Novel Full 177 Employing the surviviors
‘This is where we fought,’ Nadia thought as she climbed up the stairs. Given the ease of her current task, she didn’t even take Leila with her, opting to leave the other healthy member of the group back with Mathew and Daria in case something unexpected were to happen.
The girl then stopped in her steps, right as she reached the top floor of the building.
‘And this is exactly where our argument started,’ she thought, biting down on her lips as she looked down on the unusual part of the building.
For everyone else, this place had nothing special to itself. Just another part of the building left to rot away by the people who once used it.
And yet, for this very specific girl, this very specific place held one of the worst memories of her recent past.
‘I might dislike the idea of fighting with him… But I can’t say I changed my mind about what we fought,’ she thought, gritting her teeth before shaking her head and then taking the last few steps and pushing the double doors leading to the only room on the floor open.
“Hai!” Someone shouted and jumped, scared by the sudden opening of the doors.
‘It had to be hard for them,’ Nadia thought, watching how the look on everyone’s faces tensed up. Yet, while some could tell that the time of their anxious wait for the news was over and thus they would gain freedom from this anxiety… Others were smart enough not to expect good news.
“First off, good news,” Nadia spoke out loud, only to then cough to clear her throat. She then raised her eyes and looked over the scared survivors only to then slightly lower her eyelids as a certain annoyance appeared in her soul.
‘While we were fighting for their lives and safety amongst other things, they were all holed up in here, doing nothing,’ she thought, gritting her teeth to contain the spread of her negative emotion.
“All of the zombies that gathered by the building courtyard are now gone,” Nadia finally revealed the good news. She had to take a moment to rein her negative emotions before she was able to control the tone of her voice, though.
“And the bad news?” Robert, the guy that cooperated with Mathew’s group before, stood up and asked while turning his hands into fists only to hide them behind his back. “What about the survivors in the shed?”
“You don’t need to be so anxious,” Nadia informed only for her lips to quiver into a small smile. “Unless they killed each other already, you guys will have the honor of setting them all free,” she then explained.
“Excuse me?” Robert squinted his eyes and slightly turned his head to the side. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
Even though he only left a small portion of his eyes open, Nadia could see the glint of suspicion appearing in his pupils.
“It’s fairly simple,” Nadia said as she shook her shoulders. “Out of five combatants in my group, two are heavily injured and one is extremely tired,” she announced. “Me myself and the other girl that managed to avoid heavy wounds are tired as well.”
“And how does that connect to us?” Robert asked, squinting his eyes to the point where he either attempted to impersonate and parody Asian people or simply let his suspicions be known to all around him.
“It’s pretty simple,” Nadia said as she shook her shoulders. “Now that the hard part of the job is over, it’s time for you guys to do your part,” she informed.
Nadia then pushed deeper into the room, ignoring all the stares that instantly surrounded her. Yet, she didn’t bother with them all, stopping only when she reached the very window of the massive room. And then, she pointed her hand at the scene of carnage outside.
“You guys are to select ten people who will then go and clean up the mess left after the fight,” Nadia finally revealed her purpose here.
“Just that?” Robert asked, his eyebrows rocketing up on his forehead for a change.
“I don’t think you will keep that attitude once you get down to the bloody business,” Nadia commented, shaking her head over the naivete of the civilians.
‘Wait, civilians?’ the girl thought, catching herself on the distinction she never made about people before. ‘If those who do not fight are civilians… Then what does that makes me be?’
The girl then shook her head, opting to ignore the question for now and focus on the topic at hand.
“Your task will be simple. First is to extract the cores hidden in the brains of the fallen zombies. Secondly, it will be to first move all the corpses out of the way and bury them and then clean all the blood at the end.”
The explanation was as simple as the job that the explanation was all about. In the end, the hardship of this job was never in how complex or hard it was but it was hidden in the massive impact it could have on one’s psyche.
“Is that all?” Rober asked, raising his eyebrows as far as the physical limits of his body allowed. “Pluck something out of the dead zombies’ heads and then just clean the corpses up?”
“Ten able-bodied people, on the double,” Nadia cut the talk with a clap of her hands only to then scan the room in search of potential candidates. “Only when the job is done will you be able to bring out all the survivors from the shed and let them enjoy the supplies that we will provide in exchange for your work,” she then added another incentive.
‘Even if they managed to keep some stashed food or water in the building, there is no way they have enough supplies to keep everyone here alive for long,’ she thought only to close her eyes and raise her head, looking up to the sky currently hidden behind the room’s ceiling.
‘Maybe that’s why Matty cared about them so little?’ she suddenly thought, when the weight of all the problems related to keeping others not only safe but fed and well-kept as well fell down on her shoulders.
“We are ready,” Robert quickly said, forcing the girl to open her eyes and look down at the group of volunteers in surprise.
“That quickly?” Nadia asked, genuinely surprised by how little time the survivors needed to organize themselves.
“We need to contribute, don’t we?” Robert asked as he rested his hands on his hips only to look to his sides where nine other survivors made their final preparations for the departure. “Who doesn’t contribute, doesn’t have the right to eat, after all!”