"What is it?" Mika asked, unable to see the one pulling the chain.
"Just jump!" Carr yelled, letting go of the chain.
Mika stared at Carr as he landed on a concrete ledge on the second floor.
Pain shot through his knees, thanks to the additional weight on his shoulders, but Carr fought through it.
Meanwhile, out of curiosity, Mika looked up and saw a man pulling the chain. Suddenly, the drop wasn’t so terrifying anymore.
He landed next to Carr, but wasn’t injured like him. After all, Voss was nothing but skin and bones. So, he didn’t weigh much.
"What was that thing?" Mika asked, panting.
"My guess? That was Blaze," Carr groaned, before snapping his dislocated knee in place. "The Voss guy is working with him and led us to the terrace so we couldn’t escape."
"Fuck that. What should we do now? Keep running?"
Carr hated admitting it, but it was their only shot. While they had weapons, he wasn’t sure how effective they’d be against Blaze, considering he was probably an evolved zombie.
Voss could shed more light on Blaze’s evolution. That’s why Carr brought him along, but escaping with two bodies was impossible in the current situation.
I have to make a choice.
Carr thought, looking at Voss and Alaric.
Leaving Voss behind meant they’d lose a crucial source of information regarding Blaze, but Alaric was more important. After all, their lives were linked with Alaric’s.
Before he could decide, something whizzed past them and landed on the ground with a loud bang. Dust and debris shot up in all directions.
"What the hell was that?!" Mika yelled.
Carr knew the answer but desperately hoped he was wrong. His hopes were shattered as the dust settled.
There, standing in the middle of a small crater, was a man in a black suit. The creature’s face was hidden behind a pale mask.
"Are those... tentacles?" Mika mumbled.
"Tentacles or not, they soften the fall for him," Carr replied, staring right at Blaze.
They didn’t have a photograph of Blaze in the debriefings, so they didn’t know what he looked like. However, the image Carr had in mind was nothing like the one before them.
Although his suit was ruined, there was a hint of humanity in the way Blaze was dressed. It felt like the zombie wanted to be human.
Also, the way he just stood there, for a moment Carr thought Blaze wanted to talk with them.
However, the moment didn’t last long as sparks flew beside Carr. While Carr was thinking about dialogue, Mika unloaded an entire magazine on Blaze.
The bullets struck the mask, but instead of penetrating, they bounced off it. Sparks flew whenever the bullet hit the mask before falling like pebbles onto the ground.
"What are you doing?!"
Carr yelled over the gunfire, but Mika didn’t listen. He had seen the horror in the voices of his comrades before they fell, and he had no desire to join them.
Upon seeing that the bullets had no effect on Blaze’s mask, Mika turned his attention to his torso. Just then, the tendrils went into action. They wrapped themselves around Blaze’s body.
As the bullets tore through one tendril, another quickly replaced it. Even if a few bullets made it through, they had no effect on Blaze.
Mika couldn’t believe it. He had dumped everything he had on Blaze, yet he stood there without a single scratch on his body. Only his suit was in tatters, but there was something else. Something was shining under the torn suit.
"Is that... body armor?" Carr asked, squinting.
An armor made of the same material as the mask covered Blaze’s body.
Slowly, they realized those briefings didn’t do justice to Blaze. He was nothing like the undead they had faced before.
The realization only fueled Mika’s despair as he reached for Carr’s rifle. However, Blaze struck before he could take aim.
His tendrils slammed into the ledge where the two soldiers stood, ripping it apart.
They couldn’t brace in time, and both lost the human packages on their shoulders.
Carr yelled, trying to reach out to Alaric. His fingers brushed against the old man’s sleeve before he was yanked away by Blaze’s tendrils. Another coiled around Voss, dragging both of them to his side.
Carr and Mika fell to the ground. They weren’t hurt, but they wished they were.
A fate worse than death awaited them if they returned to the base without Alaric or Voss.
Carr could only clench his fists in frustration and glare at Mika.
If it weren’t for this idiot!
Carr could curse Mika as much as he liked, but the truth was, Blaze would have attacked them whether they fired upon him or not. Mika’s actions only acted as a catalyst for Blaze’s reaction.
"Run," Carr said, dropping everything but his rifle.
"We’re no match for that thing. Either we run, or he’ll kill us!"
Mika didn’t argue. After all, it wasn’t his life that was at risk. If push comes to shove, he could blame it all on Carr and say that he was merely following orders.
As for Blaze, he didn’t chase after them.
Enjoy your life, or what little remains of it.
Honestly, they were a bunch of fools if they thought they could leave the campus alive. When he said he wanted to turn the campus into a second lair, Blaze meant every word.
From the moment they stepped foot on the campus, they had forfeited their lives to him.
Sure, he didn’t have traps like the first lair, but he had something else.
Something better, or in this case, something worse.
"Holy hell... I can’t believe he didn’t chase after us," Mika panted.
The gate was in sight. Once they crossed it, they would be safe from the zombies. After all, they had killed the undead on the other side before entering the campus.
"Don’t stop now," Carr said, and kept walking.
He didn’t believe Blaze would let them go so easily. It wasn’t like him unless he wanted the rest to know about him and his new powers.
Carr hoped that was the case. At least then he’d have something to show for the blunder that had happened under his leadership.
"Yeah... let’s move—wait, what is that thing?"
Just as they were about to reach the gate, they saw a massive silhouette beyond. An entity taller than the gate itself.
The creature was made purely of rotten muscles, covered in armor similar to Blaze’s.
Before the humans could even come up with a plan, the massive undead charged straight at them.
They tried to run, but their feet refused to budge. Carr looked down and saw something black and curved wrapped around their feet.
Carr raised his rifle and began hitting the ant’s mandibles, trying to break them. Despite pouring all of his strength, the mandible held firm.
They couldn’t do anything as Breaker’s charge tore through them. They exploded like water balloons, covering everything around with their blood and torn flesh.
It was a treat for the zombified ants as they got busy consuming the flesh. Meanwhile, Breaker sat down, enjoying the ants’ work.