"Is everyone ready? Let's go."
A man cautiously surveyed the surroundings as he started walking, behind him was a group comprised of ten people. An old man in a suit, two middle-aged women in casuals, four youthful women in uniformed clothing, two male teenagers, one wearing a t-shirt while the other one was hooded, and the last one, a woman on a simple round-neck shirt and faded jeans.
It was, of course, Jun's group.
After taking everything that they could loot from the store, they decided to talk about some important matters. The group was worried about their families and requested that Jun must help them. They even swore that if he helped them, they would willingly follow him.
The meeting ended with a bright tone. Everyone was happy because when they were talking where they live, they realized that they just live near each other.
With their families as the topic, they ate breakfast cheerfully.
Jun told them that their destination is the city hall, but he didn't provide any reason.
Most of them were obviously happy about where they headed since they would pass by their homes.
Bernard suggested finding a vehicle that they could use, but Jun was totally against it.
Of course, Jun had his reasons.
The most obvious would be that they would make too much noise, which could attract hundreds of infected. Besides, the roads are too narrow and could only allow one vehicle per lane, making it hard to maneuver.
Alex looked left and right as if she was looking for something. As they walked, her gaze wandered from a car's window to a building's window.
Every window that showed slight movements caught her attention.
She was staring hard at a car's tinted window when a hand caught her shoulder.
She gasped and was about to scream when someone spoke behind her.
"Are you alright? Is there anything troubling you?" Sheila asked, concerned.
Alex sighed. "Please don't do that again." she then hugged the baseball bat closer to her body.
"Sorry, did I scare you?" said Sheila as they continued walking.
"I'm fine. I'm just not used to this yet. "
"That's okay, most of us aren't." Sheila patted Alex's back.
***
"What do you think?" Jun asked Adrian.
"It's impossible. We won't be able to go through that. There are too many vehicles, so our visibility will be limited."
The group had to stop because of the traffic ahead. They stayed in a circular formation grasping their weapons while keeping watch in different directions.
The highway was jam-packed with vehicles that you can't even see where it ends. They could also see some infected standing idly in between cars.
They're currently traveling along the national high way, which should be the shortest route to reach the city hall.
The road ahead has residential houses on each side, which means more infected and more blind spots. Although they could go through the sidewalk and proceed carefully, they could still be noticed as a group of their size couldn't pass sneakily. In the worst-case scenario, they would all get surrounded and killed.
"Any suggestions?" Jun asked as he looks around. "None? Then we continue that way."
He could hear a few whispers about going back, but since they didn't even dare to voice it out, he just ignored them.
Adrian took the lead, followed by Jun. With his stealth, he effortlessly killed lone infecteds that blocked their way.
They moved slowly and carefully from corner to corner, stopping at every sight of an infected.
They were doing very well at being sneaky when someone called from above.
"Wait! Please wait for me!"
They all looked up while preventing the curse words that almost spat out from their mouths. It was an old man in a formal suit. Although his voice wasn't that loud, it still caught the attention of the infecteds on the other side of the road.
"Go inside! Hurry! Go!" Jun yelled as he pointed to the house where the old man was on. The panic on his voice can be clearly felt.
Everyone ran towards the door, not even waiting for Jun to take the lead. They readied their weapons in case there are infected on the other side of the door. Bernard twisted the knob, and it wouldn't open.
"It's locked!" shouted Bernard.
"Damn!" Jun cursed as he saw numerous infected dash towards them. A figure passed by his side and knelt down beside the door.
Adrian examined the knob and yelled, "I need five seconds!"
Hearing what Adrian said, Jun took a few steps forward and waited between a car's trunk and a car's hood, using the small passage to control the approaching infected. Edward and Sheila stood behind him. The 'newbies' remained near Adrian and stood in formation, four front-rows, and three back-rows.
"You've already done this! They're just running this time!" Jun reminded them as he took a batting stance.
The first infected came, immediately followed by two more. Three more infected appeared behind them. The first three took the center path, where they could only approach one at a time. The other three climbed on the car's hood and trunk.
With a single swing, Jun quickly dealt with the first infected. When he hit the first infected's head, he actually scraped the face of the one behind it. The infected's jaw was now tilted to the side, and half of its face got erased, replaced by scraped flesh dripping with blood.
Jun pushed the body of the first infected and forced back the two infected behind.
Edward and Sheila behind him saw everything. What terrifying strength! They were shocked but still managed to focus on what needs to be done.
Sheila held a long spear on her hand. It was the weapon she got from her random weapon crate. Its shaft was made from wood and had a three-pointed end like a trident.
She chose the lone infected on the trunk as her target. Instead of stabbing, she decided to sweep the infected's leg with the spear, causing the infected to lose balance and fell down. Before it could even stand, a spear already pierced its head.
At the same time, Edward's hands were being chewed as he grabbed each of the infected's jaw. Jun used an overhead smash and killed both infected in one strike. Edward, who bore some of the impacts felt numb, while his energy dived towards the bottom. He was about to open his mouth to complain when he heard some good news.
"It's open! Let's go!" shouted Adrian.
Jun glanced at the dead bodies on the ground, then towards the infecteds that started appearing on the sides.
He felt sad that he couldn't loot the bodies, but he isn't stupid enough to try and drag them back.
"Go! I'll take the rear guard."
Edward and Sheila turned around, then ran.
They noticed two infected bodies on the ground, both elderlies.
Bernard smiled after taking some deep breaths. On his arm were bite wounds that already turned pale with dark webbings on the edge of the bites.