Zombie Apocalypse: Am I Counted As 10 People?!

William felt that he had slept more comfortably than ever before, despite sleeping normally since the catastrophe struck. At least his mind was at ease now because there were people he could trust, people who were stronger than him.

He was placed in the same room with Min-jun. The two of them would be staying together from now on.

The total bed capacity of this shelter was eighty-two. Some rooms were for four people, while others were for two. 

There were only four single rooms, and these were reserved for the commanding officers.

For now, Joseph, Eliza, Marcus, and Pete were in these rooms. 

They had gotten to know each other well in the dining hall yesterday.

After a few hours of conversation in the dining hall, William had learned the names of everyone upstairs.

Everyone who was a soldier was responsible for protection and management, everyone had a job, and there was no longer such a thing as working hours. 

For example, Hugo, whom he spoke to on the radio, had only one job: to make radio announcements until his lips were dry and his cheeks stuck to his teeth, searching for survivors. 

Eliza and Marcus had to lead two teams. These two teams went out every other day, rescued anyone they found through the announcements, and returned with as much supplies and ammunition as possible. 

On the days they stayed in the shelter, they were responsible for repairs and maintenance. 

Yesterday it was Marcus' turn, and they returned with a sturdy pickup truck filled with snacks.

They had emptied half of a market near Northmere.

Eliza's team included Ray, Jenna, Malik, and Nora. 

Marcus' team included Edmond, Liam, Elias, and Bradley.

The six people rescued from Northmere had been saved from the roof of a building. They were all people, and four of the six were elderly, while two were very young. This made it difficult to include them in the group. Joseph had arranged for them to do cleaning and cooking.

For the time being, there were no fresh vegetables or meat to eat, but this role was enough to prevent them from feeling lonely and excluded.

Joseph had also given William and his team a role. Of course, he first learned about everyone's blessings.

Seeing that William and the others were full of fighting abilities, Joseph said that this group would be the backbone and that they were important enough to open a door to rescue more people.

William, Min-Jun, Jason, Kim, Trudie, Ed, and even Mick would be part of the search and rescue and combat team. Of course, they needed to be trained first, which was why William had woken up early today. 

The clock on his wrist read 6:00 a.m. 

William, Min-Jun, and Trudie had been assigned to Marcus's command. 

Jason, Kim, and Mick were assigned to Eliza. Joseph deliberately left Ed out of the plan because he had a goal and needed Ed to develop a strategy to achieve it.

Austin and Elura were assigned to stay completely out of the fight.

At first, Elura objected it, wanting to fight and become stronger, wanting to protect her unborn child herself, but after much effort and with the guarantee of a safe environment, she accepted.

Austin was given repair work in proportion to his blessing. There were three helicopters that needed maintenance. Austin knew nothing about helicopter repair, but they trusted his blessing. At least he could help when there was a problem with the engine.

Of course, it wasn't just the helicopters that needed repair and maintenance; he also had to take care of the repair and maintenance of the trucks the groups had found, and he was also responsible for finding the materials to be used.

After William woke up, he got dressed and walked to the dining hall. 

Others with the same sleepy expression on their faces came out of the dormitory area. 

In the dining hall, they ate the meals prepared by two elderly women and two elderly men using canned food. Everyone, including Joseph, ate together. Two children, one 12 and the other 8 years old, brought the plates to the tables and took them away, essentially acting as waiters.

William was confused by how quickly they had gotten used to the absence of their families and mental problems, but nothing was normal anymore.

He had stopped thinking about things he couldn't understand.

Breakfast ended at 6:30 a.m.

Pete brought them to a room and they put on military uniforms. They still believed that these types of clothes were good for camouflage.

Yesterday, Joseph had asked them to leave all their weapons behind.

He had set the only pistol in the shelter's arsenal as the standard weapon for everyone for the time being.

William also took a pistol. 

He knew that it was often useful for killing zombies from a distance.

There was a shooting range in the basement, so they could shoot without fear of the sound spreading.

