"Your parents would have been proud of you If they were here" She held his hand tightly, her face and voice full of sad emotions, he swallowed the tears building up in his throat and replied
"You always told me they're watching over me.""Of course, they are... I converted all the assets belonging to myself and your parents to money, you'll probably not need them during this time, but you'll need them once all this is over. The base can house ten thousand people at most, it has farmland for raw food and life stocks, and there are people there who have been taking care of everything; leave Nina to supervise them once you move in. I talked to Becca; she'll move into the base as a doctor, and one last thing. Nina isn't human; she's an AI."Eagan looked surprised; the lady he had lived with all these years wasn't human. Is this a joke, or was he just not attentive enough to notice?" Are you being serious? You told me she was an orphan you picked up!"The grandmother sighed and shook her head " it was also a cover story; Nina is one of your mother's many works, programmed to be your assistant ... I'm sorry we kept a lot from you. Please forgive me."All the information he got tonight was too much for him to process at the time. He nodded and urged his grandmother to continue without knowing how to respond." I have ordered some long-lasting food for the base. Make sure to manage it well; in situations like this, humans can be more dangerous than the virus, so be extra careful.""Glam," his face was grim, and he felt anguished; his parents hadn't died of the accident as he thought; their close friend had assassinated them. His grandmother is about to leave him, and the world is facing a devastating fate due to some idiot's greed." You have a long way ahead of you, Eagan ... That was the name your father gave you, and it means "Fire " Flames" he hoped that one day you'd be able to complete what they couldn't, that you'll be strong enough to burn down the organization to its roots; please don't disappoint him."" I promise to do my best."" That's all we want."That night Eagan lost his grandmother; she died holding his hands with a smile on her face; Nina and Becca stood behind him as he sat beside her bed, silently crying his heart out. All through his life, when he never knew his parents, his grandmother's mother had been his shield; she had always been there for him and everything he kneeled on, which made her death painful despite knowing she was old enough.That night despite the looming doom, Silver came to him after receiving the news of his grandmother's death from Nina; he comforted his best friend and said goodbye to her, to the woman he always treated him like her own grandchild. The memories of her playing with them and giving them sweets when they were younger flashed through his mind as he sat beside Eagan.She was a great woman, and she'll be missed dearly.She was cremated the following morning, as that was her final wish, and took her ashes to the sea. Once the burial was done, Eagan informed Silver about the shelter, instructed him to bring his family there, sent out a message to his boss and co-workers about the top, and gave them the address.They drove Becca to her place to get her things and went to the base afterward. Nina Showed him around the floor and took him to the quarters specifically built for him and his grandmother, but since she's no more, he'll be staying there alone with Nina. Being an AI made to be his assistant, she was programmed with all the information in the base.The base living quarters are like a college dormitory where Four people share a room with a washroom. After seeing the setup, he thought to himself.A lot of money was spent on this.'The base has farmland, as his grandmother had said, and medical facilities. The warehouse is on the top floor of the living quarters, and no one can go in there except Nina and Eagan. The topmost floor only has Eagan's quarter want the warehouse.The kitchen is separate from the living quarters; it was built at the back of the houses with an open field in its front; on the kitchen door, a note was placed that reads.TWO MEALS PER DAY'That's reasonable given how difficult it'll be to get food for a while,' Eagan thought and moved along to the following location.The security building was built close to the Shelter's gates, and the iron gates are sturdy and rugged to break as they have sharp spikes on the surface.According to Nina, the people in charge of the security are his grandmother's most trusted people and are well-trained in combat by his uncle, Festus.Later that day, the government announced a state of emergency, and the news about the Virus spread like wildfire. It was seen over the information how people rushed to shopping malls to get their necessities and the fights that broke out among the shoppers; some had even resorted to looting the malls.The news about it being in their city was also announced, and Eagan subconsciously thanked the system for giving him a heads-up.His boss and coworker rushed to the shelter immediately after the announcement was made and soon after, silver and his mother and sister joined. They all came with their food and everything they had prepared to stay safe from the virus; Bar even came with his shotgun." Where is your dad?" Eagan asked Silver seeing that he didn't come with them." You know him... Honestly, I thought he'd at least come home due to the spread of the virus, but he only called to tell us to stay safe, " Silver explained." Let's hope he's the safe place ... Go settle in with your family. It's four people in a room, but you can stay with me, silver, while your mum and Sister stay together."" Thanks, man"Eagan faced everyone " I'm glad everyone could make it ... the coming days will be hard, we don't know what the government plans are, but we'll have to go out to rescue as many people as we can."" How? It's dangerous out here!"" I've got no problems with that."" It should be the same way as bashing a Zombies head in a game. Don't worry; I'll protect you all."" Are you kidding?"" I'm aware not all of us can do it, so don't worry; we'll all go through some combat training before we go out. After all, we can't rely on the government to save everyone."A makeshift registration platform was made, and everyone registered at the base and was assigned to a room. They all got a tag that showed they were sheltered members.Approximately forty people were registered in the base, both old and new members.Several lives would be saved thanks to his parents thinking all this through. Eagan picked up the box his parents left for him and tried to open it, but it didn't budge; suddenly, a needle came out of the keyhole and pricked his fingertip, drawing out don't blood. SCANNING BLOOD SAMPLE A mechanical voice came out of the box, startled Eagan, and he almost dropped it. SCAN COMPLETED DNA MATCHED... SELF-DESTRUCT MODE DISENGAGED. The setup amazed Eagan, and he thought, "what a brilliant invention; I mean, it was going to self-destruct if it was someone else who got it; how amazing." With all this, he was happy he wasn't sharing a room with anyone, as Nina and silver had separate rooms. The first thing he noticed as he opened the box was a written letter addressed to him. HEY THERE KIDDO, Happy eighteenth birthday from your handsome dad and beautiful mum. We hope you've been well and haven't been giving your grandmother a hard time. I'm sure you've grown up to be a fine young man l
