Felix was given a heads-up on the Zombie Hunt that's about to happen.
Ana made sure to deliver him the news as thanks for his cooperation.
Felix understands that Ana cannot protect him like she can do for humans.
He isn't human.
She already risked her position by warning him of what's to come.
But Felix didn't hide.
He's been hiding long enough.
If he can make a difference and prevent this Hunt. He needs to take action.
With his contacts and connections from the arena, he is able to gather intel on the car of the man who took Reese.
If he can find Reese, they can work together to find who is really responsible for all this.
Whoever is behind it is putting all the blame on the zombies.
Smart move.
Considering zombies in the human region can be treated as 'spies'.
Humans would believe it in an instant.
Especially if they don't know who to blame.
Felix stood outside one of the buildings in the outer Zone.
It's an old abandoned mall inhabited by a mix of residents.
The rebels and the homeless.
"Are you sure this is where we should be looking for him?" one of Felix's comrades asked.
He gathered 3 to come with him on his search for Reese.
"This is where our lead ends. It's natural we start here." Felix says.
"Who's our source again?"
"A trusty mysterious source." Another of his comrade replied.
Felix focuses on the empty building now, binoculars in hand.
His eyes observe the windows, hoping to see a suspicious target.
According to their source, the car drove west.
Tracking it down took days. His connections confirmed to him that the car is always seen in this very area.
It would be uncanny for an expensive car to be seen in a desolated building.
"Someone is probably hiring the hobos to do their dirty work." Felix assumed.
"That ought to be a mess." His comrade says.
"Them homeless ones are hard to bargain with."
"Or it could be just a cover." Felix raised another assumption.
Just like what he and Reese had discussed before. Whoever is behind this knows what he is doing.
The hiding. The misleading. The escape goats.
It was all carefully planned out.
"The building is too big for us to explore." The thinnest of them says.
"He's right. We might even miss the guy we're looking for." The other agreed.
The building is at least 10 meters wide and 5 meters tall. Its foundation is a mix of rusty metal and old rocks and un-painted cement.
It has 3 floors and a rooftop. Felix assumes there is also a basement underneath its big size. There has to be room for parking when the mall is made to be so big.
His friends are right. If they enter the building and search blindly for their target, there is a chance they'd miss him.
And more likely for them to get ambushed even.
That's something he could not risk.
They fight in the arena for the sake of entertainment and money.
Fighting with actual men who wants to do them harm is a different story.
They're not ready for an actual fight.
"You two stay here." Felix points at his two comrades.
"Roger that!"
"You gotcha!"
Then Felix turns to his third comrade. "You come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"We're going to do a little infiltration." Felix answers.
"For real? In that big place? There are a lot of exits. He could leave at any door."
Felix turns to his two comrades.
"You two should also look for the car while you're at it. Radio us if you find anything, don't go anywhere near the car."
"We can do that."
"Piece of cake."
Then Felix turns back to his third comrade with a smile.
"That leaves you and me, Toots." He teases.
Toots is the closest friend of Felix and an ex-member of the Arctic Foxes.
In a way they have more synchronization than the other two.
Which is why Felix prefers to bring him than the two.
"Oh fine. You just want to spend more time with your old pal." Toots teased.
Felix chuckled.
"Come on. No time to waste."
_______________________
The two enter the desolated mall.
They see groups of people who haven't showered or bathe in years.
The entire building reeked of the residents' lack of hygiene care.
Their food is just as bad. A mix of raw, undercooked and burnt meals.
Almost like it's a zombie residence with the kind of livelihood going on.
"This is probably the hobo side." Toots whispered to Felix.
"Yeah no kidding." Felix replied, dripping with sarcasm.
"Geez it stinks here."
Toots covered his mouth and nose with his scarf.
While Felix remained unfazed by the smell.
"I feel like I want to puke."
"Hey I'm offended."
Toots chuckled, remembering that Felix is a zombie.
"No offense man."
"None taken."
They kept walking in the hallway. They try not to lock eye contact with anyone.
Some people would look at them, noticing at once they don't belong there.
"So you guys have no sense of smell?"
"We do but it's nothing new to us." Felix replies.
"Right, because it's your natural smell or something."
"Our evolution improved our bodies and lessened our deterioration."
"You mean your personal hygiene." Toots joshed.
"You humans judge so much."
As they walked in the hallway. They noticed that there are men and women with old and ragged clothing running towards them.
"Why are they running?"
The hobos ran passed them, all afraid and in a hurry.
It would have been a stampede because of the thick hallways but they found different ways to exit the building.
Some took right turns, some jumped out the windows.
"What's with all the rush?" Toots couldn't help but ask.
Felix does not want to keep assuming things so he grabs one of the runners by the arm.
"Hey excuse me." He tries to get his attention.
"Let go!" the man sounded angry and yet still afraid.
"What's going on? Why is everyone running?" he asked calmly.
"They're coming!"
It was the only thing he said and yanked his arm back and began to ran with the crowd.
"Who's coming?" Toots didn't pick up on it.
Felix however had a strong hunch who 'they' are.
An instinct that helps him identify which of the pretending humans is his kind.
He can sense them by smell.
A distinct smell that identifies them as a rotten corpse in the inside.
"Hey Felix, this is getting really scary. Who's coming?"
"The zombies. You should go."
"I'm not leaving you man."
They heard an echo of snarls and growls coming from the end of the hallway.