Frayed Nerves

They started to get ready for the war that was coming. In order to recover his injured leg, Raymond rested after gathering as many weapons as he could from the storage area. The survivors prepared for the expedition by arming themselves with guns and plenty of ammunition. Raymond looked around the storage area again and saw Calvin getting ready with the men. Raymond came running to him.

"Calvin!" Raymond yelled. "What are you doing?!"

"Are you blind?" Calmly, Calvin answered. "I’m getting ready for the clear-out."

You're not a soldier, though! We may require your knowledge.

"Perhaps, but you also require all the assistance available to you. I think an extra hand won't hurt because, in case you missed it, the only persons left are the troops or civilians watching over this room."

However, why must it be you? If something goes wrong with my HHD, you are the only person who can help. Instead, let's request volunteers.

Calvin looked at Raymond gravely. "Observe the individuals present. They are citizens who recently lost a loved one. They are not physically or mentally capable of going outside, much less firing a weapon. I've at least killed hundreds of people with my experiments, and I have no problem using a pistol to kill a few more."

Raymond thought deeply about what Calvin had said. The most persistent idea was that he couldn't think of someone he was genuinely afraid of losing. His squad had killed just hours before, his pals had long since passed away, his family was lost someplace in the United States, and he had little affection for those in front of him. Had his humanity been robbed by the carnage all around him? Had he become someone different because of the HHD? Raymond would have exchanged his immortality for their sorrow at that very moment.

Raymond was deep in meditation when he felt Calvin's hand resting on his shoulder. As he turned around, he saw Calvin and the other men fully armed with rifles, ammunition, medical supplies, and melee weapons.

"We’re ready," Calvin declared.

"Alright, but what’s our next move?" Raymond enquired. "We no longer have a leader. We need a plan; we can't just walk out there and kill every zombie."

"Well," Calvin said, "we can't do that, but let's make the most of our chances since it's our only choice. Nearby is a heavy armory room. He indicated a location on a map they were carrying. "If we can reach it, the weapons there will make clearing this building much easier."

"But that’s… on the other side of the building!"

Yes, but at the moment, it's our best choice. We'll have to use every weapon we own, and since the air ducts can't hold our combined weight, we'll need to get rid of the zombies in our way as fast as we can. Although zombies are known to be resistant to bullets, stabs, and punches, as I previously stated, they are extremely vulnerable in the same spot—the back of the neck. I think they can be easily taken down with a single shot there."

Though he was unsure, Raymond believed that they were all experiencing a twinge of remorse. They were shooting people they had worked with only weeks before, people with families, dreams, and unique personalities, all for their own survival. They were starting to resemble animals. Calvin, however, piped up as usual, seemingly reading their thoughts just from their facial expressions.

"Listen, everyone. I realize this is really unfortunate, but keep in mind that the people we deal with nowadays are neither our allies nor even human. The remains of Sakurashi families as well as those from other nations can be found here. I'll defend them. I will do everything in my power to preserve the remaining semblance of humanity. Thus... He looked around at them all. "What are you going to do?"

They found resonance in Calvin's statements, and he was correct. They had to battle for those who were quivering in terror in front of them, even though none of them wanted to hunt these beasts. Raymond was very clear about his next objective: to use his HHD skills to safeguard as many people as possible. The others appeared to discover their own motivations for fighting, and they proceeded to get ready for the conflict.

Raymond got to his feet once they were mentally and militarily prepared. After saying goodbye to each other, they left the room. Raymond took the initiative as always, leading the small group of six people—not including himself—who remained around him, even though it seemed like they were using him as a human shield. They were all tense, always expecting to be attacked by a shadow. They were almost along the hallway when they heard a noise coming from a room they had just passed. Frayed nerves were evident when one of the men, who was closest to the room, turned around and fired a couple of bullets without aiming.

With anxiety, he yelled, "What was that?!" to the other members of the squad.

Calvin said, "Take it easy," "There might be a zombie in there, but recklessly wasting our ammo will only…"

The hallway's final door exploded violently open. As two more zombies charged at the group, Raymond turned just in time to see one of them lunge toward him and bite the arm that held his rifle. Raymond quickly took a knife out of his pocket and used it to stab the person on him in the spinal cord, killing it with a single strike. After that, he shot another person in the neck a few times, and the third person was killed by the other crew members.

Raymond turned back to the group and asked, "Are you okay?"

Someone said, "You're infected!" and gestured to Raymond's arm, which was gradually changing upon closer examination.

"Interesting…" Calvin said. "You're truly evolving. In your situation, it spreads from the bite—at least with this tiny amount—but your body is decaying like the other illnesses we've observed."

Calvin's excitement frightened Raymond, but the infection eventually subsided because of the HHD. Sadly, the terror in his friends' eyes did not.

Although they had to continue, Raymond's fellows were unable to get over their fear. They checked every nook and cranny, moving more slowly than previously. They killed a couple more zombies in the process, but they knew it was the safest way to go to the heavy armory room.

Throughout all of those interactions, Raymond was always the one checking the rooms while the others watched out for any unexpected assaults. This, of course, led to further injuries, at a rate that he feared might have been lethal had he not been careful. Although he wasn't totally sure how much harm he could tolerate, it wasn't the best idea to experiment with his life just now.

While traveling to the heavy armory area, Raymond also underwent a few transformations. He remembered it clearly the first time it happened—someone shot at him with deadly intent, but luckily for him, or so he believed, they missed their aim in their panic.

Anyway, it didn't matter now whether he wished he hadn't survived that moment. They arrived in the room with the heavy armor. With Calvin's assistance, they were able to bypass the security code and enter even though the door was closed. Something stumbled toward them from inside the room as they opened the door, startling them.