ã€ŠApocalypse? Paradise.ã€‹


 Intro, the world before paradise

    The world seems so, so different from the other side of the television that it makes one wonder if we¡¯re living in complacent ignorance. An innocent lie we tell ourselves, whisper to ourselves that everything is fine. We¡¯re at peace. Safe. That the only fears we have is that if we have enough toilet paper left or if the milk hasn¡¯t gone bad. Mundane fears and issues.

    It¡¯s honestly not that different if something happens. We merely crawl in ourselves and try our best to ignore. Because living and acknowledging the fact that ones life is not so mundane and safe is scary. It¡¯s fine to admit it. Normality is the thing that keeps us going most of the time. It¡¯s what we cling to like a drowning man clutching a straw.

    As they say ignorance is a bliss. And we¡¯re living in a blissful society.

    ¡°Good morning Americans, it¡¯s the seven o¡¯clock news. It¡¯s 7 am on June the 5<sup>th</sup> and this is Daniel from channel 4.¡± A refreshing looking man can be seen on channel 4 like every other morning. Like every other morning he¡¯s going to give this morning¡¯s news on channel 4.

    ¡°Today is the day of the ending day of the serial killer Kane Smith¡¯s trial, a man whose kind has never before seen in the history of the separated America. Later on today we have invited a series of experts to join us here to follow the trial live and discuss the case.¡±Stolen story; please report.

    The reporter after reporting on the serial killer trial the camera unfocuses quickly and the feed switches to a different camera and the reporter moves to forward.

    ¡°Next news is about the still growing tensions on the border between us and the Confederacy. With more armaments and men deploying on the border area from both sides. As you all know this started after a series of incidents on our border led to suspect the Confederates had been using biological weapons against our populace near the border in secret despite the non-aggression clause apart of the indefinite peace treaty signed in the 1867 after a gruesome and lengthy war. While the tension between our nations have been high since then the agreement has held to this day.

    While the CSA has denied this accusation. This is has been the biggest escalation between our two nations since the world war between the allies and the axis countries. ¡°The feed switches on to a different camera again and the reporter shifts to look towards it.

    ¡°The scandal involving the pharmacy giant UmbCo has escalated further, as law enforcement has raided several lab¡¯s across the country. No official statement on the reason of these raids but a source has informed us this might involve unlawful human testing that might involve unwilling subjects. We¡¯ll report on this further on noon¡¯s broadcast.¡±

    The reporter straightens up and smiles at the camera.

    ¡°Up next we have the weather with Jace, let¡¯s see if the beautiful weather straight out of paradise for the past few days holds up so let¡¯s see what she has in store for us. This has been Daniel from channel 4 giving you the quick update on morning news. On to you Jace.¡±

 First day-Tank Commander Saul Garnham of the National Guard 4:30 am

    This is fucked up.

    The word is gone to hell or worse. You¡¯d think that the would have been a sign or something but no, just a regular morning like all others. Slightly cloudy spring day. The snow had melted weeks ago, and it was just getting warmer and warmer.

    A regular day besides the point of waking up to screaming, yelling and gunshots only to find that your bunk mates below are for any better word gone mental. I mean how¡¯d you feel to wake up and see your gunner getting his guts eaten by the driver.

    I probably would have gotten eaten as well if not for the fact I was on the upper bunks, as the raving crowd of former comrades now cannibals were unable to reach up here with their mouths. That is if you¡¯re not sleeping on the edges where they can drag you down with impunity.

    What is this anyway? some zombie flick? Chemical attack? Bad case of mass food poisoning? Can¡¯t rule out aliens ether.. God. This better be a nightmare.

    I stood up on my bed and looked around only to see how badly we were caught with our pants down. There is now only 4 of us not having a gorefest in a 50-man bunk quarters with no guns or means to get out and probably nobody to come get us any time soon, not to mention these crazies had started to crowd around us still sane and pushing the bunks... A second dose of shit is about to hit the fan.

    I couldn¡¯t just stay here and wait for the inevitable, so I decided to try my luck to use the upper bunks to get towards the door to the outside of the barracks, inspiring the rest to try the same.

    The ceiling was barely high enough giving us barely enough room to properly switch to the next bed. And for awhile everything ran like clockwork until one of the 3 other survivors got ambushed by a recently turned comrade on the higher bunk causing him to fall only to get encircled by the mob. The screams of agony and the gurgling sounds of would be zombies as they feasted on him nailed us in place due to sheer horror as we could only look at what was to be if we¡¯d fall.

    All in all, only me and another who almost shared the same fate as the others not so much fortunate but ended up only getting a scratch on his arm. As we left the barracks, shutting the door behind us to contain the situation we witnessed the absurd situation than it was outside. The survivors were gathering around a tank forming a perimeter with around 20 guardsmen holding off a tide with one guy on the tanks turret hatch using the machine gun on former comrades who had formed an uncountable tide coming at them from all buildings while 5 others escorted by 10 more guys seemed to go back and fourth the armoury to get armaments and ammo hauled to the perimeter.

    Me and the other survivor from our sleeping quarters while yelling and waving rushed towards the perimeter. The other survivors cleared the path for us to move unimpeded towards them only to get guns thrown to us and given directions on how to help. No time for pleasantries when most of the garrison is out to get your blood I guess. I took place with the rest of the 20 guys holding the fort while my compatriot from the quarters got dragged to the supply gathering group.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°What¡¯s the objective?! No, more importantly what the hell is going on?!¡± I yelled to the others with me trying to make some sense of the situation.

    ¡°Heck if I know what this is but looks awfully like a zombie movie!Also, No objectives other than to survive!¡± One closest to me yells over endless groaning and gun fire

    ¡°We¡¯ll gonna use the tank to pave a path to the depo to get some more wheels and load the rest of supplies on them, you wouldn¡¯t know anything about operating one, would you?¡±

    ¡°Tank commander Graham at your service, my crew got eaten by my other crew. But I can manage her.¡± I say while unloading my magazine into the zombie looking things.

    ¡°Fuck, I feel ya, most of my squad got done in as well.¡± The man next to me yells back at me. ¡°I¡¯m pretty sure you¡¯re the only guy who knows anything about her, so she¡¯ll probably be yours to use.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll be fine on my own to just drive. Just keep the guy on the hatch to use the machine gun and we¡¯re golden¡± I Say while reloading the rifle and head to the M1 Abrams. Time to get the hell out of here and regroup.

    I got into the M1 Abrams while receiving a royal welcome and started her up and got ready to move at moment¡¯s notice. Around 10 minutes pass waiting until suddenly an explosion slightly shakes the tank.

    ¡°Fuck, the perimeter got breached!¡± the turret guy yells ¡°The supply group had an infected among them, we need to move!¡± I tense up and put pressure on my leg ready to fly.

    As he says that I hear people climbing onto the tank and hear the turret guy yell ¡°That¡¯s all of us, move, move, move!¡±  And I let her start crawling forward while slowly speeding up and head towards the vehicle depo.

    ¡°What the fuck exactly happened?!¡± I yell at the guy on the machine gun as I wasn¡¯t able to see what was going on from my sensors that were only forward facing, showing only a little from the sides for turning.

    ¡°The guy you came with had it whatever the others have and jumped on the supply team as they were coming back.¡± The guys voice I was standing next to while holding the line answers ¡°The guy he jumped was carrying volatile cargo and well we and the supply escort laid them down both with lead and that was the explosion.¡± He yells over the machines noise and gunfire. ¡°13 dead.¡± He adds.

    I blankly listen to the explanation and ask the question I really didn¡¯t want an answer.

    ¡°How many left?¡± I just feel sick now as I¡¯m listening how 13 of us got killed while I¡¯m driving over our former comrades.

    ¡°23. Including us.¡± He says, and I can feel he¡¯s just as weary of this as I am even though not much time has passed form waking up.

    ¡°How are you holding up on the tank, not much space to fit 20 guys¡± I try to change the subject to a less morbid one.

    ¡°Half of us are jogging behind us while keeping themselves clear of hostiles while the guys on top lay down supportive fire. It¡¯s the best we can do which what we have.¡±

    I¡¯m rather surprised that even though the casualties the guys are keeping themselves rather organized without panicking.

    Still even with staying calm and organized we lost 4 of the 10 runners as we made through the horde before we reached the depo for trucks and close the exits and then cleared the stragglers in the depo. The poor bastards were in their night clothes like us, so they were probably trying to GTFO as well only to get done in by the shamblers.

    It took mere minutes of military efficiency and fervent motivation implied by the banging outside to get one of the trucks ready and loaded with the little supplies we hastily managed to load onto the tank along with the guardsmen left.

    Then with me as the vanguard we left the depo by me ramming trough one of the entrances flattening the blob of probably zombies that had gathered behind it. We left the base with relative ease now that all of us were out of harms way with minor issues with the road block at the gate but nothing that 68 tons of tank as vanguard can¡¯t fix.

    19 national guards survived and got out of a base holding a garrison of 500 soldiers.

 First day of Paradise

    8:15 am

    In a room that screamed try hard intellectual, lied a man on a couch facing away from another man who was right behind him, sitting next to the sofa in a comfortable chair.

    The man on the couch was wearing a uniform of some sort and had been cuffed to the couch.

    He had a sleek physique along with an angular face with sunken cheeks that accentuated his cheekbones and a slicked back black hair giving the man rather wolfish features which were further stressed by the man¡¯s pale blue piercing eyes making a man carry a certain predatory charm.

    Compared to the wolf in the room, the man sitting in the chair paled in comparison to him.

    A simple definition of pencil pusher could define the man in the chair.

    Brown hair with a receding hairline and green eyes along with a rather average looking face that was slightly more round than normal, donned in a rather casual suit with a white shirt with no tie. The pencil pusher was holding a notepad and was currently writing on it.

    The man on the sofa was Kaine Smith, who appeared distracted at this point of time, looking outside the window he was facing.

    -Perspective of Kaine Smith-

    I was lying on a couch in an office with a man wearing clean casual clothing sitting on a lounge chair behind my head. It was my weekly one-on-one counselling. It¡¯s rather fascinating how this couch thing works. You see, the idea is to remove all those social tenancies we have when facing others in social discourse.

    No pretence or pressure to follow the societal etiquette, not to mention taking a vulnerable position lying down and not facing the other, builds trust between the psychiatrist and the patient. People with trust issues would go mental.

    ¡°Kaine? Are you listening?¡± The doctor seems to have noticed my distracted thoughts.

    ¡°Yes doctor.¡± I reply while continuing to stare out of the window towards the sky.

    It¡¯s the only reason I like these sessions. Unlike most of the windows, this lets you see towards the outside of the asylum.

    And the guy knows it as the office is arranged so that from the couch you can have a straight unobstructed view outside from the safety glass window grid.

    ¡°Ah, good, it¡¯s been rather an odd morning here. With many of the patients acting odd.¡±

    ¡°No doctor, I¡¯m healthy as I can be. Is it the influenza outbreak that has been going around?¡±

    ¡°That you definitively are,¡± the doctor mumbles rather quietly, but it¡¯s easy to catch. Perks of him sitting right behind me.

    ¡°It probably is the influenza, it¡¯s just the aggressive behaviour of the sick that¡¯s worrisome.¡± The doctor answers without softening his voice.

    ¡°What can you expect from sick mental patients? We¡¯re a rather unstable bunch.¡± I laugh.

    Instead of humouring me with an answer, the doctor scribbled something into his notepad. Gotta respect the man sticking with the classics. His scribbling session is interrupted by an increasing commotion coming outside.

    ¡°Excuse me.¡± The doc says while he stands up and walks towards the door of his office. After noticing my ¡°caretakers¡± absence outside the office, he turns back to me.

    ¡°I have to step out for a moment. We¡¯ll continue our session once I¡¯m back.¡±

    ¡°No problem doctor¡± I say while I clatter my handcuffs which I¡¯m cuffed to the sofa and add: ¡°I¡¯m not going anywhere.¡± And smile.

    I look as the doctor leaves the office and turn back to look outside. I¡¯ve got no interest in the happenstance of this facility.

    A few minutes fly past until the doctor rushes in and slams the door shut behind him and based on the clicking sound coming behind me, locks it.

    ¡°Holy shit, ho- unholyshit¡­ Zombies...¡± He whispers to himself.

    I turn my head towards the door to give the man an incredulous look. ¡°The fast kind?¡±

    ¡°N-n-no.¡± He says while still facing the door and slowly backing up.

    ¡°Then what¡¯s the problem?¡± I irritatedly ask him. The man had me worried for a second.

    The crack of a doc ignores me and heads for the rather escape proof window. He¡¯s definitely not as smart as he claims.

    He looks out of the window to see the nearby metropolis filled with columns of smoke rising towards the skies. Confirming that this is happening elsewhere as well.

    ¡°It¡¯s the apocalypse.¡± He mutters weakly while staring at the scene of chaos as a helicopter a view distance away loses control and disappears from view, heading towards the ground. Followed by a sound of an explosion loud enough for us to hear through a reinforced window.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    I silently walk behind the doctor and look outside as well for a moment in silence, admiring the scene unfolding outside.

    ¡°No.¡± I whisper right next to his ear as I snap his neck by suddenly pulling from the mandible and push from the other side at the sphenoid bone area towards the skull. ¡°It is a paradise.¡±

    I gently lie him down on the floor and turn towards the office door and bow in gratitude to the chaos going on there, which bought me time to slip out of these sloppily put on cuffs. Well, can you really blame the orderlies for not having the expertise to notice they cuffed me too high, letting me slip out of them.

    Not to mention they are not very keen on spending too much time in my proximity.

    ¡°Now how to get out of here¡± I mumble and cast my gaze around the room to scan the office for something tougher and longer than my arm with little to no success till my gaze wanders upon the kind doctor''s body.

    ¡°¡­Surely he wouldn¡¯t mind.¡±

    I undo my handcuffs still attached to the couch with keys I found in the doctors pocket and walk back to the recently departed doc to strip him and then dislocate his right leg from both the pelvis and kneecap joints by kicking it out of place and begin using my handcuffs to start the arduous project of using the jagged edges of the cuff to saw his leg off.

    It truly is a difficult project, not to mention once I finally got some progress going through a show of force and diligence, I had gathered some audience behind the door.

    Putting the issue of noisy audience behind me as the door was of metal make, I once more engrossed myself in my task with heartfelt gratitude to doc and unquenchable enthusiasm towards my goal.

    Truly, nothing can stand before human ingenuity and effort.

    Other than time and disturbances. It took a lot of it and had a lot of them. God, the banging of the door and the constant moaning is annoying. Made it hard to concentrate, making me lose time on the job. Which wasn¡¯t appreciated.

    I glance at the bloody femur of around 50 cm in length with bits and bobs of flesh still attached to it. It took me most of the day to get it free and then the rest of it to clean the bone of the unneeded softer parts.

    I¡¯m rather famished after this ordeal, to be honest. The office had a personal bathroom where I could drink, but that was all.

    And I find no interest in partaking a dinner of doctor whose valiant name¡­ I have forgotten.

    Probably John or something.

    I strip as well and change into the clean set of the doctor¡¯s clothes I put out of harm¡¯s way. They¡¯re a little big for me as I¡¯m a rather slim guy but mine are dirty, not to mention rather eye-catchingly orange and obviously inmate¡¯s overalls, with the asylums name written on it.

    Well nothing should be wasted so once I changed clothes I ripped the overalls into thin strips and use them to tie the handcuffs to the femur so that the jagged edges will face towards the stuff I want to hit from both sides of the femur by closing them around the femur and then secure them in place and then use the cleaned, wet ripped off sleeves and legs along with the unused cloth strips to make a handle for the mighty cudgel I had named Jason in the honour of the doctor¡¯s contribution to the world.

    I put my hands together and offer a prayer for Doc. Hopefully he¡¯s watching.

    Rest in peace. I will remember your contribution.

    I then move my attention to the next problem at hand.

    I face the door with determination and unlock it and open it, pulling it with me to form a triangle of safety as the door encloses me into the corner of the room with only a slight gap in between the wall and the door. I listen as the undead flock to the room towards the multi-talented remains that is doc.

    I hold my breath and count to sixty. I then glance towards the small gathering of diners who have lost all interest in anything other than their meal.

    There are five of them.

    Former staff of the asylum. They truly are zombies, the oddly pale skin with bloodied appearance, with bits missing here and there from probably getting bitten or just from the occupational hazards from being a zombie.

    Hazards like me, and environmental hazards like metal doors based on their mangled hands.

    I quickly close the door once more, making a bit more noise than I¡¯d hoped for and use the key still in the lock to lock it once more and confront my attendees who have now noticed there is fresh dessert on the menu.

    Exiting the room might have been a good idea, but here I have a controlled space I¡¯m familiar with a finite number of hostiles.

    Perfect warm up for a rusty, hungry individual.

    They come at me with surprising coordination, forming a crescent shape of bodies as they leave the corpse alone, slowly shambling while gurgling and reaching towards me with their crippled filthy hands dyed in blood and gore.

    I head forward and swing Jason at the zombie at the vanguard, aiming towards its head with relative ease, taking it down and then get back to avoid getting mobbed.

    That¡¯s one down.

    I¡¯ve around 3 meters of space left before they reach me and 4 more to go.

    I rush again in to the fray and take an overhead swing this time and bash another one¡¯s head in and then nimbly head back to the door.

    Three left.

    The remaining ones can almost reach me now as I lean on to the door and swing Jason once more, hoping to even the numbers.

    My target once more crumbles down on to the floor with the right side of his head caved in.

    Three down, two to go.

    While facing the last two with no room left to fight safely, I attempt to leap through their ranks back inside the office, only to stumble and ram into one of them.

    Exploiting the happenstance and changing my priority into pushing it to the floor hard, head first, causing it to stop moving while I roll off with only hitting my elbow rather hard, causing more harm to my pride rather than anything physical.

    It¡¯s one on one now.

    The Last one gives me no respite as I roll aside from its attempt to mount me as I attempt to stand up, only to slip on the blood on the floor and get fondled by my foe at my left leg whom I politely kick in the face with said leg to create some distance.

    With a hearty crunch, its nose breaks as I slide around 2 meters away thanks to the generous lubrication from doc and the rest of the staff and try to stand up again.

    But alas, the lubrication is a blessing as much as it is a curse. I only manage to disorderly get on to my knees again after going down the second time only to notice Jason is missing from my hand.

    I try to figure out where did I exactly drop it as my nefarious foe mages to crawl dangerously close to me, leaving me no other option other than to continue on without my weapon.

    I relinquish my higher ground advantage to get on my back and kick the fiend once more but this time with both of my legs put together and fully loading all of my strength from my leg muscles into this kick and to send this bastard to afterlife.

    I hear another satisfying crunch as I snap its neck with the force of my kick. Exhausted and hungry, I just laid there.

    ¡°What an embarrassing first contact with the undead. ¡°I mutter weakly as I lose myself into the world of dreams, laying in an office filled with bodies and gore.

    Hoping that I was alone.

 Second day of Paradise

    The monster was lying in a room. With a chair in the middle of said room.

    In the chair sat a man staring at the walls of the room.

    First, the man had tried to reason with the monster.

    When it had captured them in their sleep and bound them in this room.

    Then he had pleaded when it had approached his family.

    Then cursed when it had cut his wife, anything to change the monster''s focus upon himself.

    Then burst to tears and kept asking ¡°why, why us?!¡± when the spark of life left her body.

    The monster then continued to slaughter both his daughters and his only son.

    He had tried everything.

