Passed

Axel ran at the two zombies in front of him, quickly lashing out and stabbing one of them through its right eye. The other swiveled and rushed at him, aiming its corroded maw at his arm still holding onto the knife. With the zombie only a second away from tearing into him, Axel kicked the stabbed zombie in the chest, granting him the momentum to pull out the knife embedded in its skull and dodge the rushing zombie.

At the same time, the other ten zombies nearby heard the commotion and turned to Axel. Immediately, they ran after the first living prey they saw. It was a sight that sent shivers down Elena's back as she witnessed eleven zombies charge at Axel.

Axel's plan was a two-part test. First, the girls had to choose to save someone they knew, even if it meant putting themselves at danger. Second, they had to choose not to abandon Axel and save themselves after he deliberately went forward first. If they could honor the deal and risk themselves for a complete stranger, he would be more willing to believe that they would help him take care of Rae in their coalition after he was gone.

"Let's go," Elena said.

"Aren't you scared? Maybe we can just leave now while he's grabbing all of their attention..." Angela said. She was starting to get second thoughts about drawing attention away from Axel. "We've never gone anywhere near one of them without having guns ready to use and he basically already saved Dylan."

Could you blame her? Who would really risk their lives for someone they'd just met? Especially if it meant being torn to pieces alive. When the threat of death stares you right in the face, not many could look back at it without flinching.

"That's exactly why we have to go," Elena said firmly. When Angela looked at her, she could see the sweat running down Elena's temples as she stared at Axel fighting off another five zombies that had reached him. Angela knew her friend and she knew that her clenched fists means she was just as scared as she was.

"Okay. Let's go. I mean, if we die, at least we died trying to save the guy you're crushing on, right?" Angela said jokingly. Elena turned her to glare at her as Angela gave a cheeky grin.

"Okay." Elena took a deep breath. "Just need to stop the other five zombies from getting to him. No problem."

Elena and Angela looked at each other and stood up slowly as they worked up the courage to get up close and personal with the infected. A few months may have already passed since they appeared, but they'd been spared the terror of facing them since they joined the coalition and had access to enough guns to help them sleep comfortably at night. Now, they would have to distract the other five long enough for Axel to deal with his six. At least with Dylan on their side, it would lessen the weight on their shoulders.

"Look over here!" Elena yelled, waving her arms up in the air as she ran to the red Nissan where Dylan cowered behind.

"Hey, over here you ugly bastards!" Angela screamed at the top of her lungs following Elena.

Their shouting had even drawn the attention of the six zombies attacking Axel, which luckily had pulled them back into the fight before they could switch targets. Axel looked at the two girls running around, screaming their hearts out, for a brief moment. They wouldn't be able to see with the numerous bodies covering him, but if you looked closely, you could notice the small smile Axel wore on his face.

It was a smile of relief, happiness, and sadness all mixed in together. His eyes grew somewhat cloudy as he held back tears. A task he thought would be near impossible—finding a caretaker for Rae—was so quickly achieved. Of course he knew he would have to convince them to take her, but he felt as if what they just showed him gave him an answer already.

There was a hint of melancholy in his heart exactly because his "final" task was basically done with. Maybe it was a cosmic sign that he met this group of people; a sign that it was his time and that it was okay for him to pass on. He took the brief second to lose himself in his emotions before he was rudely awoken by an arm swinging at his face.

Axel's face adopted a more serious look as he concentrated on getting rid of the zombies now. Before, he was merely acting as if he was struggling against the six to gauge the situation and see if the girls would really work up the courage to distract the zombies. Although only a minute passed, his ankle was starting to strain and he knew that he overestimated the time he could fight for.

Six minutes. That's probably all the time he had before he would be rendered useless in a fight. That was enough time for him to get rid of the zombies and save Rae's future caretakers (plus one annoying brat).

If the girls had the time and space to look back at Axel, they would be astonished at the sight of his speed gradually picking up to almost inhumane levels. Bobbing and weaving, he stood in place as he took down each zombie methodically. It was a state that was reminiscent of the day before, when his wholehearted attention was focused on getting rid of the enemies in front of him.

Two minutes passed before Axel got rid of the sixth zombie with a knife stabbed straight through its temple. When he looked over, he saw Elena and Angela slowly getting cornered back to the front of the shopping complex by four of the remaining zombies. They had scratches all over their arms and legs. Luckily for them, scratches weren't enough to transmit the virus.

Interestingly enough, he saw Dylan running around the red Nissan like a headless chicken screaming as he had the smallest zombie chasing after him. He needed to shut up before more infected were drawn to them.

Axel chuckled before first making his way over to the girls. As he entered their line of sight, he could see their eyes widen in shock and small breaths of relief pass through their mouths. He charged at the four infected in front of him before making quick work of them.

Just as quickly, Axel ran to where Dylan was and stopped right in front of him, causing Dylan to fall down as he bumped into him. Right as Dylan looked at Axel and was about to shout in complaint, the zombie lunged at the fallen Dylan. In the same instance, Axel grabbed its hair right as its teeth were about to reach Dylan's face. He pulled it up and stabbed it straight through its temple as black blood splattered all over the pampered kid and left him shaken at the sight of near death.

Elena and Angela were making their way over and were about to scream at the sight of Dylan getting ripped apart when they saw Axel save him. As they breathed out sighs of relief, Axel turned to them.

"Good job." Axel threw the zombie right next to Dylan before turning to Elena and whispering, "You passed."