Cruentus

Hundreds of zombies were rushing out of the warehouse. The building itself was 3 story-tall with the office spaces and such so there were a lot of space inside.

"But how come all these people were inside? Surely not every single one of them is an employee." (Mattias)

What the duo was watching was a scene of chaos and carnage. The group of lackeys were trying to resist with their guns and were trying to escape the place but because of their panic, they were fumbling about.

"Shit shit shit shit!"

"Get us outta here! Get us outta her-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

"Almighty God in Heaven hear my voice as I beg you! Accept this sinner with your loving embrace and help me cross the bridge to Heaven!"

"Mommy!"

They yelled and prayed to God as they were being hunted down by the zombies that exited the warehouse. Not all was caught up in that mess though. Some were able to get in the car and start it before it was too late. The ones who saw this begged or cursed at them to take them but these people didn't listen at all. They just started driving away from the chaos.

"Nooooo! Come back you fuckers!"

"You bastards! You traitorous sons of bitches!"

But they couldn't drive far as there were zombies from outside that made their way close enough to block the door. Those zombies formed another horde in front of the warehouse gate. One of the cars tried to break it through but the horde was focused enough to stop it completely after a few meters. The other car was also unfortunate as the zombies also made their way towards it, surrounding the car in the process.

The screams of survivors came out of the cars as they got devoured. The windows broke first and the people inside got wounded. After that the doors became damaged and bent inwards, making them weak enough for zombies to pull it out of its place. The rest was as expected. If one zombie got in, then people inside was as good as dead.

Mattias and Tsuyoshi was watching this from afar, trying not to get sick from the gore they saw. The smell of death reached them a while ago and that just added to their sickness. Even though they killed zombies before, they never witnessed the process a zombie devours a human. This, in turn, made them sick in the stomach as the scent of death was too overwhelming for them. After all, they were just college students before all this happened.

"Bro… bro we have to get the fuck out of here! Before we are discovered!"

"Right. Right."

Mattias' eyes were wide open as he looked at the scene in front of him. His mind was blank until Tsuyoshi shook him. The duo made their way towards their car stealthily. Thankfully they didn't take too long to get back to the car. That may have also be caused by their adrenaline. They did encounter some zombies on their way back but made quick work for them out of their fear.

Once they entered their car Mattias immediately started driving far away. He didn't stop until he was sure they were safe from the horde of zombies in that part of the city. He stopped the car in the middle of the road and just stared ahead of him, panting. Him and Tsuyoshi's faces were pale with fear and sickness. They, at the same time, slowly opened their doors and just started puking out of the car.

"What." (Mattias)

"The." (Tsuyoshi)

"Fuck."

"Was that."

"That was… overwhelming."

"Overwhelming? There were hundreds of those fucking infected there bro, if not at least a thousand!"

"You think I don't know. My eyesight got better and better since that fucking voice sounded out. I probably saw what those poor people saw."

"What?"

"I was as if there with them, as their flesh was being devoured. I could count the facial hair of a female zombie I tell you. It was… disgusting to say the least."

Tsuyoshi was shocked to hear this. He was even more shocked to the fact that Mattias was talking about this calmly. Even his stomach was getting sick just because he heard about it just now but Mattias' expression didn't change.

"Let's go. We have to report this." (Mattias)

"You okay, bro?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be? I am still alive. That's what matter the most."

"If… you say so."

Mattias started the car once more and started driving back to the community. Their mission was to scout the warehouse and technically they did their job. Their drive back was calm, as if the world was saying that they saw enough that day. They reached the place quicker than last time. They also returned earlier than planned so the people there were surprised to see them while some of them thought they chickened out. Until they heard what they saw that is.

The leader gathered all the military personnel to his house for an emergency meeting so that everyone could hear the report.

"So? What did you guys see?" (Leader)

"Hmph! I bet they chickened out after all! Look at their faces! They are pale from fear." (Itsuki)

"I would advise you to listen to them man." (Matsuyama)

"Haa? What happened to you?" (Itsuki)

"I thought the same before they told me what was up." (Matsuyama)

"Let's just let the kids speak shall we? So?" (Leader)

"It's like this. We arrived at the district like we planned. But for precaution, I left the car near the main road as it could potentially attract unwanted attention." (Mattias)

"That's when we started cleaning the streets a bit. There were zombies all over the place. Fortunately they were spread out a little so it wasn't hard to do that." (Tsuyoshi)

"We cleaned a way for ourselves. We encountered a small group of 5 near the supermarket of the warehouse. They were your small-time group we didn't really cared for them."

"Instead we listened to them from afar and found out that a group called 'Colour Gang' was at the warehouse."

"Colour Gang? Never heard of them." (Leader)

"It's Collar Gang. This idiot was listening with his ass." (Mattias)

"Them?! They were there?!" (Chiharu)

"Calm down. Continue." (Leader)

"We then made our way towards the warehouse to see a big group of people surrounding the warehouse. They were inside the small wall around the warehouse and two cars were protecting the gate. I saw about 10 people around the building just hanging around." (Mattias)

"It was then that we made a ram with a random car and chaos ensued."

"You used a car as a ram? You were reckless." (Leader)

"We weren't driving it. I learned how to hotwire cars sometime back. Internet can really be useful sometimes. After we released the car, an explosion happened and the rest of the group came out." (Mattias)

"Explosion? That is reckless even for them." (Leader)

"I never said they came out in one piece. They came out as arms, legs. I swear there were even some pieces of brain in the mix. It was gruesome."

"What?"

"Oh you poor boys."

"I'm… sorry you had to see something… like that."

"It's fine. I made peace with it already." (Mattias)

"And I saw my friends get killed by those zombies in front of me." (Tsuyoshi)

"What is important is that probably all of the population around that area is already infected. Because there were hundreds of zombies in just that warehouse while more came there because of the hubbub." (Mattias)

"There were thousands of those things!"

"So? What is the result?" (Leader)

"I wouldn't risk it. There's a big horde in there and even without an Evolved, it bears too much of a risk." (Mattias)

"Is that your suggestion?"

"Yes."

"Haah. What do the rest of you think?"

Leader turned to the other military personnel in the meeting. These people were the leaders of various teams established within the community. Leader trusted them and they trusted in him in return. They survived for a while now and everyone in that room, save for our duo, saved each other's asses more than once.

"I think there is right in those words. We are not equipped to fight a big horde." (Itsuki)

"I as well. That raid would not be beneficial for us at all." (Matsuyama)

"I don't know, we might be able to handle that horde if we are careful and far away enough." (Chiharu)

"Are you out of your mind Chiharu?!" (Matsuyama)

"No, actually I am quite clear."

"Enough. We will talk about this in the coming hours. Before that. I thank you for your service. You guys go rest, you are dismissed for the day." (Leader)

"Okay."

"Kay."

After that, Mattias and Tsuyoshi left the military officials to talk amongst themselves. They slowly walked to their 'home' and just threw themselves in to their beds. Their exhausted walk back was witnessed by all off the people in the community and they gathered pitying gazes on them. What they saw that day truly changed their worldview, changed what they were.