Chapter 77: A city on fire (4)

After a while, another group showed up. Luke recognized Billy's family thanks to the album he saw earlier. Billy's parents were already in their sixties. However, his father still looked in shape, and despite the situation, everyone had to endure in the last week, he still looked pretty much fine. Luke heard that he worked in a police department after he retired from fieldwork. Nevertheless, all his hair had gone white, but Luke still could feel quite the energy in his brown eyes.

Billy's mother looked a bit more tired than his father, but she still was mentally strong enough to walk around while carrying a crossbow. She was ready to fight at any moment. While she was supposed to be around the same age as her husband, her hair still was black, and they were pretty long.

The last one was Chloe, she looked fairly young for her age, but she still looked pretty buffed for a girl. It was probably thanks to kickboxing. Nevertheless, she had shoulder-length black hair and light brown eyes. Just as he had expected, she was armed with bracers. In any case, she was very hot, but her behavior seemed like a huge minus for Luke.

"Who is this kid?" Chloe asked. "I heard something about Billy, but…" 

"He is busy with his work, despite the situation, some bases still are working," Luke said while ignoring the fact that he was being looked down on. "In exchange of a favor, I am to take you three to where he is."

"So he is fine… that is good," Royce said after a long sigh.

"I feel like a heavy burden just left my shoulders…" Abby said. "Come to think of it, Billy mentioned a few times the son of a friend of his, that he liked to play now and then. Are you the one? I thought you were ten or something."

"My father is also in the army… and yeah, your son came to visit us a few times," Luke replied. "Nevertheless, we don't have time to waste, I will bring you three to where he is."

Everyone nearby looked at each other, wondering how Luke was planning to do that. Now that they stopped to think about it, they couldn't imagine someone like Luke being a survivor or a fighter. He looked like a slacker through and through.

"You came from Miami…" Chloe said as she approached and then noticed Rina and Shalia. "... How did you cross the southern side of the city?" 

"... I used an unconventional method, but since you guys can't do the same, I will have to ask you to fight alongside me and open the path," Luke replied.

Once again, the group looked at each other. They couldn't imagine themselves escaping the city now that thousands of red fangs were around. They also tried to open a path a few days ago, but they failed. What were the chances of them succeeding now that all the zombies had mutated? Despite that, the group decided to follow Luke and see what he could do. He had two powerful-looking swords, and there was only one way to obtain those…

The first time they thought that Luke was someone who Billy had sent was when he jumped over to the barricade. It was ten meters tall. After all, most people had to climb it normally.

"... I guess everyone can do at least this much once their strength becomes high enough," Chloe said.

The second surprise happened soon after… The group saw Arcanine approaching Luke like it was Absolute normal. They frowned even more, when he patted it.

"What is that thing?" Chloe asked. "It safe to jump?"

"Yes, I tamed it…" Luke said. "His name is Arcanine, and you can rest assured that he won't do anything to you."

"Are you sure about this, Chloe?" Julius asked while whispering. "That kid seems weird… there is no way someone came from Miami after travelling for just two days…"

"Yeah, it is weird, but we need to check it," Chloe said. "I never met him, but my mother heard of him and he knew the address of our home, so he found the message left to my brother. Stay here for a while and I will return to tell you if his plan is actually viable."

Once she said that Chloe jumped from the barricade as well. She had no idea that Luke had heard everything, so he had a hard time holding his sigh. He wanted to return to Miami as soon as possible. Still, it seemed that Chloe and her parents wanted to make their hometown a bit safer before they decided to leave.

"Do you know where we can find the crystal?" Luke asked.

"The crystal that summons the monsters?" Chloe asked. "Yes, but…"

"To avoid unpleasant surprises, we will destroy it, we can't afford to be attacked from behind while we being to fight against the horde," Luke explained.

Chloe couldn't agree more with that, but the area around the area the crystal was as dangerous as the exits that had been completely overtaken by the hordes… Nevertheless, Luke's words made her realize one of the things that had been bothering the group. Crystals could be destroyed, and by doing, the number of monsters would stop growing for a while… it seemed that Luke had confirmed that somehow. Still, what she heard after made her feel more than a little bothered.

"While it is just a temporary solution since the Crystal's might appear somewhere else, it is better than nothing," Luke said.

"You are well informed, son," Royce said. "Did those two teach you all that? Are you sure you should pay attention to the words of monsters?"

"Who are you calling a monster, gramps?" Shalia asked. "I think you aren't young and naive enough to judge others by their appearances."

Things would have been a lot better if Shalia had stayed silent, but that was only the start of the problem...