Chapter 25: Provisions Bracket & Taking Sides

The girl named Kora had stated she was only playing around when Hazel admonished her for trying to lay claim to someone else’s pet. Still, her expression did not look like she had been playing around.

After trying to convince Damon to let her claim Leo but failing, she had stomped off and went back to lying on her couch.

"I don’t think she likes me very much."

Damon commented as he was assisted by Hazel to go back where he previously sat. He was feeling more uncomfortable because of Kora’s dead-pan, blatant glares in his direction. She wasn’t even playing with her console anymore and was simply staring.

"Pay no mind to her. Kora’s always been... different."

"You know, she’s actually very allergic to cats."

"Really?. Then why’s she so hell-bent on Leo?"

"Well, that’s because she also likes cats to an unhealthy degree," Hazel responded with a sigh as she settled into the seat next to Damon.

"It’s never clear what Kora’s really thinking. Just like you, most would misunderstand her based on how flat her reactions are to most things..."

"She rarely engages with others..... But she isn’t a bad person. So please don’t take her actions to heart. She has no filter and can be quite blunt at times."

Damon listened to Hazel talk about this girl fondly, and how one of the students who had died had been very good friends with Kora. And that her delving into her console was a form of coping mechanism for the young lady.

She explained that Kora’s background was quite special, and she was from some mysterious old money lineage. An unconfirmed fact that Kora had never given credence to. Nonetheless, her personality was known to most in the class.

As the class president of their class, Hazel was sort of the de facto mature figure of the group that had come to Damon’s home, and Damon was impressed by how she could go into detail about each and every one of these people’s personalities, showing just how incredible she was at reading people.

Hazel also narrated to Damon what had happened while he was unconscious. However, no matter how Damon looked at Leo, all he could see was his cute little cat. There was nothing different about him. Still, he decided he would keep an eye on him for the meantime and keep him close.

Leo didn’t seem to dislike this idea, refusing to leave Damon’s side because of the looming gaze focused on him by the girl on the center sofa.

As time went on, Damon got to know Hazel more, as well as the male student called Sage. Sage at first seemed grumpy, but he was soon talking together with Damon and Hazel.

The last guy in the room, whose name Damon learned was Nick, was actually having it the hardest to overcome the fear of what he had seen. He appeared traumatized and barely said a word aside from some nods from where he sat.

Everything was chill amidst the tension, accompanied by the reality that they were all trapped in this apartment. All of them shared in conversation, monitored the chat channels while browsing the several functions of the origin system.

The tension spiked again in the living room when the twins suddenly reentered. Hazel went on alert, and this time, Sage remained beside them.

However, the twins made no attempt in their direction and simply went into the kitchen, scurrying around in there for several minutes before coming out with two bags full of the only remaining edible supplies in the penthouse. Both of them snickered as they went with it into the master bedroom.

"Those fuckers."

Sage commented in spite as realization dawned on them that there was yet another problem they hadn’t addressed—

And that was about food and supplies. And at the moment, no one was bold enough to challenge Brad and the twins and fight for those remaining supplies. Sage, just like Hazel, had not awakened.

"What do we do now?. This time tomorrow, we’ll probably begin to starve. Unless.... We go to Brad." Sage commented grimly.

Damon reminded them about Mildred’s words that those supplies, as well as every other food in the world, would probably become useless by tomorrow...

So hoarding them was inefficient; quickly consuming them was the best bet. Still, not having to starve for a day was a better option.

The people in the penthouse had now been divided into three split groups. Hazel was on Damon’s side; Brad had the twins, and Sage also appeared to be on Damon’s side, but he seemed to be on the fence. As for Kora and Nick, both their stances were unknown.

They all soon understood, that just as discoursed on the channels, they would have to hunt these mutants to survive, Who knows how worse things might get in the future.

Luckily, there was a dedicated bracket in the Origin store that catered to food and sustenance. However, the options were measly at best, containing only five accessible options at the moment—

[T-0 PROVISIONS:

50ML BOTTLED WATER x1: 1oc

LOAF OF BREAD x1: 1oc

LOAF OF FRESH BREAD x1: 2oc

50G JERKY x1: 1oc

50G SEASONED JERKY x1: 2oc ]

The options were not very inviting, but they appear to be goods suitable for long-term storage.

It was convenient, but the prices were outrageous. And in the long run, it would become a challenge for most people, leading to mass starvation.

The fact is, nobody would want to face those mutants with some type of assurance. The assurance that comes with being a strong awakener, or the assurance of having a hot weapon like Harvey.

Presently, those with the highest chance of survival in this trial are actually those in the police stations or army barracks, where hot weapons aren’t scarce. Or even those who have such private weaponry.

However, that’s also a temporary fix, as bullets are finite. And manufacturing, as well as other facets of production, has been indefinitely halted. Now, more than half the world is swarming with hungry, flesh-eating mutants.

There was even an option to upgrade the Origin store from T-0 to T-1, but the cost was far more outrageous than the special item with a timer at the bottom of the interface, requiring the immense sum of fifty thousand Origin crystals.

Was such a sum even possible to accumulate without some special means?. Maybe soon there will be more ways to earn these crystals, was all Damon could think.

And as soon as Damon had that thought, at exactly 5 pm UTC, a familiar notification announcement from the system blasted through the minds of every surviving human on Earth, with a part of the system events section bursting to life —

[The Origin Announces The Commencement Of The Treasure Hunt Event!]

"What fresh hell is this?" remarked Sage.