Chapter 33: Dangerous

"I hope that's true," said Marlen.

"Don't you think it's strange that all these zombies didn't attack us during the night? From what I understand, Miguel's group wasn't attacked by that many either," asked Noah.

Adam didn't know the answer, but he wasn't going to complain about it, last night the fight had been so easy that everyone could rest.

The group continued to move forward without encountering many powerful zombies. Adam noticed that the zombies in the streets were considerably less powerful than those they could find in the apartments.

Also, to everyone's luck, there weren't any powerful evolved zombies, there were only Brawlers, Crawlers, some Glutons and other slightly rarer types of zombies; ones that their group had never encountered before.

While they were enraptured with the sight, Adam's cell phone rang in his pocket.

"Terry? Everything okay?"

"Yes Adam, Rony was able to catch up with Miguel. The group has gathered in the parking lot and they have not been attacked yet, so that is a good sign. However, a small problem has arisen. The group in the building across the street has also left and just now the survivors are arguing with Miguel."

Adam frowned. Tracel had mentioned such a group, but, after Indi's call, Adam had forgotten to ask for more details about it.

"The group seems to be trying to convince Miguel to allow them to prepare and follow them to the shelter. Miguel is willing to wait, but he knows they will be in trouble at any moment. By the way, something worrisome. From the parking lot I can see the superblock and it is swarming with zombies, I think there are thousands of Stalkers in the corridors and they are bunching up like a can of sardines. Also, there seems to be a large number of evolved zombies in there as well."

"That's definitely bad news, I guess we'll have to get ready to enter that building fast," said Adam.

The presence of Adam's group had attracted the attention of the zombies in the street, who were starting to head in their direction. Adam had to divert their attention to take out the nearest enemies.

Rony soon appeared and helped them kill some of the zombies. When the pressure on them subsided, Terry spoke to Adam again.

"It looks like everyone is ready to get started. The problem is that there are too many people and not enough fighters. Miguel's group has 3, while the other has 4. And there are almost 15 people they have to protect."

"We'd better move forward then, I don't want there to be any problems."

"Adam, I think I'll withdraw Rony, I feel the fight will start soon and I don't want to risk it."

Adam cursed Terry and tried to talk to him.

"I'd be very grateful if Rony could stay and help us, I promise I'll try to keep him from being harmed."

"That wasn't our deal, Adam. Rony will just scout and stay out of harm's way and I'm not changing my mind. I will allow him to accompany them to block 2, but nothing more."

"Then you'd better show another skill useful to our survival, because I don't know if it's a good idea to allow you to continue living in the haven when you contribute the least as a fighter" Noah interrupted the conversation.

"I'm sure my skills will be needed sooner or later. Besides, no matter how much you complain, I contribute much more than all the survivors who don't fight," Terry replied.

"Unfortunately you're right, at some point we'll have to put all those bums to work," Noah replied.

"Stop it. Terry, recall Rony if you wish, but I'd like you to contribute more to combat in the future. Build another drone or something. We'll need all the help we can get and you guarding Rony so much isn't doing us any favors."

"All right, I'll think about it. Now that you mention it, building another drone doesn't sound like a bad idea, but I'll need more knowledge in electronics and robotics. If you get someone with the knowledge maybe we could collaborate."

"At least allow Rony to continue exploring the surroundings and be around at al times," Adam requested.

"Okay, but I'll keep it well away"

The group advanced across the street, unsuspecting that something was watching them from a window on the first floor of one of the buildings they were crossing. The zombie inside, had sensed the group's presence and was now fighting the urge to remain in the building it was in.

By the time the zombie mustered enough will to overcome its instincts, the group had already moved away and the zombie lost interest. Adam and the others moved forward, leaving Block 3 behind and approaching the development's plaza. The old statue, of an intellectual of yesteryear who fought against slavery, still stood in the middle of a neglected garden.

The small square also housed a few food stores and several buildings had their main entrances right there. Sadly, its former tranquility had been lost, replaced by the growls of a large group of zombies.

"What's that?"

Miriam was staring at one of the trees in the corner of the square. At first Adam didn't understand what she was referring to, but a few seconds later he did. At the bottom of the tree there was something completely surrounding it, a large pulsating mass.

The group was too far away to identify it with the help of the System, but they all felt a shiver as they looked at it.

"Let's keep going, in the next few days we'll take care of that thing."

They all moved on, killing zombies on their way and hoping not to attract the attention of whatever that thing was. Adam ordered Rony to go ahead and contact Miguel again.

Meanwhile, in the group that Miguel was leading, the survivors were clustered behind the cars, trying to stay out of sight of the superblock. The parking lot had been cleared of all zombies, but no one was quiet. The hundreds and hundreds of zombies in the aisles of the superblock made everyone shiver.

Miguel was also watching the building with fear. From their apartments, they had no direct view into the superblock, so none of them had noticed the number of zombies in it. If they had all attacked during the night, they would all have died.

But even more troubling to him, was that the zombies were somehow multiplying. He had talked to Zack, in the other group, and he told him that when they had confronted the winged zombie, in the parking lot, the superblock had not been so full of zombies. Hundreds of them had appeared overnight.

"Do you think the group in block 4 can break through? There are a lot of zombies out there."

"If anyone can in this suburb, it's them. From what I understand, they've cleared the superblock in block 4. Plus, they've taken on more than six evolved zombies."

Zack felt a chill. Like Miguel's group, they had killed one in their own building. The zombie they faced was slow and clumsy, but it seemed to withstand all attacks like nothing else. The [Steel Zombie] his group had faced had driven them to the brink of desperation. It took them several hours to kill it due to the fact that none of their attacks seemed to work.

Zack looked at Miguel, he didn't know what kind of zombies they had faced because the old man didn't want to say anything about it, but he knew Miguel's group had more fighters earlier.

His thoughts were interrupted by a shout. Zack and Miguel turned to observe what was happening and both were horrified for a second. Out of one of the adjacent buildings came many zombies and, worse yet, one of them, slim built and with long fingernails, was watching them from the entrance.

"Get away from there. Quickly!"

The survivors soon fled. Ivy was the closest to the group of approaching zombies, so she threw a ball of darkness and wiped out a large group.

Why are they coming out now? Miguel asked himself. However, he soon pushed such questions out of his mind, for this was not the time for them. The zombie watching them from the entrance of the building worried him.

Zack, for his part, drew a sword and charged at the nearest zombies. Leonard positioned himself in the back and prepared to use his ball when necessary.

One of the in Zack's men, named Anin, pulled out a pair of daggers and positioned himself behind Zack. Zombies that got too close to him ended up dying from precise slashes to the neck.

The situation seemed fairly stable, until the evolved zombie made its move. Miguel lost sight of it almost immediately, but he could pick up where it was going.

"Zack! Watch out."

Zack, luckily, reacted immediately and stepped back very quickly. He narrowly dodged the zombie's nails. Terrified, he tried to identify his enemy.

[Zombie Ambusher].

Zack raised his sword and attacked, but the zombie dodged without much difficulty and retreated towards the building at high speed, disappearing at the entrance.