Chapter 28: Perilous Situation

Soon, the dog barked again threateningly, jumping to the side and avoiding Daniel and heading to the nearest person.

"Buddy, come back!" Daniel shrieked, going after the dog.

Zerra now understood the reason Daniel kept looking for his dog, even though his golden retriever already mutated. Now, she even felt a sense of pity. This man never mentioned his family… so, perhaps that dog was indeed his only family left.

The person had his heart beating erratically as he clutched his gun tighter. He pulled the trigger. At the same time, Daniel jumped, nearly becoming the target of the bullet. Surprisingly, the dog didn't evade it.

It let the bullet penetrate its skin, growling more threateningly than ever. The dog was even more ferocious in its movement now, absolutely angry, aiming for the person who had just shot it.

"Do you see now?" Nyra snarled at him with no mercy. "That creature is dangerous."

As soon as she said that, she used her whips to strike the dog again. They coordinated to bring the dog down, ignoring Daniel's shouts.

Zerra didn't join in the battle. She put her pitchfork in front of her as a means to protect herself, in case the dog suddenly ran toward her again.

Cassias shook the gun in his hand, seemingly out of bullets. She was a little tangled, but after thinking about it for a while, she made a decision. Shoving the pitchfork in front of him, she encouraged, "I can lend you my pitchfork."

The man raised his eyebrows. She insisted, "Take it. Just make sure that you return it to me later."

He didn't take the weapon. Instead, he advised her, "Protect yourself with that thing. Watch your surroundings and keep your focus."

With that, he went inside the car and loaded the gun with more bullets. There was also a knife in his hand. With that, he joined the fight, whispering something toward Darren.

Meanwhile, even with the joint effort of several people, some still get wounded. Fortunately, it was merely from the impact of the dog smashing toward them, not from a bite. The most unlucky was the one who had just shot the dog.

It was as if the dog had gone crazy, going after the man relentlessly. The man was a soldier, so he was calmer as he handled the situation.

As per Darren's cue, he ran toward a particular area. The dog followed, jumping and pining the man to the ground. Cassias arrived at the scene, shooting the dog several times in its limbs.

Yet, the dog didn't even spare him a glance. He didn't give up. Since the dog was not moving, it was easy to aim at its chest and head.

The dog finally looked up, jumping from the soldier and swiped its paw toward Cassias, its mouth opened, ready to snack on his neck. Just as they thought that he would switch his target to Cassias, they were horrified at the next scene.

The dog was quite cunning. It made the people who were bombarding it stopped and became vigilant, preparing to avoid it the moment the dog turned to them as the next target. However, the dog didn't go to Cassias. Instead, it turned around and went back to the crawling soldier.

It bit down at the soldier's hand. The man let out a pained groan.

"What are you doing? Let go of him, Buddy!" Daniel shouted toward the dog.

The dog let go of the man's hand and jumped away. The moment it went a few meters away as it headed to Cassias next, a loud explosion was heard.

The dog howled in pain, thrashing painfully. Soon, the dust settled, showing the figure of a badly mangled dog. As Nyra drew closer, its death throes almost knocked her away again. Her knife raised, and she stabbed its head.

She was slammed a meter away because of its last struggle. After a few minutes, its movement ceased and finally stopped.

Daniel looked like he was on the verge of breakdown, hugging the dead dog's body and accusing everyone. They threw him dissatisfied looks as they hurriedly went to help the bitten soldier, their expression grave.

"Leave me…" The soldier hissed in pain, gritting his teeth before finally passing out.

"Mr. Valez, is he–" the person stopped himself. He couldn't say it. Is he going to turn into a zombie? They already knew the answer.

"Bring him to the vehicle." Darren let out a breath. Then, he added with gritted teeth, "Use ropes."

They already went through most areas in the train station and found out there were not many survivors. Since there was already a casualty on their side, they decided that it was enough.

The survivors were either unconscious or very weak. They were trapped in that place and locked themselves in a small space. They thought that they were going to starve to death, but unexpectedly hope arrived.

Everyone had a somber expression. Cassias dragged Daniel back to the car, having a brief eye contact with Nyra the moment he passed by her.

When everyone was packing and preparing to return, Nyra secretly dug the dog's crystal core. After she went back, Daniel no longer struggled in his seat, sitting obediently and oddly super quiet.

The doctor was taking care of Laziel. As soon as they arrived at the shelter, they went through the usual check before some were granted the pass. Most of the injured people, however, were sent to the hospital ward, including Nyra.

They needed to be closely monitored to make sure that they hadn't been infected by the zombie virus. The next day, after a doctor took care of him, Laziel woke up. He still appeared a bit disoriented, thinking the zombies were merely a dream.

"Mr. Valez, he… he transformed." A somber look appeared on the soldier who reported to Darren.

Darren let out a sigh, rubbing his temples. The fate of those who had turned to zombies was already determined.

"He was my friend, Mr. Valez. We just discussed yesterday morning what would happen in case one of us turns into zombies. Unexpectedly…"

Although the situation was quite chaotic, they still gave proper burial to the soldiers whose lives perished in rescue operations.

***

In another place, Nyra was berating her younger brother angrily. Her arms crossed as she glared at Laziel. "Didn't you say that you are already on the way that day?"

Laziel pursed his lips, avoiding her eyes.

Zerra, on the side, shaking her head disapprovingly at him. Laziel only dared to send her discreet warning. In return, she made faces at him when Nyra wasn't looking.

"Eldest sister, look at his glare. He is mocking you!" Zerra hurriedly snitched on him when the older sister was rummaging her bag for something. Her anger had just subsided and upon hearing that, she lifted her eyes. Just in time to see Laziel's scowl.

As a result, he received another round of scolding. Zerra gloated, snickering on her way out.

However, the atmosphere soon turned tense when they heard about the fate of the bitten soldier. Once again, they were presented with the brutal reality of the apocalypse.

They attended the funeral of the soldier in order to honor him, mourning silently.

Soon, a few weeks passed, and it was already half a month. People began to slowly accept the new challenge and tough life ahead. More and more people also awakened their power.

For the past half months, they also had been collecting supplies. Nyra expressed her intention to pay for Darren and others' help in rescuing Laziel with supplies. After all, that was what they needed the most at this moment.

Thus, they went to join the missions outside to find supplies. They had done that a few times, and it was the first time that they had gone through another gate.

"Were you on a mission to search for supplies? Hand over the supplies to us." The guards looked at them with greed in their eyes.