7 Sweeping the Xermo

Bang!

William sensed movement and swiftly moved his body. He noticed a Xermo was swaggering into the mall. The condition of the Xermo was no longer as good as before as there were some visible patched wounds on his body. However, he was still moving by instinct and tried to find some food.

The Xermo raised his head and looked over in William's direction. It was capable of sensing that there was someone there.

Grunt!

After releasing a low grunt, the Xermo began to rush over in William's direction. Its speed and explosive power was alarming. William immediately sidestepped to the side and raised his left arm.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

With all of his power, he hit the Xermo's head and body with his metal pipe. The Xermo that was exploding in power was promptly stopped as it fell to the ground with a loud thud. Blood was flowing from the point where William hit him hard.

The metallic tang of blood permeated the area.

'His old wound have trace of recovering.'

Now that he was close with the Xermo's corpse, William noticed that the wound on the Xermo's body was slowly recovering. While it was a slow process, but it was certainly recovering. If he was not wrong within a day or two, the wound would be able to heal.

His heart skipped a beat.

Did it mean that those who were infected with Virus R had higher recovery rate? Or was it because of another virus? In any case, he knew that this was not a good news since it meant that they would be in trouble if the Xermo could heal if they only have light wound.

'How troublesome.'

"LUCKY!"

"What?"

"That sound, where the hell are you?! Don't tell me that you're roaming around without proper weapon?"

"I have a metal pipe with me," William defended himself. He looked at the metal pipe in his hand that had started to deform after his rigorous attack towards the Xermo. Well, he needed to find a replacement for the weapon soon or he would be in a grave trouble.

"HOW IS THAT ENOUGH, YOU IDIOT?!"

William put the walkie talkie slightly away from his ear. He looked around and walked to the stairs where the Xermo first appeared carefully.

"Don't shout if you don't want me to die."

"$%^&*(!

Even though William could hear his friend's muffled complaint, he paid no heed. By the time he reached the stairs, what greeted him was a horrible sight of corpses and blood. While they could get infected by the Xermo, they could also get killed by them. Some people who were running in the stairs were precisely the people who were unfortunate enough to get killed.

William's heart turned cold as he walked down to the lower ground. As he reached the lower floor, he noticed that there were several Xermo roaming around. This was the floor with a lot of restaurant set up around the area. It was clear that the Xermo was here because they wanted to find some food.

"Lucky?"

"I need to clean up some Xermo."

"You…"

Not paying any heed to the walkie talkie, William rushed to the nearby Xermo. His left hand swung the metal pipe that directly hit the Xermo's head. While the Xermo had high agility and explosive power, their reaction time was still slower. From the bottom of his heart, William hoped that they would not improve.

Bam!

The loud sound attracted the other Xermo. William swiftly changed his position and raised his right hand. There were still several bullets inside his gun, so he should be able to deal with them.

Bang! Bam!

A Xermo came closer, reaching out its hand to grab William. Twisting his body, William barely avoided the Xermo and switched his stance. He used his legs to kick the Xermo's stomach then raised his right hand to the Xermo's head.

Bang!

The bullet directly killed the Xermo.

William continued with this fashion and killed numerous Xermo in that floor. The mall was not that big, but there were still a lot of people who were using this place every single day. They were unlucky as they met with the Xermo when they were still inside and some of them were turned into the Xermo.

Bam! Thud

When the last Xermo fell to the ground, William was looking to the mess with a complicated gaze. He might be a soldier and also have been killing numerous people before this. But they were all either soldiers or some criminals that the country have been chasing for a period of time.

It was different from this.

"Lucky, are you still alive?" Sharp's voice quivered through the transmission line. It was clear that he was not ready to have his friend died so suddenly.

"I won't die that easily, Sharp."

"Go back to the hotel. We can sweep the area after I have delivered the guns to you. I already got a lot from the police station nearby."

"Morning."

"Yes?"

"Go to the hotel in the morning. It's too dangerous at night."

"Fine."

William walked to a sports' store and found the item that he was looking for: metal bat. The metal pipe had already deformed because of his violent strike and battering to the Xermo. He needed a new weapon because there were only a few bullets left in his gun.

"Make sure that there are enough bullets for us."

"Don't worry. Just leave it to me. It's more important for you to get to safety and take care of yourself."

"I'm looking for survivors," William admitted. Whilst the chance was low for anyone to survive in this mall, he wanted to try his luck and probably found someone who was still alive.

"That's not going to happen. Xermo have keen sense. I'm sure that even if you try to hide your presence, they can still find you without troubles, right?"

William didn't want to admit it, but it was true. When he was hiding back then, the Xermo locked his gaze to him not long after entering the floor. As long as they have enough time, they would be able to detect anyone who were staying in the same floor as them.

"They're troublesome."

"It'll be better if we have a researcher with us to help us identify their weakness." Sharp groaned. The report that they received back then was only the basic one that was also filled with a lot of scientific terms that they couldn't understand.

"You're hoping a bit too much."

"Anyway, go back to the higher floor, I'll cover for you."

William smirked and began to make his move back to the higher floor. It was then he heard the sound of gun shooting the floor below him. The brutal attacks that he launched had already attracted other Xermo who were currently around.

Sharp, whose real name was Yakov, was actually a gunner. When they were having their missions, Yakov would usually cover from the back and often acted as either sniper or following the team from behind. He was very adept when it came to use gun, especially from a distance away.

With Yakov covering him, William knew that he didn't need to worry about the Xermo from lower floors.

"Right, Sharp, is there anyone around in your hotel?"

"This crappy hotel already abandoned everything," Yakov replied. His eyes were still following the movements of the Xermo on the floor below William. "The Xermo can break into the building easily and already changed so many people. I eliminated them all."

William was silent for a moment. He knew that without proper protection, the Xermo would be able to break through the door after enough banging if they had enough power. The hotel where he stayed was quite sturdy but the one where Yakov stayed was the complete opposite.

It wouldn't be weird even if Yakov said that there was already a total annihilation there.

"Just focus on surviving."

"I know," Yakov located another Xermo. "That's what I have been doing."

BANG!