“Over here, cut through this fencing too.”
“John, you’re alive!”
Rescue forces steadily entered the prison area secured by the vanguard.
They seed to already know the prison’s layout, carrying various tools to cut through the fences and locks.
As the prison doors and fences were opened, the people trapped inside ca out.
“...”
Aiden observed their appearances.
At least from the outside, those who had been imprisoned by Iron Sight didn’t seem to be in good condition.
Likely the result of not being properly fed and being subjected to hard labor for a long ti.
“That one is...”
Among those being rescued, one person caught Aiden’s eye.
It was an elderly man with full gray hair.
His appearance resembled Susan’s uncle, whom she had briefly ntioned.
Unable to walk properly, the old man exited the prison with the support of another man.
Whether fortunate or not, it seed Susan’s uncle had indeed been captured by this gang, as River had said.
After watching the old man leave the prison for a mont, Aiden approached River.
It was to inform him of his intention to disengage from the operation.
“Then I’ll take my leave now.”
At Aiden’s words, River’s expression stiffened slightly.
Becoming part of the vanguard to secure this prison area – that had been the request entrusted to Aiden.
And Aiden had successfully completed that mission.
Especially his performance during that ti was impressive enough that River couldn’t find any fault.
Which was why...
“Can’t you fight with us a little longer?”
River pleaded, clearly reluctant for Aiden to leave.
However, Aiden firmly shook his head.
Now was the ti for him to act on behalf of himself and his companions.
“I see, I can’t stop you then. Good work, junk dealer. We’ll discuss the rest later.”
While promising Aiden additional compensation, River permitted his disengagent.
“Vanguard, how many personnel remaining?”
Right after that, a woman approached River.
She was the leader of the Kingwood Militia.
From their conversation, it seed the combat forces, including the vanguard, would soon be moving deeper into the base’s interior.
Their destination was the bridge within the base connecting to the prison area.
At the center of this expansive base, which encompassed the park at the city’s edge, the roads beyond, and several buildings, a small stream flowed.
That bridge spanning the stream was the only path linking the prison area to the rest of the base.
The militia likely intended to secure that chokepoint and buy more ti for the rescue operation.
It wasn’t a bad judgnt call.
Of course, River’s forces were still sowhat outnumbered.
The Kingwood Militia numbered just under 200, but according to Arian, the surviving gang mbers still approached 300.
However, even those numbers would be sufficient to stall the enemy at the narrow bridge for a while.
Knowing this, Aiden had completed his request and withdrawn.
As the combat forces gradually exited the prison area...
The now lone Aiden was rejoined by Arian, who had been assisting the rescue effort.
“Is it over now?”
“The request has been fully completed. Now we need to take care of our own matters. Were you able to locate the vehicle?”
“I have a general idea, but it doesn’t seem to be in this area.”
“Is that so...?”
Aiden’s brow furrowed slightly.
At the very least, the vehicle wasn’t in the prison area.
It wasn’t a strange occurrence, as there would be no reason to store a vehicle where people were being imprisoned.
“It’s likely inside the base sowhere...”
Muttering those words, Aiden retrieved a small map and a flashlight.
Although from 3 years ago when this area had been an ordinary park, the map detailed the base’s terrain.
“Can you make use of this?”
“I can make an educated guess.”
Aiden checked the various roads leading into the base’s interior.
They wouldn’t have driven the vehicle over rough terrain or obstacles like soil or trees when intact roads were available.
He judged the vehicle would likely be near one of the roads.
And excluding the front area of the base and this prison zone that Arian had already confird, there were four remaining roads.
However, two of them were elevated highways, with entrances too distant and inconvenient for the gang to access.
So those were naturally eliminated, leaving only two candidates.
The narrow road leading into the city center and the 8-lane road extending westward from the base’s main entrance.
Aiden focused on the latter.
With such a wide road, it wouldn’t be strange if they had utilized part of it as a parking area.
“Let’s check this one. There’s no need for us to directly confront them. It would be better to simply bypass the barricade altogether.”
Aiden said that, and Arian nodded.
* * *
At the Kingwood Militia’s base, the Houston dical Center...
Only the children unable to fight and so guard personnel held their breath, awaiting the others’ return.
“...”