    Every time. Every time he begged, threatened, cursed at the abnormality while it slowly tormented his family to death.

    And even after all that, he still cursed and cursed the fiend who had appeared from the night.

    Then there was silence.

    The Man broke, once the monster painted the white walls with its paintbrush using the man¡¯s family¡¯s blood as paint.

    The man sat there looking at the walls.

    He looked at the uneven crimson paint that ¡°it¡± had generously applied upon the walls, slowly dripping downwards towards the floor.

    The husk of a man just kept staring.

    I slowly come to my senses and stared at the ceiling.

    God, I was hungry as well as thirsty, so I shambled to the bathroom to get some water while avoiding stumbling on the corpses that were starting to stink.

    I drank until I was full, to ease the rumbling stomach, and looked into the mirror over the sink.

    What greeted me was a face covered with dried blood dyeing the face sloppily with deep crimson. The familiar cold, unfeeling, pale blue eyes stared at me on an angular face with slightly sunken cheeks that empowered the already defined cheekbones, giving the face a wolfish look.

    Crimson suits me. Really brings out my eyes.

    I strip out of the good doctor''s clothing and do my best to use the sink to clean off the blood and the irregular pieces of gore and brain.

    After I mostly got all the gore and crimson off, I put my head underneath the sink and rinsed my hair, dyeing the water once more crimson.

    I look into the mirror again to see if I washed the blood out of my black hair. Using the toilet paper to dry most of the dampness from my hair, I put my clothes back on and headed to the office to look for my dear companion, Jason.

    After scouring around the office, I found it underneath the couch. I had moved it out of my way to make more space in the office before the fight.

    It¡¯s good to have obstacles in a fight but they¡¯re a twin edged sword, easy to lose yourself in the adrenaline and forget there is something behind you.

    I inspected Jason and saw that he was in a relatively good condition, unlike his donor. Zombies really don¡¯t have any grace while eating. Still, I can¡¯t help but admire the purity of their actions.

    Such simple unbiased creatures who are true to their nature.

    My appreciation of the undead variety is interrupted by slow singular bangs, accompanied by the familiar gurgling and moaning behind the office door.

    I really dislike noise or rather really like the silence. The sound of silence is simply breathtakingly beautiful. A rarity in this modern world.

    With displeasure clearly showing on my face I walk to the door, flip Jason into my left hand and then unlock the door with my right hand and pull it open and swing Jason towards the lonely noisy zombie at the door hitting it in the left temporal area.

    With a satisfying crack, the cudgel''s handcuff spikes penetrate the surprisingly soft skull, sending the undead on its way.

    I close the door again and lock it while inhaling and exhaling deeply while feeling the exhaustion and stiffness of my body due to sleeping on the floor.

    I then proceeded to enjoy the silence once more. Only to come upon a rather pressing question. ¡°Why is it so quiet?¡±

    While a welcoming change after yesterday¡¯s migraine inducing events, the sounds of chaos in form of snarling and screams had subsided while I had been asleep.

    Some might say it was eerily quiet. But what do some know?

    I haven¡¯t heard the warming embrace of silence for a long time here in the asylum.

    There was always some kind of disturbance as insane people are more honest with their base desires and rarely care about others'' convenience or about my poor ears.

    Especially those that feign their affliction to get out of jail sentence are especially noisy first. Oh, it normally takes them about 2 days in here to come clean.

    Too bad for them that is just something the shrinks call denial and tell them that to get healthy you have to start with admitting you¡¯re ill or if they do believe you your sentence gets lengthened and off to jail you go.

    Or even better, if they get admitted in as a psychopath, the doctors wouldn¡¯t give a fuck what they say. As feigning mental illness is something a psychopath would do. Oh, the little Joys of life.

    I shake my head out my remembrance to get myself back into the game and try to figure out my next action.

    Trying to get out would be tricky, as that would be what everyone else would have tried to do.

    Not to mention I¡¯m famished, so I¡¯m unable to function optimally.

    Going for the pantry is out as well. It isn¡¯t any easier as I have to descend two floors in a high security installation probably filled with undead to get to the canteen. Then through there to staff hallway and so on. Too many variables and dangers. I¡¯m not suicidal.

    I¡¯m better off trying to find if there is some a vending machine or anything useful here in the office block before moving forwards.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    I once more unlock the door and step out into the minimalist hallway that had seen better days.

    The hallway has the offices to the left facing towards outside of the asylum and a white inner wall separating this block from the rest of the facilities of the asylum on its right.

    I¡¯m at the beginning of the hallway, with the offices continuing to my left and the exit to my right, behind a corner.

    I take the keys still hanging in the lock and lock the door again from the outside to maintain a safe area for me to return to if thing would go south out here.

    I first silently make way to my right to check if the magnetic door isolating the offices is still closed.

    To my relief, it¡¯s sealed, and it¡¯s even decorated with a couple of bloody handprints on the window. Gives the dreary white hallway a rather nice touch of colour.

    I¡¯d wager at least a couple of the five I took care of before I passed out came from here, as there are no corpses around here, only drying blood.

    I proceed back to the corridor where I came and once more stop next to the office I was in earlier, facing the corridor going towards the left.

    All the doors seem to be closed and probably unoccupied as yesterday the chaos erupted early in the morning. After about 50 meters of hallway, there is a turn to the right towards the inside of the asylum with more offices and I¡¯m unable to see what¡¯s behind the turn.

    At least the hallway I can see is clear of corpses that could suddenly decide to come to life like they have an odd tendency to do with an even higher tendency for the living to just ignore them in stories quite like the current reality I¡¯m in.

    I slowly move as quietly as possible towards the other end of the corridor while staying away from the office doors and keep close to the wall to my right while looking into the offices and trying to perceive if any of the doors look to be ajar.

    I¡¯d hate to find myself in the unlikely situation where a zombie miraculously manages to get an ajar door that opens inside the office somehow open.

    Luckily for me, all the doors I¡¯ve passed are closed and empty. Till I¡¯m around 10 meters away from the corner.

    In the middle of the office sat a lithe figure, probably of the female variety, who had buried its face into its bosom while hugging its legs.

    How un-zombie like.

    I saw in its right hand a pair of scissors. The figure seemed to have noticed my gaze and lifts its head, showing her snotty face smeared with mascara and stares at me dazedly. She¡¯s ether a survivor or a rather disappointing undead.

    I give her the thumbs up with my free left hand while flashing a bright smile and then silently mouth the words ¡°Go for it, Girl¡± encouraging her to continue with what I assume is her suicide attempt and then continue on towards the corner.

    I only manage to move forward 2 meters past the occupied office before I hear banging on safety glass and muffled yells behind me.

    She¡¯s yelling about something about not leaving her here or some other clich¨¦.

    I sigh at the irrational behaviour and stop while keeping my eyes on the corner 8 meters away.

    The woman with the scissors isn¡¯t much of a threat.

    She¡¯s too afraid to even open the bloody door herself and just hysterically bangs it.

    I take it back what I said earlier. She¡¯s quite like a zombie. The resemblance is uncanny, quite frankly.

    Zombie goes moan, moan, bang, bang.

    This woman goes whine, whine, bang, bang.

    As I ponder the human nature and compare it with the new invasive species, three figures slowly slouch out behind the corner, attracted by the commotion the woman is causing.

    Ah, the migraine is back. Thanks, fellow survivor.

    I hold Jason in both hands and go to meet the three whom are joyfully doing the same, arms wide open with happy smiles on their distorted faces.

    We meet at the halfway and I swing Jason at the leg of the one forefront bringing the former psychiatrist down to the ground with a broken knee while bringing Jason up above my head and cracking its skull and taking a couple of steps back and steady myself.

    I see the woman still staring at me from my peripheral vison. At least she shut her mouth now.

    One of the two remaining undead, also dressed as psychiatrist, stumbles on the corpse of their former comrade and falls face first into the floor while the other dressed as an orderly circle around the mess and keeps approaching me.

    I take another two steps back to generate some distance between the two foes as I see the one who fell is still in the game and is crawling towards me.

    As the one still up comes into the swinging distance, I swing using both of my hands at it with a horizontal swing aiming at its head. I hit it in the jaw, twisting its head in an unnatural direction as it goes down for good due to snapped spine.

    Fearing the fatigue that will probably soon hit me due to hunger, I quickly go to the downed one and finish it off and sit down, leaning my back onto the white wall facing the occupied office and look at the dirty face staring at me.

    She flinches at my gaze like most do. Can¡¯t blame her for it.

    I know I¡¯m irregular, missing something crucial. And it shows. Most just don¡¯t know what I¡¯m missing. Mostly because they haven¡¯t met someone like me before.

    I hear the lock turning and then the sound of a door opening, so I come out of my daze and raise an eyebrow at the lithe female coming out of the office.

    She ignores my stare, walks to me and stands in front of me with barely any more distance than half a meter between us. My mind is in overdrive, simulating different ways to approach her.

    A leg sweep to take her down. A quick rise to the knee and a quick strike to the forehead.

    A leg lock and a pull, to make her fall. Grab her and twist her around and choke.

    ¡°I know you.¡± She states.

    ¡°I¡¯d question your credentials if you hadn¡¯t.¡± I say knowingly and beaming a smile at her while keeping eye contact.

    ¡°So, what do I owe the pleasure of you coming out and standing close enough to me for me to kill you if you know who I am?¡±

    Due to my facade crumbling thanks to the fool in front of me, causing me unnecessary problems, my voice starts to sound more and more monotone, as if someone is slowly reducing my pitch and intonation during my question.

    She flinches again, but doesn¡¯t take a step back.

    Her face is pale and looks like a small deer whose about to be run over by a car.

    ¡°I-I-¡°She stammers, trying to say something.

    I sigh and close my eyes. Readjusting my facade ¡°If you want to kill yourself, do it yourself and leave me alone. I have better things to do that helping people commit suicide.¡±

    ¡°Take me with you.¡±

    I open my eyes to evaluate her for a second, before sighing and closing my eyes again.

    ¡°Fuck. No. You¡¯re a useless burden.¡± She then proceeded to open her mouth to argue back at me only to be interrupted by my rumbling stomach.

    ¡°I¡¯ll give you a muesli bar if you take me with you.¡±

    ¡°Give me a sec to gather my breath to incapacitate you and take it for myself.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll know where to get more food.¡±

    ¡°Tell me something torture wouldn¡¯t tell me.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m able to get us out of here. I know the staff areas.¡±

    ¡°Still a no.¡±

    With frustration, she throws her hands in the air ¡°What would a monster like you need, anyway?!¡±

    ¡°Someone who¡¯s not useless.¡± I declare and then add with my purest smile yet while looking into her eyes, ¡°Or someone who¡¯s willing to become useful.¡±

    -Perspective of Kaitlyn Hal-

    Kaitlyn Hall stared at the smiling man sitting on the floor in front of her. A million things went through her mind, processing the situation.

    She remembered the stories on the news as this man wreaked havoc for 5 years in the union, only to get caught by chance while he was finishing his latest project.

    A patrol car had noticed an open front door left so by that man or by fate and came in to investigate.

    Only to find a man strapped to a chair staring at the crimson walls Kaine Smith had painted with the blood of the strapped man¡¯s family.

    As the officers entered and saw the room, according to the report, Kaine merely turned to them and smiled. Causing the officers to overreact.

    He was then shot twice. Once to the left shoulder and once into his right thigh. The biggest and last mistake the officers ever did.

    Instead of going down, Kaine Smith merely staggered and then dashed at the first officer punching with his fist which had the index finger slightly elevated creating an edge to apply the kinetic energy into a much more compact area and used it to strike the lower chest area, above the middle of the torso where the vital organs are unprotected by the ribcage.

    The external force applied to the proximity to the officer''s heart disturbed its rhythm, causing the officer to go into cardiac arrest.

    Without even checking the result of the punch, Kaine looking like a devil with an eerily calm face had then pounced at the other officer, grabbed the gun with one hand while putting the safety back on and with his other hand grabbed the officers hand holding the gun and used the gun as a lever while holding the officers hand in place, twisting the gun and the trigger finger of the officer along with it to an unnatural angle.

    And only then he had succumbed to his wounds, passing out due to blood loss as the bullet that had hit him in the right thigh had grazed an artery. After that night, he was unveiled as what he truly was and was granted the nickname The Devil.

    And that devil is sitting before me, smiling and offering me a bargain. The cost? My humanity, without a doubt.

    For that is his modus operandi. To break the humans and shape them in to his image.

    There is no point in hesitating.

    There can only be one answer to the dilemma in this situation.

    ¡°I accept.¡±

    I¡¯ll wager my humanity for a chance to live.

    For this is no longer the world of men.

    I heard the screams and saw the smoke rising from the city. There is no rescue, no hope. No sound of gunshots from the cavalry trying to retake either the metropolis or this facility. It¡¯s most likely the world of monsters now.

    And one of them who happens to be specialized in making more of them is in front of me.

    The Devil keeps smiling at me after hearing my reply. But for the first time in encountering him, his blue eyes betray emotion. Bestial excitement, and¡­

    Anticipation.

 Second Day of paradise 2 "How useful people are born."

    ¡°I accept.¡±

    As I hear her say those words with a face filled with submission I feel the empty place inside me spasms. My motive whatever some might believe is not to create others like me. But to understand. The result seen in others is a mere by-product as I explore myself.

    I will make myself whole by eradicating the weakness, the tumour¡­ The thing ThAt sHOuLd nOT HAVe eXiSTeD.

    I wILl bE wHaT IT NeVEr cOUld hAvE BEeN.

    I NE-eD T-t-To calm down.

    I inhale and exhale trying to calm my emotions.

    ¡°Now, what were you saying about having a mysli bar?¡± I ask while lifting her to stand and wipe some dust off her blouse. The exploration can wait for later. I¡¯m too hungry to work. Besides¡­

    I look at the corpses of the now re-dead and around the corridor of the offices. I don¡¯t have anything to work with.

    ¡°I truly appreciate you sharing this with me!¡± I say to the woman cowering behind her desk while I slowly savour the taste of food. ¡°I-I¡¯m glad you like it Mr. Smith¡± She awkwardly stutters back at me.

    I chuckle at her response and wave my hand. I never liked the surname I was given.

    ¡°Oh! Heavens, no need to be so formal, please. Just Kaine will do.¡±

    ¡°I, erm. See. About the dea-¡±

    But before she finishes I interrupt her.

    ¡°Now, now. I appreciate the enthusiasm, but as it stands, with so little to work with you¡¯d die before you even get your feet wet. Rather, what were you saying about knowing where to get more food? I presume that means there is none here?¡± Why couldn¡¯t there be a vending machine here?

    ¡°Ye-y-¡°

    I rise my hand, interrupting her and massage my temples with my other hand. ¡°Listen, I know I¡¯m scary to you whatever I do but for the love of god, can we please get past the stuttering and converse normally? You have little use to me as a corpse.¡±

    She looks at me with poorly hidden disbelief.

    ¡°I-I It¡¯s not that easy to change the way I¡¯m speaking¡­ s-so s-s-suddenly.¡± She says.

    ¡°Fine, I admit it would be slightly too much to ask from someone of your.. profession to act normal in my presence without being in a controlled environment.¡± I relent. I guess I expected too much from here.

    So, based on what this stuttering nerve wreck is was able to express in her quaint way was that there is quite the selection of snack machines in the staff¡¯s locker rooms on the ground floor.

    I honestly don¡¯t like the idea of going there as most of the staff was probably there when shit hit the fan but it¡¯s a lot better than the idea to go through the canteen into the kitchens. It would have most likely four times the number of people compared to staff areas as this thing all started yesterday morning around when rest of ¡°patients¡± would be having breakfast.

    I want to relocate in to the locker rooms, so I have to take her with me. But before that she needs to be armed. So, I took my female companion to meet someone very special who can help us in arming her. Or legging her. Free choice.

    I guide her towards the office I was before while she kept a few meters behind me.

    ¡°Meet Dr. Jason!¡± I say to her as we enter and gesture towards the trusty Doc.

    ¡°¡­This is?¡± She asks bewildered as she peeks warily in the room.

    I smile at her while her gaze moves to where I was pointing.

    ¡°Oh god.¡± After using the holy name in vain she proceeds to desecrate Dr. Jason¡¯s office/resting place by puking in it.

    Ignoring the reaction I gracefully move next to her and before she even manages to register my presence I grab her by the nape and drag her next to the Samaritan of a corpse. Which is followed by her screech due to my unexpected contact and the nearing of a half-eaten corpse.

    She of course shows further ineptitude by stumbling on a not one but two of the other corpses in our way.

    As we get next to the objective she¡¯s shaking all over like a leaf. To my disappointment the scissors in her hands haven¡¯t moved an inch towards me even though she¡¯s holding on to them to dear life in between her hands while sobbing quietly.

    This is not going to work. I would have wanted her to do the next part but once more my expectations and plans have been betrayed.

    I ignore the sobbing damsel in distress and once more dislocate the other leg. Which is orchestrated by more sobbing, followed by dry heaving coming behind me. She¡¯s not even leaving the room due to being paralyzed by fear. I look behind me and to my surprise she hasn¡¯t averted her gaze from what I¡¯m doing.

    Surprised by the woman, I for the first time I give her a proper look over.

    She has a Lithe body, a head shorter than me, I¡¯d wager a bit over 1.7 m tall with head full of wheat coloured long hair reaching to her shoulders. Oval shaped face, small nose, green eyes which were filled with dread, and surprisingly a slight hint of curiosity of what I¡¯m doing.

    The magnetic door slowly slides open after we unlocked it from the duty post on the inside of the psychiatric reception block and we step out into another corridor leading in to the different parts of the asylum.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    All separated by magnetic doors ether requiring a magnetic key card or unlocking from a duty station to get them open.

    The woman is now equipped with another femur with scissors strapped to the end of it making it a very short spear like object. She surprisingly willingly took the improvised weapon compared to earlier fiascos. I guess she understood that it¡¯s no point arguing with me on the subject, not that she¡¯d be able to argue with that stutter of hers. It¡¯s to the point that I haven¡¯t asked her name.

    Not that I¡¯d care about her name.

    Our goal is to head to the management and staff block on this level to get to the personnel elevator on this floor to avoid scouring through the whole facility to get to the locker rooms on the ground floor. We culled the few stragglers and small groups of the undead along the way, or well I did.

    I¡¯m thankfully a lot more efficient after getting a bit to eat after almost two days of starving and I don¡¯t need to be as cautious as before as I¡¯m starting to see patterns in these mindless creatures and use it against them.

    On our way to the elevator I reduced the zombie population in this complex by 20, all of them members of the staff. There were a bit less than 250 patients as well as staff numbering around 50 in this institution on normal days, no idea how many staff was off duty due to the influenza. But place like this never runs on skeleton crew.

    Especially after money flowed in when I was institutionalized here.

    At the elevator my companion typed in the number and letter combination into the keypad to use the elevator and we wait for it while stepping back in case it¡¯s occupied.

    With a chime the doors opened unveiling 4 hunched over figures one draped in a doctors outfit and the rest in orderly¡¯s clothes with a fifth or what was barely left over of the fifth in the middle of them with little clothing remaining on the mangled body.

    They attempted to stand up and turn towards us, but I¡¯d rather avoid that, so I rush over and give one of them a hearty swing to the head that leads its head to smash into the elevators side housing the button panel while pressing quite a few of the buttons, dyeing them red with stale murky blood as it slowly slides to the floor leaving a line of blood behind from its head.

