For Peace of Mind

Alex grabbed the gun tucked away on the sofa and pointrd the barrel to the balcony.

He gazed nervously at the strange sight.

The shadowy figure remained still like it was just a piece of his imagination.

Alex began to doubt himself, but he couldn't clear the disturbing feeling that slowly rose in him.

Right now if he's asked who to believe between mind or instinct, he would always choose instinct.

It already saved him before, he still trust it now.

"Who's f*cking there?!"

Alex raised his voice, ready to start shooting if anything came charging at him.

Finally realizing that the man inside the house could see it, the shadow figure scampered off the balcony.

Alex didn't saw where it went but he heard erratic movement on his neighbor's balcony.

Should he follow it?

No, he was too afraid of the thing.

There's also no guarantee the apartment building will have no other zombies and it's best to stay where he was for now.

Alex slowly inched closer to the balcony. Every step he took, he readied himsekf to pull the trigger.

The moment he got close to the balcony, he took a thorough inspection of every inch and every corner before checking its locks.

Feeling the lock in place, he returned to the living room and placed the gun back on the table keeping it within an arms reach.

The wild drumming of his chest continued even after the fact.

"I don't know how long it's been staring at me and I didn't even have a clue. Thankfully, I didn't fall asleep."

Sleeping... just the thought of falling asleep now brought shivers to his back.

Can he ever sleep peacefully anymore?

Only the dead ones can probably do that.

Alex quickly opened his phone and dialed the familiar numbers on his phone logs.

Sharing his discoveries on this brief night should prevent his parents from encountering the same issues.

If he could just contact them...

Alex finished the beer off thinking it's a waste before cleaning the table and keeping only what's necessary.

He stopped channeling the physical protection and started focusing more on his surrounding.

Everything was done while keeping his breathing technique circulating.

He never felt death so close before and it didn't even cross his mind that something could sneak up on him on his own apartment.

It was a truly sleepless night.

Thankfully, he got some good gains in return.

The breathing technique became as natural as normal breathing for him now without even trying to do so.

It became second nature to him.

It's like a toggle skill that suddenly became a passive skill with the same benefits.

Also, he could use up to three heightened senses at the same if he truly focused on it.

Overall, he became very familiar with energy gathering, enhanced sight, hearing, and smell.

The skill combination reminded him that he still hasn't fully cleared the building and he doesn't know sh*t about the new world.

When he worked with the energy on his senses, everything worked as he wished to.

However, the moment he tried to use it on his mind or feelings, everything went down the drain - back to zero.

He left things as is knowing he doesn't have enough information about the subject matter.

The programs shut off a long time ago and the tv has long been playing a static noise as a background screen.

The dull ringing sound felt like lullaby to his exhausted eyelids but Alex persevered.

After several hours more, he would officially be awake for 24 hours.

Just at this time, some random movies started playing again on the TV. It's already the start of the next day.

At least that tells him someone's still alive at that local station managing the programming.

Alex checked the cameras, the area is clear.

He groaned and slapped his face with both hands to wake himself up.

"Let's get this over with."

Since the peeping incident, Alex didn't dare be careless again.

He used his enhanced senses and tracked the other party at all times. He knows what it's doing and on what part of the apartment it's on every second for the past few hours.

He washed his hands and readied himself.

Alex took his revolver and checked the cylinder. It's ready to be fired.

He patted the wooden bat tucked away in his belt.

Everything was ready for the hunt!

Right, it was a hunt and he has a reason to call this attack a hunt.

Most of the time, people are scared of what they don't know.

But with his several hours of surveillance, he noticed a strange behavior on the other apartment.

It was like there were two dogs instead of one in the apartment.

One breed clearly superior while the other subservient.

This made him think the creature that jumped on his balcony was not a zombie, but something else.

He didn't know why he had the impression but he trusted his gut feeling.

And his gut tells him it's something more than just a simple zombie.

Another zombie variation.

Or maybe it's just a zombie dog and he's being an overthinker.

Whatever it is, he needed to prepare himself and find the truth - kill the truth.

The whole time, the creature was waiting for him to fall asleep.

It was crouched on the living room window sill with its head turned and looking at his balcony in contemplation.

Alex didn't simply waste time by doing nothing.

While monitoring its movements earlier, he tried to study how to use the revolver and even played online tutorials on what to do and not to do when shooting.

He simply made sure he can use the weapon properly in case he needed some quick kills.

As for the wooden bat, he just need to make sure to hit the target and everything should be fine.

He's confident about this hunt for several reasons.

First, he has a fully loaded gun with bullets that can kill. Also, he knows where the enemy is and can track where it will be coming from. It's like a cheat especially when you have a gun.

Alex finally made his way to the next apartment with heightened smell and hearing.

He could smell the stench of the dog and its owner even before standing on the door.

The panicked footsteps from the owner didn't escape his senses.

The owner crawled on all four and hid on a corner while barking orders at its dog.

This is also another reason why he wants to finish this as quickly as possible.

The zombie variation his neighbor turned into has some kind of intelligence.

And intelligent zombie neighbors are always a no-go.

"Time to end this."

Alex knocked and kicked the door loudly, making sure he can attract their attention.

"Hey, open up! I'm here to help you!"

No response.

"Fine! Be like that."

Alex drew the wooden bat and struck the doorknob a couple times before it gave in and unlocked itself.

He kicked the door once again pushing it to open wide.

The smell of rotten flesh wafted over him as an extremely gloomy corridor opened up to him.

It didn't even surprise him when a dog came out of hiding after a few seconds and directly charged at him.

This is one of the reasons why he went in without trying to be stealthy. He's scared they will fight cowardly and hide on corners!

If they play that game, he will be on extreme disadvantage since apartments isn't really a nice place to fight small and agile targets.

Alex switched from enhanced smell and hearing to enhanced sight and protection.

One straight line, one charging enemy.

Alex lined the shot up and took the clear shot.

The first shot hit the torso while the next one killed the zombified dog immediately.

Despite it being dead, it's forward momentum didn't stop and rammed at the safety railing, almost causing it to fit through and fall on the ground floor.

Seeing the dead dog stuck on the railing, Alex stayed still for a few seconds waiting for any sign of movements inside or from the dead dog.

No movement came from the dog which was good, but when nothing happened inside the apartment, Alex felt troubled.

Now he needs to go in and risk fighting inside an enclosed space where his movements are limited.

Alex swapped skills to enhanced hearing and smell again.

He smelled nothing, heard nothing.

"It actually did something! I can't detect it anymore! This is bad."

He stayed still and tried his best to focus so he can use his three senses at the same time: enhanced smell, hearing, and sight.

A couple more seconds passed and he finally saw a vague shadowy figure appeared squatting next to the door, idly hiding on a darker shadow, waiting for him to come closer.

Though shocked to find the target just casually standing in front of him, Alex didn't waste the chance and rained the remaining bullets at the target.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!

All four shots were fired in quick successions and he tried his best to aim as precisely as he could. He made sure to apply all the tips he found online.

"Is it dead? Did I kill it?"

A thud was heard and a figure slowly revealed itself on the floor. A pool of blood slowly accumulating underneath it.

Alex walked slowly towards the unmoving target. He saw blood leaking from a hole in its jaw.