There was no mistaking it.
Ants the size of bears and wolves were before them, clacking their mandibles in excitement. The moonlight only made them appear more monstrous.
No one argued. They turned and began climbing the stairs.
"Close the door! Now!" Víctor ordered.
The metal shutter was unlikely to hold against the unrelenting horde, but it was their only defense.
While two people worked on closing the shutter, the rest aimed their weapons.
"On my mark," Victor said. "Fire!"
No one cared what the ants were doing there. They only saw their enormous size and panicked.
A guy with a buzz cut fired first, and the rest followed.
They fired on everything that moved. But much like the zombie from before, their bullets had little to no effect on the ants.
Fueled by fear, they kept firing. Empty shells clattered on the ground, but not a single ant went down.
To make things worse, the giant undead joined the ants and began climbing the stairs.
"We need more time—!"
One of the guys closing the shutter yelled, only to have his head crushed. The giant monster had leaped to cover the stairs and crushed the guy’s head like a watermelon.
Before they could react, the zombie ripped off the shutter from the ceiling. Now the humans had nothing to protect themselves from the ants.
"F-Fire! Don’t stop, no matter what!"
Even though he gave the order, Victor knew it was another futile attempt.
They have to have a weakness!
With that thought, Victor joined the rest.
Just then, an ant... died.
Someone had hit a couple of ants in the eyes. That was their weakness.
For a moment, he found hope again.
"Eyes! Go for their eyes, joints, anything!" Victor yelled.
His orders fell on deaf ears. No one fired a single bullet, even in this situation.
He turned around and saw the pure terror in the survivors’ eyes.
They couldn’t even keep their hands steady, let alone take aim.
A scream pierced through the night.
Victor looked down and saw an ant sinking its mandible into the guy’s leg. The man had already run out of bullets and was using the gun as a club to hit the ant, but to no avail.
Memories of the headless’s massacre flashed before Victor’s eyes. The tragedy was repeating itself.
Victor jumped down the flight of stairs. He would not let anyone die in front of him again.
The ants noticed him and immediately turned to face him. Víctor didn’t think. He just pressed the barrel of his gun against the ant and fired away.
The remaining survivors were emboldened by the action of their leader and jumped as well. They were brave, but bravely couldn’t overcome death.
Even chosen individuals would have difficulty fighting them. The unawakened stood no chance against the undead ants.
But that didn’t mean the ants were invincible.
The first ant went down, then another. However, each ant took two humans with them.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Victor roared.
He wanted to help one person and lost four because of it. He didn’t want to lose any more people.
Unfortunately, they realized it too late.
The ants already had them surrounded.
To make things worse, most of them, including Victor, had already run out of bullets. Their guns had been reduced to mere clubs.
"I’m sorry, people," Victor said, eyeing the ants. "I shouldn’t have lost my cool."
He expected a reply, or a lighthearted joke. Instead, he got glares from his fellow survivors. Not from everyone, but from the majority of them.
Although following him downstairs was their decision, they still blamed Victor.
Just then, an ant lunged at Victor from the side. He saw the ant, but didn’t even have the time to react.
But just as the ant was about to sink its mandible into his shoulder, someone pushed Victor aside.
He turned just in time to witness the ant latch onto the young man’s neck. The ant shook him around like a rag doll before others followed.
The man was alive, but not for long as the ants dragged him into a hole.
They could hear his screams for a couple of seconds before everything went silent again.
However, they all realized one thing.
It was a matter of time before they succumbed to the ants.
Victor’s heart pounded in his chest. His hand gripped his rifle tightly, even though it was useless without bullets.
And then... everything fell silent.
The ants went still, and it was only then that the humans realized the undead creature from before had not even lifted a finger against them after ripping off the shutter.
The next second, the ants parted. Before anyone could understand what was happening, the ants created a path from the broken wall to the top of the stairs.
Even the hulking zombie lowered its head in submission.
None of them dared to move and kept looking downstairs, wondering what was happening.
That’s when they saw someone.
A tall man walked through the broken wall.
His face was hidden behind a jet-black mask that seemed to have been crafted from the ant’s exoskeleton.
Even strange was that the mask didn’t have any slits or space for eyes, nose or the mouth.
How can they even breathe? Wait, is that... no. It can’t be!?
The man’s pale skin gave away his identity.
The man behind the mask was most likely an undead like the rest of the monsters.
No, he’s... their leader.
The naturally popped in Victor’s head.
The realization almost made Victor’s knees give out.
The zombie was unlike any other they had seen before. If not for his pale skin and little rot, anyone could have mistaken it for a human.
While Victor was thinking all that, the undead climbed the stairs, standing right before him.
A few people unconsciously swallowed their saliva, while others were too scared to move.
The masked zombie then crouched, dipping his fingers into the blood of the unfortunate soul who got his head crushed.
Victor looked down, and his eyes widened in horror.
The zombie had scrawled a word on the broken ground.