Chapter 72 - Seventy One - Decisions Of The Few

The situation was pretty much as Rouse thought; of the twelve senior officers currently in charge of the base, three wanted to completely deny the request, one wanted to generously fill the request and five thought it would be good to negotiate.  The other three were watching to see in which way the winds went.  Actually, not all of the 'officers' were previously officers of the original army members based here.  Of the original senior officers there had been deaths; becoming zombies in the first wave, dying as the base was secured or during missions to secure food and supplies in those chaotic first couple of months.  One had taken his gun and ended his own life, unable to cope any longer after losing his wife and his son.

Rouse was one of the few remaining originals, but commanding an army at the end of the world was not the same as doing so in times of peace.  Even fighting skirmishes in war-torn countries could not be considered a comparison.  The enemy was a mob of mindless humanoid monsters, which were not easily killed, could not be captured alive and were driven by unending hunger to eat them.  And if that was not enough, they had to face greed and dissatisfaction of those who should be striving along side them in these dark times. 

The base looked peaceful and the people seemed to be working together in order to better their lives, but human nature is to want what cannot be had.  The fact that they had to have constant patrols around the greenhouses and storage warehouses proved that.

"As tempting as the pork sounds," Victor, a former councillor of the nearest town said aloud, "a standard pig leg can not feed many.  It would be an unfair trade to take and give a live chicken, who can produce many more eggs through its lifetime, so feed that many more people for it."

"Send them packing!" Hughes grunted.  Hughes was unfortunately also one of the original top senior officers here, a stubborn old man who was set in his ways.  Unsurprisingly, perhaps, that Randall was one of his men.

Randall was now considered an officer, but he did not have the seniority or authority to attend this meeting, for which Rouse was thankful for.  Dealing with Hughes was difficult enough.  "From what I understand," he informed them, "the pig that the meat came from had mutated."  He allowed this information to sink in; they already knew that animals that had not become zombies at the end could mutate, even gain abilities. 

One of their survivors, a middle-aged woman who had driven to the base in her own camper van, arrived with her numerous pet cats.  They only allowed her entry with them when she assured them that she would be responsible for feeding the animals and not rely on the base.  From then on, she had generally kept to herself and did as she promised, no one could say a word against her.  And then the flocks of zombified seagulls descended on them.  It had been complete chaos with screaming, terrified civilians hindering soldiers trying to protect them, while they tried to deal with the winged monsters as well as send the people to shelter.  Chang Min had been in base at that time, but earth abilities were always going to be weaker against flying beasts and he'd had to be careful not to hurt the men and women he was trying to save.  He could only try pelt the zombies with raining rocks in areas less populated and prone to damage.

One person had been caught, Rouse remembered with vivid detail; the man had tripped, not looking where he was going as he tried to shelter his head from the threat from above.  The moment he fell, a large group of the gulls had descended and began picking his flesh from his body while he was still alive!  His screams had been awful and as his living flesh began to show signs zombification, having been infected by the gulls, Rouse had made the brutal decision to shoot him and end his suffering, before turning attentions of the gulls.  But of course, that caused the gulls to turn their attention to him.

Then out of apparently nowhere, two tabbies and a black and white cat had appeared close to him.  The two tabbies had even glanced at him as if to question what he would do now, one had even began licking its paws, completely unperturbed by everything that was going on about it.  The black and white had pawed the air before it and a strange anomaly occurred; the gulls that had spread their wings to leap back into the air, suddenly seemed to have lost the ability of flight.

It could be said that in hindsight, it was really out of scientific reason that a bird with wings in a state of rot and disrepair could still fly, but what about the whole zombie apocalypse could be said to be in the realms of known science anyway?  Yet when he had seen a small, black and white feline stretch out a paw and display abilities, he couldn't at all fathom what he was seeing!  At that point the two tabbies had leapt forward towards the grounded gulls and their bodies  had dissolved into lengths of such brilliant white, which almost blinded him.  The air had been filled with crackling sounds and sharp mini-explosions.  When he had glanced back, the two tabbies were once more licking their paws and ignoring everything else and a pile of singed and burnt gulls lay unmoving on the ground.

