Chapter 17: 17.People Of The DEAD!
[[17.People Of The Dead!]]
[[3rd Person's POV]]
As the zombies, limped, ran, and crawled, towards the team of women, said team were currently regarding the zombies with calm, analytical gazes, preparing themselves for the battle.
With Derierei's heads up on the possibility of evolved zombies here, they were more wary of that, rather than the zombies closing in. So, with utmost vigilance, the group began to slay zombies left, right and down. Rei, with her Sojutsu, paired up with Saya, who was using a Beretta(Handgun). Kiriko, who was also skilled in Sojutsu, paired up with Shizuka, who used knives, like always. And the last pair was Derierei, who was twirling in the battlefield with her scythe, and Rika, who made sure to kill the zombies who had unfortunately survived Derierei, or were missed, with a Beretta, too.
Quickly, with their teamwork and efficiency, only a small amount of zombies were left on the first floor of the mall. The ones that they could see anyway. However, after killing the last visible zombie, Shizuka had just remembered about her mini-map! At most times, she gets too focused on other things that the mini-map right at the edge of her vision blurs!
"There °are° some zombies inside but that's....wait? What were brown dots again?" Shizuka, who was looking at her mini-map, was currently trying to remember what the brown color meant. Fortunately for her, Derierei messaged her through the System, causing her to exclaim, "Ah! Right, possibly important!"
Hearing what Shizuka had said, Saya, who was feeling a bit excited from the adrenaline rush, decided to suggest, "Why don't we go there first? Since it's possibly important, what's the harm in it?"
Seeing Saya's point, Kiriko nodded as she encouraged Shizuka, "She's got'ta point. I'm kinda excited to check on it, too, actually."
Since two had already shared their interest, and Shizuka being also both curious and feeling like there was something she was forgetting again, the team decided to check on the "possibly important" thing. Though, they didn't notice how Derierei just looked at Shizuka with amusement, since the klutz had yet to realize why it was a brown °dot°.
__/__/__/
After looking for a way up to the second floor, killing zombies on the way, and window shopping, the team of women had finally reached a heavily barricaded with tables and chairs restaurant. Along the way, Shizuka had tried zooming-in in the mini-map, and had seen the three brown dots moving around a store a bit, which had immediately made Shizuka realize that they were possibly people!
When she relayed what she had thought of to the rest, they -expect for Derierei- were surprised! They hadn't realized that Shizuka had something that could have showed them the location of people, actually, even Shizuka herself forgot about that function! And it initially made them want to rush and see if they were actual people, when Derierei had stopped them and said, "If they're people, we have to be careful. We don't know them, and they don't know us. They could be hostile, in need of help, or whatever for all I fucking care, but in the end, we can't just easily approach them without preparations."
What Derierei had said calmed them down, and they got what Derierei had said. But if they °were° people in need of help, then they might need food, so Shizuka prepared some granola bars she kept stashed in her inventory.
And seeing the restaurant's entrance barricaded, the women didn't know how to properly approach this. It was hard to look inside, because not only did the tables and chairs made it hard to see inside, it had newspaper stuck to its glass wall here and there.
But, for now, Derierei decided to take action. Standing in front of the entrance, Derierei loudly knocked on the glass. "Yo! Anyb'dy in there?! We're friendly and shit!!"
Okay, maybe letting Derierei deal with strangers weren't the right call. But it did cause whatever it was behind the barricade to get moving. A moment later, a table was suddenly pulled down with a loud *Clang!*, and a mane of lemon-yellow and a pair of grey-blue eyes greeted them.
Then, having made eye contact, the woman's -from the hair- eyes widened, before they disappeared. The team of women faintly heard leveled-shouting, and they could guess they were probably arguing on what to do. But Shizuka had done them a favor by using the [Soothing Charm] skill on them. The skill was able to used when focused on a direction and is limited to a 20 meter length and 10 meter width.
The leveled-shouting soon disappeared, and after a few minutes, the tables and chairs were slowly pulled down. Then, after some more time, the barricade was no more, and the team of women saw three other women on the other side!
While the Raid Team were observing the other group, the three women were completely surprised upon getting a clearer look at the other survivors!
