Chapter 4

After the chaos descended the streets of Serenoria City it changed from a rich and prosperous city to a giant graveyard. There were corpses littering the streets with some missing a few chunks of flesh missing, laying in their pool of blood or only scraps of clothing remained. Vehicles were scattered across the road with some crashing into others with open doors or shattered windows. Due to that no living souls could be found wandering the streets in the inner part of the city but some vehicles managed to escape to the outer parts.

In Danville supermarket downtown a lot of the shelves were knocked over scattering the items and destroyed fragile items like wine bottles. There were a few bodies that looked like they were trampled due to footprints left on their clothes and the direction they are facing. In a corner of the supermarket there was a young man about 19 years old hiding in a bathroom stall sitting down resting his head on his clasped hands with his legs shaking out of fear.

"Are….are they….gone?"

He quietly asked himself with a trembling voice that sounded like he was trying to catch their breath. He was lucky to be in there while the attack was going on, even though he doesn't know what attacked them he heard people screaming "monster" or "demon" and that was enough to terrify him. He tried to calm himself by thinking about his favorite video game but it barely helped. He knew that he couldn't stay here for too long since eventually he had to eat or he would die of starvation.

"I don't hear anything anymore… so that means their gone right?"

He asked out loud while not sounding confident in his assumption but he had to risk it at a chance of survival. He got up and opened the stall and walked to the door and grabbed the handle to open the door but hesitated. He inhaled deeply and exhaled to prepare and opened the door to see horror that the supermarket have become. He was deeply shocked and disgusted by what he saw and vomited while his whole body trembled at the thought that he could have ended up like that.

He calmed down a bit but he was still shaking as he maneuvered his way through the corpses and fallen shelves. As he got closer to exit he heard a snicker and didn't bother to find the source, he just started running while doing his best to avoid falling. The source of the snicker started to chase after him and jumped and tackled him from the side. It was a 'zombie' and it was followed by 2 more as they feast on him while he screamed at the top of his lungs until his neck was bitten, silencing him.

In the storage room a group of about 31 people tensed up with fear on their faces as they listened to the screams beyond the door. Some of them started crying fearing they would have the same

fate, some hugged each other to seek comfort, others just stared blankly with fear in their eyes and a few seemed numb since they didn't react at all. This was starting become more stressful for a man in his forties since he was the manager for this store and the leader of the group since he managed to somewhat keep them calm until now.

"Don't panic, the government will definitely send the military to rescue us, you'll see"

He addressed the crowd which comforted them a bit even though they don't fully believe in him, they still had hope. When he spoke it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than them since the communication lines are not working and he was getting desperate. He walked over to a box of snacks and took one out, sat down and started eating. The others copied him since they might die; they may as well do so on with a full stomach.

A car was on its way to said supermarket, with the driver covered in blood and a little girl in back seat. It took him quite a while to get there since he had to dodge the cars and the dead bodies lying about. He parked his car on the side where the supermarket behind 3 cars since the road is blocked by 2 crashed cars. He looked back at the girl in the back of the seat and said "I'll be back soon" and left the car.

He looked around the area to see if any of those 'zombies' were nearby and found the dead body of police officer with his gun in the holster. He stooped down near the body and took out the gun and searched his body to find an extra magazine. He checked the magazine and saw that it was still full and felt he was lucky. He then started walking towards the supermarket and then saw a lone 'zombie' walked out and quickly fired at him, killing him.

He stooped down to hide beside the car as the other 'zombies' ran out to find who fired. When they got out they saw their friend with 2 bullets in his chest and 1 in his neck, dead.

"Damn, do you think one of them came out?"

"No, it's probably someone else or a group"

They conversed with each other since one of them died so close to them and they started to worry. They decided to go the right since the bullets came from that direction and they looked carefully beside and under the cars to see if anyone was hiding. They started to feel nervous that their attacker(s) were watching them from a distance, waiting for them.

"Let's go back inside" he said nervously

"Yeah" the other one agreed

*bang, bang, bang*

A sound of a gun fired from behind them as the one who suggested they should return got killed with those three shots. The other 'zombie' was shocked as he quickly turned only to see the gun pointed at him and then his instincts took over as he jumped out of the way behind the car barely dodging the bullets. The driver then slowly walked around the other side of the car while aiming his gun and ready to fire on sight. When he reached the back of the car, the 'zombie' was not there and he continued to search while keeping his guard up.

Suddenly from behind he hears footsteps and turned around and fired but the 'zombie' managed to deflect his hands making him miss the shot and then threw a fist at him. The driver then raised his left hand to block and the force of the hit caused him to move back and burning pain on his hand. The zombie followed with more attacks that were blocked, dodged or occasionally hit but the pain in those areas where he got attacked was starting to slow him down a bit.

