BYTE-SIZED SACRIFICE

"EVERYONE RUNNNN... no, stop!", Nolan shouted and we all looked at him.

"What do you mean?", I said.

"Look, I'm as shocked as you are, but the zombies are coming in a single horde! What makes you think you can outrun them?", Nolan said.

"No, we can still outrun them. Look, they are slow right now; they are not really close. We can still make it", Haley panicked, sweating.

Forge looked too shocked to speak, as all the other streamers were crying. Some were still in shock. One panicked streamer came out; he had purple hair and yellow eyes, with two Glocks and a grenade strapped to his gear. "That's it; we're finished. No hope of living. Might as well be zombies. Everyone, sit down!", he spat, sounding like a crazy person.

Haley walked up to him and slapped him. Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of the slap. "BASTARD! Last thing we need right now is a coward", Haley shouted.

I went and held her shoulders. "Listen, Haley, we need to focus on what's right in front of us - ZOMBIES, not humans, okay?", I said soothingly. Haley calmed down. I glanced at the streamer and I punched him before anyone could react. He fell to the ground. "Humans are not our enemies, sure, but we should teach them a lesson every now and then", I said and shrugged as I backed away from his fallen figure.

I looked at Nolan as he was still wide eyed at the horde of zombies. I moved closer to him. He exhaled and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Listen, kid. We've almost run out of our woop."

Oh no, that's a problem, I said in my mind. "You see, streamers have a specific time to which they have to go back to the underground. If your time is five minutes, and you cross it, you could get locked out as a streamer, or worse - those things they call zombies will get in."

"Look, kid. Our woop time was two hours and five minutes, and we're at 52 minutes already. We have to come up with a plan fast", Nolan said.

"Agreed", I said. "We have to find our way out of here."

Haley came closer to me and Nolan. "I have an idea. Let's call for help on our streams", Haley said.

Why didn't we think of that? "Everyone, talk to your stream for help!", Forge shouted. Everyone started pleading to their cameras, but their gear and tech started glitching.

"It's not working", a girl said. I took my camera, but it started displaying static.

What the hell, I said to myself. I looked at Haley, and her camera was displaying white noise too. I looked at Forge, but his was glitching as well. He was hitting it, trying to get it to work. I looked at Nolan as he was swinging his phone left and right searching for a connection, but nothing was working.

"I don't understand. Why isn't it working?", One streamer said.

I hurried over to Haley to check hers when suddenly my phone started to come alive, showing a bit of streamers' comments. I looked at the phone in shock. Wait, I went closer to the zombies, and it began to glitch again. It can't be.

I looked at Nolan. "Listen, sir. I think it's the zombies affecting the devices", I said. "What? It can't be", Nolan said. "Everyone, go further away from the zombies. I think Ace here knows something".

They all sauntered backwards, and their phones began to return to normal. "It's working!", Forge shouted. "I can see my chats, but not completely."

" I see", Nolan said. He looked at the zombie horde and said," Nothing like this has ever happened before."

I approached Nolan and said, "At least we figured out one thing. These zombies are different, probably because they're in a horde".

"Hey, Ace. You said on your streams that zombies were always attracted to you", Nolan said.

"Yeah", I answered, "but not in a good way."

Nolan looked at me, and said, "Raise your hand kid. I want to test something."

I looked at Nolan's eyes; he looked like a person who wasn't ready to die yet, someone who was willing to do anything to survive and I can't defy someone like that. I raised my hand, and Nolan took his binoculars and zoomed in. Nolan chuckled. "What is it?", I asked.

"The zombies were facing down and were focused on something else, but when you raised your hand, they looked towards this direction".

What is he saying? Is he saying the zombies want ME?

"I know you know, kid. In this world, it's survival of the fittest, and you, Ace, you have to be bait", he said.

I was too shocked to talk. I didn't know what to say. I glanced at everyone. Are they really worth dying for? I looked back at Haley and Forge. Forge was sitting there, talking to himself.

I took Haley to a corner and told her what Nolan said.

"...no I can't let you do. You'll have to throw me to the zombies before i...", I knocked her out before she could finish. I carrier her to Nolan.

"You take care of her and make sure she makes it out, ok?", I half pleaded. Nolan nodded grimly. He carried Haley over to the rest of the group and told all the streamers of the new development. They agreed to it since ut meant their survival but I'd like to think some of them felt kinda sad.

I was their hero. A matyr. But it was for the greater good.

I took a deep breath, exhaled and made.my way down and shouted to attract the horde's attention.

As the zombies faced me and started moving towards me I looked back at the group as they ran the opposite direction. They were going to make it out alive.

I had been scared initially but suddenly my heart rate calmed down as I faced the zombies again.

"Come at me, you motherfuckers!", I yelled like a madman.

They began to lunge at me and pounce on me as I used mey blaster and fired blindly.

I think I shot a few but some reached me from behind and gashed me. I yelled out in pain and anger as I kept firing. I was already infected as far as I know.

I was suddenly covered by all of them. The pain was excruciating but I kept my fingers on the triggers. I started losing consciousness.

I started hearing myself think; bullshit...this is bullshit. I tried, Dad. I couldn't do it, but that didn't stop me from...

A set of rotten teeth bit into my neck. It's over. Goddess, help me.

I remembered Haley and her words to me.

Huh. I guess my luck did run out.

I blacked out.

From the darkness, a disorted said;

BYTE-SIZED ZOMBIE GENE ACTIVATED.