Chapter 274: You Don’t Know What Happens To The Dead?
I teleported us back to the garage entrance, figuring that it would be a better idea to enter through there instead of the door that we broke through.
Olivia was carrying the radio set with her while Maylene was carrying the map and the torn up notes, both items being what I intend to use to convince this group of survivors that we completed their task.
We stepped past the broken garage door which I was now wondering if it had been broken by a mutant instead of an Anomaly, which might also explain why the people here were upset at our presence because they might have thought we were mutants as well, given how our group looked.
Still... The fact that they didn’t start firing at us like what that guy did was a little promising. Perhaps we might even be able to help this group instead of worrying about whether they will shoot us in the face.
We walked past the old vehicles and stepped past the broken door and into the diner place before heading down the ramp that would lead to the underground bunker, waiting until we were at the bottom of the ramp before I called out to them.
"Hey!! We’re back!!"
I heard my voice echo through the hallway of the bunker, feeling like I just disturbed a tomb instead.
There was silence for a moment before the sounds of footsteps filled the hallway, marking the arrival of several people rushing towards us.
We didn’t have to wait long before the same group of people appeared around the corner, though they were a little cautious of us and peered around the corner to check who it was first. I found that quite hilarious considering we did the exact same thing to them when we heard their voices the first time in that room.
The same guy with the laser gun stepped out, lifting that scanner gun to point at us once more.
"You... Why are you back here again?"
I pretended to be confused by that question as I crossed my arms at him, "Didn’t you guys want us to go check up on your friends?"
The guy who had told us to go there to begin with stepped out from the group, a hopeful look in his eyes, "Yes! Did... Did you find them?!"
I let out a sigh and stepped aside, "I’m afraid I have some bad news for you..."
On cue, Olivia and Maylene stepped forward, carrying the radio, the map and the notes to show it to him.
He frowned at the sight of the items, not understanding why I was showing these apparently random items to him until it clicked.
He looked back at me with wide eyes, "No... Please tell me... No..."
I shook my head, "Unfortunately... It is what you think... We managed to find another group of survivors in the mall and... They gave us directions to your group of friends who were in the underground bunker by the blue house. We got there to find the entire place flattened and only those Ano--- Those monsters crawling inside. The place was wrecked and blood was all over the walls so... I’m afraid they have already been killed..."
"No... No... All of them?"
"There were no survivors... Unless there’s some kind of hidden room within the bunker?"
He paused for a moment and I thought he was going to tell me that there was indeed a hidden room in the bunker before he slowly shook his head, "No... There isn’t... Then... They’re all dead then?"
"I’m afraid so..."
He went quiet after hearing that and the rest of his companions held his arms and shoulders in a show of camaraderie with him. That made me wonder if he was the only one in this group who was friends with the people in that other group since it looked like he was the only one that was bothered by their apparent deaths.
I guess maybe they were old friends but he was separated from them or something.
The girl of their group then turned to me suddenly, "You said that they were dead, didn’t you?"
I nodded, "Yes. We found the place already torn apart without a single survivor."
She narrowed her eyes as though she thought I was lying to them, "If that’s the case... What do they look like?"
I blinked at her from behind my mask, "What do you mean?"
"You must have found their dead bodies, right? What do they look like? You should be able to at least tell their hair colour or something, right? Or are you going to tell us that they were so torn up that you couldn’t even tell any of their facial features?"
I needed a good few seconds to process what she just asked because of how ridiculous it was.
"What are you talking about? They were turned into those monsters. How the heck are we supposed to know what they look like when they’ve been turned into monsters?"
All of them stared at me for a minute before the guy with the laser gun started waving his weapon at me again.
"You fucker! Do you take us for idiots?! How dare you try and make fun of us?! Do you think we’re all stupid or something?!"
Dan immediately moved himself in front of me, his shield still held at his side but by how he was twitching slightly, he was ready to raise up that shield at a moment’s notice in case that guy fired the gun.
I waved my hand placatingly, "Wait, wait... What are you talking about?"
"You trying to call us monsters?! Are you grouping us together with those things?!"
Eh? Wait... Could it be... They don’t know?
I looked at each of them to see that all of them had the same pissed off look as this guy which meant they all shared the same sentiment.
How could it be possible that they didn’t know about this?
"Are you not aware that... Anyone that dies here turn into one of those things?" I asked.
"Fuck you! Like as if that could be true! Do you think we were just born yesterday or something?! There’s no way something like that could be true!!"
Olivia spoke up for me, probably finding the fact that these people might have gone through their entire apocalyptic scenario without realising that the dead would turn into an Anomaly too ridiculous to accept.
"Have all of you not witnessed what happens to dead bodies after they have died to one of these creatures?"
The guy with the gun turned to point his gun at Olivia, "You!! Back off, mutant!! No one’s talking to you!! You and your fucking lies! You better step away right now or I’m shooting!!"
Damnit... So they were also not fans of ’mutants’ after all... And here I was hoping it might be different for them...
I waved at Olivia to show her that I’ve got this and nodded at the guy to get his attention again, "Truly... Have none of you seen what happens to the dead around here?"
He scowled at me, "You really think we’re just idiots huh? Of course once the living dies, their body and soul goes to rest with the All Taker! We’ve seen those things appearing from some tear in space! Not turn into one of those things!"
The... All taker? What the heck is that? Is that supposed to be some spiritual thing or something? Is this something that only the people here believe in or is this a world wide thing?
I figured that if I were to ask what the All Taker was supposed to be, they would immediately figure out that I was not from this world or something so I did not ask that.
Instead, I tried to figure out something else, "Has your group ever lost anyone before? Or... You know... Have corpses around this hideout? I saw that you’ve obviously been attacked and there was even a blood trail here so... Did you guys suffer some casualties?"
The guy with the gun scoffed, "Hmph... That has nothing to do with you, does it? There’s no need for you to know."
"I believe there is... Because I’m telling you that the... All Taker... Does not take the dead from you... The dead turns into those creatures that you see outside... The creatures spread miasma around the place which would transform anybody who has died within the miasma to mutate into one of those things..."
All of them looked at one another, acting like I just told them that there were aliens standing in front of them right now.
They turned back to me and the guy with the gun seemed like he was going to berate me again when another guy who had been standing at the back spoke up.
"We... Had locked away some of the ones who passed at the Resting Hall, right? We’ve been hearing some sounds coming from there for a while so... Maybe we should take a look?"
...
Wait, you’re telling me you guys have a bunch of Anomalies inside here right now?