A few minutes after Jason and Alice left together, Zach could be seen walking down the stairs with a manga book in hand and a smile plastered to his face. He had found out something amazing. Kevin had the same interests as him! So, he thought he would surprise him with the first volume of one of his favorite stories. One Piece.
To him, the most tragic part about the apocalypse was that he would never see the end of this incredible masterpiece. Then again, he probably wouldn't have seen the end of it anyway. Not for another 30 years minimum.
With a few more steps he finally arrived on the second floor and started walking down the hallway. As he passed by Tyrone's open apartment, he glanced inside for a second and saw the burly man sitting on his couch in a slouched position with his head down.
For some reason, he looked so... sad. Zach didn't want to intrude into his business like a nosy person, but, he needed to see if he was okay.
Walking inside, he made no attempts to conceal himself and wasn't surprised when Tyrone noticed him.
"Yeah Zach?" Even his voice seemed down in the dumps. Zach knew something was wrong.
"Um, I was just walking by when I saw you from the door. You looked kinda... down. Is everything alright?"
"Just... thinking of things. You know how it is." Tyrone looked at Zach's chubby face and puppy dog eyes. Suddenly, he felt the need to speak about his problems.
"Why don't you take a seat." Tyrone patted the spot beside him. Zach eagerly took it and waited for Tyrone to gather himself.
"You know, before you and Jason, there were a few extra members to our group. Two of them to be exact. Tom and Janet."
Tyrone paused slightly, as if remembering something, before continuing.
"We found them on the third floor, out of food and water. They seemed like alright people, so I let them in. Bill disapproved, but I've come to learn you can't ever please that old man." He chuckled a little, while Zach finally spoke up.
"So, what happened?" In response, Tyrone began rubbing his bald head.
"I dont... I don't know. Tom, he just kind of, snapped. Went crazy. Maybe the stress of everything happening crushed him or something like that. Then he did something bad. Something awful." Tyrone stopped speaking for a few minutes, breathing heavily. Zach didn't push him and waited patiently.
"Me and Janet, we got intimate you know? We only knew each other for a few days, but we both needed some comfort in these crazy times. I liked her. Truly did. Then..." His hands started shaking when remembering what happened.
"Don't know what happened. How it started. But I walked in on Tom beating her and raping her. I rush for him and tackled him to the ground. All I see is red, and I sort of black out. Next thing I know, Bill and Lily are pulling me off him. What's left is just... a mangled face. Beyond dead." Tears started to form in his eyes, but he refused to let them flow.
"I didnt... want to kill him. Even now I wish I could go back and do things different. His face... it haunts my dreams."
"That's horrible. And Janet?" Zach asked with a sympathetic face.
"She uh... didn't make it. Died because of her injuries." Tyrone went silent and with a hand on his mouth, he held back the tears. After a while of silence, he started speaking again.
"You'd think I would've learned my lesson and not even bothered with you two, right? But when I looked at you two, I thought back to my daddy. Always said to me 'Don't you go turning your back on a stranger now! Always help those in need!'. Said that every time. Even..." Once more he tried to hold back the tears. But this time, they started flowing. And once the dam broke, everything poured out at once. Everything he had been holding.
"Even after Momma's accident! He tried to help the man who killed her! To get him on the straight and narrow! 'Show him a better path', that's what he said!" Zach wanted to say something, but honestly he thought Tyrone was a little unstable at the moment. So he chose to remain silent.
"Hated my old man for a while for that one. For a long time. Up until he was on his deathbed. Cancer. When I sat by his bedside, he took my hand and said 'Boy, I want you to remember what I taught you. Be kind to those in need. Help them. Please.'
When I asked him why, he said to me 'That's just who we are. We've been dogged by tragedy all our lives. Me, your grandaddy, his before him. But we stayed kind. And not out of weakness, but out of strength! It's easy to be bad when somethin truly awful happens, but it's hard to stay good. To still believe in hope.' Those were his final words to me." He chuckled, just a little bit. Even as tears still streamed down his face.
