Rescue (1)

Ivan and Danny quickly ran over to him as they watched him roll on the ground with his hand on his heart. After a minute of screaming and crying in pain, he finally settled down.

He turned on his back and took a deep breath.

"Haah," "haah"

"Dude, no time to rest. We gotta go, get up. Those fuckers are getting excited"

Hearing what Danny said, Johnathan opened his eyes and let out a laugh.

"What's wrong with you, we need to get out of here"

Ivan couldn't help it anymore. Johnathan was acting crazy.

Once he stopped laughing, Johnathan got up and explained what happened. "I feel way stronger than I felt before. It feels like I have more stamina, strength, and speed. If we get more of these crystals, we will survive".

Ivan and Danny stood there for a second before smiling at the good news. "Thank god," Ivan said as he teared up in joy. They finally had hope of surviving.

"Anyway, let's go save your brother. Also, never do that again. We can't risk our lives for a bit of strength"

Johnathan got smiled and promised Danny that he would never do it again.

The three then continued to walk after checking the other zombie corpse for a crystal. Unluckily they found nothing, so they continued walking. As they made their way to their destination, the three completely ignoring the sounds of the zombies pounding on the house and car windows along their loud growls. They were now more confident in dealing with zombies. That, however, didn't stop them from always looking around for signs of the monsters.

As they were walking Johnathan pulled the two and dragged them to the side of a house. As they were hiding in the shadows of the house, Ivan was about to ask a question.

"Not now. I hear a horde of zombies chasing something"

When they heard what Johnathan said, the two finally understood why he pulled them into a hidden area. Not even a minute later, they saw two humans running towards them from an intersection. Once they got closer, they saw that the two humans were a little boy and an older lady they assumed was the boy's mother.

Behind the mother and son duo, a horde of zombies was running, albeit pretty slowly. The pair were barely outrunning them. This was most likely due to how long they had been trying to escape and they were probably reaching their limits.

Daniel, seeing them struggle like this, wanted to help. He was about to run towards them but before he could both Ivan and Johnathan pulled him back.

"Don't tell me you want to watch those people die. We can't just watch them struggle, we need to do something. We can do something. Johnathan, you said it yourself you're stronger now"

"Listen, Daniel, I want to help, but I can't. I know they're innocent people that shouldn't die and it hurts to just let them die"

"Tha-"

"But that doesn't mean I would risk my life for people I don't know. Right now the most important thing for us is our survival and our families. We don't know them. If we saved them, they would depend on us too much".

"Johnathan's right. Even I want to help but honestly, they would only be a liability. We only have enough food for the three of us. We don't even have enough for our families. You don't really expect us to feed random people do you"

Hearing both Johnathan's and Ivan's reasons, Daniel calmed down and stopped arguing. The trio then watched as the woman fell. The little boy also stopped running and looked back at his mother.

"Keep running and don't look back," the boy's mother yelled.

The boy didn't listen at first and stayed but his mother yelled even louder and finally; the boy ran once again.

Watching this scene broke Johnathan's heart. As the boy was about to pass them, Johnathan couldn't hold it in anymore and did what the other two were going to do. He grabbed the boy and pulled him in while covering his mouth.

The boy's eyes widened. He struggled and tried his best to get out of Johnathan's grip. Seeing the boy struggle, Johnathan spoke.

"Shhh, don't worry, you're safe. Let the monsters pass by. Don't make any noise or else the bad people will find us"

After saying that, Ivan covered the boy's ears as the woman's screams resounded through the entire neighborhood.

The four then waited fifteen minutes for the zombies to stop eating the poor mother and finally pass them. While they were waiting, Johnathan's and the other two faces were drenched in sweat. They were confident in dealing with zombies but after hearing the woman's screams they couldn't help but be scared. Who wouldn't? Witnessing something like that was a nightmare that they wouldn't wish upon the worst person. It was too cruel. They finally got it through their heads that this wasn't a game. They really could die at any moment and Johnathan was rethinking his decision on saving the child.

What could a small child like the one he saved bring to the table? How would they be able to care for a child and help him survive when they themselves were scared. If they saved their family, they would have their hands full with them. Food and clean water were a necessity that they knew would be sparse. Especially in the later stages of the apocalypse.

After thinking about it for a good minute, Johnathan finally snapped out of his trance. There was no point in worrying about something they couldn't change any more. Mistakes were made, and he learned a lesson from them. He now knew that without being strong and having a good amount of food and water, he couldn't play god and save random people.

Taking a deep breath, Johnathan peeked his head out and saw that the zombies had already reached pretty far and were already some meters away from them.

"They passed us," Johnathan whispered making the other two take in a heavy breath before sighing. Johnathan put the kid, who fell asleep, on his back as they walked out of their hiding place. Once they walked out Johnathan made sure that the zombies were far away from them and once he made sure they were, they kept walking forward.

'Hmm, the zombies seem to ignore the loud banging noises on the doors and windows. Why is that? Shouldn't they be attracted by the loud sounds?'

Johnathan was worried the whole time they hid. The thought that they would be found because of the loud sounds around them worried him. Were the zombies intelligent enough to know that the ones banging on the doors were the same as them? Or were they so stupid that they completely ignored the sounds and only go after what they see?

'How come the Zombies were traveling in a group. I thought it was because they were all after food, but they all left together. This makes no sense'

Johnathan was now even more scared than before. Knowing that zombies can hunt in groups terrified him. What could he possibly do against a horde that moved together?

Sighing, Johnathan pushed everything he was thinking about to the back of his head and made a reminder to talk about his concerns with his friends before focusing and trying to stay alert.

They continued to walk in silence as they passed the mother's corpse. As they continued walking, they heard a growl behind.

Sighing, Johnathan handed the kid over to Daniel and took a knife out of his bag. He watched as the zombified mother got up and started moving towards them. Johnathan was scared, but he wasn't shaking. What he saw before was way more terrifying than just one zombie. He gripped his knife as hard as he could as he ran towards her.

Once he got to her, he shoved the knife into her head, killing her.

The fight went by way faster than any of them imagined. Johnathan was especially shocked. His explosive power was way higher than before. He was also way stronger and faster. Not by a crazy amount, but he grew noticeably stronger. He could get to the zombie faster than it could react. Albeit the zombie was new and was too slow, it was a wonderful feat.

Once the zombie fell, a red crystal started coming out of her chest. Johnathan picked it up before showing the other two.

"Wow, you got another crystal. We're pretty lucky. I doubt these are easy to come by," Ivan shared as he walked up to him and took the crystal.

"You don't mind if I take it, right? Or do you wanna play rock paper scissors for it?"

Hearing what Ivan said, Daniel started chuckling a little. Looking at the crystal, he shrugged his shoulders before speaking.

"Nah, it's all good. There will be more to come by, plus you actually know how to fight so it would be a better choice to have you take it"

Ivan thanked him before taking in a deep breath. He then held the crystal in front of his mouth before taking it in and swallowing it.

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AN: As we saw in this chapter Johnathan actually saved the small boy instead of leaving him to die. Saying something and doing it is completely different. He was a normal high school boy earlier. No way would he be able to let a small kid die.

-The mc won't go around saving everyone. There are no heroes in an apocalypse. The others also won't be saving people left and right so you don't have to worry.