Apocalyptic Rebirth: With a repairman system space, she rises again. - Chapter 287

Chapter 287: Cannibals.
Lugard had seen Ceasar infuriated. He had seen him boiling with anger to a point where he killed an honorable soldier and they buried him secretly, many years ago. But what he had never seen was his boss being angered so hard to the point of fainting. But that was exactly what had just happened.

“What do we do now?” Jade asked.

Lugard gestured to two soldiers. “Take the president to the treatment room.” He exhaled tiredly and sat down slowly. Jade’s question was a little too heavy as he had no idea what to do next.

“Why did it take her?” Jade questioned him in a soft voice.

Everyone was puzzled and silenced, waiting for someone to make sense of things.

Lugard shrugged. “I don’t know Jade, I don’t know anything. We should stay down here for a while and just keep an eye on the watchers.”

Colonel Saunders pushed through the people in the doorway. “Stay down here.” He scoffed, “with that lunatic in charge!!! sooner or later, we will be the ones being pushed into the mist.”

Jade nodded, shivering from fear. “And then those things will take us away.”

“They can take us even if we are not superhuman.” Lugard snapped. “Now everyone shut up and let me think. As for the president, I will convince him to end his obsession for the knowledge about the mist.” He stood up and pushed through the crowd.

The people were grumbling, dissatisfied with his answers.

“I say it is time for change in leadership around here.” Colonel Saunders mumbled. If Lugard and Ceasar continued with the madness, they had to be thrown out of the bunker.

Everyone else was content to live down there and wait for the apocalypse to pass. Why couldn’t they do the same?

****

The wind howled like a wolf on the moor, hungry for meat. Ice dragged everywhere, snow buried wreckage of cars and bodies of those that had frozen to death. Moon trudged beside Dustin, jacket stiff with frost.

Dustin was in a better condition than her with his superhuman body keeping him warm. He was giving off enough heat to melt the ice and keep Moon from freezing totally.

They walked in silence. No, a word had passed between them for hours. Conversation had become minimum since the death of Rowena. Dustin had become harder, more closed off. Moon was being careful.

She was afraid to anger him because she recalled the scar Sunshine had in her last life. A scar that Dustin had given her. Even though her cousin had said it was an accident, there was no explanation about how the accident happened. Her father’s moods were unstable lately.

The apocalypse was changing them all and not for the better in her opinion.

A grunt came from ahead.

Dustin froze, so did Moon.

A shape lumbered out of a snow pile, pink, bloated. skin split by jagged tusks and patches of coiled fur. It was pig, but not the usual kind.

“Mutated.” Moon shared.

It charged.

Dustin flung his arm forward. Fire erupted from his palm, a jet of red and orange that hissed against the snow and fur of the pig. The pig squealed and turned to run away.

Dustin’s body ignited and he directed all his flames at the animal. With a single leap, he grabbed it by the back leg and pulled it back. It could feed them for a month at least; he had no plans of letting it go. The pig thrashed, shrieked and fought but it still collapsed in a steaming heap.

Right there, Dustin gutted and roasted it with his flames. Not fully, but just enough to dry it for long term preservation. Then, he hacked it to pieces and shoved them all into the suitcase Moon had been pulling. After closing it, her took it from her and held the handle firmly.

They moved on.

Four hours later, tired and in need of rest, they came across a standing six floor building. They would not have stopped, were it not for the smoke coming out of one of the windows on the ground floor.

“People.” Dustin said.

“We should go and see if we can trade some of the pork for water, grain and better shoes.” Moon suggested.

Dustin nodded. They approached cautiously, looking around like trained soldiers.

There was no barricade on the door, and they entered with ease. Inside, the building was warm, too warm. Dustin thought that there were other pyrokinectics inside, providing fire.

They had avoided many small camps and tiny bases along the way. This was probably another one. He knew they could not stay long.

The building had the layout of an office, once upon a time.

A man stepped from the rooms, smiling. “You look cold.”

Moon shuddered. A welcoming smile in the apocalypse! It was wrong.

“Why don’t you come over?” The asked. “It is terrible weather that we are having. We’ve got stew, you and your girl can come in and rest.” A girl, eight years old or so stepped out of the room and grabbed the man’s arm. “This is my daughter Fila. If you don’t want to room with us, you can find an empty office somewhere in the building. But most are already occupied, and the top three floors are VIP. The owner of the building leased them out.” He chuckled. “Business never stops even when the world is ending.”

Dustin relaxed a bit.

He urged Moon forward, and they followed the man into the room. It was medium sized, with no furniture. There were three mattresses on the ground, a fire pit in the middle and some clothes and other things in the corner.

One of those things happened to be human bones, a small pile which lay next to four pairs of shoes.

Moon pulled on Dustin’s jacket and said, “Thank you for the hospitality but we won’t be needing it.”

The man’s smile widened. “Not a choice.”

The little girl lunged at them with a knife. More men came through the door quickly. They were gaunt and wide eyed.

Dustin flared, fire burst from his hands and he turned it on the men blocking the door. Moon screamed, the young girl had driven the knife into her thigh. With her right hand, she slapped the girl, took the knife from her and slashed her neck.

“Fila….” the father screamed.

Dustin turned, eyes glowing. He didn’t speak. He burned.

The room lit up like a funeral pyre, everything turned to ash. He pulled Moon and they ran out of the building, escaping into the night.

The suitcase with the pig was not left behind. Even in that situation, Dustin had remained rational.

“Cannibals, they are cannibals!” Moon exclaimed. Her thigh was in pain, but she didn’t dare stop. Anything could be faced in the apocalypse but not cannibals.

They heard shouts coming from the building but didn’t look back.