I’ll Protect the World |Day 10 After Virus Release: Anneka|

“Get behind me, Lex! We are going to use the technique of back to back fighting in this cramped square alleyway!” We will use this formation to compensate for being surrounded from both exits by foes in this tunnel. Still, I hate to fight back to back because it puts Lex in much more danger than running, a strategy that greatly avoids many chances of danger. But in the city, you are bound to have all your escapes covered by zombies, especially if you can’t kill any. We are on our fifth back-and-forth trip to take equipment from the harbor to our base. I should have guessed that things were going to stop going well eventually. We only had two more runs left. The issue is the 70 pounds we each carry. Lex is too over encumbered to run long distances in these conditions. As the zombies approach, I give Lex the rope launcher ammo and limit myself to using my axe. We need to save ammo, so we can’t both use a launcher at the same time. Lex will clear the path for us on one side to leave while I am going to keep the zombies back on my side. We both wear no armor because we are already carrying so much weight. Also, armor can never realistically protect the whole body from zombies. Food, time, and water expenditures also go up with armor.

The three half-alive bodies are obstructing my view, and I’m clumsy using the rope launcher. I feel gloomy and repressed as I am forced into this fight. Oh, how I would rather be anywhere else. It takes time to reload and make my shots. I rope one of them to a wall and then the second, but the third is definitely going to bite me unless I move. In this tight space, the only way I can move is left, right, or back. With left or right, there is still not enough room. Sorry. I push with my backpack into Anneka.

Oh no. I have to fight forward into these four zombies? That’s the only thing his weight told me. I barely have any space to work with. What is he even doing? I’ve been using the blunt end of my axe to push and herd them away, but the zombies are single-mindedly still charging. I can’t use my overly long axe properly in this cramped alleyway and not kill or mortally harm any of them. I fight desperately, and with restraint in the two feet of space I have, but I feel the impending end coming. In a flash of intuition, I notice a nearby loose pipe that I quickly grab. It is a better shape and sized weapon. There is just enough time. The top comes off and I axe off the bottom that is bolted off. I put all my strength and technique into pushing back the zombies trying to swarm me. I do so and take a moment to trip them. That should be five seconds. I turn around and see a single zombie reading its jaw to bite Lex in the back. His backpack and balance are sprawled on the ground. I react as my heart is rapidly beating with precision, utilizing my visualization of the zombie’s attack path, jamming the pipe into its mouth. The front cut end of the pipe knicks Lex in the back, causing a medium-length bleeding cut. I can’t care. I continue swinging the zombie 180 degrees to fling him and knock over the followers behind me. “Go, already!” I screamed at Lex to leave the open side. I fiercely push and shove to knock them back for 10 more seconds. I’ve finally made enough time and space. I quickly leave the cleared side of the alley and continue onwards.

It is nighttime when I see Anneka again. I’m readying more lab stations as she enters. “Do you have the medical supplies? I need them for this cut.”

“Give me a second. I’m drenched in a layer of sweat from my day.” It even manages to mess with my clothes."All because I had to trap a few of those zombies. The rest I had to lure and lead far away. It would be a bad idea to lead them to our front door.” My face is red, and my stomach is voracious. Silently, I force my body to wait. I reach into my bag and pull out some ointment and a bandage. In a motion, I draw it to Lex’s hand, pulling back at the last second.

“You know I can do this myself, right?”

“You know it's harder than you think to patch yourself up. The cut is in a difficult position on your back to reach with your arms. Unless you can see or feel accurately behind yourself and are a flexible and practiced person, it will be hard. No wait, you are? Then go ahead!”

“You are having too much fun with this. I’ll figure it out myself.”

I laugh. “Yeah, you could, but we don’t have the resources to “figure it” out. We have to do it right the first time. Each resource we have is valuable because collection and exploration are dangerous. Take off your shirt.”

I pout, but I remove my shirt and sit on a box. She pulls up a box next to me and sits behind me. Her fingers are making the room-temperature ointment warm. Not that it doesn’t already burn as it is being applied. As she continues, I feel increasingly guilty, crossing my hands over my chest. “I’m sorry for today and right now.”

“What for?”

“I was acting difficult just now because I was processing what happened in that alleyway. I’m terrible at fighting and I almost got myself infected. We were fighting back to back, so you very well could have been infected too.”

“Well, don’t think about it too much. Everything is ok in the end, isn’t it?”

“...”

Hmmm. “You know we all can’t be good at everything. Don’t become more of an idiot. We are always going to fail and have things we aren’t great at. It’s human.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?”

I pause. “What I do know for sure is that we are meant to be partners, so why is it ok that I failed you there?”

“Don’t think about it like that. Just be glad and feel safe knowing that you are partnered with the super cool, strong, courageous, funny, passionate, and genius hero, Anneka! She’s so awesome that it doesn’t matter how you are mindless like a zombie in combat!” I look at Lex’s back and imagine his face on the other side seeping red. “Hahaha. I guess I’m teasing you too much. Like I always say, you just need to focus on what only you can do. I’ll protect you always if you promise to clear your mind and make this antivirus.” I take in touchy silence as a response. “Lex?” I had long finished wrapping around the bandage, so I got up and turned my head to look at him. I see his possessed eyes.

“I forgot what was at stake. Forgive me. I’ll upkeep my promise to you and Fion and take back the world.”