There were six of them in total, all top-notch beauties, with one of them being unbelievably so. Two seemed young, one had orangey-brown hair and red eyes, holding onto a modified wooden spear, and the other one was a young, shorter woman with pink hair in two pony tails and orange eyes, who was holding onto a gun. The three, who felt to be older women, were a surprise. One had purple hair, red eyes, and dark-caramel skin, who also held a small gun, but behind her back was a sniper! The next one was an older, much more mature version of the orange-haired woman, who, also sported red eyes, and was also holding onto a modified spear. And lastly, a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes, who seemed to be different than the rest, held onto a knife and plastic bag, looking on them with an disarming smile.
And then, there was the woman who was definitely different from the rest. With pink flowing behind her and reddish eyes, she had an otherworldly beauty that would make anyone weak to their knees, but most of all, she had scythe tied to her back!
Then, back to the Raid Team, they took in the thee women's appearance. One was a mellow looking short woman who had blonde hair and grey-blue eyes, same as the one they had seen earlier, and was absolutely beautiful, just like them, and had an ice pick as a weapon. The next one was felt like a much more intense, taller woman with platinum-blonde hair and golden-brown eyes, and a she held a handgun in her hands. And lastly, a short, meek woman with peach-pink hair and dark-pink eyes, was holding onto a pipe wrench.
Just like them, these women were beautiful, but they looked so exhausted and weak. Seeing their condition, from their dark eye bags, dirty, tattered clothes, and thinning cheeks, Derierei quickly grabbed the plastic bag from Shizuka's hand and walked forward.
"You look hungry. Want something to eat?"
__/__/__/
After Derierei's awkward offer, to which the three women, Akeno(Pink), Hina(Platinum-blonde), and Sara(Blonde), as they had come to know, were obviously apprehensive to. But seeing how friendly the women in front of them were being, they decided to take the risk and thanked Derierei before wolfing down the granola bars. Obviously, it wasn't enough, but it did better the trio's thoughts about them.
So, after introducing themselves to each other, the Raid Team were able to get the three women to follow them to their vehicles. Again, the trio were apprehensive, but they, in the end, followed their fellow survivors.
Upon reaching their vehicles, they opened up the semi-trailer, where everyone but Shizuka and the three survivors.
"There's~ no~ need~ to be afra~id~. We wouldn't hu~rt you! Us ladies~ gotta stick to~gether~!" Shizuka, with her sing-song tone and natural winning looks, she was able to get the three women to enter the semi-trailer.
The rest of the Raid Team immediately did their best to lessen the trio's apprehension of them, which was working. And seeing, Shizuka nodded and went to "get" their lunch.
__/__/__/
After "taking their bentos from the SUV", Shizuka gave three of them to the new people. And this time, instead of being suspicious, they were a bit guilty. But they were quick to say that they would be able to share the remaining bentos between themselves, since their cook, Lillian, had coincidentally made more than usual. Of course, Derierei decided to not eat, since she didn't need any nutrients in the first place, so only Shizuka, Kiriko, Rika, Rei and Saya shared the three remaining bentos. Not only that, they still had their bentos for lunch, which they didn't touch yet.
And while they ate, Derierei began to ask the new additions to the group -they were definitely taking them in, because not only will leaving them to fend for their own weigh on their conscience, but they needed the man(women)power, too. And feeding three more mouths wouldn't damage anything, since they had the Totem of Verdure Growth.- important questions.
"How long w're you three'n there? How'd ya even get stuck'n there?" Worry was clear in the pinkette's "gangster" voice, since she had seen that they had become unhealthily thin.
"Three days...I think? We were actually a big group, been together since day one. Had been going fine, too. But on day four, I overhead the men's...'plans' for us women, so I quickly took Akeno and Sara with me. We tried looking for a place to stay, but the bastards somehow found us. We were scared, but dying was better than being anyone's playthings. So we decided to go through a zombie horde, but somehow, we ended up losing the men in the horde and found ourselves in the restaurant." After retelling what had happened, Hina stopped to get a drink of water, before continuing.
"We actually didn't know what to do by then. We even had a fight! But in the end, we decided to hope that someone would come save us. And if it were anyone with bad intentions...." The tallest of the three trailed off, gesturing at the handgun beside her. "We kill 'em. If we're outnumbered, I shoot Akeno and Sara, then I shoot myself."
