Chapter Seven

The detector made a quick tone, like the tone when a tabloid successfully detects something. A few blocks, rectangular and square was present on the radar, probably a few kilometres away.

'That's it' Michael said. I turned my gaze to the glass, hoping to see buildings or anything close. Yes I don't say spacebuilds because spacebuilds only existed after the Jax family started ruling the planet. In fact I would be surprised if there are any buildings left since the bomb. Maybe at least only the place for the sphere should be still standing. I know our forefathers built that place with the strongest of rocks and not just many layers but more and more. And we probably need to go through many doors to get in if we were to come here back before the bomb. But I still think at least two or three doors are still standing. Then a horrifying thought came to me. I recalled the stories I heard when I was younger, about the creatures that live in the massive surface area before the city.

'I need to know if there's a living monster in the surface before the city?' I said, fear was now in control of me. But Draven and Michael looked at me like I just said the stupidest thing in the entire universe. They laughed softly.

'I'm actually not joking if you think I am' I said. They immediately shut up. That was quite funny. But my fear wasn't letting me laugh or even smile. I have faced evil persons, but they're humans just like me. This whatever creature that could possibly be real is not a human. From the stories I heard, it's a flesh-eating monster.

'Zac, I know of those stories too. But no one has been to Zonex for almost a hundred years. The only people that got close to the city are the soldiers of the government. And they roam the surface but never encounter such monster' Draven said. So I remained silent for the rest of the trip. True enough the blocks on the radar represent the buildings, or what was left of it. A ruined city displayed before our eyes. Not a single building that has a perfect-looking shape. The best looking is probably was a forty-storey building because of the facade, but now only three storeys and the third has no roof and the sides have holes. So imagine the others are lower than that. We landed on something that probably used to be a junction. Now only rocks and pebbles here and there. And the four buildings around only have one incomplete storey.

'This is woah' Orion said. We all got off. I was the last. I made sure everyone brought their bags along and no guns left behind. I placed the sphere into my bag. I looked back one last time, we probably might not return of everything goes out of hand. Malcolm's body lay still in one corner. I got off and closed the door. No turning back, we move on. I saw Tazanna wiping her face with a tissue. She washed it just now to clean the dried tears. I really feel sorry for her. I know how she feels, I experienced as well.

'Now we just need to find the place' I said. No one replies. I looked at them and all were staring at something. Well all except Dane who was looking at his own feet. I looked into the direction which is on my right, to the front of the car. There was a person. Wait, I immediately pointed my gun at him. If it's a soldier, he's going down. And true enough it was a person. And he was coming to us. Slowly and oddly. I felt suspicious, I mean firstly, the soldier is walking in an abandoned city alone. And secondly, he was limping and was like having no sense of direction. And thirdly, he was covered in blood. But that's not the worst, he has only one arm! And he was still walking, no sound of pain. I walked to the front of the others and pointed my gun right at his head. Or maybe I think that's the head. I'm not well-trained in this. But if he gets closer, I can shoot him. And it would be easy since he wasn't armed. The moment his face was clear, I saw one of my nightmares coming right at me. I shot him in the chest. A monstrous voice came out of his mouth and he started running to us. I aimed again and suddenly, another gunshot. The bullet pierced through the head and he fell down dead. Or dead for the second time. He wasn't a human. Not anymore. He was a zombie. If that is what I think he is. It can't be something fiction be real? The moment the face was clear, I saw the holes in the face, holes that was covered in dried blood, and the eyes glowing black. It was the first time I saw something supernatural out of movies. I snapped back to reality. It was Fayre who headshot him.

'Was that a zombie?' Norman said.

'It obviously was' Miss Janet said.

'So our problem now is the infected living dead. We could all be infected before we complete our mission. We don't even know where's the place' Orion said.

'I don't believe we should immediately call it a zombie. Because we don't know why and how it came to be' I said.

'This is most probably or logically because of chemicals gone wrong' Draven said.

'If I were you, I wouldn't care reclaiming a land infected with this stupid virus. Might as well be slaves of the government' Miss Janet said.

'Can you shut up?!' Tazanna exclaimed suddenly. Miss Janet was hurt again. But I guess she deserved that with the big mouth of hers.

'Michael, do you have any device that can track the place?' I said. Michael thought for a while.

