Trash in the Apocalypse

Chapter 105: The Mermaid

The night was clear and the moon shone a light on everything under the sky.

On the other side of the marina where there's only a small piece of land surrounded by water, a group of regular carriers surrounded the small island. The dry land wasn't even enough for a house to be built upon but enough for a small garden.

Speaking of which, two little boys huddled together with a middle-aged woman. She seemed to be the mother of the two children or they were just too scared at the moment that they cling so hard on the woman's clothes.

A unique carrier stood on the center gazing at the woman. The woman seemed to be already used to this and walked forward, leaving the frightened children on their spots.

The surrounding regular carriers snarled and growled at the children but none chose to lunge at them.

The woman gulped as she encouraged herself.

Every day at the same time, this horrible creature would bring her here and a few others. At first, the women were secretly brought here without others knowing. When most of the women were already eaten, she stood alone surrounded by dead bodies. She doesn't know why they did not eat her. She only knew that after those creatures ate her friends and neighbors, their bodies started to change. Almost all of them became skinnier and became a fast swimmer. She was then left alone together with this odd-looking monster. There was a long bamboo pole impaled on its right hand, but it never bothered removing it.

"Does it not feel pain? Why isn't it taking it off?" the woman thought. She then patted the children's head and strode forward.

She arrived beside the monster and placed her hand on top of a plant-like she usually would, then continuously channeled energy. Maybe it was the sole reason she wasn't killed. To be used as a fertilizer, supplying energy to a weird plant that hasn't borne fruit even once. The plant was two feet tall and has green leaves. It looked like a tomato plant since it only grew straight up and has thin stems.

After thirty seconds she stopped channeling energy since it was the normal routine, but the monster snarled as if it was angry. She shuddered and the children became more frightened after hearing the horrendous voice of the creature. She then continued channeling energy. When she was about to pass out from energy exhaustion, with her consciousness already on the brink of collapse, she heard splashing noises.

A few seconds later, she dropped down to the ground. A green circular fruit grew on the stem in just a blink of an eye.

***

"We're in trouble! They're coming!" Jun said as he climbed back up onto the walkway.

His men tensed up as they prepared for the incoming enemies. Their gazes dig deep through the water, carefully scrutinizing every possible entry of attack. They held short swords and had their backs on each other.

"Clear!"

"Nothing on this side!"

"They're coming from the east!"

The death slaves continued giving out reports resulting in a swift gathering of information.

"Let's go to my house!" said Gilbert as he limped forward. His leg was hurting and when he tried stepping his wounded leg, his feet gave way and he fell down.

Before he could plunge unto the water, Jun managed to catch him and support him up.

"Let's go!" said Jun.

"Some of you should go inside those houses!" shouted Gilbert as Jun carried most of his weight. "There are harpoons inside, they should be useful if you want to fight them!"

"Listen to him!" Jun shouted before entering the house.

It was a simple thatched house made of dry leaves for the roof and some simple woods for the floors and walls. There was basic furniture; a table, some chairs, two beds, and two closets. The water was at the same level as the table.

Inside the house were the remaining people of the marina. There were ten people staying on the second floor connected to the first floor by a simple ladder. It couldn't really be called a second floor since it was actually the attic where food was stored. Most of the survivors were old fishermen who looked like they have already given up on resisting. It is noticeable that there's no woman in the room. Also, there's a little girl clutching her body due to the cold.

"Where is my wife? My sons?" said Gilbert as he looked at everyone. "Where are they!?"

Gilbert rushed forward and fell towards the ladder. He ignored the pangs of pain on his leg and forcefully brought himself on the attic. He crawled forward then grabbed the person he trusted the most.

"Paolo, tell me! Where are they?" said Gilbert almost pleading.

The man named Paolo lowered his gaze. "The mermaid took her this time, together with your sons. I'm sorry Gil, I'm truly sorry! We couldn't do anything!"

"I trusted you! I thought you would protect my family! You told me that you'd protect them if I found some help!" said Gilbert, then threw a punch to the man's face.

"Please understand my position our position as well! We want to live too!" said Paolo aggrieved.

"Fvck this!" said Gilbert as he rolled to the side. He crawled towards the edge and dove towards the first floor. Gilbert didn't get up immediately but used the table to stand up. The wound on his leg itched and hurt at the same time. He went towards the closet, then searched for something behind the stacks of clothes.

Gilbert brought out a long spear-like instrument used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch large fish or marine mammals such as whales, a harpoon.

Gilbert armed the harpoon gun with an iron harpoon. He took the rest of the harpoons and strapped them onto his shoulder. He closed the closet, then looked towards the second floor with disappointment.

"We should treat you're wound first," said Jun.

"Are you a doctor?" asked Gilbert.

"No..."

"Then let's go, we need to stop wasting time here!"

Before the two of them got outside, they could already hear the tides of battle outside. It seemed like using a harpoon was harder than his lackeys thought since based on their shouts, they were missing a lot.

Gilbert opened the door and immediately scoured the immediate area for any threats. He limply trudges forward while observing the movements of the water.

On the other side, northeast of them was Jun's men embroiled unto a melee with the fishmen. Besides their slimy figures, there was nothing that resembled them to a fishmen of legends on Jun's head. He couldn't find any gills on any of them, so he decided not to listen to any fishermen's stories from now on.

He stood behind Gilbert to protect him from any flank attacks. At the same time, Gilbert fired his first shot which hit a fishman right on its head. The harpoon went through the side and almost hit the death slave fighting the fishman, stopping a few inches in front of the man's mask.

Just as Gilbert was reloading a harpoon onto the gun, bubbles appeared on the water surface. He readied his bone dagger as he searched the water for the incoming carrier. And like what he expected, a carrier swam towards them at top speed. The carrier's foot stuck together and waved forward like a fish.

Like an arrow released from the bow, it swam to them at a straight line. Since Jun already knew the trajectory of the attack, he swapped his dagger for a bone spear. The bone spear was two feet long and mostly used as throwables, but in this situation, Jun used it as a stopper.

The fishman carrier swam directly towards the spear, piercing itself on the face. Jun felt the forceful impact and his body actually floated for a bit, but still regained balance. He then retrieved and looted the body as they walked forward. He had no time to cut it up and wasn't willing to right now.

"Just loot the bodies. Use your spears as throwables! That's the reason you were given that." Jun shouted.

His death slaves were fighting on par with the fishmen even though they weren't used on fighting in water. With his suggestion and the fishermen's attack pattern; swimming underwater before charging to attack, they easily dealt with them. Some threw the spears before the carriers could dive down while others waited for the carriers to kill themselves by piercing onto the spear.

A weird scream came from the other side of the marina. The rest of the fishmen all retreated and dove down underwater.

"Did we win?" a death slave asked.

"We were winning! But not anymore. Can't you see that a new problem just cropped up!" said the death slave beside him, on his shoulders was a badge with a number one.

"Sir, something weird seems to be happening over there," Nik reported to Jun, who was passing by.

"I know that! What are you guys waiting for! We need to hurry!" yelled Jun.

"Considering that those fishmen were fake and were just regular carriers that can swim fast, is that mermaid even real? What about my epic loot? My water elemental staff!" Jun felt aggrieved as they got closer onto the other half of the marina.

On the distance, he could see a woman carrying two children, running on the surface of the water.