[Daily Survivor Update:]
[Survivors remaining in the building: 19]
Lucien had barely woken up when he realized that four survivors had died.
"How did they die? Was someone bitten?"
As he ate breakfast and prepared to investigate the incident during Mr. Mustache’s tour, the system sent more alerts:
[1 Survivor from the building died!]
[2 Survivors from the building died!]
[1 Survivor from the building died!]
[1 Survivor from the building died!]
"Damn it, the zombies invaded the building?"
Lucien spat out the eggs he was eating as he hurriedly got up in concern, ready to go downstairs and find out what was happening. Until the final alert stopped him in his tracks:
[Survivors remaining in the building: 2]
Lucien thought he’d read it wrong, but then realized he was one survivor short of this morning’s count, even after four deaths. But now only five had died, so there couldn’t be only two left...
Lucien was about to leave when someone knocked on his door.
When he opened it, he discovered the last two survivors in the building: the Doorman and the One-Handed Building Manager.
"Hello, good morning! Has something happened?" As he opened the door and greeted the men, Lucien waved, and Mustache followed, startling both men. He then closed the door behind him, wanting to avoid the eyes of the two curious people in his apartment.
"Lucien, we’ve come to inform you that most of the people have left the building. The two of us and your family are the only ones left here. Everyone has moved to another luxury building on our street... Well, not everyone, some died doing so..."
Lucien continued down the stairs with Mr. Mustache, the two men following him without getting too close, afraid of the feline... They then recounted how the survivors’ clumsy plan failed...
"We held a meeting, and five people volunteered to go to the other buildings in search of more food and especially water. Meanwhile, one of the survivors would try to lure the other zombies away from the street..."
The Doorman paused dramatically before continuing...
"But then everything went wrong. The person luring the zombies was almost killed by the new strength and speed of the zombies, who now had red eyes. Also, some zombies weren’t lured by him, ambushing the five men on their way to the other buildings."
"What happened after that?" Lucien asked, already predicting what had happened from the system messages.
"In the end, only two survivors made it to the new buildings; the others were killed in ambushes by zombies hiding under cars or in dark alleys. And between these two, only one managed to signal that the building had what we needed. After that, the residents tried using the numbers and ran to the new building together... We watched everything from the balcony of one of the apartments, while several of them died and only two-thirds made it there safely..."
"Thank you for updating me on the situation. I’ll tell my father later when I get back to the apartment... But I don’t understand why you two didn’t go together?"
"Well, Lucien, everything they did was quite dangerous, and we’re still okay here, right? We hope you and your father will continue to share some food with us..."
Lucien stopped walking and raised an eyebrow.
"I already told you we don’t have much food, and that we couldn’t keep you... And now, without water, even my father and I will have problems... You must find a way to solve this on your own. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to leave."
"Of course, anything you can give us is enough. You saved my life before. I don’t want to overdo it and ask my benefactor for more than I need..."
The Building Administrator said, looking at his missing arm and giving a strange smile...
But as soon as Lucien left the two of them, the Doorman looked at him and said:
"Did you smell that?"
"Yes, fried eggs and bacon..."
"I thought I was hallucinating..."
"These greedy rich people don’t change; to them, we’re just disposable people... He and his father have only been giving us instant noodles and dehydrated cookies, while they eat meat and eggs? That’s so selfish of them..."
"Shhh, keep your voice down... Unless we can deal with that monster, we can only bow our heads and accept..." The Doorman said, making a silent signal, afraid Lucien was still too close to hear.
"Maybe there’s a way..."
"What are you talking about?"
"In certain emergency situations, the Building Manager can access a certain item to keep the residents safe..."
"Why didn’t you use that when it all started?"
"The problem is that the building’s security system was destroyed when it all started. I even tried to break into the room where the gun is, but it’s made of reinforced steel..."
"But since you’re mentioning that, you’ve thought of a solution, right?"
"Yes, now that no one’s living on the first floor anymore, we can break in from above by breaking through the apartment’s floor... Even if it takes a while and a lot of effort..."
"So with the gun, we can finally control the remaining supplies... Okay, let’s do it!"
Still on the walk with Mr. Mustache, Lucien didn’t know that the only people he’d helped during this crisis would now turn against him...
AN:This Chapter is a little shorter than usual. I apologize for that...
I’ll use this space to bring you some updates and news about the book.
First, two new original novels are coming soon to my . If you’re not already following me, head over there to be one of the first to read my new works.
Second, a character wiki for JWA is already underway, but it still needs to be translated...
Third, about the novel’s locations and the map:
I’m already working on a map for JWA. What I can say is that the initial Satellite Cities are on a large continent that resembles South America, right on the equator line. Kaelor is also on this same continent, but on the coast. The exact location hasn’t been decided, but it will respect the distance in kilometers I mentioned in s.
About Aethoria, the capital...
Continued in the author’s thoughts below: