Joe’s questioning look quickly turned into an accusatory one when he remembered that Rick had robbed Ethan’s brother’s store...
Rick gave Joe a look of regret, then turned to the man, accusing him.
"Sir, let’s calm down and not make senseless accusations... First of all, what’s your name?"
The leader of the police officers made a mocking sound before answering:
"I’m Sergeant Fabian."
"Sergeant Fabian, is there anything technologically working in your station or anywhere else in the city?"
The Sergeant’s face darkened, and he answered briefly, "No".
"Exactly, even if I had taken the antenna, it wouldn’t work anymore... But let’s say that, ’if’ I took it because I had a way to prevent its destruction... That would be a good thing for all the survivors in the city, right? Have your men fixed any radios? Test it on frequency 755 AM."
The Sergeant looked at one of the armed men nearby, and he took out two radios. After calling them and testing them, they confirmed that the radio frequencies were back, and he even jumped for joy.
"It’s back! It is working again, Sergeant!"
The Sergeant sighed and signaled for everyone to lower their weapons. This finally made Joe and the Captain feel relieved.
"So can we negotiate now?" Rick asked.
"What do you need, and what do you have to offer? Don’t think the radio signal will count as anything, I still don’t fully trust you..."
"Fair enough... We have information that can help your group survive, information about the behaviors and types of zombies and monsters, and most importantly, a way to increase the strength of your group..."
Later that day, when Rick and his group returned to the agreed location to refuel the box truck, their inventory was full of many bulletproof vests, firearms, ammunition, grenades, batons, and riot shields, and plenty of tactical clothing and accessories. Rick had looted a few police stations during the apocalypse and knew that all he had now was at least 35% of the entire arsenal of the SC12 police station.
The things Rick considered the most were silencers for all types of weapons, and high-caliber weapons like grenade launchers and sniper rifles. The last two were the only ones that had any effect on the tough skin of the level 2 zombies.
Of course, Sergeant Fabian and his men gained something very valuable in exchange for such a percentage of their arsenal... They now knew everything about the mutants from levels 1 to 3, and also how to use the crystals to strengthen their group. Rick even gave superficial information about the Universal Force. Making a slight demonstration in front of the Sergeant, which made him sweat cold when he learned that Rick had such frightening powers and his men had pointed guns at him...
Rick also obtained the third and final prototype of SC12’s space bracelet, which belonged to the deceased police captain. Adding the space of another small garage to his bracelet, this was his sixth expansion.
With the police station business concluded, now all that was left was to find the Olympic arches and additional defense equipment at the university, and they could start cleaning up the hospital.
So the next day, before they left for college, the truck returned from Pineview Base with two new items created by the village’s artisans... Rick looked at a jacket made from the pelt of a gray wolf. For something handmade, the jacket was very nice, and the gray fur gave it a wild look. Not only was it great for the cold winds that were starting to become uncomfortable, but Rick knew how durable this thing was...
Besides the jacket, there was only one other item, a pair of boots made of the same leather, but Rick left it for Joe.
"Rick, let’s split up today. I’ll go with the Captain to the gallery, and you go to the university using the motorcycle. We have no way to loot the place, but we can thin the numbers to make it easier. If the university has too many zombies, you can give up and catch up with us easily at the gallery using the motorcycle."
"True, with this we can save an extra day from the initial schedule and go straight to SC01... Here, take this." Rick passed Joe 18 level 2 crystals.
"Only 12 left..." Joe said a little anxiously.
"Yeah, maybe you can complete the 30 crystals you need while you’re cleaning the gallery with the Captain."
"Okay, let’s go then, we’ll talk on the radio, take care, kid."
Rick accelerated a few times on purpose as he entered the campus with his motorcycle. The goal was to confirm that there were no zombies in the surroundings... But what he saw inside the university quickly put him on alert.
There were several zombie bodies, but when he passed by them, there were no crystals, and all of them had their chests cut open...
"Has anyone at the college found out about the use of crystals?" Rick thought as he became more alert.
Rick accelerated the motorcycle, quickly arriving at the gym. Before he even got close, he had already seen huge chains with padlocks blocking the door to the place. He then took out two small pieces of metal and was about to silently break into the place when he was interrupted by a scream.
"HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
Rick turned around and saw a group of survivors coming out of the cafeteria. The tallest of the group was wearing a lot of protective sports gear, probably from the gym. He was the one who shouted, but Rick’s eyes soon noticed a familiar face in the crowd...
The moment he saw Travis, Rick’s thoughts went back to the day he was killed by him, and he unconsciously began to ignore everyone else, only focusing his eyes on the traitor. A slight bloodlust began to emanate from him, but Rick quickly controlled it after the big guy of the group put a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him again:
"Hey, I’m talking to you, don’t ignore me!"
With just one hand and without taking his eyes off Travis, Rick spun the big guy around by the arm, throwing him backwards onto the ground. Everyone watching the scene took a step back in fear, and at that moment, Travis finally stepped forward and spoke normally:
"Rick, you’re alive, I’m glad to see you again..."
At that moment, before Rick could answer, more people arrived, and among them, a pretty and popular girl stood out from the crowd, running up to him and hugging him tightly. Her hug disgusted Rick, and her next sweet words almost made him vomit...
"Rick, darling, it’s you!"
After hugging him, she whispered in his ear: "I missed you so much..."
And Rick, still full of hate, whispered back: "If you missed me so much, why do you have the scent of another man on your body?"
Maggie made several expressions at the same time: shock, surprise, shame. At that moment, her nostrils flared, preparing to smell her clothes, but she realized that this would only reinforce the truth of Rick’s words. She then opened her mouth to try to deny it, but she was still stunned. This was the first time someone had scolded her like that, and no words came out of her lips.
It was at that moment that she finally realized that Rick had only looked at her once, and it was a cold look full of contempt... It was almost as if the man in front of her was someone completely different from the innocent young man who had previously courted her daily on campus...