Return (4)

"Waahhh!!!" A boy was running through the field frantically. Many zombies were chasing after him, giving him a face of dispair. His face looked as if he was facing an impending doom.

The boy looked the same age as Arnold. However, his body was much slimmer, and there was obviously less muscles in his arms. The boy was shorter than Arnold by at least 5 centimeters, making him of average height. He was wearing a military uniform. The uniform was colored green, but his shirt and pants were filled with blood stains. His black boots were muddy, slowing down his speed.

Multiple zombies were closing in on the boy from every direction, leaving him no room to escape. The boy tried to penetrate through the enclosement through a side where the ranks are thin on the zombies' side. He used his gun and fired desperately. "Ahh!!!" He shouted as he tried to break through. Unfortunately, the bullets seemed to have missed the zombies, only hitting on their abdomen or their chest, which did not slow them down at all. He tried to fire again only to find that he had completely ran out of bullets.

It was then that fear started to sink in. Realizing that there was no way to escape from the enclosement, he started sobbing and cried, "I'm sorry mother, I could not keep our promise." From one of his chest pockets, he took out an old black-and-white photo. Within the photo was a young boy holding the hand of a mature woman in front of a rather run-down building.

As the boy admired the photo one last time, the closest zombie was already right in front of his face. The boy tried to attack the zombie by throwing his gun at it, but that only stopped the zombie for half a second. The gun fell to the ground. "Garraagh!!" For one final push, he tried to punch the zombie in the face, only to find that he had only broken his nose. The zombie opened his mouth and wanted to bite his hand. It was then that an explosion could be heard behind him.

Afterwards, the croaking sound of the zombies resonated around the whole area. Arnold had just threw the grenade at the croud of zombies. He took out his gun and fired at every zombie's head with pinpoint accuracy. This was all due to the telescoping sight function of his right eye, allowing him to zoom in and aim at every zombie without any flaws.

After finishing the final magazine, he stuffed the gun back into the holster and took out both of his fighting knives. He infused spiritual energy on both of the knives and started penetrating through the crowd, slicing every zombie's neck on the way, causing their heads to fall off.

The boy, in the meantime, started wrestling with the zombie that held his arm. He wanted to get himself free. However, the grip of the zombie was too strong, digging into his wrists, causing his arm to bleed.

When Arnold saw the situation, he threw one of the knives towards the forehead of the zombie. The knife instantly penetrated its head, making it fall to the ground, motionless.

"Hey, you! Throw the knife back to me!" Arnold yelled as he continued to fend off the rest of the zombies with a single knife and a spiritual energy-filled fist.

The boy was still in a stupor, when he heard Arnold's yell he immediately woke up. "Right!" He yelled back. He pulled the knife that was lodged in the zombie's forehead and threw it back at Arnold.

Arnold pushed a zombie away and grabbed the knife. Then, he proceeded in a wonton slaughter while the boy just sat and watched, his mouth agape.

After a while, Arnold had killed all the zombies. He threw a knife at the boy and stated, "Hey, help me get the cores of the zombies on that side." Arnold pointed in a certain direction, gesturing at the boy.

The boy nodded vehemently, he immediately shuffled towards the pointed direction and started digging for the cores from the zombies.

After spending half an hour digging out cores, Arnold counted the level 5 zombie cores that he obtained. "1, 2, 3..." he counted.

"43. There are a total of 43 cores." Arnold hummed.

The boy stared at Arnold in admiration. "That was amazing! Wow! When I saw you slicing that zombie like Swaah! And punching another zombie poof! Then..." The boy started to excitedly recite everything that happened from the back of his mind and tried to mimic Arnold's actions from before. While the boy was still in his own world, Arnold came over and gripped on his shoulder, completely stopping the boy from moving.

"Hey, you." Arnold said in a less than pleasant tone.

"Y-yes?" The boy asked. Realizing what he did just now, fanboying over Arnold, he blushed in embarassment.

