Stronghold In The Apocalypse

The commander muttered to himself, and at the same time, he was also genuinely curious of the whereabouts of their weapons since day one of their encounter.     

After all, it has been so long that no one would have not notice that weapons beyond World War II had become unusable.     

"I really wonder where they got their weapons" The commander couldn't help but say his thoughts out loud, a question that had been bugging him for a while since their first encounter with Leo's group.     

His lieutenant looked at him and thought to himself, 'That question has been bothering him a lot lately, and I just think that those people possibly have a production line for firearms, but the million dollar question is, how the hell have they been able to build all of those in such a short span of time? They're such a mysterious group of people that I still really can't wrap my head around on why these group of people only made their appearance at the same time that the zombie apocalypse had started'     

Then the man opened his mouth and said to the old man beside him, "What do you think, commander? Will they be able to succeed?'     

"I'm not sure, their numbers are too small compared to that horde living inside that nest, but looking at their confidence even with such a small number, I want to believe that  they have a pretty good chance of defeating the horde and that mutated zombie that's controlling them" answered his commanding officer.     

"I hope they win, so we can finally leave this god forsaken place" said the lieutenant with a bitter laugh at the end as he didn't know that there would actually come a day that he would actually call one of their beloved battleships as a godforsaken place.     

Then he remembered the tense atmosphere before Leo's group arrival and he couldn't help but shudder in fear.     

'If they came only a day or two later, chaos would have certainly ensued on the ship. They would probably kill each other to minimize the food consumption. Worse off, some of them might even resort to eating each other to survive. Our ranks wouldn't even matter by then'     

On the other hand, the sailors standing on the deck are discussing what's happening in the distance with voices full of excitement and eagerness.     

"Look! I wasn't messing with you the other day, they really do look like those aircrafts in Halo, right?!" One of the sailors said excitedly as he pointed at one of the aircraft flying towards them.     

The lone Pelican arrived before their eyes as the hatch behind it slowly opened up as the sailors all looked up wondering if they were finally getting rescued, but they were bound to be disappointed as they only saw two large sacks dropping from it and landed on the deck with a loud muffled clang.     

Clank! Clank!     

And then a woman's head peeked out from the hatch and looked at them from above and yelled, "It's food for you guys! We were supposed to rescue you guys today, but the Boss made changes at the last minute, so we can only get you people after we have taken care of that mutated bastard hiding inside its nest!"     

"So hold on for a couple more days, it will soon be over! Let's head back!"     

After saying her piece, she immediately went back inside as the hatch slowly closed behind her while the aircraft was turning around, and it soon flew back towards the mainland.     

Then that person from earlier looked at his friend and said, "They don't look alike at all, they're freaking the same!"     

No one moved forward towards the sack filled with food as they just whispered amongst themselves, and soon after, their commanding officer, the old man finally arrived at the deck with the other high ranking officers with him as they moved towards the sack.     

"Okay, line up in a single file for the provisions. It won't be long before we can finally escape this place" their commander said, and his men quickly scrambled forward as they formed a line that almost extended towards the end of the ship, all of them in high spirits because of the food.     

"Those people are really good for giving us food when we didn't even do anything for them," said one of the sailors.     

Then the sailor standing behind the man replied to what he said with, "I don't think so though"     

"What do you mean by that?"     

"Well, I heard from the lieutenant that there's a good chance that they might be planning to recruit us to join them, which is the reason why they were very generous with the supplies they had given us," replied the sailor standing behind the first sailor.     

"Isn't that good? At least we won't have to worry about our lives here on the ship anymore! We can all have the food and security that we have been wanting all along!" said the first sailor.     

"In exchange for what? Being integrated into his army and fighting those monsters for him? Don't forget that we're all soldiers of this country!" replied the other sailor, his face filled with reluctance and fear.     

The first sailor frowned then said, "So what?! I'd gladly fight those monsters and avenge the people that died by their hands! I don't even know if my wife, my children, or my parents are still alive! I'd willingly join his army and kill those bastards until I can make a lot of contribution so that I can boldly request for a rescue operation to look for the whereabouts of my family, whether they are alive or dead! I at least want to see it with my own eyes!"     

The once boisterous place suddenly quieted down when they heard him, as all of them remembered their families that they had left behind, and what's more painful is that they don't even know if they are still alive or had long passed on, worse, they had also turned and became zombies.     

The sailor also realized what happened and quickly felt embarrassed and guilty with his sudden outburst.     

Their commander also heard him, but he didn't say anything as he knows, everyone on deck knows…where he's coming from.