54 Rebel activity
Traversing further out in the city, Reia and the squad had not encountered any mutants or rebels. They had only passed by some desperate survivors, but all they could do was brush them off and keep walking.
Kadi looked like she wanted to help, but Lou would glare at her to not do anything.
'Why can't we help them?' This question had plagued her mind and was trying to think why.
Kim had noticed the bit of anguish on Kadi's face and assumed it had something to do with the survivors.
'Urg not this moral dilemma.' Kim assumed it had to do with who to save and who not to save.
'Such a harsh reality for someone so young.' She also was saddened by the scene as someone like Kadi shouldn't be going through this and let alone be training to shoot a gun.
'No matter, we have to do what we can, it would have only been a matter of time before Kadi would have been stripped of her innocence by the world.' Kim didn't want to tell the harsh truths, but they were surrounded by the collapsing world and it would be pointless to try to hide it.
Leaning over to quietly talk to Kadi to not anger any of the survivors nearby, Kim started to give reasons for their squad's coldness.
"It's a hard reality, but we have to ignore them. I know you may ask why we saved you, but never feel responsible for other people's lives just because it happened to you." Kim started with a warning as many recruits that enter war always have this thought especially when it comes to other people's lives.
Kadi looked up at Kim while biting her lip, trying to not show any emotion. Kim then patted her head while walking and continued to talk.
"I know you may have a pure soul that wants to save them, but now you have to be selfish and protect those close to you. Of course, there are exceptions like you, but doing it for everyone will create a burden you will not be able to carry."
"Although this may sound horrible, you have to consider how this person will help you and before you ask about you that's because Lou is crazy so her reasons make no sense. However, you have shown to be a great soldier, so you can say you're much more beneficial to us than Akira or even Reia thought." Kim knew what she was saying was rather contradictory to Kadi's situation, but there is room for exceptions and her advice is to lay down a base foundation for Kadi to go off.
"I-I understand. So I should act for my own benefit and not reach out to people blindly." Kadi was processing what Kim was saying and putting it on her own terms.
"Yes, but you can be selfless, don't think this is a rule you must follow. It would be better to think of it as a guide and change your mindset to always put yourself first when making a decision especially when out on the battlefield."
"Hmm I see." Kadi was taking it all in and now having a new perspective it was a lot easier to look at the survivors and not be saddened.
"Now don't become emotionless. Reia became like that and let's say, it is not the most enjoyable experience, so make sure to never lose yourself." Kim smiled hoping she got the message across and since they were out, she couldn't talk about it for long, but if they were back at the base she would have talked for hours about the subject.
Kadi looked down at herself and gripped the pistol that was in her hand harder.
**
The squad were now getting close to gate 12 and had run into mutants but were unable to trap any for Kadi. To their surprise though, she had held on a lot stronger and the trauma was not affecting her as much.
Despite not physically looking scared, Kadi had been freaking out on the inside, but thanks to being by Kim's side who stood back made it easier to bear.
"We should be able to see gate 12 soon." Reia tried getting an angle on the military base, but the area they were in was with much taller buildings making it much harder to see where they are.
"You said Echo split off at gate 1 and Aoi should have been at gate 12 or at least 11?" Akira wanted to confirm some information as Echo could be in the potential area.
"We did split off at that point, but honestly I do not know much about his position. For all we know he could be at gate 9." Reia thought back to how a part of the military tower crashed in between them and after that, there was no way of telling where he went.
"We can only search and maybe even leave a sign." Akira wasn't a part of Reia's so he didn't know if they had some special symbol they could use.
"We don't have any of the sorts." Lou had spoken up and although she had her wolf symbol it was only something between her and Kim.
"We will just continue to search, although if we had Aoi it would make our lives much easier." Reia knew Aoi was one of the best scouts in the military and finding a target was something easy for her.
"I can see Aoi just appearing in our bunker." Kim had found Aoi rather scary as she had a rather huntress nature to her. Not to be confused with Lou who was much more forward with her hunting, Aoi would stalk and wait for the right moment to strike.
"She could potentially find us first, but that depends where she is as it could take weeks for her to search a part of the city just to find nothing." Lou pointed out a habit of Aoi which was she did not leave a single stone unturned, so no matter what, she would search every corner.
