Army

This chapter and even the next one didn't turn out the way I wanted. The writing got boring and honestly, I don't know what happened.

I apologize in advance, but I hope you don't stop reading because of the next bad chapters. Or stop. I'm not going to blame anyone.

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Chapter 5

Today marks seven days since I woke up in this godforsaken world, and it's been five days since I started walking around my neighbors' houses in search of useful items for my survival.

I don't know if I'm lucky or what, but there weren't any survivors in the houses nearby. I didn't bump into any dead people inside the houses either.

Once in a while I came across some zombies walking the streets, but I avoided them. There's no point in getting into a fight just because I want to kill a few zombies.

Even if I have superhuman strength, I don't want to waste energy on something I could easily avoid. Always know how to choose your priorities.

With this strategy, not so elaborate but efficient, I got a lot of useful items for my trip that I'll probably have to make in a few days.

Enough food to last a few months, plenty of water, a knife, camping items, medical and hygiene items.

I know. Quite a lot, isn't it? Especially the water, which I had to put in jugs. But fortunately, I also found a bigger car than I had at home.

Now with a Jeep Grand Cherokee in the garage, it was easy to fit the extra items that couldn't go in the bag I found, along with most of the camping items.

Many of the things I found were in a single house. Maybe the owner was a military man, or liked camping. Maybe he left town when it all started, and unfortunately he didn't leave any weapons at home.

The knife was silver from the tip of the blade to the end of the handle.

Honestly, my biggest find, apart from the food, was the gallons of gasoline, which I used to steal gasoline from abandoned cars.

I'm very proud of how many items I managed to collect. They're all already in the car for when I start to leave town.

I was currently in the office, checking the latest news again. But there wasn't much. They seem to be trying to suppress as much information as they can. But of course it's never enough.

Some survivors still manage to post photos and accounts on online forums. They've even created one about what's happening in other states and even other countries.

Reports from China, Japan, France, Russia, Brazil and the United States are the ones that appear most often on the site. People writing stories about what happened to them, their first contacts, how they found out they had to aim for the head, what they call them.

In China, most people call them 'Jiangshi', which is a reanimated corpse from Chinese legends and folklore. It kills living beings by absorbing their qi, or "life force". There were many reports that the streets were filled with his armies and that the situation was under control. However, no one was entering or leaving the country.

In Japan, they called it 'Kyonshī', which is the same legend as in China, but with an adapted name. They're also calling them Ghouls, which are demonic beings or monstrous humanoids associated with cemeteries and the consumption of human flesh.

I said I didn't watch the series after season 7, but that doesn't mean I didn't do some research into the universe's spin-offs. One of the last revelations that was given through some clues was that the virus originated in a laboratory in France. The survivors there didn't know that, and if they did, they didn't say anything. They call the zombies 'Les affamès', which literally means 'The Hungry Ones'.

The Russians kept things simple and named them Они (Oni), which translates as they.

The Brazilians, on the other hand, had more advantages and were in better condition. As their houses were all brick with mostly iron gates and high walls, they didn't have to worry about the Zombies. They call it that too.

What all these countries had in common was that at the beginning of the cases, about three months ago, their governments announced all the infections as a kind of flu.

So naturally all the countries mentioned, and those that didn't participate as much, began to create a conspiracy theory as to where the virus originated. Some blamed the United States, China or Russia. Little did they know that it was France.

While I was reading more survivors' accounts, the screen went black and the computer shut down. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to turn on the lamp on the table, but it didn't light either.

"So it's finally light out." I got up from my chair and walked to the nearest bathroom. As soon as I turned on the tap, the water ran for a few seconds and then began to dry. "And the water too." While I was analyzing the situation, I began to hear the sound of tires approaching.

I almost thought it was a car with some survivors, until I heard the loud sound of a gun going off. And I don't think it was a small one.

I quickly approached a window at the front of the house to see what was happening.

I didn't have to wait long because soon a Humvee with a submachine gun on top began to drive down the street slowly and shot one of the zombies that began to approach.

As I followed the military car with my eyes, I soon noticed that it began to stop. Three of the car's doors were opened, and four soldiers got out and started analyzing one house each.

"TCH! Bastards!" Immediately realizing that they were going to come here, I start preparing for a fight. I don't know if they're coming with good or bad intentions, but I need to prepare for the worst case. So I tie a cloth around my face to disguise my identity.

I went to the staircase and hid out of sight, since the staircase was L-shaped.

Every now and then I heard their huge submachine gun firing at some zombie on the street. Perhaps providing cover for the group. They're practically ringing the dinner bell.

Soon I hear the front door being kicked in. What's more, they're rude. The footsteps of whoever it was begin to sound in the living room, and they check a few doors until the sound stops as they enter the garage door. He probably saw the car.

