Chapter 1 Why not dream of the living dead? : Act 3 of 3

Act 3 A day in the apocalypse.

Pov SO?

As of now, there are four confirmed sanctuaries in the new tokyo region. Anyone who can, is advised to make their way to these sanctuaries, or find somewhere safe.

The Military and local officials are patrolling the main roads, if you're stranded, message them anyway you can. Now a talk with our local expert. Dr. Mateo a Head researcher of Washington city's university of biotech science.

The TV kept going, with the newscastress, who was wearing a red dress-suit, and an old man in a white lab-coat. They kept talking, the newscastress asking questions, about the infection, while the scientist tried his best to answer.

Any good news Mr.SO? A girl, well, I call her a girl but she's already in her late 20s, she was wearing suspenders and long sleeves, she reeked of motor oil and iron.

No, it's the same loop, can't reach any other channels. The antenna here can only pick up local channels and the government news channel.

I stood up and turned off the TV. How about you Ms. Jackie Lynn? I asked the girl, as she led me to the garage. In there it was, she was working on my police pickup cruiser. 

Adding metal railings on the back carrier. adding a gun turret on the head. And tuning up the engine to make it as quiet as possible when driving.

Seewhooo. I whistled. Now that's an upgrade, you figured out how to make the engine run quieter? No not yet but I think I can use mufflers and a gas electric converter from one of the junk cars outside. But at best it'll only run quiet for a few miles.

I nodded at her, it'll be bad if we use this to go into the city, and then suddenly it starts making engine noises. That'll attract a horde even if we were careful. Barely got out, because of it last time.

So do you think they found my brother SO? The girl asked as she started to clean her tools. Well I trust Jackson to keep them safe, the kid's green, but he has a good head on his shoulders. and besides, Anderson's with them, spent years with the guy and I know he'll get what we need.

Alright thank you SO. I gave the girl a small smile as I left the garage. And looked out towards our camp. Hopefully that old bastard still remembers our time in persia.

0 0 0 0 0

Pov Daniel Cetus.

I was looking at three hallways, at my left was one that goes for a short while, and then opens up to a large room. To my right was a hallway with side doors, leading towards a glass double door. And straight ahead of me, was a long hallway, with side rooms, some with doors and others without them, the long hallway stopped at a barricade of chairs and tables.

The memories I had of Anderson going through this building were foggy, as everything in Anderson's perspective was moving too fast, for his mind to record his surroundings.

Ehh. . . let's explore a little. I went forward and saw the rooms were empty, they looked like personal offices for lower management and the others looked like utility and storage rooms.

I checked the rooms, there were some clothes in the offices, but none fit me. Everything was office supplies, and I didnt have a bag to put them in so I ignored them.

I found a couple of long, large scarves and one of the office tables was covered with a flowery blanket probably used as decorations, so I took them and wore them in a way to make me look somewhat decent.

It's odd that I haven't found a corpse yet, oh yes there's blood and viscera from time to time. but nothing like a whole corpse with a bisected torso.

So I continued, and found a fire extinguisher on the floor, with some blood and a dent on its bottom. No signs of the corpse of the undead that was taken out by it though, just blood and some brain matter.

Hmm. . . So not like the zombie movies I watched, either they eat carrion or the bacteria or pathogen of this plague breaks down the corpses once the host is disabled.

My latter guess should be right, as I watched the brain matter decompose at a visible rate. I stood up after crouching, to look at the phenomena.

I was satisfied by that tidbit of info, I learned as I turned around and moved to the left corridor. The rooms before the large room were comfort rooms, and utility closets.

I was about to open one of the utility closets, but as I touched the sliding door, I felt a weak psionic pulse, inside of it. So I stopped and felt that pulse, it was similar to a human, but weak, and only had one thought: hunger.

Realizing what it was I erased my presence, my heart slowed, my breathing quieted, my body lowered, my smell turned to nothing. And then I slowly slid open the door.

What came out was a small woman. . . well average height for a human, her hair was a mess, but I can see it used to have been tied in a tight bun.

Her office dress suit, has tears in the shoulder and arms, I can see a large bite mark on her shoulder. That might have been what got her.

She looked malnourished, but I can tell that she was once attractive. I observed her, both physically, and with my psionics as I was reading her surface thoughts.

She was smelling the air around her, as her thoughts kept repeating: No smell. No movement. No Sound. No food. I was intrigued. Do they still have all their senses?