"Even on his death bed." But then his smile turned into a sad one.
"But come on man. My struggles don't matter. Not really. No-Not compared to the others. Bill, well, he's a grumpy old man whose got no one else in his life except us. Can't even imagine the things that man's seen in the war. Hell, some nights he wakes up screamin bloody murder. What's my nonsense compared to his?
Alice and Lily only got each other. I knew of them from before shit hit the fan and learned of their childhood. It was... awful. Just terrible. As for Kevin? He had folks back home in Korea countin on him. While on the phone with them, he listens to them being torn apart. Crying out for him. You see? My shit just sounds so minor..."
But Zach didn't agree with that and smacked him on the shoulder as hard as he could. Tyrone looked at him baffled.
"What the hell are you talking about dummy?! Your struggles are special! They are important! Don't beat yourself up like this! Don't think so lowly of yourself!" After he was done, Zach put a hand on Tyrone's and squeezed.
"You do matter. You know that right?"
Tyrone was silent for a few seconds, before a smile appeared on his face.
"Thank you Zach. For listening. And... for the cheesy things you said. Haha!" Both Tyrone and Zach laughed together. Until someone entered.
"Shhh!" Lily silently shushed the both of them, making them stop and look at her in confusion. But they understood, when Lily pointed down at the floor.
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Before Lily came to Tyrone's room, she paced around the whole building anxiously. She was constantly worried for her darling sister, even though Jason was with her. In her pacing travels, she somehow ended up near the first floors barricade. Well, the moved barricade.
'Seriously? Couldn't put the shit back?' Lily thought with an annoyed face.
She went to put all the stuff back into place and just so happened to take a casual glance into the hallway leading to the lobby. Instantly her face changed to horror as she silently, but quickly, moved out of view. What she saw were multiple infected around the place, with a few coming her way.
'Shit!' Lily knew she couldn't move anything or else they would become frenzied. Instead, she silently went back up the stairs to the second floor and closed the door behind her. As soon as she arrived, Lily heard talking followed by laughter coming from Tyrone's room. Instantly she ran towards his room and shushed the both of them while pointing down at the ground.
Both Tyrone and Zach got up and came closer to her, whispering.
"What's the situation?"
"Couple of infected came inside. I counted at least ten at a first glance, with half coming up the stairs."
"What about the barricade?" Tyrone was stunned. Did they already break through?
"The morons didn't close it back up before they left. But I think we have a bigger problem-" Before she could finish, Tyrone interrupted her.
"Is this the advance party of a larger horde? Shit. Alright. Zach, you go tell Bill and Kevin about what's happening. Tell them we'll ambush them from behind as they move past us."
"Okay!" Zach ran as fast as his chubby legs could carry him out of the apartment.
"Let's go Lily." She nodded to him.
Together they left the apartment, grabbed their weapons, and stopped next to the door. From down the hall, they could see Kevin, Bill, and Zach coming towards them with weapons in hand. With a few nods, they waited. Tyrone put his ear next to the door and listened deeply.
The many footsteps were both becoming closer and getting louder. Soon, they were right outside the door.
There was a slight bang to the door that startled the group, as if someone bumped into it. But when nothing else followed up they relaxed themselves. Tyrone could hear the footsteps going farther away now, most likely up the stairs. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening the door slowly. When the door was mostly opened, he froze. Right in front of them and slightly to the right, was an infected man with his back turned towards them.
Before he could do anything, Lily brushed past him. Tyrone wanted to stop her, but he was afraid of making too much noise. Once she stepped out, she looked left and right to make sure the coast was clear. Coming up right behind the infected man who was having a grand time staring at a wall, Lily raised her hand carrying the knife over her head. And in one swift motion plunged the blade down into the infected's head, killing it.
