96

Stay Alive

Chapter 96 – An Encounter

“Who are you?”

Riya, who had just finished dealing with the men who fired without fear of other enemies, came out from behind Alan and aimed at the people who had arrived pointing their weapons at them. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, and I wouldn’t try anything stupid either—we just saved you.”

“Wait, what’s going on?” Kenny, who had rushed over to help, was stopped by a woman with a rifle who had appeared out of nowhere.

Riya looked at Lee and asked Alan, “Are they enemies?”

“I don’t think so. Are you?” Alan fixed his gaze on Lee, who was aiming directly at him.

The tension hung in the air for a few minutes until a distant shout broke it: “Lilly!”

“Do you know a girl named Clementine?” Alan, who wasn’t used to playing dumb under the barrel of a gun, asked to give these people the benefit of the doubt they seemed to need.

Kenny, overwhelmed by emotion, asked, “Why are you asking?”

“We rescued a girl with that same name. She said she was part of a group led by Lee before being separated during a horde attack on their camp.” Alan walked back, but not before signaling his people to lower their weapons.

Riya, seeing that Alan had made a decision, lowered her weapon very slowly. This kind of trust Alan was giving to strangers wasn’t something he did often, so she kept her guard up just in case.

“Is that man dead?” Kenny moved toward where his brother was.

Alan glanced down and said, “He’s alive. I wouldn’t be too worried if I were you. I’ll need someone conscious to tell me where the people who attacked you are hiding. I believe they’re the same ones who shot down my helicopter.”

“You’ll take care of him?”

Kenny nodded slowly. “He’s my brother, of course I’ll take care of him.”

“Will your feelings be a problem for me?” Alan stopped, wanting Kenny’s answer.

“No, of course not.”

Lee followed Alan while the others carried the unconscious Merle back to where the rest were. “Where exactly are you from?”

“Texas. The base I was stationed at received an alert about a military outpost in need of help, so I led a reconnaissance operation. But then the helicopter started failing. We tried to land, but some men opened fire before we could even touch the ground.”

“I know people don’t love the military, but that’s too much even for me…”

“Sure, because the military didn’t take your family away from you.”

“They say everything’s different in Texas.”

“Texas is dead.”

Alan turned to the man who’d said that. The Black man named Lee seemed to be the one making decisions, so he asked, “Is that what they say?”

“FEDRA does…”

“I see. Do you have a radio in your group?” Alan asked, not digging into what outsiders believed about Texas.

Lee’s group would tell the same story as always—outsiders only knew that there were no more survivors in Texas.

That’s what FEDRA wanted. They had abandoned any interest in Texas, a power they couldn’t control.

“Elias has one. He’s good with machines.” Lee immediately called over Elias and explained everything to him.

“I’ll be glad to help you. May I have your name?”

Alan removed his helmet, revealing his young face. He extended his hand and said, “I’m Alan. If we can contact the base with your radio, they can extract us from this place.”

“FEDRA?”

“No, we’re a separate organization.”

“That’s great.”

As Elias ran off, Lee looked back at Alan. “How many people are in your shelter?”

“You seem like the leader, right?”

“I’m not that important.” Lee shook his head repeatedly.

Alan lit a cigarette and offered one to Lee, who refused. “We’re the last known human resistance—made up of the army, police, firefighters, and medical teams—still caring about people. We gathered the best we had available in Texas when we deserted the main command, now known as FEDRA.”

“Because of the orders? Was it the same in Texas?”

“Yes. Kill everyone. Ironic, isn’t it? The army tore itself apart because we started killing each other. Some followed their hearts, others followed orders—it was a full-scale war we lived through months ago. Fortunately, with the right help, I was able to create a safe place at sea that could be housing half a million survivors.”

Lee was stunned by those words. He couldn’t believe such a large resistance could survive under a single command. “So, you’re…”

“Commander of that resistance. Now that I think about it, maybe someone in my own ranks wanted me dead to take my place.” Alan joked about his own misfortune.

“So, the whole world is lost?”

Lee was more intrigued by what he didn’t know than by Alan himself.

“It’s all similar, but we believe North Korea survived.”