I tested something. I entered her mind subtly, and kept repeating the no movements part of her thoughts, as I pushed her forward, as I was behind her as she left her closet and looked for prey.

She didn't react from being pushed, her thoughts the same, repeating instinctive thoughts. I removed the minor hypnosis I placed on the undead, and nothing happened. She was still slowly moving forward using her senses to look for prey.

Sneaking behind her again, slowly I grabbed a coin I picked up in one of the offices and flicked on one of the comfort room doors aiming for the wood to make the sound quieter.

The undead's thoughts change: No smell. Movement. Sound. Maybe Food. Then she slowly moved towards the coin, as I followed behind her, matching her step to hide my presence even further.

She stopped, as she reached the comfort room door. And started smelling the air like a dog or wolf. but afterwards her thoughts returned to hunting mode.

She turned around slowly and I followed her moving at her blind spot. So my guess is right, she can use her ears, her eyes, and nose. How about touch? Without me using hypnosis.

I grabbed her shoulders, and placed pressure on them to keep her still. Her thoughts were the same, as she tried moving forward, despite the pressure.

I noticed her shoulders were starting to dislocate, so I let go of her and by doing so she stumbled forward, but kept going into the large room. 

Hmm. . . no sense of touch nor pain receptors. So their nervous system is probably only working on the organs on the head. I took a pause and thought about what I'll be doing next.

So what do I do now? I can stay here, in the city for a few weeks, and study these undead, as they're terribly interesting. Or do I make my way towards the pharmacy on the edge of the city and meet up with Anderson's group.

And tell them of his death. . . and convince them I was with him in his last moments, and that he told me about them. And ask if I can join their group and camp.

No, that already sounds like a bad idea waiting to happen, especially as I look now. From what I know of 21st century human society they don't have 9 feet tall giants or atleast there very rare.

But this is the late 21st century, I can probably make up something. like I was part of a government super soldier program, that was left, when the scientists evacuated.

Could work, but I'm not sure. The memories left by Anderson were too fragmented, I need to learn more about this world before I do something with those humans.

So no, I'm not meeting with the supply run group, but I'll go to the camp itself. When I'm ready, for now, let's play with this undead.

0 0 0 0 0

Pov Sandra Mori

Shush! I quieted down my group, as we moved through the backstreets, behind parked cars, in front of townhouses. A horde was moving in the opposite direction, we stayed still, and waited for them to pass through.

As only the strugglers were left, we started moving again but slower than normal, until we completely avoided the horde. Damn, that was intense, is everyone alright?

Jackson whispered, as he kept his eyes on the horde. He was at the back of our group, as I was in front. Mike was with me, as he had the map, and he was better at reading it, than anyone in the group. Jane and Marco said yes.

Seriously in this date and age? Who still knows how to read a paper map. I miss GPS well I miss the internet in general but good thing the cell phones still works but the networks are down.

I felt sad at the thought of my civilization collapsing. But I didn't show it as Mike spoke to the group; Hey we have three routes. As he spoke, everyone huddled together, as he spoke in a low voice. Not really whispering, just low enough, so only those in front of him can hear.

We can go forward, and we'll reach the main roads, and it'll be a straight route that would take, around 2 miles of walking, before we reach the city edge, mind you will be exposed, and can only hide behind the traffic of abandoned cars.

Or we can go that way. He pointed at an alley, with a barrier. And then pointed at the map again. If we follow the alleys and exit them here, we will enter a commercial plaza, use the tramway stopped here, and then we use the sky crossings and then exit here, and be only a few blocks away from the pharmacy.

It's a long route, but safer, and less chance of us getting lost, or surrounded again. If we're careful, and most people abandoned the plaza when this started, we could avoid the hordes.

The last option is this, he pulled up another map except this one was transparent. We crossed there. He pointed at another backstreet road, across from where we were huddled up.

A few blocks from here is a subway entrance, when I go down. He pointed at the transparent map, which now I understood as an underground map.

We follow the rail, via the utility tunnel, enter this underground boutique, and then move toward this mall's underground entrance, use the emergency stairs, use the sky bridge and then follow the sky rail until we reach the city edge.

This is the fastest route, but also the most potentially dangerous, but also most hidden, because of how populated the areas will be moving through, and most of the walk would be inside a building. So which route do we take?

The group talked back and forth. Jackson wanted to take the 1st route, because he's most familiar with the main roads, as he had patrolled them frequently. 

