A technomancer's journey in an apocalyptic world

Chapter 85: A small pit stop (Part-3)

No human is perfect and Michalina knew that from her personal experience as she herself is not perfect, something her mother helped her realize she remembered how her mother claimed that imperfection makes us normal and adorable not a weird creature, after all, nothing in this world is perfect.

One man's perfection is another man's imperfection and she knew her faults very well when she had first met Ryan she was jealous her mother was paying more attention to him, always showering him with hugs and kisses, her mother who she had gained after losing her original parents, parents whom she only remembers because of their photos, and then she learned the meaning of jealousy.

Michalina remembered when she first lashed out at him, and the first time her mother was angry no infuriated, that day she learned what was fear for the first time, but at the same time she also gained a younger brother, and that was when she learned one of her other flaw, possessiveness.

Today upon seeing the laser pistol in Ryan's hands a surge of jealousy appeared in her heart, 'I want one too.'

Ryan meanwhile checked his weapon before he spoke with a pout, "You know sis I wish I could let you use it, but don't worry I will make you one for sure, after all, we siblings share and car right?"

Seeing the bright smile removed the jealous beast as she smiled back at him, 'Such foolishness, how can I feel jealous of my baby brother, I am a grown-up woman now.'

Michalina smiled as she spoke, "You think you can replicate it."

Ryan frowned as he spoke, "Maybe not today but one day I will be able to, our enemy came from outer space as such surely one day I will have the technological prowess to replicate it."

Michalina simply smiled before her hand found its way to his ears which she pulled hard making Ryan to cry out in pain.

"How dare you wake up and come here? It is dangerous out here not to mention, where is your protective gear?"

"Ouch ouch sis, let my poor abused ear go, ouch you ripping it apart."

With a huff, Michalina let go of his ear as Ryan spoke with a sound akin to whining, "Why are you abusing the innocent poor me, what did I do?"

Michalina's eyes narrowed as she spoke in a heated tone, "You know what you did. I told you to sleep but here you are without wearing your protective gear such callousness."

Ryan gained a look of embarrassment on his face as he spoke, "Well my kind of broke."

"Broke?"

"Yes, I received so much damage during Navalach incident and now parts of it are falling off and I did not have any time repair so hehe hehe."

As Ryan gave a nervous laugh Michalina's eyes hardened as she spoke, "Brother the first thing you will do is repair or else I will force you to wear ours and you know ours are built for the female body right?", Ryan nodded fearfully he felt Michalina put her hand on his shoulder hard as she spoke, "I do not think you would like being called a cross-dressing pervert now.", as he shook his head negatively Michalina spoke with a cheery tone, "Then good, now go and make your gear now."

Ryan did not wait any longer as the first thing he did was to make a mad dash towards the vehicle especially towards the crafting area, to repair his armour.

Jessica looked towards Michalina as she spoke with a snort, "Really now are you not being a bit of a hypocrite, where is your armour, Michalina?"

Michalina scoffed at her question as she replied, "Okay, I might not be wearing every part of the armour but I have most of my vitals covered, at the very least it is better than nothing."

Ryan meanwhile had back into the vehicle as he made a beeline to his workspace where he quickly began to repair his armour.

Michalina in the meantime began to instruct the people that had followed with her to find essential resources namely food, as well as a few other things that might be useful for Ryan, she had taken her fellow soldiers to guard them, in case some very dangerous creature decides to harm them.

It took Ryan a couple of minutes to finish his armour and then to wear it, from time to time a shot from the large guns could be heard, and each of them felt as if a stake was being driven into his heart.

'Ugh, I wish they would stop firing at all, I never seen such trigger happy people outside of movies, do they think the bullet grows on trees from where I can easily pluck it from.'

His musing was cut short when suddenly the rate of fire had a momentous increase, making his heart to bleed even further as tears began to form in his eyes only for him to be brought out of his misery at the shrieks and shout of others.

Ryan did not wait any moment as he looked out through the window before he blanched hard, 'That is a horde! No, the word horde would not do justice to it, it is as if an entire city worth of zombies have suddenly appeared, but why are they still firing a single shot, they should use burst.'

With that thought in mind, Ryuu quickly checked the condition of Ylerias and her fellow turret operators and had the sudden urge to bash his head hard.

Ylerias was getting frustrated as she continuously pressed the buttons while she gritted her teeth hard from anger and frustration, 'Damn it, what was that button to change the rate of ire, like this it won't do, even if we waste a lot more firepower is needed, and what was the button that is needed to change the firing mode, damn it.'