When the body started falling, she caught it with her arms and gently laid it down on floor. Removing the knife from his head, she gestured for Tyrone to come close and whispered into his ear.
"You take Bill and Kevin upstairs to deal with the rest. Me and Zach will try and move the barricade back into place quietly."
"Alright. Be careful."
"You too." With that, Tyrone brought Bill and Kevin away while leaving Zach confused.
Lily gestured for Zach to follow her downstairs, and although happy to spend time with Lily, he did so with fear rushing through his limbs making them stiff. He wasn't dumb, and already knew what they had to do.
It seemed like they still had some luck, because once they arrived they found nothing there. Lily came up to a refrigerator and used it for cover as she peeked past it into the hallway. One was standing there, looking at the ground as it shambled towards them. Within maybe fifteen seconds, it would arrive and notice them. Then the sound of it's death would potentially alert the others lingering in the lobby.
There was only one thing she could think of. She needed to be fast. So quick that the thing wouldn't even make a peep when it died. Off to the side Zach noticed her getting ready to attack something, so he did the same. Though, his hands were still a little shaky due to fear. He could never get used to this stuff.
Lily waited patiently while listening to the thing's footsteps. She lifted her bloody knife right next to her face and prepared herself. A few seconds later, she thrusted her knife out at seemingly nothing. However, like magic, the infected suddenly appeared. She had timed it perfectly.
*SQUELCH*
It didn't even have the time to make a sound. Instantly, it was dead. The light from it's eyes faded and the body fell forwards. Lily barely managed to catch it.
"Take the body over there, then help me move this." Lily spoke softly. So silently that Zach missed a few words. But he got the gist of it and carried the corpse while holding his breath.
'Ugh, so nasty! But by the gods, she was such a badass though!'
Afterwards, the two of them tried their best to move the barricade back into place while avoiding the eyes and ears of the infected. Whenever one wandered into the lobby or perhaps even the hallway, they would hide out of sight until they passed. Although, they did have to kill another infected before they finally blocked the doorway once more.
On their way back up, Lily was... less than pleased.
"Fucking idiots! The both of them! When they get back I am so gonna take it out of their asses!" Zach couldn't defend his friend. Not this time. It would be a miracle if no one got hurt.
As for the other three, once they separated from Zach and Lily, they followed behind the infected's path. When they came to the third floors door, they found one infected wandering the halls. Bill signaled for the other two to go on ahead while he stepped inside.
Bill creeped up on the infected slowly and silently. Unfortunately, he wasn't very lucky. For no reason whatsoever, the infected randomly turned to the right. Out of it's peripheral vision, it noticed him creeping up behind it. With a growl, it charged towards him at a sudden lightning quick speed. The change between being so lethargic, then out of nowhere becoming a lethal killing machine never ceases to amaze him. If they had these things back then, perhaps the war would have ended much sooner.
When Bill saw his plan fail and the flesh eater charge at him, there was no change in his expression. He had been in situations far more tense. It would take more than this to make him lose his cool.
Waiting for just a second he suddenly side-stepped to the right, and dodged the infected's lunge. When it fell to the ground due to the failed attack, Bill was already on top of it within a split second. In one swift experienced motion, he stabbed it's brain and ended it's life.
Getting off the dead body, he looked upon the thing in slight disgust.
"Think you can kill me? Not even 100 commies could take me down, much less a little thing like you." With the infected dead, he left the place and rushed to regroup with Tyrone and Kevin.
When Bill caught up with them, he found that they were standing right outside the fifth floors broken doorway. The two were startled hearing something come up the stairs, but were relieved it was Bill.
"What's wrong?" Bill questioned.
"The both of them are walking together and haven't split up yet. They just keep standing in the middle of the hallway and don't even move. We were about to act when you came up." Kevin answered.
"Alright, let's go in together. I'll back you up."
