Chapter 41: Giant Eagles

A furniture factory stood about a kilometer from the warehouse.

Ethan forced open a narrow gap in the side door with his sword and slipped inside. Once he was safely in, he rewrapped the wound on his arm with fresh gauze.

He had barely finished when voices came from a convenience store inside the factory. A woman and a man were arguing in hushed voices. The woman’s tone was firm despite how softly she spoke.

"Save the rice for Pete. We can eat compressed biscuits."

"Dr. Elena, give the rice to Pete. And the pork too!" The man’s voice rose in frustration. "That kid isn’t even yours. How long are you planning to keep feeding her?"

"Her parents died protecting me." The woman’s voice turned heavy. "I won’t let their daughter starve."

Ethan frowned. In the Apocalypse, people who were willing to give up their own food for someone else’s survival were rare. They were either hopelessly foolish... or they still had a conscience.

Ethan quietly moved toward the back of the convenience store and looked through a narrow gap in the door.

A single candle flickered inside. A woman in a bloodstained white lab coat stood protectively in front of a young girl hiding behind a shelf. Despite the stains covering her coat, the woman’s posture remained straight and composed. Three men stood nearby, each holding a steel pipe. The tallest man was gripping a half-empty bag of rice.

"If you want to give it to her, give her your own food!" His face was tense. "I’m not starving because of you."

Ethan’s gaze settled on the woman. She looked to be in her early thirties. Her features were sharp and elegant, with a calmness that seemed almost out of place in the Apocalypse. A pair of glasses sat crookedly on her face. One of the temples had broken, so she had taped the frame to her ear. Her eyes were steady. She didn’t look like someone who had spent nearly forty days running from zombies.

[Gift target detected: Dr. Elena Vance, 34 years old. Beauty Score: 94.]

Ethan raised an eyebrow. He reached into his Survival Space and pulled out two cups of rice. He placed them inside the backpack he was carrying. One was meant for the girl. The other was his backup plan.

He deliberately stepped on a piece of gravel.

Crunch.

The argument inside stopped immediately. The three men raised their steel pipes. The woman moved in front of the girl and pulled a scalpel from the pocket of her lab coat.

"Who’s there?" the tall man shouted.

Ethan stepped through the back door with both hands in his pockets. He made sure they could see that he wasn’t holding a weapon.

"Just passing through. I heard you arguing." His eyes briefly moved toward the girl hiding behind the shelf. She looked about ten years old. Her small body was pressed against the shelf, and she stared at Ethan nervously.

The woman didn’t lower her scalpel. "What do you want?"

"Nothing." Ethan took out a bag of rice and tossed it onto the counter. "I’ve got extra. Give it to the kid."

The tall man’s eyes immediately lit up. He reached for the bag. The woman stopped him. She stared at Ethan through her crooked glasses.

"Why are you giving this to us?"

"I don’t like watching children starve." Ethan shrugged. Then his eyes moved to her white coat. "You’re a doctor, right?"

The woman nodded cautiously.

"Do you know where I can find a medical equipment warehouse? I need an oxygen concentrator." He paused. "And I need diesel and a generator. Any idea where I can find those?"

"There is a medical equipment distribution center about three kilometers west of here." Dr. Elena thought for a moment. "They have oxygen concentrators." Her expression became more serious. "But there are two mutant macaws there. There’s also a Hardened Zombie guarding the warehouse."

Ethan’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Can you take me there?"

"I can." She glanced at the bag of rice. "Consider it payment."

Ethan looked into her eyes and nodded. Dr. Elena reached for the rice. Ethan stopped her.

"I said it’s for the child." He held her gaze. "You can’t touch it."

Dr. Elena looked at him for a moment before slowly withdrawing her hand. The little girl cautiously approached the counter and picked up the rice.

Ethan didn’t bring out the second bag. He’d heard there were mutant macaws at the distribution center. That meant there might be Cores. If he obtained them, he could give them to Dr. Elena. If she triggered his system’s return... he might gain another powerful Ability. There was no reason to waste the opportunity by handing her another bag of rice.

Ethan glanced toward the windows. The eastern horizon was beginning to brighten. Dawn was approaching. He looked at Dr. Elena.

"Can you take me there now?"

She nodded. Then she turned toward the three men. "Leo, stay with Pete." She pointed toward the tall man. "Zach, Pete, you stay here too." Then she looked back at Ethan. "We’ll walk. A vehicle would attract too much attention. Just the two of us."

Ethan turned toward the exit. "You three stay here and protect the kid. I’ll bring back another bag of rice when we return."

