Trash In The Apocalypse 142 Reason Why You're Alive

"Your mission is to extract the mayor and his constintuents— their families and anyone that they want to bring. Do you understand?" said an old balding man facing a small team of soldiers. The old man has fit physique and looked like a sheep, but don't be fooled by his appearance. Behind his calm demeanor, tyranny and dictators.h.i.+p folws through his veins. He ruled his people with an iron-fist that would never give mercy to those who failed.

Bathing on his gaze, some of the young soldiers  couldn't help but gasp. They were standing in front of a retired general that could still give an aura of calm despite being in the storm.

"Rodriguez, you're the squad leader for this operation. You have a week to complete your mission. Move out!" said the old man.

"Yes, sir!"

With that, Rodriguez traveled with his group towards a small town in the province. He knew that something was wrong with the order because the briefing specifically mentioned to not help any civilians along the way. The briefing even contradicted the mission what they were suppsed to do. They were deployed to rescue high-priority targets, but their group went straight to this lake side town. They ignored most of the munic.i.p.alities they pa.s.sed by. And the driver wasn't responding to him. Nor treating him with respect. He couldn't confront the driver since he knew that it was one of the retired general's aide.

It didn't took a lot of time for them to arrive at the town's border. The biggest problem they encountered were weird creatures, but with high calibre rifles, they were able to fight them off.

At this time, the driver finally introduced himself as the true leader of the group. He reported over his satcom radio that they have arrived.

And that's where their mission started.

***

"This is Squad Leader Alpha. I repeat, this is Squad Leader Alpha! Anyone who can me, report your situations! Over."

Captain Rodriguez anxiously waited for a response as he scanned his surroundings.

"Maybe we shouldn't have split up?" said Lieutenant Cedric which gained approval from his co-officers. They trudged along the corners of every storage containers and cautiously moved forward. 

Captain Rodriguez said, "Focus here, lads. I know my men better than you. They can do well on their own and by the time we finish here, they should be waiting for us."

"That's what he said." replied one of the officers standing on the rear. All of a sudden, a hand pulled him to the side and covered his mouth.

His fellow officer didn't notice anything and said confidently, "You know your men, and we know these people — they're good people." After saying his piece, he noticed a graffiti at the side of the container and started appreciating it. The graffiti was a nude woman in a seductive pose.

"What an art!" he exclaimed softly as he gazed from bottom to top. When he reached the upper area, he saw a hooded figure squatting at the roof of the container. He stepped back, but his back hit something. Then, rough hands suddenly covered his mouth.

"I heard you way too many times already," Captain Rodriguez curtly replied as he led the group. Lieutenant Cedric strictly followed behind him and didn't utter any word. "Listen here. I'm not here because I volunteered, nor I'm killing people because I want too. This is a request from a VIP to eliminate future trouble for the government. Since proofs and facts were given, I can't ignore this and I will take action. Either you help us or you'll have to face charges once I report this to the higher ups. You would be investigated and I would stand witness as witness. Do you understand?"

"Yes," replied Lieutenant Cedric dispiritedly.

Captain Rodriguez felt his answer unsatisfying and turned around. "I said do you understand? We're in a martial law right now, so as the — where's your guys?"

"The country's actually in martial law? Does that mean the president is safe?" Lieutenant Cedric felt that if the president was safe, the country could rise up once again! But then he felt puzzled as to why this man would ask about his officers. With a bemused expression on his face, he slowly turned around, "Ofcourse, they're right beside me..."

Lieutenant Cedric became bewildered at the situation. He was now staring at thin air instead of his officers. It suddenly dawned upon him that they're being picked one by one. He pulled his pistol from its holster and scanned the area.

"Why are we going around this area?" said Lieutenant Cedric perturbed about their current situation. On the next storage container was '16+' spray painted onto its walls.

"What do you mean? I'm strategically searching for those people."

"What are you talking about? Just explain it to me."

