Apocalypse Of The Living Dead

Chapter 3: Survival Mode

Becoming an Awakener wasn't something Draken had ever considered. He had always been this weak boy, afraid to take action, and he had been bullied back in school due to his lack of talent. 

  

He had assumed that the disease only chose those with a strong will to become an Awakener, but for some reason, he got a shot at it. 

  

'This still feels unreal to me,' Draken mused, his eyes fixed on the window screen floating in front of him, fingers on his chin while trying to comprehend the message it was conveying. 

  

'Quest of survival?' Draken pondered, reading the text repeatedly in contemplation. The place they found themselves was a vast empty area with nothing else there except the people who also got transported with him. What then does it mean by survive? 

  

"Anyone got a clue yet?" A rugged male's voice caught everyone's attention, and they all turned their heads to face him. 

  

The man had a plump figure with bushy beards below his chin and a bald head. His pot belly was visible below his cropped top, giving him the appearance of a drunkard. 

  

"I mean, what are we supposed to survive from? This place looks neat as hell." The plump-looking man added, scanning the area. 

  

"Maybe we should just hold on a bit. There might still be some additional instructions and stuff." Another guy who stood behind Draken spoke in a cool British accent. 

  

"You all can just wait around here if you want. As for me, I am moving further. I can't afford to lose a quest and end up dying forever. I still have a wife and two children back home; I have to become an Awakener to protect them." 

  

The pot-bellied man voiced out, shoving the British man to the side before making his way forward. The whole crowd stood there, watching him move further into the darkness, while Draken's eyes were still glued to the screen. 

  

SURVIVAL ONLY BEGINS WHEN YOU ARE READY TO SURVIVE

  

'Survival only begins when you are ready to survive.' Draken read and he swiftly shifted his gaze towards the plump man who was already meters away from them. 

  

"HEY, DON'T GO ANY FURTHER!" Draken's voice rang out throughout the space, causing the man to halt his step instantly and turn around to face Draken. 

  

"What do you mean, boy?" The man spoke, but no one gave a reply; instead, their mouths widened in shock, and even their eyes. "What's the matter?!" The man questioned in a high-pitched tone after catching a glimpse of everyone's scared expression. 

  

"LOOK OUT!" Draken alerted. 

  

The man, after hearing Draken's voice, decided to turn around slowly after feeling a warm liquid drop on his bald head. 

  

Turning around, he found a tall, mighty creature standing behind him. The creature's height was 8-foot, and its mouth was wide open, revealing its fangs that were like saws. 

  

On top of the terrifying height and fangs, the creature had blade-like claws that were around ten centimeters long, and the body seemed to be made out of shadow. 

  

The pot-bellied man gulped down saliva after catching a glimpse of the creature, and he froze on the spot with his heart racing and sweat trickling down his face. 

  

'That doesn't look like the regular Void creature.' Draken pondered from where he stood, gulping down in fear and shock. 

  

The creature grabbed the man with both hands and lifted him off the floor, taking his head off with its fangs and began to chew on it. 

  

After digesting the head, it placed the whole body of the man inside its widened mouth and began munching down on him, and blood trickled down from the creature's mouth as it feasted. 

  

The whole crowd gasped in fear, and even some of them froze on the spot as they witnessed a fellow man being eaten. 

  

'The notification stated that survival only begins when we are ready to survive. If he had waited a bit for us to plan our strategy, we might have gotten a chance of surviving.' Draken mused in fear. 

  

"If that bastard is done with its meal, it will come after us." The British guy's voice sounded from behind. 

  

"How are we supposed to fight that thing without a single weapon?!" A man from the crowd voiced out in frustration, and tears were almost dropping from his eyes. 

  

'It said survive, not fight.' Draken pondered from where he stood quietly. 'This area is vast enough; if we run around and try our best not to get caught, we might make it out of here alive.

  

Draken glanced at the window screen once more and noticed a countdown had been added below. 

  

'3 hours. We have to survive for 3 hours.' Draken came to a realization before crouching down a bit and then turned around, dashing away as fast as his legs could carry. 

  

"What is that kid doing?!" A man questioned in contemplation. 

  

"Shit! The creature is approaching us?" A female alerted, pointing towards the creature who was now moving towards them. 

  

"Everyone, run! Just run in circles and make sure you don't get caught!" Draken voiced out, running through the dark area. "The survival quest is to last three hours; if we manage to run around without getting caught for three hours, the quest would be..." 

  

Draken halted his steps suddenly, and the sudden seize in movement made him fall to the floor. 

  

Right in front of him, another creature crawled out from the floor. The creature had the same looks as the one earlier, no difference. 

  

'Shit!' Draken exclaimed internally, sitting on the ground in fear as the creature crawled out from the floor and began to move towards him. 

  

'It seems we are not allowed to run, and it all comes down to us fighting for our lives.' Draken intoned as the creature made its way towards him, casting a long shadow above him. 

   

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?!" 

  

"IT'S COMING TOWARDS US!" 

  

"HOW ARE WE SUPPOSE TO FIGHT THAT THING WITHOUT A WEAPON??" 

  

Everyone lamented in fear as the creature made it's way towards them with blood dripping down from its mouth and its eyes were bloodthirsty. 

