"I'm sorry kids. I'd rather not bring you there. So much ruckus has been going on down there. People are talking shit about a zombie situation is happening there right now or something..." Refused the taxi driver after hearing the destination where the three children wants to go.
"How about now?" Will grabbed a few more paper bills and shows them to the driver.
"I still can't, even if you give me more... The road is quite congested there right now so it's not actually possible even if I need to go there myself. Also, I can't take kids right at a dangerous location. I don't want to be responsible if something bad happens to you. You should go home and listen to your parents or hide somewhere safe instead of being out right now." The driver won't budge, reasoned and advises them somewhat cordially, and starts to drive away.
Will sighs. He seems to be tired of hearing the same response over and over again "This can't go on... Tom, can you do something for me? Please take him out" Without any other choice, Will could only resort to the violent means.
Tom nodded cheerfully. He has been practicing for a month unlocking doors, sealed drawers, and cabinets when no one was looking, taking advantage of his ability to see through objects and move things with his mind. Of course, Will reprimanded him and strictly prohibited him to the use of his "superpowers" to do bad things right after he found out about it. Stating that Tom will never become a "superhero" but instead turn into a bad "supervillain" that he hates when he keeps this naughty behavior.
After that, Will almost never took his eyes off and taught Tom how to play using his powers instead, raising his proficiency with it. Who knew that Tom's lock-picking skill needs to be put on display for the sake of Will's plan now.
An invisible force unlocks the car door and opens it. Then, the driver's seatbelt unlatches and slides from his body on its own, and before he realizes it, he flings into a magnificent arch outside his car directly from his seat and hit the ground. It happened so fast that the driver could only watch with a dumbfounded look on his face as the three children took the car and drives away.
"Hey! That's my taxi!..." Will drives calmly, ignoring the wailing of the driver that's trying to catch up to them.
"S-since when can you drive cars? How the heck did the man flew outside the car?! Aren't we doing something illegal?! We're basically stealing a taxi driver's car! Like in GTA! Are we really heading to the hospital right now?! Just like what the driver said, it is dangerous and it's better to stay at home! Wait, the most important thing, you two have psychic powers? Are you guys aliens? No, mutants? Will you turn into superheroes and save the world from the zombies?! ..." Rick in the back seat is beyond confused right now. His heart is pounding so much that he could hear them as if it's beating close to his ears.
"I told you earlier. I and Tom have abilities. I thought you agreed to come along with us to go rescue my mom when you realized that we are capable already? Also, my dad started giving me driving lessons a long time ago..." Will answers while feeling the headache from Rick's barrage of questions. Will is very curious and intelligent ever since he was a child. His father probably intended to test the extent of his brilliance and started teaching him various things even as a toddler. Including driving.
"What? How come you never told me that?!" Rick couldn't believe that Will had been hiding something so amazing. He wanted to drive cars too.
"Well, you never asked..." Reply Will nonchalantly. Now that Rick thinks of it, Will usually wouldn't tell anything about himself when he's never inquired. If he wasn't so popular, he won't even be noticed in an empty room due to his silent nature.
"So... one of you made the car door open on its own and made the man fly out of the car..." Rick mutters, wondering out loud.
"Wait! You still haven't given the answers to a few of my questions! I'm very curious right now! I thought I knew you guys since birth! I was even there at that time when Tommy was just fresh from your mom's belly at the hospital! Seriously, how did you become so awesome!" Rick continues in rapid succession with an agitated voice.
The car turned sharply and slows down its speed so suddenly, making everyone inside sway and tremor. Will almost hit a car ahead of them, only to avoid it at the last moment.
"What was that?... Can you drive more carefully? I thought I broke my neck!" Rick exclaims while holding his pounding chest.
"I'm sorry. What do you expect? I've only tried driving a few times since I could only reach the gas and brake not too long ago. You could say I have more technical knowledge than practical experience. Are you okay Tommy?" Will glanced at his brother worriedly. Seeing that his brother was able to use telekinesis instinctively to avoid hitting his head, Will heaved a sigh of relief "For now you should use magic to hold your body in place whenever necessary... Rick, I still don't have a driver's license so please hold on tight to something"
"Say what?!" Rick is about to retort when he hears Will utter his next words. "...And please avoid distracting me while I'm driving" Rick could only shut up and hold the seatbelt tightly with both hands. He put his feet against the back of Will's seat and presses his back on his seat to hold his body in place. Readying his mind to be alert if the car shakes unexpectedly once again.
