Chapter 37: A Way Out
"Nope. We're not going anywhere from the university since we don't know anything about the current state of our city. There should be even more dangerous than our place."
Even though nobody knew what was going on in the city, Dave clearly understood that wandering there was much riskier than what could be imagined. Even without his memories of past life, he could already deduce that much.
Their city, Newdale, provided with a residence more than ten million people, meaning at least half of them were infected. Between going to the city with millions of zombies and staying in the university with thousands of zombies, his choice was obvious.
"But..." Clearly caught by his surprise, Damien didn't predict that he would be refused so blatantly. As he was confused by Dave's decision, he genuinely couldn't understand why he got refused.
'Stupid! Is he worried about his safety? Then, he shouldn't refuse if I tell him about that.' Damien thought inwardly.
"My father's company is quite close to our university. He had bodyguards when everything had happened, so it should be safe there. So it should be much safer for us if we go there." Growing confident with every word, Damien smiled lightly at the end of his words.
Surviving for more than a week, it was an only solution he could think off. Just in a day, everything had changed for him. His position, his status, even his life meant nothing when he was surrounded by zombies. His father's company was his only hope.
To be honest, Rachel and Katelyn couldn't help but grow interested in his words as they listened to him attentively. Indeed, they were safe most of the time after everything had happened, but they feared that it was only for time-being.
Just a week ago, both of them were just students of International Business Administration Major and were having vibrant student life. Rachel wanted to start as an intern in her family's company, while Katelyn had just gone for a safe option.
They had envisioned a much better future for themselves where there was no place for survival in a zombie world, but everything changed so quickly that they didn't know what to do now.
Seeing how both of them were being swayed by his proposal, Dave wondered how they were going to survive in the future. Without thinking much of it, he still refused the proposal. "Sorry, but I doubt that it safer there."
'...And I also have things to do here. If I remember clearly, she should be close to this place.' Dave thought as he recalled a certain woman from his past life.
Saviour of University...Iron Lady...Bloody Eve. He wasn't close to her in his past life to even be called acquaintances, but always when he saw her, she had blood covering her face.
He had always thought of her as a peculiar person. She was the one who unified different survivor groups all around the university and made it a safe place for every student, but at the same time, she had killed more people than anyone else.
Why would she do this? Why would she kill so many people if her goal was to kill every zombie in the university? He couldn't understand her. Well, he had heard how chaotic it was before but never saw it since he was trapped in the storeroom. When he had left it, the university was already a place which could be called safe.
"Hey, if you don't want to go, then just stay here. We'll just take a van!" Saying it, fatty looked at Dave threateningly.
"Try to do it and you're dead!" In response, Dave just leaked a small part of his killing intent and directed it towards fatty.
Nobody felt it due to Dave's control, yet fatty thought that a dagger was put to his throat. He was crushed by sudden pressure and struggled to breathe as his body tensed up immediately. Fatty thought that he was standing against a wild beast!
There was a big difference between people who had killed a lot and who just faked it. Such people had no fangs! Yet interestingly, Dave found that such people like fatty usually caused the most trouble.
Paling in his face, fatty stumbled backwards and fell on his butt as he was looking at Dave scaredly. There was no threat in his gaze, only pure fear.
As fatty fell on his butt, everyone looked at him strangely since it had happened too suddenly. Just a moment ago, he was looking at Dave intensely, but right after a second, he was already sitting on the ground.
"Okay, no need for any violence. I'm sorry about the behaviour of my friend, he didn't mean it. He was just too excited to see other survivors after a week. If you're not going anywhere, can we join your group?" Damien made another proposal as his previous one was rejected directly.
Shrugging it off, he just nodded to him as he didn't want to waste his time on such a small matter. Taking his past life into consideration, he was already 25 and was a veteran when it came to survival, so he decided to adopt a mindset of an expert.
'Damien...What a snake!' Dave silently made a note in his mind.
He had already met people like Damien. Having such type of people by your side was quite risky since they were like lurking snakes, assaulting you when you don't wait for it. He decided to keep an eye on him, perhaps, he could use Damien for his own benefit.
Casting aside any distracting thoughts, Dave decided to focus on their current state. He said to others. "I'm going to scout our surroundings."
"I'm going with you!" Rebecca followed after him as she felt awkward around new survivors. Rachel and Katelyn were still acquainted with Damien, but she wasn't familiar with anyone among them. She also felt secure around Dave.
Not minding her presence, Dave moved along the street and searched for any high building in a close area. He decided to follow a simple and proven strategy, scout their surroundings from above.
Thankfully, there were no zombies in a close area, so he quickly spotted a three-storey building among other constructions. It was a building which was free to rent for other students, so they could open their own small businesses.
Identifying his destination, he headed towards the building with Rebecca following close behind him. Since she was still confused by the previous events, she decided to probe their situation as she asked. "How's our situation?"
"Imagine it as we had dived deeper into a hive of zombies. Even though we had entered it with a van, I doubt that we can leave it the same way as we entered." Dave gave, as he had thought, the exact evaluation of their situation.
Their van was chased by a swarm of zombies, meaning that their way by which they came here was blocked by a dense group of zombies, hence, making it impossible to leave by the van.
Furthermore, they had also disturbed other zombies along the way, so most of the zombies in a close area should have already entered a frenzied state, forcing them to wait till they settle down.
"Then, what're we going to do?" Rebecca asked with an apparent worry in her eyes.
At her words, Dave smiled evilly and said. "Of course, we're going to bait zombies out!"