Born in apocalypse

A helicopter was slowly landing in a desolate area, and the pilot skillfully navigated the vehicle to a landing spot. He skillfully landed the helicopter amidst the ruins of a city as if he had done this before. A few moments later the helicopter touched down gently.

A team of five people emerged from the helicopter and proceeded toward what appeared to be a metro station. The group consisted of three men and two women, all of whom were clad in armor or similar protective gear. After a quick glance, nobody could have guessed that they were from this era.

One of them, who also seemed like the leader of the group, appeared to be a man in his late thirties. His face was filled with scars, and he wore a serious expression at all times. He wielded a long and heavy sword, which was attached to his back, while also wearing heavy iron armor.

To his left stood a lady with beautiful blonde hair and a pair of glasses on her cute face. She didn’t look like she was more than twenty years old. She wore cloth armor; its colors were white with golden outlines, and there was a small staff in her hand. She also had a backpack on her.

On the far left side of the team was a man, also in his twenties, with no distinctive features visible. His feature wasn’t visible because his face was obscured by a mask, and he wore leather armor that covered his entire body. Over everything else, he had an extra cloak. He wielded a bow and a single arrow, with a dagger attached to his waist, which was often exposed as he moved.

On the complete opposite side of him stood a woman in her mid-twenties who appeared to be a total battle maniac. She didn’t carry any weapons except for two knuckles already equipped in her hands. She wore a chainmail armor, which, from the looks of it, seemed to be irritating her.

Beside her was a man in his mid-thirties with green hair and beautiful blue eyes. He often glanced at the woman beside him but wouldn’t dare to say anything. He wore brown leather armor and held a golden staff in his hand.

The group of five quickly made their way toward the metro station. When they reached the entrance of the station, they knew something was amiss. The leader of the group lifted his head and glanced at the station sign, which read:

"Immortal Gang of Doom."

"We’re at the right station, but where are the Danny people?" the leader thought as he raised his hand, signaling everyone to halt in their tracks.

Without needing the order, everyone stopped, sensing that something was out of the way. The fierce woman in the group looked at the leader and said,

"What do you think happened here Jackson, do you think the culprit would still be here." The woman asked.

"What do you think, Emma? Aren’t you the hunter of our team," Jackson asked in response. Before Emma could reply, he cautiously began to walk into the station.

"Even the guards with the guns aren’t here, and the guns are gone as well. Do you think they have betrayed us?" the mage of the group asked.

"I can smell blood here, so I don’t think they’ve betrayed us. This seems more like a case of inner gang fighting?" Emma once answered. As a hunter, her senses have been elevated so she can smell the heavy scent of the blood.

"O-ohh! Okay," Ethen replied, visibly shaken.

Jackson also nodded at Emma’s guess and continued walking while gripping the handle of his greatsword. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, and everyone else followed suit.

"What is that?" Jackson whispered as he moved forward to inspect the suspicious object.

The moment he reached the object, a very foul smell overwhelmed him. He controlled himself and poked the thing with his sword. Instantly, yellow pus began to gush out from it, and the foul smell intensified by each passing second.

"This is a dead body, so this isn’t an incident of inner fighting or something we are familiar with," Jackson said, making two statements, neither of which was without a basis.

He concluded that this wasn’t the result of inner fighting based on the fact that the body was scorched, indicating it had been killed by fire. According to the information he had, except for the boss, nobody in the gang possessed magical abilities, so there couldn’t have been anyone with the ability to create fire.

His second judgment was that the gang had been lying all along, and there were mages within their group as well. This led him to conclude that they were lacking crucial information.

Jackson had reached these conclusions within a minute of seeing the dead body.

Jackson looked at Grace, the healer of the group, and signaled for her to retrieve the walkie-talkie from the bag. Grace complied promptly and handed the device to Jackson.

Taking the phone, he connected it to the only place it could reach. The other side quickly responded with a curt,

"What?"

"There seems to be a problem here," Jackson replied as he started moving deeper into the station, his group following closely.

"What problem?" The response was concise.

"The gang members are dead," Jackson reported.

There was a pause of a few seconds before a reply came from the other side.

"Okay, see if there are any survivors and find out who the attacker was. If you couldn’t find any survivors, you know the rest."

"Okay," Jackson acknowledged the reply and continued moving further into the station.

They weren’t just aimlessly wandering in the station; they were heading towards the cabin of the gang’s boss. They knew the way to his cabin because they had visited him a few times before for the same deal.

After walking for a while, they reached the door. Jackson gripped his sword with one hand and slowly opened the office door with the other.

Screech!

The door produced a screeching sound as a very strong odor of something rotting overwhelmed the group. Controlling his stomach, Jackson opened the door and looked inside...