"Sir, we are looking for shelter." It was Nyra who answered before anyone else could respond. Her voice had a hint of fright and desperation.
The soldier didn't seem to find the reason weird. He nodded, and told them, "You all can follow us. The military barracks offer shelter."
He rolled the window closed after saying that. Their military vehicle began to move again, and Cassias drove to follow them.
"The person who can help to find Laziel. Is he in the military?" He asked Nyra. The military vehicles occasionally stopped to inform people or plaster some banners in conspicuous places.
As soon as the anomaly of zombies started to appear, the country was quick to respond, sending the military to rescue and broadcast messages. Just by a quick glance, Zerra determined that the location that would turn into a survivor base in the future was still the same.
Nyra pursed her lips and shook her head at Cassias' question. "He is not, but his family is related to the military somehow. Most likely, he will be there."
Zerra listened quietly to the side. If Darren had some influence in this city, then Cassias' influence in the capital was even more massive.
It took quite some time before the military headed back to the barracks. The place wasn't far from the hospital, making the survivor base in this city one of the biggest bases in the future.
Some people were unwilling to follow the military and chose to remain in their home. The remaining people quickly joined them, picking any abandoned cars on the road.
The situation at the barracks was unsurprisingly crowded.
"Please register yourself." A female military soldier announced to the newcomers, guiding them toward the registration zone.
Nyra craned her neck to look around and after a while, she still couldn't find Darren's figure among the crowd. However, it also made sense because most likely he will have a better place somewhere considering his status.
When it was their turn, the night had started. The soldier assigned to take over the registration had also changed.
"Four people?" She asked them with a scrutinizing gaze.
"Yes." Cassias nodded, neither overly polite nor subservient. The female soldier had a flash of awe in her face when she saw him, but years as a soldier made her quickly regain her calmness again.
Indeed, unlike others, Cassias appeared more steady, which also brought a sense of peace to people led by him. There was no look of desperation and agony, or lost look that others had.
She asked them lists like names, age, gender, and lastly, whether they had awakened any power.
When the infection started, it was only their city and some areas nearby that had storms going on for a few days non-stop. In other places, the weather was mostly sunny. It was creating more chaos; people were in the middle of doing their activities when zombies started biting them out of nowhere.
Nevertheless, it didn't mean that other places were free of natural disasters. Zombies didn't hit them, but tsunami, flood, volcano eruptions, and earthquake did.
Panic enveloped everyone, not understanding what was happening. All means of communications were cut off, and they had no way to obtain information, invoking despair.
"Do any of you have awakened abilities?" She gazed at Cassias with a look of certainty and then she wept her gaze to three people around him.
As per Nyra's cue, Cassias once took the lead to mention her ability, surprising the female soldier and the crowd. The other survivors just recently found out about the existence of people with superpowers from the mouth of the female soldier.
Those people were rare. Currently, the possibility of a person with awakened ability was one in a hundred. Now, there were two in one go. It made them scrutinize their group from head to toe, their gazes filled with envy, curiosity, and some even contained hidden hostility.
Zerra thought that they might have appeared too high profile by showing off their ability like that, but soon she understood the reason. They wanted to catch Darren's attention with the news.
Well, forgive her slow brain.
"Don't reveal your ability," Cassias whispered in her ear before he pulled her away. She realized that she had been dozing off. The female soldiers had given them better accommodation compared to ordinary people. They had their own room.
Zerra pretended to not understand him. With her lips pursed, she complained, "Why? You tell Nyra's ability, but not mine?"
He was quite patient to explain to her. "They might want to make use of your ability, kidnap you, and let you work without rest like a slave."
Her lips twitched. Wasn't he exaggerating? She wasn't a three-year-old!
Even so, she understood one implication. She, currently a weak chicken, would be like a bone thrown in a group of hungry dogs if anyone found out about her space ability.
Some people, after they contracted a fever, only felt a strange change and didn't know that they had gained superpowers. Those people needed stimulation to awaken their ability.
If they found out that she knew about her ability before she was in this survivor base camp, and a space ability at that, they would suspect she had supplies stored in her space. The effect would be detrimental if some hungry and desperate people targeted her.
She and Nyra needed to share a room with each other. It was the same for Cassias and Daniel. There were small bunker beds on top of each other. The one below was bigger and Nyra instantly claimed that one.
"Don't go anywhere." She warned before heading toward the door. Zerra guessed that she was in a hurry to find Darren.
As Zerra passed by the door, she found that Daniel had stopped Nyra. He asked her a question. "How can you kill zombies so easily? Is it because of your fire ability?"
Nyra's lips pulled up in irritation. "I happened to receive formal combat training when I was young."
Cassias wasn't far away from them. Zerra guessed that if not for him being near them, Nyra wouldn't have answered the question at all. The answer was for Cassias to hear it.
With Nyra gone, Zerra closed the door and jumped to her bed. She turned to her fox form and started to gather the spiritual energy around her.
This place had pitifully thin spiritual energy, even worse than the most barren corner of the celestial realm. Still, it was better than nothing. Now that she had somehow managed to shift into her fox form, she was going to try to cultivate and find clues to the way back to her world.
She might have been so engrossed in her cultivation that she didn't realize it when the door creaked open, revealing Nyra's figure. Her small furry figure fell to the floor, right in the open, where Nyra could see her.
"What is it?" Nyra walked toward her with narrowed eyes.