When Fire and Nature Mix
*BRRRRRRR! BANG! BANG! BANG! BRRRR!*
Sounds of different gunshots were now echoing through the air as we launched an all-out attack towards a wave of fast-paced decays heading towards us. As they entered the maze of cars, they were now singled out and were now slowly being reduced.
"WOOOOOH! This is fun!" Jaden was now enjoying this.
The decay could not even go through the first set of cars. The maze stretched out all the way to the fountain, which was 50 meters away from the entrance of the mansion. The total distance between the gates to the door of the mansion was a total of 150 meters, and the first 100 meters were used as a car maze for the decay to be compressed. The front entrance had a width of 20 meters. Overall, a total of 100 cars and pick-up trucks were used to create the maze. Once a zombie would get through, only one or two would make it through the maze before they were shot down.
Only a few of the zombies would make it through and then Fairy and Nine would shoot them down. They were only taking a few crucial shots to conserve ammo as they wait for us to escape.
In the span of 2 hours, we were now able to kill about a thousand zombies with no casualties. Being prepared before the apocalypse was really helpful. We were probably looking forward to this wave. When we went to explore the mansion on the second day of the apocalypse, we were shocked to see many guns and bullets on the far side of the bunker. It was enough to supply a hundred platoons in the army!
Now, it was proving itself useful. We were fighting as if we had unlimited ammo. Of course, we also loaded a lot of them in the Jet. Food wasn't the only thing that's important in this world.
"There's still a lot more to go! Give or take, this will last for 8 hours." Kaizer estimated.
8 hours…
That's too long…
You see, you might not know how it feels, but after 30 minutes of continuous firing, the guns would begin to heat up. And after 45 minutes of non-stop firing, the gun becomes too hot for us to touch. We then have to use another gun to fire. No problem with that. But the exhaustion in carrying a 5 kg gun was different. It's fine if I had my abilities. I could go on for days, but it was different when our abilities have yet to manifest. We can't take turns in resting because it will risk us by allowing a few zombies to enter the building.
Also the foods that provide power-ups were still not usable. We tried eating and drinking some of them yesterday but nothing happened. So we are left with what we have right now. We can hold on for now but the exhaustion would soon kick in. For those people who just awakened their powers days ago would be the first ones to past out. Their hands would start to numb in the first few hours. They won't make it pass 2 hours. I can probably hold on for 4 hours. The people who can continue this for the next 8 hours would be Fairy, Nine, Kaizer and Toni. And two of them are conserving their bullets.
In short, we won't last for 8 hours. At most, we can probably wait for our friends to arrive in the next 5 hours. After that, we really have to leave…
2 HOURS LATER…
We are now able to kill almost 2000 zombies.
Only 8,000 more to go and counting…
"My hands are now getting numb boss!" Shine complained
"Mine too…" Shadow said
"We can still make it! Gosh… my hands are now shaking. I'm onto the third gun." Jaden informed.
We're starting to wear out earlier than expected. This is not looking good.
I guess we have to move on to the next phase.
"Nine can you hear me?" I announced in our comms.
"Loud and clear" Nine replied
"Move to Phase 2…" I commanded
"Isn't it too early for that boss?" Nine asked
I looked at everyone around me and saw that they were all exhausted. There was no other way to reduce the numbers faster than this. We have to do it. It's risky but it's all we have for now.
"Move to phase 2 Nine… It's all we have right now. Fairy, Cover us…" I said calmly
"Roger…" Both of them answered hesitantly…
Lovely was now using an M14 Rifle instead of a Barrett M82 which has a higher fire rate than the other. Nine also started setting up an MK19 grenade launcher. If we can't beat them one by one, then we'll beat them in bunch. I was also tempted to use the Jet to fire its weapons against the horde but I was afraid that it might attract more decay in the process.
*BOOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!*
The new weapon's explosions were now heard clearly throughout the entire mansion. The grenade launcher was now being used at the zombies at the rear line. In just 30 minutes, we were now able to narrow it down to 5000 zombies.
