“Go, go, go. The surrounding is clear.”

All 9 of us follow Lisa as we exit the basement. The basement of the library had two entrances, one from the outside and one from inside of the library. We enter the door leading inside of the building and the hallway was clear of zombies.

There were only 10 of us because the other 12 were left behind to protect our base in case of an emergency. The other problem was that having 22 people go out and explore would be inconvenient. It would mean that the chances of someone messing up and the chances of zombies discovering us increases.

We slowly advance down the hallway that leads to the first-floor stairs. Looking around, everyone’s movements were tense. It was our first time outside of the base and the chances of fighting zombies are inevitable.

“Wait, two zombies ahead.”

I look from behind Lisa and see two zombies on the stairs. The two of them were halfway up the stairs with their backs faced against us. They were silent and haven’t noticed us yet. It wasn’t going to be an easy kill since fighting on the stairs isn’t easy. Our position would be messed up and the chances of taking a wrong step could happen.

“Shield squad go. Swipe at their legs and we’ll attack.”

We didn’t have a choice, the two zombies were blocking our path towards the first floor. The four men called the Shield squad nodded their heads. They were named this because their shields were larger than the others and they had better control of them than the others.

The four of them slowly head up towards the zombies. The stairs were wide enough for two men to walk with their arms out, side by side. One zombie was on the left side and one was on the right side. They separate into teams of two and head for one zombie each.

They were in position and immediately swiped at the legs of the zombies. The shield man on the right swung from the left and the shield man from the left swung from the right. Without communicating their attacks, their shields slammed into each other. The zombies were alerted but the two of them continue their attacks and sweep the zombies off of the ground.

One of the zombies fell forward while the other fell back towards one of the shield men. Surprised at the sudden approach of the zombie the shield man on the right retreated back but he took a wrong step and slipped.

“Attack!!”

Lisa grabs the falling man and the Attack squad comes in a finish off the zombies. Besides me and the men in black, the others’ attacks were not as accurate. It took them multiple stabs to finally pierce through the zombie’s skull. After a bit, the zombies finally stopped moving.

“Good job, guys! There were some mistakes but that was good for our first fight. Let’s keep this pace up.”

Even though some mistakes were made, Lisa didn’t reprimand them and instead encouraged them. Seeing that everyone was still tense and out of breath from their first battle, Lisa allowed them to rest as we and the men in black scout ahead.

The four of us head up the stairs and the two men in black check on the door while Lisa and I check on the stairs leading up to the second floor. The layout of the stairs was simple, you go up the stairs then turn right before heading up more stairs into the next floor. Halfway up we could see that the door to the second floor was closed.

Seeing that it was clear we head back down to the first-floor door. The men in black were still checking the door while the other members watched them. The moment they heard our footsteps they all turn and point their weapons at us.

“You think you can defeat the Supreme Baddass Monster. Fuuhahaha, challenge me if you can.”

Lisa jokes around and the tension amongst them drops. They lower their weapons and Lisa checks in with William and Gareth.

“Is it clear?”

“Yes, there’s no sound of movement or breathing from the other side of the door.”

“Good, let me go over our plans again. Our goal this time is to grab the food from the four vending machines on this floor. Well, three, since one of them is outside of the building and we don’t know if it’s safe. We will go out there in Anchor Formation. Shield squad will spread out in a semi-circle in front and behind them will be Jude, Matthew, and Patt. I’ll be in the middle overlooking the situation while William and Gareth will be the rear-guard since they have guns and have more experience than us in combat. Understood?”

“Yes, Legendary commander Lisa.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, then let’s head on out.”

Gareth opens the door and peaks out to the left and right to check if there were any zombies. He gives us a thumbs up and we walk in formation out in the open. Everyone grips there Spearheaded Leg Mk.2 as we observe our surroundings.

In front of us was the reception area where the entrance into the building is. Currently, there were four zombies behind the desk counter, two zombies on the left sitting in a lounge area, and two zombies on the right. Our goal was to head towards the right. One of the zombies was by the elevator, the other was standing by the bathroom, and there was a body on the ground in front of the vending machine. That was our first objective.

“Jude, take down the one by the bathroom. We’ll handle the one by the elevator. Watch out for the body on the ground, it might be a zombie.”

Lisa trusts me with handling the zombie by myself and I separate from the group. I head for the zombie that was turned away from me. It’s back was completely defenseless and it hadn’t noticed me yet. I grip Spearheaded Leg Mk.2 with both hands and charge in. I use wind magic to increase the speed of my thrust.

It pierces into the skull but it doesn’t go all the way in. The zombie struggles and tries to pull out my weapon but I use all my strength to throw it onto the ground. As it’s thrown to the ground, I step on its back before jabbing Spearheaded Leg Mk.2 further into its brain. It was finally dead.

I pull out my weapon and the sharpened tip was already somewhat bent. It was probably only going to last another 2 or 3 attacks aimed for the skull. Since the first zombie was thrown pretty closed to the body on the ground, I thought the body would have reacted if it was a zombie but it continues to lay down lifelessly.

I don’t know why but it seems fishy. My intuition was telling me that this body wasn’t really dead. Not wasting any more time I stab Spearheaded Leg Mk.2 into the head of the dead body. Its body starts spasming as my weapon pierces its skull but I keep my foot on its neck as I push it further in. That zombie was pretending to be a dead body and was waiting for someone to come close to it. I guess zombies can be smarter than I thought.

I look over at Lisa’s group and they were struggling to kill the zombie. The zombie was successfully thrown down to the ground but it seems that it had grabbed onto one of the Shield squad’s shields. It was on the ground swinging the shield around as the others were surrounding it. Lisa, William, and Gareth were in the back watching as the others deal with the zombie. I could even see that William and Gareth were about to bring out their pistols to shoot the zombie.

