Chapter 34: Out of control

Miguel was nervous, he saw the zombie's name, so he knew it would probably try to ambush them.

"Indi! I need you to call Adam and tell him to move, I'm afraid we're in trouble. Ivy, Leonard, move forward with the survivors towards block 4, there's no more time to waste and I'm afraid more zombies will appear from the other buildings at any moment."

Ivy nodded and began to lift the terrified survivors and carry them towards the parking lot exit. Leonard and Anin also followed.

Zack and Miguel looked at each other, nodded and prepared to attack the Ambusher.

The Ambusher, meanwhile, watched them from the second floor of his building; from one of the windows of an apartment. He was trying to think of a way to attack the group.

His eyes fell on Miguel and Zack and then drifted to the group of fleeing survivors. He moved away from the window, changed apartments and then carefully cut through the window grille and scaled the wall on the outside until he reached the roof. There, still hidden from Miguel's view, he crawled across the roof to the adjacent building. The buildings in the suburb were structurally connected, so that several buildings shared a single roof, which allowed the Ambusher to easily reach the edge and observe the street outside, where the group of survivors was advancing, guided by Ivy.

As the zombie was about to prepare an ambush, he sensed the presence of another group. His eyes wandered from the survivors, passed the square and settled on a smaller group that was advancing, killing zombies in the streets. The Ambusher intuitively understood that consuming their corpses would be much more nutritious, so he switched targets.

Miguel and Zack continued to watch the building carefully, but Miguel had a bad feeling. He expected to face off against the Ambusher at any moment. However, something worse happened.

For some reason that Miguel still didn't understand, zombies from other buildings came out in his direction. They were closely followed by a huge, muscular, ferocious-looking zombie.

"Shit, another building is coming for us, I don't understand what's going on."

Zack was angry and regretted starting the move to block 4. But before he could continue lamenting, the Berserker ran in their direction, sending several Stalkers flying in its path.

Miguel reacted immediately and moved out of the way, but Zack raised his sword and attacked as the zombie was about to tackle him.

The sword hit the Berserker's shoulder hard and bounced off. Zack didn't have time to be surprised, as the zombie tackled him and sent him flying; sending him crashing into a car and completely destroying it.

Zack possessed the [Steel Body] ability, which allowed him to survive very strong blows, but even so, he still ended up on the ground, spitting blood, while still trying to recover from the blow.

Miguel cursed Zack in his mind and shot the zombie. For the second time he could observe how his shots were useless, as he only left a white mark on the Berserker's skin.

"Damn, this fucker is tough, we'll have to retreat."

The impact of the bullet angered the zombie, who charged at Zack again, before he could get up. The punch sent him flying again, his body hit the roof of a car and continued bouncing until he fell to the ground motionless.

Luckily for Zack, the punch threw him near the exit of the parking lot, so one of his subordinates, who was guarding the rear of the survivors next to Leonard, came over, picked him up and carried him away.

Meanwhile, the Berserker fixed all his attention on Miguel, who continued to shoot at him without much success. The old military man was using the cars to avoid taking a direct hit from the monster, but he was getting closer and closer to being hit.

"I'll go help him, you guys keep watch."

Leonard broke away from the group of survivors and kicked his ball. The Berserker was shot in the back and the sonic waves sent him staggering over his position, dazed. Angered, he turned to Leonard and roared angrily. Miguel, only a few feet away, took the opportunity to close in, circle the zombie and fire. His shot entered through the open mouth and transformed the roar into a howl of pain.

Miguel retreated as the Berserker fell to its knees and began to spit blackish blood. Moments later, the ball impacted his head and the subsequent explosion caused him to bleed from his ears and eyes. Unfortunately, although it had hurt him badly, it had not been enough and now the Berseker was much more powerful than before.

Miguel realized it right away, when the Berserker got up and ran towards him. The old military man barely had time to get out of the way before it hit the car he was hiding behind.

The car burst into flames and caught the attention of all the zombies in the superblock and, moreover, one in particular waiting on the roof. The Breeder, who had ignored the now practically commonplace gunfire that could be heard, peered out into the parking lot and watched the unfolding scene with interest. His gaze fell first on Miguel, but soon shifted to the ball that had wounded him and Leonard.

The explosion from the car knocked Miguel to the ground and caused several burns and glass cuts. The Berserker, meanwhile, had fallen to the ground, was on fire and felt angrier than ever. The flames, which unlike Adam's flamethrower, were not magical, were quickly extinguished, but the damage had been considerable. The zombie had a huge chunk of metal sticking out of its stomach, multiple burns and a whole collection of bleeding wounds.

The survivors, who up to that point had been able to maintain some semblance of order, panicked and tried to run away at full speed. Ivy tried to restrain them, but she had no way of doing so without hurting them. She tried to erect a wall of darkness in front of some of them, but they only changed direction and fled even more terrified.

At that moment, Miguel, who had barely managed to get up from the ground, felt a glance and looked up. In the superblock he noticed a dark silhouette. The glance passed, but Miguel sensed a sharp danger.

"Leonard!"

Leonard heard Miguel's voice and this time did not hesitate. He immediately threw himself to the ground and turned on himself. However, there was no attack.

The Breeder, who had his spear raised and ready for attack, averted his gaze again to Miguel. For the first time in his life he felt irritated. That old man was able to predict his attacks, without him, all those humans would already be dead.

He whistled for his progeny. The survivors from the night before were only a handful, but now they had the advantage of the terrain. In response to another whistle from their creator, the Windwalkers took flight and headed for the parking lot.

Miguel cursed, the situation was getting out of control. Luckily, there was no sign of the Ambusher, for his presence would have been the last straw.

"Leonard, the Windwalkers are coming and that damn Breeder is watching us, we have to get out of the parking lot!"

Leonard looked towards the survivors and, observing the panic, a lump rose in his throat. Silently, he cursed all the useless people he had to take care of. He looked for a second at his injured arm, now held in an annoying sling, before running in the direction of the exit and yelling at Zack's men to move.

Miguel was also trying to flee, but another growl from the Berserker caught his attention. The zombie had ripped off the piece of metal and was getting up. Miguel looked away and kept running.

Moments earlier, Adam and his group were approaching Block 2 and could already see the survivors on the street. They had received Indi's call, so they had picked up the pace. At that moment, they heard the car explosion and knew that everything was getting out of control. The gaze of all the zombies in the street was directed towards block 2. Even the Ambusher, who was sneaking up between the roofs of the building, stopped for a moment when he heard the explosion.

"Quickly!"

The entire group concentrated on clearing the path, taking advantage of the fact that the zombies had been momentarily distracted. The Ambusher turned his attention back to them and continued to creep closer. His gaze fell on Miriam, who was advancing in the center of the group, but then drifted to Tarin, at the rear.

Tarin was not participating in the combat due to his magic being limited in use and Adam had advised him to be on the lookout for any threats.

The Ambusher descended down a wall of one of the buildings, out of sight of the group, and made his way through the garden until he reached the wall that separated the building from the street. Adam's group passed by the front a few moments later and the Ambusher scaled the wall and carefully peeked over.

At that moment, Tarin was watching the square they had left behind, so he didn't notice the look. However, Jane sensed that there was danger nearby.

"Wait something's not go...!"

She could not finish, for the Ambusher climbed the wall at a terrifying speed and propelled himself with a leap towards Tarin.