Cultivator In A Zombie Apocalypse - Chapter 85

A military organisation was formed on rules, discipline, the orders of a superior being carried out without question by a subordinate. Therefore there had to be trust that the superior knew what they were doing and the subordinate would perform their instructions to a tee. However, when the chain of command was broken, there could be chaos and confusion until a new chain was formed. But the army base no longer could be anchored by their superiors overseas, so though a new stake to anchor them had been planted in their current location, there was not just one chain attached and trust between these chains was fragile.

When everyones goals were the same, establishing the base, rescuing survivors, hunting for food and supplies in order to ensure they could make it through winter and beyond, these metaphorical chains lie parallel. With the survivors settling into a routine and becoming more comfortable in this new world, there would become chains that began to distance themselves from the others. Such was not currently apparent, there was still too much uncertainty, but that did not mean that there was not some small signs of it occurring already.

For instance, two soldiers having returned to base were called to report in, but both went to different superiors to do so.

“How is it?” Officer Rouse asked the female solider standing smartly before him, with her hands behind her back. Her lips curved slightly and she gave a curt nod before picking up an old tin can she had managed to find on route to his office. She demonstrated the improvement of control over her ability; upon her palm the can twisted with a squeal of protest, lengthening, narrowing and eventually reforming into an arrow bolt, while the red rust formerly upon its surface fell to the floor.

“So long as I have the metal, I can reform it into more useful things,” she replied. “However, there is a limit to the amount I can do in a day. For example, I can probably make one or two more bolts over the course, but this has improved from before. I believe I will continue to make progress.” She placed the bolt upon the desk and it was picked up to examine.

“Can you teach others?” Was the next question.

Faith frowned, slightly and made some attempt to explain; “I’m not entirely sure.” Her commanding officer looked at her with a questioning expression. “The man who taught us, Chang Min’s Master, each taught us different methods of something called cultivation. I can only describe it as a meditation technique, but although it sounds… unscientific, I’ve always felt refreshed after performing the meditation. In addition, my ability seems to improve following the session, although it would only be noticeable to others in the long term.”

Elsewhere similar questions were asked but in a more blunt manner and the responding answers were not so positive. “It was as I thought, sir,” Thomas told the man sitting before him. “They tried to convince us that performing some ‘new age’ meditation would improve our abilities, but I had no improvement whatsoever. That place ought to be labelled a cult rather than a base. Unfortunately, while I was not sucked into their ridiculous beliefs, my comrades lacked similar will.”

“That’s not surprising,” the officer grunted, before explaining. “In times of hardship, men and women throughout history have sought something to believe in, in order to give them hope and the ability to survive. In times past, it would have been God, but there has always been unsavoury groups leading people astray even then. The question is, will this group be a threat to us.”

Thomas hesitated; “I would have said no, but I am not too certain now.”

Hughes narrowed his eyes before tapping the desk with heavy fingers. “Explain.”

Faith was also attempting to display the facts, though she was doing so in a manner that without bias. “Their base was attacked, by a being they had dubbed a Zombie King,” she shook her head. “Unfortunately, I was unable to see what this creature looked like, so I only have second hand information on it. My team and I were busy dealing with a humanoid zombie and a group of undead rodents that had managed to breech the walls.”

“Understood, continue,” Rouse encouraged.

“Chang Min and his Master reportedly fought outside the walls, while their leader, the man Dexter, dealt with numerous bird-type zombies, with some help from another member of his people. At the end of the battle, it was found that one of the smaller rodents managed to evade our defences and bit one of their people. They were reluctant to immediately deal with this.” Rouse sighed, but nodded. Who could not understand how they felt, however it was a necessary matter, regardless.

“What happened next?”

Thomas had to hesitate once more. At this point, he only had hearsay having left the scene in a temper. However admitting this could be seen as a dereliction of duty, so he could only temper his words to ensure they painted him in a better light. “As we’d missed one, naturally there could have been others, so I moved to patrol. The other members of my squad were there to witness, having an additional person was unnecessary, I thought. However, according to what A and b shared with me, there was an attempt to cure the infected man.”

His superior sat up straight within his chair and looked Thomas directly in the eye. “Are you serious?” Thomas nodded, curtly. “Did they succeed?”

“When I next saw the man, he appeared to be healthy,” Thomas could only admit.

“So you are saying that Rogers may have had a hand in healing that man??” Rouse questioned Faith more closely.

“I cannot say for certain,” she replied. “Zak’s ability was not quite enough, but I did see with my own eyes that some of the poison in the man’s blood had been purged by him, before Chang Min’s Master, Ren Zexian, managed to remove the rest with his own blood as lure. However, from my understanding, the infection is now in Ren Zexian’s body. According to Chang Min, Ren Zexian had not turned during the time that followed and if he is to be believed then the man has miraculously managed to surpass the usual rate of infection, however, the place that Ren Zexian isolated himself was not accessible to me nor my comrades. I was unable to confirm this either way.”

Rouse felt this matter was incredible and difficult to believe. Whether those people were shielding a strong zombie in their midst aside, they had managed to cure one person of the infection completely. A number of incredible ideas crossed his mind, but did not take root; he felt that the information to hand was not complete enough. “Why did the others not return with you?”

Thomas sneered; “Like I said, they have been completely taken in by that cult. They honestly believed that Chang Min’s so called ‘Master’ will survive the infection. I could neither convince them nor the civilians there otherwise, well except for one.”

“I heard that you brought back a woman,” his superior said, a hidden tone in his voice. “Are you sure she’s not some spy?”