'Malcolm's bag will most probably have'

I went back inside the car, switched my bag with Malcolm's, transferred the sphere back into Malcolm's bag and head out. Oof, Malcolm's bag is very heavy. I showed it to Michael.

'It's very heavy' I said.

Michael searched through the bag. Then he took out a small device like a scanner but with no screen. There were few buttons on it. He pressed the on button and the scanner came to life with a short beep sound. There were three other buttons below. He pressed the first one. The scanner released a male robotic voice.

'Threats two hundred metres away'

We both looked at each other, understanding what the device meant. Malcolm pressed the other button. The same voice spoke.

'The sphere of Dustromedian twenty centimetres away'

Wow! I thought. That's accurate! The sphere is in the bag. And the scanner is in Michael's hands, he was squatting.

'This is gonna be useful' Draven said. Michael pressed the last button. Same voice came out.

'The hall of the sphere one kilometre away'

'That's far from here' Orion said.

'Wait, but we still don't know which direction' Draven said. 'We only know the distance. And that too might not be accurate because maybe they detect in one straight line but that's not inclusive of the obstacles we might face'

'It might even be here one kilometre below the surface' Fayre said.

'Malcolm didn't have a notebook or anything else that says where exactly the place is?' I asked.

'He had' Tazanna said. She searched through Malcolm's bag and took out a box. A rectangular box to fit in a book or tabloid. She opened and took out a book.

'Did not see that just now' Michael said.

Tazanna flipped the book to a certain page. I noticed almost all the pages were full of writings or drawings.

'These are his personal researches, inventions and some just drawings to pass time' Tazanna said. She stopped at a page with the title written big at the top "Operation United Nations". She skimmed through the huge paragraph below.

'The hall of the sphere is approximately four hundred metres underneath the city hall' Tazanna said. She skimmed through again. 'The city hall should be the ruined building in the middle of a red brick roundabout. As a guide, the tallest ruined building is one junction away'

We looked around. I know which building was Malcolm referring to. It must be the one I mentioned before that left with only three storeys. I saw it, about three hundred metres away.

'One more thing to take note, in the city, a lot of unusual things we might encounter. This is due to the chemical break from the city lab. There will be things like man-eating men. Be careful. And I believe the stories we heard as a kid about the flesh-eating monster is true. Based on my research, the creature used to be the guardian of the city and has an intellectual mind. We'll need big range weapons'

'Your belief is true Zac' Draven said.

'Well, we have the guns. Malcolm only prepared this so we should be okay right?' Orion said.

Tazanna turned the page.

'Portable detector manual. First button is on. Second button is threats. Third button is object. Fourth button is place. If you do not use for quite some time, it offs automatically' Tazanna read.

'Alright let's go' I said starting to head to the tallest building.

'Wait, I think it would be easier to take the car. I just think it would be easier and safer' Miss Janet said.

'Why? Because you're a coward?' Michael said.

'No!'

'That's smart actually' Draven said. 'It's easier'

'Okay, everybody get in' I said. We all entered the car again.

'Just remember threats are a hundred metres away. Be ready' Fayre said. Michael started the vehicle. We didn't go up this time, just on the ground. Michael drove towards the building. The road was very rocky and bumpy. Bricks and rocks here and there. If I'm not mistaken, bones as well.

'How are we going to rebuild all this?' Orion said.

'That's not the problem. The sphere's power you can't imagine how great' Tazanna said. 'As we placed it back where it belongs, the whole planet will feel a change in energy. Whatever systems built by the government will halt and the defense and systems of Zonex will get back to life. Even with just nine of us, the government won't be able to penetrate the city with whatever power they have, they can't get in without our permission. Well at least eight of us whose blood are registered in the system. What we should worry is fighting what is already inside'

'Come on, we can do this. Stick together' I said. Everyone's face brighten up. Obviously not Miss Janet who was still fussy about children telling her what to do.

We're close to two hundred metres since where we stopped earlier. As said by the scanner, we might face threats here. Or it could be in other directions. The scanner does not state the direction, north, south, east or west so it's hard to know. We just got ready with our weapons in hand. Malcolm said, it's possible that we encounter a lot more than just the zombie we saw before. My mind went imagining what kind of creatures could be out there. Most of it came from movies I've watched. I need to stop watching too much movies probably. It's making me suffer now. I tried pushing the scary thoughts away. A quick imagination got me thinking what if it happens for real. Like out of the blue, a giant stepped on our car. We would be smashed to the ground like dough. How wild!