    I dance out of the elevator, followed by one of them who managed to follow me before the elevator closed its doors to start it¡¯s decent to the selected floors, along with orchestrated banging coming from the inside. Echoing thought the elevator chute.

    I sweep the legs off below the one that followed me and dispatch him as it hits the floor, smearing the floor and walls along with me with murky crimson that flew out of it on impact leaving the creature lying there, motionless. I give it a couple of good hits more for good measure to ensure the kill.

    We wait a couple more minutes before I motion her to recall the elevator. But not before she gets a head pat from me. She didn¡¯t scream once while coming here. And good girls who don¡¯t scream like a banshee deserve a reward.

    Well for her I suppose a head pat from a serial killer isn¡¯t much of a reward, as she flinches from my touch and pulls away awkwardly.

    The elevator returns along with it¡¯s fanfare of banging, coming inside of it.

    The doors open once more releasing it¡¯s three occupants who shamble out of it moaning and groaning as if lamenting their fate.

    I look at my companion whose eyes are on me as well. I smile at her and with an elegant bow I retreat leaving her staring at me for an instant before she turns towards the shambling trio who are about 4 meters away from her.

    She starts to back away while shaking once more but not screaming which is a good thing. Her spear thing had risen to point towards the hostile entities as a defence reflex. The bad thing about that was that she was only holding it with one hand..

    Ah, she started to sob again. She keeps retreating in the hallway we came from, while I first when to a corner and then circled around the lobby we were in.

    It appears that two of the three has decided to go for her while the last one is coming for me so walked over to it and greeted it with a casual bash to the head followed by a quick retraction of my weapon which I sent back at it while it was staggered towards it¡¯s neck with a stabbing motion sending the creature backwards. I change my aim to it¡¯s arms and disable them by dislocating it¡¯s shoulders by hitting them above.

    Continuing, I rotated myself 360 degrees on my heels while lowering myself into a crouch and extending my right leg to kick the legs from under it causing it to fall on its back.

    I continue the rotation another 180 degrees while retracting my leg and using the momentum while moving my weight from my heels to my toes by leaning forwards to rise back up.

    I turn around quickly and apply my foot on the creature¡¯s throat to keep it from getting up and turn to look how the other party is doing, only to see the race still continued on with her retreating and the zombies following.

    Losing interest, I turn back towards my quarry who¡¯s attempting to still get up despite me forcing it down by applying force to its neck.

    I study the creature, or rather the former orderly of this facility. Dilated, bloodied hazy pupils and skin that¡¯s lost its colour giving it a pale if not purplish complexion. Its lips have been chewed off by ether the creature itself or one of the others in the elevator leaving behind nothing to cover its teeth and gums.

    The mouth was constantly moving in attempt to bite to a point of reflex or instinct, filling the hallway with the sharp echo of clacking teeth. The creature¡¯s veins were deep purple due to stagnated blood and were highly visible all around it¡¯s body that wasn¡¯t layered in gore. It was missing an ear from the left side as well as a chunk from its right thigh revealing bone and tendons.

    ¡°Kaineeee!¡±

    My study session was abruptly interrupted by a sharp scream coming from the hallway the woman had retreated.

    ¡°Well sorry, but duty calls apparently.¡± I apologize to the sorry mess of an undead and while keeping my leg on it¡¯s throat I bring down Jason to its cranium, putting the creature down permanently and head into the hallway to find a banshee.

    I caught up to the race between the dead and the living and kept a relaxed paced behind the undead around 4 meters away from them.

    Seeing that the woman hurled a bunch of insults towards me in between her sobs.

    ¡°Asshole! *sob* Coward! *sob* Liar! *sob* Monster!¡±

    ¡°I remember saying I have no interest in babysitting a useless person with me.¡± I counteract while motioning towards her ¡°You¡¯re look rather useless to me at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Fuck you!¡± She retorted back, forgetting to even sob. ¡°These were my co-workers you heartless monster! Just like Doctor Martin, whose legs you chopped off and made into weapons you deranged maniac!¡±

    ¡°Oh! His name was Martin? By the way while we¡¯re on the subject may I know your name?¡±

    The response I got was something in between a screech and a roar.

    ¡°You insane motherfucker!¡± Were the next words she graced me after her screech. We¡¯re still retreating by the way. Or well, she is. Zombies don¡¯t even care about me due to her screeching.

    ¡°Excellent diagnosis Doctor! Now for the love of god just at least try to stab them!¡± I retort once more. While this is fun and no real danger comes from the retreat due to me clearing this block, but.. Ah, she stumbled over one of the undead I dispatched earlier.

    I stop and wait. I¡¯d honestly prefer if she¡¯d grow a pair and at least poked them a little before I did something. But alas, I have no use for her if she can¡¯t even defend herself so it¡¯s up to her.

    Stunned by her sudden stumble the woman had fallen on her back and the duo of ordely zombies creeped ever closer to her with their jaws opening an closing instinctively. At the point where the zombies were almost on her she finally reacted and in a moment of desperation stabbed on of them.. in the chest.

    As this is happening I facepalmed. ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen any zombie movies?! Aim for the head!¡±

    I was once more greeted with more screech/roar for my efforts to help. I sight, believing she¡¯s had enough I rush the not impaled zombie who was half a meter behind it¡¯s impaled compatriot and do a full swing with both hands twisting it¡¯s head to the side while it falls in the direction of the momentum of the hit sent it, never to get back up.

    I then turn around to watch the struggle of the century between a maiden and a zombie.

    She was desperately holding the zombie away from herself with the scissor stick while the shambler was reaching for her with it¡¯s hands and maw.

    She once more sends me a pleading look with her snotty face and for once I decided to indulge her. With a clatter Jason lands a little bit behind her. She eyes me with a face that this wasn¡¯t over and grabbed the weapon with it¡¯s other hand and swung it from the floor aiming at the zombies face.

    And then she hit it again. And again. And again. Till the zombie collapsed which was followed by her letting go of the spear and using both hands to swing Jason till she got exhausted and let go of the weapon, followed by her legs giving out from exhaustion.

    ¡°Kaitlyn.¡± With a hoarse and tired voice she whispered her name, a response to my earlier question.

    I pick up my weapon from the floor and lean next to her ear and whisper

    ¡°Welcome to the realm of people who get things done, Kaitlyn.¡±

 How useful people are born, POV: Kaitilyn

    Kaitlyn Hall was scared. Scared of the situation she was in as well as the companionship she had in the situation. Of which she was afraid of more was hard for her to pin down.

    A while ago her companion had guided her into an office of Doctor Martin Monroe. An office filled with corpses. Corpses of her former co-workers lying in bloodied floor, just left there to lie. She didn¡¯t know most of them well, but she recognized them.

    She was able to accept it what had happened to them, even if there would be a cure for this disease. Desperate times demanded desperate actions and it helped that the familiar faces were unfamiliar at the same time with their faces mangled and twisted in what resembled bestial savagery.

    Yet all of that merely emphasized the corpse of a Man next to the window which didn¡¯t fit with the others. The corpse of Doctor Martin who had been assigned to counsel Kaine Smith.

    A body that had clearly been feasted on based on the ripped open stomach with the guts pulled out of him as well as deep gashes in its body, most likely caused by teeth ripping the flesh from his body. The doctors head had been twisted to the side to an unnatural angle and was missing a leg.

    The Doctors face was not the on donned by the turned co-workers but one with confusion and fear. He had been human when he had died. And the murderer was now cheerfully pointing at the victim and introducing him to me as Doctor Jason.

    Bewildered, confused I looked at the cheerful man who looked so normal ignoring the situation. It¡¯s as if he¡¯s introducing me to a close friend in a bar or something similar.

    ¡°Oh god¡± I mutter as I empty my stomach in the office floor, mixing the acrid with the gore on the floor.

    On the next moment before I¡¯m able to react the mans hand grabs me behind the neck and drags me deeper in the office. Causing me to paralyze from fear of what he¡¯s going to do.

    Past the grotesque imitations of my former colleges and next to the corpse of Doctor Martin, his hand finally leave my neck and I feel his piercing gaze on me. The office is silent except my muffled sobs as I stare before me, too afraid to meet the gaze that rests upon me.

    A moment later the lingering gaze falls away from me and I see his legs move next to the corpse, which is followed by him grabbing the remaining leg and kicking the joints, causing the leg to make a wet popping sound causing me to sob once more.

    Nailed to my place, I heave and sob but nevertheless I raise my gaze to watch what is happening.

    The man is using the handcuffs on his cudgel to rip rather than saw trough the flesh to separate the bones, and it dawns on me what he¡¯s working on it as I look at the leg that had been missing.

    Kaine smith once more turns to me and looks at me but I avoid the gaze and keep looking at the corpse and the part he¡¯s about to work on.

    I feel his gaze wander over my body and face and I feel an electrifying sensation on the parts his gaze veils over. Leaving my body numb form the sensation. Eternity passes as I hold my breath while he scans me with his eyes. He finally lifts his gaze away from me and gets back to work and I move my eyes from the corpse and look at the back of that Man.

    Half a day passes as he works on the leg. He¡¯s take the scissors I forgot I held in my hands and is now using ripped clothing from the corpses to tie it to a bone. Once done he hands it to me.

    I¡¯d be against accepting it if I wouldn¡¯t know that refusal wasn¡¯t an option. Saying nothing, he motioned to follow, and we move once more into the hallway and head for the magnetic door at the beginning of this office block.

    We¡¯re probably heading for the elevators, with him walking briskly in front putting down the occasional straggler with an odd grace in his movements by first incapacitating his quarries before ruthlessly ending their unlife while I stand back and watch it unfold.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    We arrive at the elevator after a fast paced but slow walk, which too us perhaps 15 minutes to half an hour we arrive at the lounge with the staff elevators.

    I type the keycode and move back where he¡¯s standing and wait for the elevator. It brought with it 4 more undead with it. Their faces stuffed with flesh and gore from a fifth one who had not turned. They turn to us, and I feel a breeze pass me as I see that man rush in the elevator and mercilessly bash one¡¯s head in. He skips out of the elevator as it closes, seemingly due to the one Kaine bashed had hit the buttons as it went down.

    I was about to recall the elevator but Kaine motioned me to stop. We stood there silently for awhile till he let me recall it.

    It returned with the stragglers still inside. He let them get outside this time. I notice his gaze once more on me and I turn to him. We stare at each other for a moment before he smiled and retreated from me with a graceful bow.

    Dread filled me, and I felt the betrayal fill me with fear.

    I took a step back, and another and so forth, barely holding in my desperate sobs that had returned.

    I can¡¯t. I just can¡¯t. Please, leave.

    Before I notice Kaine is nowhere to be seen and I¡¯m father and father away from the lounge the elevators, still retreating with two old co-workers shuffling to keep up with me staying a steady 5 meters away from me.

    I¡¯m not up for it. But. I don¡¯t want to die. Or worse..

    Become like them.

    Desperately I fill my lungs with air and call out to the only one that can save me.

    ¡°Kaineeee!¡±

    A moments later I see him casually walking into the view. He came! He¡¯s going to save me!

    Yet.

    He merely followed the parade from a distance away. He wasn¡¯t going to save me. My helplessness and dread turned to wrath, boiling deep for the mans indifference. But.. I knew why he¡¯s doing this. It¡¯s merely desperation bellowing out, hoping to make the man to react. To do something, anything.

    ¡°Asshole! *sob* Coward! *sob* Liar! *sob* Monster!¡±

    He responds as I expected he would. I¡¯m useless. I knew it. I¡¯m going to die. And the tough of it merely fuled my emotions taking me closer and closer to hysteria.

    I told him off, telling him to fuck himself for his response. For reminding the obvious. Bastard probably memorized the access code to the elevator as well. Stripping me of any value to him.

    ¡°These were my co-workers you heartless monster! Just like Doctor Martin, whose legs you chopped off and made into weapons you deranged maniac!¡± Yet I kept berating him, to release all I¡¯ve held in.

    What fucking Jason. He probably doesn¡¯t even know my name. Rather, he doesn¡¯t care about my name.

    ¡°Oh! His name was Martin? By the way while we¡¯re on the subject may I know your name?¡±

    His response made me lose it. I had no hope. I tried multiple times to gather the courage to stab. But I couldn¡¯t. I screamed, hoping that it¡¯d ease the fear. It didin¡¯t.

    ¡°You insane motherfucker!¡±

    Yelling is all I can do. And I¡¯ll clutch on to it.

    He throws a sarcastic remark at me, merely tells me to stab them. As if it¡¯d be that simple.

    Suddenly my heels hit something, and I fall over. It¡¯s all over they¡¯re soon on me and I can¡¯t even defend myself. I notice it¡¯s a body from earlier. It¡¯s skull collapsed to the inside due to the force of the impact.

    This will be my fate as well. But not before getting bitten, and probably turn into one of the m as well. He¡¯ll watch me turn out of curiosity and then merely bash my head in. Probably thanking for my service at the same time.

    Probably will come up a name as well. Hope it¡¯ll be something good. I¡¯d like to have a pretty name like Sarah or Hannah.

    Anger wells up in me again and desperation leaves me, I see my former co-workers creeping close, almost reaching me. I feel the adrenaline coursing through me and my muscles tense. I see their teeth clattering as they instinctively bite the air. The rank stench from their mouths reach me, and I snap and use the scissor spear to stab the one closest to me.

    I think I heard Kaine say something but all I hear is static.

    I desperately try to hold the Zombie away from me. I struggle and struggle while waiting for the second one reach me and finish me.

    I look where it is only to see Kaine closer than before with the other one not in sight. I appeal to him desperately with my eyes.

    Only to get his weapon thrown behind me. My rage once more bellows as I glare at him and use one of my hands to grab the weapon and proceed to hit the zombie.

    I hit it till it collapsed.

    I hit it till it was nothing more than a mix of bloated flesh.

    I collapse as my knees give out.

    The man comes over to pick up his weapon behind me, ignoring me once more.

    ¡°Kaitlyn¡± I hoarsely whisper the man my name. Something in me is demanding the man for recognition. No, only for that man to remember and know my name. That is enough.

    Next moment a silent baritone voice caresses my ear.

    ¡°Welcome to the realm of people getting things done, Kaitlyn.¡±

    Chills run through my sweat laced body as I hear his voice.

    His voice, acknowledging me.

 Second Day of Paradise "Billy joins the party"

    After getting the woman named Kaitlyn to be of some use, I picked the tired woman up to my shoulder and carried her back to the lounge. To which she didn¡¯t protest and let me carry her.

    I set her down to lie against the wall while I sat down the opposite side of the wall she was leaning.

    A lot of time has been wasted today already but it¡¯s still acceptable to take a break.

    Awhile later Kaitlyn fell asleep.

    I assume unlike me she didn¡¯t sleep last night after what happened and the vigorous bashing she gave to that one shambeler took most of what she had left.

    I stand up and decided to do some patrolling, even though it should be pointless as her screaming would¡¯ve already brought any stragglers undead or otherwise to us. I mostly just do it to waste some time and perhaps find something useful.

    I¡¯d appreciate food but, where we are it¡¯s unlikely to find any unless someone would have a stash of snacks hidden somewhere in their office. Definitely no vending machines around here.

    All I¡¯ve seen have been some coffee machines.

    After scouring trough tens of monotone, boring therapist offices for about a couple of hours I hit the motherload.

    Some fat fuck had installed a small refrigerator hidden into his table. Filled with actual refrigerated food stuffs and beverages.

    Most of them had a label stating that it was made with love to her honey snuffles, love mom. I¡¯m rather thankful of honey snuffles and his mom for this luxurious meal.

    I take what I can carry and head back to the elevator lounge and kick Kaitlyn awake.

    She snaps out of her dreams and flinches when she sees me towering over her.

    ¡°Courtesy of Honey snuffles and his mom.¡± I say and give her a Tupperware filled with lasagna and a fork I found from dear snuffle¡¯s drawer.

    She relaxes also takes a diet coke off my hand and instantly digs in drowning down the food with big mouthfuls.

    I sit back where I was and dig into a meatloaf I took with me.

    We ate silently only occasionally catching each other glancing at the other.

    After the meal we headed over to the refrigerator again, this time with Kaitlyn¡¯s handbag she went to collect from her office and we stuffed it full of what we could.

    At this point we had another meatloaf

    A Tupperware of some stew

    And a loaf of bread along with sliced ham and cheese.

    Based on the earlier sampling I was sure the food Mom made was of excellent quality event thought I didn¡¯t know the ingredients of the stew.

    With that done it was time descend to the ground staff floor to get into the lockers. A place that possibly contained 20 or so shambelers.

    We called back the elevator, which at this time was empty except for the half-eaten corpse with little of identifying details remaining on it.

    I still just in case split open it¡¯s head and dragged halfway out of the elevator to act as a stopper while I wanted the elevator to stand in place.

    My next goal was to open the elevators celling hatch for us, but to my surprise it was sealed.

    The institute took their security more seriously that I had expected. I would¡¯ve assumed them to relent with only key coding the elevators and magnetically sealed separator doors between blocks.

    But sealing even the elevator hatch and making it require a specialized screwdriver was a bit much.

    This was going to complicate things.

    My plan was to safely ride the elevator down using the rooftop of the elevator where the zombies couldn¡¯t get to us as a measure of safety but plans now had to change.

    Thought finding the refrigerator did extend the possible time we were able to stay here without complications.

    Still, I¡¯d rather get a move on and get somewhere else with more resources to work with.

    My thoughts were interrupted by a ¡°Is there something wrong?¡± coming from behind me.

    ¡°Complications.¡± I tell Kaitlyn. ¡°The elevator hatch is sealed.¡±

    ¡°You wanted to open the hatch?¡± She asks further.

    ¡°Yeah, would be a sorry mess to ride down and have a bunch of them waiting for us there.¡± I say and ponder the alternatives. ¡°I¡¯m thinking of building a barricade to keep us safe in the elevator, but it¡¯ll take time.¡±

    ¡°You seem in a hurry. What¡¯s the rush?¡± Kaitlyn inquiries from me.

    ¡°We have a limit in staying here and I¡¯d like not to test it.¡± I answer and then add,

    ¡°Besides the office blocks have little resources for anything and is sealed up. Till the electricity runs out that is.¡±

    ¡°You mean..¡±

    ¡°I mean the magnetic locks. They might unlock with a power outage. And I¡¯d prefer if it didn¡¯t happen while we¡¯re trapped in here.¡±

    ¡°But it¡¯s only day two of this incident! There¡¯s bound to be electricity still running for good while!¡±

    ¡°That is if nothing happens to the places that actually produces the power or distributes.¡± I sombrely remind her. ¡°This place probably still has a backup generator for that case, but that wouldn¡¯t last long.¡± I add.

    As I say it. The lights flicker off for a second and turn back on.

    ¡°Shit.¡± I don¡¯t like if I lose the control of the situation.

    I grab Kaitlyn and pull her into the elevator and use my leg to roll the corpse out of the way of the door.

    The door closes, and I let go of her.

    ¡°Seems like we summoned the devil by speaking about him.¡± I muse as I grab my weapon prompting her to do the same. I press the button circled in green and we begin our descent.

    ¡°Surely that little flicker wouldn¡¯t have opened the doors.¡± She says to me while we move down.

    ¡°I concur. But I¡¯d not gamble with it. If that was the blackout and the back up generators turning on we¡¯d be living under borrowed time. With no power we¡¯d lose the elevators and the doors might or might not open. On ether case we¡¯d be in a precarious situation.¡± I say to her and then specify,

    ¡°While the doors staying locked is a good thing without power, it would also mean we¡¯d be trapped on the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor of this high security facility.¡±

    She nods to my answer, indicating that she understood. Nevertheless, I honestly have my doubts on going down with out any preparations.

