Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Helping Hand
The little girl took her time but eventually walked back to face Rayne, clutching the large chocolate bar in her hands.

“I’m Lily. Thank you for the chocolate,” she kept her eyes locked on the chocolate bar in her hands.

Rayne smiled. “You’re welcome. Are you alone, Lily? Where are you living?” Rayne tried to appear as sweet and kind as possible, hoping not to frighten the little girl.

Lily shook her head. “No, I’m not alone. I live with Mommy and Grandpa… oh, and my brother too.”

Rayne was happy to hear that at least the little girl wasn’t all alone. “Where are they? Why are you here alone?”

“They’re at home, well, Grandpa’s home. Our home is gone now,” she said, looking sad. Before Rayne could ask, she continued, “Mommy’s leg is hurt, and Grandpa has a hard time walking, so I came out looking for food.”

Rayne’s hands trembled slightly. She felt her heart break for Lily and her family. “Can you bring me to your mom? Maybe I can help her,” she offered.

The little girl’s eyes lit up as she looked up at Rayne. “Really? You can help Mommy? I’ll take you there!” she said excitedly.

Rayne nodded and followed Lily outside. As she walked past Julian, he nodded at her, telling her she could go and that he would be close by in case anything were to happen.

Rayne followed the excited Lily a little further down the street and down into an alley. Thankfully, the building they entered was still mostly intact, with only some windows broken.

Lily led Rayne to a door on the second floor, knocking on it lightly.

“Mommy, it’s me,” whispered Lily.

The door quietly opened, revealing a young boy, even younger than Lily. He was also covered in dust and looked on the thinner side.

“Lily! Who’s that?” he asked curiously.

“Lily? What’s going on?” a concerned woman’s voice rang from inside the apartment.

Lily walked in, holding her brother’s small hand. “Mommy, I found this kind lady who gave me a big chocolate! She said she can help you,” she called out excitedly.

Rayne stepped into the apartment behind Lily. She noticed that the apartment was in rough shape but still livable. Some of the windows were boarded up to prevent the wind and rain from pouring inside.

There was a middle-aged woman lying on the couch. Her leg had a large glass shard poking out. She looked like she was in a lot of pain but appeared very wary of Rayne.

“Hello, I’m Rayne. I ran into Lily at the corner store just now and heard you might be in need of help,” she greeted the woman.

The woman relaxed slightly, seeing that Rayne looked like a kind person. “Hello, please come in. Sorry, but we don’t have anything to offer you,” she said calmly.

Rayne walked over and took a better look at her leg. It looked like the shard of glass was embedded very deep.

The woman noticed Rayne looking at her injury. “A few days ago, a big gust of wind flung a rock or something into that window,” she pointed. “It shattered the window, digging this shard into my leg.

“Unfortunately, we ran out of all of our supplies, including bandages. I was worried that if I were to pull this large shard out, I could potentially bleed out without any proper bandaging.”

Rayne nodded, agreeing with the woman. “If you don’t mind, I can try to help. I don’t have much medical experience, just some basic first aid,” she said, taking off her backpack.

The woman looked at Rayne for a few minutes, then nodded. “Lily, ask your grandpa to come here. Then take your brother and split the chocolate bar the nice lady gave you in the other room.”

Rayne began to take out a few medical supplies from her system, using the backpack as cover. She took out rubbing alcohol, bandages, painkillers, gauze, and tweezers. Just as she finished, an elderly man walked out of a bedroom using a large walking stick.

“Dad, this lady here said she will kindly help me with the glass. Can you help her?” asked the woman lying on the couch.

She turned to face Rayne, shocked to see all the medical supplies on the floor. “Miss, I am so grateful for these supplies! I don’t know how I can ever repay you.” To her, these supplies were worth more than gold.

Her daughter had been leaving the house alone for hours at a time to look for them, causing her to worry endlessly for her daughter’s safety.

“This is my father. He used to be a firefighter and has some medical skills as well. Please allow him to help you,” said the woman, introducing the old man to Rayne.

Rayne generously poured the disinfectant around the wound, causing the woman to flinch from the pain. She then prepared the gauze and bandages, while the elderly man carefully gripped the glass shard using a glove that Rayne gave him.

“Okay, on 3, I will pull it out. Be ready to stop the bleeding,” said the old man.

Rayne nodded and focused on the wound.

“3… 2… 1… Okay!” he said as he pulled the glass shard out in one single motion. The woman’s body tensed as she did her best to muffle her scream.

Rayne quickly placed the bandage on the wound, applying pressure while the old man wrapped the gauze around it. She then handed the woman a bottle of extra-strength painkillers and fever reducers with a bottle of water.

The woman gratefully accepted, doing her best to deal with the pain.

“My name is Walter. Miss, thank you for your help. I’ve been hesitant to remove this shard on my own without a clean bandage,” he shook her hand, feeling very grateful.

Rayne smiled. “I’m Rayne, nice to meet you. And don’t mention it, I’m just happy to help.”

She noticed they had a few barrels of dirt by the windows that still had the glass intact. “Are you planning on growing something?”

Walter nodded. “Yes, I set these up before the disaster started, but never got around to buying any seeds. I wanted to teach my grandkids the fun of growing food.”

Rayne quickly unzipped the front pocket of her backpack. “It turns out I found a big box of new seeds while I was out today. Please allow me to share some of these with you.” She took out about 10 packets of seeds for lettuce, radishes, cucumbers, and a few herbs from her system.

Walter’s eyes widened!