Playing The Victims [BL]

Chapter Sixty-Nine | Third World

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Hansel was way out of his depths when it came to trying to diagnose the unconscious soldier. Every hour or so he'd go back and check on the wound, making sure it was getting better instead of worse, and although it looked promising- the man showed no signs of wanting to wake up. And the clock was ticking away; it was only a matter of time before Valentin became impatient.

He put his ear to the man's broad chest, but even then that was steadily rising and falling with a steady beat. From what he could gather, his temperature was normal too, so it left Hansel feeling very perturbed. He could only report the same things time and time again to not only the soldiers, but to his own team. Although Valentin lacked the ability to care about the soldier, he was still determined to stay in the loop.

When the evening came, it was exactly as the experienced soldiers had said, the streets that were once clear on their arrival were suddenly inundated by groaning Rotters who were dragging themselves in all general directions. The windows, other than the time when the sniper was peeping through, were covered with whatever materials were lying about. And at the doorway to the building, the vehicles were positioned in a semi circle.

To be a 'team player', Valentin selected a few of the Scavenger team members to help back up the militants who were keeping watch just in case. Meanwhile, he was sat with everyone else, and more importantly the second in command of the militant group. The same second in command who Hansel had made a good impression on, from not only helping their squad leader, but also the man himself.

He was called Roscoe, but his team naturally called him 'Ros', and although he gave off a natural air of leadership, Hansel could see the pinched expression on his face. He had too many worries, to many thoughts scrambling around in his head. And although they had just met, Hansel could guess what they may be. The area they were currently in was too dangerous, with proof in the pudding if you looked out of the window at the present moment. They had to move, but their vehicle was severely damaged, and their most important person was in an unknown state.

The only people they could potentially rely on, was a team they knew nothing about, which was led by a man who was far too experienced with sweet words. Undoubtedly, by the way the rest of Roscoe's men looked at him, he was a reliable and efficient man, but at present he looked uncertain and found himself glancing towards the room where the squad leader lay. Yet these observations were kept under-wraps by Hansel, who minded his own business as a small amount of food was portioned out to everyone. It was during that time when Valentin eventually broached the subject of how the men had gotten into their current state.

Judging by the look on each of their faces, it wasn't something they could easily speak about, for some reason. This interested Hansel, as it would anyone who was interested in unlocking more key information about the obscure world.

It was Roscoe who eventually began to speak. Something that most definitely hadn't happened in the original's storyline, or if it did, he just wasn't privy to it. The soldier didn't speak immediately, and when he did, he did so without looking at them. "As you may or may not have guessed, we're from the safe-zone. We're one of a few teams that were sent out to gather..supplies." He shifted on his seat, and after getting into a comfier position, which was leaning back, he continued.

"We know where the hotspots for Rotter activity are, they're also the places which were quickly abandoned with no opportunity to take the supplies. Our mission was one of those hotspots, but we underestimated.."

"How many there were?" Valentin 'tried to help' but was just impatient.

The soldier shook his head, his expression troubled, "No, it wasn't about quantity. These creatures we found were far more than the ordinary Rotter. They were better in every way, and completely lethal." The man's taut expression left no room for anyone to think he was joking. Although Roscoe was a man with an impressive body, he still visibly shuddered as he reminisced.