It was about dawn, the safest part of the day. Now that over a week has passed from the start of the 'conquest game', this small fraction of time was necessary for the parasites to rest.

Indeed, even them needed about an hour to refresh their little larvae like bodies.

From the rooftop of a tall building situated near the southern part of central park, in Nova York a group of about ten middle-aged humans were engaged in a heated discussion.

These past days the arguments they spoke about had slightly changed. Initially everyone had been scared about these dangerous monsters running amok the city without anyone stopping them.

The military of the Earth government wasn't prepared at all against the parasite's invasion, to make it worse normal fire guns weren't effective.

Thus in just a few days the city had become a post apocalyptic territory, now chaos reigned there.

All over Nova York there were no more rules, between criminal gangs and the dangerous parasites, the common people had no choice but to rely on each other. Small communities and groups of survivors had formed around the city.

Most of them united due to necessity, however there were a few exceptions, people that tried to plan forward. They were people affiliated with the association, thanks to their knowledge about the game they planned ahead.

This wasn't a temporary situation were in just a few weeks everything would come back to normal. There where some necessary conditions to set in order to survive at least the first stage of the conquest game.

Firstly you had to put together a small community of people, trusted ones whom wouldn't dare to betray. Thus you would prefer to pick the ones you saved their life of or that owed you a great favour.

Then you would need to chose a territory to secure and tightly occupy, clean it from potential danger and even defend it from potential invaders. Which meant either other humans or dangerous creatures.

Another important point to take care of were resources, which didn't mean anything related to the human civilizations. They didn't need nothing the likes of supermarkets or weapons stores. It was the System base.

In the entirety of Manhattan zone, where they have been limited to until now, there were only two System bases. The nearest of the two was situated on the very opposite part of central park, while the other was on the very southern part of the island, facing the Statue of Liberty.

It was an essential strategical point, without its access your group's chances of survival became very slim.

There you could firstly receive a contract with the System, thus gaining access to the special shop. There you could exchange your AP for valuable items, from nano-energy based tools, low tier combat manuals and aliment supplies.

For now the best way to gain AP seemed to be killing the infested, however very soon criminals appeared with the intent to steal them from their victims. Coercing them seemed the best way rather than directly killing them, as it would provide only half of their points.

Even more a few criminal gangs started to create apposite 'farms' of points.

However for an experienced group like this one, these were not impending problems. They had a secure passage to travel from their hideout to the base situated near the northern side of central park.

Many of them had already been contracted by the system and received a few tools. Furthermore they were in a good relation with the faction of the Union that was occupying the southern part of the island. These enhanced humans were a sight to behold, they did possess incredible strength. However their protection had a cost, to basically become their dog, doing everything you were told to, never ask questions, only obey.

These soldiers only cared about your survival because of the orders they received. They saw you as no more than a burden.

These humans of the association didn't want to be deprived of their freedom by the Union.

Still, that was only because they could manage on their own for now. Any sane normal people would have sought the Union's protection without doubts.

"Boss what is that is troubling you that much? Aren't doing fine until now?

If it's about the mutated infected, even the Union has started to have some problems with them.

However even if they are bigger and much more resilient, they are quite slow and more territorial than the others. Meaning that they rarely attack in groups and would stay mostly fixated in one area.

Hunting them down shouldn't be as hard with our forces."

These weren't such unheard news, even in the northern section of the island this more mutated version of the infected had appeared.

Contrary to his expectations, his boss didn't seem relieved at all.

"Jhon, we already killed a few of them. Their weaknesses are not that hard to understand, there is no need for the Union to tell us that.

We sent you there to understand other kind of problems, for example the one we are facing now! Damn it!

Apparently the Union really do treat us like flies, didn't they tell you that the foundation of their shelter in the northern side of the island failed!?

They are still down there, not caring about 'them' committing every kind of atrocity."

The atmosphere between the group became heavy, as the boss expression turned twisted from pain, probably reminiscing a particular sad moment.

The only one still acting normal was the one that had been sent to spy on the Union.

"I am sorry everyone not to be of any comfort as I wasn't here with you to experience the new dangers of the world. However I have taken a good fellow with me on the road, maybe you could share what you've experienced with the two of us! Maybe together we might be able to come up with a solution."

Although everyone's moral didn't change as much, what Jhon had just said comforted them at least a little.

"Yo Joel my man, come here to greet everyone. Boss has an interesting story to share with us"

Soon after the door leading to the lower floor opened up, revealing the awaited guest.

Overly dressed with military equipment, Joel waved his hand to the group. The guy's clothes where mostly tattered and full of holes.

Just by looking at him one could see the various scars he received during the last days. If counted one by one the guy would probably have a dozen knives ready for use.

"Hello everyone, you can just call me Joel, while her is my daughter Alice, she's nine years old"

After being briefly introduced, the little shy girl made her way out of her father's shadows to wave her little hand to the group.

Compared to Joel, her general condition looked much better, although she had a visible bandage going along the entirety of her right leg.

After a brief presentation of the members, the Boss started with his narration.

"Before anything else I need to see if the child can handle my story, as no sane human would find it suitable for such a young child"

Then had slowly got up, which to say was quite strange for a man in his early forties and a trained physique in the first place.

Once ready the boss took a deep breath and lifted up his skirt. Many were left in disbelief, even those that had already seen his injury felt the pain their boss must have endured directly through their bones.

The poor man presented a huge scar going from his shoulder all the way down to his waist. Even if for the majority it was already healed, it still had some parts with coagulated blood and puss.

By surprising the group, the little Alice wasn't as scared. In truth after what she has been through one could understand why she just didn't directly puke on the ground.

"Good, I see that you are ready to listen to my story.

Jhon I really did appreciate your speech, It's good that you still have an optimistic kind of view in this world.

However now we can't be optimistic, but realistic. We won't be taking care of this problem, on the contrary we better hide, lay low and let the tide do its course."