    Arriving to our floor the elevator bling¡¯s loudly, opening in a similar lounge we were earlier.

    As the door opened a slumping corpse fell through the opening door, revealing it¡¯s gnawed at back.

    The corpse animated from our presence, moaning and reaching towards us. It¡¯s movements sluggish and weak, notably so due to having most of it¡¯s body eaten from behind.Stolen story; please report.

    I slammed Jason into his forehead, causing it to collapse inwards, while trough the skin that ruptured from impact a mix of brain and blood oozed out. Slowly flowing down the creature¡¯s face.

    We stepped out of the elevator into the lounge that was left in mayhem with a few corpses lying around that had not turned for some reason. Likely due to suffering too much damage while alive, based on the shape of the corpses.

    No other unliving awaited us in the lounge. It was eerily quiet.

    I went for one of the eaten corpses in the lounge, the body was in horrible condition like one would expect yet the troubling fact was that he was donning the same uniform grey asylum inmate uniform that I did before I switched them.

    I was interrupted of my pondering by a wet slicking sound coming from behind me. As I turn around I see Kaitlyn pulling out her scissor staff from another corpse. That corpse was wearing something that could still be distinguished as something a staff member would wear.

    She notices my gaze and looks at me bewildered.

    ¡°What? I need practice, right?¡± She asks me and strikes the corpses head again. ¡°What are you looking at anyhow?¡±

    I tun around and shatter my corpses skull as well.

    ¡°Mines a patient. We might have the numeral quality slightly more against us than expected.¡±

    ¡°Any plans countering the odds Mr. Genius?¡± She asks me while still stabbing the skull of her post-mortem victim.

    ¡°I do have ideas Ms. Smartass but nothing I could conjure out of thin air.¡± That said, I tun around to face her again. ¡°I think we should try to get into that staff locker room you were talking about. Especially if this hallway has a potential to throw hundreds of them at us.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s to our left, past that turn and then right at the end of the straight corridor.¡±

    ¡°Is there an exit there?¡±

    ¡°In super max asylum for the criminally insane? Of course not, staff¡¯s only entrance is through a couple staff gates behind the premise. You shouldn¡¯t expect much contraband in the locker rooms ether.¡±

    I whistle at her statement. ¡°Quite harsh measures.¡±

    ¡°All thanks to you. I am and most of the populace is honestly surprised you weren¡¯t executed for what you did.¡±

    ¡°Well it quite honestly was just a slap on the fingers by my employers.¡±

    ¡°¡­ Your employers? A Slap on the fingers?¡±

    ¡°Oh, just something I did for some people in my past time to get a workingman¡¯s salary.¡± I sight and continue to clarify

    ¡°Had I not been a naughty boy the serial killer wouldn¡¯t have been Kaine Smith and would have died on the scene from blood loss. If you catch my drift.¡±

    My little story had silenced her, so I decided it¡¯s a good chance to drop the subject and move for the turn towards the corridor.

    A couple seconds later I hear her following me.

    A bit before the turn I move to the opposite side of the turn to avoid the blind spot right after the turn. Luckily or unluckily there were nobody in the corridor.

    The corridor was straight with no splits and at the end of it there was a green metal door, which was based on Kaitlyn¡¯s directions the door to the staff lounge where the staff has access to the lockers for ether gender.

    Along the way there are other doors on both sides of the corridor. These were normal wooden framed doors with glass windows embedded in them.

    Some of them where now decorated with bloodied smears of ether full palm prints or ones possibly belonging to a palm that had slowly draped down while pressed against the wall.

    ¡°Those are Janitorial offices as well as maintenance.¡± Kaitlyn whispers.

    ¡°You didn¡¯t say anything about them before.¡±

    ¡°Forgot. Sorry, I kind of just passed them and never payed any attention to them.¡±

    I feel my affection points drain for my new toy as I slap her at the back of the head. Which she begrudgingly accepts. I bet she doesn¡¯t even understand how important this little omitted detail is.

    I leave her massaging the back of her head and head for the first door.

    The door has a sign next to it informing me that it is the office of Gerald Owens, Senior Maintenance. The door doesn¡¯t have any stains but I can see a figure standing in the room.

    I take a step back and kick open the door which alerted the figure of my presence who begins to approach me. As well as caused some of the rooms to enliven.

    The office is about 3x3 meters box with a small long window near to the celling opposite of the door. It has a wooden table in the middle that takes most of the space with an office chair to sit on and a bookshelf filled with binders next to the wall with the window. On the left side of the room there is a locked cabinet with presumably tools in them.

    ¡°Wha-¡°

    Before Kaitlyn can finish her piece, I move in for the kill by rushing in the room with my weapon lowered.

    My quarry this time is rather clean for a zombie due to being trapped in here. Donning a fancy workers overall and bald head filled with purple veins the creature lunges me erratically.

    I use my momentum and swing my weapon up aiming to hit the foe¡¯s jaw and hope there is enough force behind my swing to knock its head downwards enough to snap its neck from the head motion.

    I hear a satisfying snap from the head movement, but the body stays up with its face looking backwards. It¡¯s confused from losing me from it¡¯s sight thought as it has stopped with its erratic grabbing motions with its hands.

    I stop and silently observe the creature, but before I¡¯m able to gain any useful insight a wild banshee appears at the entrance of the office.

    ¡°Kaine, What the fuck?! Now they¡¯ll know we¡¯re here!¡± The banshee states, which causes the zombie to turn around with it¡¯s hand in the former front waving wildly as it heads for the wrong direction.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± I muse while watching this display.

    ¡°Stop playing around and just put it down! We¡¯ve got bigger problems!¡±

    ¡°On the contrary. We have no problems, well some but they can wait.¡± I answer her while continuing to watch the rather amusing performance of the zombie moving away from us and making a mess in the office.

    ¡°Care to clarify?¡± She huffs.

    ¡°Sure, but could you first keep an eye at the corridor where we came from?¡± I ask her while concentrating at zombie.

    ¡°Of course, of course whatever the Wolfy Brainiac asks.¡± I hear her loudly turn around, doing what I ask her.

    ¡°Thank you, now for the clarifications, yes?¡± I muse.

    ¡°Well, first the other offices are fine, they¡¯re opened inwards so it¡¯s rather difficult for them steam roll through the doors. Besides there aren¡¯t that many of them in there to cause any notable pressure on the door. Next you probably would counter my argument and point out the glass. But it¡¯s probably safety glass considering the institution we¡¯re in.¡±

    I take a slight pause to catch my breath and continue ¡°Besides even if it¡¯s not I¡¯d be more concerned with the glass fragments than those things, that is if they wouldn¡¯t kill them with the glass.¡±

    There was a slight pause in between us before she responded to my conclusion.

    ¡°Well fuck, you really are a genius, I guess I¡¯m here to keep an eye out if there is anything coming through the lounge?¡±

    ¡°Just keeping my head cool under pressure and that is indeed what you¡¯re doing.¡±

    ¡°And why are you keep it hat thing.. alive?¡±

    ¡°To achieve total victory, one has to know their enemy. And that is exactly what I¡¯m doing.¡± I glance at her with a smug smile. ¡°Would you like to know what I¡¯ve concluded, or would you like to flex that useless head of yours?¡±

    ¡°Based on what I saw undead are stupid.¡± She huffs.

    I sight at her statement and lesson her on the zombie hunting method.

    ¡°Kind of or rather they¡¯re very basic creatures. They track us with their eyes and based on sound. They are dependent on those senses, with the sight the main tracking method. And based on this individual they have no ability to adapt to changes to said senses.¡±

    I wanted to continue the lecture on how they aren¡¯t truly undead as the ability to sense means they are in some capacity still alive to receive the stimulus but heavy moaning coming from the hallway declares the end of class.

    ¡°Well boss, we¡¯re fucked.¡± I hear Kaitlyn telling me over the moaning

    I take a few steps backwards and lean into the hall and see a dozen of both staff and patient zombies slowly coming to view from the corner 5 meters away from us.

    ¡°Ms. Kaitlyn would you please step into my new office please.¡± I tell her before calmly and pull her in while closing the door as close the door as much as I can but due to my kick the door can¡¯t be fully closed anymore.

    The zombie I decided to call Billy is in the corner of the room, molesting a wall. I motion Kaitlyn to join me and rush to move the sturdy full wood table to push it against the door.

    ¡°That will never hold them!¡± My companion yells at me showing her distrust towards my plan.

    I ignore her and drag down the bookcase causing the binders to fall out of it on the floor and drag it to fill the gap between the wall and the table. With no moment to spare as just as I finished the barricade the dozen zombies arrive at the door and begin their attempt to enter but with no progress as the gap between the barricade and the wall is too small for the door to open enough for them to get in.

    The ones able are sticking their hands through, trying to reach us.

    With no time for respite I move in to bash their hands as I¡¯m not too confident on the hardiness of the barricade with a dozen bodies pressing against it.

    While I¡¯m working on clearing up the hands to get a solid shot through the gap of the door I notice from the side of my vision Kaitlyn moving closer to Billy with her staff in hand ready to strike.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you dare harm your Junior!¡± I yell out to her. ¡°Get her and prepare to spike some heads!¡±

    She looks at me with bewilderment and dissatisfaction. I turn to her and glare till she gets my point and comes next to me, leaving Billy alone to explore his relationship with the wall.

    I turn back and break some more hands. The makeshift barricade is groaning under the pressure of ten or so bodies pushing against the door.

    It didn¡¯t take long for the hands to be cleared so me and Kaitlyn move to the next phase of the plan. The plan did have to be revised as occasionally when a body went down it¡¯s place would take someone with able hands, so I mostly dealt with the hands while Kaitlyn stabbed them.

    A few iterations later they no longer posed a threat to the door, tough had we not dealt with the situation fast enough they would have gotten through without a doubt based on the cracks in the bookshelf.

    I sat down to catch my breath as did Kaitlyn, tough she did so as far away from Billy as possible.

    After she sat down she turned to me and said ¡°I believe we should talk about.. That thing.¡±

    She motions towards Billy.

    ¡°That''s Billy. I¡¯ll be keeping him.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± She asks. Pressuring me for an answer.

    ¡°Because he¡¯s been useful.¡±

    ¡°How has he been useful?! He¡¯s a zombie! And besides his name was Gerald!¡± She yells

    ¡°Let me reiterate. B-I-L-L-Y has been less troublesome and slightly more useful than you.¡±

    ¡°B-but he¡¯s still a zombie!¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t be a racist.¡± I tell her and motion towards her with Jason. ¡±and it says a lot more about you than him.¡±

    Her shoulders collapse in surrender after my retort and just sits there for a moment before meekly making a motion.

    ¡°Could you at least break his arms and do something about his mouth?¡±

    I clap my hands at her suggestion cheerfully. ¡°An excellent Idea, I wonder if it affects its predatory instincts in any way!¡±

    I stand up and head where Billy was, Jason in my hand to declaw Billy who ignorantly kept playing with the wall.

 Chapter 6: "The second day of Paradise, Girlfriend trouble"

    I take hold of Billy by the belt and twist backwards while sweeping his legs off the ground.

    The zombie fell to his side hard, showing the lack of instinctual protective reflexes.

    The crack I heard from the impact should mean I broke his shoulder, which he landed on. I placed my knee on Billy¡¯s back and pushed him to lie on his front while thinking over.

    The creature was trying to instinctually bite my leg, despite being out of range. Its good left hand was reaching around while the right arm it had broken twitched. but mostly remained inert.

    I grabbed the right arm and put my left arm in to its armpit and pulled while kicking at the same time.

    A wet crunch echoed in the room, and I heard Kaitlyn retch from it.

    I let go of the arm and it dropped harmlessly on the floor, its upperpart completely dislocated leaving the arm hang attached to the rest of the body only with skin.

    ¡°Oh god, that sound.¡± Kaitlyn said between dry heaves, ¡°I regret asking you do that..¡±

    I throw Kaitlyn a smile as I place the metal handcuff part of the makeshift weapon into Billy¡¯s mouth. I had overlooked the potential danger in his mouth because of already being basically disarmed there. I focus back on my work and let her just watch with horror.

    I grasp the weapons handle with both hands and push, causing a quiet pop sound out due to dislocating the jaw whilst the pull pulled loose the things lower front teeth.

    I take Jason out of its mouth and place it behind its neck and gently shift it back to the natural position to avoid further spine damage till the head drops off my weapon and drops in to the correct place and almost proper alignment.

    I hear a wet squish as Billy¡¯s head props down.. The nose, perhaps?

    I bring Jason over head to ¡®surgically¡¯ smash the other shoulder, but I halt as I hear Kaitlyn speak up.

    ¡°He looks so pitiful.¡± Her voice is almost a whisper filled with empathy that I turn back towards her and look as she leans on the table and looks at Billy with pity.

    The sight makes me snort, and I have to hold back my laughter because of her suddenly feeling sorry for it.

    She shoots me a glare that conveys this to be my fault.

    I shrug and wave her off, causing her to harrumph and look away towards the door.

    I sigh with relief as I feel my spontaneous fit dying down and refocus.

    I raise my arms again and without hesitation bring the weapon down. The handcuff digging slightly into the arm before striking bone. I raise it up again and continue striking like some miner digging at a rock.

    I only stop after the shoulder remains a mangled mess and stays inert.

    I sit down next to Billy and watch as it squirms on the floor for a few minutes before calming down.

    I close my eyes and enjoy the momentary quiet brought into this room as none of us says anything. The hallway carried over some sounds from other occupied offices, but they were minute.

    I listened to my heart beating in my chest, it¡¯s even rhythm bringing me a slight serene respite.

    ¡°If you¡¯re ready, should we move on?¡± Asked Kaitlyn after a moment, interrupting my calm.

    I opened my eyes, and I felt a loss from losing the serenity, but ignored it and gave her a nod while standing up.

    Without further ado, I picked up Billy and winced as its head and arms bobbed about freely. I could understand her feeling sorry for it, as it had a certain feeling of helplessness to it after what I had done.

    It was acting rather passive even after picking it up, almost like a short-circuited machine, unable to figure out what it was to do.

    Me and her observed with interest at the meek shambler shuffling under my guidance towards the door.

    I left it stand next to the exit and with Kaitlyn¡¯s help removed the barricade; the door shifted open with the bodies gathered against it.

    We made our way past the slain, with difficulty, as Billy wasn¡¯t being cooperative like a little child, refusing to step over the corpses. I finally just dragged it over them by his shirt and made our way towards the lockers.

    We made it to the safety door without incident, and I halted the party a few steps before the door.

    I headed over and checked the door.

    The magnetic lock was still active and the card reader¡¯s status light shined with a red light, indicating that everything worked as it should.

    Behind the security door was a small square lobby with four doors visible, 2 on the opposite side and two on each side in between.

    The room seemed intact, with a couple sofas along with a table in between them. In one corner, I made out a corner of a vending machine. A television hung from the wall showing an empty news room vertical with the floor.

    The news room was in a disarray, with some blood around, but besides that empty. The bottom text showing headlines scrolling past endlessly.

    I tapped the safety glass and pondered how there was no emergency broad cast on the television. But before I got fully distracted by this I sensed a presence entering close proximity.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    My hands tensed and I turned around to see Kaitlyn moving quietly closer. My body stood down and the muscles relaxed. I made room for her to look into the room and gestured towards the tv.

    She looked at the news room quietly. Based on her eye movement, she scanned over the text running at the bottom of the screen before turning to me with worry.

    Neither of us saw any headlines mentioning the situation, only the everyday news.

    I rested my head against the door and took a glance at the tv before looking back at her face.

    ¡°Yesterday¡¯s news, probably.¡± I muttered.

    She nodded and turned to look back at the newsfeed.

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t it showing an emergency broadcast?¡± She asked as she placed an arm against the window.

    ¡°I was thinking of that as well,¡± I answered and letting out a sigh before continuing, ¡°Either this is widespread enough to take out the whole higher government or they are yet to be able to start the broadcast.¡±

    I rubbed my stubble that had accumulated over the two days in thought.

    ¡°Or some other issue or reason I have no idea of.¡± I added. ¡°But I¡¯m leaning towards whatever virus or what not this is wiping out the decision makers and people who have access to the system, considering we of yet are the only ones alive in this facility¡­ Relatively speaking.¡±

    She kept watching the newsfeed but one of her eyebrows raised up from my explanation, ¡°Relatively?¡± She inquired.

    ¡°Well, for movement and sensing to work they should have some life in them.¡± I explained with a shrug as I leaned off from the door, ¡°but I think we should move on¡± I gestured at the reading device.

    She did not respond to my explanation at all and took out her key card and opened the door.

    I slipped my head in and checked the corners, and saw them empty.

    ¡°Hold the door.¡± I said and went to bring over Billy.

    We all entered in and closed the door behind us. I glanced at the green light return to red after the door had closed, before checking the four other doors in the room as Kaitlyn made way towards the two vending machines whilst rummaging in her purse.

    I noted that three of the doors had a similar key reader flashing with red. The irregular door, standing at the right side of the room, next to the vending machines was unsecured and I made my way towards it carefully.

    I took a glance at Kaitlyn who had fished out her wallet from her purse and was checking the menu as I moved to the door and put my ear against it.

    She noticed me and turned to look at what I was up to. I gestured at the door with a questioning look.

    ¡°Break room.¡± She whispered towards me and put her purse and wallet down and carefully came closer.

    I motioned her to stop as I continued to listen. The other side met me with silence.

    The door opened quietly as I opened it lightly and peered inside.

    The room was quite large with big windows of safety glass showing the backyard of the asylum. There was a side wall hiding the left side of the room, but the right side was an open area with tables and chairs for the staff. Another large LCD was showing some cartoons.

    I cautiously tapped the sidewall and listened for a moment before slipping in to the room fully. I put my back against the wall as I inched forward quietly. The right side of the room was pristine and without a soul.

    Before a meter or so from the end, I shifted off from it and moved past the wall. My body relaxed as I looked at the empty kitchen area with two fridges and some table space and cupboards.

    I saw a couple of closed doors, probably leading to bathrooms next to the kitchen, and inched closer while taking in the backyard view. There were a couple of perimeter guards turned zombies shuffling near the wall, but otherwise the yard was clear.

    I knocked at one of the doors and listened. Once more nothing happened and I was growing weary of the intensity of my vigilance. I pulled open the door and took a step back, letting the door to open outwards, revealing an empty single person toilet.

    Then I moved to the other door and did the same, assuming my knock to the other would have roused any zombie inside. A sigh escaped my lips as a copy of the previous bathroom came to view.

    I walked back to the entrance and callout out to her ¡°All clear.¡±

    She peeked in and entered when she saw me standing at the end of the sidewall without my guard up.

    ¡°This began yesterday morning after eight, so I guess there was nobody here when it happened.¡± I said as she walked by me and went to one fridge and pulled out a salad box and an energy drink.

    I raised an eyebrow at her as she rummaged in a draw and took out a disposable fork and went to sit in one table. I moved to the fridge as well and looked through it, grabbing a packed convenience meal and some disposable cutlery and a bottle of water before joining her.

    A respite was in order, and this place was as secure as it would come. Kaitlyn cracked open the cold energy drink and greedily drowned it down before taking the salads lid off and removing the sauce packet from the lid before adding it to the greens. She then dug in.

