Chapter 77 - 75

I know I'm a fan of a good hunt, but still it doesn't mean that I like being his hunting dog.

Well, I think anyone can guess what his genius idea is, right? To have me pin point the ghouls for them with my sharper senses so they can clean up the city faster.

Oh joy.

"So you three are still up for the outside research, if anyone asks say is by my orders, tell them you are going to reinforce the outer walls. Hacker, got the information yet?"

"Already gave it to them, including the best route to avoid the swaps full of ghouls."

"Great, Pirate, Reaper, Crazy Hound, Sniper, Gunner, Gutter, you all will go with us to clean the city. Abomination, you will come with us too."

He looks at me, but I only crook my head to the side.

"We do not use names here to avoid further identification, some, like you, have their names attached to some… important matters, so from now on I'll avoid using Seiji, do you understand Abomination?"

Wait, does that mean he will avoid using his command voice as well? After all, he needs to speak my name for it to work… I shrug in the end, don't care either way, he still has the power to at the end of the day, and if he needs he will use it, I'm sure of it.

The only thing I knew and was sure of it that we are about to burn some steam off, and I cannot wait to bully some ghouls.

And about the price of my work… well, we can always have it later…

As excited as I am for some action, however I soon realize that it may not be as funny as I thought at first, for it seems that, after a quick glance at my side, Asher decides to take a very odd path by foot, and that path leads us straight to the people they were talking about before, the 'lucky' ones from managing to get out of there alive, the survivors.

And this image makes me realize that surviving may not be the most traumatizing experience they had.

There is crying everywhere, from single tears to shy sobs to outraged screams, it was as if the doors to hell are at the end of this street.

All shadows move around us, crawling with people with no place to go, laying down the street while staring at the empty horizon, minds blown away or by the shock or by the overflowing emotions sweeping in their brains, children without parents, parents without children, fleshy bodies of meat simply existing and watching the world burn around them, accepting the flames as they burned all to the ground.

A woman gives me a trembling smile as we pass her, eyes open wide in a mad glim as she pushes an empty baby stroller back and forth.

"Isn't she pretty?"

I frown, speeding up my pace.

"They did not take the wounded ones it seems." One of the soldier's comments, which brings my attention to the fact as well that, beyond the trauma, none of them had physical damage on them, not even a scratch. 

"No time to verify everyone, they locked them up on the other side."

"Out there? With the ghouls? What the actual fuck! Is it not the same as a death sentence?! Why did they not put them on quarantine?" As the small discussion breaks Gunner approaches me then, weapon in hand, and with a sneer says:

"Enjoying the handwork of your kin fucker?" I roll my eyes at him, and say:

"Don't know, enjoy my hand work on you?" I say, having a little trouble repeating his words, but managing to pass the idea anyway.

He looks furiously at me, but I just raise my eyebrows: "Want round two?"

His teeth appear amidst his beard in an animalistic gesture, but Asher calls and stares him down with his cold look, making Gunner return back to his spot, which is the farther he could get from me.

Yeah, that's right you fucker, stay at the back where is safe and sound from the big boogey man here, I think, growly, but I could not hide from myself that the situation affected me in some way, but my self-preservation instinct is fighting these creeping thoughts back.

"Abomination, behave yourself." Asher says to me.

What did I do now?!

I just look at him with the most innocent face I can muster, but he doesn't seem very convinced. 

Well, whatever.

After that we finally reach the gates, and as darkness creeps at the corner is when we can clearly see the striking difference between the well-lit side full of people and the consumed by ghouls dark area.

However even if the other side of the wall is a dead zone, this side is quite lively with many soldiers at the door, probably coming out from another cleaning mission, talking and laid down at the end of a hard day's work.

I recognize the guy that approaches our group, the one responsible for the entrance and the one to command that they shot the people still lingering at the bridge, the human killer with his sunburn skin, the scars on his face, and the cold look in his eyes, a different kind from Asher, a look that is not cold because of sharpness, but because of how low he sees others in his eyes, and how little does he care about anyone but himself.

That kind of look.

He flicks the cigarette he had between his fingers on the ground, smoke tracing in the air, and only then, in an almost forced way, salutes Asher.

"Captain Murray."

"Second lieutenant Owen, how are things inside?" He shrugs, reaching out for another cigarette and lighting it up, all before he gives us an answer, the small fire at the tip increasing the darkness that covered his features.

"We killed most of the newly made, too dumb to hide well, the problem is the ones that came from outside, too many places to search."

Asher nods, and done with him he is about to walk off when the other says:

"Wait 'sir'., are going to get in there? What for? I have lots of man on the job already, and is about to get dark, don't want to get your body out of there tomorrow and have to write a fucking report about it."

"You-!" Crazy Hound says, eyes already staring back at the not carrying man, but the other's reaction is only to continue to smoke as if nothing has happened and that he has not just implied that the competence of his group of soldiers outnumbers ours so much so that we would not even be able to leave there alive.

Asher is not taken by the provocations however, and only looks at him for a while before saying:

"If you were that competent, lieutenant Owen, my team would not be needed here." Without further ado Asher walks the group to the door, ignoring the other as he crunches the still burning cigarette in his hand, knowing that he could not out talk a higher ranking commander without serious repercussions.

Ouch I can feel the burn from here, I think with a satisfying smile spreading on my face as my heart beats with the desire to get that man to lose even more credibility by getting rid of all ghouls in a single night.

That sounds like fun, I love making friends wherever I go.