She was about to leave her station and step out with her bow only for a familiar click to be heard as all of a sudden from a single shot the turrets had entered into a burst fire mode, ripping the creatures apart.

Michalina grunted in frustration as she shouted out, "Move move."

She did not have to tell them twice as everyone dropped whatever items they could not carry easily as they ran as fast their legs could carry them.

Meanwhile, Ryan did not stay still he dashed through the vehicle as fast his legs could carry him as he moved towards the driver's compartment, but it was not easy he soon found the greatest obstruction he could find, 'people', people that were scared and were crowding his way towards his destination.

'tch, the annoyance of the highest calibre.'

He could help but let out a frustrated growl before he jumped and caught a portion of the ceiling, then using the emergency exit that had opened up, allowing Ryan who with a great feat of agility to simply climb out of, and soon he was on the top of the road train, while the exit closed by itself.

'If I cannot go through or around it, I will go on top of it.'

As such he dashed towards the driver's compartment while cursing himself out loud, "I should not have made my working station near the end, but whatever has been done cannot be changed, ENGINE START."

As he roared out the road train engine powered up while Ryan's pistol appeared in his hand, which he aimed and began to fire he knew that he might not even hit by randomly firing but he did not even care, as even the thought that he might have managed to lend a small help greatly eased him.

Jessica greeted her teeth as she stood by the vehicle as she fired her gun, 'Damn them, they are slow', "Hurry hurry.", She could not help but shout out loud as the group climbed the vehicle but the height was proving a chore for them.

Meanwhile back with Ylerias she had enough, 'Damn this guns, they are nice but I can work better with my bow.'

Suddenly a sound was heard from the ceiling as the occupants of the room aimed the weapons towards the opening as Ryan quickly spoke in a panicked state, "Wait it is me."

Ylerias eyes widen as she shouted out with glee, "One of you take command of this station the rest follow me on top, we can help them better from there."

Ryan climbed down from the top as he spoke, "Wah, wait I am going to move the vehicle from there, the horde is huge and I do not wish to pit my creation against something unnecessarily if you climb up it would be difficult for you to stand up while it would move."

Ylerias smiled as she spoke, "Do not worry we will stay only as long as the last person has not entered and as for movement trust in us, we can fight while standing on moving objects, now do your job."

Ryan nodded as he quickly occupied the driver seat, the screen of the vehicle surrounded him as he watched with great trepidation the people who were still boarding the vehicle.

'I have to limit the number of people who had left to gather stuff, not only they had to throw away most of their stuff but at the end because of the height difference between the vehicle and the ground they are boarding it extremely slow, not good.'

Michalina bit her lips as she fired at the horde that was rushing towards them as a giant fireball smashed at the horde exploding in a giant inferno, a few of the people stopped to marvel at the scene only for her to snap at them, "Climb or we will leave you behind."

With each second Ryan's heartbeat sped as a look of worry began to form on his face, 'Hurry sis, hurry you and Jessica are worth more than all of these people that we are ferrying, I do not want to lose either of you, especially you sis.'

Ryan watched as everyone had boarded safely as he turned on the speaker to cause a road train wide announcement, "Everyone please hold on to something tightly, I am going to move at full speed and the journey will be rough."

No sooner did he announced it Ylerias reentered the vehicle along with her subordinates as the opening which was actually an emergency exit shut itself tightly after them.

Meanwhile, Michalina had just managed to close the door of the Alpha Raven 2.0, when the first of the horde had managed to reach the vehicle.

The entire vehicle was soon filled by screams and shouts of its occupants as the creatures began to bang on the outside trying to tear apart the armour to enter the vehicle, her heart hammered as she heard their screams and roars.

Then it came, the announcement, an announcement that made her feel as if her heart leapt out of her throat as soon as she heard the announcement, it was true that after the chastisement he had mellowed out a bit, and today in the morning he was dead tired as such he left the wheel after some time but now he was refreshed and from the looks of it Micahlina was sure the others would get a glimpse of heaven even much before their time.

As such she bellowed out loud, "Get out of my way, that idiot is about to drive.", but even if others moved away from her, she was too late as the road train sprung into action like a leopard after its prey.

Ylerias held on to the back of Ryan's chair as she looked at the front with her eye narrowed, "The horde is big, there even some at the front."

Ryan nodded as he spoke with a smirk, "Yes there are.", he then patted the steering wheel as he spoke with a smile, "But that is something that baby can easily handle, though I would like to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

A large smile formed on Ryan's face as he spoke, "I do not drive as slow as Michalina.", with that he placed his foot on the accelerator, as the vehicle began to move while crushing the creatures underneath its wheels.