The Harsh Path

Emma Farlene was alone once again. She could hear the sounds of police sirene passing by twice every minute, the situation seemed to be more intense than expected.

But she moved her attention toward something else. She stared at the USB Drive on the table that Edward gave her earlier and asked toward the thin wall, "What should I do with it?"

The answers soon came from her study room as a man walked in after closing the sliding door, "Do as he said."

"Aren't you supposed to prioritize your job, just like how you did 8 years ago?" She asked sarcastically without even looking at him.

"And look at what it brought me to," answered, John Wick. He bitterly smiled and sat in front of her. "I'm going to quit my job once it was over. So, you can do everything you want."

"And what would you expect in return, John?", she asked while pouring a cup of coffee for him. Delicacies like tea and cookies were not to her liking. She only served beverages according to what she liked without even thinking about her guest's preferences.

"Huh... what is it that I want?" he asked himself that question for the first time. Emma scrutinized his expression, everything in this world has its worth and every debt had to be paid, even if it was John Wick. "It's too late to ask for forgiveness, isn't it?"

"Forgiveness can only be granted if she was alive, John. You had 8 years worth of it, but you never asked even once," she answered after sipping the now cold coffee.

"Then, can I have a second chance?" he said after sipping the bitter coffee.

"Don't ask it on me. Do I look like I have the right to give that to you?" she said, raising her voice a little bit.

John just sighed and looked at the ceiling, "Why is it so hard?"

"You're the one that made it hard," answered Emma, closing her eyes.

John then get up from the seat and bade Emma a farewell for now. Talking with her anymore would only dig a deeper grave for him. Once he put his hand kn the doorknob, Emma asked, "Where are you going?"

John thought a bit for an answer, but then he chuckled and said, "To use my second chance properly."

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I hate the current situation I'm in. Once I stepped outside the hotel, I rushed toward the northernmost downtown. I would borrow a ride by hopping on cars or buses that were still active on the road, anything to hasten my pace. The road was still peaceful for now, with cheerful citizens sharing words toward another, but the closer I moved to the place Nick Fury mentioned, the darker the atmosphere I noticed surrounding the nearby citizens.

There were worries and anxieties drawn on their faces as they timidly wander around their home. Some were curious about what exactly happened and some would stay inside their house observing the situation, and some others were taking advantage of this confusion by looting or trashing the public facilities.

The local News keeps updating the development of the contamination and its negative effect on health. For now, the Mayor could still hide it as a simple illness, but it wouldn't be for long. He might as well run out of the city and asked for shelter from his partner, the Umbrella.

After 20 minutes, I arrived on the site. Clint Barton, the Hawkeye, was leading the SHIELD agents in evacuating the civilians while fending off the mutated civilians. The police squads were also there to help as much as they could. They were much more helpful and orderly than I expected. Well, Chief Brian Irons was "kidnapped" last night, so he didn't have a chance to mess up with the civilian's life.

In the game, he would take drastic measures just to take everyone down with him because Umbrella abandoned him to deal with their mess by himself. He was dubbed as the most disgusting, incompetent, and annoying man in the series.

Since he couldn't be reached by his subordinates at the moment, and possibly in the future, Lieutenant Marvin Branagh, a senior police officer had to take charge of controlling the outbreak. Thankfully, it was still in the early hour of the outbreak, they could still make a plan and manage the current crisis, including investigating the cause.

Well, the last part would soon be taken care of by Nick Fury, but he needed to wait a bit until he knew Umbrella's next course of action.

Anyway, back at the current predicament, I observed the whole radius of the outbreak using Eagle Eye. There were a few buildings and houses I marked that required immediate aid. Thankfully the citizens were allowed to carry guns in the city, even though open-carry was banned, so they could protect themselves until rescue came.

"Hawkeye, do you need assistance?" I asked in the intercom.

Clint released the arrow on his bow and it flew 20 meters away toward a panic-stricken running woman. Once it almost hit her head, the arrow split in two and hit the two chasing zombies behind her. He reloaded another arrow on his bow and answered, "I can still deal with it, you go left and I'll go right the virus's spreading rate was much faster than we expected."

"How fast?" I asked, curiously.

"According to our agents' assessment, around 300 people were infected in the last two hours. That was only counting those that managed to find their way out of the houses. As of now, we still don't know how wide it has spread yet." he said while releasing the arrow, hitting another two zombies right in the head as they walked out of the shadow. He added a tip "aim for the head, it's much more effective."

"I know." After sending some information about the buildings that needed immediate help to nearby Agents, I turned left and entered one of the apartments by kicking the locked backdoor. It was eerily quiet inside. It made me lose some hope of finding survivors, but I still checked the rooms one by one.

Finishing a search in one building would take approximately 20 minutes, which was not counting that I had to bring out any survivor whilst fighting the zombies. The SHIELD agents already asked the police for their assistance as well, so there was no need to worry on that ends.

