At the outskirts of Tokonosu City in the morning, where the headquarters of Freedom Carrier is located, a white helicopter could be seen flying in the sky from a distance, coming towards the HQ building with Zeno and the group of main characters as the passengers.
At first the group was quite hesitant to go with Zeno after his revelation, but when the helicopter finally arrived above Rika's house and dropped a ladder for them to climb up, the hesitation quickly disappeared, and they made up their minds to ignore whatever Zeno was planning since escaping from the city is more important than worrying about things that may or may not have had any immediate effect on them just yet.
Zeno sees the group's visible relief because of the convenience ticket out of the city, but he notices that some of them still have some sense of wariness towards him, which he doesn't really care about. To be honest, Zeno had already done most of what he wanted to do with them, so he lost interest in most of the individuals in the group except the dizzy Shizuka, who was still quite friendly with him.
The ride after they were all on board the helicopter to the Freedom Carrier HQ was surprisingly calm despite flying over the city that had been turned into a living hell. The group had seen the state of the city from above, and the devastation was clear: some of the buildings were still on fire, cars were abandoned or crashed on the streets and buildings, and the numerous zombies could be seen shuffling around aimlessly throughout the city below, but the most depressing sight of all was the lack of survivors that could be seen.
The group has to wonder if the number of uninfected people still even reaches thousands from how bad the city seems to be. It's very surreal to them how many people died from just one day of the apocalypse. They couldn't imagine how bad the other cities and the other countries might be right now.
Time passed quickly as the helicopter finally arrived above the HQ building and slowly descended to the helipad on the rooftop while the people inside the helicopter could see through the windows towards a large campsite nearby with hundreds of tents arranged in neat columns with a chain-link fence that surrounded the entire camp and four helipads.
Seeing them looking at the camp, Zeno began explaining to them that the place they were looking at is where the survivors who got rescued by his company, including them, will be staying temporarily until his company clears out the zombies and retakes the city in the coming days or maybe weeks from now on, it depending on how many zombies there are in Tokonosu City, really.
After the helicopter successfully landed on the helipad, Zeno and the group gradually got out from it as the wind generated from the helicopter blades ruffled their hair and clothes.
"Hello there!"
In front of them, there's a man with black hair in a short ponytail and deep green eyes who is dressed in the white uniform of a Freedom Carrier deliveryman approaching them with a friendly smile and hand raised in greeting. He was Zeno's shadow clone that he prepared for the group in advance as a guide to introducing them to the temporary shelter camp.
Zeno then briefly introduced his shadow clone to the group as their guide to settle them in the temporary shelter before he sent the group and his shadow clone down to the camp with a casual wave of his hand to Shizuka, who cutely waved back at him. Zeno then went to his office, as he wanted to see the progress of the rescue operation that had already begun last night.
They should be finished building the four extraction points by now, Zeno thought to himself as White Dream suddenly materialized beside him before she crossed her metallic arm around his left arm while she floated in the air. Then with a smile on his lips, Zeno turned to look at his beautiful stand as she also had a small smile on her rose-red lips while she looked at him serenely with her icy blue eyes.
Recently, Zeno has noticed that his Stand has developed quite a bit of skill in the human interaction department and has become a little more expressive than before after spending time sticking with him for a year, and because of that, she naturally started to learn to imitate some behavior of the humans she had observed secretly.
"I miss you, Master."
White Dream said in a soft, whispering voice, as she acted like a girlfriend that could finally be around her boyfriend again after a long time of separation, just like the ads she'd seen on the TV.
"Hey there, girl."
Zeno greeted her back with an amused chuckle as he leaned in to kiss her soft red lips with affection while they went down the stairs from the rooftop. White Dream's social skills might still need some work since they just saw each other this morning, so the context is kind of off, but Zeno is not going to mind her silly mistake.
"Well, well, quite eager aren't we~?"
Zeno mumbles between his breath in amusement as White Dream aggressively kisses him back, her tongue forcefully invading past his lips and meeting his tongue as the two of them move down the stairs.
"Chuchuchu...! Chupa...! Chupa...!"
"Slow down, girl. You will make me fall down the stairs at this rate..."
Zeno is sure that he soon will spend quite a pleasant time after this with White Dream, who likely will end up in between his legs, servicing him with her mouth in his office while he monitors the rescue operation currently underway in the city.
÷×÷×÷
At the same time in Tokonosu City, multiple teams of Freedom Guards had been dropped off by the helicopters, and they quickly secured the four designated locations around the city, which had become forward bases to retake the city and extraction points for the survivors. The guards moved in an extremely coordinated fashion as they ruthlessly eliminated any zombies and hostile individuals that approached the camps with a disturbing ease.
