Looking at the serious-looking man in front of him, Barry felt both worried and excited, so he quickly nodded when he heard what he said.
"Don't worry. As long as we understand each other, there's no reason not to answer all your questions."
The long, messy-haired man nodded, signaling everyone else to relax and keep watch over the surroundings before speaking slowly, "You can call me Jason. I'm the leader of these people. What's your name?"
"Mr. Jason, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I was in charge of warehouse security in this place. My name is Barry Berkmar, you can just call me Barry."
Jason was very grateful for the cooperative attitude of the person in front of him. He nodded in a non-hostile manner while his eyes scanned the surroundings of the warehouse. After finding nothing unusual, he looked back at Barry.
"Are you the only survivor here?"
Upon hearing the question, Barry's expression turned a bit sad, and he finally just nodded.
"Are you sure? Our reports tell us that many people were stationed here. Am I wrong?"
Welles couldn't help but ask when he saw all the rooms and floors. "Commander, if everyone had hidden, I'm sure there would be survivors, but there's only this person who introduced himself as Barry…"
At that moment, a squad leader approached and reported, "Sir, there are no survivors on this floor. Where should we send our people?"
"Clear the hallways and put the bodies in bags. That's the least we can do now!"
"Wait a moment—why did you take so long to come? What happened to my family…?" Barry interrupted the conversation of the people in front of him, but everyone seemed to ignore his questions.
Barry focused only on Jason, since this man had been in command since he arrived. The person who had just come in had called him commander a moment ago. Obviously, he was the leader of this group of soldiers. After holding back for more than a year, all the questions he had been asking himself finally burst out uncontrollably.
"Stop, Mr. Barry! Listen to me. I fully understand that you've been trapped in this place for a long time, and I understand that what you want most right now is to find out the situation of the outside world. But my duty right now is to ensure the safety of my group. We'll talk once I finish organizing the situation here. Do you understand?"
For Jason, having this kind of mindset was normal. Bases had been established in several major cities, and a strict point-based system had been implemented alongside government agencies, while the troops had become even more important now.
Although it was called an army, when there wasn't daily combat, aside from carrying out certain duties and missions, most of the time was still spent on building bases, farming, guarding borders, maintaining weapons, and other tasks that required supervision.
However, military-style training had turned less experienced people into competent soldiers who knew how to listen and follow orders.
Everyone knew why they held a weapon, so they all agreed with what was being done in this place. After a while, Welles went to investigate and returned with two soldiers at his side.
"Jason, I found a corridor. It seems like there are other facilities there…"
Everyone in the room unconsciously looked at Barry, who stood in the most prominent position at the center of the group, while he himself stood there in confusion.
"Other facilities? You mean that corridor? That's the base warehouse…"
Welles frowned and said in a somewhat displeased tone while pointing at a door, "Are you joking? Didn't you say this was a warehouse?"
Barry shook his head and said, "No, no, don't misunderstand me. This is the soldiers' supply warehouse, and that is the base's main storage."
Hearing these words, Jason asked directly, "What are you storing here? Why do you need so many people guarding such a hidden base?"
Barry, somewhat worried about the misunderstanding, looked at the people around him, a bit hesitant, as if thinking about what to say.
The fact that no one had come to rescue him for more than a year had mentally prepared him for whatever might be happening, but before hearing confirmation, no one wanted to admit that the outside world had ended, right?
"What are you worried about? A confidentiality agreement? If that's the case, then you don't need to worry. I am the commander of humanity's resistance. The conventional system has been destroyed by the virus, and most of the population has died."
"Most have died?"
"Yes. In fact, all of us are infected with that virus—including you. The only reason we're not like those corpses is that it hasn't fully activated. Those infected are usually called walkers, but in the end, they're just fucking infected."
Barry sat on the ground with a pale expression. One of the motivations that had kept him alive was convincing himself that the outside world was not like his base. As for the reason no one had come to rescue him, it was probably because the supplies had not yet run out.
With more than a year of food support, it was normal not to come for a long time. Covering his face, full of visible emotion, Barry felt his whole body trembling. He held back the tears that were about to fall and rubbed his hands vigorously over his face.
"Alright! I'll tell you everything. This base is…"
They listened to Barry's account of his experience at the base, from the moment he entered to how the infection broke out.
"Originally, I thought that if I held on for more than a year, someone from outside would come to rescue me. After all, when supplies are delivered, we get a few days off before the base is sealed again for a certain period of time. But even so, I realized from the beginning that things were not that simple."
"Staying in a place like this makes you lose your sense of time. It's not like I was in hell—I kept exercising and slept when I was tired…"
"If you look at that wall, you'll understand everything…"
Everyone looked toward the wall, only to discover dense markings carved into a corner. Jason had sharp eyesight and clearly saw that they were marks used to count the number of days.
"That's where I roughly counted the days. I don't know exactly how much time has passed—I'd be lying if I gave you a number. This room is the supply warehouse meant for more than two hundred people to survive here for a year… And as for the corridor you mentioned, and why this base exists…"
Seeing that he had finally reached the interesting part, everyone focused their attention.
"It's because there's something very important that we must protect. We don't know what it is. To be honest, I was just a soldier, and my jurisdiction didn't allow me to get close to that place."
A soldier with little patience struck a corpse a couple of times in anger. He was about to draw his weapon and point it at Barry for telling such a long story without revealing anything, but Jason stopped him.
"Barry! Are you joking?"
Barry quickly raised his hands and shouted in panic, "No, I'm not lying! Even though I don't know what's in that storage, I'm sure I can open it."
"Very well. Everyone calm down… You, Barry, will open that storage—whatever is inside."