'He's a lot faster and stronger than the other ones'

The 'zombie' punched at him again and he grabbed his arm, pulled him closer and head-butted him and fired at his chest at point blank until the 'zombie' dropped dead. There was pain in his head akin to that of a migraine after that head-butt.

'I should carry a helmet with me from now on'

He had a slight smile at thought of carry a helmet into a fight and put it on just to head-butt. He reloaded his gun and walked into the store and took a trolley and some bags from the cashier station and went on his way to gather any necessary supplies that he could find. In the storage room everyone was looking at each other and wondered if rescue had finally arrived since they heard shots being fired. The manager let out a sigh of relief at the thought of finally being rescued and looked through the window of the door after someone helped the table used to barricade the door.

He looked outside to see what have become of the supermarket and cold sweat started to run down his forehead as he thought about how lucky he was to avoid the disaster. He continued to look around until he spotted a figure collecting supplies in bags and placing them in a trolley. The manager thought that the man could be a police that was off duty and could rescue them since he was taking supplies.

"There is only one person and he killed the 'zombies' "

He said to group as they let out a sigh of relief and relaxed a bit since the monsters were dead and now they can be saved.

"We should go talk to him; maybe he can bring us to safety"

A middle aged man suggested since anyone who can kill the 'zombies' must be capable.

"What if he's dangerous?"

A lady asked with a look of concern on her face since the person could be extremely violent. Some people shared her worries and others were against it since they desperately wanted to leave. The manager saw this and decided to end the dispute by pointing at 3 people who looked calmer than the rest and said:

"You three follow me to meet him"

They were a bit reluctant but they wanted to leave as well so they complied. The manager and the others went out and looked to see the stranger squatted down, looking through piles of tin cans to find the ones without blood on them. He heard people approaching and turned around to meet their gaze. The group stopped as they stared at him and each other wondering what to say. The manager took a step forward and spoke.

"Are you a police officer?" he asked with hope in his voice

"No"

The stranger then stood up and asked.

"What do you want?' with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Since you got rid of the zombies, we were wondering if you could escort us to safety"

The manager said with a look of hope.

"No, you would be a burden"

"How would we be a burden?"

"Are any of you brave enough to kill a 'zombie'?"

The manager opened his mouth to respond but had no words and closed his mouth. When he thought about they hid and were hoping someone could come and rescue them or else they would stay for as long as possible. The others didn't think so as one of the males said with an anxious voice.

"It doesn't matter those things are dangerous if you help us, we can pay you"

"Hahahahahaha"

A burst of laughter came from the scavenger and the man who said he would pay him was very embarrassed since he was being laughed at by a stranger whose aid he wanted. The others stared at him which made things worse. The scavenger stopped laughing and looked at them calmly before saying.

"At this point, money is just another piece of paper that will be forgotten soon"

He then carried the bags he had filled and placed them in the trolley and was preparing to leave, the group lost their composure and started cursing at him and telling him to stop stealing "their" supplies. He ignored them as he continued to push the trolley to leave the supermarket. They then started to run towards him and make him save them but they immediately stopped as they saw a gun being pointed at them. Fear appeared in them as they watched him leave still pointing the gun at them and occasionally look behind him.

He pushed the trolley to the car and opened the trunk and placed the bags in them and pushed the trolley onto the side walk. He got into the car and turned it around and started to find a way to the outskirts of the city. The little girl in the back seat let out a small groan due to the pain in her body but managed to sit up. She slowly looked around and realized she was in a car with a complete stranger and

"Ahhhhhhhh WHO ARE YOU? WHERE ARE TAKING ME? PLEASE DON'T KILL ME"

She released a high pitched scream and fired one question after the other and it surprised him as it caused him to lean forward. He looked at her using the rearview mirror to see her frantically looking around like a frightened rabbit.

"Calm down, my name is Damon and I am not going to kill you"

He said with a gentle and calm voice to assure her that he has no intent to harm her.

"How do I know if you're not lying?"

"Would you be talking?"

She thought about and noticed that she wasn't restrained in any way and since he found her when she passed out he could have killed her then. She relaxed a bit but still kept her guard up for anything. Damon slightly smiled at this since it showed she wouldn't be easily trust strangers which will be useful in the future.

"Before I tell you where were going, can you tell me your name?"

"Dolores"

"That's a nice name and we're going to meet some friends of mine"

"Friends?"

"Yes friends; do you have any?"

Dolores remained silent and dropped her head as she thought about her family before they died with her eyes getting a bit moist.

"Why did you save me?" she asked with a voice that sounded like she was going to cry.

"You remind me of someone"

They were silent and then he said

"Get some rest we'll be there in a few hours"

She weakly nodded her head and laid down to rest as their journey in this chaotic world has just begun.