Doomsday Pillars

Seeing the smoke from the distance, Alex became worried. He knew it was exactly coming from Erick's village.

"Just follow this road heading to that smoke," Alex told Jerry to continue driving. However, his fidgeting knees wouldn't stop; he jumped out of the jeep and started running with his fastest speed through the forest. 

The village was located in the middle of the mountain, it'd take the jeep a while to find its way through the forest. 

When he jumped, Aria followed suit. Alex didn't mind because Aria had marksmanship as well as ranger training. Pathing through the woods was an essential skill for a sniper, they need to fully understand the terrain and become one with the surroundings. Hence, this was her speciality and the reason she was one of the Death Squads best scouts.

Both of them were high stage mortal realm humans, they were supposed to have the same speed and strength but Aria still found it hard to keep up with Alex despite her ranger training.

The steep and rocky terrain, along with thick brush, made it difficult for most people to even walk past this mountain. But for Alex, he knew these woods like the back of his hands. Also, rather than running, Alex was hopping between rocks and trees while Aria chased after him in amazement.

So, in just five minutes, Alex reached the supposed location of the small village. There should be around two dozen makeshift houses however, half had been burnt down. There should be around forty people too, but they weren't in sight except for the few stragglers of zombies.

Alex quickly disposed of them and begane checking each one of the houses. He found about a couple of human corpses around with bite marks on them. Alex then checked each corpse and recognized some of them, but he hadn't found Eric or Eric's family members among them. He let out a sigh of relief because there was still a chance they might have survived.

After he had finished his investigation, he began to wonder what had happened to this village. Was this a result of the butterfly effect he had created? Because, this remote village should have not been attacked by zombies until the third month. 

A few minutes later the two jeeps arrived. Together, they carried the human corpses, whatever was left of them, and dug a simple burial for the bodies. Theo then ended it with a prayer.

Somehow, Alex felt responsible for this. Although he knew that humanity had eventually been wiped out after ten years in his previous life, and he shouldn't be upset for every victim that would die after being reincarnated, it was because he had lived with these people that he took this one personally.

The group gathered. Theo had graduated from medical school before he turned to his faith and became a priest. When he had taken a look at the bodies, he found out that most of these people died around 12 hours ago, not from zombies but by knives and bullets. Aria also mentioned that she had found two sets of tracks; one was large, about a dozen people, two days old; while the second was smaller tracks only about 12 hours old. Both of these tracks, however, went in the same direction. And since Alex was searching for the remaining villagers or any answers, this was the way.

Cindy was outraged hearing Theo and Aria's reports. "Humans did this?! Fucxxxx assholes!"

Rama asked, "Should we follow then?"

Alex didn't answer, but everyone knew he was raging inside and what they should do next. Since the tracks went deeper in the forest, they couldn't bring the jeeps. Alex asked Theo and Cindy to return to the base, but they refused. They wanted to see the culprit as well. Therefore, they hid the jeeps and pursed the tracks.

Although everyone had reached the high stage mortal realm, Alex adapted with the group's speed. Aria took the lead and the group followed not far behind her. It took them an hour to travel about four kilometers and the tracks disappeared at a five-star resort aptly named The Butterfly Hotel, one of the few famous hotel chains in Bali. 

This particular hotel was remotely located in Bali surrounded by mountains. It was said that many famous celebrities or political figures often stayed in this hotel.

The group could see the hotel from a distance. Aria used her sniper scope and scouted the hotel.

"What do you see?" Alex asked.

"About a dozen guards, some using firearms. There should be more inside."

He tried to be calm and think of the best strategy. First, he didn't know what had happened to villagers. Until he knew better, he better hid his strength. 

Alex assigned Aria as the spotter with Sergei and Rama as her guards. As for Jerry, Alex needed his speed, a pair of hidden knives should be useful. Theo appeared harmless and Cindy… since she was an American, she would be their distraction. Alex was somewhat worried this mission was too dangerous for her. She was a girl after all.

"You want me to act? Sure, I'm great at acting! I promise I won't let you down. I'll lead you on."

Apparently, Alex worried for nothing. This definitely wasn't your typical normal American girl or was it?

Alex then placed all equipment in his storage ring. The four walked to the front gate.

"Halooo... Thank God there are people here." 

"Can you help us? Do you have food? We can pay…"

"Woah, woah! What's with all the guns! We're harmless!"

Seeing the noisy blonde girl, the guard in the gate wasn't what to do and called for his leader. Alex and the three were then frisked by the guard. They found a knife and one pistol, which Alex purposely let them find. It had been almost two weeks since Doomsday had started after all, so not holding weapons would bring more suspicion.

A guy in his 40's holding a big knife came out, inspected the weapons and seemed to be deliberating something. Alex could tell this guy wouldn't hesitate to cut people if he had to. This could be the guy who killed all the villagers… wait better not be reckless… but before Alex was able to say something… Cindy shouted, "Who the fuxx are you? I demand to see your boss!"

Alex became speechless. This girl was either fearless or just plain stupid. He was about to take his weapon from the storage ring when...

"Hahaha! Sorry, miss. My name is Anton, the head of security of this hotel. Please, follow me. I am sorry to say, however, that all weapons must stay here."

It seems she could be brilliant… 

or just lucky… 

The group was led to the biggest villa and was asked to wait in the living room. The villa had tempered glasses with a wonderful view of the hill and forest and a large balcony facing the courtyard. The four people sat on the couches but Alex was getting worried once more. He hadn't seen any civilians, just the dozen guards. 

After a while, a short middle-aged guy wearing only shorts came into the living room with two beautiful women around his arms wearing swimming suits.

"This is the estate owner Mr. Big," Anton said.

"What is this now, Anton!"

"..."

"Wow! A foreign beauty! So, have the four of you come here to join?"

"Join? What do you mean?" Cindy said.

"To be part of our community, of course. We'll give you food and shelter — you see Anton here? He and his crew are hired by yours truly. They're an expensive bunch because they were international bodyguard services and only deal with AAA clients. They're the best, so I can guarantee your safety in our community against the zombies."

"What do we have to do in return," Alex asked.

"Nothing! We just need to work together," Mr. Big smile widely. Suddenly, a ruckus erupted in the courtyard. "Right about the time. Let me show how you'll work with me."

At least a few hundred people walked into the courtyard, but all of them were in a terrible condition. Some had visible injuries; some were being carried at their back.

"Oh… There are some casualties today. What can I say? This is a very difficult era and going outside is very risky. Don't you agree?"

Alex focused his vision on the returning survivors, being a high stage mortal realm, his perceptions had been heightened so he could see further. He scanned the faces of each person, one by one. Until finally, he calmed down a little. He found Erick and his wife within the group.

Mr. Big seemed to have noticed Alex's little smile and mistook its meaning because he said, "It seems you like what you see? Are you going to join?"