Chapter 9: Ch 9 – Death

---Elijah POV---

I led my group from building to building. Wherever I went, they'd be following right behind. Nobody wanted to get separated, and putting even 10 feet between you and another person felt like you were being exposed. 

Everyone behind me had their weapons hoisted, ready to use them at any time. When we passed across the street, I would point out the zombies we needed to kill and who would kill them. 

I would usually take one, while I would assign two people per extra zombie. 

There weren't usually more than three or four zombies in our way, and if we moved fast enough, they wouldn't be able to close in on us. Like that, we were jumping between buildings rather easily. 

Though, it was tedious. I knew that it was safer, but part of me just wanted to fight our way to the grocery store as one large army. 

I mean, we numbered 100, each person carrying weapons. Most of them had killed at least one zombie, and everyone was definitely capable of killing over a dozen by themselves. If we marched together, why wouldn't we be able to clear out all the zombies standing in our way?

I didn't see how it could be that difficult, especially since everyone was so hyper-focused. 

In fact, I had mentioned this idea to Jack, thinking it would kill two birds with one stone. He shot me down though, saying it wasn't a risk we needed to take. He said our only objective was to get everyone to the store. After that, we could work on clearing zombies. 

I didn't argue with him, and I readily agreed. He was right. I could see how it was riskier. Still, spending hours on end running from building to building like a rat wasn't exactly thrilling. 

I'm amazed that humanity could fall so far...

Looking out the front doors of a building, I scanned in front of us. Coach Todd would be running in here soon, so I didn't wait as I directly stepped out. 

I ran across the open street of a strip mall, dashing to the far building of the mall. In my way were three zombies.

Imbuing Energy into my machete, I swung out. My golden blade glided through their flesh, easier than chopping meat with a cleaver. 

After a while, I had begun to love that feeling. It made me tired, but being able to so easily kill these zombies and receive rewards was exhilarating. With this power, there wasn't anything I had to fear. 

All three zombies were momentarily killed. My group was right behind me as I continued on, and we reached the building that had a few shattered windows. 

However, we were still only in the easy stretch of our mission. 

Sure enough, after navigating through this building and opening the back door, I saw another street. This street called Grand Avenue would take us to a corner where we'd have to make a turn and find the grocery store. 

But even this street had at least a hundred zombies, and that was only from what I could see. There were far more than before. It was because of that Screamer that had gathered so many zombies near the store. And this was the furthest edge of that area...

"Alright, listen up."

I turned back to my group. They could all see past me, and they were shocked upon seeing so many zombies wandering the street. 

"Now, we really need to stick to the buildings. We need to fight our way across this street, and we'll continue bouncing between buildings until we reach the opposite end of the block where we'll be in sight of the store. I've already done this before twice, so I know our route. The buildings should be mostly cleared, so our main problem is getting across the street. We'll have to fight at least a dozen zombies... but that shouldn't be too difficult."

I mumbled as I envisioned our path. The distance to our next building wasn't that far, but there were a lot of zombies nearby and in our way. 

I nodded though, a plan formulating in my mind. 

"Alright, here's what we'll do. I'm taking the lead, and I'll handle the first few zombies. As I fight, I want you guys to take care of anything to the sides. It'll be like a spearhead. I'll be the tip of the spear, and you guys the blades. We'll pierce through, killing the zombies and moving toward the building."

I spoke as I imagined the battle in my head. It wasn't like I could come up with brilliant tactics, so I did my best in giving my teammates their orders. And I also couldn't be overly specific because it wasn't like they were trained soldiers. We were all just normal athletes. There was only so much we could do. 

And we needed to push forward. We couldn't shy away from the fight. If I had discovered anything from the Archive, it was that fighting and killing our enemies was the way to go. 

Even killing other humans would give rewards...

I let out a breath, my teammates lining up behind me. They knew what they needed to do, and nobody spoke as if silently agreeing to give their best in this fight. 

"On my mark."

I raised my machete, standing tall in the doorway and facing the zombies ahead. Some had noticed us, turning to our figures. 

"Go!"

I took a step forward. I was so much stronger than before, so I could cover ground with large bounds. I could feel my muscles contract and bulge with power, throwing my body toward my first enemy. 

The zombie before me was decapitated with a single flick of my blade. I barely felt resistance, the glowing imbuement making the semi-dull blade of my weapon sharp as a scalpal. 

Since I didn't want to get surrounded, I chopped at any zombies in my way. I was sparing with my imbuement, careful not to drain my Energy too much, but even then I was an unstoppable force. 

I could hear the yells of those behind me. I could imagine them thrusting their spears into the zombies' necks and heads. We had taught them that pushing the zombies to the floor was a good way to disable them for a time, allowing for easy kills. 

After a mere minute, I had killed 8 zombies. While I could kill fast, ensuring that I wouldn't get hit was still a necessity. I was double layered in sweaters and sweats, so scratches wouldn't easily get through. Still, a bite or a tear would be dangerous. Despite zombies not being agile or incredibly strong, if they got their hands on you, you were in trouble. 