The other two stopped eating after hearing what their friend had said, remembering the time where they had agreed to that. They agreed with Hina's statement, where they would rather die than to be raped and used.
"But... Thank you for finding us." Hina put the bento away, then bowed until her forehead touched the floor, with Sara and Akeno quickly following after. They bowed in gratitude, to everyone who was here.
"Hmph. I du'n't want'ta come off as rude, but ya don't need to bow to us, y'know. We didn't save ya just °because°. We saved you all, too, because we needed more people back at camp. There're a lot of things to be done, building the base, building stuff to prevent the Zs from getting in, ya know...stuff. But there ain't enough people to do that when more than half'f us go out to loot. So, yeah..." Derierei trails off, and while she was thinking of what else to say, her friends just watched on in amusement. And, though the trio were a bit confused and a little bit scared of being turned into slaves, seeing how the pinkette's friend were amused and said woman was currently blushing, they calmed down a bit.
Then, finally finding her words, Derierei continued, "...if ya want to express your gratitude, you three better help us out. Of course, ya wouldn't be able'to help us if you're, like, tired and hungry and shit, so we're going tah feed ya and give ya a place to rest."
Having finished, Derierei bashfully looked away. Then, when a minute passed of the surroundings being quiet, the pinkette made a quick escape. "I'm gonna check if there's any Zs around."
And just like that, she left the group, who just barely contained their laughter. And, though Hina, Akeno, and Sara were both still confused, but now a bit flustered, they could tell that this pink haired scythe weilder just took them in in her group.
"Huhuhu~. Derierei-chan's so cu~te~!" Shizuka was first to break the silence that came from Derierei's abrupt leave.
"She tries to be a gangster, but all she achieves is being cuter." Saya agreed with Shizuka, just like everyone else. They had known Derierei long enough to know that the pinkette was a massive softy in the inside, and she tries to hide by being a gangster. It was just too cute!
Then, after giggling, Shizuka gave the three new additions a smile. "Please don't misunderstand Derierei-chan's intentions. She hadn't interacted with anyone else but us. I'm sure that Derierei-chan wouldn't mind, and would even tell you this herself, but Derierei-chan had actually been living in a laboratory for her whole life, having been experimented on since birth, and can be considered a superhuman now. That's also why she doesn't have much people skills." Shizuka easily gave Derierei's background, because the woman herself didn't really care. Especially when it was all fake.
But the others didn't need to know that. Actually, they did, but you get the point. However, to the new additions, it was something they couldn't believe so easily.
And, being able to read their thoughts like an open book, Shizuka added, "There's no need to worry about Derierei-chan. She wouldn't like that. But let me tell you this, what Derierei-chan meant was that, we'll take care of you."
__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/__/
After their encounter with their new members, Derierei had told Shizuka to use the Affection Level on the three to at least get a view on their thoughts through the System, and thankfully enough, the System said that the three would, in general, repay their saviors. So there wouldn't be any betrayal, hopefully.
But, after their brunch, the Raid Team, in addition with the determined to help out Hina, Sara, and Akeno, began to loot the mall. And, thanks to 9 people being split into three groups, the looting process was much faster. Of course, since Shizuka trusted the new additions, not only because of her personality, but also with the help of the System, she gave them Sara and Akeno a handgun of their own, and knives too!
They raided a pharmacy, the grocery store -which had a lot of rotting stuff-, a department store -to scavenge clothes, shoes, cosmetics, home accessories for their new additions and just for extra use, and plushies too!-, Technology stores -they might just need them at some point-, and hardware stores! They just took whatever they thought was useful, and everything else that they didn't even need!
After their raid on the mall, they still had a lot of time, so they went to the police department, with Shizuka's mini-map's help. Sadly, someone had already done it before they could, and they just hoped that the ones who raided the place were good people. Shizuka was tempted to use her mini-map to actually find more people, but Derierei had stopped her, worried about how she'd let her emotions take control of her.
Derierei, too, wanted to save people, but they can't just suddenly do it. Hina, Akeno, and Sara were special cases, as they had found them partially by accident. Actively looking for others and wasting their time was a different story. As said, the newest additions were special cases, but they won't be as lucky next time.
