Chapter 162 162: Money Power In The Apocalypse

When Cole woke up it was to a pristine white ceiling, most definitely not the kind of thing you would expect to find in an apocalypse. But with everything that had been happening lately he felt the need to be careful and on his guard. He got up, only to find that his hands have been handcuffed to the bed, he growled and pulled at them, but they strained under his attempt and did not look like they had any intention of coming off any time soon.

A closer look showed that he was in a hospital room, it wasn't what he had expected for himself but regardless of why or what, he did not have any more time to muse about it when the door to the room was pushed and a woman walked in. the first thing Cole noticed was the fact that her face seemed to be a criss cross of scars, it made her extremely scary to look out, but with all of the scars it did nothing to take away from her the beauty that she had… in some ways it seemed to Improve on it.

The woman did not say anything as she pulled out a chair and sat beside Cole, a stern look on her face as she glared and pondered at the same time. It was weird seeing such an expression on her face, it was like a person was feeling and reacting to two emotions at the same time. She pulled out a futuristic looking pistol and held it in her hands as she reclined on the chair cocked her head to the side then began speaking to Cole.

"I know what you are, and while I would rather have gone my entire lifespan without setting eyes on a freaking aspirant, there's only so much that could be done against the Aspirant incursion. There's already a distinct lack of resources to go round everyone but you guys would be sent here by the system to exploit what we have in the name of preparing you for its takeover. The only comfort I am getting from this is the fact that soon enough you too would be the testing grounds for another wave of aspirants from another universe, and no amount of power you have will stop it from happening.

But your disgusting presence aside, just killing you will not work well to my advantage, and I'm most definitely sure you don't want to die. I don't know how, many lives you have available, but seeing the amount of damage that you had caused to the zombies on your way out of the high school, and the fact that you are still alive and have a passive healing factor that is downright ridiculous to have. You don't seem like the kind of person that I would want as an enemy."

Cole burst out laughing, shocking her as he got up from the bed, the cuffs on his right wrist already off as he kept his gaze on her with a simple grin while freeing himself from the second. She didn't move, but Cole could see that she had angled the gun slightly in her hands, just enough that it did not seem like it was pointed at him, but any sudden moves will net him a bullet into the gut, the legs or god forbid in the balls.

"That is probably the smartest thing you have said since you stepped into this place. I'm not one for arrogance, but even I would not want to have myself as an enemy." Cole said to her as he rested his palm over his crossed legs, taking his time as he arranged then pillow and rested his back against the head railing on the hospital bed.

"I probably already said plenty of smart things, it's just that unfortunate that you are too stupid to have realized what they were." Cole shrugged and decided perhaps it would be for the best to stop antagonizing the woman. She might be stronger, a fact that Cole could feel even from here, but he didn't care, stronger just meant there was another hurdle he had to come jump over as soon as possible.

"What exactly do you want, when I needed help all you guys wanted to do was open fire on me and try to kill me. And you did it more than once. I have half a mind to pay you guys back for that." Cole threatened with an annoyed look on his face, the only response he got from her was a raised eyebrow and a mocking smile.

"Please you have to forgive Marshall, the war with the Banelings have taken a toll on him, and seeing a dirty looking and hobbling form with a cowboy hat on its head was grounds to assume he was looking at a zombie and a very dangerous one at that seeing as you were able to evade the bullets and run for your life against insurmountable odds, it's just this weird dressing of yours that puts you out of place, you should change that soon though." Cole rolled his eyes, it was obvious just as much as he wanted to antagonize this woman, she too knew what buttons to push.

"What the fuck do you guys want and what are you doing here?" Cole asked as he hardened his eyes and looked at her all seriousness.

"No one could touch you weapons, which means they're bound, though id advice to check on them, they felt weird to the touch. So because of that I or rather we probably couldn't see the damn thing as nothing more than a collector's item, and on this planet that would be a complete waste. there are far too few people with the funds to be collectors of weapons that are not practical to use or are incapable of being used on the battlefield even with how powerful it is.

We could of course ship and sell it off world, but I'd rather have as little interaction with the rest of the bloody fucking universe as possible. You guys are all insane and thieves. Either way you will pay us both a rescue fee, a protection fee, and an escort fee for us to take you to a tower that is still relatively standing and has some semblance of civilization in it. We can't sell your weapons and we have not access to your inventory.

So either you fucking give us what we want or we leave you behind to your fate. You can wander the wasteland trying to figure out which of the Babel towers have people still living in them. you will be swallowed by the cold and the sand storms that are so powerful they would rip the flesh from your bones even for a person as powerful as I am, to that force of nature I can just as well be a piece of paper placed in a shredding machine.

And since I'm not one to beat around the bush, I'll tell you straight. Safety and information, all you have to do is pay your passage and we can do all of that. you can think of it as a first lesson about how things are ran around here, and it's not just a first lesson it's also a free one, take it as a peace offering." Cole raised an eyebrow at her as he asked.

"And you think I can just trust you and take your word for it, you people already tried to kill me twice and that's not even counting waking up strapped to a gurney in a very obviously holographically generated room or scene. And even if I never intended to rely on my senses, the cologne one of you guys are wearing is just so strong it's taking everything within my power not to vomit allover your combat suit…. Why should I trust you? you have gone to great lengths to deceive me." She gave Cole an annoyed look as she said.

"You are still alive are you not? That should have been more than enough proof that we were willing to make a deal with you, and as for the theatrics you are an aspirant with undocumented abilities, I don't care how you explain it to me, an Aspirant is a hostile entity to I and my people so I will treat you as such."

Cole shook his head but ultimately she was right, he was an Aspirant, and it sounded as if that wasn't something g that the locals like very much on this floor. They could have just as easily killed him in his sleep without have to go through with all of these hassle and theatrics. But Cole was Jaded, he has already been betrayed one too many times, there was absolutely no good reason to trust this people, but Money is a language that's understood across all realities and universes…. Luckily enough for him, he had plenty of it, and if this was the floor where his money would give him an advantage then, perhaps it was about time he lived like the king pin he was or rather the king pin he was becoming.

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