Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Found Them
"Brother, is this safe zone doomed?" Cindy asked from behind him, her voice quieter than usual.
Jaxon glanced back at her with a faint, bitter smile. Before he could answer, Natasha spoke instead. "Either the military finds a way to bring that thing down, or they’ll have to abandon the safe zone."
"The second option seems more likely," Na-rin added quietly.
Cindy’s expression fell. "But... after everything they built here? All those walls, buildings, and defenses... they’re just going to leave everything behind?"
Bong-gu and Haris remained silent. They didn’t want to hear it either. They had spent enough time in the safe zone to see how much work had gone into turning it into a place where people could actually live.
"They might not have a choice," Na-rin said, glancing over her shoulder at the colossal infected in the distance. "Besides, hiding here won’t matter if that thing reaches the residential sector. Leaving might be the only way to survive."
"Eyes forward," Elena suddenly said, her expression serious. "Don’t waste your energy worrying about something we can’t control. Whether this place survives or not, we’re still alive right now."
Jaxon nodded. "She’s right. The safe zone might fall, but we don’t have to fall with it. We keep moving. We survive first. Everything else comes after."
His eyes shifted toward Thomas. "Thomas, where did they put the Hilux we scavenged?"
Thomas blinked at the sudden change of topic. After thinking for a moment, he answered, "Probably in the mechanic area."
"Where’s that?"
"Not far from the residential sector. Just around the corner." Thomas paused, then his expression changed as he realized why Jaxon was asking. "Wait... you’re not planning to evacuate with the military?"
"No." Jaxon’s answer came without hesitation.
Thomas frowned. "Why not? If they’re evacuating the civilians, wouldn’t that be our best chance to get out?"
"Maybe, but we can’t rely on it," Jaxon replied. "There are too many people in the residential sector. Even if the military starts evacuating everyone, there won’t be enough helicopters to move them all at once."
He glanced toward the distant chaos. "We’ll prepare our own way out. If the military manages to evacuate us, good. If they don’t, we’ll already have another option."
Thomas fell silent for a moment. He looked at the others, but nobody seemed to disagree. In the end, he simply nodded.
.....
Time passed, and Jaxon and the others finally reached the residential area. However, the streets that had once been filled with people were now eerily quiet. Doors had been forced open, windows were shattered, and belongings were scattered across the streets.
"They’ve reached this area too... Fuck," Bong-gu muttered, his expression turning grim.
"Quick, find the others," Elena said, her voice tense with worry.
They hurried toward the residence where they had left Elaine and the others, but their hearts sank when they saw the front door had been forced open.
"Elaine! Sumiko!"
"Hannah! Hae-in!"
"Claire! Jannah! Hiromi!"
Their voices echoed through the empty house, but no one answered.
"Where did they go?" Haris asked, looking around anxiously.
"Calm down, Haris," Thomas said. "They couldn’t have gone far. Let’s search the area."
Everyone immediately split up and began checking the nearby rooms and houses, but there was still no sign of them.
Jaxon frowned. If they were still somewhere nearby, he needed to find them quickly. He opened his status window and immediately allocated points into Intelligence.
(Intelligence +5)
He closed his eyes as he focused on his surroundings. Slowly, the sounds of the safe zone became clearer in his mind. Distant gunfire. The rumbling footsteps of the colossal infected. Scattered movements coming from different directions.
Then he caught something else. A faint sound from somewhere nearby. He opened his eyes and immediately started walking toward a narrow alley.
Na-rin noticed his sudden movement and followed. "What is it?"
"I heard something. Follow me."
He moved quickly, with Na-rin keeping close behind. They passed several abandoned residences before reaching a small storage building at the end of the alley.
Several dead infected were scattered around the entrance, their bodies covered in dark blood that stained the ground.
Na-rin looked at the bodies before turning toward the building. "Could they be inside?"
Jaxon didn’t answer. He grabbed the door handle and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Then his grip tightened. Crack! The handle snapped off in his hand.
He pushed the door open and froze. Elaine and the others were inside, huddled together with their weapons still in their hands, their clothes smeared with dark blood.
For a moment, Jaxon simply stared at them. Then he let out a long breath, the tension finally leaving his shoulders. "Thank God..."
"Jaxon..." Elaine looked at him, her eyes quickly filling with tears.
"Brother!" Sumiko immediately rushed forward and threw herself into his arms. Hae-in and the twins followed close behind, their eyes red as they tried their best to hold back their tears.
"Shh, it’s okay. We’re here now," Jaxon said softly. He wrapped an arm around Sumiko and gently patted her back. After making sure everyone was alright, he looked toward Elaine. "What happened here?"
"The evacuation was still going on when the infected broke into the residential area. Everything turned into chaos. People were running everywhere, and the soldiers were struggling to keep the infected away," Elaine explained, her voice still carrying traces of the fear she had felt earlier. "We hid inside the residence at first, but they kept finding us."
She took a breath before continuing. "I thought they might be able to track us by our scent, so we moved to another building and covered ourselves with infected blood. We stayed hidden there until things finally quieted down."
Jaxon listened quietly, relief showing on his face. He reached out and pulled her into a brief hug, and Elaine’s tense expression softened. "You did a good job. You kept everyone safe."
Elaine rested her head against his shoulder for a moment before wiping the tears from her eyes. "Mhm... I was waiting for you."
Na-rin watched the two of them for a moment before quietly tugging on the edge of Jaxon’s jacket.
"We should go," she said, avoiding his gaze. "The others are probably worried about them too."
Jaxon nodded and released Elaine. "Yeah. Let’s get moving."
He turned toward the others. "Come on. We’re getting everyone back together."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter