Chapter 108: New pet (2)

After they talked with Frank, Mark and Julia came out of the tent while showing complicated expressions. It wasn't hard to imagine that he probably gave them some orders in order to establish himself as the absolute leader of the camp.

"Why the long faces?" Luke asked. "It is nothing like there are many things worse than an zombie apocalypse."

"We just heard that Frank managed to establish contact with some survivor camps across the country, and the number of crystals is astonishing," Mark replied. "We also received the orders to help Billy on the frontlines and destroy those."

"Are you fine receiving orders from someone who is on the same rank as you?" Luke asked.

"I think Frank is better suited for that…" Mark replied while rubbing his chin. "While I can't say that confidently since I had to be rescued by my own son, I feel like I will be able to do more on the frontlines as well."

Luke wondered if his father was ignoring the fact that Frank was probably waiting for him to die in one of those missions… still, he couldn't bring that up in front of his mother.

"What are you going to do, Luke?" Mark asked. "I am fully aware that you aren't the type that will follow the orders of those you don't like. I am planning to help those survivors recover their cities until our country is free of monsters."

Luke didn't want to do anything so heroic, but the best method for him to get stronger is by going after the crystals, but this time, he will go alone and leave Arcnine with them. He is a wild beast, so he will sense any danger around them.

"I will give you a hand… if you are going to use the airplane, you can drop me in one of the places that have crystals and flying monsters," Luke said.

"You should talk with Amanda and Celia before deciding that," Mark said.

"Why? I am going alone," Luke said.

"Why do you ask… I am sure you want to impress her," Mark said. "You are the type who always tried to look cool in front of girls."

"Except that trying to look cool now would get me killed," Luke said. "Besides, I am not interested in her anymore. My pride won't allow me to go for the girl who already rejected me once."

"Don't give up, Luke," Julia said. "You have better chances now!"

"Listen to what I am saying…" Luke said and then sighed.

It took a while, but eventually, the conversation went back on track. Mark explained to Luke that his plans of acting alone had already been accounted for, and Frank was planning to make everyone do the same in order to gain time. However, unlike Luke, who had the help of Rina and Shalia, the others would have to work in groups of five to avoid the worst-case scenario, and they would depart after lunch.

"I am not sure if we can make your friend here jump from an airplane while using parachutes… so I will ask Frank to let us deal with the nearest crystals in the state," Mark said.

"You probably can save time by riding on him… but it will be uncomfortable at first," Luke said.

Luke never had the chance to do that, but he had planned. Since he could run faster than Arcnine, it was essentially useless, but it would help them save some stamina. Regardless, the idea of helping Frank wasn't something that Luke liked, but in order to save time and help his home country, he had to ignore that massive demerit.

After lunch, the group reunited on the airplane again, but Amanda and Celia stayed behind this time. Alongside Luke's parents, they were planning to explore the state, searching for the crystals and level up relatively safe with their parents. Luke could respect that level of independence since they didn't want to use the easy experience they get when Luke is around. However, they still looked too calm after hearing about what happened in Berlin… that being said, Luke felt a bit better knowing that his parents would have an extra backup.

"Until now, we know the locations of fourteen crystals… we will attack half of them," Billy explained. "They were all located on the east side of the country, and since we can't stop at all airports, we will have to return by ourselves by using any means necessary. You are free to use all kinds of vehicles if you can, and if you find survivors, you should bring them back with you."

It would be a pain to do that. While Luke could recognize the importance of that submission, given that so many humans turned into zombies, it would be hard to do so. He will try, but Luke also made up his mind to leave anyone behind who fails to obey his orders.

"You said that you wanted to fight some flying enemies, right Luke?" Billy asked. "We confirmed that there is one type in Atlanta. It is one of the furthest away locations, so you will spend a few days returning. Are you fine with that?" 

"Yeah," Luke replied.

Hopefully, the monsters would be big enough to carry him and his things while it flies. Still, considering that even the coward crows were that big, the chances were in Luke's favor. Luke realized that many of the soldiers looked relieved when he got to that area. It was clear that they didn't have confidence in fighting flying enemies… in any case, Atlanta was 900 kilometers or 600 miles away from the base, so Luke would have a lot of ground to cover, and he was bound to find thousands of monsters on his path… that was exactly what he wanted to become even stronger. With that in mind, Luke entered the airplane and began to meditate. He didn't know what kind of problems would happen, so he should hurry up and obtain his next trump card.