Milo headed towards the school cafeteria which was also on the first floor, the same floor as Isabel's freshmen Algebra class. He was sure that his only friend in the school was there. He knew that the cafeteria would be brimming with hundreds of zombies, but he still took the risk to go there. Since, he regarded his friend like a brother and his friend would become one of the greatest blacksmiths from the United States of America.
In his previous life, when he heard his friend's title as the greatest blacksmith from America, he didn't believe it. He thought it was a joke or that someone else shared the same name as him. But, later on, when he learned that the famous blacksmith came from Eastwood High, he was sure it was his friend.
The whole way to the cafeteria, Milo didn't talk much. He felt awkward talking to Isabel, since to him, he was meeting her after many years. Instead, Liam Howard, the small geeky kid following him, was the first to talk.
"How did you rotate your wrists 360 degrees in one direction? That is impossible for humans!"
Milo looked at Liam quizzically. There were so many other worries he should have been having, like about zombies, but he was actually worrying about Milo's wrist rotation. Milo was also surprised that Liam's eyes could catch the movement of his wrist. He had expected Liam to not be able to see anything, since his hands were moving at such insane speeds.
"It is the apocalypse. Many things that we believed to be impossible are now possible."
To prove his point, Milo punched a concrete wall right next to him. It shattered easily. Then, Milo bent down, grabbed a chunk of concrete from the floor, and crushed it with his hands.
Liam marveled. He didn't even imagine that Milo had such strength. The other kids were also awestruck. Isabel once again wondered if the person in front of her was really Milo.
Then, Liam went back to muttering something about physics in a low voice. To, Milo it sounded like geeky junk, but for Liam, it was his basis of life.
Suddenly, Milo remembered why Liam's name sounded familiar. He had heard it many times on the radio. Liam Howard was the greatest scientist during the apocalyptic times, and he led the research on the genes of zombies. Liam was closely guarded by the military 24/7, so Milo hadn't ever gotten the chance to see him, but everyone in the world knew about the scientist. Partly for his discoveries, but mainly for his technologies. The scientist had also made many technologies which cost hundreds of millions of Ordinary Zombie Attribute Crystals. Zombie Attribute Crystals had become the currency after the Apocalypse. Each Ordinary Zombie Attribute Crystal would have probably been worth a few dollars. Anyone would have given up anything for Liam Howard's inventions. His most famous creation was a small red bead called "Hell Zone", which could burn all the zombies in a 20 kilometer radius. It was also Milo's personal favorite, not that he had ever gotten to use it. He had just heard about it in stories.
Milo almost started jumping with joy when he discovered that the kid walking behind him would become the greatest scientist and inventor in the future. However, he managed to regain his composure and continue walking. His hands were still trembling in excitement, thinking about the amazing technologies he would get to use if he had Liam on his side.
Interrupting Milo's thoughts, a kid tried to ask him something. It seemed that the kid had built up the confidence to ask the question, since he saw Liam ask Milo something. "Where are we going?" Although the student had managed to ask the question, he student was still scared. After all, just a few moments ago he saw Milo's hands crush a concrete block.
"The question is not where are we going. The question is where are you going. I don't have any responsibility of leading you or taking care of you."
Milo, with his years of wisdom gained from the apocalypse, knew that the people who died the earliest were the ones who depended on others. He was telling the students to rely on their skills for their own good. To survive in the apocalypse, you needed to have a mind of your own. You needed to gain your own strength and make your own choices. If you kept on depending on others, it wouldn't be soon before they threw you away like trash and left you all alone. Milo felt like he was doing a favor to the students, but the students seemed to think otherwise.
"How could you say that?" A young lad summoned his strength and questioned Milo.
Milo didn't feel like replying but still gave a half-hearted answer, "Before you decided to follow me, I warned you that I wouldn't be protecting you or guarding you. It was your own choice. I didn't try to convince you guys to follow me."
Milo didn't add the explanation about how it was better if they learned to survive on their own. He felt it was better if they experienced it themselves. He, too, in his previous life had to learn how to fend off for himself.
The students quieted down when they heard his answer. They weren't able to refute, since what he said was true. They were also scared that he would crush them like he had done with the block of concrete.
Milo, then, put his hands in his pockets and started walking even faster. His eyesight had gotten even better and he could see a huge mob of zombies gathering in front of the cafeteria. The group of zombies before the restroom was nothing compared to it.
He started skipping at the thought of having both the greatest inventor and blacksmith on his side.
When Milo got close enough, he could see the students in the corner of the cafeteria. Along with them, were many of the school staff and teachers. The group of people managed to keep the zombies away but weren't able to kill any zombies. They were just able to throw chairs and other items at the zombies to push them away, and it looked like their supply of items to throw was running out. He could see his English class and his teacher, Ms. Wilkens, among the people who were throwing stuff at the zombies. She was grabbing makeup tools from her purse and hurling it at the zombies. One of her items even came soaring towards Milo. Milo caught the item with his left hand. It was a pink colored compact mirror. He didn't know what to do with it, so he just put it in his pocket. Milo guessed that his English class must have been dismissed to lunch, and then they encountered the zombies. He didn't dwell on the matter for too long, and instead went back to searching for his friend.
