Chapter 69 The Last Survivor

At first, I thought I was just imagining things but it"s real! It"s a soldier waving us all to get in the armored car, yelling for our attention. I hysterically glanced at Jason and we both paused, waiting if it was a good decision to go inside the armored car without knowing what is the situation inside it.
But the soldier is still human, and we have no other choice. We cannot go back to the car because we have to get past a thick horde in front of us. I never expected these monsters could so clever to trap us under this skyway. Are they still capable of thinking? It seems like they are just acting through their instinct and if there"s a chance that the virus is evolving, it would be a nightmare for all of us.
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR?! GET INSIDE!"
While I and Roanie are both focused on shooting down the Creepers that are attempting to get near us, Jayson quickly wiped out the ones that are on the way towards the Armored car, pulling Li and Mona with him. Roanie and I stepped backward as Timoty, with trembling hands, shoot the ones behind us, guarding us both as we quicken our pace and we all get into the armored car, shutting the heavy door with a loud banging of metal to metal.
All of us fell to the floor and squeezed ourselves inside the cramped interior of the car and with wide eyes full of terror, we all gaze at the man who yelled at us and saved us from those hundreds of Creepers that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
All of us are still catching our breath, still trying to recover from the fear that has shook us to the bone. When we recovered from the adrenaline, we started looking at the inside of the car, its chairs are lined on each side of it and it was so hot that it makes me feel dizzy already. There is no window to open and I figure this vehicle runs with air-conditioning yet, unfortunately, the machine seems to have a problem or it might have depleted its power.
At the right corner of the car, a long, lanky figure was standing, its shoulders hunched and its uniform hung lo0ose on him. It"s a bit dark in that corner so we couldn"t see clearly his face.
"What happened here?" Timothy asks as he straightens his shirt and stares at the soldier looking puzzled. As we all calmed down, we get moved to get inside the car and sat on the chair one by one, our shoulders hunched too, avoiding the metal roof to hit our heads. With the heat, making us all feel like we were frying alive inside, our faces glistened in sweat, and the inside of the car stunk with the smell of the man. Apparently, since they all came here and whatever happened to them within three weeks of waiting, he didn"t have the chance to take a single bath and it"s obvious their supplies are already depleted.
The man couldn"t even talk to us. He"s just too thin and too weary to say a word so the first thing that came to my mind is to give him food. I quickly fished for some crackers in my bag and grabbed my tumbler of soup and offered it to the soldier.
I slowly stepped towards him but he flinched and Jayson stopped me, still not sure if it"s safe since we"re not sure yet if the guy isn"t infected.
"It"s ok, Jayson. He just needs food and water. It"s our felt something like this had happened and he"s not looking well. We have to help him." I said to them, trying to ease the anxiety that is building in all of us. I turned to the guy and he still look reluctant to take the food I am offering.
"Please take it. It"s safe. One of my friends cooks this soup and it"s really good. I want to share this with you." I extend my hand more for him to reach it and I saw the fear in his eyes. The hunger and thirst must have deteriorated his thinking but I admire that he still had the courage to save us from a huge wave of Creepers outside.
The guy must be really tempted that he snatched the crackers and the tumbler from my hand, making me almost yelp in surprise and Jayson quickly pulled me away from the soldier, making sure I"m far enough from his reach. I sat beside Jayson and we all look at the poor guy as he wolf down the crackers in just two much and drank the soup to its last drop. I felt really bad for him that I couldn"t even look as he cried like a child after he tasted the food.
Mona and Roanie couldn"t stop themselves and cried too and then Li followed. Timothy just hid his face from everyone while Jayson"s arms wrapped around my shoulder, trying to ease the emotions that is eating my heart inside my chest. It"s hard t breathe. Not because of the heat inside the car but because this guy is almost on the verge of death and we"re just in perfect timing to save each other.
As we all endure the dizzying temperature inside, all of us went silent for almost half an hour after the emotional moment when the soldier had finally had something to eat and drink. I look at him from the corner of my eyes and he"s just sitting on the corner and not moving, not knowing what exactly he has to say to us. I don"t want to force him yet to talk because I know the memory is a nightmare to him so we all gave time until he"s ready to say a word.
Li moved and we all look at him. When he look at our puzzled faces and felt that he needs to tell us what was in his mind, he said, "I just go and look at what"s wrong in this car."
"There is nothing wrong with the machine or the panel."
All of us sharply glanced at the soldier who had finally spoken, his posture still looking unwell while hunching his back against the corner. A shadow obscured his face so I cannot see the expression on it very well.
"Then why are you all stuck here?" Timothy asks, worried. "Tell us what happened?"
The soldier just bowed his head low, propping it against the top of his knees. "Please tell me what happened to you first. Why is Col. Morgan not with you? What took you so long to come to this place?"
All of us besides Roanie look at each other and lower our heads also in guilt and grief, as we tell the soldier every detail of what had happened to us. We said everything to him, including Melvin and his men and the unfortunate fate that happened to Col. Morgan.
The soldier wept again after hearing our side of the story and then composed himself again. He must have experienced real struggle here.
"We're all so sorry about Col. Morgan," Jayson whispered to him.
"No, it's not your fault. The Col. gave his all to fulfill his duty. We all did. It's just that when we arrived at this place, there are too many Creepers around. To make sure we all have something to eat until you all arrive here, we sneak into the grocery stores around here to resupply our resources. But one of us was bitten and he kept it on himself. Then one day, he just suddenly bit most of our men in this convoy and the five of them had turned into Creepers. Only three of us had survived the infection but the other two died of dehydration and starvation." He explained between his coughings so Jayson gave him another two bottles of water and he emptied the two within just a minute.
"Where is the other convoy?" Li asked.
"They drove back to bunker four. I have no idea if they all made it back. It's just our commander is a faithful soldier so he decided we must wait for all of you no matter what... and then unfortunate things happened and I've been alone in this car for two weeks. I just ran out of water two days ago and I was all prepared to die already when I heard a commotion outside and saw all of you."
"I'm sorry about your comrades," Jayson murmured sympathetically to him and the soldier just nodded. "May we all know your name though?" And Jayson introduced our names to him.
"I'm Gregory. Just call me Greg," he answered him.
"We can search for any goods that are around here. We'll scout the area. We're good at handling stuff now when it comes to Creepers." Jayson smiled at the man and he pats Timothy on his shoulder, "We had a lot of experience already even before we got into bunker four."