    I ate while looking at the two zombie guards moving aimlessly in the distance. She turned and looked outside to see what I was looking at, but after identifying my interest; she turned around and shook her head and placing her fork down.

    ¡°Is it so hard not to pay attention to them?¡± She asked as she pushed her half eaten salad aside and shifting her chair a little so she could see with the corner of her eye the window behind her.

    ¡°I do find them curious.¡± I answer between bites. ¡°There is a certain type of simplicity to them I appreciate and wish to understand.¡±

    I raise my fork and point at her, ¡°And I don¡¯t see the problem me observing and learning from the opposition.¡± I state plainly before continue eating and waiting for her to respond.

    ¡°Just didn¡¯t want to be reminded of them when I¡¯m scarfing down my yesterday¡¯s lunch.¡± She sights and looking at her half eaten salad. ¡°A moment of normalcy, you know.¡± She adds and takes a sip from her drink.

    ¡°Ah, sorry I tend to have a habit of observing things as I eat.¡± I apologise while hiding my mouth full of food. ¡°And I have to admit I have a morbid curiosity of them.¡± I add before pushing the plastic container aside.

    ¡°My former girlfriend complained a lot about that as well.¡± I add nonchalantly, as this situation reminds me of her. I uncork the cap off the bottle and take a mouthful, rinsing my mouth before drinking it down.

    ¡°A girlfriend, mister famous?¡± She asked with a laugh and leans her head on her head. ¡°How come I haven¡¯t heard of this girlfriend.¡±

    I chuckle as I ponder how to answer the question, ¡°Well, that is because she doesn¡¯t exist.¡±

    She snorts and smirks. ¡°Really? Telling this to a psychiatrist?¡± She asks mirthfully.

    I give her a hurtful look with pitiful eyes, causing her to roll hers. ¡°Well, mister ¡®I have a made up ex-girlfriend. Care to elaborate your delusions you so clearly acknowledge?¡±

    ¡°Not a delusion dear doctor.¡± I answer as I entwine my fingers and rest my chin on them, anticipating smile on my face.

    ¡°Uh-huh.¡± She huffs. A look of suspicion on her face because of my face showing my enjoyment due to playing with her.

    I consider the possible consequences of going further, but it is the apocalypse, so I wave them off.

    ¡°She does not exist just like Kaine Smith did not exist prior to getting caught.¡± I declare as I watch her response to come.

    ¡°Uh-huh..¡± She grunts out slowly as her eyes narrow. ¡°You did seem a bit too sane,¡± she mutters out.

    I sit upright and spread out my hands while smirking.

    She stares at me for a moment in silence before tilting her head in frustration. ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll bite. Special task force? A secret agent cover up who took the blame for a serial killing higher up?¡± She asked, clearly not believing a word I had said.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t take you for a conspiracy theorist.¡± I tease her, causing her to groan and facepalm. Clearly, she did not appreciate a crazy person telling her that.

    She dragged her hand over her face and wearily looking at me. ¡°What you believe you did not commit those murders?¡± She asks with a disillusioned face.

    ¡°No, no. I did do them.¡± I answer honestly, ¡°Just the identity of Kaine Smith came to be after they ran a DNA sample through the system.¡±

    ¡°Bullshit.¡± She snarled, ¡°Neighbours, family and friends were interviewed, school records and driver licences were found and your life is easily traceable since birth.¡±

    ¡°Yes, easily!¡± I laugh out. ¡°A spotless retelling of the life of Kaine Smith the serial killer.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re telling me that all is made up?¡± She said with a sneer. ¡°You¡¯re delusional.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to believe me.¡± I shrugged, ¡°I won¡¯t even say that it is awfully convenient they found no holes or blank spaces in it.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re forgetting that nobody is questioning any of it.¡± She added while gesturing with her hands, ¡°No conspiracy theories or anyone raising a fuss about your background.¡±

    ¡°§²§Ñ§Ù§Ó§Ö §ï§ä§à §ß§Ö §ã§ä§â§Ñ§ß§ß§à, §Õ§Ñ§Ø§Ö §ã§å§Þ§Ñ§ã§ê§Ö§Õ§ê§Ú§Ö §Ó §ï§ä§à§Þ §ß§Ö §ã§à§Þ§ß§Ö§Ó§Ñ§ð§ä§ã§ñ.¡± I mutter quietly to myself in my native language.

    Kaitlyn stalls and stares at me as she hears me speak to myself. Her mouth hangs open and twitches while she looks at me suspiciously.

    I frown. I had intended to have a bit of fun telling her a story, not speak in Russian. My subconscious was screaming in alarm as years of conditioning had failed. My ¡®retirement¡¯ in here had made me careless and soft.

    I grew restless with visions of educators beating other children with canes due to not talking English. My subconscious left me in a daze as I fought off its urgings to neutralize the breach and make the issue non-existent.

    I felt my skin break into goosebumps and sweat formed on my back. I nonchalantly reached for the bottle on the table to drink and hide my mouth and cover part of my face.

    But I halted after I snuck a peek towards her while reaching for the bottle.

    Her eyes were wide and mouth hung open on a face filled with disbelief.

    ¡®§´§í §Ô§â§Ö§Ò§Ñ§ß§í§Û §Ú§Õ§Ú§à§ä¡¯ I couldn''t help but thought to myself as I sunk my face into my palms and began to calm myself. The sounds of canes hitting soft flesh echoed in my ears as I hyperventilated into my palms.

    God have mercy, she believes me.

 Chapter 7: "The second day of Paradise, Personal Psychiatrist"

    ¡°Are you fucking serious?¡± I heard her asking over screams of young children and authoritative shouting of instructors from long ago.

    She grabbed me over the table and forced me to look at her; her figure overlapping Anastasias. I told myself it was not real, but her straight wheat coloured hair was becoming brighter and curls were beginning to form in my eyes.

    ¡°A fucking god darn Russian operative ran amok in Union soil on a killing spree?¡± She demanded.

    I sputtered, almost speaking in Russian, but the caning stopped me. ¡°Not Russian. Not Russian.¡± I squeezed out as I tried to pry her fingers off me with shaking hands. But I was too afraid to harm her, her golden locks and navy blue eyes filled me with guilt. I had left her. Why hasn¡¯t she come to hunt me down? Is she dead?

    My emotions swirled out of control, reality and fantasy intertwined. I was now seeing our first survival exercise. Empty, lifeless husks and gunfire, dogs barking. I bit my lip to suppress a scream.

    I knew it was not real; I had lived past it, unlike many. I needed quiet to recollect, but she hounded me further.

    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re talking the truth, what the fuck are you.¡± She snarled while shaking me. My trigger finger squeezed twice as my sight bobbed over her body. I saw myself standing over bodies with a shot to their head and chest. My heart picked up erratically as I stilled.

    A convulsion shook over me as the echoes of the past left me and all that remained was the beating of my heart.

    I blinked and placed my hands on hers and applied pressure as I slowly began crushing her arms.

    She yelped and let go as she looked at me fearfully.

    ¡°Calm down.¡± I said, while looking at her. She flinched as she caught my eyes in hers. I let her go and motioned for her to sit down.

    ¡°Sorry, I was not expecting you to believe a crazy person..¡± I started awkwardly.

    ¡°Yeah well, neither did I till you had a full-blown panic attack from speaking Russian, a language Kaine Smith should not be able to talk.. Fluently.¡± She answered carefully, ¡°I considered for a moment you picking it up here but what I¡¯ve heard you did not have library privileges.¡±

    ¡°I seem to be a hot topic for the mind doctors.¡± I say to clear the air after what had happened.

    ¡°You have no idea.¡± She muttered absentmindedly as I sat uncomfortably in my chair as I had trouble coming to terms with her knowing. And telling her the truth.

    ¡°I was an orphan in Russia.¡± I stated after a while. ¡°Siberia to be exact, no passport or birth certificate, living in an orphanage.¡±

    ¡°Some old man ran it, helped by some nuns from a nearby cloister dedicated to some saint I think.. I don¡¯t remember much from my life there.¡± I explained while trying to reminiscent those times.

    ¡°Then an official came with Americans, had us line up in the gentle spring morning. Took most of us in the end whilst money switched hands.¡± I tapped the table as flames flickered in my mind.

    ¡°I remember being loaded into a truck and watched as the orphanage was burning..¡± I glanced at her and saw horror on her face as she realised it.

    ¡°As a whole there were, I guess 40 of us, either mistakes and given away or left alone in this world in some manner.¡± I continued as I continued to tap the table to keep myself calm. ¡°The Americans were searching for ghosts who they gathered up for The Conglomerate as a private army and operatives.¡± I sigh as the voices slowly begin to surface, followed by the desperate screams as the smell of smoke and burning flesh clogs my nose.

    ¡°And that is as much as I¡¯m willing to say.¡± I state and stand up from the table to put my mind off this topic.

    ¡°Just know that despite the tragic backstory, I am still the monster people claim.¡± I add, while glancing back and smiling before walking out of the break room.

    I close the door behind me and run my hand through my messy hair. It slicks partially backwards from grease and probably other things that have accumulated into them due to poor hygiene these past few days.

    With a heavy sigh to calm down, I scan over the room again.

    Billy was near the door where we came from. Locks of the doors were still engaged. Kaitlyn¡¯s purse was near the vending machines with her wallet on the ground next to it.

    It was quiet.

    I moved over to the vending machine and picked up her wallet and took some coins from it and purchased a bag of skittles. My mind needed sugar. I considered for a moment to just smash the glass of the machine, but I wanted a bit of me time.

    With my skittles in my hand, I lied down on the sofa. I ate them in a colour sequence of my preference. Green first, followed by orange, then purple and red. Lastly, the yellow. I had a thing for sour, but lemon candy was not among them.

    My eyes wandered over to the television showing the desolate news room that was still shown. I read the headlines running below as I made quick work of the candy in silence.

    While snacking and feeling more whole, I searched for the remote. I found it below some magazines on the lower part of the coffee table.

    I flicked through the channels, many showing nothing, while others showed seemingly regular broadcasts planned for the week. I lazily skimmed through them.

    Then I came across a different broadcast that piqued my interest.

    A weary-looking man in worn out suit was shown in an office. He looked dirty with a heavy stubble covering his lower face. There were videos playing on the upper right side of the screen, showing images of handheld videos of different scene around the Union. The quality of the broadcast was low, probably through a web camera.

    I unmuted the tv slightly.

    ¡°-in doors and stay safe. Do not leave under any circumstance at the moment unless running out of food, water or other necessities you absolutely cannot survive. ¡° The man said in a sombre, authoritative tone, clearly trying to dissuade people from leaving a safe place.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Those in the rural, less densely populated areas should probably be safe to leave and gather supplies under extreme caution and avoiding unnecessary risks while avoiding detection.¡± The man continued with a hint of uncertainty.

    ¡°As far as we know through the internet and getting in touch with viewers after giving our number, we are unsure if there is a working government or plans to retake control. One survivor in Washington living near the White House heard gunshots yesterday, like heavy fire so there is hope but..

    We implore all to move around this first week and.. Stay safe as possible, learn survival skills, arm yourselves with what you can. I know it is tempting to go out and try to gather as much as you can, but these next days will be the most dangerous.

    I chatted with a prepper on discord after the earlier broadcast.¡± He paused for a second and chuckled.

    ¡° Bless those crazies, anyway he said that the zombies will be densely packed for now and in any large city, the survivor count will plummet massively as people leave safety. And the horror movie creatures are not you only problem as others also will aim at those supplies. Conflicts will ensue and you¡¯ll lose ether way as you will probably draw attention to yourself.¡±

    After his monologue, he took a slight pause to let his speech simmer in.

    ¡°I feel he makes quite a lot of sense, but then again, I¡¯m a news reporter trapped in my workplace with seven other co-workers. Believe him or not, I have passed on his message. We¡¯ll be broadcasting every day as long as we can on this channel. Remember to hope for the best and plan for the worst people. Stay safe out there.¡±

    The broadcast ended abruptly, switching over to show the videos in full screen. They showed of devastation, not only in American soil but around the world. A global pandemic turned apocalypse.

    There was a phone number at the screen¡¯s bottom.

    I smirked as I watched the videos in quiet rapture. A world where I would have a place in.

    My fingers dug into my palms as I felt anticipation. I felt the nails dig deep and draw blood.

    Warm liquid trickled down my palm.

    I wondered how people like me would view these events. Would they feel the same rush he was feeling?

    I felt a presence nearing and turned around to see Billy wobbling towards me, its blank stare focused on me. Its maw was letting a slow hiss from air, leaving the vocal chords.

    I picked myself up from the sofa while still in a good mood, even humming slightly. I extended my wounded hand and watched Billy turning towards it and making a beeline for it.

    Another leg sweep later, I mounted his chest while placing my right leg on his neck to keep it in place.

    Drip.

    I dripped my blood in to its mouth and watched as it desperately swirled its tongue like a water deprived in a desert, desperate for the last drops of vital essence.  I smeared my healthy hand in blood before I used the wounded on to hold its head in place with a fist to avoid contact with the wound.

    I offered it my smeared hand.

    The cool, bloated, purplish tongue lapped around my hand as it groaned in a hollow voice. I watched as the dull eyes had taken a maniacal sheen to them; it sniffed and growled, overwhelmed by the smell of vitality. Its body squirmed underneath me but could not do much.

    A door opened behind me and hurried footsteps stilled.

    ¡°What in hell are you doing?¡± Kaitlyn hissed behind me after rushing into the room, probably hearing the groans. Had she been behind the door all this time?

    ¡°Bonding.¡± I answered while I watched the desperate creature underneath me. Taking a glance towards her and nod at the tv showing the videos.

    ¡°I saw a broadcast made by a survivor. Seems that things are bad in big cities.¡±

    She glanced at the video feed but focused back on me after a glance.

    ¡°Yeah, heard most of it, don¡¯t change the subject.¡±

    I roll my eyes before focusing back on the shambler.

    ¡°I just injured myself and got a reaction so I¡¯m feeding it.¡±

    She comes over and pulls my hand away from the mouth.

    ¡°What the fuck, you should know their saliva might be infectious!¡± She hisses and takes an antibacterial spray from her pocket and sprays it on my hand.

    ¡°Relax, I¡¯m not interested in joining their numbers.¡± I say as I wipe the hand into my clothes and switching hands on its head to show her the actual injured hand.

    She harrumphs and spays the other as well, before taking a seat on the sofa. A relived sigh leaves her mouth ¡°I thought you were going to reject humanity.¡± She says as she sinks into the sofa.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t put it past you to think you¡¯re some protagonist and only partially getting turned.¡± She chuckles, ¡°Hell, I think you might pull it off somehow.¡± She adds.

    I shake my head with a scoff.

    ¡°Sure, I¡¯m a protagonist of some story where he mysteriously gains superpowers from getting infected.¡±

    Billy had gone still after disinfecting my wound so I get off of him and move over to the sofa and wipe my hand on the sofa.

    ¡°Think about it, tragic childhood filled with trauma. I¡¯m sure I have read a story like this.¡± She offers as I move towards her purse.

    ¡°Any bandages in your purse?¡± I ask her.

    ¡°I think I have a pad in it.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll have to do.¡± I say and look through the purse. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect you to read such stories.¡± I add as I unwrap the pad and stick it on my palm.

    It looks silly, but it¡¯ll have to do.

    I can see her kick her feet on the coffee table and relaxing. ¡°Just kind of found some translated stuff on the internet after growing bored with western stuff, you know, escaping everyday life with a good story now and then.¡± She explains before gesturing towards me, ¡°You read any novels?¡±

    ¡°No, I prefer non-fiction.¡± I say as I make over to her, ¡°But I guess stories like these are no longer non-fiction.¡±

    She smirks at my statement and makes room for me to sit down. I do just that.

    ¡°What was the story? The zombie apocalypse one?¡± I ask her.

    ¡°What you interested now?¡± She asks mirthfully as she looks at me.

    ¡°As I said, I¡¯m a fan of non-fiction.¡± I merely state with a shake of my head. She turns to look at the video feed.

    ¡°It was quite like this.¡± She starts after watching the videos for a bit in silence.

    ¡°Non-fiction indeed.¡± She spits out. ¡°A stupid harem story, but a good one. Few stories about zombie apocalypses, so it caught my attention.¡±

    I leaned my head on my right arm as I listened as she described the story.

    ¡°So does that make you the first harem member?¡± I asked with a laugh.

    She snorts and bursts out laughing.

    ¡°I do feel that would be a possibility if you weren¡¯t a psycho agent of a multi-billion corporation.¡± She says between chuckles. ¡°God just saying that out loud makes you sound like a poorly designed main character¡±

    ¡°And it hammers it home that this is a zombie apocalypse story.¡± She adds with a downhearted voice.

    ¡°Well, you better start believing in zombie apocalypse stories, miss.. You¡¯re in one.¡± I say to lighten the mood.

    ¡°I see you at least watch moves.¡± She snickers. ¡°I can feel my affection points increasing.¡±

    ¡°Oh-ho, does that mean my harem has a chance?¡±

    ¡°Why, of course, you¡¯re only at -45 points so anything is possible.¡± She sates with a deadpan face, but the corner of her lip was twitching upwards slightly.  I feel my own doing the same.

    We threw jabs at each other and talking about some zombie lore in between for a while as we rested. I finally decided to just break the glass of the vending machine and we snacked while chatting. A well-earned respite before venturing forward.

    Finally, she brought it up, ¡°So you being a corporate, what? Ghost operative? What was it like?¡± She asked, while throwing a handful of salted nuts into her mouth.

    I shifted uncomfortably from her question.

    ¡°Hard topic?¡± She queried after seeing my reaction.

    ¡°No, just not used to talking about it to outsiders.. It was a lifestyle.¡±

    ¡°Honestly, the way you talked about your background, you totally sound like some character from a novel.¡± She says before imitating my voice with a Russian accent, ¡°It was a lifestyle.¡±

    I snort out my energy drink as I hear her poor imitation of me.

    She continues her act, now standing up and taking a tough guy pose as well. ¡°Mondays I kill. Because Monday is kill day. Tuesdays I threaten because HR says corporate want better image, tells me not kill on Tuesdays.. So Tuesdays is vodka day. Like any day but worse.¡± She continues her act.

    ¡°We weren¡¯t allowed to just drink outside of undercover work.¡± I laugh at her antics as I wipe my face clean of the drink.

    ¡°Wednesday is group activity day. We do things in group. Wholesom. All comrades together killing for glory of home corporation. To seize the means of monopoly.¡±

    She does a twirl around and faces me with a shit-eating grin. I look back at her with amusement.

    ¡°You¡¯re technically right.¡± I say as I try to sound serious.

    ¡°The best kind of right.¡± She adds while turning around and bending over, taking a drink from the table. ¡°How does the Conglomerate cover up their ghosts and all this, if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡±

    ¡°Like any other power, hide it, ignore it, deflect it, threaten and bribe.¡± I explain. ¡°And most of all, don¡¯t get caught or connected.¡±

    ¡°Sounds hard.¡± Kaitlyn mutters as she sits down again.

    ¡°I¡¯m not too privy to that, but it¡¯s not that hard when you¡¯re a behemoth like them.¡±

    ¡°Fair enough. So what did you actually do besides my accurate interpretation of a villain henchman?¡±

    ¡°Mostly what you said, undercover and group missions around the world for one reason or another.¡±

    She muses over my answer while nodding. ¡°So, you unemployed now or you think they will bounce back from this?¡± she asks while looking at me carefully.

