Rebirth: 100 Days Before Doomsday-Chapter 231: The Strongest Tremors Yet
It happened just before dawn.
Grace just walked out of the bedroom, heading toward kitchen, when the world beneath her started shaking. It was almost unnoticeable, but it was there.
She continued on her way, starting preparations for making a strong coffee for herself and Davian while the tremors continued to shake the world. They might have lasted for more than half a minute before stopping.
She would have believed the tremors weren’t too strong this time if not for the fact that she herself infused the Spirit Stone in the barrier just days ago.
She was soon proved right when 2025 updated her on the situation. The tremors this time were more violent than before, but unlike the previous earthquakes, this time, Greenstone barely felt it.
The digital screen appeared in front of Grace, showing her exactly how the barrier handled the tremors - a faint hum vibrated through the air as the Spirit Stone-infused barrier absorbed most of the shock. The shimmering energy pulsed for a brief second before fading back into invisibility.
The good thing was that she didn’t have to worry about replenishing the barrier’s strength as it would do it on its own through Spirit Stone’s help.
[Energy replenishing process began]
[Time left: 2 hours and 29 minutes]
Her plan had worked. The barrier was now strong enough to protect Greenstone from these usual seismic disruptions.
But the real problem wasn’t Greenstone.
Once the system was done updating her on the barrier’s situation, 7t updated her on the data of the tremors that just passed.
[Seismic Activity Detected]
[Origin: Western Restricted Zone]
Again.
Grace narrowed her eyes, already pulling up a detailed energy analysis from 2025.
[Tremor magnitude: 5.7]
[Depth: 15 km]
[Abnormal energy fluctuations detected.]
That was all she needed to see.
This wasn’t natural.
Something was happening in the restricted zone, and she wasn’t going to wait around to find out what.
By noon, she had already assembled a team - Davian, Rune, Rio, Kevin, Aleena, Nina, Silas, and Maven.
"The closest place I have been to near the restricted zone is Mapleton City," Davian said as they stood in the living room of Unit 2203. His dark green eyes flickered with concentration as he prepared to open a portal. "From there, we can travel the rest of the way by vehicle."
"Then let’s go," Grace said as she finished strapping her weapons.
It barely took less than ten seconds before the portal shimmered into existence. One by one, the entire team stepped through it.
And the moment their feet touched Mapleton’s streets, they were met with chaos.
The city was infested... heavily.
The moment they arrived, the scent of rotting flesh and decay hit them. The infected were everywhere - crawling out of broken buildings, spilling into the streets, their guttural snarls echoing through the ruins.
"Shit," Kevin muttered, already raising his rifle. "We just stepped into a damn hive."
"We should have seen this coming considering Mapleton used to be such a big city with a lot of population." Grace said as she quickly scanned the area.
Before anyone could have reacted any further, the first wave of infected lunged.
Grace moved instantly, summoning a blade of pure energy and slicing through the nearest creature. "Don’t waste time! Clear a path!"
They didn’t even have enough time to get into a vehicle and drive away. They were stuck.
Gunfire erupted as the team fought back. Davian and Rune unleashed deadly precision strikes, while Aleena and Nina covered their flanks. Silas moved like a shadow, cutting down anything that got too close, and Rio and Maven worked to maintain their formation.
"We need higher ground!" Rune shouted over the chaos.
Even before Grace issued the command, 2025 was upon the task. It barely took seconds before sharing the information it had found with her through their shared mindlink.
Her gaze immediately shot in the direction pointed out by the little creature and she spotted a half-collapsed skyscraper nearby. "There!"
With coordinated movements, they cut through the infected and rushed toward the building. Once inside, they barricaded the entrance and finally got the chance to catch their breath while the creatures slammed against the doors.
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"We can’t stay here long," Maven said, checking his ammunition. "More will come."
Grace pulled up the digital map of the city. "We need to get out of the city fast. But we can’t use another portal without knowing what’s ahead."
Davian frowned. "Which means we need to fight our way through."
"Again," Rune groaned but there was no denying that he enjoyed taking down the infected.
"It can work as long as we can get into vehicles." Grace said, reminding everyone that it wouldn’t be the first time they would be taking down hordes of infected with their vehicles.
But while her custom-made vehicles were great against the zombies and even Fast Movers, they weren’t too capable as a weapon when it came to powerful infected Beasts.
"How about you pull out the vehicle here and we smack through the wall?" Nina offered with a chuckle. The imagination was definitely wild in her mind as she only started laughing harder.
"Sssh!"
Davian silenced them and his alert mode made the others follow him. The moment they all put their attention to it, they noticed what had caught his attention in the first place.
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The chaos outside had gone silent all of a sudden.
Since they had no way to look outside without actually stepping out, 2025 took over the job to find out what was going on. Seconds later, its soft voice filled the silent air.
"A group of armed men have distracted the infected by spilling animal blood in a street nearby. And now they are checking this area."
"Are they soldiers? Survivors?" Aleena asked.
"They don’t look like soldiers. But something about them says they are more than just survivors. You all should stay alert." 2025 warned before it went silent.
"Are we going out or waiting here?" Kevin asked, his hand tightening around his rifle.