Among those guards was Susan, gripping her rifle as she glared through the dark window, not even illuminated by moonlight due to the clouds.
Her gaze harbored a hint of worry and fear.
Concern that the operation might fail, or that zombies or the gang might attack this practically empty place.
“Phew...”
However, both were ultimately needless worries.
No matter how much she fretted, nothing would change.
So Susan shook her head, trying to dispel those thoughts.
Creak-
At that mont, the sound of a door opening ca from inside the building.
From the direction of the patient room where the children were sleeping. Perhaps soone needed to use the restroom.
Susan briefly turned her gaze in that direction.
Soon after, a familiar young girl appeared.
“Sadie?”
“...I couldn’t sleep.”
Sadie spoke those words as if making an excuse.
She then approached the window where Susan stood.
It had been several hours since they had put the children to bed, but Sadie showed no signs of sleepiness at all.
She had truly been unable to fall asleep, spending the night wide awake.
“Can I stay here for a bit?”
At those following words, Susan smiled faintly and nodded in affirmation.
Sadie also smiled softly as she turned her gaze towards the view outside the window.
From the hospital corridor they were in, only the expansive parking lot with a few abandoned vehicles could be seen.
Beyond that, the view was obstructed by haphazardly growing street trees.
It was a scenery devoid of anything noteworthy, yet Sadie gazed at that parking lot for quite a while before speaking.
“They must be fighting right now, aren’t they?”
At that question, Susan looked at Sadie.
The child’s eyes were filled with worry and anxiety.
Not much different from Susan’s own feelings earlier.
“Yes, they probably are. But it’ll be alright. They’ll definitely return safely.”
So Susan said that.
An unfounded reassurance to comfort the child.
However, Sadie didn’t seem to fully believe those words.
The girl simply nodded once and continued looking outside.
Her eyes still appeared uneasy.
“Are you worried about them?”
“...Yes.”
Susan had certainly expected that response.
However, Sadie’s reaction was sowhat ambiguous.
She nodded in affirmation, but Susan could clearly sense she was thinking about sothing else.
So Susan continued speaking.
“You seem to have other concerns. Why don’t you share them with ?”
Susan gently prodded in a soft voice.
After a montary hesitation, Sadie slowly opened her mouth.
“Why did they leave behind?”
“Hmm?”
“I can fight well too...”
It was an unexpected question for Susan.
She hadn’t imagined this child would be concerned about the reason she wasn’t taken to the battlefield.
“Well, of course it’s because they value you dearly.”
“Not because I’m useless?”
“How could that be the case?”
“But... I only receive help from them. I can’t do anything for them in return. That’s not right. I want to be helpful too.”
At those following words, Susan looked at Sadie with a mixture of surprise and pity.
Her point was valid.
No, it was an extrely logical argunt.
But simultaneously, it wasn’t the kind of thought a child should have.
How had this re 10-year-old co to harbor such concerns?
However, as Susan pondered Sadie’s circumstances, she quickly realized it wasn’t that strange after all.
Aiden and Arian, who traveled with Sadie, were certainly not her family.
So Sadie couldn’t simply accept their one-sided kindness toward a non-family mber with an open heart.
Viewed objectively, it was a relationship that could be severed at any ti without being unusual.
That was why Sadie wished to reciprocate in so way.
To avoid being abandoned by them, no matter what.
“...”
Without a word, Susan gently stroked Sadie’s head.
It was a concern an ordinary child, like her own son Theo, wouldn’t even comprehend.
So Susan didn’t offer any glib, consoling words to placate the child.
“Then... how about waiting a little longer?”
After deeply contemplating for a while, those were the words Susan spoke.
Sadie looked at her.
“Wait?”
“It’s simply not the right ti yet. But there will definitely co a day when you can be helpful to them.”
“...Do you think so?”
Sadie seed unconvinced.
Susan gazed at her with a gentle expression.
“Each person has different things they can do. Among the things you can do, there are surely so that they cannot accomplish. Isn’t that right?”
“Such things as...”
Sadie’s words trailed off, as if she was about to say ‘none.’
But then she seed to recall sothing.
While Susan wouldn’t know, weren’t Aiden a zombie and Arian a vampire?
So they were exceptionally powerful.
However, to ask if there were only advantages to their nature would be incorrect.