Together, the trio entered the apartment and were instantly spotted. In unison, the infected charged towards the group. With an expert throw that puts Jason to shame, Bill lodged his knife into one of the infected's heads. Now, it was up to Tyrone and Kevin. Which was easy enough.
When in range, Tyrone swung his bat upside the infected's head and knocked it to the ground. Before the infected had any time to even process what had happened, Kevin bashed it's brains in with his crowbar with incredible mobility. A few more hits, and it moved no longer.
"Phew. Nice work guys, let's go check on Lily and Zach. If they're done, then we'll clean this mess up." Tyrone said and proceeded to head down the stairs, Bill and Kevin next to him as they talked together about various things.
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Jason and Alice walked down the somewhat empty street in silence as they carried their supplies. It was a bleak scene with the ruined cars along the sides of the road, and the occasional dead body lying here and there.
Wanting to not only lighten up the atmosphere, but talk to Jason in general, Alice asked her partner in crime a question.
"Mind of I ask you a question?"
"Sure, as long as I can ask you one."
"Before we left, you said something about feeding your companion. Killgore, right?"
"Yup, that's her alright."
"What were you feeding her, if you don't mind me asking."
"I don't mind. I was feeding her pieces of her previous owner. Such a beautiful little killing machine." That definitely creeped Alice out. But... not as much as she thought.
"But why did you keep her? Especially since she's so dangerous."
"A whim mostly. Just think about how cool it would be if I could tame her. My own personal badass guard dog."
"Well, she would be pretty useful. I can see why you got her."
"You should come see her sometime." He wanted to see if Killgore would react differently to Alice. Maybe she wouldn't even see her.
"Yeah, I'll take you up on that." Upon hearing Jason, Alice narrowed her eyes slightly before returning to normal.
After a few moments of silence, Jason spoke up.
"My turn now, right?"
"Go ahead." She was curious what he was going to ask.
"I've been wondering for a while now, what did your sister do before shit hit the fan? With the gun and muscle she has on her, was she a cop or a bodyguard or something?"
"She was a cop. I never envied her life. In fact, I always kinda felt sorry for her. There were times when she would come home exhausted with bags under her eyes. I know she saw some terrible things too. Things that kept her up at night, crying. One of the reasons her last boyfriend left her."
"That's awful." One of the rare times Jason felt sympathy for someone else.
"Yeah. But whenever I asked her to take a break, or even quit, she would say-" Alice paused briefly to chuckle, before continuing.
"She would say 'And let those sons of bitches win?! Fuck them! Besides, if I'm not out there kicking ass and taking names, they might do more harm to others! I couldn't live with myself if because of me being a little bitch, someone else paid the price!'" Jason definitely had more respect for her after hearing that.
"Your sister sounds like a catch. Her ex must've been a dumbass." Suddenly, Jason was a lot more interested in the muscular big sister.
Seeing the direction the conversation was heading, Alice was desperate to change it.
"Let me ask another question. The way you took down both the infected and the 'things' at the supermarket. You seem to know how to fight. Do you know martial arts or something."
"Yeah, learned a whole bunch of stuff. Boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, wrestling, and some other things. Not to brag or anything, but it just seems like I'm a natural when it comes to fighting. God, makes me sound so narcissistic."
"Oh I don't think so. Maybe... you can teach me some time?"
Jason glanced at her strangely. Was she flirting with him? Or did she really want to know? Both?
"Yeah... sure. Anytime." He would definitely play her game if that's what she wanted. As for her age? It was the damn apocalypse. But it sure would be awkward, if he was dumb fuck wrong.
For a while they talked as they walked down the road back to home, becoming closer. Of course, they made sure to keep it down so no unwanted bastards came to interrupt them.
When they were only a few minutes away, something could be heard coming from the building to the right. Whatever it was, it was large. Even from a good distance away, the duo could hear it's massive footsteps on the ground. The dark doorway into the building seemed a lot more ominous all of a sudden.
