Taking care of the corpses in the immediate vicinity took close to an hour—including burning them—though we did find a few more either partially intact or just looking like a slime that wore clothes. It really gave the term, "it was falling off its bone" its literal and much chilling side, but not all of them were exactly in that state.
Anyhow, if we didn't have more places to go later, I would've brought a pressure washer to clean up the smudgy bits.
With that said, Myke and Joe had already started to dismantle the purifying machine while Jose and I kept a lookout with our guns. On a side note, the two of us were the only ones carrying high-powered rifles while the others were using handhelds as a primary and a simple sidearm for emergencies, including Isaac.
He actually had a double-stack 1911—the one on the cheaper side—but he didn't have a proper holster for it or extra magazines if he ever ran out. Heck, I doubt that it was even full, and if by some chance—a high chance that he knows jack shit about guns, his left asscheek will have an emergency if he ever needed to draw his gun for emergencies.
I was just about to bring up that topic when Myke called out from behind, "Hey! We have a problem."
"Hmm?"
He slowly approached me while wiping his hands with a dirty towel, "When we're moving one of the storage tanks, the one that receives water from the tap is leaking. It has this small hole or something and not only that, one of those identical filter thingies has cracks on them. Do we still take them or do we just move on to the other places?"
"We take everything. We might be able to repair it ourselves when we get back. And besides, we haven't even tested the ones we have here and if they can't be repaired, we'll just make use of the other working parts as donors. You know, mix and match to see what works."
He nodded, "Alright, can I ask one more thing though?"
"Sure."
He gave me a long stare before he sighed, "Why are we the only ones doing the hard work? You helped us once but that's it."
As soon as he said that, Isaac and Jose threw him a glance—Coleen included but not Joe—and it made the atmosphere a little tense and awkward. However, I just kept my cool and gave him a small jab—a factual jab with my words.
I kept a straight face, "Isn't that obvious though?"
Myke instantly walked up to me and loomed over, "Haah?! Did you just—"
I stood my ground, "Don't misunderstand, I'm making you do all the work because you're gonna be the one doing it—and teaching the others when we're gone. We're not gonna stay here forever and be in charge of your drinking water."
Myke shook his head with a scowl, "You— Why didn't you say that from the start? Asshole."
"Asshole? Uh-huh... Listen here, Myke with a 'Y', I dunno what I did wrong for you to be so hostile against me but if you want help, just ask. And if you have something to say to me, say it straight-up, don't beat around the fucking bush. And yeah, if you're gonna give me some lip, expect to take a few."
"I was just—"
"I'm not done talking. Shut up. I know you are frustrated about your PEDs running out and if you want to take it out on someone, I'm also up for that."
Myke's eyes suddenly lit up, "Hmm!"
I added, "You see, it's far down the priority line but your gym is mixing a fucking octagon. Who cares if you have big fucking muscles but you got nowhere to let off some steam? I can easily drop anyone in my weight class and I'm looking to throw hands with big guys like you to give myself a little challenge."
Kaley whispered to me while I was eating, "Hey... Can't you just... you know? Cheer her up a bit? She was spacing out all day and it's starting to scare a few people..."
"Nuh-uh."
"W-Why?"
"I'm gonna do some delicate shit after and I don't want her destroying things once she awakens and revives."
"But... you kinda broke her... her self-esteem I mean... If that happened to me—"
I chuckled, "Relax, I wouldn't do that to you. If anything, I'll do the exact opposite!"
"You... You can actually do that? And please... don't do whatever you did to Quinn to me..."
"Of course. And to answer your question, I can do it but... it's better to do it the regular way, no? I can last until you're satisfied, why should I go to lengths that'll put a strain on me? But yeah, unless you want to, I'll do it no questions asked."
"Uh-huh... but you really need to cheer her up."
"Why? It hasn't even been six or seven chapters— I mean, it's too soon!"
"Hah? You can just—"
We were still in conversation when I saw Quinn's left eyebrow twitch momentarily and it just gave me chills like I never had before. The mixture of killing intent, anger, lust, and frustration culminated in this invisible film that was forming around her, and my head was already telling me to run. However, I would very much like to finish my food so I made a distraction.
*thump*
*thump* *thump*
It made everyone present confused.
"Huh?"
"What was that?"
"Where's that knocking coming from?"
I chuckled as I produced another thump, "That... was my penis."
Quinn's awakening halted as she snorted, "YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
As soon as the realization came from everyone present, chaos ensued as each person just died from laughter or choked on their food. Even Joe who was keeping quiet this whole time facepalmed before letting out a strained snicker that turned into hysteria.
I couldn't believe everyone fell from that because as much as I would've wanted to be genuine, I'm not gonna fucking get hard and bang my cock under from under the table. Unless it was life or death, I'll stick with my knees for the meantime.