Melee

Edward was crouching behind a collapsed structure as he nervously waited for Fablo and the other three, the remaining ten people were also hiding somewhere close to his hiding place, in wait to ambush the zombies that Fablo and his team would draw over. Edward could see the man holding a nail gun sticking his head out from an already destroyed truck that blocked half of the road, large beads of sweat covering his face. Edward could not tell if it was due to the heat or caused by nervousness, one thing he was sure of was that the man was tense and his eyes showed his fear but he somehow managed to stay in his position.

Not only him, but Edward was sure that the others were barely holding on to this resolution despite the fear that was slowly corrupting their minds due to one reason or the other. It might be because of the debt they felt towards Fablo for saving them or due to their hatred towards the zombies. Whatever it was, Edward really admired them for it because he was on the verge of fleeing as the tension that he was feeling grew. It was like an invisible pressure pressing down on him and slowly suffocating him mixed with a great sense of danger and dread, the slightest noise was enough to set off his spooky alarm!

"What's taking them so long?" Edward muttered under his breath, he could feel his heart racing for some reason and the pressure pressing on him was becoming unbearable. 

Why didn't he just flee now? The chances of Fablo's plan working out were extremely low and they might all end up in danger with no chance to escape! But what if they manage to win and eventually clear the whole area and get to the military base? The zombies there were all bound to be military personnel and were without a doubt expected to be stronger than your average zombies! 

Yet, why was he not moving?!

'What the hell am I doing?!' 

Edward yelled internally, the mental struggle was straining his mind too, and was no less bearable than the tension he was feeling. Never in his life would he have imagined that he would be part of an absurd mission like this one day. Heck, he would have slapped Helen if she had dared bring up such an idea.

While Edward was still struggling with his own mind and questioning his life choices, a painfully familiar horrifying smell lunged into his nose and plunged down his lungs as Edward took in a deep breath. His eyes widened as they turned slightly red and he almost passed out from the smell while barely stopping himself from throwing up whatever was left in his stomach.

The smell was so horrible that Edward had to hold his breath so he did not take in another mouth full of the catastrophic air, he still was not used to the smell yet but Edward knew very well what the source of the disgusting smell was.

"Zombies, dozens of them!" He exclaimed but in a low voice. He did not want to alert the others else they began to suspect him, he would have to explain how he knew that the zombies were coming. Edward might decide to blame it on his hunch or instincts and some might believe it, but would everyone think the same? What was the guarantee that they wouldn't start monitoring him and keeping a close eye on him by every possible means? That was one thing that Edward did not want to happen especially now that he had a lot of things he wanted to keep hidden. Call him paranoid or whatever, he did not care; it was better to be safe than sorry.

But they did not have to wait long though as the next moment, everyone's body tensed up and their expressions underwent visible changes. The ground was shaking, like a horde of animals were rushing over. They all looked over simultaneously and saw Fablo and three people dashing over with a large group of zombies following behind them. The speed of the zombies was not that fast but they somehow looked like they were going to catch up to the group of four any moment from now.

The scene sent chills down their spins as fear gripped their hearts, they all froze in place and did not know what to do for the next few seconds. It particularly was so for Edward who had never fought a zombie in his life; not while conscious.

His desire to flee became so intense that Edward could have sworn that he was hearing hallowing voices that were screaming for him to run, but his legs refused to move. The sight of the dozens of zombies hungrily racing after Fablo's group completely petrified him in place.

He was not sure if it was a new change after his first encounter with that female zombie that had pulled his heart out or if it was just him who did not notice but Edward was able to clearly make out the features of the zombies even from their distance and the scene was truly troubling.

He could see their terrifying mouths that were filled with bloody teeth, shattered lips, and rotten faces, and hear their hungry growls from where he stood. Their earnest desire for flesh and human blood could be seen from the way they robotically moved their bodies as if they were not used to moving in them and from how they trashed their arms in the air in an attempt to grab one of the four bags of flesh in front of them.

Edward shivered at the thought of what it would look like if one of those four somehow ended up getting caught by those bloodthirsty and flesh-driven zombies, he doubted that even a finger bone would be left behind after they had finished working on the pitiful soul.

"What are you people looking dazing at? Get ready to engage!" 

By now, Fablo had moved close enough for the others to provide assistance while the zombies were not far behind either. He bellowed when he saw the people who were supposed to be ready to ambush the zombies standing still like statues.

His voice was like a wake-up call to the others as they instantly woke up from their stupor, still feeling dreadful. They clenched their weapons and got ready to engage.

The man holding a nail gun hastily tried to calm his shaky hands and position himself as he started shooting, he aimed for the zombie's heads and hearts as those were the only ways to instantly kill these abominations.

But his nervous state and tension made him unable to aim properly and he ended up missing a lot of his targets, his shots landed on the bodies of the hastily approaching zombies instead and this obviously did not slow them down a bit. He did manage to get a few before he ran out of nails though, four zombies fell to the ground as three to four nails plunged into their foreheads or hearts, destroying their brains and virus boxes by their sheer force and speed.

"Fuck! I'm out of nails!" The man exclaimed as he tried to refill his nail gun but discovered that he had spent everything. 

Bang!! 

He kicked open the door on the other side of the car, knocking it far away and rushing out of the car the next moment as he broke into a ferocious dash. He was just in time before the hordes of zombies crashed into the car that he had been hiding.

Roar!!!

Beastly roars escaped their disgusting mouths as the zombies followed behind him, the others had already engaged the other zombies in a ferocious melee.

Everywhere was in chaos as they struggled to avoid getting bitten by a zombie while getting overwhelmed by the number of them.

Meanwhile, amidst all this havoc, Edward stood frozen in place as he watched all of these with terrified expressions.