3 Mandatory Choice

"Huh,..", I said in a shocked tone.

"So you're the new kid", the bossman said while turning towards me and asked,"What is your name, kid?" in a serious tone.

"My name is Akane Kojou, sir." I said in panicked tone. The bossman said,"Well,...Akane my name is John Forecrust..", and continued,"Give your basic introductions." in a serious tone.

"My name is Akane, male, 14-year old teenager and my height is 5'6".", I replied quickly while panicking.

"Don't panic Akane.", Aryan said in a calm tone.

John Forecrust, i.e, the bossman was a man with a strong-build, 5'10" tall, had brown hair with blackish ends and was fair in complexion. "So, did my daughter really bring this kid?", John asked Aryan.

"Yes,sir.." Aryan replied, and continued,"She took a lot of care for him while he was unconscious."

"Well, if it is my daughter Angela. She might've seen something in him." John said and took out a pistol from the holster tied to his waist backside.

"Umm,..Sir, what do I need to do?" I asked John.

"First, you need to do one thing" John replied and pointed his finger toward a broken ledge and the half broken apartment which had it's destroyed materials making a climbable and sliding slope for a person to get down if he/she can do parkour or free-running. "Catch that ledge and move downwards to the ground floor." John said while pointing his finger toward the ledge.

"Pardon,...", I said out of confusion.

"You heard him, Akane...", Aryan said while he pat my shoulder from behind.

"I ain't a 'Traceur' nor some action-film stuntman to do parkour." I replied to him panicking.

"Your name is Akane, is it?,....", John said and continued,"From now, it will be Bobby." and he jumped and caught the ledge.

"My name is Akane and nobody gives me nicknames.", I said while panicking and continued,"Leave it, I like the name."

John, jumped down and caught another ledge 9 and half floors below and jumped to a surface, which was about 10 floor below us. I followed John and landed safely on the broken area of the 15th floor. John gave me a pocketknife and I put it in my pocket.

"Its a handy one,.." John said in a serious tone.

"What're we gonna do now?" I asked John.

"Can you see the ledge down there?" John said while pointing his right index finger towards a ledge exactly 10 meters below and continued,"Catch that ledge and drop down, you will directly slide down to the ground floor. Come on now, let's go." in a calm manner. He jumped and caught the ledge and had drop down to which he slid down to the ground floor.

"You really are a perfect leader..." I said to myself with a grin and followed exactly what John had done. I reached the ground floor after sliding down and John told me be aware that the infected might be roaming on the streets. I took out my pocketknife and kept aware about the infected. I crouched and went out of the area to the streets individually as per John's orders. John had told me that a zombie'd die if its brain is injured by an object and a miscreant would have a core which is sensitive, the miscreant would die if the core is damaged. I saw zombies and other miscreants roaming on the streets, the street was totallly deserted as there were no humans to be found. John had given me a bluetooth like device to give me commands, the device used radio channels for communication.

"Do not kill or injure any infected and do not come in their point of view. The infected are perfect in all senses except smell and taste, be careful. Try to find any survivors." John ordered through the device and continued,"Better comeback alive, Angela might get upset if you'd die. Well, she did just save you a few hours ago." in a normal tone.

"Yes, sir" I replied and switched off the device. I went in search for survivors maintaining my stealth. I myself was in fear of getting in sight of an infected one. I went to the opposite street in search for survivors, but got in sight of a zombie. I panicked and ran out of fear in a hurry, but the zombie chased me. I lost my pocketknife and was cornered by a few zombie. A zombie from the horde had come to bite me but I evaded its attack by holding it away from me by my arms. The zombie came forward to bite me and I resisted it and tried not to get its mouth near any part of my body. But it was a failure as the zombie had bitten my lower left arm. The strange voice said,"Huh,..it seems you need power." as it came back in my head and for a brief moment, time paused for me. I was able to see an 'X' mark on the zombie's head.

"Kill it,..." the strange voice said, in a strong tone and continued,"Take the pipe wrench lying beside you on the rusted oil drum beside you on the right." changing its tone to a more calm one. I looked right and took the dusty pipe wrench on the oil drum. I caught the zombie's shoulder with my left arm and used the wrench to kill it. I hit the 'X' mark on the zombie's head and the zombie was killed by me. It was my first kill and after killing the zombie, I saw the same 'X' mark on the remaining horde of nine zombies.

