Chapter 89

- Xenon -

The empty roads, with the occasional patch of red blood and badly parked cars, added an aura of dread to our travel, and had it not been for the chirping sounds of birds on that morning, you would truly believe the place to be devoid of any signs of life.

Some of our passengers were still getting some sleep this early, so we opted to stay silent the whole ride. Not that there was much to talk about. At most, a few words were said through the talkies whenever we changed directions, either because the road ahead is blocked by cars or walkers.

Speaking of walkers, this situation put me in a tough spot as I knew 400 meters in advance when there would be a problem, meaning that I had to act surprised and waste time on purpose. Though approaching the hordes gave me an idea about their sizes. About 200 walkers on average, which is not a small number by any standard. We have about a hundred arrows with us at most, and they are reserved to clear our target. We can't afford to waste any of them on hordes (Not all arrows survived the impact), and assuming we do, it is very difficult for a group as small as ours to handle a hundred walkers without guns. Don't get me wrong, we can do it, but I'd rather not risk our lives if we don't have to.

Amy has been using my shoulder as a pillow for about an hour before she woke up... and used it some more. She also insisted on monopolizing my right hand to do with as she wished, and being the smart and wise man that I am, I didn't fight her over it. I do enjoy me some lewd and sweaty hardcore hand-holding myself.

"Wow, holding hands already?! Save something for the wedding night, Amy!" Andrea mocked her sister. We were driving an army truck, and it had enough space for three people at the front not counting the conductor. Amy glared at her sister before they started bickering, all in good humor. Though I could see a vein starting to pop on Shane's forehead.

"Want to get some rest, Shane?" I asked with an amused smile.

"No, I'm good." He shook his head. I shrugged but I intended to have him rest after two hours. We drove for a few more minutes before I noticed a group of walkers ahead on the map. There were fifteen of them spread out on the road, basically blocking our advancement. I wouldn't make a detour because of that, my throwing knives should be enough to deal with them.

"I see walkers ahead." Shane warned and I nodded.

"We have about fifteen walkers ahead of us. We'll get out to deal with them." We can't exactly afford the detour, gas is very valuable after all. We stopped a good fifty meters away from them before we got out of the truck and stretched. The group was surprisingly relaxed about it, which goes to prove how far along they've come since everything started.

"Are we using arrows or do we do this old school?" Amy asked with a grin. Bows are old school though...

"No bows, my knives should suffice." I shook my head as I took them out. I always had them with me, though they were hidden from view at all times. While it appeared that nothing was wrong with me taking them out on the surface, I was sneakily using my inventory for it.

"Suffice..." Andrea rolled her eyes. "You really love using big words, don't you?"

"Leave him alone, I love him just the way he is." Andrea gasped and I ignored the L-word thrown in there, a can of worms I have no intention to open in front of an audience. So I did what any smart man would do in my situation... I ran away from it. Technically, I was rushing towards the walkers, so I couldn't be blamed for it. Tehee.

I opted to shoot at them from a distance instead of getting close to secure my shot. I noticed that leveling up my skills while using them against enemies is more efficient, and I've reached a bottleneck with [Knife Throwing]. As in I never miss my target within the fifteen meters radius, but my success rate drops the further I go.

I took my time to aim with no rush, and made sure to [Empower] my throws to give them the extra oomph. It's not exactly my aim that's the problem with long distances, but rather the spin. I need to make sure the rotational component is kept to a minimum, while also ensuring that the sharp edge takes the brunt of the impact, otherwise it would just slash them at most. It could be effective against humans if I aimed for their necks, but if that was the case I'd rather just take a shuriken or something made for the job.

'I missed a few of them, but it's nothing that can't be fixed with Lucille... That's right, I have Lucille, and my nut-sack is made of steel...' I chuckled at my hilarious joke like a madman before jumping on the nearest walker and introducing him to my bat.

"Let's get them out of the way, folks!" I hollered at them before we started working. The whole stop barely took us ten minutes before we were on our way again.

- Sometime later -

"This is bad." Shane remarked, standing next to me with his binoculars on. "Like, really bad." We were on the roof of a tall building we found to give us a better view of the situation. We were in the middle of the city now, and rushing in blind is the dumbest thing we can do.

"It is." I nodded in agreement. We were looking at a big horde of walkers, I couldn't tell how many of them there are, so I can't exactly take a decision. "We need a headcount to see if we can handle them."

"That's gonna be difficult." Shane frowned. "We can't even see properly from here." He was right. Some buildings were blocking the view, so what we could see is the tip of the iceberg.

"Then there is only one course of action here." I shrugged at Shane's puzzled look. "We use the masks." He made a sound of recognition at that.

"Who's gonna go?"

"I will." I nodded resolutely. I needed to go because I was the only one who could get an accurate reading of their number with my map. The others would guess at best.

We met with the others to inform them of the situation before I would put on my new equipment. The Anti-Walker mask. That's not the official name, just what I like to call it. The idea is to dry walker skin and use it as an outer layer for pieces of clothing, that way the scent is a bit more permanent to make the walkers ignore us. It's mandatory to have one whenever someone steps out of Motherbase as it has been proved to be the best solution against walkers.

"Can I come with you?" Amy asked me with puppy eyes. But that ain't working on me. I don't need her there, she will be getting in the way more than anything else, and I have no intention to spend the day here.

"No." I shook my head. I saw she was about to say something, but I interrupted. "Don't waste your time, I am not backing down on this one. One person is enough, the rest will stay here. Take out your guns and stay alert, you never know who's watching." I got to work as soon as I was geared up.