Meeting The First Survivor

“I’m sure about this, I’ve seen this ring before” Micheal said with a look of realization, his expression that of someone who had recognized an old forgotten item of the past.

“Are you sure about this?” Yoshi asked curiously now paying attention to the ring.

“Yeah I’m sure, I remember seeing this ring when everything went to shit, it cost me my friend’s life” Micheal replied recalling some parts of his memories where he saw the ring.

“So can you describe anything about the ring?” Bai inquired curiously, he was interested in what connection they had to the ring.

“I don’t remember much only a little, I think I found the ring somewhere and it led to my friend being killed, that’s all I remember, the rest are just a blur of events” Micheal replied massaging his temples as his mind felt a little clouded, he realized that no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t remember any more about that night, it was like it was locked or something.

“Well there goes our only clue, now we’re back to square one and we still have two vulnerable zombies inside the house” Hai said letting out a sigh of fatigue.

“Shit we’re wasting precious time, Yoshi hold onto this for now, maybe you’ll crack its mysteries soon, let’s move quickly so we can cover more distance before daybreak when they awaken” Micheal realized that they were wasting precious time so he quickly issued instructions to the group who nodded as they grabbed their gear and got ready to move.

“Oh and Hai, torch the house” Micheal paused and said to Hai whose expression lit up as he turned to Racheal who smiled and walked to the house while the others moved on, within seconds, the whole house went up in flames lighting up the street and burying the motionless zombies within.

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The squad traveled in the still night, navigating through the quiet streets which were filled with bodies and huddled-up cars, at the forefront of the group stood Micheal who led the group occasionally checking his watch to see if they were moving in the right direction, they had covered some significant distance since leaving their hideout, on the streets, the still bodies of the zombies could be seen standing motionless as they moved past them, sometimes they came so close that they could literally be smelt.

After torching the other house together with the zombies within, the group discovered that the zombies were truly vulnerable in this state and couldn’t attack as opposed to what Micheal proposed, this meant that they were harmless in this state and hence the group had taken to killing off some of the zombies in the beginning but after noticing that this wasted time which they didn’t have, they had decided to pause the killings for now and focus on their mission.

“The sun’s coming up, we have to find cover” Henry noticed the light appearing in the sky and quickly prompted the others who noticed that the zombie had started making some minor movements.

“Let’s go to that house over there” Micheal said spotting a nice building at the side which they quickly rushed to, unwilling to find themselves stuck in a street with hundreds of zombies, the spread of the octo-worm was faster than anything they knew, the rate at which viruses spread couldn’t even be compared to this, due to this particular factor, the number of zombies on each block was significantly large.

The group rushed into the house and divided into two separate groups, the first boarded up the house and the second moved to check out the zombies and Octo-worms in the house to quickly eliminate them before they became fully active.

“Quick it’s almost time” Micheal called out to Hai and Henry who boarded up all the exits quickly as the others walked down the stairs giving a thumbs up to show that all rooms were clear.

“We’re done here too, let’s take this time to plan well, we have to take things more carefully now that we know more about what we’re dealing with” Micheal said falling onto the couch to rest as he took out some water from his bag and drank some before wiping his mouth and letting out a sigh, being a leader was truly tedious.

“What are we waiting for, we have the cloaking feature, we can just creep past the zombies, we don’t have time to waste here” Bai was the one to speak up this time.

“Okay settle down everyone, I don’t think we’ll be leaving anytime soon” Yoshi replied pointing at his map where there were multiple red dots as compared to before.

“Woah that is a huge number of zombies” Racheal remarked in shock staring at the number of red dots.

“It would seem like the closer we get to the source, the higher the concentration of the zombies” Micheal stated giving his observation which was exactly on point, with every step they took to approach the Worm Master, the more the number of zombies increased.

Why was this?

This was because in some unknown way, the Mother Worm knew that it had some unwanted visitors and so it was fortifying its defenses around itself, it might have been due to it having a high enough intellect to sense the threat of its visitors or maybe it was being controlled by someone else, who knew?

The only way to know for sure was to get closer but in itself would prove to be a hurdle for them to cross.