    I take a moment to think about it. They had technically suspended me when I got caught. I¡¯d be dead if I were to be ¡®fired¡¯. If anything would have a contingency plan or even hands in this, it would be them. I looked over at her.

    I kind of wanted to be left to my devices even if they survive this.

    ¡°I guess I am unemployed.¡± I say, while crossing my arms.

    ¡°With what I heard from the broadcast, I¡¯d say I¡¯m in the same boat.¡± She nods while scratching her head while frowning.

    ¡°Well, we better get a move on then.¡± I say, while standing up. ¡°Gotta hurry out of here and enjoy our early retirements.¡±

    ¡°Paradise awaits.¡± I say as I take Jason into my hands.

    ¡°Only a madman would call it Paradise.¡± She says wirily in response to my comment.

    I wink at her.

    ¡°Well, lucky for me then that I have a personal psychiatrist around.¡±

 Chapter 8: "The second day of Paradise, Possessed"

    The security system beeped in affirmative as Kaitlyn swiped her card. Door opened inwards, and I pushed Billy in first, who was.. high I think? It had a lazy look on its decrepit face, only a zombie would love.

    It lazily stood and wobbled in front of me before turning around and for the first time I thought I was crazy because I swear it was grinning in a goofy expression and looking at me.

    ¡°Is it..¡± I heard Kaitlyn start next to me.

    ¡°Thank god I¡¯m not crazy..¡± I sighed in relief as she witnessed the same thing I did.. I think.

    I turned to look at her. Her right eye was twitching and looking at Billy.

    ¡°He is high, I think.¡± I state and turn back to the matter at hand. No point questioning things beyond this.

    My feet crossed the threshold into a small square room with a security checkpoint occupied by a rather wretched looking skinny guy in a security uniform.

    The guy was in a fetal position on the ground, and very much alive, looking at us trough chicken wired security door with a face that would only be described as absolute terror.

    I pushed billy aside and walked up to the security while the guy was pushing itself to the farthest corner of his box. The boy had this look of normalcy, with brown hair and green eyes.

    ¡°Good afternoon.¡± I start and rest my elbows on a counter on the checkpoint that had an operable window of security glass. I place Jason to lean against the box underneath the counter.

    Leaning in, I flash the survivor a smile. I press the intercom button on the side.

    ¡°Doctor Jason here to leave early with Doctor Kaitlyn and a plus one. Where do we sign?¡± I say as I turn towards Kaitlyn, who was walking over. She had a certain guilty expression, like one would see on a child when they know they have done badly.

    She waved at the security guard awkwardly and came to a stop next to me.

    The guy had been staring at her since she walked in and as she came over, he warily stood up and walked over to the intercom on his side.

    A crackle sounded out before the voice of the boy was heard.

    ¡°Doctor Hall, Is that you? Wha- what is going on? Are you like them.. but smarter an- and s-seductive?¡± The voice on the intercom asked, causing me to click my tongue in irritation.

    Doctor Jason was not one to enjoy his long tenure of seniority, to be ignored by a mere security guard.

    With a flex of authority and grace god given by my position here at the institution, I scrunched up my face and banged the glass with irritation while admonishing someone I assumed to be a new hire,

    ¡°Does she look like she wants to jump your bones and gnaw off your face imbecile?!¡± I screamed without using the intercom, just like a real arrogant prick.

    He flinched by my assault on the glass but got his second wind seeing I was not able to phase through the secure installation.

    Kaitlyn grabbed me and tried to drag me away from the small box housing a barely old enough inhabitant who, going by his face, balls seemingly just dropped due to the influx of testosterone given by the safety of his little cage.

    I let her drag me away while holding my breath to make my face redden. Based on her face, she had no idea what went into me.

    I like roleplay, sue me.

    The intercom crackled again, showing his inexperience with handling it. ¡°Doctor Hall, who are these two?¡±

    I made a mock attempt to get free in response to those words, earning me a slight kick from Kaitlyn, who eyed me threateningly before heading over to the intercom.

    ¡°Hi Tom?¡± she asked with a gentle voice as I was busy massaging my leg. ¡°Why are you still here?¡±

    ¡°Th-theres those thigs in the locker rooms.¡± The security guy responded and got real close and whispering into the intercom, ¡°The possessed..¡±

    ¡°Have you been stuck here the whole time?¡± Kaitlyn asked through the intercom with an empathetic voice.

    Tom nodded while tearing up.

    ¡°Oh Tom, you know the lounge was clear, right?¡± She soothed the crying boy.

    ¡°I saw it from the cameras.. But what if they¡¯d come and possess me as well?¡± He sniffed ¡°Then I saw you come in¡­¡± His eyes turned to me with an odd judgmental gaze. ¡°I saw him feedig one of the possessed.¡±

    ¡°And you watched!¡± He screamed into the intercom strongly enough for the voice to distort. ¡°You are a new kind of possessed, right? O-or cultist behind all this!¡±

    I stopped massaging my leg and let my posture to straighten. No point in acting anymore.

    ¡°Tom, no we are not one of those things, you know zombies right?! We¡¯re not zombies!¡± Kaitlyn begged the guy as he stepped back from the intercom. He merely looked over at Billy and then back towards Kaitlyn with a victorious face before returning to his corner and hugging his knees.

    I walked over as she began to bang the window with indignation. She shot me a glare filled with blame as I came over.

    ¡°This is your fault.¡± She hissed at me.

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting anyone to still watch the cameras, so I ignored them.¡± I sigh while raising my hands. ¡°I accept responsibility.¡±

    She gawked at me like I was an idiot and swished her hands at Billy, the security box and me before shrugging at me, asking how the hell was I going to fix this.

    She was quite peeved at me. Her outburst had left her hyperventilating.

    I massaged my forehead with my finger as I engaged the intercom again.

    ¡°I believe reintroductions are in order. I¡¯m Kaine Smith.¡± I said calmly while closing my eyes. ¡°And believe me telling you there is no room for demons in my head.¡±

    I open my eyes and see that I have his attention.

    ¡°Now, I¡¯m going to insist on one way or another letting us tough. You may think demons possessing people is the worst of your concern, but I will slowly and meticulously carve you to pieces with a jagged edged plastic spoon I will bring from the break room in a minute and in front of you carving the edges.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    He flinches at my words but stays in place, so I continue.

    ¡°I assure you with enough time and effort I will get inside your haven and the more effort I have to expend, the smaller parts I will carve out of you before cauterising the wound and redoing it in a different location.¡±

    I twirl around with my arms extended and walk back and forth the intercom before engaging in dialogue again. ¡°And trust me with the situation at hand, there will be no help arriving from the outside. I will have the time and motivation to fulfil my each word and then surpass them.¡±

    I press my face against the glass and stare at him. ¡°I will make you wish I was a mindless demon, and I won¡¯t even give you an option to die.. Because once I¡¯m done I will do what I did to that one but I will not let you become one of them.¡± I motion towards Billy.

    ¡°I will keep you, you.. And I will leash you up and walk you like a dog, except you¡¯ll be a worm wiggling with no limbs.¡± I say and turn around and walk towards the lounge. I hear a beep of security and stumbling of footsteps before something hits the floor.

    ¡°Please sir! Don¡¯t! I-I¡¯ll be good!¡± I hear as something grasps my ankle. Glancing back, I see a snot filled face looking at me from the ground and holding my ankle. I pull myself loose as he falls down while still reaching for me with a shaking hand.

    I kneel down to his level and look at him with a stoic face. His hands pat me gently in desperation after I pulled myself free. ¡°Pl-eeaseee, I won¡¯t stand in your way. I-I¡¯ll be a good dog if you take me with you.. I know yo- master will get out. I know I was wrong! I-I was just so scared..¡±

    Tears began to wetting the floor beneath his face,

    ¡°I just want to live.¡± He whispered with a desperate voice as I stoically kept looking at him.

    I begin to wipe away his tears and allow myself to smile. He grasps my pants tightly and just keeps sobbing words of thanks.

    ¡°You¡¯re such a monster..¡± I hear Kaitlyn mutter under her breath as she looks at me with a scared face.

    I walk back into the lounge with the guy crawling behind me. Taking a seat on the sofa, I extend out a soda to him and motion him to sit.

    ¡°Eat and drink.¡± I say as I watch my new minion, who quenches his thirst with shaking hands. He didn¡¯t even sit on one of the sofas but on to the floor next to the coffee table. He grabs some snacks from the table and I let him to his devices as I watch Kaitlyn joining us from the security room.

    She leans against the doorframe and watches us with her hands crossed.

    I imitate her outburst of hand gestures earlier and add a smug smile at the end before I open another pack of skittles.

    She huffs and throws a pity filled gaze at the security guy. I ruffle his short brown hair, causing him to laugh awkwardly but do not react in any adverse way and continues to stuff him with snacks.

    She shakes her head and comes over, clearly not thrilled how I treat my human but keeps her thoughts to herself and takes another energy drink from the table and sitting down on the sofa.

    ¡°You really didn¡¯t eat or drink anything since yesterday?¡± She asks as she watches him satiate himself.

    He stills and nods vigorously. ¡°I was afraid they¡¯d somehow get to me when I left, Mistress.¡± He stammers politely.

    ¡°M-mistress?¡± Kaitlyn stutters out and almost spilling her energy drink all over the sofa.

    ¡°Mistress is Master¡¯s companion, right?¡± He asks confusedly, while tilting his head, causing me to laugh out.

    ¡°No Tom, you don¡¯t need to call me mistress. Just call me Kaitlyn.¡±

    He looks at my amused face looking back at him before turning back to Kaitlyn, ¡°No.¡±

    ¡°B-but I¡¯m not his mistress!¡± She exclaims while pointing at me.

    ¡°Master is in a good mood after I did so, I refuse.¡± He states confidently as I burst out laughing and ruffling his hair more.

    I turn to Kaitlyn and say: ¡°I like him.¡± Before adding, ¡°But you can call her whatever you want.¡±

    ¡°Yes master.¡± He says as his head bobs back and forth under my care.

    We let him eat his fill and gather the remaining food and drinks up to bring them with us. We earlier decided to leave most of it here to lighten the load, but we now had a porter with us. I was considering letting him be cannon fodder, but he¡¯d not achieve much based on his willpower I have seen.

    Moments later, we were through the checkpoint with a new member in tow. Remainder of the corridor stood before a door that led to the lockers.

    We left the security corridor behind and entered another lobby with two doors for male and female on the opposite side of the door we came.

    I took point and approached the door to the female lockers and listened.

    Only silence. But it was not quite the regular silence. There was this tension in the heavy silence. Not audible, but a feeling I was familiar with while working. It might¡¯ve just been me being tense, but the slight smell of stale blood emanating from behind the door was not.

    I turned to the others and placed a finger over my lips and gestured with my head towards the door to let them know we were not alone. Kaitlyn tensed up, but Tom wasn¡¯t fazed at all. Wearing an indifferent but eager face, he nodded reverently.

    I stealthily creeped up the door to the male room and did the same. I heard a single pair of lazy barefoot steps echo in the room along with breathing. The kind one would have if they were having trouble to draw breath. The smell of blood wasn¡¯t there, instead I smelled a slight musky smell of male. If there was blood there, it was being covered by this smell.

    I closed my eyes and listened to the ominous tune of silence.

    A dilemma on which path to take. These doors were not secured in any way . With no knowledge what¡¯s behind those doors and the potential of having a path of retreat cut off was troubling.

    I looked at Kaitlyn in askance and she nodded at the women¡¯s door. I nodded in affirmative and creeped to the women¡¯s locker. Best not agonise over what you did not know and let someone break the indecision.

    I carefully opened the door, cursing under my breath as it opened inwards. The other door was probably the same, making the possibility of being caught in the middle with no way to go back high.

    I quickly motioned Kaitlyn to keep her eyes on the other door and crept in to the locker room. I was greeted by a partitioning hall that led deeper in till it turned right. I crept slowly forward and listened to any changes as I made my way through the partition. I stalled before the turn and circled out in to the open so that I kept as much space between myself and the turn.

    The partition opened up to the actual changing room with rows of lockers on both sides with some benches in the middle. At the end of the rows, I saw a sign for the showers.

    But the most eye-catching thing was a half-naked body lying on the floor around halfway through the row, surrounded by a pool of dried blood. She had fallen and hit her head against a corner of the bench.

    I checked my blind spots before moving towards the body, my weapon held high in preparation to strike. As I neared it the body began to twitch and rouse from whatever death state it had been, so I picked up speed and struck down.

    It groaned heavily as my strike connected with its head, but glanced off. I slightly relaxed my hand and let the recoil take its course before tensing up again and striking again. This time I took my body mass with me in the swing as I swung Jason down like chopping wood.

    I heard a sickening crunch. This time, the impact went through its skull, and it stayed down for good. I let my breath still and listened if my engagement brought with it any changes.

    I heard hurried footsteps behind me, and I turned. The door slammed and moments later, Tom came from behind the partition while dragging Billy. Kaitlyn followed moments later.

    ¡°Something got agitated behind the men¡¯s locker room. A lot of something.¡± She offered as she saw my bewildered look, telling her she ruined the stealth segment of the mission. She went past me and stepped over the corpse and went to one locker while rummaging through her purse.

    I was about to ask, but got my answer as I heard a muffled crack coming from behind the partition. I grabbed a bench quickly and picked it up while rushing towards the partition.

    At the end of the lockers and the partition there was a slight empty space, hopefully big enough to wedge a few benches between the partition and lockers to make a makeshift barricade. Very makeshift.

    I got it almost in the space before it stopped from going in further. I just let hang in suspense and grabbed another bench. I heard banging echoing in this locker room, as that something was now at our door. It would take them longer to get through this one, but how much a door meant to be more of a gesture of privacy than any security would hold longer, I was not sure.

    The other bench jammed in there with the sound of creaking as it scratched off the metal of the locker and dry wood from the other side.

    I was already hearing cracks as I turned back to the rest and jogged to them. ¡°No time for more, time to get out!¡± I yelled over the groans and banging coming from behind me.

    A loud crack strung out as I grabbed Kaitlyn by her scruff and led her away from her locker. We turned to the opposite side of the shower sign just to see in the corner of the eye as a group of male zombies invaded this sacred sanctuary.

    The sturdy benches halted their approach as they reached for us through the gaps. With luck, the barricade had been just high enough for them to not to just fall over it.

    I could already hear the benches screaming over the strain put against them as the invader had no self-preservation and kept pushing. We turned the corner and heard not a crack, but a wet squelch from behind us.

    We slammed into another corridor. There were 4 shamblers already moving towards us as we rushed in. I let go of Kaitlyn¡¯s scruff and kept going. I heard the door close behind me as I charged into the closest. A heavy chested office lady with an acute case of undead. Half of her left arm had been gnawed off, bits of bone and sinew were visible underneath the murky red of her flesh. She went down from the impact and I used her face as a launch pad to jump up.

    I felt her face cave in underneath my shoes as I leaped towards the second with Jason raised high.

    As I descended, I took a slight sideways swing, striking from the right and hitting her left side of the head. She reeled back from the impact and the recoil propped me to the right.

    I let go of Jason while still mid-air as I didn¡¯t have time to manipulate the weapon for another strike, instead I elbowed the third in her jaw and she fell from the impact, striking her backwards.

    The fourth was still some distance away due to having one ankle completely broken and twisted. She appeared to have worn high heels that now had both tips broken.

    I rushed at the fourth, not wanting to be in proximity of the tree. I merely slid over to her and swept her legs underneath her. I heard a stab behind me and saw Kaitlyn stabbing one of them in to the neck with her spear. She missed the spine, so it was still up but contained. I sprinted over to the main group.

    I kicked the third one in the head with my heel and felt it go in slightly.

    A grab came in my way and I shifted sideways and lowered myself to pickup my weapon and struck up at the second zombie, hitting it below the chin and staggering it. I got up along with the swing and continued the first strike with a heavy sideways swing that ended it.

    I glanced over at the fourth and saw it crawling towards us slowly, so I struck at the back of the last zombie in the trio who had been impaled, ending it as well.

    ¡°Lets go!¡± I urged the others as I took off as soon as I struck the impaled one down. I swung the weapon like a golf club as I reached the prone zombie and broke its spine.

    I kicked open the door as I hear a strong tap coming behind us.

    And with that we reached outside and into the outer perimeter of the facility.

 Chapter 9: Death?

    We had no time to tally.

    We were now outside the facility within a fenced off walkway leading outwards.

    "Go on, I''ll take the rear!" I yelled to Kaitlyn and the group as I paced myself towards the back. She nodded and took the vanguard as Tom herded Billy forward. They were going slow.

    I glanced back. Through the broken door. I could see the father away door break as shamblers moved through it. They moved slowly and unfocused after losing track of their prey.

    ''We should be fine'' I thought to myself as we fast walked forward, leaving the small gathering of hostiles behind us. My gaze wandered over to the opposite sides of the fence, towards another fenced off part. The outdoor area for patients.

    Just like many areas of the facility, there were a few undead mulling about in both security and inmate clothing while there were a couple desecrated, half eaten bodies strewn around the courtyard.

    We made headway to a separate small building at the opposite end of the path. A security station for staff and personal and visitors.

    Our fenced off pathway split off in front of the building towards the visitation block of the facility.

    I moved to retake vanguard as we reached the house and entered the security check. A simple room with a metal detector and guard station. The guard station, similar to where we had found Tom, was covered in blood and gore. There were two security guards within, one with a half-eaten face.

    My entrance simulated them and they turned towards me, as well as the third that was outside of the secure checkpoint. The third made its way towards me, reaching out for me despite being on the other side of the security check.

    The zombie reaching for me was quite chunky, its grey security uniform was dirty and smelled of grease.

    It moved towards the metal detector to reach me as I made my move. I jogged and leaped over the lax security check''s metal fence, more to herd people than for security reasons. We were almost out, only this building remained between us and open pastures of freedom. Hence the loose security.

    The creature changed course as I moved. I used the handcuff cudgel to smash its left leg and distorted its balance. Despite being a zombie, the bipedal undead stumbled from losing support from one knee. But it merely slowed it for a second due to the lack of balance.

    It was clear it felt no pain or hesitation as it kept shuffling forward awkwardly, its maw opening beyond normal. I watched it tear its mouth wider than possible before striking it in the head.

    My actions were orchestrated with loud tapping behind me from the station as the two slammed their hands on the security glass, smearing old blood with their ichor of reddish black.

    The creature stilled momentarily as I struck its head before continuing.

    It took a step forward as its head turned back towards me. I had not taken it down.

    An almost drowning, wet, garbled groan escaped its lips as it swiped at me as I moved backwards, out of the way of its hand.

    I reached backwards and felt the guard station behind me with my palm and shifted sideways towards the left, where the open world was. My shift turned into a leap as the sizeable chunk of undead charged me.

    A heavy thud rang out, and the station groaned from the impact, the security glass slightly cracking from it.

    The thing realigned itself with me. I saw its palms had turned to mush from the impact.

    Kaitlyn charged in from behind and stuck her spear into its back. She grunted as the force of the hit ran through the spear and down her body.

    It crumpled down, as its legs gave out underneath it. She had hit its spine. It fell on its belly facing me, yet it still had some fight left as it tried to drag its body forward, towards me with its broken up hands.

    The already broken bones cracked and poked its skin, but it could not move its mass forwards. Bubbling black ichor spilled out of its mouth as it tried to groan while prone.

    I took a step towards it while scanning the room.