I cut through my enemies, my kill count growing from 8 to 15 in no time. I got more comfortable, as if the previous kills were just a warmup. 

And finally, after 20 kills, I stopped. The door to the next building was in front of me. I snapped out of my reverie, quickly opening it and turning around to let my teammates in. 

That's when I heard it.

"Agh! Elijah!!"

"Come back!"

I could hear their yells before I even turned around. Had I gotten so absorbed with my fight? I was just focusing on not getting hit. Focusing on killing enemies for them...

I could see the zombies closing in around us. Some ran out from other buildings, while the surrounding enemies had made their way inward. My group of 25 was being surrounded. 

I could see at least another 10 enemies between me and my group. I had gone ahead. 

Realizing my mistake, I rushed back. I brandished my blade, putting a little too much energy into it. I could tell, because I felt no resistance when I chopped a zombie in half at the chest. 

Blood sprayed everywhere, the street below already covered in a pool of it. My front was dyed red, but I didn't care. I didn't even notice the alerts for successful kills. 

All I could see were three of my teammates, three of the people in my group, be grabbed and pulled away from the formation. 5 zombies got their hands on them. 

They didn't immediately die. Their first sentence to death was front the nails digging into their hands or wrists. Not everyone had gloves, so not everyone was fully protected. 

The second death sentence was the bites that tore through their sweaters and clothes, ripping out chunks of flesh and cloth. Their screams were all I could hear, and desperate strength erupted from their bodies as they shoved the zombies away. 

But others came, one after the other. Full grown adults threw themselves at my athletes, tackling them to the floor and getting a hold on every one of their limbs. Not even the best athletes could escape that amount of restraint. 

And even if one did, where was there to go? Knowing that you had been infected, and realizing that the safest place nearby was within the group of your teammates that were desperately spearing the enemies that closed in on them...

My breathing grew erratic, any semblance of calm disappearing from my visage. I swung my machete and moved as fast as my body would take me. 

I killed all the zombies before me before they could even turn. I went around my group, severing two or three zombies in half with each swing of my blade. If only my machete were longer...

I didn't care even as I felt fatigued. I knew what being tired felt like. I knew what it was like to feel so exhausted that you couldn't even move. When your muscles burned with acid and cramped so much you were immobilized, when you threw up so much that it stifled your breathing, making you think you were really going to die of suffocation by your own vomit. 

I knew what that felt like, and so anything up to that point wouldn't stop me. 

I killed the zombies that ate my friends, even the ones that were already corpses. I killed the ones that were speared on the tips of my friends' weapons. 

I swear, I felt like death incarnate as I cleared out every single one of those rotten, degenerate fiends. I had never felt so powerful. I was beginning to realize just how much this Archive afforded me. 

But when all the enemies were gone... I realized that there were some things that I could lose forever. 

"Brie!! Brie, no!"

I ran over to a girl who was clutching her friend. Her friend gurgled blood, half her neck torn out. Her leg had even been eaten down to the bone. I couldn't imagine the agony she was in, suffocating on her own blood and bearing the pain of having been eaten alive. 

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I could see it. The fear and desperation in her eyes. It was like I could see her thoughts.

The life she had lived up to now. The hope she had felt last night when we said we would fight our way to a place with resources. The hope that we'd be able to care out a home in this apocalypse, how we'd be able to find our families. How we'd be safe, away from danger. 

So many hopes, so many plans for the future. So much regret as she couldn't stop her body from dying. There was no peace in her death. 

Even as she looked up at her friend, clutching her shirt as her life faded...

I stood frozen as the girl screamed. It was another guy who ran over and forced her to her feet. 

Still, I was rooted to the floor as I saw that corpse, someone who had once been a friend of mine. We weren't that close, but you didn't need to be to have fun with somebody. We were all a team. We had all been our own large family.

She wasn't the only one. Even as I was pulled away by one of my teammates, I could barely take my eyes off of that girl to look around. 

I couldn't really make them out among the pile of corpses that littered the place, but just out of recognizing our distinct athletic clothing, I counted 6 people. 6 people who had been caught and eaten alive. 6 people who had so desperately struggled to stay alive, even knowing that they were infected with a single scratch. One of them looked like they were still alive, looking at us with pleading eyes as he barely raised his arm...

Along with the rest of the group, I was pulled into the building, the doors closing behind us. We all retreated to the back, a large kitchen that was a part of this restaurant. With that, I had regained myself enough to take stock. 

6 had been left as corpses, but that didn't account for those who had sustained light wounds. I was perfectly fine besides the blood covering my clothes, but not everyone was so lucky to have my ability or strength. 

I looked around, counting 5 people who were bleeding. With my keen eyes, I even spotted two people with scratches on their hands. These people were all infected...

For a moment, I wanted to kill them. End their lives before they could degenerate into zombies, before they could mutate into something sinister. It would also end their misery. 

I knew I should. I should take responsibility for their lives. I couldn't let others get hurt when they turned. But...

I had already failed at my job.

