Stronghold In The Apocalypse

Chapter 72: Kitty

While Leo and the people at the camp are cleaning the mess they created by burning the corpses in a huge pit where they threw in the zombies.

Suddenly a convoy of all kinds of vehicles rushed towards them and just stopped a few meters away from Leo.

Caleb hurriedly got down from the vehicle and asked with a worried tone, " Boss! What happened here!?"

Leo looked at him like he was an idiot, "It's a horde, the base got attacked while we were away. Luckily, I made it in time or the camp would have been reduce to tatters by now"

Caleb noticed Leo's look and rubbed his nose for asking something so obvious.

"Anyway, why are you guys back so early? Not even a day has past" Leo then shifted the topic as he thought that they probably met some trouble on the way.

"Ahh, about that. We had actually able to locate a treasure trove just in our first stop, boss!"

"Like golds or diamonds!?" Leo said with shining eyes as he didn't mind adding more to his meager savings.

"Eh? No, it was resources that could at least last us for three months" Caleb immediately replied when he heard Leo misunderstood what he meant.

"Oh?Really?' Leo asked amazed as he knows that the road heading towards Manchester are all looted already.

"Yes, one of the men discovered it at one of houses back at Tintwistle inside a wall leading to an underground room" Caleb said happily.

Leo was surprised hearing that, "That small village? I see, reward that person as you see fit"

"Yes, I surely will! Hmm?" Caleb nodded then suddenly sniffed the scent of blood then noticed a parade of small cargo trucks and other vehicles heading towards them but then he saw something which made him startled as sudden chill made his back shiver.

Leo also noticed the incoming group especially at how thick the smell of blood is that he wouldn't even be surprised that some curious monsters would wander towards them.

The people around them suddenly stopped working the moment they saw another convoy heading towards them but the next scene made their jaws dropped to the ground.

"Beast! Arm yourselves!" with that shout, the survivors outside suddenly panicked and was like hornets that got poked that they immediately ran towards their guns and picked it up, all ready for battle. In normal times, they wouldn't be this courageous in front of a mutated beast and it was all thanks to their high morale that haven't disappeared yet that resulted on all of them being this brave.

"Stop!!" Rachel shouted on top of her lungs as she walked out of the game and headed towards Leo and the rest.

Leo didn't do anything and just stood there with the edge of his mouth twitching as he stared at the man riding on the back of the three meter tall monster who had the appearance of a black panther which surprised him a bit.

Rachel then took the first step forward as she cautiously walked towards Alex and his crew with Caleb and Leo following in tow along with a crowd who was staring at the mutated beast with interest.

Alex then got down from the beast and greeted them, "Commander!" he specifically greeted Leo and gave a respectful nod at Rachel but just casually nodded at Caleb, his treatment towards the latter two are understandable because he only answers to Leo. It was already surprising for an android like him that he was acknowledging them especially towards Caleb who was lower ranked than him and the reason must be because he managed to kill a mutated beast that was far more powerful than him before, that's Alex was giving him an acknowledge he deserved.

If Leo knows the thoughts inside Alex, he would probably scream at him 'You don't act like an android at all but more of a human'

"Hello Alex, you really surprised me everytime I see you" Rachel said as she tapped his shoulder before circling around the monster and headed towards the minibus where a group of survivors are curiously and cautiously looking at the people outside.

"Tell me, is that your pet?" Leo asked as he walked in front of the panther and stared at it which the latter growled as it took a step back.

"No Sir" Alex respectfully answered Leo's question while rubbing the monster's chin which surprisingly got it to calm down.

"Huh? Then why did you bring it if it wasn't your to begin? So who tamed it" Leo was confused that he raised an eyebrow.

"Yours sir and I gave it a beating before finally able to tame it"

The crowd was surprised when they heard Alex and then they looked at Leo filled with respect, envy, fear, etc.

Alex then gave way as he gestured for Leo towards the beast.

Leo then smiled widely as he already thought of buying a pet from the system but he didn't expect for Alex to bring him one.

The panther whimpered, clearly afraid the moment Leo strode towards it and it shot a pleading look towards his soon to be former master, Alex.

The monster was acting like this because the senses of a beast is far more higher than that of a human and it could clearly sense the thick aura of bloodlust around Leo which it didn't sense around Alex and the reason behind it was clearly because he's not a human but an android.

"Come here little kitty" Leo reached out his hand wanting to pat the beast's head.

"Meow" the panther suddenly whimpered like a cat before scampering behind Alex while shivering.

Leo's smile froze while the hand that was reaching out was shaking along with his fingers twitching.

Pffft!

Leo suddenly heard a muffled laughed and shot a look towards his people which made them stood in attention, afraid of being reprimanded but sadly there was one person who does not fear him.

"Hahaha! Hoooo~ that look! You should've have seen it!" Aria was laughing so hard while clutching her belly and with tears already coming out from her eyes.

That laughed of her caused a chain reaction as the started to laughed too, some of them are unrestrained while some tried to control their level of laughter but the loudest one of them all was Zabu, his laughed was so loud that it looks like he was on a megaphone.

The exception was only Caleb who chuckled before he went back to his group and started unloading their loots while berating his men to stop laughing and Alex who gave a hard knocked on the head of the panther.

"Heh~ It's really funny, isn't it?" Leo tilted his head as his eyes squinted into slit and gave a wide smile towards them.

The crowd suddenly stopped except for Aria who was still unrestrained on her laughter and Leo's mom who's laughing to herself while attending to the kids that Alex and his crew brought.

Zabu scratched the back of his head and gave a stiff smile, "Eh? I-I think I still had things to do" he said before scampering off and started throwing the zombie corpses into the burning pit and with someone taking the lead, everyone started making excuses before they hastily went back to continue their chores earlier.

And with that, the crowd disappeared like a puff of smoke with the people remaining are Alex's crew and the newly arrived survivors who are talking to Rachel.

Leo just chuckled as he wasn't really bothered about it but instead he was happy knowing that the people living under his protection are not living in fear. For Leo, he wants the people who lives under his protection to look at him with true respect and a bit of fear and to treat the Stronghold as home and not of a stranger house.

Just like the ancient generals who commands their troops with fear and respect, that they wouldn't even hesitate to die for him in the line of battle.

Leo looked at his hands and snorted while smiling to himself before looking at Alex, "It seems your little does not like me"

"Sorry Commander, It seems kitty doesn't like you" Alex said while patting the panther's head.

"Whaat~?" Alex felt like he heard something wrong.

"I'm so-"

"No, not that. What was the name of the panther?"

"Kitty" Alex said like there wasn't something wrong with it.

The corners of Leo's mouth curled into a smile while light shaking his head,

"You have such..bad naming sense"

Leo said before walking over to his mother while shaking his head leaving behind Alex who was staring at the vacant space in front him.

"I do?" he tilted his head before bringing the beast towards the camp as he didn't even explain the carcasses that they brought back.

"What the heck is this?" Leo was shocked as he didn't expect that the bloodied carcasses on the back of the trucks are a bunch of wolves.