    "Phew, seemed you had some trouble with the last boss." Kaitlyn said as she relaxed and breathed out while leaning on her spear. She smiled as I nodded her way and raised Jason to finish the obese boss.

    As my weapon reached its peak over my head, I heard a noise before the glass shattered and I felt myself fall backwards with a pain in my chest and my consciousness flickered on and off before my chest exploded in pain and blood.

    I saw Kaitlyn rush to me with Tom. Or I believe I saw it as I felt hazy. I stared towards the asylum where the shot had come.

    I tried to speak, but I only coughed up blood. I raised my hand from the floor and saw it covered in blood before I turned towards Kaitlyn, who was trying to drag me outside with Tom. I grabbed her hand with my shaking bloodies hand and squeezed.

    Her eyes shifted into mine as I pulled hers off of me. I let go and motioned with my hand ''shoo''. It was more of a twitch, but I believe she got the message.

    Kaitlyn shook her head and tried to grab me, but I swiped her hand away and used my legs and the forward motion of Tom''s dragging to shift against the wall before slapping his hand as well. He let go and warily looked towards the Asylum.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    He said something, but my ears were ringing. I merely shook my head.

    "Go" I hacked out. I pointed at the asylum I was facing before pointing at me. That was all I could manage as my hand fell down to the ground. I turned towards my fellow survivors with my eyes. "Live¡±

    Tom nodded and grabbed Kaitlyn and dragged her away. She did not fight him, thank god. I watched from the corner of the eye as they left through the door. I heard them pick up the pace and soon heard a car start and drive off.

    I smiled, deprecatory at how close I had got to freedom, but at the same time I felt it just. And end to a story I had wished to end so many times, yet it kept going. I dragged my hand over from my side to feel the blooming gunshot in my chest.

    My eyes slowly closed as I felt myself slowly wither away. There was a certain darkness behind my eyelids, quite unlike the normal. Cold and desolate. No light beyond the tunnel or the path to damnation was present.

    I heard the door open opposite to me and the sound of boots walking in. Three pairs.

    "Ah, so glad we caught you before you left." someone said, his voice cold and aloof.

    I opened my eyes to see a hazy figure walk towards me, and two others move behind them. One of the escorts stopped before Billy, who also had been left behind. With casual ease of a professional, a dagger left its holster on his or her belt and imbedded into Billy''s cranium.

    Billy fell down, never to arise again.

    The leading figure stilled, and his body shifted to glance behind at the now dead. He turned and came over to me and kneeled down. I was now face to face with the leader and he was close enough to see him clearly despite my unfocused eyes.

    It was a middle aged man wearing a black army combat fatigues. A rather average looking face with blue eyes and black slicked back hair.

    The man poked his gunshot wound with his gloved hand, causing pain to flare up from the touch, causing me to wince.

    He pulled out something from his utility pouch, a self-injecting ampule.

    "You know.." He started as he played with the ampule in his hand. "Some of the higher ups still wanted to give you a chance."

    He tapped me with the device. "I was supposed to approach you a week ago when most of us went into lockdown.. You know, corporate shelters.¡±

    I pulled myself back and scowled at my former co-worker, I felt myself pass out. A laugh echoed out and then a searing pain in my chest that bought me back.

    My eyes shot open, and I gasped from the pain. I saw his finger in my wound, twisting around in it. He wore an amused smile as he tortured me. "Not so fast, not so fast." He said and went over to the obese zombie and gathered some of its ichor onto his finger and coming back.

    "I believe I owe you a cure." He said as his face broke out in a sneer as he took out a knife and smeared the ichor onto it. "Can''t go back on my orders now, can I? Just like you." He asked as he drew close and grabbed my face. "A fucking dog who ran away from home and made a mess outside.."

    "And they want to take you back." He snarled before spitting in my face and letting go.

    I couldn''t see, but I felt a pinch in my tight. "The cure." I heard him say. "And now the affliction."

    I felt a momentary searing pain as the knife pierced my chest before I felt pain quite like anything I had felt before. I felt something still in me.

    "Too bad it doesn''t cure what you have." I heard before I began to spasm. I felt cold before I felt myself heat up. The floor underneath me was wet and slimy from blood.

    "It was a pleasure." Was the last thing I heard from the man.

    I began to scream and puke as my body temperature continued to rise. I felt myself falling apart as chunks and pieces came out with my vomit. I passed out. Ether due to blood loss or becoming a mindless creature, I did not know as my consciousness left my body.

    ''What an unsightly way to die'' was my last thought.

    I awoke. Disoriented and feeble.

    I moved to push myself up, only to grow more nauseous as I watched everything move sluggishly.

    My guts fell to the floor, dark reddish ichor left me as I vomited. I dismissed my earlier idea and merely let myself fell to my side.

    I coughed and wheezed as I tried to hold myself together till I reorient myself.

    When the world no longer spun around, I rose up to sit. I placed my hand over my chest and felt the knife still imbedded in my chest. Around it, the skin had scabbed over. I frowned as I felt no pain. I scratched the scab to see if there was pain from it, but it merely flaked off me and revealed scarred skin.

    I looked around; they had dragged me into an open mass grave, countless bodies were below me. I checked my pulse and felt it, albeit weak, most likely due to the knife stuck in it.. I think?

    I looked around to see if there was anything to secure the knife in my chest. No way in hell would I want to pull it out and most likely kill myself..

    I paused.

    Should I just pull it out? I mean, fuck it. I''m as good as dead. By some miracle, I wasn''t yet turned into one of the zombies or dead despite getting probably infected and my heart pierced.

    I grasped the handle and calmed myself before yanking it out with all my strength.

    The knife came out with a splatter of dark ichor and pain. I bit deep into my lips and tasted the taste of blood and sweetness as the pain stuck through me and I passed out again.

    I awoke, this time frowning because I hadn''t died even now. Also, there were some corpses now on top of me. I pushed them off me.. With remarkable ease? Not superhuman or anything, but I felt far stronger than before.

    I felt my chest again and once again I merely felt a scab over my wound, that was now flaking off from touch. I looked down and saw a fresh scar, but nothing else. I stared at it for a while. Something just crashed in my head as I couldn''t compute how I was still alive and only left with a scar.

    I would''ve probably stayed staring at my chest for a while if it weren''t for talking coming near.

    I interrupted my pondering and creeped to hide at the edge of the grave where the sounds were coming form.

    As the voices came closer, so did their voices intensify, till it sounded like screaming. Yet they still became louder and closer.

    My head spun again and nausea was growing as even their steps now sounded like gunshots on the gravel path. I clenched my teeth and endured; I wasn''t even able to pick up what they were talking about because of the sheer intensity I was hearing.

    I tried to lessen their sounds, to drone them out and, to my surprise, I could.

    "Almost cleaned up now." One of them said as they came over to the grave.

    I felt something stir in me.

    "Aye, but I can''t really appreciate the fact we''re in the loonies." The other said.

    A hunger.

    ¡°What? This is just a facility.¡±

    A corpse fell into the pit. Before the other one responded as a second corpse fell down as well,

    "A creepy ass facility. There is a difference. Besides, all that blood and gore isn''t helping."

    I heard them turn around and arguing, the first calling the other a coward. But I barely paid attention as I leaped up, over to the ground. Something was driving me forward and my gut was telling me I needed this.

    My landing alerted them to my presence. The two men dressed like the ass who almost killed already had their silenced assault rifles ready and faces turned towards me as they turned the rest of their bodies and firing.

    Despite the military professionalism and minimalistic turn, they seemed to move slowly in my eyes. I moved forward in zigzag as they opened fire, but I had already reached them despite them trying to move backwards to widen the gap.

    I leaned down before pushing up as I pushed the first one''s weapon up and striking his stomach with my knee. He groaned and flew slightly upwards from my strike, and I saw his eyes flipping over to show his whites.

    I barely noticed the other one hitting me in the shoulder due to being driven forward by whatever I was feeling. Hunger?

    He caught my attention because of grazing my head with a shot. It would''ve been a head tap had I not.. did I almost dodge a bullet? Not quite.. Odd.

    I dropped the passed out figure and doing an odd pirouette on my toes to the side. The bullet grazed again on my left side. It seemed I somehow barely sensed the danger coming my way, but my body could not act in time.

    I broke off into another erratic zigzag as I saw the conglomerate goon open his mouth. I leaped and landed on him while grabbing his face and ripping it to the left as I landed on top of him and pushing him down.

    I felt his neck crack from the pull and he was dead before he hit the ground. I felt the urge to rip out his throat, and so I did. I sank my teeth into it and ripped it open.

    I threw the skin and flesh off my mouth and drank greedily from the blood that still came out with pressure despite death slowly taking him.

    So Thirsty.

 Chapter 10

    I lift my face after the pressure in his veins subsides and draw a long and heavy breath. My eyes close and I feel my chin tremble.

    I felt satisfaction.

    My thirst had subsided, and I felt more ¡®me¡¯. Not like a caged animal that was trapped and docile. I felt free.

    I began to laugh; My body slumped over the body and hugged the corpse tightly.

    I FELT FREE!

    The corpse beneath me cracked as my newfound strength snapped his arm bones. I shivered as I felt the crack echo within me. I could only guess where this power originated, but I accepted it.

    It suited me.

    I took a lick of the blood smearing the corpse. It still tasted like blood, a heavy taste filled with metal. Yet there was a slight, almost hidden taste of sweetness.

    I rose and let the rush of dopamine take its course. In the meantime, I checked over where I had been shot and saw that they had already clotted despite the rather gruesome wound in my left shoulder. I flexed it and listened to the bones grinding against each other whilst barely sensing any pain.

    It would seem I did not have instant regeneration. Pity.

    I kept moving the stiff shoulder around as I turned my attention to the passed out figure. My legs almost moved on their own as I walked to him.

    He was lying on his back, struggling to breathe. The goon had puke around his face and was now slowly suffocating in his own vomit. I kneeled down and watched him unconsciously struggle. I glanced around to see if I had the time, or had anyone heard me. But there was no erratic movement nor shouts.

    I keened my mind to focus on hearing.

    A slow whirring of motor was audible from a corner of the asylum. I turned towards it and saw a camera turn to me. I smiled and stood up from the slowly dying man and waved at the camera before moving to the dead corpse and taking his rifle and a couple of magazines from the mag pouch.

    I dropped the mag on the rifle and replaced it while running away and ensuring the safety was on.

    My face couldn¡¯t help but have a playful smirk as I rounded the opposite corner from the camera. The extra mag went into my pocket.

    I quickly noted I was in the open backyard of the asylum. Still fenced off but more of a buffer zone area between the courtyards and non-patient areas. It was already night, but it was late spring so it wasn¡¯t too dark so visibility was still good.

    My way forward had been fenced off around 25 meters from me. The top of the fence had been covered in barbwire.

    Beyond the fence, another smaller courtyard had been built.

    I heard footsteps from where I came from. I had alerted three enemies based on the pair of jogging steps moving almost in unison.

    My grin widened as I hoisted the rifle to rest on my shoulder and ran for the fence. No point in ending this chase so soon, right?

    The asylum walls zoomed past me and I reached the fence. I jumped mid run and reached out.

    My landing on the 4 meter fence reached to the upper part, and I quickly climbed up with ease. As I came to the top, just below the concertina wire I leaned downwards and leaped up towards the smooth building wall above the fence.

    I pushed myself off of it towards the other side of the fence and barely missed the razor wire thanks to applying some rotation to my push. I landed on my hands and legs.

    The pain was significant as my body came on to the ground. My limbs groaned and I let my body keep up the movement by rolling on the ground.

    A groan escaped my mouth as I leaped up and hid behind a corner and let myself slump down whilst taking the rifle and taking the safety off. I listened as two separate yet uniform rhythms of foots steps stopped at the corner on the other side of the fence where I had come from before continuing. Probably checked the corner.

    I caught my breath and listened as the footsteps reached the fence, the were around 5 meters away from me on the other side.

    ¡®I missed this¡¯

    I took a knee and leaned out of the corner and planted two shot at the chasers. One of them fell to the ground as I leaned back in and began retreating into the inwards spanning courtyard. I couldn¡¯t help but laugh as I heard muffled gunshots from behind, along with cursing.

    I heard the guy drag something away from me as I calmly jogged through open doors into the asylum.

    My laughter echoed in the forlorn, eerily lit corridors as I entered.

    I composed myself and kept low, creeping through the empty hallways with the rifle on high ready. My steps were light, yet my dirty dress shoes sent out weak taps echoing in the hallways despite my best efforts.

    Tap, Tap, Tap

    Tap.

    Tap.

    Every once in a while, I stopped to listen for other footsteps and the sounds of cameras whirring around.

    I had no clue how many I was facing, but I liked my chances.. One confirmed kill, 2 potential casualties inflicted. I didn¡¯t think there would be a full infantry squad of two teams of five. If it is a half there would be two fully operational hostiles remaining. Potentially three if the guy I talked to was not part of the squad.

    I liked my chances a lot. Enough to begin to sing</a>. A song fit for a funeral.

    ¡°Zamuchen tjazheloj nevolej¡± I wept with a mournful quiet voice as it echoed in the halls.

    ¡°Ty slavnoju smert''ju pochil...¡±

    I paused and took a breath and sang louder

    ¡°V bor''be za narodnoe delo-o-oh

    Ty golovu chestno slozhil...

    Ty golovu chestno slozhil...¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    I ducked behind a couch in the hall as gunfire sprayed in to the corridor. I sang louder as the bullets flew towards me.

    ¡°Sluzhil ty nedolgo, no chestno

    Dlja blaga rodimoj zemli...

    I my, tvoi brat''ja po delu,

    Tebja na kladbishhe snesli.¡±

    My voice echoed loudly in the empty halls filled with flying bullets. I ducked out and exchanged fire with two figures at the end of the corridor. There was a gap of around 10 meters between us.

    I hushed once more and repeated the last verse.

    ¡°Tebja na kladbishhe snesli.¡±

    I heard one of them groan as I hit him as he leaned out of cover. ¡°Fucking Russian cunt!¡±

    I only sang louder as I left my cover and jogged towards them.

    ¡°Nash vrag nad toboj ne glumilsja...

    Krugom tebja byli svoi...

    My sami, rodimyj, zakryli

    Orlinye ochi tvoi.¡±

    ¡°Crazy fucking bastard!¡±

    ¡°Orlinye ochi tvoi.¡± I sombrely repeated before continuing once more loudly and proudly as I rushed them. They began to spray the hallway, so I tackled my way into one of the doors on my way to take cover.

    ¡°Ne gore nam dushu davilo,

    Ne slezy blistali v ochah,

    Kogda my, proshhajas'' s toboju,

    Zemlej zasypali tvoj prah.¡±

    ¡°Zemlej zasypali tvoj prah.¡± As I somberly sang the last part again as I charged out. As I yelled the last verse.

    ¡°Net, zloba nas tol''ko dushila!

    My k bitve s vragami rvalis''

    I mstit'' za tebja besposhhadno

    Nad prahom tvoim pokljalis''¡±

    I jumped into a slide and slid past them while spraying the one who was not wounded as blood splattered around as he was hit multiple times.

    ¡±Nad prahom tvoim pokljalis''¡± I mournfully said, as I cancelled my slide and rose to my knee and shot the last one who was applying a bandage to his arm.

    He slumpted to the floor with a face filled with disbelief.

    I stayed a second in position, ready to fire, before standing up and glancing at the two bodies and switching mags.

    Neither of them was the fucker who had stabbed me. I switched out my empty one with one of theirs and limped forward as my leg wound slowly clotted up.

    ¡®Hopefully there was one left¡¯ I thought to myself as the pain in my leg began increasing with every step I took, the adrenaline slowly leaving my system.

    I wandered slowly through the asylum hallways aimlessly, passing dried blood and tracks of smeared blood and ichor. I followed them and reached outside in the front of the building where the mass gave was.

    I hid myself at the corner of the open doorway leading outside a peered out.

    The brightness inside was hampering my dark vision, but I saw nothing from the doorway, so I limped outside and hugged the outer wall, leaving a thin bloodied smear behind me. The blood that I left behind was murkier, darker shade of red that I attributed to whatever happened to me.

    I felt fine despite being shot thrice. A did feel pain and my movement was affected but beyond that I was relatively fine.

    I reached to the mass grave and saw two bodies lying there, one that I had ripped its throat out and one that had suffocated in his own refuse. It was relatively confirmed now that there were two people remaining and one of them was wounded.

    I felt a feral urge to rip into the corpses, but I resisted it and moved on. My path led me to the security checkpoint building they had almost killed me. I stalled as I saw an upper part of a silhouette in the broken window before a faint muzzle flash lit up from his position.

    My body fell as I free fell into prone firing position as a bullet whizzed over my head. The gravel underneath me dug painfully in to my stomach as I returned fire with single but rapid shots.

    There was around 100 meters of enclosed fenced off path to go with no cover to go before I could reach the small building.

    My target was not too accurate as his shots ricocheted around me but my own shots failed to strike true as well because of his more secure position under cover.

    A few rocks ricocheted off his shots and struck my face.

    I switched between crawling and returning fire as I painfully slowly moved closer to the building. I had to occasionally rise and do a quick dash when the shooter began to zero in on me and his shots became more accurate.

    I managed to half my distance after a lengthened engagement but I was unable to move forward anymore and had to erect a barrier out of gravel as the fire had become too accurate. Shards of sharp gravel and gravel itself peppered my hand I used to cover my face.

    My magazine had run dry, I removed my hand from covering my face and switched to my last magazine and waited.

    After a few minutes of continuous fire there was a pause, a pause that I had been waiting.

    I switched to full auto while rising up and firing a salvo before dashing forward. I continued to fire as I ran to suppress the other shooter. None of my shots now were accurate, but I successfully suppressed the enemy.

    50 meters turned to 25.

    25 to 15. I ran out of ammo and threw the gun away.

    My assailant peeked out of his corner of the window as I was 5 meters away, dashing full speed at the window.

    ¡°Fuck.¡± was all I heard as I leaped through the window and the already broken window shattered into shards that went flying everywhere.

    The shooter in military fatigues and wrapped in bandages, covered his face from the incoming explosion of glass as I flew past him.

    My legs hit the ground first, followed by my hands as I glided on broken glass that dug into my palms. I grabbed some of them and threw them at the shooter I had been exchanging fire to keep him covering his face.

    I grabbed a large shard of glass.

    As I gained control of my momentum, I sprung out of my glide and charged the shooter. My shoes were not made for this uneven terrain and allowed my foe to brace for my charge, but luckily not enough for him to turn me into cheese.

    He held out the rifle defensively n front of him as I reached him. I ducked low and rose as I reached underneath his rifle, throwing his guard up. I let myself glide on the shards of glass and twisted my body and struck the glass into his side.

    It cut deep into my own hand and into him.

    I would¡¯ve enjoyed my moment of victory had I not been shot from behind. The unsuppressed gunshot of a short barrel weapon echoed out as I was hit in the shoulder blade.

    I coughed from the sudden impact and I let myself slump down from the impact and fell down.

    ¡°You¡¯re one hell of a tough son of a bitch to kill.¡± Came behind me along with steady steps, it was the voice of the one and only. Someone I wanted to kill.

    ¡°How many fucking shots have you taken after coming back from the dead? Three? Five?¡± The target asked me as he stopped in a safe distance.

    I rolled over to face him and smiled at him. That earned a shot into the knee.

    I grasped it and winced.