Elsewhere, it was rumoured that a huge, wild cat like beast had roared and swatted down gulls as it leapt in between caravans and trucks.  Some said it must have been a tiger or lion escaped from the zoo.  But after the fight, the animal seemed to disappear completely, so no one could be sure.  However, Rouse requested the squads that answered to him gather tins of pet food... just in case.

"The outsiders claim that the animal was roughly the size of an elephant," Rouse continued, "but with a larger head and with tusks like a wild boar.  The meat itself is a bit tougher, but still has the flavour of a pig.  They ate a portion of the meat the day before yesterday and had no adverse reactions to it.  They sent over a generous portion of it, not just one leg and also their chefs sent a couple of large jars of pork stock that they had rendered from the bones as a soup base, so more people can get access to the flavour and some nutrients."  Even the hardest of hearts had to acknowledge the thoughtfulness behind this offering.

"The day before yesterday?" One queried.  Would it be any good to eat now?

"They claim to have it on ice," Rouse advised them.  He didn't doubt this considering it could be proven or disproven the moment the containers were opened.  What had surprised him the most and doubtless surprised the fellows before him, was that they had the ability to produce ice.  This in itself would interest them.

"Well, it's not like I'm unwilling to trade some eggs with them," Hughes mentioned, a little testily and somewhat beneath his breath.

One of the other former civilians, an entrepreneur's shrewd, young daughter named Justine, who had handed over the keys to her deceased father's business the day she had arrived, said suddenly; "This Chang Min, I recall he is quite powerful," she smiled as she pointed out this fact.  The woman could be said to be a representative of all women on the base, but in actual fact she was very intelligent. 

Her father had run a business selling and developing solar panel technology, specifically small, portable packs for laptops and mobile phones.  Although small technologies were definitely not a priority in the scheme of things, she had convinced them to carry out the raid on her warehouses for the items as the need for entertainment could not be considered lightly.  If people were bored or struggling dealing with this more mundane life or suffering with the constant fear knowing what the world outside the base was like, people would try resolve their issues through other means.  Fighting amongst themselves was the least of their problems.  Without anything to distract them, they might have ideas, ways that they thought would make their own personal lots better and such would ultimately be troublesome and counterproductive.  Ideas were all well and good, but right now, they could wait.

"Yes, Chang Min's power is many times stronger than Soldier Lutz."  The mentioned youth had similar abilities to the oriental man, but the former could just push a small rock with his mind to roll a bit or cause bumps to rise in the ground.  Mostly, his ability had been used to look for cracks in the earth walls surrounding them.

"Lutz told me that Chang Min once tried to help him improve his ability," she said in an almost casual tone, "but the methods... well, Lutz did suggest that Chang Min must have read too many comics from his own country."

"What are you getting at?" Hughes demanded, grouchily.

"Isn't it obvious?" She sighed, her posture and expression becoming serious.  "Let's review the facts, shall we?  Chang Min's abilities are ridiculous when compared to other ability users.  Just why is he so strong, yet all others barely seem to differ?  And then he left us to rejoin someone he called 'Master.'  At first this sounds a servile relationship, but if one considers the culture of other countries, it can also be a term of respect between a teacher and apprentice, suggesting that Chang Min was taught.  What he was taught by that person is speculation, I admit.  However, what if he is so strong because he had someone to teach him?"

"That would suggest," Victor pointed out the flaw in her argument, "that Chang Min had his abilities before the end.  He only arrived here in the second month.  I was one of the survivors that he helped."  He did not speak about the others with them at that time, he held those people in contempt.  "He briefly mentioned that he was seeking his Master, hoped that he would be on base, and that he hadn't seen him for a long time."

"Even so," another officer sighed.  "Chang Min did offer to teach a few soldiers with abilities to help them improve their powers and they all turned him down thinking that the methods sounded ridiculous.  At the time we were considering using zombie cores..." No one wanted to mention how that experiment had turned out, it was a dark page in their brief history.  "Then Chang Min left, so it was forgotten."

"Look, I am not suggesting Chang Min is going to be able to teach our ability users," Justine clarified.  "However the zombies are getting stronger and in comparison we are not.  Seeing as he has returned, shouldn't we take this opportunity to see?  They want our valuable hens, you all believe that what they offer is not enough to exchange for them.  Negotiation is always an option."

Finally, the officer-Council came to an agreement.