Chapter 3: The first step.

The vehicle moves for a few minutes then stops. One of the soldiers inside the vehicle delivers flashlights to the four assassins and explains that due to the lack of energy in some places, the undead could not see well at night, they were guided by the smell and the sound. The soldiers then go down and so do the assassins. They were in front of a big building, totally off. Bernard jumps from the top of the vehicle and falls near the assassins. One of the soldiers breaks down the door of the building and they enter.

The building inside was very messy. Tables and chairs were broken, papers scattered, dirt on the floor and walls. The soldiers and the assassins advance, the soldiers with night-vision goggles and the assassins with only flashlights. As they advanced, they began to see traces of blood on the walls and floors. The assassins were not aware of the mission, but they deduced that it was to find survivors. They went up to the next floor by the stairs. The steps were full of dried blood and the walls had bloodstains in the shape of hands.

On the floor they now arrived they heard moans and other sounds like things being chewed. This floor was messier and more bloody. There were bodies scattered on the floor. The group walked down the hall, checking all the rooms, always with caution. They then heard a noise that sounded like someone running from the end of the hall. They all pointed their guns there and went in that direction. At the end of the hall, there was another staircase, blocked by a fallen closet. Behind the closet, there seemed to be someone. They approached and saw a man squatting. The man raised his head and looked at them, scared. He was a middle-aged man with a dirty white social shirt with some bloodstains. He stands with his hands up. The man trembled a lot. He couldn't see the soldiers well, he only saw them because of the flashlight the assassins were holding.

He got close to the soldiers, but he seemed suspicious and very afraid. They asked the man what had happened there. He didn't answer immediately. He looked to one side and the other, as if he was looking for something. He looked frantically to the sides. He stopped turning his head and looked at Bernard. He then said:

- They... They were biting. Chewing. There was blood... blood... I've never seen anything like it. I didn't try to help them, I was too scared. Afraid... FEAR...!

- Calm down, sir. - One of the soldiers puts his hand on the man's shoulder.

- Calm down? They're still here. I don't know... if my friends and co-workers are still alive, but the dead are, for sure. They are...

- Sir, we picked up a radio call for help from here. If it wasn't you, then there's still someone else alive here - replied Bernard, to the desperate man.

Due to the man's situation, Bernard decided that they should take him outside the building before they keep on looking for the others. They escort the man out of the building and put him inside the armored vehicle at the back. They close the vehicle and return to the building. They pass by the first floor and again reach the second floor. They take out the closet that obstructs the stairs. The steps on this floor are also full of blood and the walls are dirty with something kinda yellow, looking like moisture. On the next floor, one could hear even more moans of pain and the sound of things dragging. Almost there, Adam sees a zombie, with a rod stuck in his leg walking in front of the stairs. The zombie sees the light of the flashlights and turns to them. Quickly Adam covers the flashlight with his hand. The other assassins also cover the flashlights. Even so, the undead goes in that direction. They hear him coming down the steps. Steve takes his machete in his hands and waits for the zombie to approach. When he's very close, Steve holds him and shoots the machete in the throat of the zombie. He releases it on the ground, the soldiers come out of the way and the body rolls down the stairs.

When they reach the end of the stairs and enter the next floor, they soon notice that there was a huge hole in the ceiling and through there they could see the next floor. Up there, there are three people looking down, all in one corner, unable to go to the other side. There was rubble right under the hole. The soldiers deduced that the top floor had collapsed. They waved to the people upstairs. If they were to communicate, they would have to speak loud and that would draw attention. They went around the rubble to get to the other side. The rooms on that floor were empty, so they went straight to the stairs that would lead to the top floor.

As soon as they arrived at the stairs, they saw that the upper floor was infested with zombies. They could see them walking back and forth. It seems that there was no way to get through unless they shoot. The soldiers point their guns, but Adam extends his arm in front of them, asking them not to shoot. He then looks at Yumi. The girl nods her head, unsheaths the katana, and goes alone to the top floor. She cuts the legs of two of them. They fall to the floor and the noise attracts the others. Yumi takes advantage of the diversion and sneaks through them. Many pass close to her while she moves. When any of them gets close enough, she cuts off a body part with the katana, like legs or head.

