"Good morning, big bro."
Bucky knocked on Erza's door.
Erza was already suited up in his battle gear.
"Morning, Bucks. Thanks for manning the sentry."
As part of the apocalypse survival training, he made sure one person would stand guard at night.
With the physical enhancement of an Awakened, they would only need a few hours of sleep.
'People who neglected sleep would fall victim to their own mental fatigue.'
Their bodies could withstand the minimal periods of rest, but not their minds.
Mental toughness is a quality that one obtains through practice.
In a few minutes, all the family members are in the suite's gym.
"Alright guys, let's start!"
After ending their morning workout, they had breakfast together.
On the 6th day of doomsday, they slowly got used to their everyday life.
Mankind's ability to adapt is frightening.
"Team, suit up in five! Today is the day we clear out the hotel!"
All of them had a smile and immediately went into battle mode.
…
A peculiar white drone is flying above hundreds of Infected.
As the rotors are loud, it had the attention of a few Infected.
'Their instinct to feed overcomes everything. They would just ignore everything that is not food.'
The damage caused by the mutated Doronavirus-20 to the brain resulted in their short attention span.
"How many are there exactly, Bucky?"
In a room on the 6th Floor, Erza and Bucky stood nearby the balcony.
"Around 150. To be exact, 148!"
Bucky could identify the Infected's numbers accurately because of his refined control over his Talent.
Aside from being alert and informing the team if anything suspicious occurred, the sentry has also another task.
'Sentries, spend your time wisely. Play around with your powers, practice to push your limits in controlling it. '
While the others are sleeping, it was the perfect opportunity to focus.
"Don't be a slave to your powers, you are the master!"
As a result, Bucky found out that he could create software with his thought.
He wanted a feature that could scan the Infected's faces, walking pattern, and soundwaves and convert them into data.
It took him a few hours, but his night shift was well-spent.
What would take teams of programmers a long time to make, was made by a single youth in a night!
'Talent' is a blessing during the apocalypse.
"Team, the lobby has 148 Infected. Even with our combined powers, a frontal assault would be suicide."
Erza walked back into the room and briefed his family members.
"But big bro, with your Super Strength, isn't-"
Feera voiced out his opinion.
But before he could finish his sentence, Erza intervened.
"Feera, I know what you're thinking."
Erza's overwhelming strength made him look like a God of War.
In the previous floors' cleanup, they witnessed how terrifyingly effective Erza was in killing Infected.
Speed, strength, and accuracy.
Heads would pop like balloons everywhere Erza stepped his foot on.
"I could use my 'Talent', coupled with martial arts but my stamina is not unlimited."
He then asked each and everyone, how long can their 'Talent' last until they run out of energy?
"Each time we use our 'Talent', energy from our cells are consumed."
Erza explained that the usage of 'Talent' correlates with 'Cell Energy'.
The more Cell Energy they have, the more potentials could be unearthed from the powers.
"As we've tested, none of us have a significant amount of 'Cell Energy'."
Cell Energy capacity depended highly on luck.
The day one awakens, their Cell Energy tank would depend on how good their genes are.
"That being said, the more we consume the Evolution Nectars, the more our 'Cell Energy' would increase!"
For the time being, they have to outwit the Infected with their skills and ingenuity.
"Alright, here's the plan."
Erza formulated a way for them to destroy the Infected Horde below.
…
"I feel like we're breezing through life with a cheat code!"
Laughter could be heard.
Feera made a statement of how his big brother's strategy cause the Infected to be killed in large amounts with minimal effort.
Their 'Genocide Operation' started by baiting the Infected on the 1st, Ground, and B1 Floors' emergency stairs to the Ground Floor Lobby.
Then, they cleared the Infected on the 1st Level to access the Control Room, which oversees the whole hotel's system.
Bucky took over the system. He then locked the Ground Floor's emergency staircase's door electronically.
Afterward, the remaining four members went to the B1 Floor, where the hotel's basement parking is.
They scouted the floor and reconfirm with Bucky the number of Infected he saw through the surveillance camera.
Once they have confirmed the numbers, they unleashed their mini 'bait' in a form of remote-controlled cars and cleared the Infected.
Then, Erza unlocked a black SUV. The car had a four-pointed star logo.
Upon opening the trunk, the others were shocked!
Strong gassy smell bombed their noses.
Liters upon liters of petrol cans were stacked in the SUV's rear trunk!
Erza briefly explained that petrol is a valuable resource in the future.
With no humans to mine and process oil, a severe shortage of energy occurred.
'And with petrol, we can do more than just fuel for cars.'
They brought several cans up to the 1st Floor.
Erza then instructed Bucky to open the Ground Floor's entrance door.
A few Infected were loitering about.
Then, three humans' screams were heard!
The Infected rushed in berserk to the source of the sound.
A Horde made of hundreds of Infected gathered outside the hotel's entrance.
To ensure the Infected do not return back to the lobby, Bucky locked the main entrance doors.
But upon reaching the location of the screams, no prey was spotted!
It was actually three drones flying in the air, replaying the voice of human screaming!
At the same time, the petrol cans that the team brought to the 1st Floor floated above the Infected!
'His control has gotten better.'
Feera levitated the petrol cans right on top of the Infected and poured the fuel over their heads.
Before the Infected Horde scatters, they have to light a fire to ignite fuel!
"Dad, please do the honors."
Erza handed him a black cable.
At its end, metal wires jutted out.
Kzzt!
Electrical discharge flowed out from his hands to the cable.
The end of the cable?
Right in the middle of the Infected Horde!
The electrical charge traveled at light speed and sparked the heavily soaked Infected.
Combust!
Hundreds of eerie howling and roars signaled the Infected's death throes.
All of them watched as the monsters burned to crisp.
Grey clouds rise to the atmosphere.
The Infected's cries and screams of agony sound as if they were grateful to have meet salvation.
"Son, husband, let's go clear on the remaining floors. Staying here any longer will make me want to cry."
Mrs. Numee was on the verge of tears.
It was as if her heart could feel the souls of the Infected thanking her and her family.
After all, who would want to live on the Earth as mindless flesh-eating zombies that harm their own family?
Erza understood his mother's empathy.
"Bucky, you rest up. We're clearing the floors up leisurely."
The youngest brother has exhausted a huge chunk of his Cell Energy in the Operation.
Erza contacted him through the In-Ear Military Radio.
…
5.56 pm.
Erza looked at his filthy Pineapple Watch, covered with blood and dirt.
"Good job guys. That was the last one!"
The final Infected in the whole hotel dropped dead with a crossbow bolt in its head.
All five of them rejoiced in the silent but brightly lit B2 Floor.
Bucky joined them when they started cleaning up the basement parking.
"Erza! Look at all these Evolution Nectars!"
Mr. Zayf excitedly showed them his harvest.
All the remaining floors gave them a total of 96 beads.
"I start to believe at big bro's words when we attacked the 1st Floor."
Because the 1st Floor is where the restaurants are, the number of Infected was more than usual.
'There were 32 Infected in the 1st Floor.'
It was by far, the toughest floor for them to challenge.
Even with their tactics and strategies, they still had used at least half of their Cell Energy.
They then realized how important Erza's leadership is.
From this moment onwards, their faith to him is unwavering!
Just as they were heading to the Ground Floor to extract the hundreds of Evolution Nectars outside the hotel, Bucky spoke up.
"Um, guys…I detected something."
All four of them turned their heads.
"I think…its people."