"Alice, come on." Speaking softly, Jason bumped into her with his shoulder and nodded his head towards a nearby ruined car.
Alice's was about to rebuke him, but decided against it. Now wasn't exactly the time to start arguing. So, she followed him to behind the car. They both placed the supplies on the ground and waited crouched, out of sight.
From the building's doorway, the duo could see a figure walking through the darkness within and coming to the outside. Although Alice could only barely make out a shadowy figure, Jason with his enhanced vision could see what was coming. But they could both agree on one thing.
"That's a big boy." "It's massive."
The two of them looked at each other and chuckled a little before setting their sights on their new guest. After a few seconds the giant bent over slightly in order to fit through the door and finally, could be seen clearly.
It was an actual giant, standing in at an impressive 9ft tall. Every part of it's body looked human, but it was as if everything was injected with super steroids. From it's enormous head all the way to it's gigantic feet were all insanely muscular. If Robert Wadlow was 400lbs, this guy would easily clock in at over 700lbs of pure muscle. The only thing Alice and Jason found a little strange, was his face. His eyebrows were turned down, and his smile was upside down. A face that was in constant anger.
'God damn. Those muscle... Even his abs have abs. How did he get his biceps to look that big? Wait a second, the real question is, how big is his dick?' To say Jason was envious, was an understatement. There wasn't even a speck of fat on this 'Bruiser'.
"Oh that's a good name."
"Huh? What name?" Alice looked at him in confusion.
"Let's name him, The Bruiser! Not bad right?" Alice found it sort of adorable at how enthusiastic he was about naming an infected.
"It's a great name. But how about, The Juggernaut? Or maybe just Juggernaut?"
That's when Jason placed his hand on her shoulder, surprising her.
"That's a fucking badass name. Nice work!" Alice blushed ever so slightly due to both the praise and Jason's hand gripping her shoulder.
"Thanks! I'll uh, go up there and draw it away so we can get by." Without even waiting for a response, she got up and started walking out into the open.
"Alice! Wait!" Jason tried to stop her, but she ignored him. After all, it won't be any different than all the other times. Right? Besides, she wanted to try and impress him.
When she stepped out into the street, the huffing and puffing Juggernaut looked her way immediately with an angry face. Alice faltered a little, but she thought nothing of it. She had seen it before where an infected randomly turned in her direction. That was, until the Juggernaut rushed at her.
Seeing the mass of bulging muscle running at her, Alice froze. Even with all she's been through, she's never truly faced death in the face. And that's what he was. Death. His arms were crossed over his chest and his back was slightly hunched over. It was like an angry bull hell-bent on ramming through her and turning her into a meaty paste.
'Why does that big bastard run so fast!'
When Jason saw the situation suddenly flip script, he ran out from his hiding place and went up to Alice. Wrapping his hands around her waist, he effortlessly lifted her up and moved her out of the Juggernaut's path. He had barely made it in time.
The raging bull brushed past them by only an inch, and slammed into the wall of a building. Even from a distance away, the two could feel the impact vibrate through them as the Juggernaut rammed the wall. They witnessed the wall be pushed in and by the look of it, nearly collapse. Cracks could be seen going all across the area of impact for several feet. As the muscular bull pushed himself out of the ruined wall, Jason set the girl down.
"Alice, listen to me! Go to the others and tell them what's happening here, okay?!" But Alice just stood there in silence. Still in shock over what happened.
Using barely any power, Jason slapped Alice's cheek which woke her up from her daze.
"I... I got it! But, what about you? You can't seriously want to take that on?"
Jason gently pushed her away.
"I'll be fine! Now go!" While Alice ran away, Jason turned around to see the Juggernaut dislodge itself from the wall.
"Come on you big ugly bitch! Let's dance!" Jason had a big fat smile on his face at the thought of fighting this thing.
But he has the feeling that unlike last time, he won't get so lucky with his opponent holding back.