She finds trouble in moving between them because it is dark and she can't turn on her flashlight there. Steve notices she is in trouble and decides to enter that room, too. He crawls across the wall and pats a fitment. The attention is drawn to where the sound of the hit came from. Yumi's way is cleared. She passes through the door and arrives at the room with the hole in the floor. She sees the youngsters on the other side. She then asks, with a rather low voice:

- Was it you making the radio transmission asking for help?

- Yes, that was us. So good someone came - answers one of the youngsters.

Yumi looked around to see if there was a way to take them out of there. Meanwhile, inside the room she came from, the zombies get closer to Steve. He has made noise to help Yumi, but now it is him who is in trouble. He is surrounded. One of the soldiers pointed the gun, but Bernard held his hand and said:

- Leave him. I said no more cinch. He wanted to help with more than cleaning, let us allow him to show his talents. - He lifts the front of the hat with the point of his finger and observes the scene.

Adam and Livia look at the soldiers, somewhat intrigued. They then turn their attention to the room full of zombies. Steve sees them approaching and the more he looks, the more he remembers of the victims he made. He begins feeling bad again, but he tries to contain himself not to have an attack there, or else he is done for. He sees that Adam and Livia were about to enter the room, but he asks them not to enter, signaling with his hands.

He starts shaking and seeing images of his victims on his mind again. He concentrates and tries to contain himself. The zombies are very close now. He squats on a corner of the wall, with his head on low and embracing his legs. Adam and Livia lost sight of him, for many zombies surround him. The images passing through Steve's head become more aggressive until the zombies get really close. When a zombie was about to touch him, he held it and pierced the machete inside of the living dead's mouth. He then lowered the zombie's body on the floor, for it not to make noise. He draws one of the pistols and with a pistol in one hand and the machete on the other, he starts eliminating the walking corpses in the room.

He muffles the gun against their body for the gunshots not to make any noise and eliminates the others with the machete, cutting off their heads or piercing their throat. Adam and Livia observe while he kills the enemies in the room. He looks concentrated and doesn't seem to be feeling anything. The bodies fall to the floor and pile up. He unstoppably keeps on killing, with caution not to make noise. The boy's effectiveness is frightful. One of the zombies almost held him from behind, but he cut its belly, and before the zombie would make any sound, he put the handgun inside of the zombie's mouth and shoot. In no time, all zombies in the room were dead. Steve turned at the soldiers, with the clothes dirtied in blood and a deep and dim look. He stood there, just looking at them, with the machete and the handgun in his hands. With the room cleared from all of the zombies, the soldiers advance to where Yumi is, passing by Steve, who stands in the middle of the room.

All of the soldiers pass him by and only Adam and Livia stay in the room. They both look at Steve, Adam concerned, and Livia with a certain fear, even though she already saw him doing that before. The soldiers also don't see a way to rescue the youngsters from the other side. Even so, the zombies on that floor were all dead. The soldiers then decide to go to the lower floor, so the youngsters can jump and they can grab them. The soldiers and the assassins go down and take a position below the hole. The youngsters feel kind of insecure, but they build courage and jump, one at a time. The soldiers hold them and can take them all from there.

The youngsters were thanking the soldiers until they got scared on seeing Steve with his hood and skull mask in the dark. He turned his back on the youngsters. The soldiers and the assassins took the saved people outside the building and put them in the vehicle, along with the man they saved sooner. The man they saved sooner seems less desperate now. The youngsters felt a relieving sensation when entering the vehicle. Bernard still wanted to go back into the building, to look for more survivors. Even so, one of the soldiers says:

- Sir, isn't he infected? He is covered in blood. - He refers to Steve.

- I don't think it is a virus. When I cut the belly of one of them, I saw something like worms or larvae coming out of its belly. I believe it is any kind of parasitic creature or whatever - answers the young assassin.

- That serious, boy? A parasite, is that? Interesting. Ok, the civilians wait here, we're going back there - answers Bernard, with a tone of suspicion.

A third time they get inside the building. They pass through the three first floors and get to the one where Steve killed all of those zombies. They observe that among the bodies there really were a type of worm or larvae crawling. Bernard seemed intrigued seeing that. He took the helmet of one of the soldiers and placed it in front of one of the crawling larvae. The larvae got on the helmet. He told a group of soldiers to take it to the vehicle, without dropping it. Bernard, the remaining soldiers, and the assassins would go until the last floor, to look for more survivors.

