Chapter 68: It is Lonely Without my Daughter…

(Marinkia’s POV)

With Ava gone, I no longer went slow. It wasn’t like I needed to go slow with Ava still with me. Rather, I just didn’t wish to push her too far, or overwork her. With her strength and skill, I thought that I would be fine with it.

But I wasn’t. After killing all of those zombies with her, I honestly felt like I had committed the worse sin in existence. As such, it was very much necessary for me to get Ava to a safer place, such as our estate.

That place was thousands of miles away from even the tiniest of dangers. The funny thing about Numens is how damn sturdy we are. Humans are so very fragile, they could die from slipping and falling.

I feel like I have spoken at length about how crazy sturdy we Numens are, but it is just something that I can’t over. Why is it that, when someone fell down 200 steps of stairs, it became a viral internet clip? The girl was perfectly fine, of course. In fact, her only complaint, as she got lots of buzz from the story, was that her dress got damaged in the fall…

It wasn’t like we would be killed by zombie bites or scratches, either. This, in itself, does present a problem… A few years ago, due to extreme loneliness, a Numen used a handgun to kill herself. The problem was that, even though her head was completely destroyed, she came back to life once her head had regenerated.

Which, again, just proves that there really wasn’t any threat to Ava’s life if she continued with me. Maybe I was just being selfish, or something. Regardless of why, I do not regret it. Even with being immortal, it wasn’t needed for Ava to witness such horrible sights.

While walking in this endless desert wasteland, I eventually came to another abandoned city. It was a little funny how each one was laid out. Surrounding each leftover city was a desert. But inside, there wasn’t even nature taking over the buildings.

Most of the world was dead, you see. Only in the city where we have begun the earth rival process was there any greenery and nature. Of course, if you want to be stupid, a desert is nature too.

But the endless expanse of nothingness, where only dust and wind exist, is a drastic difference when you come upon an abandoned city like this. It was different from our districts, as we had giant walls that blocked out the sight of the outside world by a large margin.

Once again, it is hard to explain such a world and cities without comparing them to some very in-depth museum experience. The endless silence within each abandoned city has its own charm. It feels like that time was frozen.

With no nature to overtake everything, and with how there was no apocalypse that caused these places to be emptied, each one was practically as pristine as the day that they were abandoned.

Marinkia: “Maybe I should find a few souvenirs?” I ask to no one at all.

Not even the wind answered my outspoken question. I guess that I could take a few signs as souvenirs… No, wait… Most of them are probably made of bad materials. Like, all of these cities will have to be destroyed, and dealing with the leftover toxic materials will be a major hassle for us.

But that is Krul’s problem to figure out. I mean… not really? In the end, it will probably be Anna who will figure out some amazing solution. That girl is fucking insane… I mean this with absolute certainly, but Anna has advanced our civilization by hundreds of years in just the peaceful years after we won the war.

Clink!

Aww… even kicking around some empty can wasn’t fun. Though, having the sound eco throughout the entire city was somewhat interesting. The acoustics in this place must be amazing…

Marinkia: “Fuck!” I yell as loud as I can.

I wasn’t in trouble, or anything. Nor did anything bad happen. Instead, I just wanted to listen to how far my voice could go. This is where I messed up, as us Numens can be really, really loud. My voice echoed loudly throughout the entire city…

Luckily, it wasn’t like any undead or special zombies were around to hear my stupidity. That was for me, and me alone, to experience and be aware about. I hope…

A Few Days Later.

At the very least, there wasn’t any living thing in the city. With my in-depth exploration, I was sure as poison rain that no one heard me be an idiot a few days ago. But this gives me a more pressing annoyance…

This is like, what? The fourth or fifth abandoned city that I’ve been to? So far, besides us luring those zombies, and the three special glowing eye zombies we met earlier, I haven’t found anything else like that for weeks now.

Marinkia: “Krul… I feel like I am running around like a headless chicken…” I say after she picked up the call.

Krul: “What an antique phrase…” She replied.

Marinkia: “I do try, you know.” I say with a proud tone.

Krul: “Yes, you do. You really liven up the place with your obscure knowledge about outdated phrases.” She praised.

Marinkia: “Thank you. Anyway, yeah, I feel like I am not making any progress.” I reply with a sigh.

Krul: “Just keep looking?” She proposed.

Marinkia: “…”

Krul: “No, look. At this point, judging by your current location, there is only one more city left to look in. In fact, we have already tracked the queen to it.” She explained.

Marinkia: “What?! Why didn’t you tell me about it…” I ask with a pout.

Krul: “Oh, we only just started to use drones to map out the world. By accident, we came across tons of those glowing eye zombies. All seemed to be based in one district.” She replied.

Marinkia: “District?” I say with a raised eyebrow.

Krul: “Yes, the first district. One that Grant decided was a failure, and one he quickly abandoned. The entrance isn’t blocked, or anything. But the walls are high, and their defenses are working, with our drones being shot down if they get too close.” She clarified.

Marinkia: “Have I just been fucking around this entire time…” I reply.

Krul: “In hindsight, yes. But, we only got this information just minutes ago. I was about to call you, actually.” She said with a consoling tone.

Marinkia: “Alright then. Please give me the location so that I can end this war. I miss my family… That includes you, Krul.” I plead.

We talked a bit more, specifically about how well Ava was fitting in with our family. As you would expect, Ava fit in like she was always part of our family. Once the call was over, Krul sent me directions to the last “abandoned” city. I just hope that killing this queen won’t be a stupid or big hassle to do…