I didn't get scared, but at that moment all I could think was of getting back alive as per the boss' order. The zombies had come forward to attack me but I killed every single one of them with my wrench and went back to the street where the 'JOULES' members' hideout was there. I faced another horde and was bitten by zombies five to six times but I didn't feel any change in my body nor in my consciousness. I killed every single infected one which had come to infect me. Finally, I reached the apartment where the hideout was there and John was waiting for me holding a 'FN P90' sub-machine gun and was kind of surprised and shocked to see me alive and bloodstained.

"So, you've comeback alive..." John said in a jovial tone and asked,"Did you get bitten anywhere?"

"Yes,.." I replied and John said,"I cannot see any bite marks though,.." while looking at my hands, as I was bitten there and at the neck. I looked at my arms and was surprised to see that there were no bite marks. I asked him whether there were any bite marks on my neck and he looked at my neck but he couldn't find any. I asked John,"Is there any medic?" and he replied,"Yes, but not here."

"Damn it,.." I said in a tensed tone.

"My daughter a medic in-training. You can consult her if you want." John said and I asked him,"Is she awake?"

"Yes.." he replied and continued,"Let's go inside." and John guided me inside a manhole which had a secret tunnel to the hideout. The broken apartment had extra seven floors underneath the broken apartment which was ventilated inorder to avoid congestion. I was guided into a hall-like room, in which there were other people along with Aryan eating and drinking.

"Where am I?..." I asked John in a panicked and confused tone.

"Welcome, Akane. No, welcome Bobby, welcome to JOULES..." John said as he pat me on the back. John introduced me to the members in the hideout and there were totally 17 members including me. John asked me to take a shower and instructed Angela to guide me to the bath and give me necessary things for the bath. I took a bath thinking about how my bite marks disappeared. Angela had kept A towel and new clothes for me outside the bathroom. I took the towel and then wore the clothes which were kept for me but the clothes were loose. Angela was waiting for me outside in the corridor till I finished my bath.

"Dad told me everything" Angela said in a calm manner.

"About me getting bitten?" In asked her and she replied,"Yes" and continued,"Follow me to the infirmary..." and I followed her to her the infirmary which was in the second room from the right corner of the corridor. After entering the infirmary, Angela asked me to take a seat and I sat on the chair beside the infirmary bed.

"So tell me what happened,..." Angela said.

"Don't you know?" I asked her.

"Explain your problem in detail." she repiled and sighed saying,"Dad told thst you might be having illusions of getting bitten by an infected or you might be kind of retarded."

"Eh?,.." I said in a pissed off expression and continued,"A few zombies had bitten me and I'm not infected." in a normal expression.

"What?" she said in a surprised manner and continued,"You've gotta be kidding me..."

"I ain't joking here." I said to her.

"Are you retarded?" she asked me and I replied,"No, I experienced the pain." in a casual way. She took a syringe from the table beside the bed and injected it into my right upper arm and took 10ml of blood saying,"Mr.Mohammed will arrive with next few days. He will test the blood to see if there is any molecule of the virus in your blood" and stored the blood in a blood container.

"Is the person you call Mohammed, the medic?.." I asked her.

"Yes, he created a supressant for Mary's Hoax by using the weakened cells of the virus. He is not only some medical practitioner, he used also be a soldier in the guerilla part of the royal army." She replied.

"Why did he leave the royal army?" I asked her.

"He learnt about the evils and corrupt practices of the royal army and royalty." She replied in a calm tone.

"Oh.." I replied and Aryan came into the room saying,"I need you, Bobby."

"What is it?" I asked him and he replied,"Follow me I've got a surprise for you."

"Akane, call me Marie during a mission, its my codename as your codename is Bobby." Angela said while blushing.

"Also, Akane, my codename is Affe. Call me by that name in a mission." Aryan said and continued,"Let's go Akane."

I got up and followed him out of the room. He went to the elevator and so did I as he asked me to follow him. We got inside the elevator and I learned that we were on the floor '-3' and he pressed the buttonto the 25th floor. After reaching the 25th floor, we got out of the elevator and Aryan took lifted a suitcase lying on the ground beside a rusty table on the floor. There was a red-tinted and black striped metallic off-road helmet on the table. The helmet was looking like a newly brought one. Aryan opened the suitcase and there was a 'Tavor T-21' sub-machine gun and a pistol along with a 'SOG Seal knife 2000' and ammo for the guns. Aryan gave me a neatly folded outfit which had a red t-shirt, a black coloured biker jacket and a black skinny jeans. He also gave me black-coloured long sleeve gloves and a pair of black and white biker's shoes.

"Live upto your name." Aryan said while lifting the helmet and gave it to me.

"Isn't it obvious,.." I said taking the helmet and wearing it.