“I am certain, sir,” Thomas replied, but he could not hide the softening of his eyes as he spoke of her. A pretty, sweet flower as fresh as spring blossom was reflected in his vision, one strong enough to survive the frost. Of course, his superior did not have the same rose-tinted glasses upon his face, so he could only respond to the man’s questioning in an attempt to convince him otherwise. “Brooke, like many of their people, has abilities, though somewhat small. She has some control over water, but for some reason, she cannot produce it herself. She has shown she can alter its temperature, manipulate it and purify it. Also she can locate water sources.”

“What about the others on their base, what abilities do they have?” Hughes asked him.

“Naturally, you know of Chang Min and his Earth abilities,” Faith responded to a similar query. “There is another man with similar abilities of a lower level, but that man is still stronger than any of our earth users. Ren Zexian actually had two abilities, one of Fire and one of air. Their leader, Dexter, has control over lightning. There is also a man who can not only produce water, but can produce ice.”

“Ice?” Rouse quickly became interested in this person. He naturally thought along the lines that the person they spoke of had; ice would be useful in creating cold storage in order to store food for prolonged periods of time.

“There was also some guy who could control gravity,” Thomas’ report was much the same, but the tone of his voice differed. He was sullen when describing those with more impressive ability than himself and full of disdain over those he thought had developed trash ability. Actually, the tone did not sound much different in either case. “I think that was all… no actually, there was that plant guy.”

“Plant guy?” His superior was not unfamiliar about the unprofessional way Thomas could report, however, as he was loyal to himself and did not seem to be wavering in his support, he let this flaw slide.

“There was this young man, didn’t talk much,” Thomas continued, “he had a strong ability over plant life. The base had greenery everywhere, yet they weren’t bothered about even the most dangerous of mutated plants. It seems to be thanks to this youth. Because of him, they even dared to plant vegetables and grain outside!”

Officer Hughes began tapping his fingers upon the desk once more, thoughts running through his head on how to exploit such a valuable resource. “How interesting.”

Following the reports of the two soldiers, the council members came together to discuss and make decisions. The first was definitely to order their people to return to base; their lives were potentially at risk by being close to the unknown factor of Ren Zexian. He also was a matter of discussion. However, they all had to agree that he could only be labelled a danger.

They had already witnessed how an ability user became a zombie with the same ability. This Ren Zexian, who Chang Min claimed as Master, could not be underestimated in power. Although neither Faith nor Thomas had personally witnessed his strength, this person had the entire small base in thrall of his ability, as well as Chang Min’s loyalty. It was concluded that he could not be less in power than the earth user they respected for his strength. If such a man became a zombie, it could only be a threat to their continuing survival. Therefore, he had be dealt with.

If he had already turned, which was the most likely case, then they had to be benevolent and offer those people sanctuary.

A strong squad of twenty men and women were chosen for this duty, though all were very much aware of the danger, they were promised high rewards by two officers, who happened to separately wish to secure certain people. They left the following morning.

The convoy was tense, silent as Thomas and Faith led them back to the small base in the village some distance from their own. Zombies were sparse in number, they noticed as they travelled over bumpy, narrow roads and there was only the strange sounds of guttural moo’s echoing from afar. They soon pulled up to the village boundary, the smattering of houses abandoned, with not too few standing in brick rubble, where just a bit further along a tall and extensive wall was very apparent. In order not to appear so hostile, they stopped their vehicles and half headed over on foot.

They were spotted easily from the wall.

“Ho, what’s this? Hostile takeover?” A voice filled with sarcasm came from the peak of it, causing them to look up at a sharp angle. Thomas recognised the man as the one who’d been cured of infection. There was a healthy glow in his cheeks as if he’d never been bitten at all.

Jimmy shouldn’t have been up on the wall, but nursing his injury. Such a wound was not going to heal completely in two weeks. But though there was some discomfort, the man was fed up with lazing around and had pestered Arthur until the other carried him over and tossed him on top, before patrolling the length along with Monika.

“No such thing,” Thomas denied as he lifted his helmet to reveal his face. “We’ve orders to escort our people back. In addition, we were planning on rescuing you people.”

Jimmy tilted his head in question; “Thanks but no thanks, we’ve no need of rescuing. But I’ll call over your people, just a second.” He turned away, before yelling out; “Oi, Cole! Go get them lot from the second property! They’ve been summoned!” He looked back down at the gathering soldiers, his expressive face hiding the feelings actually stirring inside himself. F.u.c.k.i.n.g shit! Bastards! What the hell! And they left me alone to deal with it!

“What do you mean you don’t need rescuing?” Thomas sneered, ignoring the glares of Faith behind him, the woman tugging down her helmet so not to seen by Jimmy upon the walls. Or any of the other people here for that matter. “Haven’t you a threat lurking in your walls?”

“What threat?” Jimmy sighed with relief as Dexter climbed up on the wall in the next minute, having just come from the first property to look over the crops in front of the third. With Nathan having no interest in his gardens, each person had to check more carefully for mutations and the like. Watering was also the responsibility of every man and woman not already on duty on the walls or caring for the children.

“You know, Chang Min’s former Master,” Thomas responded, unconcerned that this ‘leader’ had appeared before him. “You can’t convince me that he’s not turned and isolated in the third mansion for some delusional belief that he can cure himself!”

The gates suddenly parted to reveal the road leading inside the walls and a number of men standing upon it. Three happened to be the soldiers that the army squad had come to collect, however there was also others.

Including a serene, oriental man whose arm was wrapped around a blushing youth with long, loose sun kissed copper hair.  “This Gongzi… What seems to be the problem here?”