Capítulo 24: Sienna Baker
Rozan sighed. "Fair enough, I guess. We barely know each other, so let's just say that we're both using each other for our own benefit."
William nodded. He still didn't know much about this Old Man Rozan, so he couldn't say too much. He pointed at the rack filled with bottles. "Can you bring those along when we return back?"
"Sure."
"Good."
As Rozan picked the bottles, William turned his head around. A convenience store would always have the storage room where the staffs usually kept some of their items since not everything would be put into the rack. He had already seen some staffs walking in and out of the storage room.
It was usually located at the back, which was just behind door at the back of the convenience store. Just now, William was sure that he heard the sound of something moving from there.
Rat? Xermo? People?
He was not entirely sure.
Putting down the gallon of water, William slowly walked to the back with his gun ready. He tried to open the door and found out that it was locked from inside. Silently, he took out wire that he had prepared and began to pick the lock.
Some doors could be easily picked with wire and as part of the military, William had learnt the method. There were times when he needed to use this skill back then, so mastery was necessary.
Pushing the door open, William scanned the room.
"Who's there?"
He could see someone sitting on the edge of the room. As his eyes started to get used with the darkness, he could see that the one before him was a young woman. The young woman had long black hair and dark eyes. She was dressed up in suits with slightly disheveled hair and clothes.
The young woman trembled when she saw the gun pointing at her.
"Don't shoot! I'm a human!"
William lowered his gun and looked at the young woman before him. There were a mess of some items around the woman, which look like the wrappings of food and bottles that she had been using all this time during her stay in this dark room.
"Name?"
"Sienna… Sienna Baker."
Rozan walked to their direction with his hand holding a plastic bag filled with bottles of water. He looked at Sienna with surprised eyes. "There's a woman living in this dark and narrow place?"
William nodded and scanned the room. There were a lot of items inside the storage room. His eyes were locked at the rows of gallons at the edge of the room. It would surely be more than enough for them for a few days if only they could bring it along with them.
"Please don't kill me," Sienna said again. Her eyes were still looking at the gun in William's hand with fear.
"I won't kill you."
"Yes?"
Rozan arched his eyebrows. "Do you want to bring her along?"
"It's up to her," William replied. He looked at the room and noticed that it was not that bad to stay here with so many supplies around her. However, it was also very pitiful because the Xermo would surely get attracted and possibly attack the area around this place.
With the condition of the wall, there was no telling how long it would take before things turned to the worst.
"Your name is Sienna, right?"
"Y…yes!"
"Do you want to come with us?" William asked. He was sure that the gang members must have already come here in the past, but they didn't come into the storage room and only took the food from outside. Because of that, Sienna managed to survive by staying in this place.
Sienna stared at the two men in front of her with blank expression. Slowly, she stood up and nodded her head. "Please help me."
"We're going to a nearby house. If you wish to come with us, you might want to bring along some food that we can possibly eat."
"En."
Hurriedly, Sienna began to take some of the dried food around her. There were mostly biscuits, but it would be good enough for them to eat when they were hungry. After all, they would also want some variety aside from the canned food that they have been bringing along with them so far.
"I'm William and this is Rozan."
"N…nice to meet you, William and uh, Uncle Rozan."
Rozan laughed at Sienna's hesitation. In this place, it was common courtesy to use 'brother' or 'uncle' when they were addressing someone who was older than them.
"Uhm, is there any safe place?" Sienna asked.
For the past few days, she had been worried that the Xermo managed to break down the wall and rushed inside. Every single time, she felt as if she couldn't rest properly because of worry and it was taking a toll in her body.
William walked out of the storage room and locked it again after Sienna had walked out. He took the gallon once more then nodded to Rozan, telling him to lead them to return back once more.
"Come here."
"Ok."
Watching his surroundings, William casted his gaze to the hotel at a distance once more. There was still rapid sound of gunshots that could be heard from a distance away. However, he also realized that the intensity had increased.
The number of Xermo had increased.
And it might still be increasing rapidly since the conversion rate was high. There would be more and more Xermo roaming around in the future.
'Are all the people who live in these cities won't be able to survive?'
William didn't know. He could only hope that there was still hope.
Presentes
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