Chapter 63
'At least the entrance is blocked. That'll save me a ton of work,' Ali thought as he caught a glimpse of the base of the skyscraper, its large glass doors shattered and surrounded by a horde of zombies. Most of them were still distracted by the noise he'd created, turning in his direction with their decaying arms outstretched.
Their grotesque, rotten bodies lurched forward, but Ali didn't waste time. With a swift motion, he swung his blade in a wide arc, effortlessly beheading four zombies in a single stroke. His movements were fluid, precise.
Without pausing, he punched the zombie approaching from behind, his fist moving with such force that it passed clean through the creature's skull, shattering the brain inside. He grimaced at the mess but pressed on.
'These zombies are slow, weak. Their strength is completely dependent on their decaying bodies. And as for intelligence? Non-existent,' Ali mused, gripping the hilt of his massive longsword with both hands.
There was no time to waste. Ali began spinning in place, his colossal sword creating a vortex of death as it sliced through everything in its path. Zombies stumbled mindlessly into the deadly circle, their bodies torn apart by the relentless rotation of the crimson blade. Ali took deliberate steps forward, each movement calculated, driving him closer to the entrance while maintaining the deadly spin.
From above, Ali would have resembled a whirling red cyclone, cutting through the crowd of undead with brutal efficiency. Blood sprayed in all directions, turning the pavement beneath him into a thick, congealed pool of gore. His sword tore through skin, flesh, and bone like it was nothing, shredding everything in its reach. Limbs and torsos flew across the street as the zombies mindlessly surged forward, only to be met by the unstoppable force of Ali's spinning blade.
His eyes remained closed as the world spun around him in dizzying circles. He knew this technique was reckless, even dangerous, but Ali had always wanted to try this particular move. And what better opportunity to unleash it than in the midst of a horde of slow, mindless zombies?
The spinning blade of death continued its relentless path, carving a wake of destruction until, at last, Ali stopped with his back to the entrance. He took a deep breath, opening his eyes to assess the carnage he had left in his wake.
Bodies lay scattered everywhere-some sliced cleanly in half, others reduced to mere chunks of flesh. Many of the undead, now limbless, crawled pitifully on the ground, unable to do anything but drag themselves forward
"Phew. That was definitely worth it," Ali muttered, retracting his sword into its handle and securing it back onto his blood-soaked belt. His clothes, once pristine, were now drenched in the filth of the undead-thick, clotted blood and decaying flesh clinging to every inch of him.
The horde was still closing in, but Ali no longer cared. His attention was on the massive building in front of him. Glancing up, he took note of the walls and windows. 'Let's get out of the open,' he thought.
With a powerful leap, Ali launched himself into the air, grabbing onto the edge of a blocked window on the first floor. He paused for a moment, looking down at the zombies milling around beneath him, their rotting arms stretching toward him in desperation. A twisted grin crossed his face as he thought, Pathetic. He continued his ascent, climbing another floor until he reached the second level, where the window was still intact.
Without hesitation, Ali balled his fist and smashed it through the thick glass, shattering it with ease. He swung inside, his feet landing on the cold floor of what appeared to be an abandoned office building. Glancing around, he quickly realised that the first three floors were all part of a massive open hall. It looked like the lobby of the skyscraper, with a grand staircase leading to higher floors.
Down below, the main entrance was barricaded with furniture-wooden planks hammered in place, couches, chairs, and even a vending machine piled against the doors.
Despite the barricades, several zombies wandered around the hall, turning their decayed faces toward him as he entered. Their eyes were vacant, but their hunger was clear. Ali sighed, noticing some of them still wore remnants of office attire. 'They must've been the people who tried to hold out here at the start of the outbreak', Ali thought.
"About sixty of them from here to the entrance. Let's make this quick," he muttered.
Ali scanned the room and then, without wasting a second, he ripped a chunk of wood from the nearby railing. He inspected its sharp end before crouching down to grab a shard of glass from the broken window. In one smooth motion, he hurled the glass shard at a zombie's head, embedding it into its skull. The creature dropped lifeless to the floor before the others could react.
Ali didn't stop there. He vaulted over the second-floor railing, landing squarely in the middle of the group of zombies below. Before they could even process his presence, he began stabbing the broken railing into their skulls with ruthless precision. Each strike was swift and deadly, piercing through their skulls and dropping them to the ground in seconds.
The horde was no match for Ali's speed.
He darted from one zombie to the next, his sharp makeshift weapon finding its mark each time. Within a matter of moments-nineteen seconds, to be exact-he had cleared out the zombies on the ground floor, their bodies strewn across the bloodied lobby.
Ali didn't wait for the zombies on the upper floors to come down to him. Instead, he rushed up the grand staircase, meeting the few undead that were already descending toward him. With a swift, fluid motion, he decimated them, cutting down the approaching zombies with a series of quick, brutal strikes. Each swing of his blade was precise, cleaving through flesh and bone like it was nothing.
Within seconds, Ali had cleared out the remaining zombies on all three levels of the large hall, leaving nothing but lifeless bodies and pools of congealing blood in his wake. He paused for a moment, breathing calmly, his eyes scanning the area for any more threats.
When he was certain no zombies remained, Ali made his way toward the stairwell that led further up the building.
There were two sets of stairs-one completely blocked off by a mountain of furniture, overturned desks, and what looked like pieces of a shattered vending machine.
Whoever had tried to fortify the building had clearly made sure the barricade would hold. The second stairway, however, was wide open, with traces of dried blood and grimy handprints lining the banister. It was clear that the undead had already made use of it.
Ali didn't trust it. He gave it a quick glance before heading back down to the entrance of the building. 'If I'm going to finish this mission in three days, nothing can get in,' he thought, determination settling in. He wasn't going to take any chances.
Without hesitation, Ali began piling every heavy object he could find against the main entrance. Chairs, couches, desks-anything with weight was shoved into a growing mound of debris. But that wasn't enough. The front doors needed to be fortified with something stronger. Ali's eyes fell on the concrete pillars beneath the staircase.
He clenched his fist and, with a single punch, shattered one of the pillars in half.
Dust and chunks of concrete rained down, but Ali paid no mind. He picked up the broken pieces and began stacking them around the entrance, adding an extra layer of protection. He continued this process, breaking more of the pillars, until there were only two left standing to support the weight of the grand staircase.
He deliberately left them untouched, knowing they would serve a purpose. 'If anything tries to use the stairs, the whole thing will collapse on top of them,' Ali thought, nodding to himself as he surveyed his handiwork. 'It'll make enough noise to alert me if I'm higher up.'
Satisfied with his barricade, Ali moved back toward the second floor. He jumped up, his strong fingers gripping the ledge, and pulled himself up with ease. The broken window he had entered through still needed to be sealed off. He couldn't risk anything slipping in behind him while he was dealing with whatever lay upstairs.
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