I wanted to take the 3rd route, because of the chance we might have been followed. by the raiders that attacked us yesterday, we weren't sure if they had retreated, wiped out, or followed us. so I wanted to lose them in the underground if they were following us.

But the last three chose the 2nd route, Jane wanted to get changed and wash in one of the public baths, in the small plaza. Which I wanted to do too. 

Marco told us he knows how to drive the trams, as his sister used to work part time as a driver, and that she regularly brings him to work, when he was smaller. And that he wanted to stock up on spices in one of the market stalls.

As for Mike, he wanted to hit a small pawnshop he knows, in the alleys, before the commercial plaza. Told us the owner was a family friend and an uncle to him, and that he knows he keeps some old rifles and pistols in storage. And display antique weapons.

In the end the vote was to go with the 2nd route, and I agreed. But we need to be mindful of our backs and make sure no one is following us in the alleys. Jackson smiled; I'll watch our backs but to be safe we lock or close any doors behind us as we move.

Everyone nodded and we started to move, but being more mindful of our surroundings and the tracks we made.

0 0 0 0 0

Pov Daniel Cetus.

I was still following the undead woman, until we reached the large room which was a break hall? There were chairs and tables and shelves and areas where you could sit in circles. and vending machines on the corners.

Hmm. . . odd office area. Then I looked to my left and saw stairs going down, and on the far wall there were transparent elevators. The undead was walking towards one of the vending machines.

I watched her, and kept reading her thoughts, but as she slowly made her way. I sent out a psionic echo, that went through the entire open room. it didn't give me any feedback. We're still alone here.

The undead didn't react to my echo, which was something I checked off the list, on the checklist and note that I was holding. Good thing about an office, in any era of earth, is that they always have papers and pens available.

No smell. No noise. No movement. No food. Coffee. . . coffee. The undead's thoughts shifted. I wrote down that some muscle memory and ingrained memory is still there and resurfaces when memory points of interest appear.

She was in front of the vending machine, clicking buttons seemingly at random, until the machine started to move, and speak; Cappuccino grande, thank you for your patronage Manager Samantha Williams. 

Oh, so that's her name. And is that machine a primitive Virtual intelligence? I took more notes. Facial recognition, and prepared voice lines, atleast I know the electricity here is still operating.

But then who turned off the lights? I approached the undead, and tossed another coin. The undead's thoughts returned to hunting mode, ignoring the steaming cup of coffee she was about to reach for.

Hmm. . . I noted, that ingrained memories. becomes dormant once again, when potential prey appears. I took the coffee and slowly sipped it. It was good, this girl Samantha had good taste.

I think that's enough passive behavioral tests, for now. I said to myself, as I released my camouflage, and as my presence became visible, the undead quickly turned, and rushed at me her thoughts were chaotic but the main thing was; Food.

She aimed for my neck as she jumped forward, she moved very fast, as I saw her muscles strained from the swiftness and power she forced on them. The ten meter or so distance was covered in a second.

As she was sailing towards me, I sent a psionic pulse into her, her focused eyes dulled, her jump was undershot. and would have bitten into my chest rather than neck.

I caught the undead, she smelled terrible between dried sweat and early decomposition. I carried her on my shoulder with the coffee towards a meeting table.

I placed her down, and checked on her thoughts, making sure I didn't make a zombie even more brain dead. It kept repeating the same thought which is; Nothing. . . well that's a check on zombies being easy to hypnotize. 

I stripped the subject. . . what should I call her? Why not Sam? Alright test subject 001 Sam. I wrote on a new piece of paper. On the clipboard I just found.

I took off her red office jacket, and then her white undershirt, and started inspecting her bite wound, skin and flesh. The bite wound looks infected, yet the muscle and bones near the wound, doesn't look infected.

Her skin was deathly pale, with bluish discoloration. And she was cold to the touch. Her flesh was stiff, yet still firm, not something a corpse, who's been dead for more than a month, should have. 

After my surface inspection, I placed my hand over the unhealthy looking pale skinned, cold, flesh ripped shoulder. And sent a weak pulse, of electromagnetic radiation, covered by my psionic energy. 

The pulse sent me information about her shoulder, that of how the wound looks worse than it actually is. I saw it, the pathogen who's forcing this woman's corpse, to stay alive, every cell is infected, and programmed, to move like they're still alive. Which in all fairness they are but in a different form.

The factories for the pathogen, seems to be isolated to the entry wound of the infection. fully taking over that section of the body. Which explains why her bite wound isn't healing, yet scratches and smaller wounds she had before getting bitten had scarred.

