Hypocritical Church (1)

'Nothing has ever gone right,' Liang Xingbai thought, 'and this world will be destroyed in a matter of seconds...'

"Young master," a young man wearing green military uniform reported, "only three people agreed to be evacuated to the safe zone. The rest didn't pay any heed to your warnings and decided to stay in the base."

Liang Xingbai's face was filled with sorrow. His beautiful eyebrows creased as he racked his brain for ideas. How could he...convince the people? How could he save this world? His whole being was shrouded in melancholy. In the end, this world will...die...destroyed...

"How about the laboratorium? Have they developed the virus' cure yet?" Liang Xingbai asked. This was his last strad of hope, the last and only hope he had. If the laboratorium hadn't found the cure, then humanity would really die.

"Reporting to the young master," the young man replied, hesitance on his face, " the laboratorium...had stopped developing the cure since a long time ago...they turned to developing crops and strengthening solutions."

Liang Xingbai clenched his fists. When did the laboratorium become farms? When did they become like this? Was all his sacrifices worth it? Time, money, efforts...lives? None of thse people cared about those soldiers who sacrificed themselves for humanitu, why should he save them? In the end, his efforts might go down the drain.

If not for that vision he received when he was asleep, Liang Xingbai wouldn't evacuate the willing people, he wouldn't try to save humaity from falling. He was nothing but a small general. There was still a commander, and a colonel above him. The big higher ups didn't want to listen to him. Even his closest, most trusted higher up, Colonel Sanders, wouldn't listen to him...

"So this is how I, Liang Xingbai, will die," Liang Xingbai chuckled grimly, "so this is how humanity ends...in the hands of zombies...things created due to humans' thirst for longevity..."

Humans sure were greedy, and selfish. He himself was not an exception. He was selfish, he wanted to save everyone. Keep them safe. Let humanity continue its heritage. It seemed as if the world's God didn't want him to save anyone.

A District was the biggest district available on earth. Not only was it the biggest district, but it was also the safest district. There were numerous soldiers guarding the borders that nothing had happened to it for almost five years. the district was filled with grandeur, riches and...it was not polluted by the zombie's miasma, even their virus. Though Liang Xingbai knew that it wasn't for long.

Liang Xingbai visited a bar one day. He wanted to let go of some steam. Although he visited a bar, he didn't touch any of the liquor served. He didn't even touch any of the girls or boys offered. When he was drinking a glass of juice, one of the rich groups appeared and saw him.

Liang Xingbai's family was comparable, if not, greater than theirs.

"Xingbai my friend," one of the young masters of A District said. Although it wasn't that visible, Liang Xingbai could detect a sneer in his voice, "why are you fretting over something that would never happen? Does working too much leave a dent in you brain?"

Another young master joined the fray, "Yes, yes! Last time I remembered you were rather smart. But right now...you seem so stupid that my idiotic little brother could beat you." This young master's younger brother was one with the down syndrome. He was implicating that Liang Xingbai's intellect was worse than a boy with down syndrome.

"I work only for humanity, all my sacrifices were given to this last cluster of humans. Thus it is normal that I fret over humanity," Liang Xingbai stated.

Under their irridiculous stares, Liang Xingbai added, " I work, fueled by only a morsel of food. I had pledged to protect humanity the time I became a soldier. I will carry this vow until the time I breathe my last breath."

These rich tycoons didn't give taxes for quite some time. To them, it was wasting money. In reality, the money were given to nurture the soldiers, who in turn would protect them. The supplies for the barracks lessened as they only got a bit of the total tax. When not all had paid, the money was first allocated to the laboratorium, who did nothing but grow crops.

Liang Xingbai's heart hurt. He worked so hard for these rich, sleazy people who didn't care for humanity? He had left the world of luxury, the same world these young masters and mistresses lived right now. He did it for humanity's hope, the last hope humanity had. He did it so that one day, humanity could see sunlight again.

So humanity could venture freely without obstructions.

But...these people, who lived in luxury, in riches, in splendour...they didn't know how the military lived in fear. They didn't know the military's sufferings. Day by day, the verterans died, inexperienced soldiers died, the amount of new recruits dwindled until they could count by hand. No one wanted to sacrifice themselves for a bright future. To them, why fight when you can live in luxury.

It was not worth the risk.

Humanity once had a hope, a bright future. If only they tried to grasp it, and not laze around. They once had the chance to be free from the zombies, but they destroyed it because of their greed, their sloth, their gluttony. They brought upon their own destructions.

