Ali saw her face and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." Xinghe shook her head slowly. After they got out the camp and climbed into the car, Xinghe felt suddenly exhausted. Her body was weak to begin with, she had been surviving on will alone since the day before. Now that she had confirmed some things, fatigue caught up to her. She eventually fell asleep on the car…
Xinghe opened her eyes blurrily to find herself inside a simple room. The room looked old and the furniture, possessing Country Y's cultural uniqueness, had seen better days. There was a moldy smell in the air that wouldn't disperse, but thankfully, the mattress she was lying in was clean. The back of Xinghe's hand was attached to a drip and she realized she was in a safe environment.
Ali happened to open the door then. Her face lit up when she saw Xinghe awake. "Xinghe, you're finally up, you know, you have been out of it for one whole day already."
"This is the second day already?" Xinghe asked as she sat up with some difficulties.
"That's right, the doctor said that your body is fine; you've got a few internal wounds, but nothing serious. Now that you're awake, I will go get you something to eat," Ali said before turning back out the door. She quickly returned with some food. It was a simple and rather coarse meal, two slices of plain bread, two slices of ham and a glass of milk.
Xinghe had no appetite for anything but in order to preserve her strength, she ate the food with great gusto and no complaints. Ali smiled. "I'm glad that you finished everything, looks like you're really getting better. Rest well for a few more days, this place is our territory so no one will harm you here."
"Ali…" Xinghe wanted to say something but was cut off by a man's yelling from the outside.
"SamWolf members come out here! I know you can hear me, all of you get out and face me!"
Ali frowned. "That bunch of rats has returned again?"
"Who are they?" Xinghe asked.
"Similar to us, they are also a civilian mercenary group. You can guess their reputation from their name, the Grey Rats. The group poses no real threat but has the advantage of numbers. They've been trying to claim our territory since Charlie isn't here."
"Who's Charlie?" Xinghe asked again.
Ali's eyes glossed over with admiration with the mention of Charlie's name. "He's, I guess you would call, our teacher. A great man if there ever was one, but he has been missing for quite some time now, no one has heard from him in a while." At this point, Ali's smile had turned into a frown.
"Ali!" At that moment, Wolf barged into the room. "A lot of people came from Grey Rats today, looks like they're looking for trouble. Prepare yourself because this might get ugly."
"Alright! I'm going to teach them a lesson today!" Ali quickly picked up a nearby machine gun and threw Xinghe another. "Xinghe, take this and no man will ever threaten you again!"
"…"
Around twenty Grey Rats came that day. They didn't have many weapons, since only a few of them were armed with firearms, while the rest had clubs or knives.
The Grey Rats' boss, Ryan, carried a machine gun on his side and his ropy body stood outside their gate. It was plain that he was not there with peaceful intentions.
When Ryan saw Sam's group open the door with each of their member carrying a machine gun and two pistols in their belt, the corner of his right eye twitched involuntarily.
The f*ck‽ why do they have so many fire arms?