On the parking lot, Jun's group was having a discussion when a loud shriek echoed in the area.
The group looked around but couldn't find the source. After a few seconds, an infected that seemed to be just passing by appeared on the corner of the street, then another one, and another. Their numbers continuously increased and have already exceeded ten. With the appearance of infecteds, their meeting was finally adjourned.
Although the group of infected rabidly charged towards them, no one seemed to be scared as all of them remained calm.
Jun walked in front of the group with a baseball bat in his hands. He grinned while watching the charging infected, then said, "Formation!"
Before he could even finish, Adrian and Edward were already on his side, holding a knife and with hands fully covered with energy. Sheila stood behind him, holding her new spear. Behind them, Bernard, Gina, Dyna, and Alex stood in a row, in between them were Jamie, Kareen, and Ester, all seven of them were holding baseball bats.
"Just consider this as practice. You guys need to get used to this soon."
***
The orange rays of sunlight finally dimmed on the horizon. The night has come, and the street lights lit up one-by-one.
The group cautiously advanced towards a subdivision.
This time, Edward was walking in front of the group.
Since he could fight and stall a group of infected on his own, he was assigned as the group vanguard.
Behind him was Jun and Adrian as reinforcements, tasked with killing the infecteds that he couldn't kill.
They entered the first house they saw and searched every room for infected. After a minute, the group gathered in the living room.
Jun stood at the center and said, "This house should be safe for now." he then looked towards each of his members, "I will check your houses, Adrian and Edward will come with me. Everyone else should stay here and keep the area clear so we won't have to worry from anything coming from the back."
Jun started walking but turned back after taking a few steps.
"By the way, who knows how to cook?" he asked. "It would be nice if we could eat real food. I'm sick and tired of these energy bars."
"I know how to cook.", Gina stepped forward.
Then as if envious of her for taking the initiative, almost all of the female members chimed in.
"I can cut well!"
"I can make soups."
"We'll make sure that you'll have a real meal when you get back."
"Please hurry..."
"Be safe."
Jun smiled and nodded his head.
***
Knock, knock, knock!
"If there's anyone inside, please speak up!"
Jun stretched his head to try and peek on the second floor of the house, but there were no movements. There's a limit to how far he can see floating names, so he might as well call out loud.
Edward and Adrian were a few meters away from him, guarding his back.
They looked around with hawk-like eyes, scrutinizing everything that moves, and every corner where infected could suddenly appear.
"It seems like it's empty again. Do we go in?" Jun asked.
This is the third house on their itinerary. The first two houses they first went into were also empty. On the way here, they never met any infected, which made their search unexpectedly quick and safe.
"Let's move into the next house. This place should be empty too."
"This place seems strange. I don't wanna stay here any longer."
"Okay, then. Let's go."
As they walked, they finally noticed what was strange in this place.
It was too quiet as if it was really empty!
There's no infecteds inside the house or roaming the streets. There were literally no bodies to be seen!
The area shows that the place once belongs to the living, but something tragic happened. There were bloodstains everywhere, and cracks filled the road.
After searching the last two houses on their list, they, unfortunately, had to return empty-handed.
They chatted as they traveled back from where they came from when suddenly, the ground trembled, followed by a loud noise as if something was being repeatedly pounded.
A weak vibration came from the western side of the subdivision. Jun and the two fellows beside him looked at each other.
Adrian chose to speak first.
"It's either an infected or someone armed with something 'good.' We can check it out and leave if we can't handle it. At least, we got to see what they look like. You must know your enemy to win the war, right?"
"This lord isn't a coward. I just hope the energy in this mortal body is enough to negate the strikes from whatever that is." Edward said.
Edward was a college freshman, a young man barely in his twenty's. He lived a normal life and was content with it. His exposure to violence is lacking compared to Jun and Adrian, who both had dark pasts. Still, to be able to adapt in a violent environment and to become someone capable of fighting face to face with infecteds, he had no choice but to force himself to change.
Jun finally made a decision after weighing the pros and cons. He brought the two and followed the pounding sounds coming from the west.
When they got closer, they finally saw what was causing the loud noise.
They watched a two-meter tall, muscular infected continuously strike the back door of an armored truck.
The infected's hands were starting to turn into jelly as the flesh swelled and become covered with blood.
Although it couldn't do damage on the thick door, the infected continued hammering on the door.
Edward curiously said, "Is it knocking?"
His comment garnered a ridiculing frown from Adrian, then Adrian explained the possible cause for the infecteds action.
"Based on our experiences, just like any other infected, there should be something that it wants from inside that truck."
Edward said, "Something that devil's minion want? You mean someone's trapped there?" he then muttered. "Poor guy... or girl."
As the two finished talking, they noticed that Jun was unusually quiet. When they turned their heads, they saw him extremely anxious while staring at the infected's direction.
Jun's expression worsened, which surprised both of them. Adrian and Edward couldn't help but think that Jun was scared of this unique infected.
As if to prove that the two of them were wrong, Jun stood up and openly walked towards the infected.
They came from the back and should have been able to sneak behind it if they chose to do so. But all that was now gone. The chance to escape will be slim if they get noticed by that muscle infected.
A black vortex appeared and followed beside Jun as he walked. Then he shoved his right arm in and pulled something out.
A shotgun was now on his hand.