The first shambler unexpectedly lunged at me with a blistering speed. I swung my sword up in a powerful arc, catching its arm closest to me right at the shoulder. The muscles and tendons separated almost immediately, and the arm went flying. Usually, this would spell death, or at least stop whatever was attacking. But the shambler stepped inside my now open guard and struck me across the face with its other arm. I stumbled a bit from the stinging and shock, and the shambler once again lunged at me, this time its mouth open and aiming for my neck.
Panicked, I brought my sword up and stabbed it straight through the chest as it flew through the air. It thudded face first into the wall next to me, before reaching out with its arm after landing and grabbing my hair. It leaned towards me as I used the handguard of the sword to push it back, its teeth gnawing and chopping the air as it tried to bite anything it could on my body. What's worse, I could see another shambler running at me, picking up a broken piece of a broom along the way and preparing to stab it through me.
I turned my head back to the one that was currently trying to bite my face off, and with a roar of exertion I twisted my blade in its chest to turn upward and ripped it through its entire body upward, the sword passing through its neck and exiting through the top of its head. The two halves of its upper body split apart to reveal the gross and decaying interior of its body, the brain matter spilling out onto the flow. The urge to vomit arose in the back of my throat, but I quickly pushed that back down.
I shoved the body off me and turned to intercept the other one. I figured the head was the weak point, but I had to make sure to. So as the other one charged forward, I sidestepped at the last second and swung my sword in an arc towards the back of its neck in the same motion. The blade parted the decaying flesh underneath easily, the head coming off and splatting against the floor nearby. The body crumpled into a heap, confirming my theory. Mino probably could've told me that before abandoning me, but I decided that was a concern I would raise with her later.
I whirled around to the remaining shamblers, who had all picked up the action happening at the end of the hall and were charging at me, mouths dripping with saliva and snarling wildly at me. With a deep breath, I grasped my sword with both hands and charged down the hall to meet them, passing the eaten and torn apart bodies of nurses and doctors.
With a roar, I dispatched the first two with quick swipes of my sword. I ran the third one through with a simple stab of my sword through the middle of its forehead. I noticed the fourth one coming up directly behind the third one, so I yelled before pushing the body forward and nailing the fourth one as well. With a meaty chunk sound, I pulled my sword out and still noticed another four running at me, though this time they carried an assortment of weapons, including a stolen fire axe.
I readied myself to meet them. An unknown feeling was coursing through me. I had heard of this happening for other Selected, and even regular humans who were professional fighters. I don't know if it is the fear of death, or the close brush up with it, but I could feel it. For the first time since becoming Selected, I could feel the flow of combat thudding itself through my veins. A pure shot of adrenaline sharpening my senses. I see everything around me happening in much sharper focus. Everything relating to this moment in combat was making so much more sense! I could feel it! So with a shout of challenge, I rushed to meet the remaining shamblers.
I walked up the steps of the hospital to the fourth floor, wiping blood off of my blade with a piece of a shirt torn from a dead body. I hadn't found any survivors in the first three floors, only finding more bodies and more enemies, all of which I took down with more ease than the last. Their movement patterns had become easy to me, almost comical in their simplicity. Even those with weapons weren't very skilled with them. And it was these last few thoughts that caused me to pause for a brief moment.
I had never really had these thoughts before. Thoughts about fighting, which is usually something I try to avoid. Was it because I was getting stronger, accumulating more power from being Selected? No, cause if that was the case, I should've seen signs of it by now. So why?
Then a distant memory I had closed off a long time ago surfaced in my head. A night that I had long tried to forget. And yet it was still there sometimes, making itself known. I could still remember everything about it. Walking into that room. The feeling of my fist repeatedly pounding the face of that person, that fucking man who had done that to my mother. His hands were covered in blood, but they lay meekly by his side as I drove every ounce of strength I had into making him suffer, making him pay, making him feel as much pain as possible. I still remember walking in on my father beating my mother and sister.
I didn't know how long it had been happening for, the beatings. I don't even know if that had been the extent of what he had done to them. But I knew that night that if I killed him, I would welcome it, I would savor every moment of watching the life leave his body, and I would have no regrets. But it didn't happen like that.
My sister rushed to pull me off of him, and my mother just sat there, the side of her face bruising and puffed up. Nothing compared to his. My sister dialed nine one one, and I sat in police custody for the next eight hours, being questioned about everything, even aspects of my life that didn't have anything to do with the situation. They questioned my sister and mother, and tried to question my father, but he hadn't woken up yet at that point.
They later told me had I thrown a few more punches, I most likely would've killed him. Due to my age, me only being fifteen at the time, they told me I wouldn't have gotten charged with anything serious, since looking at the evidence it was clear it was in defense of my family. But even in saying that, they were looking at me strangely, as if they didn't completely trust me, as if I was an unknown. I didn't care about them. I rushed to meet with my family, and my sister immediately ran and gave me a hug. She was only three years younger than me. Her name had always been a pride of mine, since I was the one who originally gave it to her. Lorai. Lorai Rindall.
And by the end of it, I just remember one last thing. One last thing that had slipped my mind. Staring at myself in a mirror the day after, with an amused look on my face. Amusement, as if I found the whole situation entertaining, funny. And I swore to myself I would never let my family get hurt like that again, that I would do what I could do to protect them.
Until I couldn't.
AN: Thank you to those who are reading and enjoying this story, hope you'll be here and see it through to the conclusion with me.