After the extraction points had been built and secured, the Freedom vans were then deployed to the four camps as a long convoy of hundreds of futuristic white vans could be seen driving towards the city from the highways, and any obstacles that appeared on the roads were blown up with a grenade launcher or rammed away by the vans.
The commotion was quite noticeable and has attracted many survivors and zombies alike, which was quite a problem for the van drivers as they had to stop and pick up the survivors that decided to run out from their hiding place and cried for help.
The Freedom Carrier's deliverymen had a simple order: anyone who's still alive gets to go on the van, and the undead and bandits are just... well, roadkill, so some vans had to separate from the convoy to secure the survivors, but the vans will not stop for those survivors, who keep hiding without coming out from either fear or paranoia, as they are currently not the priority to rescue considering that it will take too much time to convince them to come out of their hiding place.
Along the way that the convoy has gone through, the scene of survivors' rescue was quite chaotic, a mix of hope and desperation, as some people rushed out of their hiding places to the vans recklessly, while the zombies groaned and stumbled towards the vans, hoping for their next meal.
It's a good thing that the Freedom van drivers are packing some serious instruments of liberty, as they would mow down any threat with superior firepower.
The sound of gunfire echoed through the city as the Freedom Carrier's deliverymen swiftly identified the living from the dead with high efficiency and gunned down the zombies like professional soldiers. Then they would pat down each survivor, checking for bite marks or signs of infection before allowing them to board the vans.
Inevitably, there were also some who were forcefully turned away after a grim discovery of a bite wound, while others were ushered in with nods and words of comfort. Some drama also happened here and there as they slowed down the rescue efforts, but after a threatening burst of gunfire upon them, they quickly stopped and got in the vans obediently.
Overall, the rescue operation is currently going smoothly.
÷×÷×÷
Meanwhile, Zeno's shadow clone, who was leading the group of main characters to the shelter camp, has finally arrived inside the said shelter after they went through the Freedom Carrier HQ, where they could only see the employees of Freedom Carrier walking around the camp since there are no survivors other than them in the camp just yet.
The shelter camp was a bustling hub of activity, with various people going in and out of different tents of various sizes around the camp. The group can also see some kind of heaters, mobile toilets, and patrol guards.
Suddenly, the smell of cooking filled the air when they walked past the big canteen tent with many white plastic tables and chairs that were neatly arranged close together. They wonder what the food will be like while hoping that it's not too terrible.
As they walked past the canteen, the shadow clone guide began casually pointing out the various facilities that were available to them: medical tents, resident area tents, and a designated area for cleaning and sanitation. From what the group had seen, the temporary shelter has everything that humans require to survive but is not so comfortable that you wish to live here forever.
While the group completed the tour, they couldn't help but feel a pang of small guilt in their hearts, knowing that they had been offered a way out to safety with basically what you can call a special connection to a big shot while there were other people who still remained trapped in the city with unknown conditions.
"Hmm?"
The guide noticed their complex expressions and could guess what they might be feeling with just a glance before he gave them a comforting smile.
"Don't worry too much. We've already dispatched a lot of rescue teams to the city to save those that are still alive. And with Mr. Zavior's leadership and great vision, we're going to turn this bad situation around. You'll see."
The group couldn't help but take notice of the way the guide talked about Zeno; it was as if the man had total faith in Zeno, which was strange from their point of view since they still didn't truly know what Zeno and the Freedom Carrier were actually capable of.
"Here we are!"
The guide announced as they arrived at the residential area of the camp. The tents here were relatively large and looked somewhat well-made and durable.
"You all are free to choose any tents you want to stay in."
The guide said, gesturing towards the column of tents that line up neatly.
"Every tent got its own bunk beds, blankets, and a heater. You'll be sharing it with a few other survivors that will arrive later, but I'm sure you'll all get along just fine."
The group looked at each other, unsure of what to make of this hospitality of the Freedom Carrier. It was almost too good to be true. But after their harrowing escape from the highways to the bridge, they couldn't help but feel a sense of relief wash over them again. They hadn't had a decent rest since the apocalypse began, and the thought of a safe, clean place to sleep and eat was too tempting to pass up for any sane person.
As they entered the nearest tent, they found it surprisingly well-equipped with clean beddings and even some packs of bottled water and tissues that were placed on the side of the bunk beds that looked sturdy enough for even a land whale to sit on. It wasn't the best place, but it still had better security than any five-star hotel in the world.
"The mattress is too hard~"
Shizuka couldn't help but pout as she tested the mattress, her voice carrying a whine that made it clear she wasn't used to such spartan conditions. Her complaint was met with a mix of wry chuckles and headshakes from the others since it's unreasonable to expect any kind of comfort in the temporary shelter during the APOCALYPSE. They had heard horror stories of overcrowded shelters with minimal supplies, but at least this was clearly not one of them, at least not this early in the apocalypse.
Well, at least they don't have to worry about zombies for the time being…