"What is an enlisted officer like you doing alone here? Where are the others in your platoon?" Arnold asked in an emotionless voice.

The boy's face immediately turned dark. When he recalled what happened before, tears started streaming down his eyes again. "We-we were doing routine training at section 4-F when suddenly a Level 3 zombie ambushed us. Captain and the others, they asked us to run and call for help as they hold it off, then... then..." The boy started sobbing uncontrollably.

Arnold just gave a slight scoff. "Did they die?"

The boy widened his eyes. Then, he lowered his head and muttered in resignation, "Yes. When I ran, I took a look behind me and found both Captain and the vice-captain eaten by the zombie. Then, it started chasing the others."

"How did you manage to attract so many Level 5 zombies?" Arnold asked.

"Since we were going to train, we sprayed some white powder on ourselves to attract some of the Level 5 zombies... little did I know it would be so effective..." The boy muttered.

"It's not that the powder is effective it's just that you have entered another zone. Didn't you memorize your map before coming here? You've ran to zone 3-F, which is a Level 4A danger zone. There are tons of level 5 zombies here, of course more zombies would chase after you." Arnold wanted to facepalm but decided against it since the boy just saw the death of his teammates after all.

"I-I was too frantic at the time and did not take a look at where I was running. I didn't know..." The boy drifted off.

Arnold sighed, "And why didn't you use your spiritual power when you were facing that many zombies?"

"I ran out. I don't even have my 1st ring yet, what do you expect me to do?!" The boy yelled in protest.

Arnold shook his head. He started replenishing his spiritual power with the zombie cores.

"C-can I have some as well?" The boy asked in embarassment. He did not want to ask since all the deaths were achieved by Arnold, but he was completely starved of spiritual energy, he needed some to protect himself in the future.

"Will you pay me back when we get back to base?" Arnold asked even though he already know the answer already.

The boy just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

"I've also wasted two magazines and an entire grenade to save your life. Do you know how expensive that is? And you still dare to ask for more?" Arnold said, acting impatient.

"I-I..." the boy stuttered.

Arnold shoved a zombie core onto the boy's hand. "Here. Don't ask for more." He returned to consuming the rest of the cores.

The boy instantly lit up and shouted excitedly, "Thank you!" He immediately placed the core on his navel to digest it. After that, he exclaimed, "I'll definitely pay you back for the bullets and the grenade!"

Arnold rolled his eyes. "A person like him, with no talent in body cultivation and lacking in spiritual energy, how would he be able to pay me back in a lifetime?" He thought.

In the age of the apocalypse, bullets were very expensive, as they were made with nuclear waste encased in a lead bullet shell. The nuclear waste was needed to break down the virus within the zombies, turning them back to deceased people. The price of a grenade was quite expensive as well, only the upper ranks of the military could afford such luxuries.

After Arnold finished digesting all the zombie cores (except for the ones inside his backpack), he stood up and started walking to the direction of the base. The boy shyly followed behind him, since he thought it would be much safer with Arnold around.

Arnold tilted his head backwards to find the boy following him with his head down. "You... you do have food for yourself, right?" He asked.

"I-I.... I left my backpack when I ran away from the level 3 zombie." The boy muttered in embarassment.

"I did not know what I expected from him." Adrian rolled his eyes. He was starting to regret ever thinking of saving the boy. It seemed that an act of goodness would not bring him any good karma.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"I-" It was then that the boy's stomach suddenly growled. His face became as red as a tomato. "I have not eaten since this morning."

"Here." Arnold reached into his backpack and took out a nutrition bar. "Pay me back later."

The boy took the bar and stared at Arnold's eyes in sincere gratitude. "Thank you so much! I will never forget about this!" The boy immediately wolfed down the entire nutrition bar in one go. Arnold gave the boy a bottle of water as well.

"How did this kid even manage to get into the military?" Arnold thought to himself.