Livia noticed Steve was still a little weird. She approaches him and leans on his shoulder. He looks at her face and sees that she looks worried. He then embraces her with his left arm, as if he was trying to show her everything is fine. They keep on going up the stair and, without them noticing, Bernard observes the assassins. They really seemed determined to change. If they would be able to or not, is a different story altogether. They go up to floor by floor, until the last one. All of the floors were dirtied and with bloodstains. Some floors presented violent scenes, with corpses brutally mutilated. They didn't find any other survivors. They go back to the vehicle and get inside along with the survivors. As always, Bernard goes to the top of the vehicle and they go back to the base, passing through the mysterious and dark landscape that one day was a city.

Arriving at the base, part of the soldiers took the people they saved to the other civilians. The other part, along with Bernard, took the larvae and the assassins to the laboratory. First, they did an examination with Yumi and Steve, to see if they were infected. The test was negative again. Soon after that, they showed the larvae to the scientists. They seemed extremely intrigued to see that. They asked Bernard and the assassins to leave because they would have to dedicate a lot of time to analyze the larvae. Bernard, the soldiers, and the assassins leave the laboratory. Bernard was a little anxious to know the results, but he would have to wait. He sends the soldiers to take the assassins back to their room and Livia gets angry:

- What? We helped a lot today, how dare you send us back there?

- One thing at a time, Livia. Bernard is right about it. - Adam places his hands on the girl's shoulders and tries to calm her down.

She looks angry at Bernard but agrees with Adam. Yumi asks if they could at least take a shower before sleeping. he allows it. They clean themselves from all that dirt and blood and feel a little relieved. They then go back to their small room. Livia still seems to be very pissed off. Yumi gets close to her and tries to start a conversation:

- Relax, I'm even liking the idea of changing. Don't you?

- Shut up, wasn't that you who said we're not friends - answers Livia, in a rough way.

- Yes, it was. Is that really it, or you sad for not having the opportunity to use a grenade launcher - asks Yumi, insisting on the conversation.

- No... a little from both. I am still not ready to change - answers Livia, in a more sympathetic way.

Adam and Steve approach them. Livia looks at those people there and realizes that even if they weren't exactly friends, they were the only ones who could get close to understanding her. If she had the slightest interest to change, that's where she should start. If she didn't, that's where she had belonged for a long time. One way or another, it was as if her place was there, with those people. She then decided it was time to open up to them, at least not to contain everything inside:

- So... I was raised by adoptive parents. I never knew the true ones. They were not so good to me. They did harm to

me, physically and verbally. I think they adopted me just so they could have someone to do things for them. I used to do almost anything at home. On school wasn't different, many students mistreated me. They called me ugly names, said swearings...

Livia's eyes become rather teary. She then dried them with her right hand. She stops speaking for a while but then goes back on telling the part of her life that turned her into an assassin:

- I tried to resist for so long. I asked myself why people were like that but didn't find the answer. I met some cool people, but they didn't want to stick with me because they didn't want to be a target of mockery. One day at a Halloween party, I came out home hidden, dressing as a witch. Even like that, my classmates could recognize me when I was on the streets. - She sobs and drops a tear.

- Calm down, Livia - said Adam, drying the tear from her face.

- Ok, sorry. So, it was Halloween. They took me by force to a place, an abandoned house. They threw rotten eggs on me, wet hygienic paper, paint, and some other stuff. They made jokes about me not knowing my biological parents and ripped part of my clothes, saying I was horrible. I didn't understand the reason for them to do that with me. I tried to run away from there, but one of them grabbed me. I pushed him away for him to let me go and he fell with his head at the point of the table. - She stops speaking for a while and keeps a fixed look in a single direction.

- And then what happened - Yumi asked.

- Then, he didn't wake up. They were all sad and despaired, trying to make him wake up. They were as I have always been, sad. I, for the first time, saw them in the same situation as me, and it was when one of them... died. It was I doing that... and then I decided to continue, that's why I got into the business.

After she finishes telling her story, she and the others remain silent for a while. They are somewhat impressed with the story and prefer not to say anything. Even so, Yumi hugs the girl, maybe for her not to feel so bad. Livia is surprised to receive that hug since the story without a doubt made her look like a not very good person. The four of them lie down as far away as they can, due to the size of the room, and for the first time in days there, they say to each other:

- Good night!