Finally, silence bringing peace to Will's mind came. Will keeps on driving while giving his full concentration not to bump onto anything on the road while maintaining intermediate fast speed.
They need to hurry up before it's too late to save his dad.
When they arrived at the street near the hospital, it is almost blocked by a ruckus of cars and people trying to flee the area. They have no choice but to head to the hospital on foot.
Holding his brother closely, Will and Rick moved against the crowd. Since they have small bodies, they could traverse the space between people and bumpers and push forward slowly.
"Just like me and Tom, Rick, you also have abilities within you. I could perceive it with my ability but I'm still not sure what kind of effects it holds. I could use my ability to awaken yours however, it would take a considerable amount of focus and energy. We still have to fight along the way so I could only trust you to figure it out yourself. Tom and I were able to do it and so can you" says Will and hands a gun to Rick.
"I've never held a gun before. Do you think I could hit anything with it? Also, you never told me where you got this" Still trying to digest Will's previous words about himself also having a hidden ability, Rick hesitantly received the gun. However, when he finally gets to hold it, he realizes that it was lightweight and is probably made out of plastic. It's a toy gun.
"It's just a toy gun you could find at a toy store. However, I have imbued the bullet beads with a considerable amount of energy to give them properties similar to the power of the real thing. So please be careful not to cause friendly fire. It's very lethal. I've already tested it" Cautioned Will with a serious tone.
Holding the toy gun, Rick is hesitating whether to continue to keep it. But considering that they're facing off zombies, he decided to keep it and aim properly when the time comes.
Suddenly, a woman's piercing scream resounded from a distance a few cars ahead of them. Then exclamation of the crowd was heard next. Will's eyes sharpened and reminded Rick and Tom to stay cautious of their surroundings.
They moved warily while gripping their weapons. Steeling his mind, Rick decided to believe that with Will and Tom who have mysterious abilities, they might just really make it. Burying his pessimistic thoughts deep down.
"I don't need to worry, Will said that I also have a hidden ability in me. Maybe I could trigger it while facing the real danger. It's okay, I will make it..." Rick keeps repeating reassuring words to keep himself calm as they slowly approach the clamor only three cars away.
Will tries calling his mother a few times only to receive the same disappointing result. It seems likely that his mother lost her phone while escaping from a dangerous situation.
"let's go to the side..." Will instructs. More and more people are fleeing in the opposite direction and even don't mind shoving three children aside in the tight space just to pass through. Some noticed them and tried calling them out however, the three just ignore it.
"Hey, young ones! What do you think you're doing? You can't go there! Don't you see a lot of people fleeing this area?" an adult male grabbed Rick's shoulder and tries dragging them along with him. Will moved Tom away from the man while avoiding the man's other hand trying to catch him. Rick whirls and twist to break free from the man until finally, another person bumps into the man, and the hand holding him loosened. He never miss the chance and hurried close to Will.
"Thanks, mister but we're okay..." Rick showed the man a troubled smile. They continue moving forward. The man tries again to catch up but his large build became a hindrance to the people trying to flee. He could only reluctantly move backward while his worried laden eyes are locked on the three small moving figures ahead.
"I can feel dark energy ahead. It must be the zombies. Get ready..." strange energy waves similar to miasma fills the air. Will feels so repulsed that he wants to shut off his perception ability. However, it is very important to keep it up so that they could track down the location of the enemy.
The location finally feels more empty, there are a lot fewer people as they go on and the cars are finally left behind them. They went around and avoided the location of the miasma however, there are more up ahead close to the premise of the hospital.
"That's dad's car!" They dash towards the location of the familiar vehicle and encountered a startling scene. The location is filled with zombies spreading all over the area.
"The place is filled with dark energy I can't even tell the exact location of the zombies... It seems like my perception ability is useless this time" Will wince from the strong repulsive feeling.
"Hurry, get to the car!" good thing the zombies haven't noticed them yet. They climb into the car and found nobody inside.
"Where is he? He must be close by, the cooler's temperature hasn't worn off yet, and the driver's seat feels warm. Tommy, can you try looking for daddy? We have to find him fast" The car is parked near the hospital's entrance, however, there are a lot of smaller establishments near the main building. Their father must be hiding somewhere.
Tom looks around. His vision passes through the frame of the car and walls. He scans any possible moving figure to see if it was his dad until a few moments later he stops moving his eyes and locks on a certain figure.
"It's dad. He's over there!" Tom's childish voice sound happy when he saw his dad.
