CHAPTER 56: CHAPTER 56: FINDING SHELTER

All the surrounding people took a glance at him in alarm. Some even openly took a few steps back.

They scrutinized him for a while. Besides that weird liquid on his face, he seemed like a living human so far. Zombies couldn’t speak...

"It’s us who should be asking this to you." Henry frowned with vigilance written all over his face. He was among the first people who had instantly taken a few steps back the moment this peculiar man appeared.

"It’s you all who stopped in front of our residential houses..." The man scrutinized them back, eyeing each person. Some of them took a few steps back further the moment they locked eyes. He sent them a strange smile.

"You are not a zombie?" Darren opened his mouth.

After the man was done eyeing the trucks and cars, he turned his attention to Darren. Raising his eyebrows, he asked them. "Do I look like one to you?"

Then he wiped the corner of his mouth, letting out an unpleasant, croaky laughter. "Oh, apologies. There’s some sauce stain on my lips. I just had my meal. Indeed, your suspicion isn’t unreasonable."

Others didn’t speak, merely glancing at each other with puzzledness in their eyes. It was only natural. Over three months had passed since the apocalypse started.

Most people would have been starving as long as they didn’t go out to find supplies. As for this man, he even found some sauce, which was considered a luxury.

It was just too odd.

"Are you from afar?" He gestured at the houses behind him. "I heard that you want to find some lodging. Most houses here are empty or only occupied by a few people. You can take a rest inside."

Darren and Henry exchanged silent glances. It was Henry who spoke first. "The houses are empty? Where are the owners? Are they not locked?"

The man turned his attention to Henry. His thin figure made him resemble a ghost in the surrounding fog. Clicking his tongue, he muttered, "Oh my, aren’t you asking me too many questions?"

"But that’s alright. Just like the people who came here, they also asked us those questions before. I will answer them." He chattered on.

"When we came here, the houses around had been abandoned. Some houses are locked and some are not. May luck be with you and you find a good one and clean..." he trailed off some unsaid words.

"You are not from here?" Darren caught an important piece of information in his words.

"Of course not. We just started occupying this place a month ago. As for you people... are you from some kind of human shelter or something?" He had some eager look in his eyes. "Can I come with you after the fog dissipates?"

There was some kind of hidden anxiety in his tone when he said the last word, no longer as crazy as he previously looked like.

Before anyone could answer, the man looked around vigilantly in alarm. Then, he told them in a low voice while waving his hand off, his odd expression returned. "Actually, we can talk about this later."

"All of you should go inside the houses... the fog will become much thicker soon." He suggested them, his face bright.

The way he continuously changed his expressions in a short amount of time gave them an impression of an unstable person.

Can they really believe him and be safe in this strange environment? They all looked at Darren and Henry, waiting for their decision.

Zerra watched the interaction unfold with narrowed eyes. The whole thing seemed somewhat off. She glanced at Nyra, who also had her lips pursed with a troubled look.

"How is it? I can even help you all arrange the housing so that everyone can find a place to stay and feel comfortable." He offered with a grin. After he told them all of that, the eeriness emanated from him dissipated slightly.

As long as he wasn’t a zombie.

Darren and Henry silently communicated. The man wasn’t impatient; he was smiling the entire time while waiting for them to answer.

The situation was indeed not good at this moment. The fog would soon make the visibility become zero. If they were forced to continue the journey, they might go down the wrong path again.

Worse, they could feel that there were animal sounds in the distance. Those animals might be mutated and it would be dangerous then. Thus, they had no choice.

Henry came to him not long after. "Then we will trouble you."

The man’s smile became wider. He began to help them to arrange the housing, pointing at a few empty houses.

The fog also didn’t seem simple either. They could already feel their skin crawling the more time they spent outside. So Darren and Henry hurriedly ordered others to go inside as soon as possible.

"There are no more empty houses." He suddenly looked around with a troubled look on his face. The peculiar man had introduced himself as Jake.

Soon, his face brightened again when they arrived in front of two houses, one small and one big. The bigger one was a two-story house, simple but very wide.

On the other hand, the house beside it was much smaller, but not with its surrounding area. The side yard was filled with some animal shelters. They could vaguely sense some livestock there...

Not all animals immediately mutated during the start of the apocalypse, after all.

"Some people here still have livestock?" Nyra asked Jake with some scrutiny.

"Ah, yes. Luckily, there haven’t been mutated animals yet. Maybe because our location is on the outskirts of the city." He explained before cracking another smile.

It didn’t quite make sense, but he might not be too far from the truth. The appearance of the virus was more concentrated in certain places, but none of them could escape from its presence.

"Do you mind living with the house owners?" Jake muttered, and before they could answer, he already went and knocked on the houses. He spoke to both of the owners, then went back to their group.

"Three people can live with Scott." Jake pointed to the small house. Its owner was waving at them, looking at them through the low fence.

"The rest can go to the bigger house. There is a small family inside, a pair of husband and wife." Jake turned to them with questioning eyes. "How is it? You all decide."

The eight of them discussed for a while. Most of them wanted to stay in the bigger house, and thus they couldn’t decide for a while.

"Just use rock, paper, and scissors." The impatient Laziel suggested.

They all agreed, and after the team was split in two, the losing team would do it once more to determine the last person that would go to the bigger house.

At the end, Zerra’s awful premonition came true. She had to stay in the small house with Cassias and Laziel. As soon as she was paired with Nyra for this game, she knew she was doomed to lose.

However, she was also surprised to see Cassias losing the game. Her skin crawled when she thought about the worst. Did he deliberately lose?