Another night passes, but this one with a different air. The assassins were finally being put to the test. Whether they will achieve redemption or not, only time will tell. The next morning Steve woke up early again, but this time Yumi too. Still, to their surprise, Bernard didn't come to tell them to do any work. They thought it was strange, but they thought he must have something to solve. Since there was no service in the morning, Yumi and Steve decided to talk. Steve started:

- What kind of music do you like?

- Me? Well, a little of western pop and rap - answer Yumi, a little shy.

- Western pop? No j-pop? What a betrayal of you - said Steve, provoking her.

- Oh yea, and you - she asks the boy.

- I like alternative metal and symphonic metal - answers him, doing the rock'n roll symbol with his hands.

- Cool that. Do you like movies? - Yumi keeps with the conversation.

- Some. I like old western or science fiction stuff. And you, Yumi-chan - ask Steve, cheered up with the chat.

- Yes, I do. I like the action ones.

For some reason, they both stop talking and simply look at each other. Yumi's eyes seemed to shine more than usual. Steve was always distant from the others, but now that they were facing the truth about themselves, he was the one trying to unite them. Would he succeed? A few minutes later, the others also woke up. They had no notion of time, but they felt a difference, wondering if they woke up later. Livia then asked:

- Didn't Bernard come today? It seems that we woke up later than usual.

- Indeed. He didn't come today - answers Yumi.

- Then what are we going to do today - said Adam, seeming anxious.

- It seems that we'll have to wait here doing nothing - answers Steve, unhappy.

A few minutes later, a soldier goes to the little room, unlocks the door, and asks the four of them to follow him. They are taken to the laboratory. There were the scientists and Bernard. Bernard asked the killers to come closer. They came close to the man, curious about what was happening. The general says:

- As it was you who helped us to find it, I thought it would be just fair to share this information with you. This larva that was found... The scientists said it was probably genetically disinvolved.

- How, so - asks Adam, intrigued.

- Someone has made them in a lab. It is not something natural. Someone actually wanted to cause this incident - answers one of the scientists.

The four assassins get surprised by the information. So someone has done that intentionally! Who could it be? The four share looks of surprise and confusion. Bernard also looks thoughtful about it. He turned to the four and said:

- Do you really want to change? If the answer is yes, you and I are going to work together one more time.

- Yes, we do - answers Adam, convicted.

- Very well. If any of you step out of the line, you get a bullet in your head. Do you agree with this - asked the general, with a serious tone of voice.

- We agree! - Livia surprised everyone, being the first one to answer this question.

Bernard reached out his hand to Adam. Adam and Bernard shook hands, closing the deal. Now they were officially on Bernard's team. Their hearts were beating hard. It was a little hard to believe that someone gave them a chance, but he did. The same person who locked them in a small and dirty room, left them without food and water for days, and took them to a mission without telling them about what it was, is who was giving them this chance. Bernard then told them that with this they would earn the right to have food normally, but that they would still have to sleep in the little room. They agreed with the conditions. One of the scientists interrupted the negotiations and spoke aloud:

- Wait. If it is a larva and not a virus, there is no way to know if someone here inside is infected.

- What do you mean by that - asked Bernard, kinda scared.

- The gas we used before to try to locate an infection is supposed to change colors if there is any kind of alteration in the body, like in the breath or sweat. Like that, we would detect someone with an abnormality on its body. Being that a larva...

- We wouldn't be able to detect it with the gas! - Bernard interrupts the scientists and completes the phrase.

- That means there could be someone else infected here, and another incident could happen - said Yumi, concerned.

- MELANIE! - shouted Steve, scaring all.

- The little girl from the family we killed - asked Livia, surprised with Steve's guess.

- Yes! Bernard, on that day she was in the kitchen before the woman. She might have put something in a part of the food. - Steve keeps with his theory.

- But if it was like that, then the others would also have been infected with the food - answers Adam.

- No! We always throw away the food from the previous day and make more on the next day. Steve might be right - said Bernard, extremely worried.

They leave the laboratory in a hurry and go to the rooms where the civilians are kept. They search the rooms one by one until they find Melanie. Bernard picks her up on his lap and takes her to the laboratory. The little girl gets scared and

doesn't understand much about it. She is put on a white table. The scientists then ask the others to leave, for them to make an x-ray of Melanie. Bernard and the assassins wait for the results outside the lab.