It was 7:00 a.m. when they started shooting practice. 

It was unclear whether it was one of the characteristics of the new world, but no one was untalented at shooting. 

The most talented among them were William and Kim. William had to give the crown to Kim here. Despite her young age, her blessing was enough to make her the best shooter.

William, on the other hand, was able to hit the target easily thanks to his high level of skill and control over his power. His hands did not shake, and he did not allow any irregularities.

After a little training, Pete, who said that no one was bad, gathered everyone and took them to the garden of the shelter above.

Eliza and Marcus were waiting for them with their teams.

Eliza was equipped with armor taken from the system. She had a short sword on her left waist, a small, round shield on her left wrist that was clearly taken from the system, a fully automatic rifle on her back, and finally a pistol on her right waist. On her chest were four spare magazines, two for the rifle and two for the pistol.

Marcus was not much different. But unlike Eliza, his rifle was larger and his body was almost completely covered with bullets. 

On his back was a shield that William could not see but was sure was there, and on his waist was a mace with sharp spikes that pulled his pants down a little with its weight. 

After going out into the garden, everyone was armed.

Everyone was given the same type of pistol and ammunition. 

They were free to choose their own cold weapons. William was naturally satisfied with his two katanas. He was fully prepared with a dagger on his left hip and a pistol on his right. 

Marcus's team—Edmond, Liam, Elias, Bradley, William, Min-jun, and Trudie—gathered in a corner. Eliza took the rest and left early.

Eliza's target was Old Telludure, which had already been cleared, and their main goal was to gather as much food and ammunition as possible from there. It was also part of her job to clear the road and find safe, fast routes if possible. Eliza took Ed's truck.

Marcus was going to take the team to Northmere today.

There was still a truckload of supplies at the market they had emptied yesterday.

Marcus sat in the driver's seat. The man barely fit in the driver's seat of the large, late-model diesel truck. 

In the front seat, next to Marcus, was William. 

In the back were the other inexperienced newcomers. In the truck bed were the experienced members of Marcus's team. 

The road they were traveling on was empty. Marcus and his team had cleared it yesterday. William could see the "dead" zombies on the side of the road.

About half an hour later, they reached their destination. 

At that moment, William saw what teamwork meant.

Edmond, Liam, Elias, and Bradley jumped out of the back of the truck. Their eyes were on their targets, and their rifles were ready to fire.

A zombie leaning against the wall behind the market could be seen, but Edmond opened a small hole in its head with a single shot and it collapsed to the ground. The team then searched the area behind the market with great professionalism, a few more gunshots rang out, and then silence. 

William heard Edmond's voice over the radio mounted on the car's dashboard. 

"Clear." 

Marcus then exited from the truck. He told William and the others to take everything useful from the market while the team secured the area.

William obeyed. It didn't take long for them to empty the market and load everything into the back of the truck.

Marcus then opened a pack of cigarettes he had taken from the market and lit one. He looked toward Northmere and said, "Let's reduce the numbers a little."

What William saw next was a visual feast. Marcus and his team's movements were in perfect synchronization. 

There was a massive pile of zombie corpses in the suburbs of Northmere. 

William could still see the rotten blood flowing from the pile, indicating that it had been created recently.

Marcus and his team approached the pile. They would use it as a wall to focus their shots on a smaller target. 

Edmond pulled a device from his waist and threw it at the base of the pile. 

He then pulled a phone from his pocket.

When William heard loud music, he realized what was going on. They were deliberately attracting the zombies.

He saw one of the team members climb onto a roof with a scope in his hand.

"They're coming!" Liam shouted. He would act as the group's scout.

Then the zombies began to appear. Women, children, adults, elderly people... hundreds of zombies.

Marcus laughed and pulled out the heavy machine gun from his waist. He loaded the magazine and waited until the zombies were five meters away before firing the first shot. 

"Fire at will!" he shouted, and dozens of zombies fell at the same time. 

William could see and mostly feel the red, blue, and green auras emanating from some of their weapons.

"It must be related to their blessings," William thought.

