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Chapter 123: Team (1)

“What an ordeal…” Luke said while massaging his shoulders. “As expected, hero work is not for me… still, I will have to keep searching from crystals by myself, otherwise, I will have to keep owning favors and have the duty to escort survivors.”

          They had reached Miami after two days, so Luke was fairly tired. While the zombies were still getting stronger, their pace and Luke’s was too different. They were no longer a threat to him. That being said, he couldn’t let them keep stronger… they evolved once, he couldn’t let them evolve again.

“I guess I should take my time hunting the next monsters that come from a crystal, that way, Artiuno will have time to eat and lay eggs,” Luke rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

          Luke wondered if he was being rude or practical regarding the fact that he could obtain an army of monsters. They sure will be able to help him, and Luke would treat them the same way he treated their mother. Still, it didn’t change the fact that they were his partners, and he would be treating them as tools of war.

          As usual, they ran into some soldiers while they were approaching the place, but they recognized Luke, so they let him pass. They frowned while looking at Artiuno, though. In any case, the camp looked a lot livelier than before. Luke also found more tents around and more people cleaning their weapons.

“It looks like a nice place,” Jennifer said when they left the truck.

          To be honest, Luke didn’t want to live in a nice place that would make him feel lazy. It would be better to live at a pace where he would feel the constant need to get stronger. Still, he couldn’t judge other people’s decisions by his own standards. He was an oddball in more ways than one, after all.

          After a while, Luke found his acquaintances there, at least some of them. Amanda and Celia were practicing their archery, and Chloe was watching them. It didn’t look like she wanted to learn any long-ranged ways of attacking. She was brave in that aspect. While it looked cool, Luke would never put his hands or legs near a monster’s mouth unless he had some high level of protection.

“Hey,” Luke said. “Where are my parents and Billy?”

“You showed up sooner than we thought… knowing you, we assumed that you would only come back after reaching level one hundred,” Amanda said. “Well, they are in a meeting with Colonel Frank.”

“Thanks,” Luke said and then guided Jennifer’s group to the main tent.

“What is wrong, Amanda?” Celia asked while smirking. “You seem troubled.”

“… You shouldn’t try to piss your elders, Celia,” Amanda frowned. “I am just surprised he actually brought people here. Considering that they didn’t look that worn down, he probably didn’t complain to them during the trip.”

“Are you regretting something?” Celia asked.

“Hell no!” Amanda replied. “I know a big ass pervert when I see one.”

“I didn’t know you had a hobby of thinking the actions of perverts,” Celia said.

“Celia…” Amanda said while trying to hold back her anger.

“Ah, youth…” Chloe said and then shrugged.

          Luke found Arcnine on the side of the main tent, being watched by several guards. At first, Jennifer’s group frowned while looking at her since she looked even more fearsome than Artiuno. Still, they relaxed when they saw Luke patting her head.

“Have you been a good girl?” Luke asked.

“Much better than you when you were a teen,” Mark suddenly appeared and then said it. “Oh, wait. You still are a teen…”

“Luke! Are you fine? Does it hurt somewhere?” Julia asked and then hugged her son.

“My ribs now…” Luke said. “Anyway, I brought some goody two shoes that will most likely obey all of your commands if given a chance to help people.”

“Luke, that is no way of introducing someone,” Mark said.

“Hello, I am Jennifer, one of the goody-two-shoes,” Jennifer said and then offered a handshake to Mark. “Your son isn’t that wrong… and he helped us when we were in danger, so we would like to repay the favor.”

“I see… I am glad he didn’t ask anything weird for that,” Mark said. “Anyway, we will raise some tents for your group. I can see that you are wary of things here, but you are free to stay for as long as you want.”

“Thank you,” Jennifer said.

“You returned at a good time, Luke,” Mark said. “We were preparing for another large-scale operation.”

“I am not interested in going overseas anymore,” Luke said. “Unless I get a huge box of grenades, I won’t risk my neck more than I need to.”

“Billy mentioned that you wanted them… I will try to negotiate with Frank,” Mark said. “I just heard that you returned with a flying monster, so we will definitely lead your cooperation.”

          Luke didn’t know what his father was talking about, but as long as he received those grenades, he wouldn’t mind helping. After all, his strength was increasing steadily, so the power of those grenades could decimate even the ever stronger zombies… hundreds of them. By using them, he will also reach his next goal fastest… to be able to go to other worlds and beat the crap out of those creatures that keep sending monsters to EARTH.

            Luke left the area to talk with his mother for a bit, and then he realized that the number of high-leveled soldiers was low. It seemed that half of those who had left to deal with the Crystal’s hadn’t come yet, AND Julia confirmed that.

“How were things nearby?” Luke asked.

“We found some survivors here and there in small towns, but we didn’t have many chances of checking high populated areas because of the hordes,” Julia said.

“Not even with Arcnine’s help?” Luke frowned.

“It isn’t a problem of firepower, but of the terrain,” Julia said. “This next mission is also about that.”