Yeah! Fuck you, Chucky!

The human body is amazing in its ability to adapt to circumstances. Light, sound, smell, touch, taste. Our five senses let us experience the world. They shaped what we experienced. 

Contrary to how I felt before, the smells of the dead no longer bothered me. I had felt terror at the moment I heard the jaws of zombies tearing flesh. Now? I hardly even noticed. 

The darkness that used to hide the unknown became nothing more than a nuance. It hid the bodies I needed to put bullets into. 

Unlike when I first saw people dying to zombies, I now accept that it is just a fact of life as a Reaper. Thus, when I saw two women in such a dire state against the undead, I felt no pity or agitation, just acceptance. 

"One wounded female, with a bite wound on the neck. One combatant armed with a rapier and a parrying dagger. Enemies are seven Chuckies, five Bigfoots, and ten Normies. That girl is surprisingly adept at combat, but she will get overwhelmed soon." 

"Bigfeet," I quipped. 

"Shut it, Honey, we're not having this conversation again." 

The grinding Bella and I did had allowed us to develop what she called a combat doctrine. This would be our set of rules that covered everything from how we fought to how we called enemies. It worked exceptionally well as we massacred groups of undead. 

Chuckie was a movie about a murderer who had his soul put in a doll. That movie had scared the crap out of me when I was younger. I blurted it out by accident the moment I saw the child zombies. 

Unexpectedly, Bella understood both Bigfoot and Chuckie. She said an asshole dressed as Chuckie and pranked bus stops in Brazil. So, she hated the little fucker as well. 

For normal engagements, the first thing to do was to confirm the situation. Normie was what we called a normal zombie. This meant zombies at or below 5'9". Anything above that was a Bigfoot. Anything below 4 ft was a Chucky. 

Bigfoots were slower than Normies. On the other hand, Chuckies were faster. I almost died to one when it got under me and ripped my foot off. I now hate the little shits with a passion. 

It went without saying that Chuckie was a child who died and turned. Bella cried the first time we saw one. But this was Hellsgate. Compassion for an enemy would get you killed faster than anything else. 

"So, how do we go about this, Mrs. Code?" I asked. 

As a cop, Bella was better on tactics, no question about it. Believing I was superior due to video games was just stupid. No matter how OP {Rewind} was, a civilian was still a civilian. 

"Chuckies first, then Bigfoots, then Normies. We circle them from the left. The rapier user stays close to her friend. Leave the defense of the injured to her." 

"Alright. Let's go." 

I jogged towards the little children lurking around the rapier user. She dispatched the undead with a single lightning-fast stab to the forehead. Her dagger in her other hand fended off attackers. The woman had scratches all over, but she didn't seem to have been bitten. 

"Let's start with the little shits around her, then," I announced. 

Different from normies, Chuckies did not immediately charge for their targets. These fuckers intentionally waited for gaps in your attention and then quietly pounced on you. I was not sure why they had the ability to think, but Bella told me the undead evolved the lower you went. 

My partner and I agreed to run together as we moved. If I sprinted, she couldn't keep up due to having smaller strides. Thus, I would jog, and she would run. This suited me just fine as my stamina sucked anyway. 

"Rapier user, we are here to help; focus on protecting your friend; we will take care of the ones around you!" Bella declared. 

The woman looked in our direction and nodded. Even in this lighting, I could see the relief on her face. 

"Grazie, Reaper! We need all the help we can get!" 

Grazie? What did that mean? What language was that even? Well, never mind. We had to focus on taking down the Chuckies. As I came near, the Chuckies froze in place. I quickly sent one flying with a push kick to its stomach. This attack was the same one Bella took me down with. 

The little fucker couldn't bear the force and got smashed to the ground. Blood flowed out as the back of the child's skull broke open. Not taking any chances, I aimed at its nose and fired. 

Behind me, I heard metal stabbing flesh along with the colorful prose of my partner. 

"Foda-se você, Chucky!" 