They made barricades surrounding the possibly affected areas, any healthy survivors we found would be brought to Raccoon General Hospital, but they need to be quarantined at least a day before being taken inside. However, the citizen made it hard as they would make a formal complaint and things would escalate badly if the police weren't there, thinning the already few rescue squads.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three zombies fell on the floor, including a girl that I knew from the school. I saw her a few times in the cafeteria, gossiping with her friends.

"No! No more bad thoughts, Edward. Focus!" I slapped my cheek to wake myself. This was the third building that I cleared since I started an hour and a half ago. I need to move faster. I glance at rows of notification that I have been ignoring from the start until now.

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

...

...

I noticed that the EXP rate was doubled from the previous.

"Why do I get more experience here?" I asked Regina.

[The more you leveled up, the more experience would be required for the next level up. The system gave a bit of leniency as it raised the minimum EXP gained in each quest.] she answered.

"So now the minimum EXP gained would be 200 points?" I assumed. That was twice the previous event. Then, the next boss fight would reward me with more points as well. But I still felt bad about killing these mutated citizens, this was different than the one in Paris.

I shook my head and checked that character stats. There was not much of a difference except for the increase in EXP.

<Edward Kavka>

<Level 19 - Mercenary>

<Mental Power (MP) - 305/350

<Experience Points (EXP) - 57800/80000>

<Strength (STR) - 23>

<Dexterity (DEX) - 23>

<Constitution (CON) - 23>

<Intelligent (INT) - 35>

Unused stat points - 0>

<Main Power: Reinforcement - Unranked>

<Special Ability:

Unranked: Reinforced Body, Permanent Reinforcement, Personal Assistant.

S-Ranked: Stealth

A-Ranked: Eagle Eye, Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Regeneration, FlowMotion.>

<Knowledge Mastery:

Intermediate: English Linguistic, Firearms Mastery, Systema Mastery, Vale Tudo Mastery, Breathing Mastery, Movement Mastery, Self-Defense Mastery, Battle Tactics Mastery, Thievery Mastery, Disguise Mastery.

Basic: Japanese Linguistic, French Linguistic.>

I closed the screens and ran down the stairs. As I ran outside, I saw a single house at the corner of the street. My gut was telling me to go there next. While running, I used Eagle Eye to scrutinize every inch of the house to look for marks left by zombies or any survivor.

I saw a movement on the second floor.

I keep running while looking at my surroundings. People were still fleeing to the south, getting out of the downtown district. Some could be seen limping on the road with bleeding arms or legs from fending the zombies. At this moment, they finally realized how dangerous the situation they were in. It was not just a simple aggressive attack as the News told them.

On the barricaded road, three squads of police forces would be tasked to filter them out, looking for any bite marks or any sign of decaying skins, the first symptom of the infection.

For those that were already infected, they would be brought toward a shelter, where they would be put to rest. There was no cure as of now. If only the Green, Red, and Blue Herb existed in this life, but I knew they didn't exist in this world, only in the game.

Elsewhere, Nick Fury tasked Natasha to monitor the Police Forces movement, while giving instructions using her FBI agent's disguise. Nick also informed the government to send in reinforcement as they were currently understaffed.

The SHIELD's headquarter could only send 200 trained agents and around 100 relief forces. They had around 500 active Agents around the country, but they couldn't leave their post yet at the moment.

But that wasn't the worst thing yet, the government still saw the current outbreak as something that still could be handled by the local forces. It ironically fills Nick's head with seething fury as he cursed even the current President for their lack of judgment.

Even then, the earliest reinforcement that could arrive would take another day, probably around tomorrow noon. Well, by that time the size of the outbreak would already multiply from 1.000 to 10.000.

Back at the current moment. Once I arrived at the front door of the two-story house, I shouted, "anyone here!?"

With a P90 ready in hand, I walked slowly while focusing on my hearing. I heard disorderly steps on the second floor, assuming it was the zombie I went up the stairs while rising my awareness. There were only two rooms here, one was already opened but there was no sign of anyone inside.

I slowly opened the second room and held in my breath as I looked for life signs. From the size of the bed, I inferred it to be a toddler's room.

Gruk Gruk.

I heard sounds from the wardrobe and instinctively aimed the P90 toward it. I approached it slowly and tried to open it, but something or someone was holding on to it from the inside.

"Are you there? I'm here to help." I said to calm down whoever was inside. I tried to open it again, now with less resistance from the other side.

'huh? it was his house?'

I was a bit surprised. In front of me was Michael, my annoying classmate, sitting while hugging his legs. He was terrified. I searched for any bite marks or wounds, and when I found nothing, I breathed a sigh of relief.

As I was wearing the bulletproof glass-helmet, he didn't notice that it was me, his classmate, standing in front of him.

