Ambush

Jason saw that the others had understood his signal, so he lowered the binoculars and glanced at his watch. It was already 3:00 PM. They needed to make their move before nightfall.

That meant they had less than 4 hours left. If it got dark, even with night vision goggles, their visibility would be severely reduced, and the danger would increase significantly.

They were now facing their first decision: how to get down to the ground. One option was to use a rope to rappel down directly from the rooftop; the other was to take the stairs.

Jason called Simon over, and after a brief discussion, they decided it would be safer to go down the stairs together.

At that moment, Hank had an idea. He took the silencer off his handgun and considered firing a shot into the air to see if there were any survivors inside the office building.

Jason immediately grabbed Hank's arm, signaling him to stop.

"Don't shoot! A single shot will attract every zombie in the area. If that happens, we won't be able to go anywhere."

After a moment of thought, Hank agreed and put the silencer back on.

Once they had made their decision, the four of them began their descent from the rooftop. But when they reached the door, they found it was locked from the inside and couldn't open!

"Damn it, leave it to me, Captain! I'll break it open," Simon said, stepping forward to kick the door.

"Are you crazy? If you kick it open, how are we supposed to get down?" Jason quickly stopped him.

"Let's use a grappling hook to descend into a room and regroup before we make a run for it," Sakura suggested.

"That seems like the only option. Let's find a window we can open and get inside," Jason agreed.

Sakura approached the edge of the building, climbed over the railing, and lowered the rope to the window. She hooked the grappling hook onto the railing, tugged it to make sure it was secure, and then said, "I'll go first."

With that, Sakura grabbed the rope with both hands and slid down. Within moments, she reached the second floor and found a window she could open. She quickly climbed inside.

As soon as her feet hit the floor, a zombie suddenly lunged at her from the right.

Sakura was startled. She had checked outside the window to make sure there were no zombies, but she hadn't noticed one lurking in the blind spot!

The zombie lunged at her, and without thinking, she raised her arm to block it. But the zombie grabbed her arm and bit down.

Fortunately, Sakura reacted quickly. She drew the knife from her leg and stabbed it straight into the zombie's skull.

Thud!

The knife was sharp enough that the zombie's head didn't even bleed, and it collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

After seeing Sakura safely inside the room, the other three followed suit and slid down the rope.

When Jason reached the floor and saw the scene inside, his heart skipped a beat. Even though he had been mentally preparing himself for days, seeing the dead bodies in front of him still made him feel nauseous and fearful.

The last to descend was Hank. Once inside, he pressed a button at the end of the rope, and the grappling hook transformed from a curved shape to a straight hook. With a gentle tug, he reeled it back in.

"Holy crap! We just got down here, and you already killed one?" Simon yelled in surprise.

"Is Sakura alright?" Jason asked, walking over to check on her.

"I didn't see it in the corner earlier, but thankfully the clothes were tough, and it didn't manage to scratch me," Sakura replied.

"Phew, as long as you're fine. Simon, next time, don't make a sound, no matter what happens. It's too dangerous," Jason said, frowning.

Jason wasn't too worried about Sakura and Hank, but Simon was a different story. If not reminded, Simon might shout or make noise in the heat of the moment.

After that, Jason opened the door and quickly stepped back, preparing for any zombies that might be lurking outside. To his relief, there were none in sight.

He cautiously peered around the corner, taking stock of the hallway. The safe passage was about 50 meters away, with six zombies blocking the way. The rooms on either side were unknown.

Jason pulled his head back and relayed the situation to the group.

"I'm a good shot. Let me take care of them," Hank offered.

Hank quickly leaned out from cover and fired six muffled shots—bang bang bang—and all six zombies fell to the ground. One of the shots had hit the zombie in the back of the neck, and as it turned to attack, Hank finished it off with another clean shot.

Hank retracted behind cover, removed the magazine, and began reloading.

Simon peeked out and whispered excitedly, "Hank, you're a hell of a shot!"

"We need to move now. Simon, stay close to the wall with me. Jason, you and Sakura cover the other side. We'll watch each other's backs and shoot any zombies we see in the rooms," Hank instructed.

The four of them began moving along the walls, cautiously approaching the safe passage. They had to pass by eight rooms on either side. Most of the rooms were closed, but three zombies burst out of two rooms with open doors. Hank and Sakura took them out with ease.

Once they reached the safe passage, Jason noticed that there weren't many zombies. The office building wasn't very crowded, and the safe passage was even more deserted since most people used the elevators.

However, just as Jason reached the door to the safe passage, a zombie suddenly lunged at him!

Before he could react, the zombie knocked him into the iron door with a crash.

Bam! The loud noise echoed through the empty building, piercing the stillness of the floor.

Roar! The zombies inside the building heard the sound and immediately became agitated, charging toward the source of the noise.

Jason, now on the ground, struggled to get up as he heard countless growls coming from all directions. The first thought that flashed through his mind was: Run!

"We're screwed! They heard us!" Jason shouted.

"Quick, go to the window and jump through the vent!" he urged, slamming the door to the safe passage shut behind him. Then, he scrambled toward the vent in the middle.

Without hesitation, the four of them climbed out of the window.

The vent was between the first and second floors, not too high, and they easily jumped down.

Hearing the noise, the zombies outside quickly gathered around, and the ones inside the building began clawing at the window.

The sound drew the attention of more zombies, and their numbers grew quickly!