"Where do you want me to start?"
Tyrus downed a single shot faster than the three could react. As the glass touched the marble counter, a loud ringing sound pulled their attention to him.
"Come on now," he teased, a wide grin forming on his rugged face. "Any later and he might just return with a surprise."
Dmitri and Johannes’ muscles tensed, feeling an unprecedented amount of danger—not from Tyrus, but from whom he associated those words.
Is Elias nearby? Johannes quickly glanced at Evelyn, finding her posture a little strange. Her head aimed not to Tyrus, but to a section of the wall in the southern direction.
Her eyes were wide open, sweat slowly rolling down from her forehead.
"Evelyn, did you sense him?"
"No, it’s not him."
She replied in a hurry, then grabbed ahold of Johannes’ shirt, "We need to get out of here, now!"
Tyrus continued to gobble down the gin, indifferent towards her advice.
Dmitri quickly turned to his comms, tuning into the channel.
"Echo Two and Three, what’s your status?"
"All’s clear, Actual," Echo Two replied. "You got something for us?"
Nothing’s happening? Dmitri doubted, studying Evelyn’s expression once again. No, there has to be something!
"Eagle One, give me a—"
"All teams, contact ahead!" Eagle One interjected, beating him by a second. As her voice faded on the radio, the atmosphere tensed up.
"Multiple specials from the south, southeastern direction," Eagle One continued. "I need all available troops to respond against this threat!"
"GIs and MGs disembarked," Bulldog One echoed in the radio. "How far are we talking about, Eagle One?"
"A kilometer or so.They will reach the mansion walls two minutes sharpest!"
"Affirmative," Bulldog One’s engine hummed in the background, tires screeching as it made its way over. "Oscar mike to position."
Dmitri pulled away from the chaotic radio and looked towards Johannes.
"We got trouble, dead ahead."
"How many?" Johannes asked.
Dmitri stole a glance at Tyrus then shifted back, "Several specials. Must be the super zombies from the backyard."
"Do you need help?"
"Stay here and watch him closely," Dmitri didn’t hesitate. "Elias must be causing this. We don’t know how, but we’ll find out."
"Good luck out there," Johannes nodded, not wasting Dmitri’s time. "Don’t worry about us. We’ll talk more later."
Just as Dmitri turned, Evelyn suddenly stepped forward.
"No, don’t go. Have your troops retreat, they cannot take this head-on!"
She was worried. Through her enhanced hearing perception, just the sound of winds whistling as these zombies scraped by gave her an ample guess about their strength.
They were fast, scarily fast!
"Heh," Dmitri shook his head and didn’t bother arguing, leaving through the front door. He lingered long enough to whisper something to Kimmy and Yunera on the corner.
As those subtle words left his mouth, the two joined Dmitri on the frontlines, not a hesitation on their faces.
Evelyn watched them all go away. She wanted to run after them, to stop them in their tracks, but Johannes held her back.
"Why are you stopping me? Do you not trust my words? Do you want them to die needlessly?"
"I trust your words," Johannes patted her shoulders. "But you should calm down. They will retreat when the time is right, not when you say it."
Dmitri had always radiated a strange confidence that Johannes couldn’t explain. It was as if the outcome of the fight has already been determined—the odds thrown not against Dmitri and his team, but to the enemy.
Tyrus chuckled on the sides.
"You are underestimating them, my lady in black," he poured another drink, not for him, but for her. "Take a sip. This should relax your taut nerves."
Johannes slapped Tyrus’s hand away, finding his utter indifference uncomfortable. Not only did this guy not feel grateful of a saving grace, he seemed unappalled that Elias got away.
And now, a large storm brewed with Tyrus’s mansion in-between, yet no emotion expressed themselves out from his frail-looking body.
Tyrus, this Shearman bastard. Why is this prick so calm? Johannes wished he could dig under that smug face and uncover the reasoning behind his confidence.
On the other hand, Tyrus down another shot.
So be it then, he garnered no displeasure against Johannes’s rejection. Elias has used that same strategy before, but he is reckless to think that these troops are incompetent. Well, let’s see what happens next.
His eyes seemed to pierce through the walls, monitoring the about-to-become-a-battlefield backyard with indifference and precision.
...
Dmitri stepped onto the dirt mound, scanning the terrain he was in.
Two entrances split on the sides, each one an opening from the street. Echo Squads had long positioned for a defense, setting tripwires loaded with grenades on the possible paths and the periphery.
Vegetation is blocking our view, Dmitri complained while he remained on top. Tyrus sure tended to his flowers damn tight.
As he trailed the pathway, two stairwells led uphill into his position. Though it could slow down the assaulting zombies, one still needed bullets to kill them.
Two Machine Gunners picked a spot they liked. The tripods thumped over the bricks as the M249 SAWs were deployed. The muzzles coldly pointed toward these pathways, already stating a no-zombie zone for the enemy.
Then the Guardian GI pair came. Their tactical armor weighed down on their bodies and slowed their speed. Still, they had just come in before the firefight was about to start.
"Eagle One, this is Echo Actual," Dmitri said. "Check sightlines, over."
"The first wave’s coming in," Eagle One responded. "One o’clock from your position, from that intersection on the right!"
Everyone shifted their vision into that direction.
Endless footsteps echoed on the empty street, like a stampede about to rush out from its dwelling.
The first zombie leapt into view, flying high into the sky higher than the Light APC’s height. It crashed straight into a high wall on the mansion opposite of Tyrus.
The bricks crumbled in no time, then came another thunderous crash. The zombie made its way past the two walls, stilling the breath of anyone who saw its feat.
It used the walls to break its momentum? Dmitri felt that what they had encountered so far were mere amateurs.
Amidst his thoughts, that lone zombie skipped out of the dust, unharmed, each hop longer than an average human’s height. Its eyeballs rolled around in adjustment, before settling back to its normal position.
And from there, it stared at Tyrus mansion—no, to where Dmitri was, like a signal that death has already arrived.