A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 28: The Village (Part-3)

Ryan hummed a tune as he came out of the shower drying his hair with the towel, a shower after the ordeal seemed nice, their clothes and armour had been washed and now completely clean without any form of zombie body parts and blood, they had left them on the rooftop to dry off.

"A nice bath after a tiring day is so nice.", he exclaimed before he began to drool.

"Stop drooling and grab a plate, Ryan."

Ryan nodded at his sister's words as she bounced towards Chef Nikita who handed him a plate full of instant noodles, seeing the bed which had been converted into seats already occupied he quickly climbed up to the upper birth as he took a bite, and spoke with bliss on his face, "So Yummy!!"

Michalina looked at him as he had grown another head as she spoke, "'Yummy?!', last I checked you were not so fan of the instant noodle especially not this particular brand."

Ryan shrugged as he ate his portion before he spoke between bites, "No idea maybe Nikita used some kind of super-secret recipe that has been passed down through time immemorial in some very secret cult."

Nikita snorted at that as she spoke, "Well aside from your extremely outlandish imagination no I have not, it is simple instant noodles that take three minutes to cook and I have added nothing to it except maybe the spices provided along with it."

"But it is so good.", his words seemed to be agreeable to others as well making Nikita smile at that.

"Well thank you for the compliment but I believe the real reason behind it is that you all are getting to eat proper food after such a long time."

"So are you going to call base?"

Michalina looked down on her plate before she spoke with a sigh, "I will try but it seems we are already nearing the range of the radio a few more minutes and we will not be able to send them any message."

Angela cringed at that as she spoke, "Then how will we call for reinforcement."

Others gaped at her as Ryan almost fell from the upper bunk as he tried to reign in his laughter which he somehow managed upon being glared at by Michalina.

"Angela, what did Major tell you?"

Angela looked unsure before she spoke, "Well nothing I learned from others and volunteered myself."

Jessica shared a discreet look with Michalina as she spoke, "You should have checked Angela you should have approached either Michalina or Ryan and should have asked them instead of learning from secondary sources."

Ryan leaned from his seat at the topmost bunk as he spoke with a tired sigh, "We are scouting, trying to gather intellect, rescue some if possible but more importantly to grow strong."

"As mom said we are venturing into the unknown, we will not know what is out there waiting for us, like today's incident it might be just a warm-up nothing more."

He played with his noodles a bit before he continued, "As we move we will face challenges much difficult than today, some of them we might triumph others we will not and might die this is the risk we are taking and the reason mom is letting us take such a risk is simply the profit if it succeeds is enormous not to mention necessary and if you have any problems with that, I am sorry but the time for complaining is over."

With his piece being said Ryan gave his undivided attention to his noodles with a blissful smile on his face.

"So how long will this trip last?"

Everyone looked at each other than to Ryan who was eating with a smile as Michalina decided to speak on his behalf, "Well until and unless he feels that he is sufficiently strong."

"That means you have no idea how long we will be away?"

"Not too long Angela, my intention is getting stronger to help others and as such, I cannot waste too much time and let something dastardly happen while we are not there."

"Hey, Ryan there is something I wish to ask of you?"

"What is it big sis Jessica."

"Well about fuelling this trailer, how and what are you going to do about it?"

"There is no need to worry about fuel, I have joined the fuel tanks of the truck with the bus provided a much larger capacity not to mention there are machines in place that are drawing energy from the surrounding area and storing it inside the tank in a liquefied form that I am using it to drive the trailer and power every machine inside it."

"It would take eight hours for it to refill the tank if we do not use the engine but have every other machine is turned on so as I said you do not need to worry about the fuel."

Everyone looked impressed at that as Nigella spoke with awe, "If the civilization was still alive you would have become a billionaire."

Ryan snorted at that as he spoke, "Like this technology would have worked."

"But you said your machine is converting energy."

Ryan picked up his plate as he drank the soup then licking his lips cleaned as he spoke, "The energy we are using to power our abilities well I do not know what to call them except they draw the same energy from the air and then stored them in liquefied state inside the tank, though I would warn you that the liquid contained inside the tank are at an extremely low temperature about negative twenty."

It was near dawn that he was awakened by someone shaking him as he sat up with a disgruntled look on his face he was greeted by Nigella who let out a small yawn as she spoke, "Get up and wash your face, it is time for your watch and my chance to sleep."

Ryan let out a groan as he climbed down from his bed as he walked like a zombie towards the sink before he let out a jaw splitting yawn.

"No sleeping during your job, Ryan.", upon hearing that Ryan simply waved his hand lazily.

"You are late Ryan.", Jessica narrowed her eyes as she looked at Ryan who stood in front of her with a sheepish smile on his face as he handed her a cup of hot tea.

Jessica took it from his hand with a smile on her face as she spoke, "Well I can overlook the fact you are dead."

Ryan took the passenger seat at the front of the trailer as he spoke, "What are you reading?"

"Oh nothing, it is just the Logbook."

"Log Book?"

