Chapter 91: New World (2)

Chapter 91: Chapter 91: New World (2) "That’s one way to greet your savior," Min replied, sheathing his curved blade. Zera was looking around when Min twisted his ear. "Ow! Ow! Ow!" "What’s the first rule of hunting?" Min asked, twisting his ear again. "Hit and run, ow!" "And what did you do?" "I get it," Zera replied, rubbing his ears. "I should have left and returned later for the spoils." He looked at the three corpses around him. Instead of feeling happy, he shook his head in frustration. Killing so many direwolves was a waste. They’d rot within a day, and usual preservation methods wouldn’t work on them. There was so much meat; if only they had a fridge or spices, they could have preserved it. Min noticed Zera’s gaze and ruffled his hair. The kid was only seventeen, yet he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. In some ways, they were more alike than the rest. It was also why Min took the siblings under his wing. "We’ve got work to do," Min said, tossing the mother direwolf’s corpse over his shoulders. "The sooner we get back, the more we can eat." "Right!" The two were soon joined by another group, who helped carry the carcasses into their base. It had been two months since the world changed. The second evolution brought even more changes, but not to the humans. The creatures mutated even further, and so did the plants. A prime example was the grass humans used to trample on, which had grown up to six feet overnight. The dogs evolved into direwolves. Small birds turned into massive predators, alongside the insects. But that wasn’t all. Even the bacteria and other microscopic beings turned more deadly. Corpses began decaying in a matter of hours, all thanks to the evolved bacteria. Food became impossible to store. Hence, hunting and scavenging became a daily necessity. Even the smallest cuts became deadly as they were prone to new kinds of infection. Suddenly, medicine became more important than food. Moreover, the strange microscopic growth drastically affected the world. The oxygen levels went up, providing previously smaller creatures with more oxygen to support their growth. The humans had to adapt fast to the changes. It brought a series of headaches to the humans. The Chosen were able to adapt to the changes with some difficulty. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for the unawakened. The shortage of food, new predators, and atmospheric changes. These things were too much for most humans to handle, and they died one way or the other. It was the first mass extinction event since the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction, which happened about 66 million years ago. Without communication technology, no one knew the exact number. However, some theorized that about seventy percent of the human population had perished since the day the sun bled. The only good thing was that the zombies had taken a backseat since the third spark. The chosen had gotten used to their powers and gained strange weapons capable of slaying the undead and the monsters alike. These things helped raise what little morale the humans had left. At least that was the case for most of the world. "Hey, Min," Zera said as they headed towards their settlement. "What is it?" "Could you tell us more stories about San Diego? The kids wanted to ask you, but you’re too busy, so they didn’t want to disturb you—" "Is that so?" Min asked, smiling wanly as he looked up. "Sure. Have them sit beside the fire after dinner." Zera clenched his fists in happiness, looking at Hina. The excited siblings didn’t seem to notice the vacant expression on Min’s face. San Diego, huh? He hadn’t thought about that hell in a while. The Chosen fought hard to survive and built settlements all over the world. Still, there were places they never dared to go. Places they called the Blight. The Blights were places where zombies had absolute dominance. Most of these places were where the Headless had evolved into Devourers. However, there was a known exception to this theory. San Diego. It wasn’t ruled by a devourer, but something much more dangerous. It was Blaze’s kingdom. Min found it difficult to believe that Blaze had turned into something so... sinister. The last he heard, every human in the region had been captured by him. However, none were killed... at first. For someone who had killed his own father, it was difficult to know what was going on inside his head. Thankfully, Min and Neha had escaped in time. He had a tough time remembering anything from that time. Neha said he was the one who took her and ran until they reached Phoenix, Arizona. But Min had no recollection of it. The last thing he remembered from that day was meeting a hooded figure when Neha sent him to patrol around the crater. Everything after that was a blur. Even Neha found it weird, but they just thanked the Lord that they had escaped when they did. After all, their safe haven, the naval base, was destroyed by Blaze’s minions. Whether anyone survived that attack was a question no one knew the answer to. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, but that they had no way of knowing the truth. Min and Neha were the only survivors from San Diego. They were called the miracle duo by the soldiers at the National Guard HQ. They had everything the San Diego naval base didn’t... they even had working vehicles. Though they were useless once they ran out of gas. "It is much better," Min said to himself. "What is?" Zera asked, trailing behind his teacher. "This life." Zera tilted his head, wondering if his teacher was at the age to be philosophical instead of logical. The group soon got back to the base and saw a scene they were all used to by now. Some soldiers wearing protective gloves were carrying corpses to a fire pit. "More unawakened died today," Min said. Zera didn’t say a word and nodded. The sight of his grandparents’ deaths still affected him. Unlike him and Hina, they were unawakened, and coupled with their old age, they were among the first ones to perish. Min never met them, but he had heard a lot about them from the siblings. However, he couldn’t bring himself to be sad about their passing. Compassion was something he had long since forgotten about. "Come on," he said, grabbing Zera and Hina by their shoulders. "Let’s get Neha to cook delicious meat for us."