The pinkette remembered how Alice's father had died due to paranoid people in the anime, so what's to say that there weren't more people like. Even if Shizuka did use [Soothing Charm], it would just calm them down, not suddenly turn them into friends and whatnot.
And so, while the police station was a bust, the library was a different story. Whatever they saw, they just took them and transported them to the semi-trailer. Of course, Shizuka discreetly added books into her inventory to carry more. They had silently agreed that they'll fill the three women in with the evolution of the world and all, and that Shizuka had already received one of these advantages, which they wouldn't fully disclose what it was. There wasn't a point in hiding some parts of the System anymore, since the world will start to have super-powered humans soon.
By the time they cleared out the library, it was 3:54 PM. So, with nothing else planned to raid in town, unless they wanted to raid the houses, which weren't that great an idea, since the chances of anything super useful would be around 9%, which the System actually said. And if they did find anything useful in the uses, they probably had a lot of what it was back at camp.
And so, without any delay, they drove back to base, with Hina, Sara, and Akeno riding with Shizika in the SUV.
__/__/__/
When the Raid Team arrived back at camp, everyone was thoroughly surprise, both the Camp Team and the new people. The Camp Team hadn't expected other survivors, and Shizuka couldn't inform them with the walkies when they got closer because she wanted to keep them as a surprise, but they quickly accepted them with open arms, which, in Saeko's case, was with a small smile, while Alice was just excited to meet new Onee-chans!
As for the Hina, Sara, and Akeno, they were surprised with the amount of people in the place, only being five in total, that they were all women -and a girl-, but they were mostly surprised about the girl.
And after the warm welcome, Lillian had led the three to the river after they had chosen their clothes. Soon after, Lillian came back, because they had needed to talk about how they'd properly deal with their three new additions to the group, and what they'll do in the future if they ever find more people.
In the end, Derierei and Shizuka had somehow made it that women who wouldn't backstab them would be able to join the group, which might turn into a community in the future. Of course, if they ever find women that they could possibly take back and add into their group, then they'll have to be checked by Shizuka first, since the System allows her to get a gist of what they were thinking, and luckily, something important about their past.
Then, if they ever find men, they'll just lead them to Shoshoramu, since they were sure they'd be able to clear it of its current zombie population. Though, if they were to turn out to have evil intentions, killing them might be something they'd have to do, for their survival, and the survival of others. Of course, they didn't like the thought, even Saeko was a slight bit against it, but the world wouldn't be fair to them, and their decision of sparing men, and women, like that might just bite them back in the ass.
So, all in all, good women were to be added in their group-slash-future-community, and good men, and women who don not want to join, would be sent to Shoshoramu, who they might help out occasionally and form something like a trade with.
And, with that done, Lillian, Rei, and Yuki went to prepare what they needed for dinner, Saya and Rika went to check on the tree cutting business, Kiriko, Saeko and Alice went to start transporting some of the loot out of the semi-trailer, while Shizuka and Derierei waited for Akeno, Sara, and Hina, to explain what's to come next.
|3352|
[A/N: Finally got back to my 3,000 word average, good, good.
Hope I did well, and I hope you don't hate how I will be leading the community, and also, don't hate me for the need to reveal a slight bit of the System to the new peeps!
The group will start adding more people in her group, which'll turn into a community. The people are needed for the base building and shit. The current amount of people wouldn't be able to work fast enough, so other people are needed.
And of course, it would be a community of all women, and, just to be clear, none of them would be part of the harem, and would just be the occasional suggested fling.
As for the males, I hope you're fine with what I am to do with them. No reason to kill them all off.
And currently on the Host votes:
) Esdeath: 4 (System will appear while she's in the north? Just fighting an emperor or something?)
) Kurome: 2 (I don't know where(when) to add the System)
) Najenda: 1 (Dunno)
Others???
Also, suggest a System that would be nice. Since the System being the Ironic System was just bullshit that Derierei said.
And zombies. Suggest some evolved zombies that aren't too over the top like being able to breath fire. That's, third evolution tier.
Yep, hope you all liked it!]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone