Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

I started to clear the last stretch of the hallway but there were a couple more rooms left open in front of one another. I immediately hugged the walls to peek on both sides then I saw Ibarra firing his M16 seven times before Matthew managed to fully reload his Remington 870. As soon as Matthew started firing, Ibarra put down his rifle and reloaded his Glock 17.

'These two are working well...' I thought to myself.

The first thing I did was to throw a vase inside one of the rooms before I sprang up and pointed my pistol to the other room. There was none in the immediate vicinity but I heard a growl from the other room from a deadhead that got attracted by the noise of the vase cracking to pieces.

"NyaArghhCHckk"

"Aaarhgghckk"

I first glanced behind me but the moment I saw nothing coming out yet, I moved inside the room I was pointing my gun to and swept the surroundings as fast as I could. There were no deadheads in the room but several pieces of clothing were left on the bloody floor. It was then that I heard a noise coming from the bathroom that had a translucent glass door.

I circled around the bed to check it more closely and I saw it was about to shatter due to the deadheads trying to slam the glass doors open. I simply raised my pistol and shot through the glass a couple of times, boring holes through the heads of the couple inside. Their flailing hands stopped moving with their bodies but one fell forward and got stuck to the jagged shards of the door when it shattered.

'There's two more left...' I thought to myself as I glanced back to the opposite room.

I saw two young deadheads wearing part of their school uniform huddled around the wall where the vase crashed. I shot one of them in the head while I swung down and removed part of the other's head with my katana. I walked outside the room after clearing it and I kept hearing shots from above. I peaked at an angle through the window and they weren't making much progress due to the ones trying to get inside the love hotel.

I still had six bullets left in my Maxim 9 so I aimed outside to shoot at glass windows and cars a few meters away so the noise coming from different sources would at least CC them to not just follow one direction. After that, I quickly pressed the mag release to switch my empty magazine with a fresh one. I glanced at the stairwell where Matthew and Ibarra were and they seemed to have slowed down from firing shot after shot.

I ran back to their area but I saw Tatiana and Mikhail running down the stairs holding their melee weapons.

"What's gotten into you?" Tatiana asked immediately, seeing the mess I made on the floor.

"I got a bit of energy, that's all. The closed rooms haven't been cleared yet so get to it!" I chuckled.

"HEY, WE AREN'T DONE HERE! THERE'S A LOT OF BODIES NOW BLOCKING THE STAIRS!" Matthew bellowed.

"Mikhail! Pry this open with your axe!" I shouted as I pointed to the elevator.

"Yes, Boss!" Mikhail followed me with an excited face.

"THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" Matthew exclaimed.

"I'm making a shortcut so keep attracting them to that stairwell! Tatiana, you'll be coming with me!" I shouted back then I turned to Tatiana wiping her bastard sword with a spare cloth.

I did the same as her but we saw Mikhail inserting his king's weapon between the metal doors of the elevator and prying them forcefully and revealing a shortcut for every floor. When I looked down, I discovered that the elevator was on the 3rd floor but Tatiana jumped ahead of me, clutching the cables first before reaching a steady footing. She easily reached the door for the lower floor and used her K-Bar knife as leverage to pry it slightly open.

"Is it clear?" I asked, crouching down.

"Just jump down, it's fine." Tatiana replied, prying the door completely open.

As soon as Tatiana disappeared from view, I heard her Benelli M4 going off four times before I heard flesh getting sliced by a sharp weapon. The moment I jumped down and reached her, she already put down seven bodies with a wicked smile.

We were now at the center of the hallway of the 6th floor and both of us were surrounded by the dead, left and right. However, most of them were coming from the stairwell but a few were heading towards us due to the commotion that Tatiana made.

"You call this fine?! FiNe?!" I exclaimed as I shot down four deadheads coming for us with crooked and jagged arms.

"Yeah, compared to the thousand you cut down with Kaley's wakizashi. I would always cream when I remember that~" Tatiana giggled as we head to the end of the hallway to lure a few away from the stairwell.

"Can we do that shit later?!" I exclaimed as I raised my rifle.

"Later? That's a promise~" Tatiana chuckled as she elbowed the window behind us.

I flicked the safety off and aimed at the ones heading for us. After a short burst, 22 bodies fell one after the other, and then Tatiana and I started chucking the bodies that were littered on the hallway, off the window. We could've just placed them in one of the rooms but creating more distractions for the dead swarming over the entrance was the priority. More deadheads were coming from the stairwell so Tatiana took care of them while I was left with throwing them off the building.

It took a few minutes but it was then that we saw a head rolling from the stairs, probably due to Mikhail.

"COMING DOWN!" Mikhail roared.

"GO AHEAD!" I shouted back.

"Did you clear the closed rooms?!" Tatiana asked after shooting down four on the stairwell with her FN Five-Seven.

"Nah, Matthew and Ibarra are on it. They just told me to follow you guys from behind!" Mikhail hurriedly replied as he swung down on one about to reach our floor.

"Then you two hold off the ones coming from the stairs! I'll jump down on the elevator shaft again!" I replied as I ran back from where Tatiana and I came from.

"Don't go too slow or we'll be ahead of you!" Tatiana chuckled.

Before I jumped down, I managed to catch a glimpse of the door below and darkened fluid and viscous muck were oozing out of it just recently. The moment I caught a whiff of it, I almost threw up because the smell was so horrible in that enclosed area. I assumed that the deadheads were getting squeezed or packed tightly on the 5th floor so I ran back to the stairwell where Tatiana and Mikhail were.

I had no choice but to go to the proper channel so I pulled out my rifle and started gunning the ones approaching so we would be a few seconds faster.

Each bullet that came in contact with their head or their face would bore a horrible hole that would immediately pass through and exit to the back of their heads. As soon as that happens, blood and brain matter which were discolored would spray out, staining anything that it would come to contact with. However, that was only coming from my BCM AR-15, not Tatiana's Benelli M4. Once Tatiana used her shotgun up close and personal, the deadheads would be having more than just a fucking headache.

After killing more than 5 dozen just from that stairwell, it still seemed that the dead were neverending.

Matthew and Ibarra caught up to us but I asked them to chuck the bodies they found off the building so we wouldn't do it later. Besides, the five of us wouldn't fit in that stairwell especially if we were brandishing our weapons and shooting nonstop.

"They kept on coming!" Tatiana exclaimed, falling back to reload her shotgun.

"Just keep on gunning them down! They'll run out eventually!" I replied.

"Is the elevator shaft blocked all the way through?!" Tatiana asked, shooting twice almost at the same time.

"The 5th floor is blocked but I haven't checked the 4th one yet!" I shouted.

"I'll check it then!" Tatiana started to run for a surgical dive but I grabbed her arms.

"Don't even try it! The fluids are flowing straight down!" I stopped her.

"Do we even know the situation from above?! Have they blocked it yet?!" Mikhail started using his AK-47 since his PKM was still on the roof.

"Let me check!" Tatiana ran to the end of the hallway from where we threw the bodies.

However, as soon as Tatiana passed by the elevator shaft, I saw a glimpse of a discolored hand that almost looked like claws were clutching the edge of the shaft.

"TATIANA!!!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

As fast as I could, I pulled out a grenade from my pouch and threw it on the stairwell while pushing Mikhail to the side. Tatiana was just about to turn around when the figure hurled itself inside the hallway, crouched on all-fours and twitching involuntarily. Its back was crooked and its spinal cord was almost jutting out from its back.

We were in a much unfavorable situation with a feral and we had no choice but to face it up close and personal.

It was at this moment when the grenade just exploded and caught its attention. The feral turned its head missing its scalp and it unhinged its jaw as it screamed a high-pitched cry.

Tatiana and I made eye contact before she jumped and rolled into one of the rooms while Mikhail and I raised our rifles. I heard two clicks from his AK-47 and he unloaded the whole 60-round mag he was using. I was about to follow Mikhail but then the feral started running around the walls like it wasn't affected by gravity and avoided the spray of bullets that were coming for its head.

The feral's body got peppered by bullets but it was still heading for us. I began to step back to reposition and check the stairwell but Mikhail stood his ground and held his axe with both hands.

"MIKHAIL!!!" I shouted as I threw another grenade on the stairwell.

It exploded shortly but I raised my rifle once more to aim at the feral heading for us. I managed to fire seven shots towards the feral but its erratic movements just made me graze its head and the side of its face. It was screeching nonstop as it was getting torn bit by bit but it was just right in front of Mikhail. The feral just dove in headfirst but Mikhail had a surprise of his own.

"EAT THIS!!! CYKA BLYAT!!!" Mikhail roared as he swung his king's weapon, hammer first, and it smashed straight to the wall, landing square on the feral's head. Debris also scattered in the air but the feral's head was fucking unrecognizable when it blew back. It was violently smashed on the floor with one fucking strike and its head was almost lopped off just with the sheer force Mikhail put into his strike.

"That still only counts as one!" I exclaimed then I heard Tatiana snort from the room.