Surviving the Apocalypse with my Multiplier System novel Chapter 255

Rayne took a step forward, "We're just normal people who live outside of the city. We noticed a lot of cars in the city recently and wanted to find out what had happened".

The old man looked at her skeptically, after losing his grandson to those bandits, he didn't trust anyone.

"Take a look around. That's what happened", he said without moving.

Rayne felt bad for these people. They were only trying to survive, and now they were robbed.

"We have a small settlement outside of the city, would you like to come back with us?", she asked.

She did her best to sound friendly and inviting, but the old man scoffed, "I only want one thing, and it's not something you can do".

Julian took a step forward, "If you tell us what it is, I can try".

"Ha! Okay then, Mr. Hero. I want my grandson back, can you do that?", the old man laughed sarcastically.

Both Rayne and Julian went quiet. While they could try to find his grandson when they went to attack Damien, they couldn't promise that they would find him.

The old man waved his hand at them after a brief period of silence.

"Leave this place. I don't want to see you or anyone else", he said before lowering his head to his knees.

Rayne wanted to take a step forward and try to convince him to come with them, but Julian pulled her back.

They walked back to their car, "He wouldn't move from that spot even if we presented him with every luxury in the world. His grandson must have met a lot to him, all we can do is hope that everything turns out okay."

Rayne frowned but understood. Images of the completely empty room flashed through her mind.

"I want to at least leave some food and water. He has nothing to live off of, this way he can at least survive until he gets reunited with his grandson", she said.

She opened the trunk of her SUV and piled up a number of items into the trunk. Julian walked over and helped her carry the items inside.

The old man didn't even look up when he heard the door open again, not caring about anything that happened to him.

Rayne left large jugs of water, bags of rice, canned food, dried pasta, and a few clean blankets for the man.

She figured that with these supplies he could survive at least another month or two, and hopefully by then he would be reunited with his grandson.

After delivering the supplies, Rayne and Julian both got back inside the car. A heavy atmosphere lingered in the air as they drove farther into the city.

"Don't let it get to you. We did what we could, the rest is up to him. We can't save everyone", said Julian, placing his arm on her thigh.

Rayne nodded, "You're right. We did what we could."

"Let's hope we have better luck talking to the next group of people", he said as he drove up to a half-broken apartment building.

-

As they exited the car Rayne looked up at the once-tall apartment building. It looked like someone swung a huge knife and chopped the building in half. She estimated that of the original ten or fifteen floors, only three or four were still usable.