"Woooooh! We're gonna make it!" Kaizer exclaimed
I was in a good mood too, not only were we able to cut the numbers greatly, we were also able to relax for a short time. This will be a piece of cake!
*ROAAAAAAAR!*
That doesn't sound good…
"What was that?" Jaden asked
"I don't know… but it sounded big…" Kaizer confirmed
"And terrifying…" Toni added
Well they were right about that…
*ROOOOAR! RAAAARRGH! ROOOOAARGH!*
That sounded far but loud. Whatever that is, it sounds angry. Thinking about the worst case scenario… It could be another horde of fast-paced decays.
"Fairy? What's the status?" I called out hurriedly to her
There was no answer on the other line…
"FAIRY?! CONFIRM?!" I panicked and yelled while asking for the situation
"Uhhhhh… Boss… I think now would be the best time to make a run for it." Shadow shakily said as she took a look on the scope of her gun.
"What? What is it?" I asked in a shaky voice.
"RENEGADE! THERE ARE RENEGADES COMING!" Fairy shouted in our comms
After Fairy reported of what she saw, 7 cars were now flying straight for us.
"TAKE COVER!" I shouted
*BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOM!*
"Everybody okay?" I tried to confirm
"We're good" Shine confirmed
Everybody was fine…
Thank God!
The wave of fast-paced zombies were now rushing towards the mansion. No one was able to fire at them because everyone was still in shock. What in the world was that?
Suddenly another roar was heard at a distance…
10 bulky looking decays were now standing on top of the cars near the gates…
"I can't believe it…" Kaizer was stunned.
"Renegades?! Weren't they supposed to appear on the second year of the apocalypse?!" Toni was dealing with the shock as well.
Renegades are 2nd grade zombies of the lower-grade kind. They are vicious and bulky. They had a large body the size of an overweight person and arms as large as a tree trunk. They were basically mini giants. They rely on hearing and heat signatures that humans give off. Fresh blood from a human was also their bait. Bullets cannot penetrate their skin so the only way to kill them was with a human's super abilities.
Which we don't have!
Burning them was also an option, but it would take a while to kill them completely with fire. The worst part was that there were 10 of them. They love attacking in small groups. 10 was the maximum number of a pack of renegades and 10 of them would mean certain death in the early stage of the apocalypse.
"I had a theory… and this confirmed it." I told them
"What theory?" Jaden asked
"Because of the multiple mind jumps that we did, the 10 years that we spent in the apocalypse were now beginning to shorten…" I explained.
"That's impossible!" Jaden rebutted.
"I know…" I was now carefully choosing my next words.
"But think about it…our powers manifesting earlier than expected… the calamity coming earlier this time… and now this…" I said while pointing at the renegades.
They were now rushing towards us at incredible speeds.
Jaden began to retreat a little as she began to say, "Uhh boss… I think we should—"
"RUN!" the twins exclaimed.
*ROOOOAAAAAR!*
We were now bolting as fast as we could to the plane. We could only build a narrow stairway-like bridge because we didn't have enough time and resources then. So we could only run in twos. As we were now almost halfway towards the end, we could now hear the decay getting inside the mansion. We also created a maze inside the mansion but with the renegades crashing in, most of it would be for naught. That's something that we miscalculated.
Running for our lives, Kaizer was now leading the group and behind him was Shadow who had Toni runing beside her. Jaden was behind the three of them. I was the last one to run since I had to make sure that everyone was on the bridge. Shine on the other hand was afraid of heights so I had to drag her with me as we ran. Nine and Fairy were covering for us. Their bullets were effective against the 1st grade zombies but they were nothing to the renegade.
"Faster! We're almost there!" Kaizer worriedly exclaimed.
"We can make it!" Jaden said.
Just then, the first 2 renegades appeared on the balcony…
"Hurry up Paradox!" Toni encouraged.
They were now on the mountain slowly making their way to the plane.