Will, peered at the window and looked in the direction Tom is pointing. Among the line of small trees, beside a path, there's a detached restroom stall just beside the annex where the ambulance stops and sends the patient to the emergency room. Tom says that his father is hiding somewhere on the restroom stool however, there are a lot of zombies at the entrance of the annex.
Just then, screams resounded from the main entrance causing the close-by zombies outside head to the source of the sound, clearing the way from some zombies.
"We should go now!" Will cues and open the car door. the three dash towards the restroom stall however, some zombie near the annex encounters Will's group.
"Bring Tom and hurry inside the bathroom! I will cover your back!" Will grab his toy gun and hit the zombie near the bathroom stall on the leg, smashing it completely among with the cement. The plastic pistol released the bullet with minimal sound but the bullet created a very loud noise when it disintegrated the zombie's feet and ground.
Rick grabbed Tom and runs as fast as he can to the Restroom without looking back. From the corner of his vision, he saw a lot of corpses on the ground inside and near the entrance of the annex. Some of them were convulsing violently and are stacked on top of each other. A lot more zombies are in the making. Rick never realized when he was inside the car but the whole area is filled with corpses on the ground with horrifying positions and blood dripping from their wounds.
Will hit the zombies attempting to get closer to him, blasting off its head completely. He grabs a second gun and aimed at one that noticed Rick and tom, pulled the trigger, and blasts its ribs along with its right arm off its body. Will don't even need to aim properly, the destructive power of the bullets is too dominating.
Will released a few more rounds of bullets while moving towards the restroom stall steadily. Once every few times a zombie is hit and rendered immobile or completely gets its head destroyed, while the stray bullets could create craters on the ground, tripping the zombies and slowing them down.
"This is a bad move..." Zombies started arriving from all over the place, attracted to the loud noise generated by Will's exploding bullets. Although they have very destructive effects, it seems like they shouldn't be used consecutively to avoid attracting all the zombies in the vicinity.
"Why are you here!?" Liam pops his head between the crack of the bathroom door and his eyes widen when he sees his son Tom and a familiar brat running toward him. He received both of them in bewilderment and hid them behind his back. Good thing that no zombies followed them or even notices them at all.
"I was wondering whether the military finally arrived! But what are you doing here?! Did you bring Tommy along in this dangerous place!?" Liam grabbed the shirt on Rick's back and pulled him up to peer into his eyes.
"Dad! We're here to rescue you and mom! We're superheroes!" Tom hugs his father's thigh with his face gleaming with joy and pride. His innocent face and sweet voice soothed Liam's anger for a moment.
"Oh no... What are you doing Will!?" Rick suddenly exclaims as he sees Will change his course, moving farther away from the bathroom stall instead without explaining why.
"What?!" Will's father heard his son's name suddenly being mentioned. Looking at Rick's complexion, Liam could feel a very bad foreboding feeling. He whipped his face in the direction where Rick is looking only to find his son among the zombies.
"Will! Hurry!" Liam's worried and surprised eyes lock onto the figure of his son holding guns in both hands, facing the zombies while walking backward and further away from them. It seems like Will plans to distract and gather all the zombies nearby and clear the area for them.
How can the son he raised and loved so dearly be fighting against zombies right now? How is he shooting at them so calmly? Where did he get the guns? Why is he moving away, far away from his reach where he could protect his small body with his arms and place him comfortably back on his bosom?
Liam has a lot of questions right now, but his distress increases as he sees Will moving further and further away and overwhelms all other emotions.
Liam really wants to just go and grab him right at this moment however, he can't leave his five years old son behind. He could only blame himself for not being there with his sons and secure them somewhere safe first. He wasn't thinking clearly. He headed here promptly without any plans and only ended up getting himself stuck in the bathroom. He even left his two sons without an adult left to supervise them. But how did the kids get here fast to begin with? He never imagined this kind of outcome!
"Dad! Go inside the hospital now! Head to the building and find mom in the monitoring room on the second floor! I will pull out as many zombies as possible hindering the way! Tommy, show your daddy your superpowers and protect him okay?! Also, Rick! Give the gun to my father!" Will screams with all his strength amongst the explosions. Will got used to the repulsive energy that the zombies are emitting to some extent now. Among the dark energy all over the place, he can now have a vague idea of the zombie's distance from him Based on the severity of the repulsive feeling. That is why he can boldly walk backward without worrying that a zombie might pounce at him from his back.
Will can't clearly see his father's facial expression but it seems like he received his message. However, it's dubious whether his father would do as he instructed to.