*Bang!*

Suddenly, I spun around upon hearing the doors to the restaurant open. My exhausted body was sluggish, but I still jerked over with ferocity. 

I didn't see a zombie. Instead, I saw Coach Todd. His group was right behind him, but he still looked hurried, breathing laboriously. 

"Good! You're here! Elijah, don't go anywhere else!" He stepped forward as if making sure I wouldn't continue on.

I was confused, but I felt something ominous. "Why? What happened?"

Coach Todd's face scrunched a bit in repressed anger. "It's not your fault, but every time we attempted to follow, you left us with groups of zombies! They all gathered at your disturbance, and we had to deal with them. We were barely able to slip through or around the groups..."

My heart dropped as he explained what happened. We avoided most of the zombies, killing a few in our way while slipping through the rest. I knew that the surrounding zombies would be disturbed, but I hadn't thought about them gathering on our trail... 

Coach Todd had to deal with our disturbance. After we attracted the zombies and then left them behind, they would collide with the group that was in their path. 

Coach Todd was able to slip through and around, but getting that far... What about Kait and Jack, who were behind Coach Todd? With all that disturbance putting enemies in their way...

"We have to go back! Kait and Jack could be in trouble!"

Coach Todd stopped me from marching out the door. "Them? What about you?! I saw the corpses outside, and you've got wounded! You're in no place to go back!"

"...My group can't." I looked back, seeing the people I failed to protect. "But I can. I'll go and see if they need help. I can move fast on my own."

"You can't-"

"I can! You stay here, and keep everyone safe. I'm going!"

I grabbed my coach, pulling him aside with my atrocious strength. Then, I ran outside. More zombies were beginning to close in, but I easily dodged them. 

My Energy was dwindling, my Archive showing that I had 11 left. I could probably kill 6 more zombies with my weapon imbuement if I killed more than one with every swing. I could feel myself gaining energy too, my body settling after the previous intense battle. 

Regardless, I was going to fight. I had made one mistake, and I couldn't leave behind the others. I would make up for this, using everything I had left. 

I retraced my steps. I wasn't as fast as the sprinters, but with my newfound strength I could compete with them. 

It wasn't long before I found a large group. 

There were at least 80 zombies, even more than I had just faced with my group. They were all closing in on my teammates. 

This was supposed to be Kait's group, but I could easily spot Jack's skeleton minion as well, meaning they had combined together at some point. 

The combination of their groups was fighting back against the horde that was trying to grab out at them. The fight hadn't started that long ago, perhaps beginning when mine did. 

Jack hacked out with his shovel, taking the vanguard as they retreated back toward their previous building. The skeleton was further ahead than even him, but it seemed to be doing better. Its axe cleaved through zombies like my machete. It was definitely stronger than before. 

The others merely had pipes and spear-tipped poles. They stabbed, kicked, and shoved the zombies back. But the zombies in front were shoved right back forward toward the humans by the ones behind, their arms reaching out desperately in an attempt to grab anyone they could. 

I even saw one person get grabbed. He was pulled, and barely managed to escape the hand. But when he got even a foot closer to the horde, he was attacked. Three hands shot out, grabbing his sweater and dragging him by the clothes. 

Nobody could help him as he was pulled into the horde and devoured. His screams were deafening, giving us a glimpse into the horrific torture he was experiencing. It only stopped when his throat was bitten. We don't know how fast he died soon after. 

The group continued to retreat, and with my energy, I knew I couldn't help them. There were just too many zombies. I would get killed if I jumped in from behind. 

So I stayed put, berating myself as I did so. I felt pathetic. I had run over here to help, and upon seeing the battle being fought, I made an excuse to stay out of it. 

I hated how the fear prevented me from running to my death. I hated how it controlled me. 

Most of all, I hated how powerless I was. 

That was when I heard a yell.

"Jack!"

A man shouted. His name was Kevin. I remembered him since I had seen him talking with Jack a lot. They were good friends. 

Kevin reached out, spearing a zombie and shoving it away before running over. 

Jack had been grabbed. 

He was pulled out, toward the horde. Thankfully, his skeleton was next to him, so it was able to chop a few zombies and ease the pressure. Still, he was grabbed by three zombies and attacked. 

One of them tore off the sleeve of his sweater. Another grabbed his exposed arm, creating two long streaks of red when he ripped his arm away. 

His strength then burst out as he swung with his shovel and kicked with his legs. After arriving, Kevin grabbed him and pulled him away just as another zombie was about to grab him. The skeleton also retreated, killing anything that approached. 

They all fell back into the building, closing and barricading the door. 

As for myself, I was frozen in place. The scene of Jack getting cut was fresh in my mind. It sent chills down my spine, making me feel more fear than when seeing people get devoured by the horde. 

Jack was infected. What would happen if he turned? His power, his skeleton minion... Would they become hostile?

If that was the case, then everyone with Jack was in mortal danger. 

I sprinted out, avoiding the group and finding another way around. I had to get there quickly.

I couldn't imagine what would happen if he mutated into something horrible. He could be worse than the Grabber. 

I couldn't allow more people to die.

 

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