and Clare immediately got up and followed Jamie to that corner. They saw some complicated symbols and markings carved on the wall, which looked like some kind of ancient writing or code.

"What is this?" Ryan looked at the symbols suspiciously.

"I'm not sure, but maybe there's some hidden message here." Clare said.

They began to study the symbols, trying to decipher the meaning. Eric joined in as well, analyzing the symbols with his knowledge and experience.

"These symbols seem to be related to some kind of map or route, but what exactly it is requires further research." Eric said.

"Whatever it is, it could be a clue for us, we can't let it go." Ryan said.

So, they decided to stay in the subway station for a while, studying the symbols while looking for more supplies for the rest of their survival journey. What they didn't know was that this abandoned subway station also hid many unknown dangers, and their destinies would once again be drawn into one thrilling adventure after another after this intersection.