Starting Now, It's The End (Zombie Apocalypse)

-"Teach me how to fight like a soldier."

I took a step back, with a teasing smile.

Rhea let out a sigh of relief.

"I thought you would ask me something difficult."

-"Teaching me how to fight doesn't sound easy though?"

She hesitated and added, "Well, it won't exactly be a walk in the park, but I meant that it won't be a bother."

She finished making coffee and handed me a tea.

I took a sip.

Hot!

"Ha ha, I just made it, dummy!"

I stuck out my tongue and searched the bag to take out the milk and pour it in my mouth.

-"Waw, that was hot!"

We chatted a bit, taking occasional sips.

After we finished, we cleaned the mugs and took turns in the bathroom.

---

I looked at myself in the mirror.

I could see a man, short black hair trying to flee from my head.

My blue eyes, clear as the sky.

And my face adorned a soft and calm smile, not the smile of a madman.

It was the smile I had when I was with Lana, with our night talks, playing—this smile appeared when I just looked at her.

My smile turned bitter as the realisation of her death came back to the surface of my mind.

I undressed.

Stepped in the shower.

The water was cold, but refreshing—not just for the body, but for my mind, to stop thinking about her and move on.

I stopped the water, dried myself, and put some clothes on before regrouping with Rhea who went first.

---

6:30

Rhea and I were already raring to go, but everyone else was still sleeping.

"How come they are still asleep?"

-"Yeah, we made such a ruckus, they should have woken up."

She sighed and massaged her brows.

"We need to finish today to get the food back to camp. If we wait, it could be dangerous."

-"Should we wake them?"

"Yeah, wake Louis, I'll take care of the living room."

I nodded.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

-"Louis, you up?"

"Uh... Yeah, yeah, what time is it?

6:30!?

Fuck, so early. You are like Rhea."

So she usually is the one to wake everyone up.

We waited for everyone to wake up and prepare, talking on the couch, relaxing.

---

**8:00**

"Ready?"

Louis took the lead and we went down to the ground floor in utter silence, like soldiers going to war.

Our eyes were serious and focused, people could feel the aura of intensity coming from this group.

On this floor there was a desk, a room used as storage, and the front door.

Louis leaned and looked through the peephole.

Then he turned back and signed with his right hand that there were four on the right.

Rhea had taught the team tactical hand signals, and she taught them to me while everyone was getting ready.

Then he signed for Rhea to take them out with her gun.

Startled, I tapped Louis' shoulder and used the sign for killing in melee and tilted my head as if asking a question.

He made the sign for clear, which can be interpreted as safe—here, safer.

It is true that I usually like to run head-on and fight my way through zombies.

But even if it was at the cost of a bullet, I realised the burden of and what makes a good leader.

He doesn't want us to take risks even at the expense of precious bullets.

Life is precious after all. I looked at him and nodded in understanding.

Rhea went to the door while attaching a professional silencer to her gun.

She slightly opened the door.

THACK THACK THACK THACK

She shot four consecutive shots in three seconds.

THUD THUD THUD THUD

Louis finally broke the silence:

"Good job, let's go quickly, we fill the cars and get the hell out of here!"

---

9:00

We took a break from loading. The pickup was full—almost too much.

---

9:30

We finished loading the car and the car trunk to the brim with only food and water, as we didn't find anything else worth the room.

We took a last look around the hall. There were still some boxes of water and cans that couldn't fit.

Pondering that we would need to come back, I heard a growl in the far distance.

I ran towards the doors to see what was happening.

The others, seeing me and hearing the sound, followed me running.

From the other side of the park, there was a horde coming toward us.

I couldn't count the number, but in the first line were about thirty wanderers.

They were about 200 meters away, but they walked in a slow but steady pace.

The closer they came, the louder the sound of their feet hitting and grinding against the concrete.

I noticed something strange though—they kept bumping into each other, slowing them down.

I think they are attracting themselves with the sound, so they turn to look at the source and get smacked by another one bumping into them!

Seeing such a number of zombies scared me. I did like fighting zombies, but the sheer number made me scared to the bone, as I knew I couldn't survive this head-on.

The dose makes the poison.

Feeling fear, I was relieved. Relieved discovering that I was more normal than I thought—that my alarm, called fear, still worked, just that the trigger was farther.

"Get in the cars! Dante, with me in the pickup.

Follow me, we'll take the long way around! We can draw them home!" Louis ordered, running toward the pickup.

Dante followed him and the rest of us went into the car. We were packed, as there was food in every corner.

Zoe, in the driver's seat, turned the engine on and followed after the pickup.

I looked behind, seeing the horde getting smaller and smaller, my breathing slowing, my heart calming down.

-"That was close!"

Rhea, next to me, sighed and slumped into the seat as if all tension had left her body.

"Thank you. If you hadn't heard them first, we could have been swarmed."

I scratched my neck and smiled at her, a bit embarrassed.

-"Eh... we were about to leave anyway. We would have seen them soon enough."

While coming back, I watched the town—burnt cars, buildings, and corpses sticking to the ground, trying helplessly to get on.

---

This trip was an utter success. We got loot and I became closer with my teammates—mostly Rhea, but still.

Now I feel like I belong here.

Unknowingly, realising this, I made a naïve, happy smile.