51: The Passage of Time.

"With that we're done with this group, take them to Kiriko-san" - said Cloud while shaking his head - "As for the rest, let's see how everything develops, although I can see that some people didn't seem to want to evict the children."

"Understood, Cloud-sama" - replied the soldiers as they took the civilians.

Cloud simply shook his head as he started to think, though he relaxed when he saw how Yuriko entered the school along with her group.

"I see everything went well" - Yuriko said as she folded her arms.

"Yeah, the enemy numbers weren't that big, not to mention that they didn't react correctly, they fell right into our trap" - Cloud replied calmly while shaking his head - "Putting that aside, I think this is a good time to go back and strengthen our barricades"

"I was thinking the same thing, we have more survivors than I had thought, not to mention that we can't continue with our numbers reduced if we send half of our group as escort for the children" - Yuriko said as she pondered - "Tomorrow we'll head out again to look for more supplies and check the status of the important points in the area, because we'll possibly find more people there"

"Sounds like a plan" - Cloud nodded as he looked carefully at the purple-haired woman. He quickly told her to follow him, which she did without much trouble - "By the way, how are the others?"

"Oh, they're fine, although they keep asking about my drastic increase in strength" - Yuriko replied with a frown - "I feel like at any moment I'm going to say something I shouldn't and put them in danger."

Cloud was silent as he thought carefully - "For now, just ignore those questions, and concentrate on the mission, when it's time I'll fill them in myself."

"I understand" - Yuriko nodded as she shook her head - "Leaving that aside, what do you think our next step should be?"

"I thought you had already decided" - said Cloud with slight surprise.

"Yes, but now that we know that the police are in danger, we might change our plans and I wanted your opinion" - Yuriko replied as the two Yakuza leaders talked at length.

"I understand, I guess Kiriko-san succeeded in convincing you" - Cloud said as he gave her a small smile.

"Something like that, although I help her mostly because I don't want her and Rei to go through what we went through" - Yuriko replied with a frown.

Cloud was silent before nodding - "I'm going to follow your decision, so you don't have to worry, do what you wish to do."

"Oh, then I guess I'm going to follow your advice and help Kiriko-san" - Yuriko said calmly - "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me" - Cloud replied while shaking his head.

* * * * *

And so, a month had flown by.

During this time, a lot of events had happened for the group.

First, after they had returned to Taiei and organized the supplies they had gotten, Yuriko announced the new mission.

The soldiers simply accepted the orders as normal, after all, with the rescue of these policemen, the situation and safety of their group would increase drastically.

After saying her orders, Yuriko sent the children to the playground to interact with people their own age. Alice was the happiest to see her soon-to-be new friends.

The next day, the group again went out to finish the job and thus save the policemen, which wasn't that hard because the zombies didn't compare to all the ones they had killed during the last week.

Kiriko and Rei let out a sigh of relief when they saw that the father of the Miyamoto family was safe, and with the inclusion of their group, now the military power of the Takagi group was high enough to reclaim this part of the city.

Over the next two weeks, Cloud, Yuriko, and the others began to completely clear the entire area around Taiei, to the point that the survivors began to claim the houses there as private property.

The power plant was also reclaimed and fixed, making the group's livelihood improve again.

Slowly, everything was returning to normal, at least for the worker survivors, because the combatant survivors were still putting their lives on the line, even though they were the ones with the best living conditions.

That left us with the current situation of the main group, in other words, those under the direct command of Cloud and Yuriko, who were in front of a bridge that was blocked by hundreds of cars.

"With this we cleared our part of the city" - Cloud said while stroking his chin - "It's fortunate that the city is divided into five points, one marking the center and the others in its four adjacent directions"

"The second thing that's fantastic is that these areas are all connected solely by bridges, which means we can control the flow of people, as well as a possible new outbreak of the virus" - Saya added while adjusting her glasses - "Mother, I think it's time we start tearing down some constructions, so we can strengthen our borders"

"Hmm, doesn't sound like a bad idea, not to mention that with this we can clear some areas to make them more visible" - nodded Yuriko as she gave her orders to her subordinates - "You know what to do, we've discussed it before"

"Understood!" - exclaimed the soldiers as they split into three groups, one that would guard the bridge connecting the center of the city to their area, one that would stand guard at the site to make sure they have killed all the zombies, and finally one that would return to Taiei, so they could send out for a group of survivors to live and work in this place.

"Have the army made contact?" - Cloud asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, they want us to give them free electricity" - replied Yuriko with disdain - "Seriously, they should get ready to have their own power plant..."

"Helping them is fine, but I feel that they want to take advantage of us and our kindness" - said Saya with a frown - "I understand that it is our duty as citizens to help them, but we have sacrificed lives, bled and cried to get the stability of our area, it is impossible for us to give away all our resources to them just because we can"

"As much as I hate to admit it, this is true" - Rika said as she shook her head - "That aside, I'm happy to see that we're finally done"

"Now all that's left is for the army to contact us, so we can help them" - Saeko said with disdain - "Although I feel like this one will be more of a prediction than a joke"

Cloud shook his head before deciding to take a well deserved rest after so long fighting.

Yuriko was about to say something else, when she heard her communicator start beeping - "Oh, I have a bad feeling."

[Civilian Yuriko, it's a pleasure to hear your voice] - said an elderly voice.

"General Amami, it's a surprise to hear your voice after such a long time, although I feel this is not a call to find out how we are doing" - said Yuriko with a frown - "That's why I recommend you to be direct"

[Ok, ok, I need your help] - said Amami with a slightly annoyed tone.

"I think it's too much of a coincidence that you called us just at this moment, which makes me think that you have a spy in our midst" - said Yuriko neutrally.

[I do, though obviously I don't plan to tell you who it is] - replied General Minami neutrally - [Anyway, I already said what I wish].

"Why should we?" - asked Yuriko with a frown - "You did nothing to help us, in fact, we are the ones who have been helping you during this month, food, electricity, even resting place..."

Minami was silent before letting out a sigh - [This is for the good of the city].

"I'm sorry, but we're already tired, we've been fighting for the whole month, general" - Yuriko replied with a frown - "It's more than enough."

[We've been doing it too] - said the general.

"Yes, and you have better equipment than us, still, it was us who finished first" - replied Yuriko with disdain - "What do you think with this?"

The general didn't say anything about it, he just kept silent while Yuriko waited for his excuse.

[Ok, I'll be honest, the zombies in this place became strange, I don't mean just their behavior, but also their colors, they are now a strange green color] - replied Minami with a frown.

Yuriko was silent as she shot a glance at Cloud, who simply frowned because these looked like they were mutant zombies, just like the ones they had faced a month ago.

"Do they have any strange abilities?" - Yuriko asked neutrally.

[They can vomit a stream of green poison] - answered the general with hostility- [That vomit can transform victims into zombies within minutes]