Chapter 562 - Ready?

Oscar and the rest of the groups coming with him drove ahead of us because our group had several last-minute preparations to do. One of them was setting up Jared's new FN SCAR 17 and another one was delivering all of the files and doc.u.ments they've gathered from their trip.

I would be handing the drives and other storage devices over to Ken while the reams of papers would be handed over to Rin. They would all be compiled while creating a set of backups for them, and I'll take a look at them later this evening. However, it was an eye-opening experience the moment I stepped inside Ken's room.

Ken created a nest of his own and it actually forced his sister to move to a different room.

It was like an evil genius's lair as several screens were operating at the same time and running different programs, mostly surveillance. A few of them were receiving pings from the relays we've installed everywhere and a small line of output text would pop up for each relay, telling random information like how long it took to travel from one relay to the other, the average signal strength, and etc.

There was no problem from doing that but the clutter and whatever kind of wires jutting out from everywhere made my head itch. I was so close to putting on some gloves and arranging everything but Peanut emerging from a pile of printed cases for the relays caught my attention, doing the same thing for the messy owner.

"Oh, hey. Been a while, dude."

"Yeah..."

"You got the drives for me?"

"Yeah..."

"Just lay it on wherever you could..."

"Yeah… about that… where?"

"Ah… you're not familiar with my setup yet. Hmm, pull that yellow box that has a few UTP cables then place it over that counter with the cassette tapes. You'll see from where you pulled that box by the right with my box of rubber bands a few hairpins-"

"Wait a sec, hairpins?"

"I lost my key to that cabinet and-"

"I have my own… where is the cabinet?"

"Ah… right there by the bat signal."

"This one?"

"No, the other one."

"Found it..."

"Just stack them nicely, dude."

"You know, there are other 'setups' that are more easily accessible, right? I could even help you with that, Rin too."

"What if someone breaks in? They'll know my secret stash!"

"Have you been talking to Johnny that much? You know he's paranoid for a few useless things, right?"

"But-"

"WHO WOULD BREAK-IN AT THIS DUMP?! THE ONLY THING THEY'LL FIND HERE IS A TRIP TO THE HOSPITAL FOR A TETANUS SHOT!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

"Hey! I have valuables here, dude!"

"Then I'll give you a safe!"

Ken replied with a blank face, "Really?"

'This motherf.u.c.ker...'

"Yeah… just contact Rin or something and she'll help you with this. It's impressive to know where everything is located but shit, it's still a mess. I'll even replace the lock on that cabinet if you lost that k- wait. Maybe we'll find it after you're done cleaning this place."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks, dude! Heh."

I just shook my head before I excused myself and joined the others. Cynthia and Chris wouldn't be coming with us today but Lois was already in full gear along with his brother. Lois was already poking fun at Jared's SCAR and it was definitely working. A few veins were protruding out of Jared's forehead and it didn't take long before a fight between the two started.

"One last chance, you f.u.c.ker. You're just jealous, you stupid f.u.c.k!"

"Eh~ Just saying an ACR would be better."

"An ACR? Wow! You know other guns besides a 10/22? Wow!"

"Hah! Nice try. If your SCAR is really superior, you wouldn't add aftermarket parts to fix the problem!"

"The f.u.c.k?! Your Rattler also had aftermarket parts on it! The f.u.c.k are you spewing bullshit for!"

"The only thing I added here is the scope, the sling, the foregrip, and the suppressor. You have all of those installed but you had to change the trigger, the stock, and even the charging handle! You had more that you 'changed' but is that even a SCAR anymore? Psh!"

"As far as I'm concerned, they're just upgrades to make it even better. You don't know jack about this kind of thing! In the end, I'll easily outshoot you."

"Didn't I beat you the last few times we competed? Give me a break, bro."

"You only won because you'd always lug around your 10/22! If you're gonna clear deadheads just with your .300 AAC Blackout, you'd think twice!"

"I-"

I thought it would be over soon so I interjected, "Enough. Want to head out with a Hi-Point and a kitchen knife?"

The two said at the same time, "Ah..."

"ARs are better."

"..."

"..."

'GOT 'EM!!!'

For today, our group besides myself would be composed of Kaley, Jared, Lois, Tatiana, Marina, Mikhail, and Ibarra while Artem's group would be composed of him, Katya, Bogdan, Kristoff, Igor, Natasha, Petrov, and Stefan. Vera was still in charge of comms from our radio station with the assistance of Juan and Earl.

I thought that half of us would be resting but they insisted on coming with us. That involved Jared and Ibarra but they told me that they were raring to go. The few days they spent with Artem's team probably had something to do with that because Artem and the rest didn't look tired at all.

'Should I keep them together or divide them to lead other groups? Two or three more groups would be the sweet spot...'

Everyone just gathered at the DDR Camp to board the cargo helicopter and loaded the rest of our equipment. Our numbers wouldn't be able to fit inside our regular helicopter so we went with the big boy. The only issue was that there were only a few places we would be able to park it which were the mall from last time, the university we raided before, and a bus station which was a few blocks away.

We decided to park it in the mall because it was the closest way to get to the people that would be clearing the bodies with us. Aside from that, the first floor, the parking area, and the bas.e.m.e.nt of the mall were still left untouched and ripe for the taking.

It didn't take long to take off and head for the mall but we still took some valuable footage along the way. We took the direct route of flying over the edges of Monumento and the City of Malabon and we found out that a few undead cl.u.s.ters have just fallen over, only having finished a short wall with their bodies.

Most of them were located at the backroads and the reason for such an occurrence was fairly obvious.

'Probably due to the ones we took down yesterday...'

We continued to just fly over them but I noted the areas where they were located so as to send a clearing group in the future. A simple blockage was already trouble but a road untraversable due to their bodies was a huge problem. We were lucky to have a few helicopters to fly over them but the same couldn't be said for everyone.

There was also this hidden group in Karahutan that Vera was still trying to establish some connection and so far, they were still keeping quiet. The main road around their parts was still squeaky clean and that being the case more or less proves their existence. However, their insistence on being silent was something I still couldn't figure out.

The only thing that came to mind was the lone driver I killed that was on the way to the yard. The gangbangers we murdered also mentioned that the victims they brought in were also from Karuhatan but I wouldn't be 100% convinced if they were remnants unless we see them in the flesh.

"We're here."

As soon as we landed, we could already see smoke billowing from a fair distance and a simple call was enough to confirm it was the clearing group. They were already close to us so we needed to do our part by clearing the first floor just by ourselves. We spent a few minutes setting up the same contraptions as last time and Lois started to fly his drone below for a quick sweep.

"Still like yesterday, bro. The problem is still the first floor."

I looked at my group, "Okay, standard sweep first just in case but we'll use the stairs at the right side while Artem's group would go for the other. Once we clear the third and second floors, we'll head to the first floor using the same sets of stairs just to be efficient. Don't forget to radio in for anything suspicious and there's always the option of running back. We'll leave a member to watch us from each floor but we'll rush to clear the first floor as fast as possible. Ready?"