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Under the disbelieving gazes of the other three, Axel jumped down from the window. They stared as they watched him land lightly and noiselessly from a fifteen foot drop. Axel inspected the parking lot and saw five of the nineteen zombies within a ten foot radius. He looked upward and signaled the three with his head to come down.

Covering his mouth, Axel struggled to contain his laughter as he saw Dylan begin his climb downward slowly and clumsily. He had to admit, it was pretty satisfying to see someone annoying suffer a little. By the time the three had finished climbing down, Axel had already closed the entrance to the complex and traveled to the nearest zombie.

If Axel didn't have to worry about the other three, and if he hadn't planned to see what kind of people they were, he would have been able to avoid all the zombies in the lot and run straight back to his hideout. Now, he would have to deal with this inconvenience. He sighed.

"All for Rae," he mumbled. Axel let a knife drop from his sleeve and into his palm. None of the others had seen his stash and they hadn't noticed when he picked up a knife. If any of them had tried to make a move when he was walking to the guns, they would have been in for a nasty surprise.

The next instance he dashed as quickly and silently as he could and snuck up behind the skinny zombie in front of him. In one swift motion, Axel wrapped an arm around its neck and stabbed the zombie straight through its right eye. He gently let it down as he dragged it behind a car and out of sight from the other few zombies. Looking back, Axel could see Elena's stunned face as she peeked out from the car the three were hiding behind.

Not many in the apocalypse were truly adept at fighting zombies in close combat. One wrong move and you were dead. Most zombies tended to roam in hordes and smaller groups. Even then, zombies that strayed from their group still possessed extraordinary strength and exemplary reaction speed in comparison to the average person. The majority of those still alive were those who had the privilege of joining a coalition, where they had the luxury of guns and heavy weapons.

Axel had to adapt quickly to the zombies' unpredictable movements. In the beginning, he trained himself with individual infected that he found roaming nearby his family's hideout. Over the course of weeks, he worked his way up to fighting a few zombies at a time. When he had to fight the dozen zombies at once the day before, that was actually the most he had ever fought by himself. Now, he had a strange feeling that he would be able to handle the same amount with much more ease.

Tracking back, Axel ran back to Elena and the others, while stealth killing three more zombies. Each one left the three in awe. Old zombie games and movies might make it seem easy, but fighting against a ruthless, flesh-eating zombie in close range would be impossible for many. Superior sight, strength, and reaction time, not to mention the psychological barrier, would be an insurmountable obstacle for even many veteran survivors.

"Here's the plan. I'm going to go along and kill as many of them as I can before one of them spots me. I'll be clearing out the right side of the parking lot first, so you guys can run behind the cars and get us through back the way we came. Try not to get spotted or use your guns."

"You should give me one of those pistols," Dylan said. "You don't look like you need it and I can bet that I can shoot better than you can."

Axel stared at him until Dylan could feel his skin crawl. It reminded him of the time he was being stared at by an entire horde. A feeling of death brushing by him.

"Why would I ever do that? When I'm the one getting rid of the infected in our way? When I'm doing all the work?" Axel asked. He couldn't believe that this guy had the balls to ask for the gun after riding on his coattails.

Elena and Angela looked at each other, hiding their snickers from Dylan. Dylan used to be a pampered kid that was used to getting what he wanted. His attitude hadn't gotten better even with the arrival of the apocalypse. Elena and Angela were used to him, but didn't really like him due to his constant attempts at the two. It was no secret that Dylan asked his parents to put him on the same team as them.

Axel ignored the arrogant man-child and ran forward to complete his task. He started hunting the zombies down one by one until only three remained nearby. As he was getting closer to the last few, he discretely picked up a stone lying next to him. At the same time he stabbed the zombie in its eye, he threw the stone at a red Nissan.

Instantly, a loud metallic thump sounded out in the empty parking lot. Elena and Angela gazed back at Dylan in horror as they spotted him hiding behind the red Nissan. They had been moving along one at a time to avoid being seen by the zombies' wandering eyes. Dylan was the last one to move as he didn't believe Axel could clear out the zombies without attracting the rest of their attentions. He would rather sacrifice the other two with Axel than give up his own life.

As the thump sounded, the zombies in the left side of the parking lot, and the two close to Axel, all turned to the red Nissan and began walking towards it. So far, Axel had only taken down seven zombies. He had chosen the right side in order to face less zombies. At least, that's what he told the other three.

Axel turned to look at Elena and Angela as he said, "I can distract around half of them. You guys are gonna have to help out your friend. Well, if you want to. Otherwise, we can all just run out right now."

Axel watched as the two young girls paled significantly. Elena turned to look at Angela and took a deep breath.

"We can't just leave him to die," Elena whispered.

Angela hesitated. "Can't we? You know what he did last time..."

"We can't," Elena said firmly. "We can't stoop down to his level."

Axel looked on in interest as they turned to look at him with determination.

"Okay, then." Axel said. Inwardly, he sighed in relief. They had picked the option he was hoping they would. "Try not to shoot."

Axel stood up completely. He watched as many zombies were closing in on the Nissan and ran at the two in front of him.