Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 33: Essence of Power

A two-meter tall sturdy-looking infected was pounding at an armored truck's door. The muscles from its hands became swollen after producing a force that its small body shouldn't be able to.

A man holding a shotgun started walking towards it. The man stopped a few meters behind the infected's back. Then, a loud gunshot echoed in the area.

Bang! Chkck. Bang!

Jun was aiming at the infected's head, but due to not being used to the recoil, the shot missed the head and hit its neck.

He then followed up with another shot in the head to make sure that it would really die.

The head blew up like how a watermelon explodes when smashed by a baseball bat. The headless body of the infected leaned towards the armored truck, then slid down to the ground, staining the door with its blood.

Jun approached the truck, his eyes not looking at the dead infected, but at the two names inside the truck. There were two people inside; both were green, but the other one has a tint of red.

Instead of question marks, actual names were hovering inside, which could only mean that Jun knew the people inside the armored truck.

When the shot sounded, one of the people inside peeked at the bulletproof glass window on the door. A pair of green eyes stared at him, followed by the crying voice of a young girl.

"Jun, you're a jerk! What took you so long!? Waaaaa~."

A soft tender voice came from inside, and the door opened.

Adrian and Edward, who were standing idly beside Jun, saw a beautiful girl appear on the door's entrance.

She had a long ponytail that suited perfectly well with her slim body. Her loose short-sleeved blouse couldn't hide the huge blessings that the world gave her. She wore a black mini skirt and black stockings that tightly wrapped around her skin. Though her backside wasn't that nourished, her long slender legs totally made up for it. On her feet were a set of high heels.

She then stepped out of the truck. Due to her crying, she didn't notice that there was a headless infected below. She tripped on the body and fell sidewards into the pool of blood.

"What the! Ew! This is my only dress! Oh gosh! My heels broke! I just bought these. That saleslady surely tricked me!"

The feminine aura that she was emitting earlier totally disappeared. Her attitude took a 180-degree turn and was now hurling curses at the infected.

Adrian and Edward, who were smitten at first, were now shocked at the sudden personality change. They both turned to each other and noticing the other person's expression; they could only smile wryly. The old saying was still true; you can't judge someone by their appearances.

Jun tried to help the girl but got rejected. She stood up on her own and dusted some blood off her body.

"What took you so long?!" the woman shouted.

Jun ignored her question and chose to ask instead.

"This isn't the agreed location. What are you guys doing here?" he then advised, "And please stop yelling. Do you want to attract every infected in the area!"

She was going to shout once more, but after Jun's reminder, she chose to shut her mouth. That didn't stop her from glaring at him, showing her dissatisfaction.

"Go ask that friend of yours!" she said.

As if she remembered something unpleasant, her voice raised one notch higher. Finally noticing the two people beside Jun, she tried fixing her hair but became angrier as blood stuck to her hair.

Jun watched her with a light-hearted attitude. Hearing her mention his friend, he turned to the door.

A scholarly-looking individual was weakly leaning on the door.

He had average height and had a petite body. His defining facial features were his two eyebags and gentle eyebrows.

Jun said, chuckling. "So, there are times that my genius friend would actually need my help."

"Well... I ran out of peanuts."

***

The two arrived at the subdivision almost twelve hours ago. They traveled sneakily, avoiding all the infected in the area.

Its been almost two days, and they haven't fought a single infected directly. They ran out of provisions, especially peanuts. Although they still have foods on their backpack, they went to a nearby store to get some. Just as they walked out with new foods and, of course, peanuts, a huge infected saw them. They went back inside and went out through the back door. They hid in houses, but the wooden doors couldn't stop the big guy. Though the doors couldn't stop the big guy, it was still able to stall it for a few seconds. They ran and hid on different houses, and then they found the armored truck. They hid there for almost half a day, with the sunlight as their only lighting.

Jun couldn't help but laugh after hearing the whole story. Even Adrian and Edward was a bit surprised after listening on the sides.

"You never changed! You're still unlucky even though the world has changed." Jun tried his best not to chuckle but couldn't.

"By the way, these are Adrian and Edward. These are Marianne and-"

Before Jun could say the name, he was interrupted.

"Evo... Just call me Evo."

Jun smirked but didn't say anything.

On his hand was a red gem that emitted a powerful pulse that made it seem to be alive. He got five shards and this red gem after looting the infected.

[Essence of Power]

[Description] A gem filled with the essence of strength. Increase power by 1-2 when used.

Jun tried interacting with the gem-like how he usually interacted with the screen, but there was no reaction. After trying a few more times, he gave up. He tossed it in the vortex that appeared beside him, then searched inside the truck.

The space inside the armored truck was small, considering the size of their group. Although they can't use this as their primary travel vehicle, there shouldn't be a problem if they want to use the armored truck as an infected mower.

Jun looked around and found some keys on a nearby dried pile of blood. He wiped it clean and tried starting the car.

"Bbbrrrg."

The truck came to life, and they quickly left the place.

In a dark corner of the street, a pair of yellow eyes gazed at the dead infected.

A few seconds later, a blurry figure quickly dashed towards the direction of the truck.