No matter how much he looked, Milo couldn't see his friend. He thought it would be easy to find his friend, since his friend was hard to miss, but hundreds of students and zombies were blocking his sight. Milo was sure his friend was in the cafeteria, because it was lunchtime and his friend never missed lunch. In fact, his friend's only motivation in school was lunch. Milo decided to take the risk and fight the zombies in order to find his friend. After all, he regarded his friend like a brother, and his friend would be a valuable asset in the future.
Milo ran towards the horde of zombies. The students behind him were now also beginning to see the stampede of zombies. Now, they were sure he was committing suicide, and immediately, began planning their escape. Some had even left by the time Milo looked back. The only people left were Isabel, Liam, the teacher, Lily Evans, and a few students, who were looking at Milo as if he were crazy. Included in the ones who were looking at Milo as if he was a psycho, was Isabel's friend who he met in front of the bathroom. For some reason, at that moment, he abruptly remembered the name of Isabel's friend. It was like Alissa Jonas or some thing. He couldn't put his finger on it. Oh yeah! It was Alexandria Jones. No, no. It was Angelina Jones. Yeah, that was it. Milo was sure her name was Angelina Jones.
Milo clashed with the first zombie, remembering some memories of the past. He didn't know why, but suddenly, he recalled a scene in which Angelina Jones seemed disgusted with him. In fact, in every memory he recalled, Angelina Jones seemed to view him as trash. He realized that in the past Angelina didn't approve of his friendship with Isabel and was always trying to keep Isabel away from him. Even in the bathroom, Angelina didn't thank him and instead kept silent.
Milo decided not to let his mind wander anymore and tried to focus on the fight. He started using the Whirling Slashes of the Heavenly Sword.
This time he executed the technique differently. Instead of swinging his spear on one side, Milo swung his spear in a loop on the right and then another loop on the left. It made a shape like an infinity symbol, but it was much harder than it looked. Included with the looping of the spear, Milo sometimes changed the rhythm of his movements by stabbing zombies who were near him. This made it difficult to predict his movements. He also made the infinity symbol behind his back in order to protect his body from all directions.
Milo ignored the notifications as he killed the zombies. He had killed about 26 or 27 zombies, but still it was just a drop in the bucket. He was even now outside of the zombie horde and hadn't got close to the center.
Milo realized that the pace he was going at wouldn't work, and he need to move faster. Milo jumped onto one of the cafeteria tables and once again looked for his friend. He caught a glimpse of his friend at the right corner of the cafeteria, opposite from his position and the location with the densest amount of zombies. Milo rushed towards that direction. He jumped from table to table, hoping he could save his friend before his friend got bitten by zombies. He wondered how his friend had survived this situation in his past life.
Finally, Milo was just about 6 meters away from his friend. Milo knew the distance so exactly, since it was necessary in close combat to gauge the distance from all nearby objects. Milo couldn't see Liam, Isabel, and the rest of the group and hoped they were safe. He didn't want any of them to lose their lives, because he was saving his friend.
Then, Milo jumped in front of the students who were crammed together in the right corner of the cafeteria. He waved to greet his friend, but his friend didn't seem to notice it as he was cramped by a cluster of people. They seemed to be squeezing him and trying to push him out of the crowd, towards the zombies. Milo heard one student scream, "Move it, fatty!"
Milo winced. Even in his past memories, he remembered how his friend lost control whenever he heard the word "fatty". Immediately, his large friend, not fat friend, shoved the student who called him fat. Then he started screaming, "I'm not fat. This is just a temporary caloric imbalance, but "stupid" is a permanent genetic malfunction!"
Milo sighed. Even in this situation, his friend used the same line.
Milo didn't have anymore time to worry about his friend, Arwen Nelson. He needed to get rid of the mob of zombies which seemed to be never ending.
Milo went back to using his modified version of the Whirling Slashes of the Heavenly Sword. This time, Arwen noticed him. In fact, all the students standing behind him noticed him.
Milo was chopping zombies like vegetables, and dark blood was spewing all over the cafeteria.
The people watching him couldn't believe it was Milo killing the zombies. After all, Milo was the weakest loser in the school. However, Arwen didn't waste time doubting Milo's identity and started cheering for Milo.
"Go Milo! Go!"
Milo wanted to hide. He felt extremely embarrassed and awkward. He didn't even notice that Arwen's yelling was attracting more zombies.
Milo, flustered, quickly shushed Arwen and went back to eradicating the zombies in front of him.