The Eve of Battle (1)
The Eve of Battle (1)
Eirik drove the minibus towards the hangar where they already saw a group of people waiting for them, but there was one thing that immediately caught the eyes of Julies as the bus got nearer.
"Oh shoot, is that what I think it is?"
Julien, who was sitting on the front row seat couldn't help but let out an exclamation of surprise.
"Uhh, what are you talking about?" Haley asked as the bus came to a stop..
"That! It looks like a damn spacecraft!" replied Julien while pointing at the Pelican as he alighted from the bus and stared at it with glowing eyes.
While on the other hand, Leo had just stepped down from the bus when the voice of Gideon suddenly rang inside his head.
[Sir, the Pelican carrying the Scorpion Battle Tank had just arrived at the island]
"Good! Now, with the two Pelicans and the Battle Tank, we can finally start clearing up this place for good!" murmured Leo in a voice that only he could hear.
"Boss, you're back!"
Carl, Lin, Bella and the rest came running over the moment Leo got down from the bus.
"Bella!"
Julien immediately called out after the short distraction from the Pelican.
When Bella saw the youth beside Leo calling out to her, she frowned because she felt that the voice seemed familiar, but then her eyes slowly widened in shock when she finally realized who it was!
Especially when a few familiar faces alighted from the bus following Leo!
"My god! Julien, Haley, you…it's actually you guys!"
Bella immediately ran towards them, and the kids also did the same thing and surrounded her soon after.
"Thank god you guys are still alive and well. I thought…we thought something happened to you guys when we arrived at your hideout the other day, and we tried looking for you guys to no avail" said Bella as she looked at the familiar faces around her while trying to hold back her tears.
Eirik and the rest were also feeling emotional.
After all, they are really close to each other as Bella had even tried to convince their group multiple times to join them instead of surviving out there by themselves.
Leo didn't bother them and allowed them to enjoy their little reunion.
After a short greeting from his men, he turned his attention to Lin, who is currently his third highest ranked officer and said, "I didn't expect that there would still be a large number of survivors living in this city. So how many survivors did your unit rescue this time?"
Along with Carl and Anthony, Lin immediately walked a step behind Leo and answered, "We managed to rescue a total of thirty seven people boss, the only problem is that these people were vouched by Bella and her friends"
Leo stopped in his tracks and turned his head towards Lin with a raised eyebrow and said, "You mean that they are related to Bella and her group?"
Lin nodded and replied, "Yes boss, they were in fact in an alliance with her group before they joined us"
"I see, so it means they are still humans?" said Leol with a grin on his face.
Lin didn't say anything as he just nodded in agreement.
Ever since he and among the many others who had joined Leo's survivor community, their perception of the meaning behind the word 'human' had long been changed.
It was only a single word, but it meant a lot of things.
The people of Hope 101 had long categorized other humans into two categories, a Human and a Barbarian.
Being labeled as a Human meant that you still haven't abandoned your morality, and haven't become morally depraved and turned into Barbarians, who killed innocent people for pleasure, rape women and men to satisfy their desires that they had long suppressed inside them, but one action takes it all, eating your own species!
And Leo who had established that kind of thinking knows that it was all just hypocrisy, because it's not like they haven't sinned or killed other people before. All he asks of his people is to be at least morally upright or to at least be on the gray.
"Did you clean them up?" asked Leo, his once playful manner gone and was replaced by a solemn look on his face.
Lin nodded and replied, "Yes boss, and not only that, we also encountered a group of cannibals along the way who tried to trick their way into the group. It would have been dangerous if it wasn't for a couple of survivors who had witnessed their atrocities and immediately told us about it"
"Good! Also, start preparing yourselves, the others have already arrived at the island. Tomorrow, I want you to lead a team and make your way towards that lone ship and start rescuing those survivors. We need all the hands we can get if we want to clean up this place while incurring minimal losses" ordered Leo in a strict tone.
Hearing what Leo said, the three men couldn't hide the delight and relief on their faces. They didn't even bother to question how Leo knew the arrival of the rest as they were already used to his mysterious ways of doing and solving things.
Besides, it had been hard for them working with people they had never cooperated with before, especially when it was only built with minimal trust, and hearing that reinforcements are finally here is such good news to them as they can finally have peace of mind knowing that their comrades are finally here to lessen the burden on them.
Soon after that, Lin and the rest saluted Leo as the latter made his way inside the hangar, while the people both familiar and unfamiliar greeted him along the way with respect and with a little hint of fear.
Leo just smiled at them and made his way towards a makeshift bathroom and soaked himself inside the tub filled with hot water.
"Ahh~ that hits the spot"
"I wonder what Amanda and Michelle are doing right now? God, I miss them" murmured Leo to himself while closing his eyes.
"I should bring them with me next time, maybe after they give birth"