At that moment, Marcus turned his head and looked at him. 

"Aren't you going to join in the fun?" When William heard this, he looked at his teammates. Despite Marcus' words, none of them had taken action.

"Let's join in," said William, and that's when the real fun began.

No one used cold weapons. There was no need to take such a risk. 

Everyone reached for the pistol at their waist and kept killing zombies until their magazines were empty. Even Kim, despite her age, saw killing zombies as a game and took pride in every zombie she killed. William gained one level and two abilities related to weapons during the half-hour zombie killing spree. 

When most of the group ran out of ammunition, Marcus raised his hand and signaled everyone to stop.

Then he took out the mace at his waist and the shield on his back.

"We're switching to silent combat mode!" Everyone reached for the cold weapons at their waists. Meanwhile, Edmond killed the zombies to create an opening, grabbed the device that was still playing loud music, and retreated. Now only the grunts of the small zombies dying remained.

Soon, new zombies stopped coming, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Marcus cleaned his mace with a cloth and put it back on his waist as he asked. "Liam! Any movement?"

"No! I don't see any special zombies." 

Marcus nodded. "Let's go, guys." 

Then everyone retreated tactically.

William and his team followed suit. They cleaned their weapons and put them away.

They looked for sturdy trucks on the road, and Min-jun found one. The front hood was dented, but the engine was still in good condition.

Only Marcus and Edmond got into the truck loaded with supplies. The others, including William, got into the truck Min-Jun found.

The round trip took a total of three hours. Most of that time was spent killing zombies. 

When they returned, Eliza and her team had not yet returned. They unloaded the truck and, together with Pete, carried the supplies to the warehouse. Then they organized them. 

William saw how much supplies they had. This amount of supplies would be enough for so many people for a long time. But later, he wasn't so sure.

William was already eating more than half a kilo of meat a day. Otherwise, he felt very hungry. To prevent this, he meditated at night before going to sleep, but it was clear that this was not enough. 

After Eliza arrived that day, Joseph said that he had talked to Ed and that the fields needed to be harvested and the potatoes in particular needed to be protected. 

There was a lot of work to be done, but not enough people.

At dinner, Joseph told everyone about a short plan for the future.

Pete opened a large map and Joseph pointed at it with a stick as he spoke.

"This is where we are, this is Old Telludure, and this is New Telldurure. To the north of us is Northmere and another small town."

There were several small dots marked on the map.

"These are the places where we can communicate, where there are survivors." 

Joseph pointed to the lake east of New Telludure on the map. William remembered this lake. There was a small island and several mansions in the lake. There were currently more than thirty survivors in these mansions.

To the left of Northmere, that is, to the west, there were two small areas marked. One of them was a police station. There were a lot of survivors in such a small area; Joseph mentioned about two hundred people. 

Later, far to the west of Old Telludure, about half a day's journey away, there were survivors in a small town. There were about fifty of them. 

Joseph said that the shelter could not accommodate the total number of people they could rescue.

Therefore, a new solution was needed.

After long discussions, Joseph and Ed came up with a new solution.

Almost all of the surrounding cities were built on wide plains, so it was impossible to live in those cities; it was a distant dream.

So they came up with this plan. They would build a new city right here.

Mick and Ed knew how to build wooden houses. They had lived in the village for a long time and had contributed to the construction of several houses.

According to Joseph's plan, the people who were to be rescued would first be used as workers for the new houses, and then roles would be assigned according to their blessings. 

No one objected to the plan. After all, for now, the more people there were, the greater the chance of survival, and there was no anarchy in their environment. In short, everyone was happy.

Finally, Joseph said that for now, they needed to find vehicles and make them roadworthy, at least enough to get through if they encountered a large group of zombies. 

The entire burden fell on Austin. 

The teams set out the next day to search for pickup trucks, as they were the most practical vehicles. 

When the teams returned in the evening, there were over ten pickup trucks and a school bus. A few more people helped Austin, and everyone was ready to find more survivors on the 13th day of the disaster.