Chapter 58: Change of plans (2)

Luke alerted the others that they would have to cross the river and fight whatever was there once the choppers appeared, but there was no sign of them even when the night completely fell.

"What time Billy said that the attack would start?" Luke asked.

"Around 17: 30," Amanda replied.

"Did they change their minds or something happened to them?" Celia asked. "I can't see any other explanation to this."

Luke looked in the direction where the chopper came from, but he didn't find any signs of smoke or anything like it. If monsters attacked the place, they sure did it without causing a ruckus. Still, the only way for that to happen would be by a crystal appearing in the middle of the base, and the soldiers didn't have any chance to fight back. Considering that the radio transmitter didn't pick up any call, Luke couldn't tell what really happened.

"Whatever happened, it doesn't change what we have to do," Luke said. "We need to keep fighting and open a path and…"

Luke stopped when the radio transmitter suddenly began to work, and he decided to pick up the call. The enemies behind them weren't that numerous so, Amanda and Celia could deal with them. At the same time, Stanley moved away from the horde. 

"Luke are you still there?" Billy asked.

"Yeah, I am here," Luke replied. "Did something happen? We are almost leaving leaving Miami, but a horde of dozens of thousands of zombies are blocking our way. At this pace, it will take anothe full day before we can open the path."

"Dozens of thousands, you think you can make a path? That is insane…" Billy said. "Anyway, the base was attacked by monsters that came from a crystal and the plan was delayed, but the it will happen tonight. The crystal was destroyed and after the rewards that we got, the colonel is even eager to give the order for the attack."

"Are you sure, it won't be as nearly as eficient attacking them at night," Luke said.

"We already mapped the areas were the zombies are aglomered and we have been keeping an watching on those areas, with that in mind, the colonel has no reason to delay the attacks any further," Billy explained. "You will have to take shelter somewhere and wait for a while. If you are in the eas side of miami, you can try to escape once our choppers return to the base to refuel and obtain more ammo. We will do many runs like that during the night."

Luke pondered about that… it was a waste, but it was better than staying in an open field and risking being hit. Waiting in the hospital they passed earlier might not be a bad idea… after all, once the choppers kill the zombies, they will decrease their numbers and leave tons of loot behind. Luke and the others could use those to gain the extra boost in power that they needed.

"What about the plan to go to Italy?" Luke asked.

"I am still trying to find someone who can take us there, but when I mentioned that possibility to your father, he dismissed the idea," Billy replied. "It is too dangerous and we don't know what we might find along the way."

"... Any new updates on his end?" Luke asked after a few moments of silence.

"It seems the people there are prepating an operation to rescue the people that are locked because of the circlement of the zombies, but things there aren't much better than him," Billy explained. "The people calling the shots don't want to give more time for the zombies to mutate even more or level up… much like the ones here, they want to destroy everything since they thing they can rebuild with the super human abilities that some people obtained."

Luke could imagine that, with the right skills and attributes, a single human being probable could do the same work as many heavy machines, and considering that the soldiers will soon level up like crazy, they will have the status. The skills can be obtained by fighting the monsters that appear due to the crystals.

"Luke… you can't come to the base, I still didn't solve the problem of the pilot that we need and the one you had to kill," Billy said after a long sigh. "For the time being, you are out of the colonel's radar, but it won't be hard to identify you once some of us see you. You will have to move somewhere else while I deal with things here."

"I can't do that," Luke said.

"I swear to you, I will find the plane that will take us to Italy… until then, I need to confirm that my folks are all right, can you look for them for me?" Billy asked. "I can't contact any of them and this is starting to drive me mad. I can't count on anyone else, Luke."

Luke sighed… he didn't have time to worry about others. Still, what were his chances of stealing a plane and kidnapping someone that could drive it? Stanley could only be a copilot at best, after all. In the end, even though some points of Billy's story seemed weird, Luke could only count on him to leave the country and talk with his parents. Without doing something for him, why would he do anything for him?

"... Where do they live?" Luke asked after a long sigh.

"Orlando," Billy replied.

Luke facepalmed… it seemed that he had expected too much from Billy. He wanted him to cross the entire state to find people he had never seen before and that were most likely dead. That was beyond madness… it was stupidity. At that point in time, Luke began to seriously ponder about fighting zombies until he finds the skill book Fly. He had never much faith on himself, and even less on the others, so perhaps that was truly the best path...