Chapter 226: 226
The moment I finished my sentence he huffed in amus.e.m.e.nt and almost hit me with his cane. I replied with a confident look and kept on walking forwards.
“H-hey, did he really?” he turned to Kaley to confirm.
“Yep.” Kaley simply answered and walked by my side.
“That’s amazing!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, you believed me without questioning eh?” I was surprised.
“W-well you said it was, did you lie?” he replied.
“Well, it is real. I did mean what I say. Most people would then start to question me things if it was real or not. You’re one of the few that believed me this easy. Well, you asked Kaley but you didn’t ask for more proof.” I said.
“Well, that is one of my good quali-” I cut him off.
“Nope. That’s bad. Question everything. It’s bad practice to take things as they are without questioning them.” I said.
“Bah! I’m f.u.c.k.i.n.g old! I do not have time for that anymore! I still question things but I’m just amazed you have that ability. Makes an old man like me a bit jealous.” he explained.
“Well, Kaley’s psychic. She could read minds.” I said.
“What?! That’s even mor-” I cut him off again.
“I’m lying. Didn’t I tell you to question everything? What happened to you? You went from being this old dude I want to beat up because of being unreasonable from being this old dude I want to beat up because of being so annoying!” I exclaimed.
“I ah-” he was speechless.
“So you still want to beat him up then? *chuckles*” Kaley said.
“Nah, just kidding. He did gave us a couple of swords, well, I said ‘gave’ but I meant taken. Hey, old timer, we’re going now, do you want to walk the way back?” I said.
Damian was slightly left behind and he tried to catch by walking a bit faster. His cane clinks at each step as he followed behind and we made our way to one of the houses which has a small satellite dish that is slightly above others to install the last of the relays I’ve brought. The house I’m talking about belongs to Damian.
It was easily installed and I made mention that if they still have their radios with them, they could turn it on to listen from our radio station. I said the same thing that the apparatus I’ve installed would be for better coverage to hide the fact that it was for something else entirely. I just made glances to everyone present at this place and I’ve asked Gabriel to make a list of all the people in here and make a simple logbook to who goes in and out.
Since all of them wouldn’t be just farmers, they were tasked with different jobs that suited their skills the same way for what we do in my place. Most of them just scavenge all over the place when they were in the camps and doing work here will allow some of them who aren’t suited to go outside to work for tasks suited for them. All will be required to contribute and those who don’t comply will be met with disciplinary action.
Before I left the place, I gave a small speech not to just raise spirits but to also give them the reality of the situation and some things they needed to know. It’s simple, they need us more than we need them. We could survive on our own already but we still share a common enemy. We’ll see how things work for the coming days and I’ll decide if I would let them take part on my plan to reclaim and clear the People’s Park and the City Hall. I still need to prepare a lot of things before diving in that plan and I need capable people and not just an added number of people to increase the chances of success.
We then came back to the DDR Camp and got an updated copy of the people inside. We found out that the fence is already standing strong and high and my uncle and my other people will build the others tomorrow. When everything of importance outside was finally accomplished, I took a small breather inside our vehicle first. I stretched my body and made the bones of my fingers and neck crack and I took a deep breath.
“Good job today, you must be tired.” Kaley tapped my shoulder.
“Thanks. I am, a little bit, yes. It’s going a lot smoother than expected. I’d be more tired if they started to get unreasonable. We’re basically giving them a portion of our food.” I replied.
“Will we be okay at home though?” she asked.
“Yeah, actually, we’d be fine to feed them for about half a year or more easily. The amount we got from the past week is staggering. The timing for our harvest is just right too. It’s like making banana bread.” I replied.
“What? What did banana bread have to do with feeding them now?” she started to laugh from the unexpected example.
“HAHAHAHAHA!!! Well, the bananas you use for banana bread is the ones that are black, not the yellow ones.” I replied.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! I can’t follow! HAHAHAHA!!! Why are we talking about bananas now?!” she’s shaking her head.
“Well, we use them since most of the starch is converted to sugar. It is easier to mash and people wouldn’t even touch them if they’re that color anyway. I don’t know why but I’m really weirded out by bananas.” I said.
“This has suddenly turned to a baking class… Wait, why are you weirded out by bananas?” she asked.
“Well not by bananas per say, but by the way we eat them. We avoid the black spots but next thing you know we’re sticking our tongues to where the sun doesn’t shine and a few others.” I replied.
“AHHHHH~!!! Stop! Can you please drive and *snort* let’s go home now?! I need to stop asking questions since I’m afraid where you’ll go next!” she’s blushing from the neck and she’s withholding her laughter.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Hey, I’m not complaining about doing it! In fact, I don’t mind doing it every single time! Or do you not like it then?” I said, smiling.
“Well! I- AHHHHHHHH!!! Just drive!” she can’t look at me in the eye and she’s still red.
We made our way home and it was just in time for the broadcast. However, it is not the ‘broadcast’ but the real broadcast. I with the others were surprised to see the president in the podium again with the others as if nothing has happened.
“What the f.u.c.k?! I thought he’s already-” Ken exclaimed.
“Hmm? Wait, what?! It’s the real one now?!”
“Really?”
“OH SHIT!!!”
“Then it’s all good!!! Nothing happened then? Right?”
“SHH! HE’S ABOUT TO SPEAK!!!”
“Shhh~”
It was a very short squabble between us and he started his address to everyone that is still able to watch him. I’m still in doubt so while I listen to what he has to say, I’m observing very small details that might give some clue if it’s really the real deal.
“Philippines, this is your president speaking. We’re about to reach a month from when it all started and I believe that even if we’re all struggling, we’re still fighting. I apologize that the rations that has been given out are getting fewer and fewer even if our numbers are still decreasing by the day. We’re trying to secure food for everyone but the city I’m in takes priority. I’ve lost contact with a few camps from the other island groups due to unknown reasons and my heart aches for them. However, those whose lives are lost while performing their duty will not be forgotten I assure you. Also…” he started his speech.
Everyone seems to be in high spirits knowing that the president we’re seeing now is the real one but I’m still wondering about the days where he wasn’t the real one.
“What happened on those days? Did he get sick? Did someone from his family die? Did someone deliberately hidden the contents of those broadcasts? Why? I’m happy that he’s alive and all but what about those days?” I thought to myself.
While we were watching the broadcast, Jared handed me the phone which is currently being sent files. However, as I was checking the names of the files, there’re a few names mixed within that I requested specifically.
“I’ll give you back this phone later since I will be copying the files after this.” I said to Jared.
“Okay bro. Charge it too while you’re at it.” he replied.
“Sure.” I replied as I tapped on the first name.
[Jennifer Goodman]
I started to read the information written within and a smile is slowly forming on my face.
“Holy shit, Ana is really from that group. I wonder from whom she got this info though since her reach here is pretty limited. Everything is in here. Oscar is gonna flip out if he finds out about this. Wait, I remember that he pulled something when he first acquired the flash drive from the DDR Camp… I’d do a little something first.” I thought to myself.
After the broadcast was finished, I tapped Oscar.
“Old man, you owe me.” I said.
“Hmm? What?” he was confused.
“Hah! I’ll tell you tomorrow but yeah, you owe me.” I smirked.
“KID?!” he started to get pissed.
“This is the payback for last time! You think I will ever forget that?! HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU OWE ME MADAFAKA~!!!” I started to sprint upstairs.
“KID?! WHAT THE F.U.C.K IS IT?! TELL ME YOU LITTLE SHIT!!!” he shouted from below.