Sadie understood Aiden’s predicant of always having to conceal his face and Arian’s loneliness of being unable to view non-children with pure eyes.
Realizing this, Sadie’s eyes quietly lit up.
It seed she finally grasped what Susan was trying to convey.
“So there’s no need to be too hasty.”
At Susan’s following words, Sadie gave a small nod.
The clouds obscuring the moon gradually drifted away.
Pale moonlight began pouring down onto the parking lot Susan and Sadie were observing.
* * *
“...Found it! This is it!”
On the road within the gang’s base that Aiden had specified...
After inspecting one of the vehicles lined up there, Arian spoke those words.
Hearing her voice, Aiden imdiately approached.
“Yeah, it’s definitely ours.”
Aiden inserted the key and opened the door.
He then checked the vehicle’s condition.
As expected, most of the supplies inside had been taken.
However, they had already resigned themselves to that eventuality.
While the loss of the food, water, and even so military-grade firearms they hadn’t been able to retrieve was not insignificant, there was no point in scouring the gang’s base for those.
But there was another issue.
There were signs the vehicle had been partially disassembled.
The gang had likely stripped so components.
“Damn it...”
Despite confirming that, Aiden still tried starting the engine.
Wooong!
The engine itself started without issue.
And after testing the driving, there didn’t seem to be any imdiate problems with movent.
While they would need to identify exactly which parts were missing, it wasn’t an urgent matter, so Aiden decided to withdraw for now.
“Get in. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”
Aiden put the vehicle in motion.
Their direction was towards the base’s front entrance.
While there was a possibility of enemies remaining there, the breach in the barricade was the only passage to take the vehicle through.
With Aiden and Arian aboard, the vehicle advanced along the darkened road.
The engine sounded sowhat unsettling.
anwhile, distant gunfire could be heard.
It seed the gang and militia forces had clashed.
As the vehicle neared the base’s front entrance where Arian had been keeping watch, it happened.
“Wait a mont. Look over there.”
Arian pointed towards an open area beside the road.
A mound of haphazardly dug-up soil could be seen.
However, since nothing else stood out, Aiden tilted his head in confusion.
“Is there a problem?”
“That pit... it’s where the Rhino was originally trapped.”
Only after hearing those words did Aiden frown deeply.
As Arian said, there did seem to be traces of a pit.
But whether it was due to the Rhino’s struggles or the bombardnt of explosives aid at it...
One side of the wall had collapsed like a landslide, forming a gradual slope.
“...”
Aiden approached and closely examined the pit.
On that slope, massive footprints were clearly imprinted.
“So that mutant... didn’t fall here after all, it seems.”
“...It would appear so.”
Arian spoke in a low voice.
Perhaps she had made the careless assumption...
If it had been a human, she would have imdiately realized they were rely feigning death.
Arian could detect even breathing and heartbeats.
But zombies were different.
For those corpses without breath or heartbeats, if they remained motionless, even Arian couldn’t discern if they were alive or dead.
That was the reason for her misjudgnt.
The cunning mutant had waited quietly until everyone left before escaping this trap.
“This isn’t good. There’s only one place it could be heading.”
Aiden raised his head and looked beyond the pit.
Towards the prison area, where gunfire still hadn’t ceased.
The Rhino that had survived here would likely follow the humans and sounds in that direction.
“But it could also aid the militia.”
In this position, the Rhino would inevitably encounter the gang’s forces before the militia.
It would strike the gang’s rear as they advanced without caution.
They would undoubtedly suffer significant casualties.
However, Aiden shook his head.
“Mutants can’t be trusted. After decimating the gang, it will imdiately target the militia next.”
“Then what should we do?”
“We don’t need to confront it ourselves. But we should at least confirm the situation.”
Arian nodded.
Soon after, they exited through the collapsed barricade.
Outside the barricade, zombies were roaming here and there.
The ongoing battle was still drawing them in.
However, Aiden didn’t have ti to deal with them one by one.
So he drove the vehicle, simply running over the zombies to clear a path.
Bang! Crunch!
The corpses struck by the moving tal mass were feebly knocked aside, rolling across the ground.
Each impact caused the vehicle’s body to shake, which concerned Aiden, but there was no other choice for now.
And so, they moved to return to the rear area of the base.
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