Trash in the Apocalypse

It was early in the morning and the sun hasn't risen up from the east.

Jun stood at the entrance of a convenience store, sipping his coffee from a paper cup. The surrounding area was calm and for the first time, he saw silhouettes of birds peacefully flying together, not trying to get a piece of him.

On the road ahead of him, a huge number of sword-bearing soldiers remained standing in formation. They wore identical uniforms and had the Black Haven insignia on their left chest. Beside the insignia, a small black patch with an iron sword, striking through the written words, First, was attached. It is the new patch for the First Army handcrafted by an experienced tailor, and her daughters.

Actually, Jun personally saved the tailor during the first month of the apocalypse. She was the mother with two children, luckily surviving the initial apocalypse. She stayed with Alday Ruan in the Frontier after falling out with the National Police.

At first, no one really needed her services, but after the rat hides were harvested and used for making leather armor, her expertise became essential, and was promoted to the Frontier's valued members.

Although working for the Frontier, she still had the freedom to take commissions from other people. In the first place, the Frontier was built to help people become stronger and stand on their own. Keeping her by their side just meant that they could her safe from getting bullied and have priority over other factions in town.

On the back of the First Army were the mercenaries and volunteers who came to join the Province Sweep Project. The project would start from Taytay heading down to Angono, Binangonan, Cardona, then Morong. After arriving at Morong, the First Army would split in half and head in different directions.

The first half would go north and clear the towns and barrios there, while the other would continue heading east to Baras and Tanay. 

The project is expected to last two to three days depending on the clearing speed of the survivors.

After seeing the rays of light slowly rising up, Jun finished his coffee and crumpled the paper cup, and threw it at a toppled trash bin.

With an energy-infused voice, he shouted, "The time has come! The Province Sweep Project is now operational. Stick with your designated groups and follow the commands given to you properly. Team Leaders are expected to lead their members safely during this whole sweep."

"Alright, that's all. Let's fucking go!"

Jun raised his Warhammer and pointed to the front.

"Wahh!"

"Let's go!"

The First Army shouted as they jogged towards their destinations. They marched forward and the people behind followed. Small groups of five or more people would split from the group and enter houses. Buildings with more floors would have two or three groups enter to clear them. 

From the above view, the national road served as the connecting point and the streets and alleyways were branches. The survivors were like ants splitting at every section to cover every place possible. 

Along with their sweeping operation, they met hidden survivors and their safehouse. They ignored such discoveries and continued the operation. To be safe, several people had to stand guard and make sure that these random survivors wouldn't affect the clearing. The First Army personnel would explain about the sweep to ease the survivor's vigilance toward them.

This only happened in Taytay since Black Haven wasn't rooted in the area. The survivors here were still reluctant to trust other survivors due to their experience in other towns. 

When the army felt confident, they even dared to clear buildings with a buddy system to hasten the progress. Having two people clear houses was risky yet effective. Buildings need more people but it doesn't matter. 

During the early morning, the biggest threat to the clearing groups was blackened regular carriers. With their current skills and stats, plus their equipment, they easily killed these threats.

If everything went as expected, they could speedrun three or four towns in one day since they were basically killing the leftover scraps. They didn't even hide their presence and openly created noise during the operation.

The mercenaries and volunteers knew that Black Haven was the great power in town, but after comparing the skills and equipment they have with one of the soldiers, they felt envious and even doubted themselves. 

Black Haven soldiers were fearless and would tackle any kind of situation. Every one of them knew and trust each other.

One of the civilians asked a First Army soldier. "You might die if you keep running ahead like that. Aren't you afraid of getting surrounded?"

The soldier's answer shocked the outsiders that followed his lead.

"Why would I ever get surrounded? I have my buddy with me."

"Eyy~ you're making me blush." the soldier's partner brofisted his shoulder, then turned to the outsiders with a stern face. "No homo."

"Hahaha! Why do you have to explain every time? Come on, we need to speed up a bit. If we're the last group to return at the meetup point, I'll tie you upside down on the mutated anthill."

"Why are you bullying me again! I haven't don't anything yet!"

As the two soldiers entered the building, the outsiders realized that the First Army soldiers only dared to charge ahead because they knew there would be others who would defend their backs. The bond between each soldier was developed through real life and death situations.

Some of the outsiders who first believed that joining Black Haven's army was a bad option were now second-guessing about their future careers. Going around solo was fine, but even with a trusted crew, one could still meet the end with just one unlucky encounter. 

The prospect of getting trained while owning better gear started to appear in everyone's head. The Province Sweep Project has not even ended, yet some people were already thinking of enlisting for the army.

People had different goals in life, but everyone had something in common.

They always want the best for themselves.