Chapter 89: The Dry Land

The president raised his arms horizontally, smiled while he basked in the cheers and praises from those below.

After a minute or so, the cheers finally went away.

He held his hand on the microphone and the ballroom turned quiet, with everyone’s gaze on him.

The president smirked and said, "I know, all of you are eager to get back to business and help the poor souls stuck out there, standing against the mutated beasts or whatever they are called helplessly.

"Don’t you worry, the first phase of the operation is over.

"I’ve gotten all the best researchers in the world to help figure it out.

"You know that’s what I’m good at, figuring things out.

"So, I will initiate the second phase of the operation ’Scorched Earth’ very soon, once everything out there is cleared of all the sins, we shall be able to go back out there and have a new start."

The men and women gave out another cheer but they weren’t thinking much about the people that were out in the wilderness.

All they had in their minds were the immortality promised by the research and all the assets for them to divide among themselves once the mutated beasts are taken care of.

Staying inside such a doomsday bunker was only a minor inconvenience compared to what the Apocalypse promised them.

Among the men and women, a man in a gray suit sighed and downed the cup of wine he had in his hand.

From the researchers they have gotten, none of them were able to come up with something yet.

He wasn’t too sure if he could deliver what the president had promised.

...

Back in the town.

Alex got up from the sofa and he woke up the others.

Riley, Terry and Brian sat up from where they were, stretched their bodies and gave out loud yawns.

"It’s time already?" Terry asked and gave out a long sigh.

"You can sleep here all day if you want." Riley replied with a shrug.

Terry rolled his eyes at him and turned to Alex, "Let me make some dinner before we move out."

Alex nodded his head and handed over some fresh meat and vegetables together with salt and seasoning to him.

In the other parts of the town, the other students were also up from their much-needed rest.

They were also making their own food and getting ready to continue with the move.

Alex checked in his system and he was relieved that he had thousands of bottles of water inside it.

Getting over the swath of dry land required enough fuel and water.

So he had better make sure they had enough.

As for the fuel, he had gotten enough from the gas station and the cars on the highway previously.

Everything was set, including food.

What was left would be the safety of everyone.

"Terry, after you are done, could you make the busses safer with your ability?" He asked and Terry, who was busy making some steak, nodded his head.

"Great." Alex said and glanced out of the shattered window.

The sun was setting below the horizon and it would be dark very soon.

Alex and his friends had a quick dinner and they proceeded to get the busses ready.

Terry began by creating armored plates on the sides and top of the busses.

He also opened up a few openings on the top of the busses and created a few turret platforms for the automatic grenade launcher and machine guns to be mounted.

It was rudimentary but that was what they could muster at the moment.

Finally, when they were done, Alex gathered everyone and checked.

No one was missing and the wounded were feeling much better.

Then, they got onto the busses and embarked on the next stage of their journey.

The dirt path was bumpy and uneven so they couldn’t go too fast.

But fortunately, there was still no sign of the soldiers coming at them from behind.

They traveled through the night with a few stops in between and the drivers changed hands a few times.

It was a long and tedious journey and the rest they had in the town helped.

If they had continued without stopping in the town, they might have had to stop in the middle of nowhere with mutated beasts lurking in the darkness ready to pounce on them.

Finally, the dirt path got more even and they turned onto an asphalt road again.

The scenery beside them also changed.

All of the greenery was gone and it slowly changed into barren soil where nothing much grew on it except for a few tumbleweeds rolling by occasionally.

Slowly as the sun rose from the east, it got hotter and hotter with every passing minute.

Alex was having a drink with a bottle of water when he saw a few columns of soil being kicked up and rising in the distance.

And these columns of soil were approaching in the distance.

He narrowed his eyes and focused.

There were two mutated beasts that looked like jackals coming towards them.

These mutated jackals were at least two meters tall, without any signs of growth that was abnormal like the mutated bear they took care of earlier.

So, he figured that they were most likely Stage II mutated.

And even if they were Stage III mutated, he was confident enough that he would be able to take care of them.

"Stop. Riley, Terry and Brian dismount and get ready." Alex picked up the walkie talkie and spoke into it.

Their convoy of busses stopped and the doors opened.

Alex and his friends alighted.

They turned and ran towards the two mutated beasts together.

After getting to fifty meters away from the busses, they stopped so that they would be able to react if anything happened to the busses.

The students inside the busses also got into battle mode with the turrets manned and ready to fire on anything that moved near them.

Alex glanced over at Brian and said, "Take care of the mutated jackal on the left with me.

"As for Riley and Terry, take care of the jackal on the right."

Riley and Terry nodded their heads together.