That week was peaceful. There weren't much zombie hordes. The three people he managed to gather was sent to a small safe zone outside A District. These three people, ironically, were his mother and his two little brothers. Although he wouldn't be able to see them once they were evacuated, he was still glad they were safe.

Barely nothing had happened other than the occasional zombies trying to destroy the wall incidents. Everyone ridiculed Liang Xingbai even more.

"You said that humanity would be destroyed! Why do I not see it?"

"You evacuated three people! It's good that we're wise, otherwise we might die inside that save zone first!"

Everyone sent insults his way, even Colonel Sanders looked at him in disappointment. His position fell from a Commander to a squad leader. Though, as usual, his squad was outstanding. He had always tried his best, and he had always pushed people under him to their limits. If those people really listened to him, they would make a breakthrough.

His squad earned attention. Some negative, some positive.

The next week was relatively safe. The hordes started to increase in numbers. Day by day, there were more hordes. The zombies increased in population, in strength, and in intelligence. Some extremely intelligent zombies could even infiltrate into the check point. They even waited in a queue to reach the checking soldier. When they reached the checking soldier, they would attack. Though, it was still messy, like a five years old child.

The hordes didn't blindly charge anymore. They only advantage humanity had was, they wasn't able to recognize riffles and other gunpowder machines, so they didn't dodge.

These occurences made them think back to Liang Xingbai. Although they knew that what Liang Xingbai had said might be true, the still held contempt towards him. If one was too outstanding, one would earn ire. Two weeks after his position as a general was revoked, his father disowned him. As he didn't have anymore status, he was demoted into a regular soldier. Liang Xingbai suffered.

A month after he was disowned, demoted, what Liang Xingbai said came true. A zombie with higher intelligence was able to command the other zombies. Colonel Sanders, who still remembered Liang Xingbai and his vision, immediately ran over to where he was. He didn't care - or rather, he couldn't care - that he looked foolish and funny. He might even seem petty. However, only Liang Xingbai knew that this would happen. Only he knew the best possible way to save humanity. Perhaps...it wasn't too late.

"Sergeant Liang," Colonel Sanders called out to the lifeless man staring at the battlefield. Although he seemed lifeless, his shots were accurate, and he did his best. This was humanity's best soldier, a soldier that humanity threw away. His eyes were empty, as humanity's soldiers became even more deranged. Their soldiers decided to commit suicide, rather than troubling their comrades even more. If the laboratorium had developed the cure, this wouldn't have happened. Perhaps, the battlefield wouldn't be dyed bright purple, dyed by a mixture of humans' red blood and the zombies' blue blood.

"Colonel Sanders," Liang Xingbai greeted back, "It's...the same...as back then..."

With that, colonel Sanders knew what Liang Xingbai was talking about. His heart clenched as he knew humanity had no future. It was too late. He regretted not believing Liang Xingbai, he regretted destroying such a good warrior, the perfect warrior for humanity.

There were no more 'if only's.

"Is mother and brothers safe?" Liang Xingbai asked, hopeful. Though, he didn't dare think that they were actually safe as his father -that vicious, wily old fox - didn't like his mother in the first place, much less him. He had always wanted to dispose of them.

"No, your father...sent assasins after them. None of them survived," Colonel Sanders said grimly, "he even killed the military members assigned to escort them."

Then, he asked, "Is there...is there really no hope...for humanity?"

Liang Xingbai trudged to the battlefield, his back desolate.

"What do you think?"

Colonel Sanders could see that he was a great man, a wonderful man. Such a man that humanity had thrown away due to momentary foolishness. A lonel man, walking to the battlefield with a riffle in his hands.

"Not a single one, we have lost everything," Liang Xingbai stated slowly, dragging the words 'lost' and 'everything', "from the time humanity is crazy to live longer, to stay alive longer, they were overcome with greed...there is no more hope."

"Once they fell, it's the end."

After a round of fighting, Liang Xingbai was bitten, he looked at Colonel Sanders, who sadly shot a bullet his way. Humanity's best...fell.

The last defense fell three days later. Liang Xingbai's old team members died in the second day, while Colonel Sanders died as the zombies walked into the area of the living. The zombies invaded A District, like they did to the other districts. Not a single one of those rich tycoons could protect themselves. none at all. Liang Xingbai's father tried to go to the safe zone, but they were turned in the middle due to the lack of hygiene.

Humanity had finally perished from the face of the Earth, and it was all caused by their greed.

By their sins.