Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System - Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Late Night Attack
“Hey, are you sure you’re leading us to the right place?” asked one of the thugs. “We’ve been walking forever.”

“Yes, it’s just up the road. I know for sure; I followed them here myself,” replied the tall, skinny man.

The leader of the group listened to the skinny man’s words and continued to walk. “Shut up and keep walking. Once we are there, we can loot the whole house. They had nice bikes we already stole; they must have many more good items.”

“Yes, boss!” the men said as they picked up their pace. They had been looting many houses over the last few days, gaining many good things. Their boss had said that he had spotted a rich-looking family a few days back at the shopping plaza, and today was the chosen day to loot them.

The skinny man walked in front of the group, leading them to the house, but as he got closer, he noticed movement coming from the house.

“Boss! Bad news, I think they spotted us and are trying to flee!” he shouted.

“What! Hurry up, we need to stop them from taking their goods with them!” shouted the boss, ordering his men to sprint full speed ahead.

Reginald noticed the sea of people running toward them at full speed and quickly yelled at Ella and his wife to hurry up.

“Hurry, get in! They’re almost here!” he shouted as he began to back the car out of the driveway. Ella and her mother sprinted to the car, getting in just as the faster thugs entered their property.

Ella turned to look out of the car window, seeing the men approaching their vehicle. Her dad pressed his foot on the gas pedal, aggressively driving onto the street.

“Shit, if only we had a gun to blow out their tires”, yelled the leader of thugs. He watched the large SUV vehicle leave with a small trailer hitch attached behind. He knew most of the valuables must have been taken with them.

“Go! Search the house, the couldn’t have left everything!”, he ordered.

The group of thugs swarmed into the house, stripping it completely bare. Even the half broken vases and tableware were taken, leaving the house looking as if it hadn’t been lived in.

The leader looked through the pile of items, frowning slightly. Although many of the items they got were of good quality, very little of it was useful for their current situation.

He clenched his fist as he walked over to the skinny man who was the scout and began bashing him in the face. “You fool! You must have been spotted when I told you to tail them! You cost us so many good things!”, he yelled with extreme anger.

The skinny man flew to the ground from the impact, blood seeping down from his broken nose. “Boss, I swear they didn’t see me! I made sure of it!”, he yelled, begging for mercy.

The leader didn’t believe that they would simply pack and leave without a reason in such a short period of time.

“Don’t lie, scum! Today you’re going to pay for this mistake with your life!”, he yelled, continuing to beat the skinny man. The rest of the gang members watched, feeling frightened at the sight. They all vowed not to get on their leaders bad side so they could live to see another day.

After the leader vented his anger on the skinny man he turned to face the other men, “What are you looking at, hurry up and pack all of this shit up, we’re bringing it all back with us”.

Ella’s nerves finally relaxed a little as they drove further away from the house. She looked over and saw her mom still frozen in shock.

“Mom, it’s okay now. We’re safe,” she said gently. She always knew her mother was a very delicate woman. She had grown up in a wealthy family and was always pampered, never having to experience any difficulty. Even after she married Reginald, he made sure to always take care of her every need.

Her mother looked up at Ella’s worried expression and snapped back to reality. “What were those people going to do? Why were they swarming our house?”

Ella frowned and looked over at her father, who was driving silently. She wasn’t sure how to answer her mother’s questions and decided to pass that task over to her father.

Reginald sighed at his wife’s ignorance. It was a trait he loved about her, but the way the world was now, remaining ignorant could mean death.

“Honey, the world is different now. People are struggling to survive, and others are taking advantage of the current lawless world to steal and gain benefits from others. Those people were probably there to rob us of our things.”

He did his best to speak gently but realistically. He loved his wife dearly and wanted to spend many more years with her, meaning he needed to make sure she understood the severity of the situation.

He looked back in the rearview mirror and saw his wife sitting quietly with tears running down her face. His heart ached seeing her in such a sad and distraught state, but right now he couldn’t do much to comfort her.

Ella turned around and looked at her mother. “Mom, it’s going to be okay. We’re heading to a government-established base where there will be rules and regulations. No one is going to hurt us there, and everything will be okay.”

Her mother turned to look at Ella and nodded, trying to force a smile. “Yes, dear. It will be okay…”

They continued to drive toward the resort where the base was. Thankfully, Reginald had been there once before for a business retreat and had a vague idea of where to go. Still, the drive was difficult due to road obstructions and broken bridges that had fallen during the earthquakes.

“I’m going to stop at this gas station over here and see if we can get more gas. Ella, take a look around for anything useful; we still have a little bit of space left in the car,” said Reginald.

There was a gas station in sight that looked like it had been untouched. Its location was very remote, and very few people lived out this way. If it hadn’t been for a broken bridge, they would never have taken such a remote road.

He pulled the car up to one of the gas pumps and got out.

“Ella, go inside and see if there are any empty gas cans. This pump still has gas!” he said happily, and began refueling their SUV.

Ella walked inside the small gas station store and was surprised to see it completely untouched! Everything was still neatly arranged on the shelves as if it was just another normal day. She would have even thought it had been recently restocked if it weren’t for the coat of dust that lay on top of the various items.