BANG!!
Gone was the place where I stood just seconds ago, the whole thing completely bursting into smithereens.
If it weren't for the fact that I had noticed the tank earlier, I would've been dead by now. The jump that I made was simply only possible because of my quick reaction time, but even this did not stop me from getting repercussions from the shockwave. I was thrown to the other side of the street and landed pretty badly on my back.
"Crap!" I cursed out, pushing as hard as I could with my right arm to get up.
But just when I thought everything was over, bullets started flying my way.
Adrenaline rushing through my veins, I finally got up through sheer will power, and began running. I was hoping to find some cover behind the woods around me, but the fire was getting too big to handle. Even now, I was starting to cough pretty badly. All I could hope to do was to get into the tank's blindspot where I could try to sneak up on it. Plausible idea, but it was going to take a lot of energy to actually do it.
It was clear that these people were not going to make it easy on me.
I began circling around the tank, watching for the timing to run straight towards it, but my legs were already quick to tire. Not only was I out of breath, but my body was still recovering.
Curse this humanity of mine!
Oh... And curse them too!
As soon as I saw the horde of Undeads coming, I knew I was screwed. The tank was fully protected from the assault, but I wasn't. Hell, I didn't even know where Kai was!?
I was alone, and there was probably a hundred of Undeads running towards me. If that wouldn't bring you to the brink of fear itself, then I'd call you a madman.
"This just gets better and better," I muttered, as I started running away from them.
Fortunately, this sudden reappearance did take the tank's attention away from me. After all, they couldn't just ignore the mass of rotten flesh digging their claws into the tank's body. It wouldn't last five minutes if that were to happen!
"Sucks to be you."
Unfortunately, this time, more of the Undeads had noticed my presence. Ten to twenty of them went on to chase me, and I was forced to push my legs to their limits.
"Great," I muttered underneath my breath. Raising my hockey stick with my right hand, I readied myself for yet another clash.
Out of nowhere, a bullet flew past by me and dropped one of the Undeads. I turned to look around, and there he was, standing right next to his bike.
Kai!
"Oh, I'm glad to meet you!" I let out, as my legs finally gave in. Fortunately, I was already next to the bike by that time.
"Get in," Kai told me, and so I did exactly that. For the next four-five seconds, he continued to drop three more bodies but then opted that things would get out of hand. Getting back onto the bike, the two of us scampered away from the scene and back into the night.
For the time being, at least.
"Change of plans," Kai said quickly. "You're never going to be able to take your things back if the Undeads are there!"
"I know."
My brain was working as quick as the bike was moving, and yet still my mind could not function. The whole thing was still fresh in my memory, and I just couldn't shake it off.
And so were they.
More and more Undeads became attracted to the sound of the bike's engine, and so there were literally countless of them on our tail. Sure, there was no chance for them to catch up, but still...
"Where are we going?" I asked, as I turned back to see the fire taking over the whole place.
"Anywhere but here! If your friends over at the tank are smart, they'll do the same."
And they did.
Coming out of the fire like some sort of demon errupting to life, the tank flew by with astonishing speed as it ran over all the Undeads in its path. Surely, they had only escaping in their mind, right?
Right. I just had to jinx it.
Seeing that they were also behind us, the tank began aiming its turret to yours truly. Deja vu, not gonna lie, but not the kind that I liked. Even at this speed, I felt fully threatened by this knowledge.
"Kai," I warned the guy. "KAI!"
"I KNOW!"
Swerving just in time, the two of us managed to dodge the shot thrown at us. Things were going by so quickly that I didn't even have a chance to see it.
In fact, I didn't even realise that we had been forced to change our route. It took more than a second to realise we were no longer in the street.
"Where are we?" I asked, as the tank disappeared from sight.
"A shortcut."
As we passed by the darkness around us, I swore I could see movement. Whatever it was, we weren't alone.
Quickly putting down my hockey stick, I grabbed the handgun and began to reload it with blood bullets... To rather pathetic results.
Still, I did manage to get in three.
"Come on, where are you?" I said, as I aimed the handgun towards my right.
As soon as I did this though, hands immediately came out to greet me. Rotten hands at that!
"Aw, GOD!" I screamed, shooting one bullet in a frenzy. Thankfully, it met its target, otherwise it would've been a huge blunder on my part.
