Shovels In Spades

Daz and Crusher were now on the highway in the M939 truck and they were slowly snaking their way through the many car wreckages which littered the road.

"I wonder why all of these vehicles are just lying around all over the place," Crusher said as she peeked her head out of the window.

"Can't you see the bodies? Obviously, they panicked when they saw the first blue screen from the system," Daz explained as he kept his eyes on the road.

He was still an inexperienced driver, so he needed to focus unless he wanted to ruin the army truck.

Crusher narrowed her eyes and exclaimed, "Well would you look at that, you're right." She turned around and looked at Daz only to see that he was now wearing a mask which covered the smooth half of his face. "You look cool, but what gives?"

"Can't you see that Humvee a few hundred feet in front of us? I don't want Rocky or anyone with him to recognise me," Daz said as he pointed forwards.

"Nope, my eyesight is definitely worse than yours, hahaha!" Crusher laughed. "Why would they recognise you anyway?"

"No reason, but I don't want to take any unnecessary risks," Daz shrugged his shoulders as he avoided telling Crusher about his grim past.

"Okay," not really caring, Crusher smiled and didn't pry any further.

Daz had parked up the truck roughly one-hundred feet away from the approaching HUMV which had slowed down to a crawl while it approached him and Crusher.

It only took a few moments before the large car was only about fifteen meters away from the pair, so it stopped and two figures stepped out.

Surprisingly, Daz knew both of these people. One was, naturally, Rocky, while the second was someone that Daz had worked with for the past six months before the apocalypse began. 'Adam survived? I'd assumed he died on day one after he cycled home... I wonder what his weapon is?'

"Sek! It's good to see you!" Rocky yelled as he ran towards Daz.

Crusher took her sledgehammer off of her back and was getting ready to smash Rocky into a pulp. She was heavily under the impression that Daz didn't trust these people, so of course, she didn't want them getting close to the both of them until their intentions were made clear.

Under her breath, Crusher spoke to Daz, "Sek, huh?"

"His nickname for me," Daz whispered in return before he stepped forward and stopped Rocky with a raised palm. "I want to say it's nice to see you again, but unfortunately, I can't. Why are you here?"

Adam's eyes widened slightly. 'That voice? No... there's no way. A kid like him... Even if he got a class, with that kind-hearted and gentle attitude of his, there's no way he survived right? This guy looks like a cold-blooded killer...'

Thankfully for Daz, his act when he was trying to be a normal person and fit in had served to help him here.

"Ahahaha," Rocky scratched his head with embarrassment. "Vincent asked me to find you since we're so close to one another. I'm not that good at social thingies really, so, um, I'm sorry for unsettling you yesterday. Can we still be friends?" Rocky held out his hand with a bashful expression on his face.

'I really can't dislike this guy when he's like this... Damn it. Something's been really wrong with me lately,' Daz thought with frustration.

"Okay, I don't mind that. However, I'll have to ask you and your friend to leave. To be honest, I don't trust you," Daz stated.

Rocky's face fell and he clearly felt insulted and hurt. "That... That's fine... Ho-how about we bring you back to our base and I can give you some stuff to earn your trust? I swear that it won't take long! You'll be back by tomorrow afternoon so you'll have plenty of time to prepare for the next cycle in two days!"

"Be-, eh, Rocky! We can't do that!" Adam said in a loud voice.

"Why not?! Sek's a good person," Rocky claimed.

Adam frowned. "And how do you know that? You've barely been around him for more than five minutes."

"I can just tell these things!" Like a child, Rocky refused to admit that Adam was correct.

"... Will you let me speak with Red?" Adam requested, confusing Daz and Crusher.

"Fine! But I bet he'll say the same thing I did," Rocky complained before he rubbed his jewelled eye.

Daz had watched all of this with a wry smile on his lips. 'I never agreed to go with them, did I?'

Just like in the Court of Lords, Rocky's personality had shifted and so had his entire atmosphere. He turned away from Adam and looked right into Daz's eyes. "Worry, expectancy, and mild hope. I sense a burning desire, but it isn't malicious. It should be safe to bring him back with us, however, I recommend advising extreme caution and do not anger him nor his companion. They are both stronger than anyone at our base. I suspect them to be highly ranked on the merit rankings."

After saying this, Rocky rubbed his eye once more and returned to normal. "See? I told you so."

"Hah... Fine." With a long sigh, Adam reluctantly agreed.

"So, Sek, wanna come back with us?" Rocky asked with a hopeful expression on his face. He had a very strong sense that he and Daz were very similar, so if he could, he wanted to befriend him.

"I suppose that's fine, but only if my buddy here, Crusher, can come along," Daz replied, shocking Crusher slightly, however, it only took a few seconds for her to understand why. A blue screen had appeared before her eyes.