"I think there are people in the house, over." I hear a thick voice saying through some radio.

"You know what to do. The mission doesn't change. Eliminate them." A low, clipped voice replies over the radio.

"Roger that." The thick voice replies.

Damn military. Instead of helping people, they're killing them. How many people have they killed? I quickly shake my thoughts when I hear cautious footsteps approaching the stairs and starting to climb. When he turns to continue climbing, that's when the fight will begin.

Tap…

3

Tap…

2

Tap…

1

Tap…

As soon as the barrel of his gun appeared in my field of vision, I quickly acted.

Quickly with my right hand, I grabbed the gun and before the man could react, my left hand was already on his head shoving it into the wall hard enough to knock him unconscious and crack the wall.

One down. Five more to go. I pull his body up to the second floor and secure him with the handcuffs on his waist. I also take the opportunity to remove his vest and disarm him. I don't need him to wake up and have something to let go of when naturally the others come after him.

"López, are you there?" A female voice comes from the radio. After not receiving any answers for a while, a second voice comes over the radio.

"Let's go, the three of us. I'll go around the back. You two at the front." Clucking my tongue, I crush the radio in my hands.

One was easy. It just took him by surprise. Now three would be more difficult. I'd better concentrate on the two I saw ahead of me first.

I hurry down the stairs and straight into the kitchen. Opening the cupboards, I pull out two pans of the largest size and swirl them around in my hand, getting used to their weight and grip.

When I hear footsteps coming from the entrance to the house, I go towards the pantry and lean against the wall, waiting for the right moment.

"Shit! What's that?" I hear a man's voice ask as he stares at the hole in the wall I made with their friend's head.

"I don't know. But it's fresh. The blood is fresh." A woman's voice replies.

"I wonder if it's from..." The man hints cautiously.

"I don't know. Let's find out." She says, but as she starts to pass near the pantry, with a movement faster than she can react, I hit her gun with the frying pan, making it go off and the other man react.

"But what?" At the same time I come out of the pantry and kick him in the side, but he manages to defend himself with the gun.

Unfortunately for him, the kick was strong enough to bruise his arms and throw him back five meters.

"What?!" The woman exclaimed when she saw how far her companion had been thrown. She turns back to me with the gun ready to fire. I quickly use one of the frying pans to slap the end of the gun, causing the shot to hit the wall next to me.

Taking advantage of the fact that she has no way of defending herself, I hit her on the side of the head with the frying pan in my left hand. A hollow sound reverberates in the room and the woman falls to the floor.

Hearing a groan behind me, I turn to see the guy I had kicked earlier rolling on the ground to get up. I walk over to him and knock the gun out of his hand, taking the opportunity to punch him in the face.

As soon as he falls, the sound of the door being kicked in sounds behind me and as I look back I see the third guy with the gun pointed at me. Throwing me to the ground, the bullets narrowly hit where my head was a second ago.

Getting up not a second later, I pick up the frying pans and move towards the kitchen, where I see the man checking on the woman. When he notices me, he tries to raise his gun, but I throw the frying pan at him, forcing him to roll to the side and hide behind the island.

"I have to finish him off soon. One of the two outside might come and see what's going on." I think as I approach cautiously. As soon as I'm close to where he had thrown himself, the man tries to make a surprise attack with a knife. But I'm quicker and take a step back, causing the knife to fly past me.

Taking advantage of the gap, I kick the knife out of his hand and try to hook him, but he dodges, stepping back while waving his hand.

"Who are you?" he asks me and I raise an eyebrow. Why is he trying to talk now? Waiting for reinforcements. Probably. That must be why he's not shooting anymore. It would attract more zombies than are already being attracted because of the shot his partner outside and the woman took earlier.

"I'm nobody." I reply as I step forward and throw a punch that he easily deflects and hits back with one of his own. Although he is more experienced, I am physically stronger than him, which means my reaction time is also faster than his.

I dodge his punch, then grab his wrist and pull him towards me with one movement.

When his body is close enough, I raise my knee to hit him in the stomach, making him lose his breath for a second, but he doesn't stop struggling to get free. Taking advantage of this, I lift him up by his vest and punch him in the face. He tries to fight back, but I duck, causing his blow to pass over my head.

Using this gap, I grab his outstretched arm, step to his side and twist his arm upwards, kicking him in the face while he's down. Finally, I grab his neck and throw him to the ground.

He remains on the ground unable to move. A little dizziness can be seen on his almost faint face.

"Good talk." I say and kick him in the face, causing him to finally pass out. I breathe for a second and finally start to lead the three of them upstairs, where the first guy was still unconscious.

Four down, two to go.