Chapter 71: Forward Point

"Here we are..." Riley said and the others glanced at the end of the road.

The once bustling road going into the city was now deserted.

There were only damaged cars and bodies of those who didn’t make it strewn about in the surroundings.

All the tall buildings and skyscrapers in the distance contrasted deeply with what was right in front of Alex and his friends.

Fresh memories of how it was were still deep in their minds.

But they had accepted that it was different now.

"Stop by the side of the building." Alex pointed at one of the buildings that was facing the southern piers and said.

It had an old signboard that said "Thomson Trading" on the front of it.

The view from the building to the southern piers wasn’t blocked, so it was perfect for him to try and see what was happening over at the southern piers from it.

They would also need a place for them to rest, and get it ready to be a safe house before they start to clear the path across the city.

So, he might as well start with the building.

Riley nodded his head and turned the steering wheel towards it.

As the car slowly approached, Alex and the others were on the alert, ready to react if anything happened.

Thankfully, there wasn’t anything alive in the surroundings.

After they got down from the car, Riley took the lead with Terry and Brian behind him as usual.

Alex, standing behind them all, covered their backs and was prepared to use his storage portal to absorb any attacks for his friends when necessary.

"Use your small bubbles. Best not to let the ceiling and building collapse." Alex thought for a moment and said.

The huge bubbles of Riley might be too powerful to be used in an enclosed area like a building.

So, it was best to use the smaller bubbles instead.

"I will..." Riley nodded to what he said and reached the side of the entrance.

Small bubbles appeared in front of him and they flew through the smashed glass doors of the entrance.

After the bubbles got in and there wasn’t anything unusual happening, Riley walked through the entrance next.

He glanced around the surroundings for the lobby and waved at the others.

Terry and Brian came in with Alex following them right after.

There were a few decomposing bodies lying around and the stench was off-putting.

They will have to take care of them, but not until they clear the other floors of the buildings.

All in all, there were seven floors in the building, and they proceeded to head up to the second floor immediately.

They got up using the stairs and stopped at the staircase entrance.

Riley opened the door and he used his small bubbles as sort of a recon again.

Nothing.

It was clear, so they got out of the staircase.

The second floor was an office with desks and computers filling up the whole area.

Some were damaged and pieces of paper with stationery were all over the desks.

There were also smudges of blood that had dried up and darkened.

But the workers who sat in their seats were no longer around.

Alex presumed that they must have moved to the quarantine area, with this building in close proximity to it.

They combed across the whole floor, and thankfully, nothing extraordinary happened.

Alex and his friends proceeded to go up to the next floor to clear it.

It was the same.

The other floors were messy but free from any enemies.

However, when they got to the seventh floor, something happened.

They were combing through the meeting rooms that were on this floor, and they stopped at the entrance of a meeting room.

Alex frowned when he sensed something that was moving inside.

"Be careful, there’s something alive in there," he said, and the others got ready for action.

Riley stood by the side of the entrance, pushed the door open and small bubbles appeared in front of him.

These bubbles flew into the meeting room, and a growling sound could be heard from within next.

Boom!

Explosions ensued when the being inside the meeting room touched the bubbles.

The walls of the meeting room were blown apart by the explosions.

But the being inside wasn’t dead from it.

It gave out a loud growl and stared at Riley.

Alex frowned when he saw what it was.

The being inside was a strange man in a suit, with its eyes staring blankly, and its mouth open, salivating uncontrollably.

What was different was that the man had bone plates growing out from its flesh, covering his head and body, instead of his skin.

The bone plates covering his forearms were damaged from the explosions earlier.

It was obvious to Alex and his friends that the suit man was a zombified Awakened.

Without any warning, the suit man lunged itself at Riley with a straight punch in the next moment.

It moved with tremendous speed and Riley could feel that gust of wind from the suit man’s fist coming at his face.

Fortunately, Alex was ready for this.

A slit appeared on top of the suit man’s head and two other slits appeared by the side of it.

Crush.

A metallic block slammed down onto the suit man from above and it crushed the suit man.

The suit man dropped onto its knees and gave out a roar with rage.

However, with shaking knees, the suit man was able to slowly get back up, despite having the metallic block pressing down onto the suit man with its weight.

Small bubbles came out from the portal by the suit man’s sides, and they gave out another round of explosions when they touched the suit man’s body.

Crack!

The explosions slowly chipped off the bone plates from the head and body of the suit man.

Once all of the bone plates were gone, the exposed flesh of the suit man was blown off and splattered out into the surroundings.

The left half of its body was gone but it still tried to crawl towards Riley.

However, it could only move for a meter or so before it stopped.