“What do we do now, we can’t just stay here doing nothing” Hai said with a frown to Micheal who sighed.

“I know, I’m thinking” Micheal replied trying to think of the best way to go about the situation.

“Well think faster” Hai said to Micheal who also frowned and got up.

“What got something to say, you’re probably going to say that this isn’t the time to be fighting and some shit” Hai said to Micheal who walked over to him, he thought that Micheal was about to make a move but Micheal just moved past him and walked to the center of the room and then took out his handgun and turned to the others.

“Can’t you guys hear that?” Micheal asked squinting his eyes trying to pay attention to something.

“Hear what?” Henry asked in confusion, not knowing what Micheal was referring to.

“Breathing” Micheal replied turning almost immediately to aim at one part of the ceiling where he fired two bullets.

“SCREECH” Two screeches echoed as two Octo-worms fell out of the ceiling onto the ground lifelessly.

“How did you even hear those things breathing?” Hai asked in shock, he couldn’t believe his ears.

“I wasn’t referring to them, I was referring to our friend over there” Micheal smiled before moving the gun to a part of the wall which vibrated slightly before taking on the shape of a man who had his hands raised.

“CLICK CLICKS CLI…” Several clicks sounded simultaneously as the remaining members of the group aimed their guns at the man who flinched while in the face of all the firepower before him.

“Please don’t shoot” A panicked voice sounded from the man who begged staring at Micheal like he was staring at a ghost.

‘How did he hear his breathing? How is he so perceptive to his environment?’ Yoshi thought while sneaking a glance at Micheal who stared at the man indifferently, his emotions and thoughts perfectly concealed, this was a technique used in the army to intimidate enemies when interrogating, the person would have to hide all emotions and thoughts and act indifferently and cold, this presented a psychological image of strength to enemies.

“We’re going to be asking you some questions, your next set of answers will determine whether we get to put a bullet in you or not, firstly who are you?” Micheal with the gun still aimed at the man asked, just as a loud bang sounded from the door which alarmed the group.

“BANG BANG” The first bang was followed by several others that sounded from all around the house.

“It’s the zombies, they must have heard the gunshots and followed it here” Racheal said after checking the windows, she discovered that the house was surrounded by zombies which must have heard Micheal’s gunshots.

“I.i.I’m Tom” the man replied in fear.

“Okay Tom, were you a resident of this Zone?” Micheal asked ignoring the bangs all around him.

“Yes, I’ve lived here for several years, I was also here when everything happened” Tom replied obediently, from Micheal’s expression and behavior, he knew that he meant business.

“Okay good, next question, are there other survivors?” Micheal asked and as he did, his keen eyes noticed the man flinch at the question before he answered.

“No” The man answered.

“It seems like you didn’t hear me the first time so let me repeat myself, are there other survivors” Micheal chuckled slightly before pulling the hammer of the gun backward showing that he would squeeze the trigger if he was given another wrong answer.

“Y…yess” The man replied trembling in fear.

“Good boy, next question, do you have a hideout in the city?” Micheal replied as the windows cracked under the constant banging of the zombies, this caused the others to aim their guns at the window and doors.

“No” The man replied which caused Micheal to frown before turning to Yoshi.

“Does he look to be lying?” Micheal asked.

“Naa he’s telling the truth” Yoshi replied to Micheal causing him to turn back to the man.

“Hmmm, okay now, where do you stay with the others?” Micheal asked the man who frowned at the question.

“Hey Mike, maybe we should just kill him and clear a path through the zombies, he’s just wasting our time” Hai said moving his gun back to the man as his fingers curled around the trigger ready to fire.

“Please wait wait, don’t kill me, we have an underground shelter under the zone, in the sewers, I can take you there” The man pleaded after seeing Hai ready to finish him off.

“Naa I don’t think we can trust him, let’s just kill him, he sounds suspicious” Bai also added turning his gun to the man who became even more frightened.

“Wait, if you kill me, there’s no way of escaping this place, you’re already surrounded but I can get you out, please” The man begged trying to convince them.

“Should we trust him?” Micheal asked the others.