The Dead Frontier (24)

Ezekiel was looking towards a zombie through the scope of Glen's old rifle.

He calmed down his breathing. He felt the wind on his skin and started to make his calculations.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

He adjusted the scope towards the zombie's head. It was only half a kilometre away so it wasn't going to be a hard shot. Hopefully.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

Ezekiel's finger started to squeeze the trigger. He made sure that his left eye was closed shut.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

With his last exhale Ezekiel finally squeezed his finger!

*BANG*

F*CK!!

Ezekiel started to rub his right eye as it was just pushed into the scope. Hopefully, it wouldn't leave any marks around his eye. It would look demeaning if he had a circular bruise around his right eye. He wouldn't be able to look anyone in the eye. Get it? Eye.

"What did I tell you about shooting with a rifle!" a gruff looking Glen started to berate Ezekiel. He had stopped shaving a long time ago due to the inconvenience. He didn't let Ezekiel shave him as well. So he was supporting a trimmed handsome beard. Along with the eye patch on his right eye, he had this weird charm to him.

"What do you mean!? I did everything you taught me. I aimed my shot while accounting for the wind. I made sure to shoot while exhaling to handle the recoil. Or rather I was ABOUT TO! What did I do wrong this time old man!?" Ezekiel replied in annoyance.

He was already fifteen years old. So he started to rebel against Glen whenever his mistakes were pointed out. Some days, he felt like he would never be good enough for him.

It had been more than a year since they started their journey, or at least he thought it was. Ezekiel had stopped counting after the eight months they spent on the road. A part of him believed that they would never be able to reach their destination if they kept going at a snail pace like this.

But Glen refused to go any faster due to safety concerns. What did he know anyway? Whenever they encountered zombies it was Ezekiel that fought them off. So he didn't need to care about safety. Ezekiel would take care of it all anyway.

The current Ezekiel was only a head shorter from Glen. If he kept growing like this, he would at least be as tall as him, if not taller! With his brown hair, hazel eyes and lean body, he could already be called a lady killer. His only misgiving was that he couldn't grow proper facial hair like Glen.

There was one time he tried to grow a moustache but Glen laughed at him after seeing it. He called it a child-m*lester moustache and asked him to shave it as soon as possible if he didn't want to be arrested by the sheriff.

He swore that Glen was only growing his beard just to taunt him.

"It's the peripheral vision! You have to keep your peripheral vision!" Glen emphasized for the second time.

Glen felt like killing Ezekiel and letting his cold dead body be eaten by jackals. Sometimes, he felt like the kid was really good and he might be able to reach the same height as him. But then he made rookie mistakes like these.

Could someone be any more incompetent!? He felt like if he showed as much effort to teach as he did to Ezekiel, even Gisebelle would be a better shot than him by now. And Gisebelle was a mare. A MARE!

"What was that peri-thingamabob again?" Ezekiel asked while scratching his head.

"Your eyes. You always have to keep your eyes open after you take your aim. If you get tunnel vision, you will not be able to react when someone aims at you. So you always have to keep your eyes open"

"Oh!... but if I do that, I get dizzy" Ezekiel complained while taking his aim again.

"Then tough it out like a man!" Glen said while grumbling.

Ezekiel calmed down his breathing. He felt the wind on his skin and started to make his calculations for the second time.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

He adjusted the scope towards the zombie's head. The zombie was still unaware of his existence.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

Ezekiel's finger started to squeeze the trigger. After taking his aim, Ezekiel forcefully opened his left eye. A bout of dizziness rushed over him. The dissonance between his right and left eye was vexing. However, he grit his teeth and didn't let this disturb his aim.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

With his last exhale Ezekiel finally squeezed his finger. This time the bullet managed to leave the muzzle of his rifle!

*BANG*

Black blood spurted out of the zombie's head!

"I did it!" Ezekiel said as he got up and started to jump.

"You did it!" Glen jumped alongside him and hugged the kid.

He felt really proud at that moment. His efforts were not wasted after all. This kid could still make something out of himself!

"Let go, old man! You stink!" said Ezekiel as he pushed Glen away with an annoyed expression. But there was still a faint smile on his face.

"Bah! You think you smell like roses!" Glen replied with a disgruntled face but there was also a faint smile on his lips.

That night they celebrated with a hefty meal that they wouldn't usually eat. MEAT!

Usually, they would either eat game meat they caught that day or hard rations. So they hadn't eaten proper meat in ages.

Because of this occasion, Glen decided to open up his supplies and eat some proper steak! He also wondered if he should open up his whiskey but decided against it. Even though he started to drink way earlier than 15, Glen didn't want to let Ezekiel do the same.

Of course, Ezekiel called him a hypocrite for it but Glen didn't care. He didn't say it, but too much alcohol would make your hands shake. So, even though Glen started to drink at an early age he didn't drink much. He was afraid the kid would not listen despite his warnings so he stopped him from drinking altogether.

If he wanted to drink so much, he could do it when they reached Dominez Empire. Since they would be safe, Glen wouldn't care if the kid drink himself to death.

With Ezekiel's improvement, Glen finally felt relieved. They would soon arrive at the Accurti defence line.

It was a battlefield created by the reinforcements from Dominez Empire and the Church. Their job was to clean all the zombies past that line and provide the common people with a proper place to live.

Old Man Levi was actually their advance scout. The soldiers were pushing the line forward each passing day. Their goal was to eventually reclaim the whole Albrecht continent!

However, it was not for free. Dominez Empire claimed the lands they cleared for themselves. Since there wasn't a proper government anymore the surviving people couldn't even raise their voices.

With the previous rebellion, Dominez Empire also learnt her lesson.

They were holding the leash tighter than before and if the info he got from the survivors he met before were to be trusted, there was also talks about the empire transferring their capital to this continent to quell any signs of a possible rebellion.

If there were any winners or losers from this apocalypse. The sole losers would be USA. After much struggle, they had finally stopped being a colony and instead became their own country. But before even a century could pass, their country had already collapsed. And it was also a mystery if they would have a similar opportunity in the future.

Anyway, as long as they passed the defence line the duo would have achieved half of their goal.

Passed the Accurti line there were almost no zombies and towns started to spring one after another. So they would finally be able to relax a little.