Out With The Old In With The New

A few hours later, all the tremors stopped, and we could not even see the old city of Atlanta anymore. Even worse, the forest behind us looked like it had expanded indefinitely, and just hearing all those beast noises confirmed that it would not be an easy trip. It's impressive and scary at the same time how the world we once knew is now gone for good, and we watched it happen right before our very eyes. This gives us another perspective that the future is unknown, and the possibilities of mana are endless.

Dwayne: "Michelle, You and Snow, go look and see how far the city is away from us and its condition right now. Also, if you see any stragglers or survivors on your way, send them in our direction. There is no need to do too much; direct them if they choose to come or not; that's up to them."

Dwayne: "Sakura, you go with her too, just in case."

Michelle: "Ok, Dwayne; I'll be back shortly."

Dwayne: "Everyone else, you can set up camp here because we plan on staying here for the rest of the day and wait to see if there are otherings that have made it out."

Dwyane: "Joe, you take the squad to clear the perimeter around the forest's edge if any magic beast decides to come out. Leave Ashley, the plant, water, and the light minions here to help with healing. Also, please bring back the beast meat with you, so make sure they don't destroy it too severely. "

Joe: "I got you, Bro; let's move out, everyone."

Dwayne: "Is there anyone here who knows how to cook and cook well?"

Lisa: "I do," says the mom of the mother-daughter pair I saved.

Stanley: "I do," said another gentleman coming from the back.

Dwayne: "Great; what are your names and occupation before the mana wave?"

Lisa: "My name is Lisa, and this is my daughter Elisabeth; thank you for saving us. I used to own a restaurant downtown before everything went to hell."

Stanley: "I'm Stanley; I was a chef for a four-star restaurant for ten years."

Dwayne: "You guys can handle the cooking, and let me know how many people you need to help you out."

Stanley: "It depends on how much food and servings, but I can assume we are feeding everyone here. Possible more to come depending on if there are any survivors. So I think we will need 20 to 30 people to help us out. Preferably people with some background working in restaurants."

Dwayne: "You can recruit the people you need; if you can't get enough people to help, let me know, and I'll take care of it."

Elisabeth: "Hey, mister, how do you have so many strange animals, and can I get one too, please?"

Lisa: "Honey, leave mister Dwayne alone; he is busy taking care of everyone."

Dwayne: "It's ok. I'm not busy anymore. She can hang out with me. As for where I get the animals, I tame them and keep them in my special item. It makes me feel like a P#$%@#$ master, LOL."

Elisabeth: "That's too cool; can you teach me how to catch them too?"

Dwayne: "It's not that easy to catch them because first you have to be strong enough to force them to submit, or they are kind enough to follow you. But I can let you play with them wHen they get back, and if I see something nice, I will tame it for you."

Elisabeth: "Really, you are the best."

I noticed all the other kids looking at us as if they wanted to come over but were afraid to, so I waved them over. I then summon some toys and candy to hand out to them. Good thing I cleared out those stores before the city got destroyed.

As the kids were having a blast, my other beasts were healing the injured and making sure everyone was healthy. It took a little convincing before everyone was comfortable with the animals helping them out, especially the snakes.

When the magic beasts were finished treating the injured, I saw Joe and the others bring back a slew of beast bodies.

Dwayne: "Lisa, Stanley, bring everyone you chose to help you, and let's get started cleaning and skinning all these beasts."

Lisa: "Ok, we are ready."

Stanley: "Here we come."

Dwayne: "Joe, leave all the beasts over there and get Sarah to draw the blood from them. Also, could you have the fire and wind elements dry the skins and save the bones because we might have to start making our clothes and tools soon."

Joe: "Cool"

Dwayne: "I'll go and scout ahead and see if there are any magic beasts that might be a problem later."

Elisabeth: "Can we play with your pets now?"

Dwayne: "Draka and Sam have your minions that are not doing anything play with the kids. Ensure that none of them get aggressive or hurt the kids because you and them will have to deal with me afterward."

Sam & Draka: "Yes, Master"

Dwayne: "Elisabeth, it's ok for you and the others to play but just be careful because they are still magic beasts, and they are not comfortable around humans other than us."

Elisabeth & other kids: "OK."

Dwayne: "Joe, keep an eye on everything while I'm gone and if anyone acts ups, put them in their place but try not to kill anyone. At least not yet."

Joe: "Leave it to me, Bro, and go do what you need to."

Dwayne: "Everyone, I'll be heading out, but I'm leaving Joe in charge. If there are any issues, come to him for assistance."

As I was planning to leave, I saw Michelle on her way back. They landed in front of me to report their findings from the city.

Michelle: "You were right, Dwayne. It seems as though the city has moved at least 5x the distance away from us. Not to mention the city is in complete ruins. There is not even one building left standing. Millions of zombies died, but quite a few are still alive, still wandering around the ruined city. As for survivors, I spotted some already heading in this direction and told them to keep heading this way if they wanted to be safe. As for survivors in the city, from what I can see, there are none, although they did not dig thru the debris. There were so many dead bodies around, and I felt sorry that I couldn't save them."

Dwayne: "Great job, Michelle; you did all you could; there is no way we can save everyone, especially when we were caught off guard like we were. We can only move forward and make sure something like this doesn't happen again. We are in a world now where it is the survival of the fittest, so if humanity doesn't get out of their old ways of doing things, they are doomed to die. Only the strong-willed can make it through these tough times, and we are not their survivors. We can only help where we can and those who want it. So don't hold it to heart because if they had tried to fight for themselves from the beginning, there would be many more survivors. There will be many more deaths on our journey, so shed your last tears now because it will only get harder, not easier, from here on out."

Michelle: "I know what you mean, but it still hurts to see so many killed, and there was nothing we could do about it."