I wrote notes, as I looked at her heavily scarred forearms, clear indication of defensive wounds. Sigh. . . I took a sip of the still hot coffee as I looked through the large glass wall.

The clouds were pretty, it might be late morning now. I can check on those children Anderson was taking care of. . . No not yet, besides, from the memories I still have. I think they can handle themselves, especially because Anderson already killed those raiders.

0 0 0 0 0

Pov Mike Yun.

I was in front of the group, navigating through alleys, with a map and the landmarks I recognized through my daily delivery patrol. Good this area was under my delivery radius. 

And then I heard movements in the next turn, so I stopped, and motioned my group to do so too. Sandra Lifted her Nail gun, as I unclasped my bat, readying it.

I looked behind and saw they were prepared, so I looked around the edge and saw. . . a cat, it was already on top of a fire escape. I was being cautious as I tossed a coin towards a metal bin.

And they appeared, pale skinned, bloodied mouths, and clawed hands. Shit. . . I muttered as I went back to my group, as quiet as I could. Guys, I count four, just fed by how fresh the blood on their hands.

I looked at Sandra, she looked like she was thinking, Jackson was already looking around looking for something we use. I have an Idea. Everyone looked at me waiting for what I was about to say. I was nervous.

We move up there. I pointed at the fire escape. The apartments here have interconnected fire escapes on the roof. We can use them to avoid the Zs.

Sandra nodded. But we need to try to take them out, four less of those, sigh. . . Zs. Would be four less things trying to eat us. Jackson told us and we all nodded and started to climb up.

Sandra was first so that she can cover us, next is Jane because she's the most injured. I was the last up and just in time as the 4 Z's started moving through where we were.

Sandra was already aiming but then I heard something to our left, inside an apartment. I motioned Jackson to ready his taser. And then Sandra shot one of them.

The three immediately noticed and looked up, and started scaling the walls. They moved fast, Marco threw one of his darts, and nicked one on the hand which made it tumble, Sandra missed her second shot, and hitting the Z, on the neck.

As Sandra tried shooting the three climbers, the one inside the apartment burst out the window, it was a big guy. Jackson reacted first and shot its head with his taser gun but it kept moving.

So then I moved and swung at its head. Thud! Fuck, ahh. . . My arm was shaking, as I felt like I swung my bat against a tree. . . no it's worse, I've done that before, and I know it didn't hurt this much.

The taser was still on the big guy, and it was still moving slowly. I tried to tighten my grip on my bat, and swing. but before I did that, Marco rushed in, and kicked the big guy on the chest and sent the big Z tumbling down.

But the kid fell too, good thing I was quick enough to catch him. He was strong so all I needed to do was help him hold the ledge and then he was up. I looked back and saw that three had nails on their heads and one was caved in.

Jane's Nightstick had blood on it. Well I think it's our win, don't you think Sandy? Ours were bigger! Marco Accused. We laughed and then continued our walk through the alleys.

0 0 0 0 0 

Pov Jackson Luckas

It's been an hour but we reached it, it's like how Mike described it, an out of the way pawnshop at the ground floor of one of the apartments. The metal blinders were down, and the reinforced doors were closed. no signs of anyone breaking in.

I looked around. there doesn't seem to be anything dangerous around. I muttered, but then Mike held his hand up again. The boy was really good at this, looking for danger. He pointed at a corner to our left, and then I saw it too, a moving shadow.

This was the third time in this route, that he saw those monsters before they saw us. We would have died or worse by now without those eyes.

Mike looked at me. and I gave him a nod, so that he knew I saw it too. Then he spoke. Alright guys I only saw one and it's pretty far, I think we can climb down, I know the passcode for the electric lock but those doors take awhile to open. 

How long? Sandra asked. I'm not sure, a few minutes? That's not good. Marco spoke, we all looked at him as he spoke. I, my dad's a maintenance guy, he works on those kinds of doors all the time. They usually make a noise when opening and closing, especially the older models.

Mike gave Marco a look. He's right, it's been awhile, but I remember me and Uncle Greg, leaving. and the door made a screeching sound when uncle locked the door.

That's not good. We already know those monsters love sounds, so we might attract a horde if we weren't careful with this. I looked at the roof of the apartment. There's an entrance there.

How about this? I started speaking, and pointed at the roof entrance. How about the girls give us cover on the shop's firescape, while Me and the kid watch Mike's back as he opens the door.

