Chapter 34 - A Hidden Hole

Zeel stirred awake to an unfamiliar ceiling, and vague voices around him. The voices were in a fierce argument, but Zeel didn't feel any threat so he focused on checking his body.

Closing his eyes to focus, Zeel did not have to think long before he recalled what happened.

Even if he was unconscious, the nanites could still record patterns, links, and make sense of the world through his other senses.

It was one of the passive benefits of the nanites, it always recorded data, even the most minuscule and nonsensical of data.

Creating a 3D construct in his mind, Zeel then began to replay what occurred around two hours ago.

The dust in the air, the composition of the damp soil, the minerals in the water; everything in the environment provided information through which the nanites could determine all circumstances.

∞∞∞

Two Hours Ago

As Zeel laid on the ground, the nanites, along with his incredible healing factor, had already begun to repair the damage done by the amplified sounds of the grenades and Type One vibranium.

After around five minutes of unconsciousness, a man walks towards Zeel's lipid body.

It would seem he had been scouting out the area for a while before actually revealing himself. This was understandable since you could never be too careful in these apocalyptic times.

Confirming everything was as it seemed, James proceeded to drag Zeel's body away in an unknown direction. He clearly had nefarious intentions in mind.

His body language and emotional fluctuations were indicators of his less than noble objectives. But at that time, a girl came and also saw Zeel – Kim.

After a bit of bickering, Kim convinced James to take him in a different direction.

Zeel was comforted by the benevolence of the female, but he was not grateful at all. He didn't know how to be grateful.

Luckily, James switched direction or the nanites would force his body into action, killing both James and Kim.

∞∞∞

That's basically how he ended up in this shabby excuse of a tent, not that Zeel was unfamiliar with antiquated tents.

Zeel just didn't have the capacity to be appreciative. While he was thinking, the argument outside was about to heat up.

"We can't just let you bring anyone here!"

"But he was injured in the caves. He defeated a Mantis. Something we can't do,"

"Exactly my point, if he can defeat a creature like that. Imagine what he can do to us,"

Zeel faked a yawn and the crowd outside settled down.

After waking up and getting dressed, he made his way outside to meet a crowd of five people.

"Hi friend. My name is Tim, that's James, Sasha, Luis, and lastly Kim," Tim introduced, nervous like he wasn't just the one saying they should throw Zeel out.

Internally, Zeel complimented the man since he had the greatest foresight of the bunch.

"Zeel," Zeel said as he introduced himself with only one word.

Tim's eyes glistened as he thought 'Truly the way a cool, badass person introduces himself,'

"Like the terrorist from Raccoon City who fought against Umbrella Corporation, Zeel?" Luis jumped into the conversation, enthused by what he just heard.

"Man you're my idol!" Luis squealed.

"Okay enough," said James "What are you doing here? What is the situation outside?"

Zeel noticed that everyone quieted down, which meant that James was the defacto leader of this group.

Zeel could still feel a low ringing in his ears, so he shut off his sense of hearing entirely. Instead, he read the lips of everyone to follow the conversation.

Zeel knew he could not show weakness in front of potential enemies.

"Came to pick up some resources, as for what they are. That is none of your business. And the infection has been spread all over the world, I am not sure how long you been down here but count yourself lucky," Zeel replied.

"Lucky, huh? Yeah that's one word for it," James replied, not believing Zeel's explanation for even a moment.

An hour later, after Zeel and the group had already gotten acquainted. They came to a basic understanding – let's just stay out of each other's way.

James' story was not that extravagant.

James and company ran into an abandoned mine in the jungle about a year after the outbreak made its way to Brazil.

The trees, animals, and plants mutated into monstrosities. They could not leave, but likewise, zombies could not enter the jungle.

Counting the time they have been underground, adds up to almost three years.

"How about food? Resources?" Zeel asked curiously.

Zeel was fishing for information since the earlier vibranium deposit was not pure enough for extraction.

However, lush plants would often grow near refine vibranium deposits.

Zeel refused to leave if he didn't get the metals needed to evolve the nanites.

Zeel already decided to kill everyone for their resources if it was necessary.

"Sometimes we go out to hunt but mostly survive on eating bugs and other small creatures that are not infected, which is getting rarer every day," James replied "At this point, we need to go after a big haul if we want to continue eating,"

∞∞∞

Zeel spent an entire week scanning the caves for a pure enough chunk of Vibranium.

Scanning was laborious underground since the satellites could not penetrate that deep. Zeel was forced to scan the mines by sections, which was very time-consuming.

After a week of searching, Zeel finally detected one such deposit of vibranium a little deeper into the caves.

Zeel could not locate the vibranium previously due to the signals bouncing around the underground.

Wasting no time, Zeel began marking locations stated by the scanner.

Zeel had everything he needed on his body, so there was no need to make tools.

Luckily, Zeel's nanites did not require much sustenance other than protein bars to keep him going for prolonged periods of time.

Just a couple of the many benefits provided by his Self-Replicating Nanite Technology.

Nearly an hour of walking later, Zeel reached the deepest parts of the cave and noticed a small hole nearby. The hole was very well hidden, but it could not fool Zeel's nanites.

Zeel was not a fool, he correctly surmised that the previous group were likely the ones to cover it up.

They were likely the reason he had not discovered the vibranium deposit until now.

Not caring the least, he just made the hole larger and walked in to collect his due.

Zeel disliked being around people if Alice was not nearby. He could not control his impulses without Alice.

Usually, he avoided the issue altogether by avoiding all survivors, but it seemed that avoiding the group was not possible.