Will suddenly twists his body and aims at his father's car. He pulls the trigger a few times until it finally hit the location where the gas tank is. Rough explosions resound when the frame of the car bursts open and start burning.
Will then leaps to a location where there are relatively fewer zombies in front, ditches his guns, and grabs the handle of the large knives attached to either side of his belt. With that, he dashes forward back to the hospital's direction.
With a loud explosion, the glass windows cracks and burst with a crispy shattering sound. A strong force and heat wave hit Will's backpack however, instead of harming him, the backpack's enchantment activates, enshrouding will's back with an invisible force field and he propelled forward even faster without injuring his body. Will's shoes glow as the enchantments on them activate, absorbing the impact when they hit the ground. Will dashes as light as the wind.
Liam's car exploded. Will asks his father for forgiveness in his heart.
The mindless zombies run towards the source of the large explosion causing them to burn. Some that were initially closer to the explosion burst or were thrown on the ground, immobilizing them. However, there are still more zombies that survived. And more are coming out from the hospital's entrances or falling from the windows.
"Ha!" Will grasps his large knife with his right hand and swings it horizontally, cutting a zombie nurse by his torso. Will avoids its falling body and continues dashing.
Seeing Will handled the situation pretty neatly, Liam is now finally convinced and went to the entrance of the annex from the small bathroom stall. They have to hurry before the zombies come back again and reach them. He can't let Will's efforts go to waste.
"Don't worry uncle, Will is very awesome! We have to go inside just like Will said. We have to rescue his mother. He was very worried earlier in school and was panicking. We have to ease his mind" Rick hands the toy gun to Liam.
"where did you get this from? How did you get here?" Liam moved forward cautiously inside the building while carrying Tom with one hand and grasping the rather light gun with the other.
"Oh! Will said it's just a toy gun. He has strange abilities and did something to it! I saw him do it once and it looks very amazing!" Said Rick with a proud expression.
Seeing Rick's smug face, Liam couldn't help feeling lonely that he never get to know this about his own son first than this brat. But honestly, the amazing feats that Will displayed before his eyes just now and about what Rick said, Liam doesn't feel off about it. He always thought that Will is amazing since birth. And that he can accomplish anything he wants to in the future. He always knew that there was something about Will. He is very proud as his father. As expected, all the praise in this world isn't enough to describe his son!
"ah!" Suddenly, a growling zombie appeared from the corner of the hallway surprising the two of them. Strangely, Tom raised his hand seemingly grasping something from thin air and swing it horizontally. Liam witnessed the zombie suddenly flung back to where it came from and made a dull thump when it hit the ground. An invisible force seemed to have done it according to Tom's movements.
"Oh! Our Tommy here is just as awesome! He has telekinesis ability!" Explains Rick smugly once again to Liam who was left dumbfounded.
"Another one!" Tom exclaims, alerting the two. A zombie dashes towards them from a distant room when it found them. However, Tom seems to be doing nothing.
"Tommy? Show it to us again!" Rick excitedly ushered Tom in a childish voice.
However, Tommy shakes his head and refused. "Big bro said not to use superpowers when I feel tired. I have to rest for a bit..." Tommy said in a dejected voice, seemingly sad that he couldn't reach their expectations.
The zombie never stopped running and immediately gets close to them. Liam dubiously aimed the toy gun at it and immediately pulled the trigger. The bullet was released and missed the target. However, instead of causing an explosion as it did from Will's guns earlier, it only made a milder effect in comparison. With a whistling sound, it pierced the cement wall and left a deep crater similar to that caused by a normal bullet.
Liam pulled the trigger once again and hit the zombie by the chest and pierce it, however, the zombie only jerked and continues running at them.
"H-hit the head! The head!" Rick exclaims as the zombie is only two feet away from reaching them.
The bullet finally pierced the brain of the zombie in this proximity, halting it and it finally falls to the floor backward
"Aw, Will didn't give me the exploding ones huh?..." Rick says while he watches Liam holds the toy gun before his eyes with utter amazement.
Will is finally right before the hospital's entrance where there are no longer any zombies moving. However, left on the floor are a few convulsing bodies that will probably turn into zombies soon. Will gasps for air as he steps inside and wipes the thick blood stuck on his knife on the doorframe. His hands feel heavy that he couldn't even flick them off himself. It seems like he's almost reaching the end of his stamina.