And once we enter the girls can enter through one of the windows that will open from the inside or enter with us if there aren't too many of those Zs.

I looked at my group, Jane was hesitant, Sandra nodded, the two boys agreed to the plan. And then we set off first dealing with that shadow while we still have the high ground.

Sandra was ready as Marco tossed a small plastic bag with coins inside it. The noise attracted the Z, which was a normal one, Sandra shot it after a couple of seconds of aiming.

I'm still not sure where Sandra learned how to shoot, but based on her stance, and shooting style. She's probably a member of that gun club at the city square. What was its name again?

My thoughts cut off as I heard the Z, made a thud. So then we started our operation. I was with Marco. He was holding a dart with one arm and his ax in another.

I know this kid is some kind of Martial prodigy. But damn he has moves, but he's still a kid, can't rely on him yet, so it's all on me to guard our backs down here.

I heard it, the button pushing, and then. crrkkkkkk. . . It wasn't that loud, but I know that's enough to get a few of those monsters' attention.

I looked back, and Mike was already with us and the door slowly unlocked. Hey Mike is your uncle inside? He shook his head. No, he took a vacation with his brother, and my folks to Hawaii. Hopely this appedemic hasn't reached there yet.

I nodded. We can't check, the networks were cut off just a week after the city fell. And most of the lines were very busy. In that first week, I only got to talk to my own old man for a few minutes. Last thing he said was that the hexagon was coordinating relief and rescue operations.

That was a month ago, hopefully his safe. My shoulder was shook by Mike. It brought me out of my thoughts. Look. He whispered. I see it, the shadows on the right, of an alley intersection.

There, they were 10 Zs, they were the slower monsters, their skin paler than the last ones we fought. They are weaker and slower than the runners, but they form larger hordes, and if you see a dozen of them, there could be a hundred nearby.

Sandra knew this too, so I whispered to my group. Quiet weapons only. I pulled out my nightstick and taser gun. I think I can only shoot it 3 more times before the battery dies.

Good thing about these ones, is that they're dumb. Case in point, one already fell a nail sticking on her broken skull. And the rest didn't notice, so she kept shooting as I told those with me to stay down.

Sandra was taking her time, making sure she didn't miss. But she did, the rest of the monsters looked up and started shuffling towards her. Click.

The door was opened. And the monsters were below the girls. I nodded to Marco and Mike realized my plan. They were distracted, showing their backs towards us, but there's 7 of them so our ambush needed to be decisive.

I rushed in, shot my taser gun to one, as I smashed another's head in with my nightstick. It didn't kill it but it's definitely stunned as it started weakly flailing.

Marco tossed his dart on the one I tasered and axed another's head open, killing it and the one I tasered. . . Damn, that kids a badass.

Mike rushed in too, but unlike earlier didn't go for a headshot, but aimed for the legs, specifically the two who were clustered together breaking their legs and tumbling them.

We were left with 2 healthy ones, that were charging at us, 1 stunned, and 2 cripples crawling towards us. Marco tried pulling the ax free to use it again, but it was stuck. And one was already on him. It tackled him down.

Mike was tackled too, he butted the monster off him quickly, and then did an overhand swing, that caved in the monster's head. I finished off my partner with a second strike and then rushed towards Marco.

I was about to shoot my taser again, but Sandra was quicker. She shot the one on top of Marco. And He kicked the monster of himself. I think the kid would have done that even if we didn't shoot the monster. 

I helped Marco and patted his shoulder. Good work kid. He smiled at me. Are you hurt? No sir, I think I'm fine. He started looking over his arms and shoulders.

His Martial art clothes, seems to be more ripped, but I think he's fine, no bites or scratches. The girls were already with us and I saw Mike looking at the two he crippled.

I know these two. . . I think I know all of them, I see them play basketball in a park close by. I played with them a few times. . . I gave Sandra a look and she nodded. 

I placed a hand on Mike's shoulder as Sandra gave the last two mercy. Mike didn't cry, but I saw something in his eyes, something I saw from a husband finding out his wife was cheating on him.

I tightened my hold and this brought him back. Sorry, let's go inside everyone. . . Welcome to the Shack of mysteries. He said with a flourish as we all entered, he switched on the lights and locked the door behind us.

What we saw was very much wow. This is not a normal pawnshop. Sandra said. I agree with her, and I visit pawn shops a lot. It's a good place to fence off stolen goods.