Kaleb's heart starts racing as he hides, watching this figure for a few moments. It's just standing there. The beating of his heart is the only thing he can hear as he looks at the large figure.

 

 

The wind blows, filling the store with the smell of death, the large figure's cloak moves in the wind, revealing a green-blue tinge.

 

 

Kaleb immediately relaxes, it's just Bones standing outside. He must have finished scouting around the area, his cloak strangely looks far more pristine than when he left.

 

 

Kaleb climbs back over the counter, struggling to get the suitcase out of the tiny hole he stuck it into. He pauses, he can hear something from the street. It's in the distance but it sounds like it's coming closer, Kaleb quickly gets his suitcase unstuck and hides inside the store as he watches outside.

 

 

Some laughter lightly echoes in the region as the sound comes closer. It must be people; he can hear them speaking.

 

 

"<foreign language text that is censored>"

 

 

A young man speaks, Kaleb cannot understand it. By the noise from their voices, they're coming closer to where he is. He hopes that they're not going to come into the store he is in. However, as they come into view from across the street, they look like they're walking directly this way. There are 4 people crossing the road, each of them holds a weapon.

 

 

"<foreign language>?"

 

 

The group crosses the road and approaches Bones,

 

 

"<foreign language>?"

 

 

The group continues to approach Bones who hasn't responded to their presence at all, Kaleb takes a quick look to ensure there's no one hiding around before rushing outside. The people crossing the street walk slowly as Kaleb approaches bones.

 

 

"<foreign language>?"

 

 

One of the young men yells out from the middle of the street, Kaleb waves his hand at the man and shouts back, "I can't understand what you're saying."

 

 

"English man!"

 

 

Another one of the people on the street responds.

 

 

"Yes, I can only speak English. My friend here cannot talk but we'll be leaving now so the store is all yours!" Kaleb yells as the people on the street talk amongst themselves. Kaleb can see them more clearly now, there's 3 young men and a woman. If he would take a guess, they'd likely be university students.

 

 

Kaleb checks Bones’ backpack ensuring all the contents are there, luckily none of the water bottles broke like when they were stuck in the office building, so everything seems fine. Kaleb quietly transfers some of the new contents from his suitcase into the backpack as he waits for the people to finish speaking on the street.

 

 

"English man, what is your name? Do you need help?" the people on the street don't move.

 

 

"I don't really need any help but if it's not a problem, could you tell me which roads are safe around here?"

 

 

They speak amongst themselves after the message is translated, Kaleb is unsure of what they're talking about but they're being rather quiet. The distance is too far to see the details on their faces, obscured by the shadows, but their tone suggests that they're talking about something important, Kaleb fixes up the backpack loading up some of the more valuable items in it.

 

 

"We walk forward, no fighting" the young man says as they walk forward as a group. Kaleb raises an eyebrow at their behavior but upon seeing Bones and his giant axe, it's easy to see why they might be intimidated.

 

 

The group step into the light revealing them. Three young men wearing casual clothes, with one being a clear leader, and a female. She's standing behind them all and looks rather quiet. They each have a weapon and blood over them while each of them is holding large backpacks. The leader takes a step forward and speaks with Kaleb.

 

 

"You know there's monsters outside English man?"

 

 

They all look intently at Kaleb as if they're wondering what his response will be.

 

 

"Yeah, there's zombies and some other things around."

 

 

"Zombies, yes, like The Walking Dead TV Show. We saw lots on our way here and needed to get food."

 

 

"That's basically the same as me, I just needed to get some food before I head off to the evacuation center. Is that where we need to go?"

 

 

"Yes, no... Don't go there."

 

 

"What? Why? I thought it'd be safe?"

 

 

"They can only hold 5 million people, there are over 45 million people in this region. We saw it before we came here, the western side is being bombed by helicopter and jets while the eastern side has the army. Lots of people and lots of blood."

 

 

"Well shit, is there anywhere that'd be safe?"

 

 

"Where did you stay before?"

 

 

"The hotel that was standing over there" Kaleb points the direction where he came from.

 

 

"Ah I thought it did look different, now I see through the smoke." the young man replies.

 

 

The group of locals speaks together for a few moments 2 of the non-speaking young men shake their heads while the female and leader argue with them. Finally, they come to an agreement as he speaks to Kaleb again.

 

 

"We have lots of space in the dorm and need some help getting back, can the two of you help us? They will welcome you there because we have other foreigners there. It should be defended by the army too."

 

 

Kaleb thinks it over for a moment.

 

 

He doesn't know these people and will probably be treated like cannon-fodder if an issue comes up. Especially considering the two other men who have a hostile gaze. Him not knowing the area well thus will make him entirely reliant on these people... But it might be good to give everything a few days to settle down before he tries anything else.

 

 

He agrees to their proposal bringing smiles to each other's faces. They group on the street steps forward and introduces themselves, they're university students from the local area. The young leader is called Simon, the girl is called Lu'er while the other two other men are Lu Si and Chen Zhong.

 

 

They're all freshmen that were visiting their home in one of the tall residential towers where they could see nearly everything going on. They have to get back to the college soon or they'll be marked as dead and lose government privileges. Kaleb tries to convince them that their government will probably not exist for much longer.

 

 

They each have their own reaction, but Kaleb does notice a hostile glint from the two quiet ones, Simon continues to explain that they have a particular route to follow that should be safe. They're making a stop here as Lu Si's aunt owns the store, they're in front of so they should be able to stock up with no problems.