(A/N: Kawayan = Bamboo.)

Arriving at the periphery of the Village of

Kawayan, Nile didn't enter the village immediately. Instead, he searched for a good spot that was not far from the Village to rest for the day.

After searching around, Nile found a good place. It was an open field that had a huge tree in its center. The tree was surrounded by bamboo acting as its fence. The reason Nile chose this place was because of the bamboo surrounding the tree. The tree itself was also as tall as a skyscraper. Nile was planning to use the tree's height to observe the Village that was a few hundred meters away from them.

Nile gets off Maximo's back and prepares to make their dinner, with the System's help. He browsed through the store and finally settled on some simple dishes that have the function to calm one's mind.

Croco was still full due to the innards that he had just finished so Nile only bought two sets for him and Maximo. The dinner cost him 10 Apocalypse points, it wasn't much but it wasn't cheap either.

After eating their dinner, the two animals rested below the huge tree while Nile climbed to the top of the tree.

He took a glance at the sky and noticed that it was dark and cloudy as he couldn't see any moon and stars above.

Yesterday, he thought that he could finally experience his first rain on this word. However, contrary to his expectations, it didn't rain, and when the morning arrived, the sky was clear of any dark clouds.

Nile was not sure if it would rain this time. He didn't dare to make a hunch anymore as he knew that the outcome would be the opposite.

Using one of his swords, Nile chose a branch and cleaned it of twigs so he could sit on it comfortably.

He chose the branch that was facing the Village of Kahoy.

His left leg was hanging while his right foot was resting on the branch. Nile leaned backward and observed the Village in the distance. He wanted to take a puff of smoke but he recalled he didn't have any pack of cigarettes in him. Well, it's not that Nile had any experience of smoking, he just thought the stick of a cigarette would perfect the image of a man taking a puff while sitting on a tree's branch on his head.

At the distance, Nile could see a vague silhouette of the building inside the Village of Kawayan. There was also the silhouette of the trees just beside those tall skyscrapers. Nile didn't know if the buildings inside the Village of Kawayan were still intact. He didn't know if what he had seen was really the building or just their skeletons.

Anyways, he noted that the buildings were definitely higher than those he had seen so far during this week-long journey. Well, it was to be expected as the Village of Kawayan was only a few miles away from the Town of Daan.

The closer it was to the center means that the closer they are to the densest population of the town. Meaning, the place was more flourishing compared to the other sites under the said town.

At the Village of Kawayan's direction, Nile was able to spot a slight illumination behind those towering trees and buildings. He guessed that they were the survivors of the Village and they were probably having their dinner now.

He was just curious about what would happen if a zombie spotted the light. Would the zombie get attracted or would they continue to rest as what Nile had theorized before? Well, it's not that he had already confirmed his theory with his own eyes, anyway.

Nile took note of where the light was coming from. He wanted to make sure that he would not wander at that place tomorrow.

Nile climbs off the tree and sees that Croco and Maximo were huddling together under the enormous tree. He smiled and thought about how it was very different from the scene he would see during the day. Most of the time, Croco and Max will tease and compete with each other.

Smiling, Nile caressed the two animals and whispered a good night before he also huddled into the two animals. Nile's consciousness slowly fades away as he drifts to sleep.

...

At the Village of Kawayan's entrance, three people could be seen walking at a slow speed. Their steps were careful and not hurried as if afraid of awaking something terrifying.

The three tiptoed their way towards the village's entrance. A huge arc of a wooden welcome template could be seen above them. The arc was decorated lavishly as the 'Welcome to Kawayan Village!' words were hung on the arc's center.

When the three people surpassed the welcoming arc, they both heaved a sigh of relief at the same time.

"The zombies won't appear all of a sudden, right?" A woman's nervous voice could be heard before her two companions looked at her with a bewildered expression.

The two put their finger on their mouth before they both made an 'ssshh' sound to shut the woman who's talking.

"As long as we don't create loud noises, we would be safe!" One of them closed to her and whispered to her ear. She was also a woman based on her voice. She seems to be older than the woman earlier as she patted her head when she whispered to her ear.

The remaining person was also a woman, she took a glance towards the two and whispered with a gesture "Let's go!"

The two women nodded their heads in affirmation as they followed the woman and tiptoe again towards a building.

The building was not that big, it only had one room and the glass door was directly connected to space inside. It was a small drug store, and the three's reason for being here was to collect some drugs that they could use.

They had a companion that had gotten a fever and they wanted to help her to recover immediately.

They all came from the Town of Daan but due to some reason, they were forced to leave there immediately as that place was getting dangerous with every second that passed.

The Village of Kawayan's people were accommodating towards other survivors. Their number was not that numerous so each and every one of them knew each other.

The five of them had just arrived here yesterday. Unfortunately, one of their members got sick all of a sudden. So the three of them decided to look for a drug store to look for some medicine for their ill member.

There was a drug store on the Kawayan Village's survivors base, but the problem was that they were not willing to give it to them. As accommodating as they were, they wouldn't trust someone they had just met for a day. With that, the five of them were forced again to search for another place to stay.

Fortunately, one of the survivors of the Kawayan Village told them that there was a small drug store located near the village's entrance or the exit point for them. However, the problem was that the survivor also told them that there was a strong zombie residing in that part of the village.

The survivor also told them that zombies were mostly inactive during the night. However, if they heard loud commotions, the zombies would still try to close towards it. Hence, the survivor told them that it was best for them to move during the night. They just need to be careful about not making loud noises, lest they attract the strong zombie's attention.

The Village Center was also infested by zombies and they didn't know if it was still like that now. The survivor warned them to never try their luck on going to the center of the village to search for medicine.

They followed the survivor's warning and they revolved on the periphery of the village to reach their destination. They then left two of their members behind, one was sick and the other one acting as the caretaker.

Inside the drug store, the bottles of medicines and capsules were scattered around. There was nothing left on the shelf as all of the displayed items were either thrown to the ground or had been collected by other survivors already.

Despite that, the three of them searched every nook and cranny of the drug store. Their efforts were rewarded as the woman who talked earlier finally found a medicine suitable for curing fever.

After searching at that spot, they found five capsules in total.

It was an Ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen is used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation. Just perfect for their member who got a fever.

They also found some antibiotics and some medicines that they decided to bring along, just in case.

The surroundings were pitch dark and the three women could barely see a few meters ahead of them. They tiptoed on the ground as they made their way towards the welcoming arc.

Unfortunately, the moment they arrived at the welcoming arc, they were all rooted in place as a silhouette of a person standing firmly at the village's entrance.