Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Plans

Chapter 1.05: Plans 

 

In some other conditions, he may not have wanted such a burden. However, in this situation, he had different considerations and if his thoughts were right, taking on such a mantle could prove beneficial in the long run.

***

Survive. That was the goal of the quest issued by the system a few moments earlier. As long as you survived 10 hours, you would get access to the system, and considering that the system would help them deal with the apocalypse, everything would start getting better from then on.

While Jay looked forward to receiving the mysterious system, his focus wasn’t on that part of the quest, and none should. After all, even without exhortation, he doubted anyone wouldn’t try their best to survive. As for him, supposing zombies were the only threat he had to deal with, his survival was guaranteed.

Therefore, Jay was more interested in the additional rewards that would be granted depending on someone’s performance during the quest. He was sure those rewards would determine how well he would fare in the days to come. And if he wanted to have a head start, he had to strive to get the best rewards he could.

With that said, what remained now was to determine the criteria that would be used to judge one’s performance. And that was easy considering there weren't many ways to go if someone wanted to survive.

The easiest way would be to find a ‘safe’ place to hide and wait for the 10 hours to pass. You could also try to find someone and rely on them to survive. As for those courageous enough, they could go as far as fighting against the zombies, definitely getting rid of the threat they represented.

Thus, it would be normal to consider the number of zombies killed as the criterion used to judge someone’s performance.

To be honest, such a criterion wasn’t fair as it advantaged people with better physical/combat abilities. However, life wasn't fair to begin with and that was certainly not going to change now, during an apocalypse.

Besides, as long as someone was resourceful and determined enough, it wasn’t impossible to kill enough zombies even if their physical abilities weren’t the best. Add to that the fact that the number of zombies a person could kill by themselves was limited and you can see that things weren’t as unfair as they seemed.

With all that said, Jay couldn’t help but wonder if killing zombies was the only thing he could do to increase his performance.

At that point, he couldn’t help but give birth to a certain thought. ‘What if other than my survival I could also ensure the survival of other people.’ After all, in the current situation, most people are already having a hard time keeping their own lives. If someone could afford to protect others, that would prove that they were better than most.

‘I could be wrong. However, only by doing too much can I be sure that I have done enough,’ he mumbled as he looked at the distressed crowd in front of him.

‘Anyway, I am already at it, so I should try to get as many benefits as I can out of this situation. And I can always ditch if the situation gets out of hand,’ he thought to himself as he determined his next course of action.

***

“Boss, say something,” Kenny once again talked as Jay just stayed silent, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

“I plan to leave here soon. As for what you lot will do, I don’t think it has anything to do with me,” Jay finally answered with a calm expression on his face. Though those who heard him couldn’t stay calm at all.

Till now, most of them assumed Jay to be part of their group. However, with his words, it suddenly dawned upon them that he may not be interested in tagging along with them. Such a situation immediately caused a stir within the group. After all, the possibility that they may lose their best fighter was anything but reassuring.

“This… Are you going to leave us?” Kenny asked, his face filled with confusion and unwillingness.

“You shouldn’t do that, Jay. We will have more chances of surviving if we stick together,” Simon, another of Jay’s teammates added in an attempt to make Jay change his mind.

The only answer, Jay gave him was a blank look as if asking him if he was serious. After all, while this statement was true in their case, it was the opposite for Jay. And it would be a lie to say they weren’t aware of that fact.

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“But you already saved us once; you have to protect us.” a young woman said, drawing weird glances not only from Jay but also from some people within the crowd.

“For starters, I never tried to save you. I was fighting for my life. If my actions helped you, that is for the best. However, why would you even think that I have any sort of obligation toward you?” Jay said as he looked at the woman.

“But you are the strongest, you can’t just leave us to die, right?” the woman said through gritted teeth. At that point, it was clear she was trying to take the moral high ground on Jay and force him to act according to her wish.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to work for him, and Jay just ignored her. If it wasn’t for the fact that he already decided to help them, he would have left a long time ago. The only reason he was staging this whole drama was that he didn’t want people like her to think that his help was something they were entitled to.

‘Well, anyway this should be enough now,’ Jay mumbled as his goal was more or less accomplished. Now, all he needed was someone that would allow him to change tone without looking too obvious. And fortunately, he didn’t need to wait too long before the said opportunity presented itself to him.

The same middle-aged man who had been mediating the situation since the beginning once again intervened.

 “Young man, I know that you are better than us when it comes to fighting. However, being in a group will certainly make it easier for you. You can’t expect to deal with everything by yourselves. I am sure there are many things we can help you with. Also, wouldn’t it be better if you have someone watching your back in case something unexpected happens,”  the middle-aged man said eagerly. On those points, Jay couldn’t agree more with the man.

“Alright, Mr..” “Morris” “Alright, Mr. Morris. I agree with what you said. No offense, but I'm afraid that the people here would create more trouble for me than they would help me solve,” Jay said.

“None taken, I do agree we may not be the best teammates you may ask for. However, we will certainly do our best to not create any trouble. Besides….” He said before stopping and taking a deep look at Jay. “While we can’t stop you if you decide to leave, the same is true for the opposite. You won’t be able to stop us if we choose to follow you.”

“Are you threatening me?” Jay asked coldly. Even he didn’t expect the talk to take such a turn. After all, till now, Morris seemed to be a pretty reasonable person.

“No, no, don’t get me wrong. I just hope everyone can help each other,” Morris said as he lifted his hands in a sign of surrender.

“I see. Don’t try that again,” Jay said as he dropped the topic for the time being. While he was displeased, he didn't forget his goal.

“Anyway, if you want to follow me, I can’t and won’t stop you. However, let me make some things clear. First, you will have to listen to all my orders and execute them to the letters. Second, don’t expect me to do everything for you or risk my life to save you if you put yourself in danger.

Meanwhile, on my part, I will take care of the fighting and I will make sure to keep you alive. Also, I will not ask you anything that may put you in danger,” Jay declared. This time none spoke, meaning that they agreed with Jay’s words. After all, it was they who needed Jay and not the opposite. At least that is what it seemed like.

“Alright, looks like we have an agreement,” he said. “So, as I said earlier, we are going to leave this place soon,” he started, only to be interrupted by someone.

“Why can’t we stay here? I mean it is safe, right?” the blonde girl who argued with Louisa said.

“It may be safe now. However, we can’t be sure how long it will stay like that. Don’t forget that there are thousands of zombies above us.

They could come looking for us anytime and there is only a door between them and us and said door can only protect us for so long.

If we have to deal with those zombies here, we will get swarmed in no time.

Lastly, there is no supply here, and considering we may have to stay here for more than a day, this is something we have to solve as early as possible.”

“So, what we need to do now is to move to an area without too many zombies. That is big enough to allow us to fight, and that has many issues that can be used if we need to escape.” 

 

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