Chapter 38: Riot

The other infected also noticed and ran towards the antidote. Miriam reacted in time and put it back in her bag, but the group was so close that they fell on her and started beating her.

Noah, who was already on his way back to the fight, turned and watched in horror. Miriam reacted and tried to push her attackers away, but when she pushed the man who had started it all, he managed to hold Adam's bag as he fell to the ground.

Noah ran back, but it was too late. The man pulled the antidote out of the bag and before anyone could stop him he swallowed it whole.

Everyone on top of Miriam jumped on the man, asking if there were others. Before the man could answer, Noah reached for him. The guard kicked his stomach hard and left him lying on the ground. The other people tried to protest, but Noah pointed his gun at them.

At that moment, Miguel appeared from the back rows and pointed his gun at Noah. The guard, without losing his cool, pointed it at the old general.

"That scum stole the last of our antidotes just when Adam needed it, your group better have one to spare because I'm going to be pissed if it's not the case."

Miriam could barely contain her anger, but she managed it in time.

Miguel lowered the gun and frowned. His group was out of antidotes, they'd had enough wounded in the previous days.

"I'm afraid there aren't any."

Noah lifted Adam off the ground and then ran in the direction of block 4. Miriam thought about following him, but then looked at her sister, still unconscious, and hesitated for a moment.

"Leave it to me, I think the boys can take care of that little dog. I'll avoid combat as much as I can." Said Noah.

"Wait a moment, at least give him a health potion."

Noah stopped and waited for Adam to take the potion with Miriam's help. After that, he left.

Miguel approached Miriam, but she just gave him an angry look and walked away. The military man turned to the man who had caused all the trouble.

"So you like to cause trouble, Jean. We'll talk when this is all over."

"Of course it's my fault, isn't it? I'm not the one who held back an antidote when it could have cured one of us. I'm sure they would have let me die like a dog."

Miguel had to restrain himself from hitting the man. He could understand the other group, as in an emergency situation priority should be given to the fighters, especially Adam, who is the leader. He, without any doubt, would have done the same. Spending an antidote on someone who contributes nothing is useless.

"Congratulations Jean, if you survive this you will have to be useful somehow or I myself will see to it that you are expelled from the haven."

"Are you crazy? Do you think I want to die?"

"No, but if you don't prove to be anything more than useless, then I will be the first to support your expulsion from the shelter or whatever punishment the others demand."

Jean was visibly angry, but decided to keep quiet. The other wounded looked at him with some anger, but he paid no attention to them. They would most likely end up becoming zombies, he thought. Besides, despite Miguel's words, he didn't think he had done anything wrong, he had simply done what was necessary to survive. He was sure that everyone would do the same in his situation.

Meanwhile, the fight against the new Berserker progressed smoothly. Tarin had managed to cast a blizzard on the animal, which had succeeded in slowing its movement speed. By the time the spell was over, the dog had become an easy target.

Noah watched the fight in satisfaction and then carefully circled the whole mess, with Adam at his back. The health potion had left him exhausted, so he could barely understand what was going on.

Noah managed to avoid the battle and turned the corner of the street. In front of him he could now see the superblock, from which a group of people were watching. Noah continued to carry Adam as he watched a couple of people descend the stairs of the superblock and head towards them. They were Alfred and Carlos, who had noticed Noah carrying an injured man and had assumed that things had gone wrong.

Meanwhile, the fight with the dog continued. Miguel had joined in by observing that they had managed to immobilize the animal to some extent, but soon the effect had worn off and they had not managed to do much damage. The old military man then turned his attention to watching the buildings around him. His job was to kill any Gorger that appeared. Luckily, there weren't many of them, but there were other types of zombies that could attack from afar that he had never seen. One of them threw a kind of thorn at him that he narrowly dodged. He knew they couldn't stop here for long if they didn't want even more zombies to attack them, so he made a decision.

"Hear me everyone, we'll surround the fight and move forward. Everybody move!"

Prompted by Miguel's shouts and then Miriam's, the group moved to the left and began to walk slowly. When Miguel was sure everything was in order, he joined the fray.

Leonard was doing a good job of restraining the Berserker, who was getting more and more annoyed with every ball he took.

"It's getting less and less effective! Kill him quickly!"

Tarin was trying, but he was about to reach his limit. He didn't quite know how the energy he used to cast spells worked, but he understood instinctively that if he tried to cast another blizzard he would pass out on the spot. Besides, even though he still had enough to cast a few icicles, they were proving to be insufficient. If he could get closer and cast a spell directly into the Berserker's mouth he could do a lot of damage, but aiming it at a dog had proven to be much more difficult.

Anin could barely stay away from the animal's attacks and only attacked after each ball. The man had been attacking one of the animal's legs, but had not yet managed to cut it significantly.

At that moment, Miguel joined the battle and, for the first time, Tarin noticed that the survivors were surrounding them. Miguel fired a couple of shots before stopping, realizing it was useless. The Berserker's armor combined with the animal's fur had created an even more powerful defense than normal.

However, while Miguel and Tarin were thinking about what to do to help, Anin managed to pierce the Berserker's leg with one of his daggers. The dog lost all its mobility, which allowed the two to get closer. An icicle managed to penetrate the eye of the beast, which fell to the ground. Miguel took advantage of the moment to finish off the dog with a shot through the mouth, with which he managed to damage the brain.

"Good job, we'd better go on," he said to the others.

Meanwhile, Miriam, in the center of the group, was happy to see the superblock. The group advanced down the street, now clear, with a little more encouragement that everything seemed to be over.

However, a horrible scream caused Miriam to jump with fright. A few steps away from her, someone had fallen to the ground shaking and screaming. Before Miriam could react, another person fell to the ground. She felt a pit in her stomach as she realized that the ones collapsing were the ones who had been injured by the zombies.

"Get away from them Quickly!"

Luckily, most of the people had stayed away, only a few family members of the wounded had approached.

One of them was trying to lift one of those who had fallen, but before he could do so, the man attacked him and dug his nails into his skin with enormous force.

The man screamed in pain and moved a few steps away, while watching his arm bleed copiously.

The newborn zombie staggered to its feet. Miriam was about to pounce on him when he suddenly screamed.

"Wait!"

The zombie's words surprised Miriam, who stood still, watching. By this time, all the wounded people had collapsed and were beginning to get up. Their bodies showed the characteristics of zombies. A series of black veins had been marked all over their skin and their eyes were red.

The first zombie to stand up stared at his hands, mesmerized. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, it turned to the man it had injured.

"I'm sorry."

"Brother?" He tried to approach him, but the newborn zombie stopped him with a shout.

"Don't come closer, I can control myself, but you'd better stay away."

"Is it really you?"