"We're almost there Shine!" I said while dragging her as fast as I could
*BANG! BANG!*
"NOOOO!" Toni exclaimed
The other end of the bridge was now destroyed due to the impact of the two renegades climbing on it. I picked up Shine and placed her on my back as I jumped as hard as I could to try and reach the edge of the mountain.
*PAK!*
I slammed against the wall of the mountain and was now falling. Shine also fell off from the impact. I was able to catch her hand before frantically trying to grab a hold of something to stop us from falling.
My right was able to grab a branch while my left hand was holding on to Shine. Looking down, the ground was now filled with fast-paced zombies waiting for us to fall and be eaten. The renegades were also trying to find us. Sensing that we were on top of them they started banging the mountain side with their humungous hands.
"Hold on! We'll lower a rope for you guys to grab on!" Toni instructed
*CRAAAACK*
The branch was now starting to break…
I then looked at Shine and I was surprised.
She was smiling at me…
"Paradox…" Shine said with tears in her eyes
"Just… just hold on Shine. Everything's going to be fine…" My voice was shaking as I was saying that.
"Paradox… you can let go now…" She said that as she was crying with a smile on her face
"No Shine! Please no! Don't leave me!" Shadow was now screaming from the mountain top.
Kaizer and Jaden were doing their best to stop her from jumping
"What are you saying? We're gonna make it out alive… Don't you worry…" I tried to convince her.
She shook her head as she said, "We both know that only one of us can make it out of this… and it has to be you."
"No don't say that… I…" Words weren't coming out of my mouth anymore.
"It's okay… whatever happens… it was never your fault." She told me
I was now crying like a baby not knowing what to do.
"Goodbye Paradox… It was a pleasure fighting by your side…" She then let go of her hand.
"SHIIIIIIIIIIINE!!!" I screamed from the top of my lungs.
Time was slowing down again as I watch another comrade falling to her death, ready to be devoured by thousands of zombies on the ground. I couldn't even protect Shine…
The branch that I was holding on to also snapped…
I was now falling too.
While this was happening, some thoughts came rushing to my head.
Ahhhh… so this is where this jump ends…
I'm sorry dad… I'm sorry Giga…
I'm sorry… Toni…
*WOOOOOOOOOSH! BOOOOOOM*
Suddenly something hard hit the ground causing a massive tide of flames to engulf all the zombies on the ground including the renegades. The next thing we saw was a blinding red light that was so hot that I had to cover my eyes.
When I was finally able to see… I noticed that a lot of large vines were now suspending me in the air. Even Shine was also beside me being tangled by the vines.
How could this be? Where did the vines come from? Why weren't the vines burnt? Did fire and nature mix?
I then turned to look at the surroundings. No zombie could be seen. Even the mansion and the cars were blown away.
The only thing that was visible on the ground was a giant hole. And at the center of the crater was a person holding a giant burning scythe that was twice his size. This guy was on his knee doing a superhero landing pose.
He slowly stood up and slowly turned his head towards me…
"Well… well… well..." he began to say.
My eyes were now widely staring at him with shock as the familiar face was looking at me with a bright smile.
"Can't you do anything right without us… brother? Hehe!" He said as he chuckled
"Sorry we're late brother!" A girl's voice was now coming from above the mountains.
She was wearing Giant metal gauntlets that were too big for her size. This girl was very young to be wielding those things!
She then jumped from the top of the building and landed beside the guy as if she was a ninja.
This girl then began to open her palm towards our direction and slowly moved it downwards. As she did that, we were also moving downwards. She was controlling the vines. Shine and I were now on the ground safe and sound.
The two people started approaching and stopped in front of us.
"We're sorry for being late." The girl said as she smiled at both of us.
"We had to cultivate towards Iron Layer because when we saw the horde, we thought it was impossible for us to enter here as Stone Layers." The guy said.
A warm feeling rose from my heart. It was a feeling of safety…
"No worries… as usual… you're just in time… Grimm… Ash…" I replied.
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