The bus rolled down the ramp and slid onto the road, before Keiji stopped the bus momentarily and heaved out a sigh.
“It’s really hard to get used to that thing huh?”
Tanpopo on the other hand fell to her knees panting. Eve held Tanpopo gently in her arms and whispered, “You shouldn’t push yourself so hard.” Tanpopo nodded and pressed her head against Eve’s shoulder with a sigh.
Keiji smiled at the sight of the two girls and stated, “I have to say that Tanpopo is getting quite comfortable with you.”
David raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why, is she shy or something because she seemed pretty outgoing?”
Keiji chuckled saying, “That’s her strong front. Around others she is mostly shy and refuses to talk unless it is with me. I was actually quite surprised that she talked with you guys.”
David scoffed stating, “Maybe she was always outgoing.”
“Maybe,” answered back Keiji with a slight smile. He looked out of the window of the bus and noticing that no one was present, his look grew serious and then looked all of them.
“Since we brought you here, you need to know some things about this town. We stay behind this wall, but we are not united as one. We have different factions. You can call them different views of the zombie situation.”
“Meaning?”
“Well the faction I belong in believes in gathering survivors to expand our territory and stand against the zombies. Another faction believes that all weak including the sick, children, and elderly should be eliminated for the new future. Another faction sympathizes with the zombies and pretty much worship them. That faction is the most dangerous. The last faction believes pain is salvation…many people die because of those beliefs.”
“So a faction town? Sounds crazy.”
“It is and I don’t even know all the information about those factions only the obvious clues.”
Keiji sighed as he continued to speak.
“The other thing you need to know about is that the factions have different leaders, but these leaders are Users.”
“Users?” exclaimed Eve. Keiji nodded.
“The one in charge of my faction is Theo, he can read minds. The faction that believes in keeping only the strong is led by Exodia, she can manipulate the form of all metal like it was sand. The sympathizers are led by Askook, he can poison anyone with just a touch. The last faction is led by Abeera, she can make a whip out of thin air and use it to slice even steel.”
“There are sure a lot of Users here,” stated Adler in a nervous tone. The others nodded in tone. Keiji nodded adding, “You guys should be fine as long as you guys stay in our faction.” Tanpopo nodded in agreement still leaning against Eve.
David sighed saying, “Thanks for the offer, but we don’t plan to stay long.”
Keiji raised an eyebrow asking, “Are you serious?” David nodded saying, “I don’t know where we are heading, but staying in one place just doesn’t work for us.” The others were in agreement. Keiji sighed.
“Fine, but at least stay in our faction for a week.”
“A week?”
“That will give us time to get some supplies for you to leave the town…in one piece. Sound good?”
David nodded and then shook Keiji’s hand. Keiji smiled and then said, “Since I told you about this place, can you tell me how your group knows about Users?” David nodded and remembering Eve’s words, looked toward Chronos.
“Chronos there is a User, he has the power to see into a person’s past by just looking at them. That’s how we know about Users.”
Chronos nodded clenching his hands slightly. Keiji whistled in amusement and then looked at Tanpopo.
“Have you ever heard of him?”
Tanpopo nodded saying, “He came from the same place I came from. He was forced to look at people to see their past.” Chronos’s form was slightly shaking trying to forget those past events.
Keiji sighed saying, “I thought Eve was the User.”
“She’s normal,” stated David bluntly. Eve nodded as she allowed Tanpopo to stand up. Keiji chuckled and then placed his hand on the steering wheel.
“Things might be a little hectic until we reach our base, so keep the windows shut tight, OK.”
They all nodded, rolling up the windows and locking them.
When the bus was locked tight, Keiji began to drive down the road avoiding any scattered debris. As the bus drove down the road, Keiji glared toward Eve, but none noticed, but Eve did feel a chill run down her spine.
Area 40 Facility
Staff: 90 (Dead) 0 (Alive)
Users: 8 (Alive) 8 (Dead) 29 (Unknown)
Genome Detention Center
Staff: 90 (Dead?) 0 (Alive)
Prisoners: 5 (Alive) 50 (Dead?)
School
Staff: 50 (Dead) 0 (Alive)
Students: 2 (Alive) 140 (Dead)
World
About 50,000,000,000 (dead) others (Unknown)
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