"You need to leave. He's still here," said Michael, warning me. He was surprised after noticing that his savior was someone around his height and worried that I would be hurt. Good kid, but you're still annoying.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked, with a muffled voice hiding my identity. I tried to help him stand.

"My... father." suddenly I felt a chill on my neck as someone or something leaped with a disturbing wail. It tried to bite me the moment he gripped my shoulder, but with my improved reflex after training with John, I slammed him over my shoulder to the floor.

The zombie hit the floor head-first, but it still moved. I aimed the P90 toward his head, but Michael shouted, "No!"

Bam!

But it was too late, I already pulled the trigger. A bullet was bored into Michael's father which in turn ends his resistance. His eyes widening as disbelief was drawn on his face. Tears fell from his chin as he sobbed on his father's cold body.

Everything happened too suddenly. When he woke up, he couldn't find his father, so he went to his room, thinking that he was still asleep. But when he opened the door to his room, the decayed body of his father stood with his back facing him. He noticed that something was wrong with him.

Suddenly his father pounced on him, but Michael was a bit faster as he jumped and ran toward his room. He still calls his father to wake him up of his odd stupor, but it didn't change anything. He could only resort to hiding inside his wardrobe as he peeked at his former father.

"You... you killed my father!" shouted, Michael.

He reached for the chair nearby and threw it toward me. It was a bit heavy for a kid his size, but desperation could give even a weak kid like him a momentary burst of power. Too bad I was already enhanced by the stats. I didn't even need to evade as it wasn't hurt me in the slightest.

"He's already dead. Nothing could be done to him except putting him to rest." I answered I don't want to be too harsh on the kid. He didn't seem to know what was happening around the town. I also knew the feeling of watching those you loved dying in your arms. I even could still the last embrace I had that night whenever I recall it.

"You...!"

Michael wanted to say something more, but I cut his words as I said, "You know it as well, Michael. That's why you hide, don't you?"

Michael couldn't say anything, he just stood there covering his wet face, silently sobbing. I could just leave him to have his moment for now, but the current situation didn't allow me to. Elsewhere in the city, everyone was losing their beloved one every second, every minute.

They watched as their significant others being eaten alive by their neighbor. They watched as their children, eating their insides without resisting as they stroke their hair for the last time. I couldn't bear to waste any more time and left one of the SHIELD's agents to take care of Michael.

I ran outside and saw the chaotic scenes of people running toward the barricades, even resorting to climbing it, making the situation even worse. By now I could guess that there were already around 1000 infected resulted from this outbreak.

Bang! Bang! Papapapapapapapa! Bam! Bam!

I started to rampage around the town, ignoring the EXP I gained with every zombie that fell on the ground.

Save them... Kill them... that was the only choice I had for now.

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5 PM, Los Angeles.

A man just woke up from his sleep. Two women were sleeping on beside him on the King-sized bed. The house he was in was luxurious, enough to make those highly paid celebrities to gape at. It was Tony Stark's home, and he was dead drunk last night.

He sat on the bad while holding his fuzzy head. The last thing he remembered was getting home with two Russian Top Model by his side.

He walked outside toward the kitchen and gulped a whole pot of water.

Bam!

Suddenly, the double door was slammed open as a big man ran inside. The slamming sound hurt his head much more.

"Next time you come in, don't forget to bring a sledgehammer and tear down the door as well," he said sarcastically.

The big man apologized and closed the door carefully. It was happy, the head security, wearing an extra-large suit. His long hair and trimmed beard, made him look scary to others.

"So? What do you have for me? Remember, I don't have time to appease those rotten pinheads." said Tony sitting in front of the TV while munching some cookies. "Hey, this one is good, buy the bakery once you go out later."

"Boss, there's something I need to tell you," he said as he walked toward him. Once Happy was next to him, he whispered to his ear.

Pak. Pak.

Tony couldn't help but slap Happy's thick head with his palm. "Stop that! We're alone, why you need to whisper. Do I look like some Mafia boss for you?"

"With that beard, you do, Boss."

Pak!

He slapped once again, but harder this time. Happy flinched a bit, but it was just an act to satisfy his weak Boss.

"Stop talking back, or else there would be one less cool guy with a beard in this room."

"Huh? You're going to zip me, Boss?" he asked, acting scared.

"Stop watching whatever Mafia movie you borrow on the blockbuster! Or I will shave that beard for you."

"But, it was a discount. You get one bonus for every three movies you rent. Besides, chick digs the beard." said Happy while imagining all of the women around tailing around him.

"I think I'll shave the hair as well." added, Tony. "So? What is it that you have, even making you rush so fast in the morning?"

"Noon, Sir, it's already 1 PM." Happy corrected, which made Tony even clicked as he dialed his assistant to bring a barber inside.

Realizing that his Boss wasn't joking around, he placed a USB Drive in front of him and explained its content. For the first time, Tony finally put an interest in something else besides women and partying.