" There's a supermarket around that corner to the left; hopefully, we'll stop there to get some resources; it hasn't been looted completely. We'll be divided into five groups, and each group will be led by one of your trainers; one group will be on the lookout for intruders and zombies while two groups will go into the supermarket to gather resources, and the other two will go into the surrounding houses to check for survivors " Adam instructed. Everyone got assigned to their groups of four persons per group and stepped out of the bust to carry out the mission given to them. Matt, a Trainer, leads Eagan's group, and the members are Eagan, Shannon, a lady who worked on the farm on the base, and Nick, Eagan's co-worker. Their team was assigned to check the building opposite the supermarket for survivors, and as they got close to the building, someone shouted from the upper level. "Hey! Please help! Please help us!" It was a blue-haired boy waving his hands frantically through the wind
The two men with the knives slash and stab—the zombie's head, with Nick and Shannon assisting from the back. "I love this; let's do this often!" Nick said excitedly amidst all the shooting "I honestly thought I'd die or something while leaving the base this morning; I didn't think it'd be this enjoyable to shoot at zombies." The survivors heard their voices, and the commotion from outside began packing their things so as not to time the rescue team after killing the zombies. They packed all the necessary items, such as food, clothes, toiletries, and photo albums. Eagan knocked on the door after killing off all the zombies "Hey, anybody in there? He asked, and the door opened immediately, revealing the blue-haired boy from earlier. "Hello," he greeted firmly "You were the one who called us the other time?" "Yes, that was me; I'm sorry for attracting the zombie to you," the boy, who looked frail and young, bowed his head. "It's okay." " Can you please take my sisters to your ba
" I never knew Festus taught you how to shoot," Adam comments as they shoot at the zombie covering the survivors to safety. "Huh? you know Uncle Festus?" Eagan asked, surprised that Adam knew his uncle, but 'it shouldn't have been too surprising as uncle Festus was also involved in the building of the base,' he thought " Of course, I'm very familiar with him. After all, he was our trainer alongside Marcus .... You might not know this, but everyone you met on the base had nothing when we met your grandmother; she gave us a place to stay and a purpose to live for ... and in return, we promised to serve you till our last breath." Eagan felt touched by the confession made by Adam and was stunned for a few seconds. " I'm sorry ... I didn't know anything ... I was just informed about all this on her dying bed, and everything seems new to me, and I'm just barely holding on." " It's a promise she had to keep; your parents made everyone promise that you'd have a normal childhood and you wo
Eagan aimed for its head with his guns while others continued the assault on his stomach; even though the weakness was in the stomach, it kept moving around. He shot at it twice, and from each gun and with the four bullets to the head and belly, they became weak. It growled out in pain, and the surrounding zombies began to gather " Fuck! We are surrounded! " " I'm out of ammo, and so are most people." " We can't relax yet if we don't want to be food for the zombies." With one last shot, Eagan finished the level two zombie, and they fought the horde surrounding them. They sat down in exhaustion when the zombies were cleared " I take it back. I don't want to do this every day ... I'm so tired," Nick said with a groan " Although it's tiring, it's fun." " Fun, my ass, it's so disgusting." " I'm aware we are all tired from just now, but we'll need to clear out the road and the zombies. We need to burn them," Adam instructed, resulting in a series of unpleasant complaints and groan
"The building at the front is for the male survivors, the one at the back is for the females, opposite genders are not allowed into each other's living quarters, if you are found, you'll be punished accordingly," Eagan explained further. " But what about married couples?" someone asked. "The third building is for couples; you can stay with your family in one apartment; I hope you understand it's for security reasons. The doctor's quarters are right behind the infirmary; you won't have to travel daily between the living quarters and the infirmary. You can stay in the living quarters since we have fewer people around. Also, note that privileges will be given based on your contribution to the development of the base; at a later time, we'll discuss the rest of the rules with you all once I welcome you." The people separated into different groups to get registered for the professions they were interested in. At the end of their registration, there were two doctors, four student doctors,
He locked the door after Silver and pressed the button that unlocked the stairway that leads to the control room; he's never been here, he saw the plan for his room last night, and that's how he knew it was there. He climbed up the stairway, placed his hands on the doorknob, and got pricked; the feeling was similar to when he opened the box his parents left him. SCANNING DNA SCAN COMPLETE DNA MATCH... "For fuck's sake!" Eagan chuckled as the door opened, he walked into the room, and the first thing he noticed in the dim light was a figure sitting in front of the many computers in the room. The room's set-up was what he saw next, and he could think nothing but 'this is something out of a sci-fi movie.' He tried reaching for his gun, but it was left on his bedside table, ' Why was I aiming for my gun?' "Hello, young master, I'm Naina, and I've been waiting for you." " Uh mm, hi? " Eagan greeted, unsure how to react to a lady living above his room. " (chuckles) I'm the AI in char
Nina worked through the night writing the guide and rules for the base to discuss with Eagan tomorrow before he left scavenging. # There should be no fighting amongst survivors in the base; in case of any conflict, report to your team leader or Nina. # You are allowed out of the base for whatever reasons; only scavenging teams are permitted out of the ground during this time. #Crimes such as stealing, rape, and murder are punishable by eviction from the base or death. # Everyone is mandated to report to their chosen place of work immediately after brunch. # Toiletries will be distributed to every occupied room once every two weeks. # Everyone is entitled to two meals a day; your contribution to the growth and development of the base will give you an opportunity for a snack. Which means Snacks are earned. # The infirmary is available at all times; visit there whenever you are sick. # Report any damage to any gadget in your rooms immediately. # Everyone must join the morning tra