The three men looked at each other. Dr. Elena hesitated before nodding. "In that case, Zach and Pete, stay here too."

She quickly followed Ethan outside.

The two of them moved through the dark streets. After they had put some distance between themselves and the factory, Dr. Elena began explaining how she’d ended up with the girl.

Her name was Dr. Elena Vance. She had been a surgeon at Silvermont General Hospital. When the Apocalypse began, she had been performing surgery on Pete’s mother. Pete and her father had been waiting outside the operating room. Then everything went to hell. The scrub nurse and assistant surgeon inside the operating room turned into zombies almost simultaneously. Dr. Elena fought her way out with Pete’s mother. But they were caught by zombies outside. At the critical moment, Pete’s parents stayed behind and held the zombies off. They gave Dr. Elena enough time to escape with their daughter. Neither of them survived.

Since then, Dr. Elena had been moving from place to place with Pete. The three men had been construction workers working nearby. They joined her because she was a doctor and could treat injuries.

Ethan listened quietly. When she finished, he nodded. "You’ve done a good job."

Keeping that kind of promise alive in the Apocalypse wasn’t easy.

Dr. Elena adjusted her glasses. "Doing a good job isn’t enough." She pushed the crooked frame back up her nose. "It’s the least I can do." She looked ahead. "Her parents died protecting me. If I abandoned their daughter afterward, how would I be any different from a zombie?"

Ethan glanced at her. "That’s not something most people would say anymore."

Dr. Elena gave him a faint smile. "Ethan, you..."

She stopped.

Ethan had suddenly raised a finger to his lips. "Shh."

Dr. Elena immediately fell silent. A faint dragging sound came from ahead. Then another. The unmistakable sound of zombies moving through the street.

Dr. Elena’s expression hardened. She tightened her grip around the scalpel. Ethan was already preparing Spatial Cut. He gestured toward a nearby tree.

Stay here.

Dr. Elena nodded and moved behind it. Ethan quietly circled around.

Three ordinary zombies stumbled around the corner. Their throats produced low, guttural growls. Ethan was about to strike when Dr. Elena suddenly grabbed his arm. She pointed past the zombies.

Ethan followed her gaze. His expression changed.

A tall concrete wall stood in the distance. Two enormous macaws perched on the iron railing above it. Their bodies were far larger than normal birds. And beneath the wall, partially hidden in the shadows, crouched a Hardened Zombie. Its blue-black skin looked almost metallic as it tore into half of a corpse.

They had already reached the medical equipment distribution center.

"That’s the one guarding the back entrance." Dr. Elena lowered her voice. "Its skin is almost as hard as stone. The last time we came here, we tried hitting it with steel pipes." She shook her head. "It didn’t even slow down."

Ethan studied the Hardened Zombie. Then he glanced at Dr. Elena. Her fingers were trembling. She was trying to hide her fear, but Ethan could see it clearly.

"Got it." He gently pulled his arm free. "Stay here. I’ll handle it."

Ethan didn’t charge straight toward the warehouse. Instead, he moved around the side and circled behind the wall. He raised his hand. Spatial Cut swept horizontally. The bricks cracked apart. A section of the wall collapsed with a heavy crash.

The Hardened Zombie immediately turned. It roared and charged toward the noise. Its blue-black skin reflected the faint moonlight as it rushed closer. Exactly as Ethan had expected.

He waited until it was close. Then he deliberately leaned out from behind the wall, letting the zombie catch sight of him. The Hardened Zombie roared and lunged.

Ethan waited until the last possible moment. Spatial Cut flashed. He didn’t aim for its body. He aimed for its ankles.

The blade of spatial energy sliced through them cleanly. The Hardened Zombie lost its balance and crashed heavily onto the ground. It roared and clawed at the dirt, trying to pull itself forward.

The three ordinary zombies were drawn toward the noise. Ethan turned. His sword flashed. One after another, the zombies fell. He walked toward the Hardened Zombie and drove his sword straight through its neck. The zombie stopped moving.

"Ethan!"

Dr. Elena suddenly shouted. "Look out! The two macaws are coming!"

Ethan’s hand had just reached toward the Hardened Zombie’s head when he heard her warning. He looked up.

Two enormous shadows passed over him.

Ethan’s expression changed. He stared at the creatures circling above the warehouse. Then he couldn’t help himself.

"Holy shit."

His grip tightened around his sword.

"Those are macaws?"

The two monstrous birds spread their massive wings. Ethan looked up at them.

"Those things are fucking giant eagles."