Captain Rodriguez felt that this officer was acting mysterious, but still explained himself.

"Well, I've been following my instinct and walking around. But no matter how fast I walked, I couldn't find anyone!" Captain Rodriguez poured his dissatisfaction out towards him. When he exhaled and relaxed, he felt something sharp swiped on his throat. 

He scratched it and felt sticky liquid cover his hand. He tried speaking but blood spurts out from the wound. He slowly lost vision, but managed to see the frightened expression of the Lieutenant in front of him. The Captain's body fell forward with blood flowing out of his neck.

Adrian stared at Lieutenant Cedric and calmly shuffled the dagger between his fingers. The two stared at each other before Lieutenant Cedric finally gained the courage to speak. He doesn't know if Adrian was alone, but there's one thing he knew if he fought back— death. There's also a chance that could die simply because the kid decided to, but he clung to the hope that he wouldn't. Based on his interactions and observations, Adrian a loyal and logical person. He would think ahead of everyone while strictly following already set rules.

"Please understand that I'm forced to do this." Lieutenant Cedric explained pleadingly as he took a step back. He noticed that Adrian was staring at his pistol, so he quickly holstered it. Right after, he raised both of his hands and plead innosence.

Adrian stared at him, then knelt down when a blue box appeared over the Captain's body.

Adrian murmurred, "Rations, ammuniitons, guns," he stood up, and said, "It's a jackpot. I guess ranks really are important."

Lieutenat Cedric quickly nodded, but felt that the teenager wasn't talking to him.

At the same time, he heard dragging noises behind him. When he turned around to look, he saw two bodies being dragged by someone. As the figure come nearer, he finally saw a familiar face staring at him. Jun Reyes, the head of the strongest armed forces in town.

"Told you." Jun replied nonchalantly as he effortlessly threw the bodies at Lieutenant Cedric's feet. "The leader always has the good stuffs."

Adrian's eyes showed a slight glint as he softly chuckled, "Hoo~ is that true?"

"Wanna find out? I can open my storage for you." Jun replied teasingly. He doesn't know if he could do that, but he just wanted to tease Adrian since its been days since he tried stealing from him.

Adrian snorted and shook his head. "Forget it. I'll just raise my skill levels and do it on my own! Just you wait."

"Okay, if that's what you want."

All this time, Lieutenant Cedric only listened to them and didn't move. After seeing that the two seemed cool, he knelt down and checked whether his officers were dead or alive.

Just before his hands reached their nose, something sharp poked his back. An electrifying feeling traveled on his body and raised his body hairs.

He closed his eyes and waited for death to come.

But it didn't.

"Who do you work for?" said Jun from behind as he pointed a short sword on Lieutenant Cedric's back.

"I work under you..."

"But you're on their side now?"

"No! I was forced to lead them! Do you know the mayor's son? That brat, Henry? His uncle's someone from the top..."

"Does that mean you know things?"

"I don't understand... What do you mean?"

Jun got closer and whispered to his ears. "Did they tell you things? Their plan, the mastermind and where I can find them, do you know?"

Lieutenant Cedric gulped hard as sweat formed on his back. "I know."

After asnwering Jun's question, he felt the object poking his back disappear. He then heard Jun saying: "That's probably the only reason why you're still alive."

Jun and Adrian heard everything that they were talking about. They were already following the group the moment that they entered the storage containers area. Jun utilized his ability to see names to predict where they were going and evade detection.

At the same time, Lieutenant Cedric noticed his two officers squirming. When he stared at them carefully, he noticed that their chests were heaving up and down.

The reason for Captain Rodriguez circling around the area was because Jun and Adrian were both waiting and tailing them at the same time. Adrian would sometimes climb the roof and use his lightfootedness and stealth while Jun stayed on the ground. The two communicated through the wireless earphones and only talked when other people were talking.

Jun suddenly said, "They're good people, and that's why they're still alive."