Will scans the perimeter and found familiar energy waves safely moving up ahead. He heaves a sigh of relief and then closed the doors behind him before the zombies outside could reach him. Will holds the door's lock, focuses some energy on it, and starts enchanting it with detection negating effect. Will don't know if it will work even on zombies but it's better to be safe than sorry.
Behind the door, the horde of zombies suddenly stops their tracks. The ferocious look disappear from their faces, replaced by a dead blank expression. Some behind spread and walk aimlessly trying to salvage the lingering signs of the living.
The situation around the town is quite complicated. The military headquarters is far in the city and the main road leading to the town is congested with fleeing residents from all over the closeby villages.
There are approximately one hundred thousand residents all over the town. The medium-sized houses located on the outskirts have a relatively large expanse of space between each other. However, as you get closer to the central region, the houses suddenly became close knitted and the big establishments are haphazardly constructed everywhere. Also, the thin roads are still under expansion that's why the houses on the way need to have parts of them removed or perhaps even need to be completely demolished. However, the road expansion projects from various places were halted some time ago because of the stubborn homeowners. This leaves the roads unfinished halfway, while some construction devices and supplies are left aside here and there. This makes it even more difficult for the vehicles to pass through at a time, making the people who want to flee from the center of the town anxiously wait for when can they get out and find a place somewhere safe.
Unfortunately, the evacuation plan ended up being useless. People think that the evacuation centers in the town aren't safe enough from the zombies and it's better to go as far from the town as possible. Causing the current hype and influx of people moving out.
The few rescue teams, police, and military personnel are having a hard time controlling this unexpected situation. They request more men and ammunition from the headquarters in the city however, it would take some time to gather the appropriate quantity to deal with the zombies. They could only monitor, try their best to control the populace, and somehow seal off the location that are becoming infested by the zombies.
Seeing that the long line of people that wanted to get out of the town could barely move from where they were standing, some people gave up trying and instead, started focusing on securing their homes enough to survive the zombies when they come. More and more people are resorting to invading the shops and farms to get as much food and supplies as possible. They prepared supplies for natural disasters but never enough for the zombie apocalypse at all!
The sun is slowly hiding under the horizon, soon it will be too dangerous to be outside. There's no telling where the zombies are lurking, they need to act and find survival equipment and supplies now.
"Dad!" Will finally caught up with his father, brother, and friend. Or perhaps they slowed their tracks to let Will catch up to them.
"Will!" Liam hugs his son the moment he sees him. He check will's constitution for possible injuries but it all seemed clear except for his tired look.
"Dad! Were you injured?!" Will found thick blood on his hands as a result of hugging his father. Looking at it again, there's a red stain on the shirt of his father's lower right rib.
"Oh, this? I ditched the car earlier when I saw an injured boy on my way to smash the entrance of the hospital. As a result, the boy started convulsing and resembling the zombies so I left him on the ground and hurried to the closest shelter to hide. That's how I ended up in the bathroom stall. Maybe I got this blood from the boy. He was bitten on the shoulder" Recollected his father of the events before they regrouped.
They found a safe room free from any zombies or blood stains to rest up and gather intelligence and make a plan.
The screen of Will's phone broke probably from the loud explosion earlier, making it unusable. Rick's phone is inside his backpack that was left behind in Will's living room due to the rapid and confusing circumstances earlier. While Liam dashed to help the boy without bringing anything with him. His phone is probably left docked in his car which is now a burning molten plastic.
"So we can't have contact with mom... we could only go forward then. However, the last time I saw the live stream of mom's colleague, they said they will seal the stairs and elevators to their floor. How can we get to them?" Mutters Will.
"Well, the good thing is, they should be much safer up there than us... at least there are no dead bodies that would turn into zombies anytime soon," Said Rick mindlessly.
Rick is right. However, the way he said it has a wrong tone to it.
"By the way, Will, Rick told me about your "superpowers"... I'm really curious about that but, I'm more curious about what you apparently reasoned that you brought Rick with you since there's a possibility that he has it too. Does that mean you could somehow tell if a person has it or not? And Rick also mentioned something along the lines that you could awaken it..." Liam asks seeing the situation is turning negative for them.
Will starts telling them the nature of his abilities and how he awakened them, while also explaining Tom's so that they could make tactical countermeasures and act according to certain situations. Knowing both their strength and weaknesses could help them take the right actions.
For now, Will should help Rick and his father awaken their abilities and increase the numbers of their ability users for a higher chance of survival.
The sky outside the window is slowly darkening as the night is finally enshrouding the heavens.
End of chapter