Trash in the Apocalypse

Paul stared at the blood on King's hand and didn't lower his rifle. 

Noticing his gaze, King explained himself. 

"There was something annoying in the next room, so I had to deal with it. That said, I hope this blood doesn't stick. I just ordered these guys and this is their first battle."

King ignored the guns pointed at him and shouted towards the street filled with people.

"I need a butcher here. Although it's only a Rank 1 Destroyer, we can still use most of its remains."

Rodriguez Duforte frowned.

"Do you eat them?"

King turned dumbfounded. 

"In case you want to die or mutate, I suggest not eating them. You can use them as pet food, but too much corruption would make mutated pets insane. Wait, should I be telling you these? Demn this mouth."

Rodriguez Duforte replied. "Thank you for the advice then."

Hearing the two people conversing peacefully, Paul decided to abruptly interrupt them.

It seems like Jerry was getting jittery with how close the unverified man was acting to the president. The way he clutched the pistol on his side could prove detrimental to their safety.

Still, he couldn't blame him. He was just doing his job.

A random middle-aged man entered the store and went towards the back room, followed by continuous chopping sounds. 

Paul probed for more information.

"Do you live around this area? Have you seen any soldiers around?"

Black Haven was rooted in a distant town. Although their presence has appeared on the military outpost, there were only small groups that passed by.

It should be impossible for them to grow this much in a short time.

"We are the reinforcement. Sir Corwin commissioned us to escort you back safely to the Tikling Outpost."

Most of the soldiers doubted his words, unfortunately, King's next actions were solid and irrefutable.

"This is Sir Corwin's seal. He also said that you wouldn't probably believe it, so he gave us his dogtag. If you're still not convinced, then I have no other options. We can just travel to Point A, so we could get radio signal and contact the outpost."

On King's hand were a seal stamp and an army dogtag with Corwin's details engraved on it. Paul scrutinized every information listed and found them accurate according to his memory.

"It's real. This should be Corwin's dogtag."

"Great. Now that that's out of the way, please follow us and we'll guide you to safety."

Their conversation ended at the same time the butcher harvesting the Destroyer finished his job. The man went back to his group and remained in formation.

The First Army was also finished looting the carriers they killed and just finished looting the nearby buildings. Working in small groups makes things faster and easier.

By the time the small meeting in the convenience store was over, the First Army was ready to set off.

"Lead the way."

As the person in charge of the operation, Paul accepted and had to take responsibility. He stretched his arms and showed King the way out as if saying, 'you first'.

While they were walking, Jerry stood beside King and softly said, "You need to wash them quickly."

King got startled but managed to work up a reply. "Pardon?"

"The bloodstains. You need to wash them quickly if you want to remove them easily. If they dry up, you'll have a hard time cleaning them off."

"Oh, thank you."

King didn't ask why Jerry was telling him that nor why the man knows about it. In the end, they were strangers to each other and would probably never meet again.

When they got out of the front door of the convenience store, Paul started calling for his brothers on the rooftop but no one answered.

A bad feeling dawned upon him. After making his way through the staircase inside the second floor, he found nobody on the rooftop. He called out a few times, but there was no reply.

Amidst his search, he found a series of bloodstains near the edge where the emergency ladder was supposed to be.

When he finally peeked over the edge, he saw the disconnected ladder laying on the back alley. A few meters away were bodies missing tons of flesh.

He then made his way back down, back to the alley. Upon seeing the missing facial flesh, the meaty arms, and legs, the missing stomach, he instantly knew he couldn't bring the dead bodies back. It was like a scarecrow with bones sticking out instead of sticks.

He crouched beside the bodies and took their dogtags for identification. 

—

—

The First Army moved with their VIP's at the core of the formation. The president remained silent the whole time and only watched the surroundings.

Paul stood beside King and stared some idle chat.

"So, what's this Director-thingy. Are you like, you know, high up in the rankings?"

Like an honest young man he is, who was eager to show how righteous he wanted to be, King unhesitatingly answered the question. "It's like our own military ranks. I'm a Director who leads the company and I have other responsibilities other than that."

After saying this much, King suddenly remembered that he shouldn't be saying too much information about them. He tried to remain quiet, but it's not sure until when will his lips remained shut.

Even though he noticed that King doesn't want to talk to him anymore, Paul continued asking to pass time.

"You operate as a company? You're a Director, so there's still someone above you? He must be strong, right?"

Like a child tricked of candy, King proudly answered.

"Of course! As long as he leads us, everyone would be safe."

"That strong? You must rely on him a lot then. Does this person have a name?"

Feeling that nothing was wrong about sharing the leader's name, King replied eagerly. "He's the one and only CEO of Black Haven Army, Boss Jun!"

"Boss Jun?"

Paul became skeptical upon hearing the name. His thoughts become muddled as bits of information entered his head.