Dum... dum... dum...
A heavy marching sound echoed across as Lucien and his army, four thousand strong, moved across the city. The dark green clouds lit up as the sun turned them light green, bringing more clarity to the environment.
Only the steady sound of soles hitting the ground echoed across the city.
The city had a desolate view, as rotten bodies were everywhere. A repugnant scent filled everyone’s nose. This created an aura of death, as everyone felt their skin crawl.
But it was also a sign, a warning, and a result of what change could do to humanity in a month.
In a month, communication was lost. In a month, families were scattered, loved ones were lost.
In a month, humanity—the undisputed apex of Earth—had crumbled and become nothing but prey for zombies.
Across the soldiers, fear gripped their hearts. Even with them being Semi-Awakeners, even with various cold weapons in hand, memories and horror of the zombie apocalypse at the start flashed through their eyes.
Among the soldiers was one whose lips trembled. He had just recently joined the shelter a week ago.
Both his parents were gone, and he was the only one left alive. At just 17, he had not even figured out his life yet. He was just starting his journey and building his future, but now everything was destroyed. He had no future left to even think about.
And worse, now he knew what they were going to do, yet fear gripped him. He really didn’t want to die. He wanted to do something. He still wanted to live.
The soldier sighed, his young face tense as his lips trembled, their dry surface being blown by the wind.
While this soldier was filled with fear, across from him, a few rows ahead, a more mature soldier had a stern expression. His eyes carried resolution, but more than that, anger.
He lost his daughters, his son, and his entire relatives because of zombies. All he wanted was to kill as many zombies as he could before he died, so when he joined the shelter, he didn’t hesitate to apply as a guard.
He didn’t have any long-term dream or desire for a long life. All he had was rage, hatred, and a will for revenge.
These two soldiers weren’t the only ones in this army. Others were filled with nervousness. After all, this would likely be their first clash with such a huge number of zombies. It was similar to a battle, but their opponents were brain-eating monsters who barely felt pain and would not stop until you were not breathing.
Worse still, death wasn’t quick like fighting another human, but slow and painful—you would feel teeth tearing through your skin as they ate you alive.
Alas, others were excited. They dreamed of such an apocalypse happening, and with this happening, they finally had a reason to fulfill their fantasies.
Some had fetishes they wanted to conquer. They wanted to kill, to experience violence, and this was the perfect opportunity to do so.
Across the army were different people with different goals, drives, and wills against the zombies. But no matter what their goal was, the fact remained that not all of them would return home. If even half survived, it would already be a good and successful battle.
And Jeff and Daemon knew this.
For Jeff, this was his first time leading an army for Lucien. As much as he knew there would be casualties, he still wanted there to be none, no matter how unrealistic that was. That was his goal.
But with the little time they had, he had prepared the army as much as he could. They had done various trainings, different attack strategies, and survival drills for if they were alone.
Yet his heart still pounded. He wanted them to win, but more than that, he wanted Lucien to be happy.
He felt intense pressure as he strived to please Lucien.
While Jeff was worried about that, Daemon faced a different problem. His job was to scout and map out any useful materials or resources for the base. And if they lost, he had to be protected and safely led back to the shelter.
He also had to study the evolution of the zombies and draft reports for the few intelligent minds in the shelter.
Also, he had to look for food sources—ones that could be grown.
This was all hectic. After all, he was in a war.
---
At the front of the army:
Two humans led them. Behind them were the five Awakeners, and finally, the rest of the army.
"How do you feel?" Lucien looked at Mai walking beside him as he asked.
Hearing this, Mai looked up and smiled.
"Scared..." Mai replied as Lucien moved his eyes away.
"But excited," Mai clenched her fists as she added.
"Hm. You could still leave now. You know you and I are going to battle the half-step One-Star Zombie. Even if it’s not a full star, it is way stronger than the elite zombies we normally kill," Lucien explained as he smoked the cigarette between his fingers.
Small puffs of smoke drifted into the sky.
Of course, Lucien wouldn’t really let Mai leave. After being betrayed by her, he had learned his lesson. If she said yes, then he would kill her right there and then.
But apart from that, he didn’t want her to run away like she did for the first elite zombie they battled.
The memory was still fresh in his mind, his life barely hanging on a thread.
If she dared to do that, he had already ordered everyone to kill her.
Regardless, the question he asked seemed to give Mai free will, but it was either she stayed or died.
"Don’t worry, boss, we got this, and I’m not leaving," Mai said as she nudged Lucien.
Lucien chuckled.
"Alright... alright," Lucien said as the army finally stopped.
"We are here...," Lucien smoked the tiny remaining part of the cigarette as he flung it onto the ground.
He took one last puff as his smoke formed a ring.
A few hundred meters from them was a massive army of green, with a few beings seven feet tall (2 meters), almost twice the height of normal zombies. These were elite zombies, and they numbered 42 in total.
And finally, one huge fourteen-foot (4 meters tall) figure.
Just looking at both sides, one could see they were grossly outnumbered.
Close to four to one—and this was them after clearing out zombies from the city in a month. If not, this number could have easily been doubled.
"Comrades, we are here..."
"Our first battle with a zombie army..." Lucien spoke, his voice deep and commanding.