"Sorry about that," Kai said from upfront. "This basement's just filled with them."
"Basement?"
It was only then that I understood what he had meant. We were in the basement of an abandoned mall, and around us was a hive of Undeads. I wasn't sure why, but I began to pick up more of them in my peripherals after knowing this.
Fortunately, we didn't stay for very long there.
In less than a minute, we were up on a ramp again and back onto the street. And of course, they just had to be there as well.
"RIGHT" I shouted out, as we narrowly avoided getting crushed by the metallic abomination.
Turning right as quickly as he could, Kai got back hold of the bike. He brought it up to full rev, and watched as the tank got left behind in the sideview mirror.
"Nice," I commented.
Yeah, I really wasn't much help in any of this. Either way, I was more than grateful to the guy. If it weren't for him, I'd be dead three times by now. Or four.
"Oh, you sure do."
Oh, great, here came the demon himself!
Perching his way onto my shoulder, the moth of Death finally returned to my side. I didn't know what the Reaper wanted, but everytime he appeared, it had never come along with good news.
"What do you want?" I asked him.
"Oh, nothing," I heard him chuckling. "I'm just here to tell you to watch out for that car."
"Car?"
"Yeah. Car. You'll see what I mean."
But I didn't, I didn't see what he'd meant. All I kept seeing was Undeads coming out of their hiding, chasing after us, only to be gunned down or ran over by the tank.
Happy thoughts, honestly.
Sadly, it didn't seem like we were going to get out of this cat-and-mouse chase any time soon.
"Kai, any ideas on how to get out of this?" I asked.
"You tell me! I'm just the driver here," he responded rather hotly. Clearly, he was just as stressed out as I was.
"Right..."
I looked up into the night sky, hoping for an idea to come. It surely wasn't the best of ways considering all the noise around us, but it was better than nothing.
...
Huh, there's something really huge flying in the sky. What's-- Shit.
"Car."
"What!?"
"CARRRR!!"
As soon as Kai too saw the car flying towards us, his face grew into a mix of horror and surprise. With no time to even react, all he could do was to brake as hard as he possibly could.
Of course, the two of us were flung into the air like there was no tomorrow. This was terrible news for me.
Once again, I landed terribly, this time on my right hand, and groaned in both frustration and pain. In that exact order.
It seemed that the Reaper had not been lying about the car.
"The hell was that?" I uttered as I slowly got up.
"That."
Hearing the urgent tone in Kai's voice, I turned to look at what he had meant. Well, at least I did try. My heart was still beating so loudly in my chest that I couldn't even make out of where I was.
Thump, thump, thump.
It was so loud that I couldn't even shake it off. I looked behind me and saw that the tank too had stopped. I mean, who wouldn't when it was raining cars.
Right?
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Oh, shut it!
I was tempted to bang my chest just to get it to shut up, but I soon realised that this was the trauma from the impact talking. Collecting myself, I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves.
And yet still it wouldn't shut up.
"Rain!" Kai called out to me. "RAIN!"
"What!?"
The thumping still had not stopped, but at least I was now able to see my surroundings clearly. Making my way towards Kai, I went to him and asked.
"What?"
"THAT!"
He pointed straight towards what was in front of us. Not seeing what he meant, I followed his finger and proceeded to look at what he was pointi-- Oh.
Oh.
Those thumps I heard, they were not heartbeats. They were footsteps. And now I knew whose footsteps they were.
Making its way straight towards us was a figure, a giant figure, one spanning up to ten feet in height. A mass of dead cells so disfigured that it no longer looked humanoid in comparison to its brethren. A sight so devoided of hope that I wished the day would never come where I had to see it. And yet here I was.
With each of its step carrying the weight of the whole world, both Kai and I could only be paralysed in fear as it approached. Hell, I could even hear its grunting and groans all the way down here.
It had just thrown a car like it was nothing, what the hell was it going to do to us!?
"Ah, this ain't good," Kai cursed out.
"Ditto," I replied.
The two of us and the tank could only remain in silence during those quiet five seconds, as we saw the Irregular Undead walking towards us.
And I'd be damned, an Irregular had joined the battle.
...
Fuck me.