After a few hours with her, I learned that Isabella spoke Portuguese whenever she got agitated. When I asked her to teach me Brazilian, she called me a racist bigot. 

Apparently, there was no such thing as a Brazilian, and Brazil spoke Portuguese. How was I supposed to know? According to her, foda-se você was "fuck you" in her mother tongue. 

"Yeah! Fuck you, Chucky!" 

I noticed a Chuckie coming from my right and shifted the 1911 to intercept. The round I fired tore into the zombie and exploded the child's eye while blowing out the back of its skull. 

Behind me, the sounds of bodies hitting the ground continued. This melody gave me assurance that my partner had everything under control. I then aimed at the next little bastard behind the rapier user. 

"You have a Chucky behind you; get down!" I shouted. 

The woman who had long blonde hair quickly did a lateral lunge in response to my warning. I sent a .45 ACP to the back of the Chucky's head creating a bloody mist as it exited. 

'Ugh. I don't even want to know what happened to its face.' 

Just then, I heard my partner's voice. 

"Clear! Ready!" Bella shouted behind me. 

This was our signal that the ones behind me were dead and we could move forward. Because we stayed in our formation, we could fight without worry. 

"Okay, Bigfeet in five." 

"It's Bigfoots you ass! Go!" 

In five meant it would take five seconds before the next encounter. While {Rewind} restored our stamina, using it all the time was wasteful. To be economical, we paced ourselves as we fought. Due to using a knife, even though Bella was in better shape, she tired faster than I did. 

To ensure we didn't overexert, I always checked if she needed a rest or not. If Bella said "Go," then we moved forward. Otherwise, we stayed in place. 

The rapier user continued to take down Normies with ruthless efficiency. I saw her even block a Bigfoot with just a flick of a soft knife. Why didn't she have a soulweapon, though? Was she also Formless? 

I took a moment to check the wounded woman and noticed a light green glow on her neck. It looked a lot like Bella's {heal} tablet, so she should be fine for now. 

Not willing to distract our new ally, I took aim at another Bigfoot and shot twice, going for its nose. The good thing about shooting Bigfoots was that they had large heads. Headshots were a simple task when you were this close. 

Blood exploded and showered me in flesh and bone as I continued my approach. The Bigfoot's corpse walked a few steps before falling like a tree. Due to the sounds of my weapon, the Normies around the rapier user left her and charged at us instead. 

"Two Normies, three Bigfoots," I told Bella. 

I expected more, though, but the blonde woman probably took down a lot of them along with the Bigfoot I saw her kill. How reliable! 

"Go!" replied Isabella. 

Whenever I didn't add a number to my declarations, it meant the undead would arrive in the next few seconds. Bella would keep track of whether we managed to kill everything. Our formation was perfect, in my opinion. 

I dashed forward and held the 1911 with both hands as I sniped the Bigfoots. Technically, I could just stand and wait for them. But Isabella would be idle if I did. 

Since we could handle it, we didn't shy away from fighting in close quarters. As a bonus, getting this close increased my accuracy. 

Two Bigfoots went down by the time they reached us. I shoved my hand into the last one's face and shot him from below the chin. A Normie ran past me and lunged for Bella. It died the next moment from the sounds I heard. 

From the corner of my eye, I saw the Normies who came at me from the sides get dispatched by Isabella. I heard a loud thud from my left and saw a flying knife end the one on my right. 

'Amazing.' 

I didn't see any more zombies, so I turned around to check on Bella. I saw a zombie approaching her from behind. 

"Bella!" 

I quickly knelt to steady my aim and shot the Normie. 

Not even thanking me, my partner abruptly ran toward me and vaulted, using my shoulder as a platform. The sounds of bone cracking behind my head told me all I needed to know. 

When I looked back, the zombie had already died a second time from a broken neck. It looked like Bella had kicked the Normie's head full force like a soccer ball. Rest in peace, Normie. 

"You were careless, Mr. Code," my partner scolded. 

"Good thing I got myself the best partner." 

I then heard a female voice speaking in admiration. 

"Dai, grande! That was amazing!"