    ¡°Don¡¯t play coy with me, I know you¡¯re probably just playing.¡± The man with blue eyes said, his formerly slicked back hair was now in a sorry state and his eyes looked me like I was a monster.

    I pulled myself up at gunpoint and leaned on to the window frame. Blood merely trickled down from my shattered knee. I did not have instant regeneration, but I didn¡¯t bleed a lot and clotted up fast. Useful thing that, hard to bleed out.

    Still it hurt like hell. I crossed my arms and smirked at the man who still hadn¡¯t killed me.

    ¡°Tell me how.¡± He demanded as my nonaction spurned and encouraged him on. He took a half step forward while aiming at my face.

    ¡°You should know, I¡¯m guessing this is whatever you did to me.¡± I casually answered, while leaning back.

    He sneered at my answer. ¡°What I did should¡¯ve kept you in an agonizing state between a mindless husk and consciousness as the cure and virus fought inside of you before dying.¡±

    ¡°Good to know.¡± I nodded.

    He took a half a step forward again, around 4 meters was between us.

    ¡°And you died.¡± He stated. ¡°at least for a while. And then coming back with all this,¡± He added while motioning towards me with his gun. ¡°Rose after a knife went through your heart, and all this super power shit.¡±

    I watched as his eyes glinted with greed and he licked his lips. He rummaged behind him in a utility pouch and threw a sample syringe packed in plastic.

    ¡°Fill it up.¡± He demanded.

    I laughed in his face, but took the syringe and unpacked it. I stuck it in my left elbow vein. I pulled back the tap and watched the murky, dark blood flow into it.

    ¡°Thank you for your order, would you like just the sample or the whole me?¡± I asked sarcastically as I waited the syringe to fill up.

    ¡°You¡¯d like that, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± He asked, ¡° But no, you¡¯re too¡­ difficult to transfer.¡± He laughed. He took another half a step and extended his arm as I removed the needle. A small spurt of pressurised blood flew out of that I directed into the bastard''s face.

    The gun went off and hit me in the upper part of right chest. We both recoiled from different reasons as I moved into a last charge while coughing blood. His empty left hand was reaching for his face to clear his face while the gun was still pointed towards me.

    ¡°God fucking damn zombie!¡± He screeched.

    I shifted to the right just as the gun fired again. The shot flew past, and I was on him. I grabbed his right arm holding the gun and jerked it up violently and head-butted him in the face.

    I twisted his hand outwards as another shot went off. His free hand pushed against my face, trying to put distance between us. My free right arm grabbed his throat and squeezed.

    He gurgled and tried to shift away, but my grip held. My smile stuck out below his hand.

    He could not force me away. Slowly, his hands stopped supporting him and he slumped in my grasp.

    ¡°You¡¯re out played.¡± I said playfully. My face inching closer to his face as strength left him. I nudged my head out of his grasp and looked at his terror-stricken face. His hand fell feebly to his side.

    ¡°All alone.¡± I cooed and let him fall to his knees. My hand squeezed the gun out of his hand and it dropped to the floor. I eased my grip on his neck to let him draw breath.

    ¡°With a ¡®zombie¡¯ you created.¡± I drew close to him and whispered in his ear. I let go of his arm that held the gun and used it to caress his cheek. ¡°Do you really think I¡¯m a zombie?¡± I softly asked as I tightened my grip again. ¡°A mindless creature?¡±

    His hands feebly grasped my hand that strangled him. He tried to say something, but all that came out was a gurgle. He shook his head in my grasp.

    ¡°No?¡± I asked as I slowly bit into his ear and drew blood. He winced as I ripped my head back with a piece of his ear with it. I brought the piece in my mouth and rolled it around and tasted the blood.

    I spit the piece out of my mouth and turned back to the trembling man.

    ¡°You know I was so close to freedom when you.. decided to ¡®greet¡¯ me.¡± I said, ¡°I¡¯m a bit mad.¡± I sighted.

    I glanced as the man reach for something behind him.

    ¡°Aww, are you going to break my heart again?¡± I cooed as grabbed his elbow. He tried to overpower me, but I merely tightened my grip around his neck.

    I guided his hand up in front of me and glided my hand to his wrist. He was holding a knife in his hand and was desperately trying to break from my grasp.

    I guided the blade to his face.

    He kept shaking his head and edge it away from the blade. I used the blade to run over his face and drawing a red line that simmered with blood. His grip over the weapon faltered, and I took the weapon in my hand.

    ¡°Would you like to beg for a quick death?¡± I asked, as I was sure he was aware of his untimely demise that was to be slow.

    He nodded and groaned erratically while his hands grasped my pants in desperation.

    I smiled gently at that.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t care.¡±

 Chapter 11 "Jason Hall. Psychiatrist. Yale"

    I left the separated and organised body of my short-term nemesis on to the floor behind me. I shook some of the excess blood from my suit and readjusted it before moving past the security checkpoint again and picking up Jason that had just been left there after my untimely demises if..

    I forgot to ask his name. I couldn¡¯t help but click my tongue.

    No matter.

    The exit was before me. The night sky glittered with stars. The parking lot was surrounded by lush forest enveloped it and beyond it was a large metropolis with skyscrapers reaching for the skies. Even now there was a soft glow of fires and billowing smoke visible from there.

    I stepped out and watched around me. The simple half empty car park was a relief to sore eyes.

    My eyes couldn¡¯t stop glancing upward and watch the visible stars and the halved moon above me.

    I smelled the air of freedom. It smelled like decrepit death and rot. It smelled of carnage.

    I raised my arm and smelled it. It smelt like freedom and sweat.

    It was still night-time, late at night actually, as my project of disassembling the human body while keeping the recipient alive as long as possible through makeshift tourniquets had been time-consuming. I even had to wait for a while now and then when my nemesis passed out. After letting him enjoy moments without pain helped waking him up once I continued.

    I honestly didn¡¯t want to return to the asylum after so much time spent there and the effort to get out. But the thought of moving at night without sleep and with wounds was making me hesitant.

    I decided to look around the car park. I was looking for an older model or a newer one that seemed to have bare minimal features installed.

    Cars that might not have alarms.

    I finally came across a badly maintained white Nissan Sentra which had its paint job slowly flaking off and rust was showing. I checked around it to see any blinking lights or any sign of an alarm system, but found nothing.

    I broke the back window and crawled in. I hoped that the back window would prove the most difficult for any disagreeable shambler from entering. Besides, it would keep the actually more important windows intact.

    I pulled out the middle seat in the back and entered the back trunk before placing the seat back in its place.

    The back trunk was as close to a trash bin as possible, but it would have to do. I shifted the bottles and fast food containers to the side and made myself comfortable and fell asleep.

    <hr>

    After an uncomfortable few hours of shuteye, I awoke and listened around. I heard shuffling around the parking lot.

    Yesterday''s unsuppressed gunshots had probably attracted a crowd from around. The unliving kind.

    I took a good pat around and noticed my wounds had scabbed over again. I moved the body around and felt uncomfortable pain as bullets and shrapnel were lodged inside me. They felt somehow shallow and not deeply imbedded in me. Honestly, my movement was less inhibited that after yesterday¡¯s gunfight and honestly, I should not be fine at all.

    But overthinking things without proper knowledge of the situation was pointless so I just crawled out of my lair.

    The slowly ascending morning greeted me as I crawled on to the front seat. When reaching there, I pulled Jason from the back and placed it on my lap.

    I adjusted the rear-view mirror and looked at my less that charming self. Unshaven and hair filled with gore. Even my blue eyes had lost a certain edge from them, either from overexertion and fatigue or whatever I had become. I let out a yawn and scanned around the parking lot.

    I had already attracted one of them, and it was making its way towards me.

    I leaned my head on my hand and watched it approach before sighing. These things were such a bore after yesterday. Mindless and simple. Couldn¡¯t they, I don¡¯t know, mutate?

    I might be a mutant, so why can¡¯t they pick up the slack? Casuals.

    The door unlocked with a click, and I stepped outside. I was still feeling a little drowsy, so I stretched as I watched the gathering crowd moving at me. Around 12 were slowly creeping at me.

    Well, seems like they don¡¯t consider me as their own. I did a last twist of my upper body and swung Jason at the closest one, who had noticed me way earlier than the others. My new found strength and a hit to the head caused the neck to twist into an unnatural 90 degrees angle and going down.

    I winced as one bullet popped out of me because of the swing and breaking open the scabbed over wound. That seemed to be a thing now that can happen.

    As my blood dripped out of the newly opened wound, the crowd got rowdy.

    Snarling and picking up the pace from a relaxing walk speed to barely speed walking.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

    I whistled appreciatively at the crowd, who had gotten motivated. I was just about to go to meet them before I heard a movement behind me from the forest. Footsteps ran through the dense foliage and detritus.

    I glanced around and saw a group of nine men and one woman rush out from the bushes with assault rifles with bayonets attached to it. They wore an odd mishmash of military clothing and civilian that clearly wasn¡¯t up to code.

    I completely froze, unable to figure out what was going on. Should I hit them or should I not hit them?

    ¡°Put the weapon down and get behind us!¡± One of them yelled at me. I glanced at Jason before letting it go and walking towards them with my hands up.

    8 of them rushed past me while two of them stayed and kept me at gunpoint.

    I was lucky enough to be graced with the single woman as my guard. She was a stout woman with short brown hair with cargo pants and a jacket that was open and showing her sports bra and dog tags. Just like most of the 10 guys, they were wearing a mishmash of civilian and military clothing, but most of them were wearing civilian footwear for some reason.

    Yet all of them seemed to have dog tags, which was peculiar.

    As I got around 3 meters from them before stopping.

    I looked at the two guards who were watching me suspiciously before glancing over to the 8 man kill team. They were making quick work of the mini horde with their bayonets while keeping distance. I turned back to my guards and smiled.

    ¡°Hi, um.. So they have deployed the military? Does this mean this is about to end? I am doctor Jason by the way, third year practitioner of psychology. Yale. Nice to meet you.¡±

    My guards exchanged looks before the man turns to me. ¡°That¡¯s quite the.. introduction ¡®doc¡¯¡±

    ¡°Oh um, I¡¯m sorry I talk a lot when I¡¯m nervous.. Um.. Could you please tell me that you are military and I¡¯m not about to be robbed and killed.. I-I don¡¯t have any money on me.¡± I stammered out.

    ¡°National guard.¡± The woman answered while rolling her eyes and lowering her guard slightly. ¡°And we¡¯re not here to rob you. We heard gunshots from our camp during the night.¡±

    ¡°You are not carrying any concealed firearm, right?¡± The man asked.

    ¡°No. Heavens no! I can strip if you would like.¡± I said.

    ¡°If you would be so kind.¡± Came from my side as a gruff-looking man walked back after killing all the shamblers.

    I turned to the man and gave a wary smile and nodding. I stripped, slowly revealing a multitude of bruises and scabs underneath my shredded clothing.

    The trio took a step back while increasing their vigilance, their muzzles pointed at me.

    The man originally guarding me whistles as he looks over my wounded body. ¡°Damn, they don¡¯t look like bites, but holy hell. Did you go through a shredder or something?¡±

    I cover myself with my arms and chuckle, embarrassedly. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±

    I was met with silence and looking around; I saw the gruff man watching me suspiciously. I bite my lip and whisper. ¡°Fine. Domestic abuse.¡±

    ¡°What ya say?¡± The other man asked with a frown.

    ¡°I said it was domestic abuse, okay! Those are cigarette burns and escaping from that hellhole!¡± I explode while pointing at the asylum. ¡°My fucking wife beats me and burns me okay?! Never has she fucking bitten me!¡±

    There was another few seconds of awkward silence before the man who had asked sights.

    ¡°Fuuuuuccckk, man.. Look I¡¯m sorry for asking but.. Shit''s real you know. Bites are real bad.¡± He said carefully while lowering his gun. ¡°Those who get bit turn into one of em.¡±

    The gruff man sights and lowers his gun. ¡°I apologise as well.. I was thinking those were GSW.. Gunshot wounds.¡±

    I sniff. ¡°I know. I saw some patients and co-workers turn from the bite.. It¡¯s just been so hard. And now this..¡± I motion around. ¡°Suddenly, right after escaping from my workplace, I get surrounded by zombies and then 10 soldiers jump out and..¡± I sniff again. ¡°And before you ask, I did hear gunshots last night, so that¡¯s why I got out today hoping it was the rescue.¡±

    I pointed towards the guard building. ¡° But I found dead guards at that security building with guns and gunshot wounds. So I assumed they had a conflict amongst themselves.¡± I let out a chuckle. ¡°I wasn¡¯t even aware that there were others still alive in here.¡±

    ¡°Did you take anything from them?¡± The gruff man asks.

    I shake my head, ¡°No, I was afraid they¡¯d grab me if I got too close.¡± I motion at my dirty clothing. ¡°And I already saw so much shit in there so I just wanted out.¡±

    The gruff man slung his rifle on his shoulder and came over. I flinched a little. He offered me his hand. His eyes did, on the other hand, show he was sceptical to say the least.

    ¡°Staff Sergeant Saul Garnham of the National Guard¡± He introduced himself.

    I showed a relieved smile and grasped his hand and revealing my naked body.

    ¡°Jason Hall. Psychiatrist. Yale.¡±

    <hr>

    POV Saul Garnham, Tank Commander of the National Guard.

    I eyed the survivor as I shook his hand. He had a slightly slouched posture for someone of his physique. A lean muscular body covered in bruises, scabs and scars.

    Apparently, he was a victim of domestic abuse. I see corporal Ventus eye the man with pity.

    I somewhat feel bad about it, but I don¡¯t trust this psychiatrist. Something seems off about him. I get a feeling he¡¯s studying our every action under a microscope. Almost unnoticeable, but his eyes shift to us whenever we so much as twitch.

    I let go of his hand.

    ¡°You can put your clothes back on. I apologise again for it but it was the fastest way to ensure that you are not infected.¡± I say to the survivor.

    ¡°N-no, I understand.¡± He says and begins to dress himself again.

    I excuse myself and walk to the rest of the team. Lieutenant Winters joins me, leaving Ventus alone with the civilian. She slings her rifle over her shoulder and walks beside me.

    It should be fine to leave only Ventus with the psychiatrist. I listen as Corpral Ventus chats with him and turn to Winters.

    ¡°What do you think, Ma¡¯am?¡± I as her.

    She scratches her scalp and frowns as she pulls out a stick from there.

    ¡°His story? Plausible but weird.¡± She responds as she throws the stick away. ¡°Left firearms just lying around.. sure it could¡¯ve been as he said. Stress could be a factor or the mere fact that he was afraid to pick up what he considered a murder weapon as he¡¯s been stuck there these few days so he is not aware of what is happening.¡±

    I hum and nod.

    We reach the rest, who have spread out into a circle and are scanning the perimeter. We head to the middle where Sergeant Qill, the squad lead is Lieutenant Winters exchanges a few words with him.

    Quill nods and moves around the circle and giving orders quietly while Winters turns to me.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to send you in to the security building with a pair from Quill¡¯s squad. Check his story and if you can find supplies. The civie talked about guns, so there are probably those and hopefully some ammo.¡± She says while pointing at the building leading into the asylum.

    I give a crisp salute along with a nod and walk out of the centre towards Quill, who is already waiting me at the edge. He nods and motions towards the two guys closest to the building. I pass the circle and the two guys follow me as we head to the building. I glance back towards the survivor, who is quietly chatting with Ventus and drinking from his canteen.

    I notice him glance towards me before I refocus to the matter at hand.

    ¡°Holy shit.¡± One of my escorts says as we see the interior of the building.

    There is blood everywhere, windows have been broken and.. is that a..

    I walk in and look at the neatly arranged human parts. It looks like a science dissection with all the body parts and internal organs neatly separated around a torso. Everything is neatly arranged and separated into its own neat rows, the rows themselves are then arranged based on size, with the largest body parts like the head legs and hands being first and the smallest things like nails being last in the row.

    My breakfast barely stays in me and I hear the escorts gag. One of them goes outside without permission, but that is understandable. Hell, I want to leave as well.

    I look at the removed face sitting next to the head. Even the scalp is removed. And all the blood. It¡¯s everywhere around this.. crime against humanity. One massive pool of blood and splatters everywhere.

    ¡°Staff Sergeant, I don¡¯t think we should be here. This looks like some crazy voodoo shit right here. And I don¡¯t even believe in voodoo.¡± Says the escort who had remained with me. A corporal I believe. A man of Hispanic descent who keeps his hair shaven.

    ¡°Right, corporal..¡±

    ¡°Andino, sir.¡±

    ¡°Okay, Andino. I totally agree that we should GTFO of here. Let''s just get some supplies and report back.¡± I say and finally manage to take my eyes off the.. what would you even call it..

    I have to stop again as soon as I look around. An AR-15 assault rifle with a silencer is lying on a corpse in black assault fatigues and has a utility belt with pouches for magazines and tactical elements.His left arm and leg are bandaged and one of his arms is still holding the rifle tightly.

    Hs eyes tell of astonishment and fear during his last moments that seemed to have ended with the glass shard in his side that was smeared with dark dried blood.

    ¡°What the fuck have walked into?¡± I can¡¯t help but ask no one.

 The coming of Paradise, Intermission.

    It leaned against the car as it chatted with its guard, occasionally glancing at the security building at the other end of the parking lot.

    It couldn¡¯t help but smile as he thought back to the night before. Luckily, its conversation was amicable, and its smile was not out of place. While the conversation went on about their few days in this new world, it was not fully invested in the conversation.

    Its mind kept going back to the process. The terror of its victim. How it, a mere wayward cog or rather rogue drone, had slowly and meticulously brought suffering to someone who had ruled over it.

    One that it considered having created it.

    Not directly, of course. It knew that and it did not know its victim. But the victim''s whole being spoke of superiority. Someone who had led the drones. But not high enough to be part of the ruling class, they would never bother to lead in the field.

    It watched the building from the corner of its eye as it talked.

    It was feeling more complete, moving further away from its roots it had left behind. Society, people. The things it feared and despised. The things he had to cast aside when it was no longer truly a part of them. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

    A ghost haunting and hunting in the fringes of them. Formerly a chained hound doing their bidding, now broken free.

    It tensed its hand and felt the difference. Of what it had become. It felt itself on the edge of leaving its shell to shed its old skin and becoming something else. Something more than what it had left behind.

    ¡®What should I do with my freedom¡¯ It asked itself. It was not one for mindless carnage. It was what an unchained hound would do. What it did when it had escaped from its captors.

    But not what it was becoming.

    It needed a purpose.

    A purposeless being was a lesser one. A mere animal ruled by instinct and acts of fancy.

    Should he seek those chained like it once was and free them?

    It liked that idea.

    But it did not feel like ¡®purpose¡¯ to it. A pastime perhaps, but not purpose. Its old drone self had trouble thinking of a true purpose for itself now that it had freedom.

    It had been such a foreign concept to it to think for itself beyond reacting that it proved difficult to find a purpose. It felt anger from the realisation. IT knew that it was no lesser creature, yet it had been raised like one with little autonomy and it was now showing.

    Its jaw tightened, and he took a glance at the building again. The three people were now returning and carrying an extra assault rifle out.

    Perhaps he should rather lash out at its former masters before finding its purpose. Or perhaps that would be his purpose now that it knew they were not left behind in the old world. Nay, they seemed to have been responsible to an extent for this paradise.

    A paradise they have no place in.

    ¡®The mad hound that escaped will return as a wolf to prey upon the flock,¡¯ it thought as it watched the three sickly and pale looking figures return to their defensive circle.