"We are leaving a mark by fighting so hopefully if she is searching can get a lead through that." Akira did not have much experience with Aoi and only knew she was just as bad as Lou when it came to teasing.
"How about we purposely lead obvious signs that it was us that "fought" in the area?" Kadi took a rather straightforward approach and it was the most sound idea.
"She does know everything about us." Reia tried thinking of a way to leave a mark that is rather typical of them in a fight which could help Aoi if she was looking for clues.
"Other than leaving essence marks, like my lightning and craters from Kim's explosions, there isn't much we can do." It was difficult to think of a mark as leaving anything physical behind would just lead to it being taken away.
"We will just do that then." Akira figured they may as well since it was better than doing nothing. Reia nodded her head as there was no other way to show signs of their fighting other than their essence.
"Kim? You ready to put some ho-." Reia was cut off by the sudden shout of someone in the distance.
"HORDE OF MUTANTS, SAVE YOUR ESSENCE AND KEEP MOVING BACK."
Looking down the street, Reia assumed the group she saw, was that of rebels judging from the general red colour scheme.
"Everyone hide." Reia did not want to bother fighting and since it was Rebels, it was better to let them die and wait for the horde to move on.
Entering one of the office buildings that were in relatively good shape, they all made their way to the upper floors to get an angle on the Rebels.
16:31
upper floors to get an angle on the Rebels.
Looking down at the street they were on, the Rebels all carried a giant bag on their backs that looked full of supplies. It also shared the same red theme which was the main colour of the Rebels alongside a symbol of an eagle.
"It must be a supply-run group." The big bags had told Reia everything and seeing the amount of them looked like a big supply run for an entire camp.
"Rather bold to be shouting though." Akira, hearing what seemed to be the leader of the group shout, couldn't help but see him as an idiot.
"Better them than us, I say we jump down there and fight, but seeing them suffer from here is also great." Lou licked her lips as she attentively watched the Rebels struggle. She would have preferred to be in the action but was entertained enough to sit back and watch without complaining.
Kadi had felt a shiver from Lou as she could feel a menacing vibe come from her. Kadi had also leaned into Kim's ear whispering.
"How can you date such a scary woman? I know she is hot, but I don't see how she is your type." Kadi wanted to know why Kim dated Lou and since Kadi was unaware of Kim's tastes, it was hard to explain the specifics without explaining the many terms Kim would be too embarrassed to say out loud.
"I-I uhhh, maybe another time." Kim blushed not wanting to delve into the reasons as it was embarrassing and wouldn't be able to stop.
"I guess if you're happy then it's okay." Kadi having a soft spot for Kim did not pursue it any further despite her burning curiosity.
"Haha, thank you." Kim awkwardly laughed and scratched the back of her head.
"If they survive we should go down and eliminate them." Reia wanted to cut some of their supplies as it would delay them from making a move.
"If they are already doing runs like this then we should be seeing rebels roam the streets more. It also wouldn't surprise me if we start seeing top families start to rise now that it has been a few weeks." Akira had thought back to Klein and how her family would be after him.
"We are near the mall, so we should definitely be more careful while exploring, we don't want people following us and although they most likely can't get in, they can very well trap us."
"Indeed, we should be a bit more discrete since we have been rather relaxed as of late."
Reia and Akira continued to talk about ways to avoid being followed, so they wouldn't have to deal with anyone right outside their front door.
Lou on the other hand was watching the fight enjoying the ants down below struggling for survival.
"Fufu~ come on little insects, struggle more for me." A sadistic look appeared on Lou's face and Kadi who was watching looked at Kim wanting to ask the same question.
'How the hell did you end up with her?' Kadi did not speak out loud to not get attention, but she wanted answers.
Although she looked up to Lou and her power, this was a side that Kadi wasn't sure if she looked up to or not.
"Oooo~! Looks like they are finally killing the mutants." Lou called out as suddenly they had given up on restricting their essence and decided to go all out.
"Alright let's go to the first floor and attack them when they pass." Reia did not want to waste any time as the supplies they had would be useful to them.
"Heh my turn to cause some fear." Lou was excited and had come up with many ways to deal with the rebels. This would also be Lou and Kim's first proper fight with the rebels since the apocalypse, making it more exciting for Lou.
Making their way downstairs, they had got Kadi to stay hidden behind the reception desk while the rest waited by the entrance ready to pounce on their targets.
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