Struggle

Deep breathing was made as she ran, her high heels turned to a running shoe as the heel was broken. Snarling noises followed behind her as a man with black veins tried to run after her.

"Dammit!"

The girl threw a cylindrical object in front of her, and with a click as it left her hand came white smoke came out and obscured her vision. 

"Argh!"

She tripped from something she couldn't see. At this point she removed her shoes and kept running forward, an underpass which goes through a long dark tunnel she went through. 

"Ha… ha…"

If she stopped she will be one of them, it has been a week. But the military found it hard to kill every single one of those things. They learn, they have a way to break the modern military tactics, inside a city nonetheless. 

"Phew…"

The girl hid on a door she found on the side of the underpass, it was going through the whole mountain. The place is dark and the door was a place that led to the place where they handle the lights for the entire underpass. 

"sniff…"

The girl sniffed and sobbed quietly, just a month ago the whole city of Termon was lively as it was for years, then an unknown apocalypse devoured the city. Leaving the non-infected ran for their lives. 

When the girl was getting calm, she then heard something that made her heart drop. A snarling noise and a bite on her calves afterward. 

She didn't try to scream, but she did let out a voice of pain before grabbing the nearby object and bashing the head of the infected that bit her. 

"No…no no no no!"

There was no object to cut her leg in the room, but there were wires, and those wires she used. She tied up the leg that was bitten to avoid the infection rising up to her heart and spread throughout her body. 

"Sniff… it hurts…"

She held her leg, just asking what she did wrong. Then sudden pain came up, it took a lot of willpower on her side for her not to scream in agony. 

"Wah… wah…" she wailed quietly. 

There was wriggling on her leg, then suddenly the wriggling stopped along her pain. With tears in her eyes and a weak arm she let go of the wire that suddenly untangled and freed her leg. 

"What… what… " she cried. 

She suddenly felt relieved, the legs felt free. The wriggling was the source of pain and now it was gone. It felt like worms died inside of her leg and were culled in one go. 

—Bang! Bang!

There was a sudden hammering noise from the door when she entered the room. Her anxiety rises up and her fear couldn't be contained anymore. The adrenaline from being chased earlier was gone and she was bitten in her leg. She's in constant stress that all she could do is cope. 

She tried blocking the door with her weight. But the door didn't managed to keep up as a hand emerged out of the frame. 

Tears fell of her eyes as she shuffled away, getting as far away but the room was too limiting. She soon reached the other end and the door burst open as the same pursuer came right out the door, snarling. 

When the infected saw her, he wasted no second and rushed towards her like there's no end to his vigor. 

"Get… away from me!"

She raised her leg, as a last ditch effort she kicked the infected with every ounce of her strength, knowing full well it was a futile attempt. Her mind wish to survive and kill the infected in front of her. 

And in the next moment, her leg warmed, the one leg she raised was the bitten one, the pain of being bitten was still there and she knew she would've tripped over if she used it to stand and raised the other leg. 

So she raised the bitten leg and used it for a kick, she'll die anyway. That's what's on her mind. So for a last attempt to resist, she kicked her injured leg. 

—shirk!

A flesh torn and opened by a sharp object could be heard. The girl looked at the infected with horror as it was punctured and stabbed by a deformed leg with too many sharp forms. 

"What… What…"

She was confused with all her wit, but she didn't waste no time, her fear was all over her body controlling her like a marionette. She pulled he leg out and prepared another kick. 

Her leg that was previously shaped for a human contorted and changed shape to a whip. When she released the kick the whip went towards the infected with a crack. 

The infected was split into two and fell on the floor with a splat. The girl who's heart was racing slumped down as well, her leg retracting and forming back to its original shape. 

"What…"

Then she closed her eyes, tired from all the events unfolding, she went to sleep as her body, soul, and mind were all tired. 

***

In the coast of Termon, tons of naval ships were on standby, they played a warning for a bombardment that would destroy the buildings close to the coast. Why would they do this? Just in case innocent civilians were hiding in any of those buildings, and also as an apology in advance. 

The moment the time came they bombarded the buildings to rubble, then the forces of the military came. First the foot soldiers, ones that carried guns, second were the elite soldiers, ones that carried customized weapons based on their cultivation method. 

"This is Assault division 5, we spot a few miasmic spots"

"Roger that, sending drones." a radio tone voice replied. 

A few minutes later, a few drones that looked like a firefly in design flew up the bombarded coast. The drones scanned the area, from Mana scans to heat scans it relayed the information back to the ship where the intelligence unit was backing up the assault division. 

The footage the drones captured was being sent to the helmet of the assault division in real time. The assault division is composed of 15 groups, this time. The people on the coast only have the 5th and 2nd. 

They had a goal and that's to rescue the 500 civilians trapped within the city, as much as they can. 

***

The girl woke up from her shock and looked at her feet. It felt surreal just what happened. Her mana pool was so low that she can't be admitted to a magical Academy. But she managed to make her form bend on will, without chanting unlike others. 

"What… happened."

Then the smell of rotting flesh assaulted her senses, she looked forward just to see the corpse she had sliced in two. Her disgust however wasn't that much, instead it's replaced with hunger. 

She looked at the halved infected and the infected near the door that she bashed the skull open. 

"Ugh… ugh… "

Black liquid escaped her lips and as if a force hidden within her stomach, she puked a lot of dark liquid. Her face changed and her entire being felt different. 

"Ugh… I can't…"

She eyed the corpse like a beast, in the open wound she created she could see some black worm like creatures wriggling. No, she can't lose her humanity here. She ran out of the door and looked around. At the end of the bypass are blockades. 

She went the other way, the blockades probably had some soldiers waiting to shoot at anything that seemed infected. It took her moments to pass the highway and back to a nearby gas/charge station. 

She went to the aisles, there was still a lot left. A lot of food that would make her unhealthy, but she didn't care. 

She went and opened every instant ramen and went to the tap to place it on water and used the nearby microwave to heat it up. While it was waiting she opened snacks and bars devouring them like the demon of gluttony. 

Once she was done with snacks she went for the chips, once done with the chips she went for the backrooms of the counter going for foods that just needed to be reheated. 

She went and ate the ramen that had just finished heating. She devoured it even though it was hot, scalding her mouth as fast as she healed. She went back to the backrooms and ate the foods that were reheatable as well. 

Everything was devoured, even though it was left in that station for the next survivors to have them. Her mind was just dead set on devouring edible food. 

"ugh…."

Food that wasn't supposed to fit all on her stomach were being stuffed with no discrimination, it didn't even bulged her stomach. 

After she ate all of the edible food she felt something strange. It's… The call of nature. 

But not the normal way, she felt that way but something else came out. Black liquid in the form of sweat, urination, and even vomiting. 

When all is done, she felt relieved as if a massive boulder was lifted off her shoulder. Then at the back room of the station she fell on her knees and rested.