"Yes, it is the Log Book that our dear Captain maintains."

"Is it not against the rule for you to read it then?"

"No, nothing is preventing me from reading it, though if I remember you would get a Log Book of your own, after all, you are also our technician, mechanic amongst many things as such you have to maintain a log when you do some repairs or major update."

Jessica took a sip of tea before she scowled looking at the liquor in her cup.

"Why does this taste a bit awkward?"

"Well the tea leaves for this blend were meant to be used with milk but since I do not have access to any we are having tea without milk as well as sugar."

"If I remember correctly we got powdered milk did we not."

Ryan nodded at that as he spoke, "Yes we did but it was spoiled, but there is something I wish to ask you."

"What is it, Ryan?"

"Why do I need to write a log?"

Jessica raised her head from the log as she spoke, "After our mission is over we have to give reports to Major and it would be useful."

A loud squeal was heard followed by another with the stomping of hoofs that made the duos blood ran cold.

The trailer bathed its surrounding with enough light to make it look as bright as a day, as they peered through the windows they saw two large boars almost as high as the trailers fighting dangerously close to the trailer.

"Damn it, wake others I will man the turrets"

Ryan dashed towards the bunks and upon locating his sister he shook her hard to wake her up.

Michalina floundered for a moment before she sat up giving undivided attention to Ryan, her questions were answered as another loud squeal was heard, by then the others had already awoken as well.

Nigella dropped from the top of the bunk as she spoke, "What is happening outside."

"Shhhh! Do not shout two large boars nearly as high as the trailer are fighting each other, and please keep your voice down we do not want their attention to fall on us."

Michalina simply waved them with their hands as they made their way to the turret room where Jessica was already sitting her eyes glued to her screen as Michalina neared her she whispered to her, "How bad is it?"

"If even one of them collides we are done for."

"Can we move?"

Michalina shook her head as she spoke, "If we try to move now we would end up drawing their attention to us and the trailer needs a few seconds to reach a respectable speed if they are far enough we may try."

"Do you think your trailer would survive a direct hit?"

"Sis I am confident that my trailer has as much chance of survival as an egg against a wrecking ball."

Hearing that everyone's breath hitched as Ryan continued to speak nonchalantly, "Oh before I forget these creatures are Tier Seven."

Michalina's eyes narrowed as she looked at Ryan as she spoke, "How are you so chill right now do you know something that we are unaware of."

Ryan opened his mouth to reply only to frown as he spoke, "I do not know how I can keep myself composed, but what I know is that there may be some more defensive and attacking options in the distant future."

"I see."

"Shhh, everyone is silent and listen carefully."

Upon hearing Angela's words everyone was silent for a moment but the only thing they heard was the stomping of hooves and loud squealing.

Jessica frowned as she spoke, "I do not hear anything out of ordinary."

"Wait I hear distant chirping.", Nigella spoke and from the looks of it, even Michalina had heard it.

As the chirping became loud the two giant mountain-sized stopped their fight as they tensed before they tried to run only to be swarmed by a flock of flying creatures.

The two boars did not stand any chance against them swarm as they were torn to shreds by the strange bat-like creatures, Ryan did not know whether he should be thankful for the trailer lights or not, seeing something like that was truly grotesque, but he did not know why but his sixth sense told him to get ready to run.

Nikita whistled lowly as she spoke, "Damn that is a gore-fest I am glad that I am safely tucked inside the trailer."

Michalina nodded in agreement as she spoke, "And a certain someone wanted to leave alone.", She turned to look at Ryan only to find him missing.

"Where is Ryan?"

"Hey, they stopped moving."

With her words, Nigella drew everyone's attention to the swarm as Jessica zoomed in on them to get a better look as she spoke with a frown, "Are they looking at us?"

It seems as if her words were the trigger as swarmed screeched before they attacked the trailer.

"Damn it, someone go and get us out of here."

Michalina turned to move towards the driver's cabin only to fall back along with anyone who was standing as Jessica gripped her seat hard.

"Get that suicidal moron off the driver's seat."

Michalina sends a glare towards Jessica as she spoke, "I will do it as soon as I can stand."

Only for them to topple over again as Michalina shouted out, "Hold onto anything you can get, I will try and reach him."

With great difficulty, the rest of the soldiers managed to climb on to the turret control seats as they tied the seatbelts.

Ryan gritted his teeth as tried to look at the front, 'Damn these creatures they are trying to obstruct my vision, it is so difficult to see."

Trailer jumped as Michalina came flying into the cabin as she promptly hit the roof and fell on the passenger chair, normally she would have argued and scolded him but her sixth senses were on overdrive as such she quickly strapped herself firmly to her seat courtesy of the seat belt and in time too as Ryan took a sharp turn, so sharp that the trailer was leaning on the right as the wheels on the left dangled on the air.

No words came to her mouth as she did not even think anyone could drive the trailer in such horrendous manner, normally she would have yelled but she did not wish to break Ryan's concentration but that did not mean she was incensed she glared balefully at him as she tried to set her broken nose.