“Don’t.”

Lisa stops them and continues to observe as the others fight. After a bit, the six of them were finally able to take away the shield from the zombie. Now that it lost its defense, the others gathered around and stabbed into its brains. They had finally killed it.

“Nice, you guys were able to handle it without our help. I’m proud that you guys were able to work together and handle the zombie together. Nice teamwork!”

After Lisa’s encouragement, we all surround the vending machine. Lisa orders the other six to stand guard and keep watch as I break into the vending machine.

“Can you do it, Jude?”

“Yeah.”

Instead of releasing a large amount of power like Fire Blast, this time I create a constant stream of fire magic to cut through the glass of the vending machine. The shape of this flame looks like a surgical knife and this vending machine was the patient. I ease the flame into the glass and it easily melts through. Eventually, a square shape was cut out of the vending machine before Lisa stuffs her backpack with snacks.

“Alright, that’s one down. Let’s head for the second one.”

……

After the first vending machine, we were able to get the other two with relative ease. We encountered a few zombies but everyone was getting used to fighting the zombies. Most of the zombies we met were slow and unintelligent so as long as you attack first then it’ll die from the multiple attackers. There were the occasional mistakes but either Lisa and I, or William and Gareth would support them.

After getting the third vending machine, Lisa decided that it was too risky to try and get the fourth one. The fourth one was outside of the entrance and there were six zombies blocking that path, and we didn’t know how many zombies are outside. Lisa decided that it was better to stay safe so we are currently heading back to the base.

We pass by the first vending machine but we pause in our steps.

“GOORRRAAAAHHH!!!!”

“What was that?”

“That sound, it’s that zombie again.”

“What is it, Lisa?”

“It’s a different kind of zombie then we’ve been fighting. It seems to be like the green goo zombie you fought. I have a bad feeling let’s hurry.”

A zombie like the green goo zombie? No, it wasn’t the same. The roar from this zombie was shaking me to the very core. It was definitely stronger than the green goo zombie and the prison monster combined. The roar wasn’t that close so we aren’t in immediate danger but I hope I never have to fight that zombie.

“GAGAGAYYAAAHH!!!!”

“KOKKOYAAHHH!!!

“What’s that?”

“That wasn’t the big zombie.”

“It sounds closer.”

These screams and groans were definitely closer than the roar from the big zombie. I look ahead and discover what was making these sounds. It was the two zombies that were sitting in the lounge area. They were now standing with their mouths open and they were staring at us. Their blackened eyes and yellow pupils were staring directly at me.

“Hurry!!! They’ve seen us!!”

All of us rush into the stairwell as the door is closed behind us. Before I entered, I had seen them running towards us at an unnaturally fast pace. The sounds of pounding quickly bombard the door.

“Hurry!!!”

“We can’t!!”

I look over and see the most amount of zombies we’ve ever encountered. There were three at the bottom of the stairs and six coming down from the second-floor stairs. We were in a dire situation.

“Jude, William, and Gareth take of those six and we’ll take care of these three.”

“Alright, got it.”

The seven of them head downstairs while the three of us stay at our positions. Behind us were the sounds of pounding and in front of us were the silent stares of six zombies.

My heart was pounding at the same rhythm of the zombies pounding at the door. It was trying to escape my body like how the zombies are trying to force their way inside.

“Use your guns only if you need too.”

After instructing the two, we head on up the stairs. We don’t have much time so we have to kill these zombies quickly before our rear is ambushed by more zombies.

Two zombies lunge at me and I use Fire Blast to kill one of them while the other one was easily killed by Gareth and William. While the zombie was in mid-air, William stabbed his Spearheaded Leg Mk.2 in its chest while Gareth comes around and stabs it through the temple. Their attacks were precise and deadly.

Now there were only four zombies left. One of them was standing in the back while the three in the front lunge themselves forward. They were all aiming for me.

“Double Exploding Fire Blast.”

My blast sends the three of them flying away and from the looks of it, it killed two of them. The third one flew towards William and Gareth and its body was severely burnt.

I turn my attention towards the zombie in the back and was shocked. It was using some sort of magic. Its hand was glowing and brown magic symbols appeared around him.

I don’t know what it was going to use but I have to kill it before it can cast its magic.

“Long Shot Flame Beam.”

A small beam the size of my finger was shot towards the zombie. This magic was smaller than Fire Blast but its power was more concentrated. This meant that this also used up more mana than usual.

“What!?”

The zombie had easily dodged it even though I was aiming for its head. It slightly tilted its head and my attack missed entirely.

“Fuck!!”

I run back and grab the other two before running down the stairs. If I couldn’t interrupt it then its magic would be cast and I don’t know what kind of magic was going to be used. I don’t have experience with fighting magic users or Fifi with me right now but I do know that the mana behind this zombie’s attack was powerful.

By the time we reach the bottom of the stairs, I could hear a large impact from up the stairs. I quickly look up and see that a large pillar of earth magic pierced through the door. It was so large that it covered the entire stairwell. If I hadn’t run down then we wouldn’t have been able to escape.

“Hurry, Jude!!!!”

Lisa was waiting for us by the door down the hallway. The three zombies’ body was strewn all over the ground.

The three of us rush inside and help the others block the door again. Shelves, boxes, and chairs were used to block the door but it wouldn’t hold if that zombie uses magic.

“Bring more shelves!!! We need to barricade it even more.”

“Bring more shelves.”

Hearing Lisa’s command, everyone else worked together to bring more shelves to block the door. I stand there staring at the door, ready for any signs of a magic attack.