Chapter 68: Survivor Group in the South – I

Dmitri sat on top of the Light APC, watching as the sun slowly sunk behind them. Night had started to form on the east, shadows stretching longer with every minute that passed.

Pushing farther to the east like this—without daylight—was merely asking to lose people for no good reason.

The platoon slowed on its own. No orders needed.

As if the world heard his thoughts, a block of structures rose on the incline ahead. The buildings were too intact, too quiet, like a ghost town.

“Bulldog One,” Dmitri said, already swinging down from the APC. “You see that block?”

“Got eyes on it,” Bulldog One replied. “You want a look?”

Dmitri didn’t answer right away. He adjust his gloves, scanning the windows instead of the street.

“Yeah,” he said after a while. “We’ll check it out. Bring out Kimmy and Yunera.”

“Copy, we’ll stay put and cover.”

The APC’s hatch opened, followed by subtle footsteps of two women exiting the vehicle.

Yunera’s hand gathered on the hilt, watching her surroundings carefully.

Kimmy sighed and tapped her shoulder, “The area is secure, Sister Yunera.”

“I know,” Yunera shortly replied. “Just can’t let my guard down.”

They approached Dmitri who waited on the tree line, muttering something to the Echo squad leaders.

Dmitri looked up as they approached, finishing his quiet exchange with the squad leaders before dismissing them.

“Hold position,” he told to Echo Two and Three. “Eyes outward.”

When they were gone, he turned fully to Kimmy. “What do you have?”

Kimmy furrowed her brows, wrinkling the cloth that covered her eyes. She calibrated the area, slowing her breathing.

“No infected within a hundred meters,” she said after a moment. “But there are people.”

Yunera’s grip tightened.

“How many?” Dmitri asked.

Kimmy frowned slightly, diverting more energy into her mind.

“At least tens of them. They’re… clustered on the buildings, waiting for something. They’re staying low.”

“Are they armed?”

“Some. Improvised. And they’re… scared?” She halted, then slowly hugged herself. “There’s two, no, three of them. Their aura… is greater than the rest. They… they might be superhumans.”

Bad news, Dmitri frowned.

A group of people with superhumans was something he didn’t expect. Worse, he was unsure of their motives, but Kimmy’s words had told more than enough.

He exhaled, trying to explain the silence of the intact buildings and the unease.

“They’re watching us,” Kimmy added. “Closely, warily. You… you must be careful on your approach.”

Dmitri gazed uphill, calculating a few things.

Weapons do not startle them, huh? A little negotiation should work. The problem is, how?

“All teams, we got a situation,” Dmitri turned over to the comms. “A survivor group is waiting ahead. Kimmy says they’re suspicious of our approach.”

“ROE, Echo Actual?” Bulldog One asked.

“Lower your weapons,” Dmitri replied. “Do not engage unless we are threatened. Echo Two and Three, follow me. Bulldog and Escort One, keep your distance.”

He exited the comms and looked back to the two women, “You two, follow me as well.”

He regrouped with his squad, then raised his hand, chopping a motion forward.

The formation moved in a slow fashion, spacing widening as boots scraped against the concrete.

“Stop,” Dmitri stepped forward alone. Two paces. Four.

“Anyone there?” He called out, voice steady, carried by the slope. Yet, silence answered him, followed by a cold breeze.

Kimmy’s shoulders stiffened, “They’ve shifted,” she whispered. “Oh no, they’ve surrounded us.”

Her head swiveled from side to side, her hands inching closer to her large chest. Yunera’s hand slid closer to her blade, about to unsheath its sharpness to the world.

A sharp crack split the air.

Concrete burst in front of Dmitri’s foot, chips skittering across the ground. A spear, two meters long, lodged deeply, caving the ground several inches deep.

The shot had come from high left.

“That was a warning,” a voice echoed from the shadows. It was calm and confident, coming from a man.

“Call back your vehicles,” the unknown person continued. “And tell your superhumans to stand down. If you’re here on his orders, this will end badly.”

Dmitri didn’t move, his eyes narrowing not in anger, but calculation.

That’s it, a plan formed in his mind. They think we belong to someone else.

“We’re not here to take territory,” he explained. “Just passing through.”

“Did you not hear us the first time?” The voice became annoyed, their tone colder than the last. “I said, stand down!”

“You keep saying his orders,” Dmitri said evenly. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

He spread his empty hands slightly—just enough to be seen, letting his submachine gun freely slung on his shoulders.

“Everyone says that” the man replied, sounding absolute.

“If you’re waiting for someone else, you’re looking at the wrong people. You should know what they sound like. Do we?”

Silence enveloped the scene.

Only Kimmy had a partial understanding of what was happening.

She swallowed.

“They’re confused now,” she whispered. “Not backing off, but they’re not advancing either.”

In her spatial vision, three people gathered in the corner of a three-story residential building at the rooftop.

Her ears twitched slightly, receiving sound waves from their hushed conversation.

“Johannes, that guy is right,” a woman spoke, carrying a hint of nervousness. “Take a careful look at them. They sound nothing to Elias’s crew. If they were his, they would’ve fired at us long ago!”

“We can’t take the risk, Evelyn,” Johannes shook his head. “We’ve been too trusting. See where that took us now.”

Under the pale moonlight, a scar extended from his jaw to his cheek.

“We’re not trusting them,” Evelyn argued. “We’re letting them through.”

“And if they reinforce with Elias?” Johannes frowned.

“They won’t,” Evelyn clenched her fists. “Elias doesn’t have vehicles. And these people are well-armed, not a rag-tag from before. You should understand more than I could.”

“Johannes, Evelyn is right,” the second man added. “These people don’t look deserted. Time is running out. You have to make a decision now.”

“People in the shadows,” Dmitri’s call broke their conversation. “What do you choose?”

The open darkness made him uncomfortable, coupled with weapons pointed at him.

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