Chapter 7: The First Wave Strikes

Kira went outside and embraced the cold air mixed with zombie stench. She didn't expect the city to be a battlefield. Everyone in the vicinity evacuated. Shops closed and alarms rung. Everyone ran around and screamed in panic. Buildings were torn down, some of the people were being chewed on and becoming zombies. The ones preyed on would usually suffocate, as a mountain of zombies would pile up against them and feast on them.

Some soldiers assisted the afflicted to evacuation. There were not much survivors left, considering the huge number of them who turned into zombies. The evacuees travelled five kilometers by 20 in a military truck going to the evacuation center. Many of them lost their families, their loved ones and their friends.

In the battlefield, soldiers in shields made a barricade around the city to trap the zombies. That did not go well. There were hundreds, if not, thousands of zombies in that small circle. They would usually attack in groups of 50 and swarm a battalion of soldiers.

The zombies ran closer and closer to the soldiers. As they did, the soldiers prepred to fire. The moment they hit the shields, they initiated fire.

Flesh were ripped apart, guns were firing, the smell of gunpowder and flesh mixed and emitted a bad odor. Kira assisted at the rear and annihilated a lot of the zombies with her pistol. She knew that they can't hold any longer. As shields barricaded, the zombies took that chance to jump on the soldiers from above and surprise them. By doing this, the soldiers would have a difficult time killing them, especially since they might kill their fellow comrades in a friendly fire trying to kill the zombies.

Soldiers were slowly infected, breaking the whole defensive. They had no choice but to kill themselves to prevent further harm. The numbers of zombies gradually increased because of the soldiers, making them harder to kill. Reinforcement helicopters arrived, but kept at a minimum to prevent the city to be in ruins.

There were four fighter planes in the sky. Each one had two machines guns that easily annihilated the zombies. The problems were the infected soldiers. They mixed in with the rest of the soldiers so well that the ones operating had a hard time aiming at them. Innocent soldiers would be affected in the firing.

The area of the battle was devastated. Fires went ablaze and smoke filled the air. Debris would fall on the fallen soldiers and zombies. Buildings had cracks and holes in them, and windows broke.

The zombies slowly spread out, breaking the formation of the soldiers. Groans resonated with each other and became unified. Many zombies, despite being severed with holes, continued to stand and attack. Blood would continuously drip from the holes like fountains.

In the distance, Kira could see a young boy trapped in the debris. She rushed to him, ignoring the hordes of zombied around her. When she reached the area, she noticed that the boy lost his life. He turned to a zombie. Kira was hesitant to pull the trigger. Zombies then surrounded her and she was trapped in a corner. She reloaded her gun and shot the zombies' necks. Many of them were killed, but they just kept coming back. The pistol she had eventually ran out of bullets, and she had no other weapons aside from her knife. She scanned the field looking for possible weapons.

Beside her, Kira saw an AK-47 and grabbed it. She smiled with bloodlust as she saw the magazine fully reloaded. She aimed the gun at the zombies and shot them like a maniac. As she did, the zombie kid went closer to her. It eventually touched her legs. She had no choice but to kill it. As she did, blood coated her leg and the corpse sat on her foot. She kicked it aside.

More reinforcements arrived. This time, they were veterans. One of them held a machine gun and wreckfully attacked the zombies. Because of this, their attention went to him, and he annihilated them one by one. There was another one on top of a building, sniping. He killed them without even being noticed. Another one brought two swords instead of guns. He ran in the middle of the battlefield like a maniac, severing their heads with his swords.

The battle slowly declined. The number of soldiers and zombies decreased at a fast rate. The reinforcements were a big help. Kira then waved at the person with a machine gun and screamed, "Don't falter, Drake!"

He replied, "I know! You too!"

Kira finished off the remaining zombies surrounding her. The gun ran out of bullets, so Kira slammed the back of the gun to the zombies' faces.

She was in no shape to fight any longer. She retreated back to Ben, and let the veterans end it. She was exhausted. Fatigue invaded her body, and she couldn't move her arms up. She breathed heavily, with zombie blood on her face, dripping on the floor of the hotel. She removed her military coat, pants and cap. She was left with her usual. A t-shirt and shorts. There were a lot of wounds on her body, but that could easily be healed. Keith held a zombie head and threw it outside.

"One of them was able to enter," he said.

Kira averted her gaze to Ben, who had no idea of what was happening in the battlefield. She assured Ben that they would be alright.

Suddenly, Ben started screaming again. It was much like the last one. Except, he said different words this time. He screamed "Kira" and "Drake" as he shedded tears in his eyes. Kira reacted to this, and immediately hugged Ben. She told him that eveything would be alright. And to her surprise, Ben hugged her back. When she looked at him, he still had the devoid expression. She sighed.

The sounds of helicopters and gun fire didn't stop. People screamed as they got bitten by zombies, and some aimed their guns at them in fear. Suddenly, the hotel shook. Debris slowly fell from the ceiling. They were not safe anymore.

Kira and Keith decided to make a run for it. First, Kira checked the vicinity to make sure that there was no zombie around. They then went out and had to take a big detour to the base. Months prior to Ben's wake from his coma, a base was slowly being built to protect themselves from the spread. Whole on their way, Kira encountered a zombie or two, but they were easily wiped out, thanks to Keith, who was holding a revolver.

Minutes later, Kira stood in front of a huge entrance, around 5 meters high. It looke like it was made from steel or iron. There were barbed wires surrounding the base, many of them covered in dried blood. As she went closer, the entrance opened, and she made her way inside the base.