Bounty and Badass

5th June 2023

In the early morning as the rays of sun hit his face, Ali slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the sky which always gave him the feeling that the moon just might collapse onto the planet the very next moment. Yet besides that, the clouds seemed ever so peaceful and calm even now.

He tried to move his body and get up, when he felt pain all over his body, it felt like ants crawling and eating away at every open cut. It hurt so much that he justand stopped trying to move around.

"Too damn tired." He said as he just decided to take a rest again.

He didn't remember much of what happened to him, or what he did last night - it was all just glimpses here and there. But he didn't mind anything at all, nor the scenes of cruelty that came back to his mind, nor the killings of other humans, who came to stop him or help him, he simply didn't care about anything at all.

Even now when he was thinking about everything again with a calm head, while lying around and looking at the beautiful sky outside, he felt nothing. Maybe it was the zombie virus affecting his brain and his senses, or maybe something just broke within him and he snapped.

"Well whatever it is, it doesn't hurt as much now. So it's fine." Ali muttered as he closed his eyes. But it was especially that indifference that he could still lie there, surrounded by bodies of many he fought against last night.

On another side, Kevin who once again woke up in the middle of the night, just cause his system started sending him weird notifications that he couldn't understand anything. He even saw something written in different languages, but after that he blacked out and fell asleep.

When he woke up in the morning today, he saw all those notifications again, confirming that it wasn't a dream. He ignored everything that didn't make sense to him, and focused on one thing alone that he understood perfectly.

Quest - [Kill the villain.]

Quest objective - [Kill Ali Parker]

"System come out and tell me what's wrong? He was bitten and would turn into a zombie soon enough, do you have to make a fuss about it every other night?"

[...]

"Dumb bitch" Kevin cursed as he got no reply from the system again.

'I should've just killed him yesterday, instead of getting curious about what's wrong with him?' Kevin thought as he regretted now, why he let Ali go instead of killing him when he was there himself. 'Did he get some kind of cheat too? Is that why the system's ass is on fire?' Kevin thought, not knowing why, the system couldn't just wait for one or two more days, and then Ali would be just like some other dumb zombie and infected out there. Growling and snarling beneath his feet.

'But since the system is so messed up and put a hold on all my remaining quests, let's just kill him. His rewards are pretty nice too.' Kevin said as he looked at the system panel and saw the list of his current skills - Hypnotism, Survivor's Instinct, Hero's Resilience, Charisma of the Damned, Survivor's Sanctuary.

If he could upgrade everything just by killing Ali, then he'd be better prepared to deal with everything in the future.

"Call everyone inside." Kevin said, as he ordered his guards to bring everyone in the camp, who's now on his side there. He was going to go for one final crushing for that cuck, and then kill him by his own hands.

Soon enough more than half of the camp was standing in front of Kevin, almost 30-40 people were standing below, looking up at him. Many of these were people he saved and brought here, some whom he threatened to join him or influenced them with his skills- but they were all his dogs now.

Kevin came down from the balcony and stood up on a car's head, holding something in his arms. "Everyone here has been living free and without worries for more than a month now. I didn't ask you for anything, but I need something now. I want you to do something for me. Ali Parker, many of you have seen him here in the camp for the last month, he's out there somewhere, and I want you all to find him and bring him to me. No, just kill him directly. I want you to kill Ali Parker." Kevin said as he waved his hand in the air, throwing the photos of Ali for everyone to catch and see.

"But isn't he already biteen and a zombie by now?" One of the women spoke up, as she remembered they had all voted and acted, to kick Ali out just two days ago.

Kevin looked at the girl and jumped down from the car. He came in front of her and pinched her face in his hands "Just do the fucking thing I told you. Is that clear?" He said and jerked his hand away.

"I don't need your questions or your stupid opinions, I need to see his dead body with my own eyes. But if I don't see him dead by the dawn tomorrow, I'll fucking kick all of you midgets out in the open just like him." Kevin finished his words and turned around and left. "Ohh, one more thing, whoever manages to kill him for me, gets all the benefits to live their life worry free in my base."

Kevin's final words ignited an excited chatter among the crowd below. As they all moved forward to grab Ali's photo and take another clear look so they don't forget it. Some even fought to take the photo with them, as zombie Ali might be hard to identify, so they gotta compare it first hand so no room for mistakes.

Liebe and Kiara, who were standing at the front of everyone, looked at the photo of Ali in their hands and frowned. "You said, you saw him being bitten with your own eyes." Liebe asked.

"Yes, I don't get why he's so hung up about him." Kiara asked as she looked at Kevin's leaving back.

Liebe too thought like that, but even he couldn't understand it. He had met Kevin two weeks after the apocalypse, and had a fight with him when he was raiding a local police station looking for any guns and bullets. Kevin alone dealt with him and his 3 minions that day and killed them directly. If Liebe hadn't begged for mercy and agreed to follow him everywhere, he would be dead too. Ever since then he had seen many people going through that routine, people who fought against Kevin, but later joined him as his guards and doglegs. He even thought this guy, Ali would be the same too, but seeing Kevin so fixated on killing him, going as far as to issue a bounty like this, it seemed strange.

'Is it because of Aarvi? Or because Ali shot him before?' Liebe thought but couldn't understand anything.

He watched as people started to leave and get ready. Some even directly went towards the exit, to not waste time and look for Ali. Since he's a zombie by now, he shouldn't have gone far and is probably roaming around in one of these streets nearby.

Yet before anyone could take a step outside the camp, the sound of loud music from the other side of the wall stunned everyone. Soon those sounds started echoing all around their base. They could feel the ground quake as more and more zombies started rushing towards their camp. The loud music was drowning the gurgling sounds of zombies outside.

Many people were confused, nervous, scared - some directly started to run back inside, while some went to call Kevin and Aarvi. While a few brave ones directly climbed over the wall to look outside - only for their steps to stumble and their feet to fall down, watching the large swarm of zombies gathered outside.

It seemed like someone just brought every freaking zombie in the vicinity to their base. And the more zombies gathered around, the more their noises attracted other infected ones.

"Don't worry, there's no need to be scared. Those zombies can't enter inside." Kevin said as he came out hearing the commotion outside. He was in his vest🎽, without the shirt on. His mood was irritating as he was disturbed just when he was about to punish that girl from earlier for questioning him.

"The walls will hold them back. So just spread out and keep an eye on everything. They'll get tired and move away once it's nighttime. Till then no more noise from anyone. Is that _ "

–boooom–kabooom--booom–

Kevin was giving out instructions when a loud sound of a blast rang out in the area. Throwing everything in smoke and disarray. When their ears got accustomed to that one ringing sound a few other blasts rang out one by one. People started screaming in fear as many of them felt a shockwave hit their body and blasting them away. Some of them died, got wounded, or simply lost their bearings, and stood stunned like a statue. Unable to recover from the raging storm of chaos.

When the scene finally calmed down a little, when no more blasts rang out in the air, and the smoke and dust started to settle down a little - someone's loud voice through a megaphone reached everyone's ears. The words of a man sending shivers down their spines, as their senses tingled warning them of the incoming danger.

"–In the land of dead, I'll set the stage

The world will witness my relentless rage..

Suffer my vengeance, feel my heart's desire

And in the end, I'll set the world on fire..---"

The smoke cleared and the silhouette of a man became visible to everyone's eyes.

" Ali " - Kevin and Aarvi spoke up together, as they recognized his voice. 'What did you do?'

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A/N - A dying man who has nothing left to lose, is always an unpredictable variable. Cause then they lose the sense of fear, duty and darkness.