  

'Darn it, running isn't an option. We have to defend ourselves by fighting.' Draken mused from where he sat, his glue fixed on the creature heading towards him with its long claws scraping the floor and causing small sparks of fire. 

  

When the creature was in striking distance, it lifted its right hand upwards and brought it down towards Draken's head. 

  

The claws traveled towards his head at incredible speed, and in the last second he was able to roll away on the ground, and the creature's claws missed him and sunk into the ground due to the immense force behind it. 

  

Draken swiftly picked himself up from the floor and sprinted towards the creature who was still trying to uproot its claws from the ground. 

  

Catching a glimpse of the incoming human, the creature slashed its other claws horizontally towards him. 

  

With the claws only centimeters away from his head, Draken leaned backwards to the extent that his back was almost touching the floor, and the claws passed over him. 

  

He quickly regained composure before the creature could retrieve both hands, leaping up into the air, he joined both of his legs together and brought it down on the claws that were stuck to the floor. 

  

CRACK! 

  

Draken's legs collided with the claws and it got separated from the creature's fingers, making black blood to trickle down the injuries. 

  

'My boot is destroyed.' Draken mused as he felt his hard boot being ripped apart the moment he landed on the claws. 

  

But it was worth it. 

  

The boot's hard heels was able to lessen the impact of the claws. His feet did got injured after landing on the claws, but the injuries weren't grievous due to the heel. 

  

'Now we have weapons.' Draken intoned, grabbing one of the claws with both hands and pulling it out from the ground with all his might. 

  

The claws were as long and sharp as a katana blade. 

  

  

ROAR! 

  

Making a guttural sound, the creature charged in once more, slashing its last remaining claws forward. 

  

Draken stood there as he watched the claws head towards him before lifting up his blade-like claw to block the attack. 

  

CLANG! 

  

A loud clanging sound reverberated throughout the area as both object collided. Draken quickly leaped few meters backwards to create gap, but the creature closed in on him once more and slashed its claws towards him once more. 

  

This time, Draken reacted swiftly by swerving his body sideways, and the creature ended up cutting nothing but thin air. 

  

After successfully dodging the attack, Draken leaped up into the air and gripped his weapon firmly with both hands. When he was now above the creature, he brought it down towards the creature's head. 

  

BAM! 

  

Before Draken's intended hit could make impact, he felt a solid object slammed him away and he was thrown few meters away.  

  

He flew across the place until his body hit the floor, and his left leg was broken instantly. 

  

"Argh." Draken grunted in pain, dropping his weapon and gripping his broken leg with his teeth gritted. "I was too focused on the bastard's head that i didn't noticed the giant tail heading towards me." Draken intoned, struggling to get back up, but ended up falling down. 

  

He shifted his gaze towards the rest of the people and found hundreds of dead bodies on the floor and blood flowing like rain. People screaming in agony as their heads were removed by the creature, and also being eaten by it. The creatures already increased from two to seven, it felt like they were crawling out of the shadows by the minute. 

  

Only few people were still able to keep up by dodging the attacks of the creatures, and one of them was the British guy that stood behind Draken earlier. 

  

By what Draken has witnessed so far and the way the guy was able to dodge attacks swiftly, he was convinced that the guy must have mastered martial arts back when he was alive. 

  

His dodging skills were top notch, almost like a professional. 

  

DAM! DAM! DAM! 

  

The thunderous footsteps snapped Draken back to reality as the creature charged towards him.  

  

Draken gritted his teeth and rose up from the ground while grunting in pain, and sweat trickling down his face. He picked up the claw and held it firmly with both hands while waiting for the creature to close in on him. 

  

Getting in striking distance, the creature swung its tail forward like a whip towards Draken. Reacting swiftly, Draken also swung the claw forward. 

  

When the claw connected with the tail, it sliced it clean off and black blood gushed out instantly, followed by a howl of pain that pierced through everyone's ear. 

  

'That kid.' The British man shifted his gaze towards the location of the noise and found Draken was the cause of the creature's pain. 

  

Draken didn't stopped there, he sprinted forward, even though his leg was broken, he still managed to run but he wasn't as fast as before and with every step he took he groaned in pain. 

  

When he was few meters away from the bastard, he leaped up into the air and connected his knee to the creature's head. 

  

BooM! 

  

The knee made impact and the creature was knocked few meters backwards. Draken landed back on the floor floor before launching forward, not giving the creature chance to recover. 

  

As he got close to it Draken jumped up high and came down on the creature from above with his weapon. 

  

The knife, carrying the force of gravity plus Draken's own strength, pierced into the head of the creature with a soft cracking sound. 

  

The creature didn't move after that and Draken breathed heavily as his legs felt 

weak and he fell on his butt. 

  

"Ha..ha..ha.." Draken panted heavily with his mouth wide opened trying to catch his breath. 

  

Draken shifted his gaze towards the dead creature and found it's body turning into black dust and the wind blew it off. 

  

"HEY, BEHIND YOU!" The British man's voice sounded from meters away. Swiftly turning around, Draken found a giant claw heading towards him with full force. 

  

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SURVIVAL QUEST COMPLETED