Arc 1 - Chapter 20: The Last Stage

(Prominis 21, 58 / 5:32AM)

Everyone huddled up like a blob, their shoulders grazing against each other like sardines in a can. Around them, the military complex comprised of a wide open courtyard, seeing the dead trees—

“Zompires straight ahead!”

—And there’s a lot of them…

His eyes not playing tricks, he raised his left hand, his uzi showering under the cold air. Giving the signal, the large group broke up to three small ones, yet they all ran together.

The first group, led by Luke, contained Luna, Hope, Cameron, and Loraine. The second group contained Sean and Jack, with Miles in center. And the third group had Fred, Gary, and Diego, being led by Stan.

The horde of zombies split into groups too, with each group having eight to ten. Luke grit the back of his molars, as he lowered his left hand.

“Weapons free!”

Luke’s group was the center of the two groups. Using two of his uzis, he sprayed the zombies from a far away distance, leaving the horde to be cheesed by bullets. None of them hit their hearts, it was to…

Luke smirked.

Then the bullets exploded, causing the zombie’s body parts to litter the concrete floor below. As black tar rained down on them, Luke began to walk slower, leaving the rest of the group to have fun.

—Go crazy.

Wielding twin blades, double edged swords in each hand, she spun them like yo-yos. Using her legs to spring herself forward, a mini shockwave spurred from the concrete, as she lunged with her immense strength.

Roaring, she thrust her spinning sword to a small group of zombies, slicing their chests with one fatal move. Strike by strike, she diced them one by one, leaving black tar and black guts and intestines to sting and exfoliate the area. The more she sliced, the more her muscles bulged and gleamed along her arms.

But one zompire sneaked up on her.

“Save us!”

Its mouth opened, the zombie sprinted fast enough for Luna to be caught off guard. Since she dealt with the rest of the zombies, it left just this single one, leaving her to spin around to block the sprinter's charge. Biting on the metal, it pushed her back a couple of feet, its strength abnormal.

‘Shit!’ thought Luna.

Her biceps shivering, her legs shaking, she felt her feet sliding back on the pavement.

But she heard a gunshot…

The zombie that she held back, tumbled down to the ground below. Glitching out exasperatedly, with black tar rivering out from every hole within its body, it soon fade to black ash. Turning her head to the gunshot, smoke barreled out from a teen, having the characteristics of a horse-human.

Luna took in a few breaths, her breathing rigid and raspy through her parched throat.

“Luna, let’s go!” Yelled Luke.

She’s not a person to take orders from anyone, but Luke was the only exception. Clenching her swords with a firm grip, she ran right behind him.

Hope and Loraine saw three zombies running straight at them, leaving Loraine to sprint towards her. As she reached the blonde girl’s back, she clamped both of her hands on her shoulders, and pushed herself against the pavement.

Hunching from her strength, Hope turned to see—

“What are you—”

Loraine lunged like a missile, while taking out her swiss army knife from her pocket. Eyeing two zombies, she gripped the knife with both of her hands, and sprang it forward when she drew near.

Reaching one of the zombies, she grabbed its left shoulder, and flipped herself to make a front flip. Landing on her feet, she jabbed the knife straight to it’s heart, striking it from its back. As the second zombie charged at her from the side, she slid back, and pinned her weight onto the tips of her toes.

Thrusting forward, she plunged her knife to her second opponent, hitting the heart as it started to glitch and turn to ash.

And she heard a gunshot, causing her to turn to where Hope was. Casually shooting a couple of zombies without any pale or sweat drenching her face, it caused Loraine to bite her upper lip.

‘Scary.’

Miles’ group dealt with a horde similar to Luke’s. His palms trenching onto the wooden grips of his metallic shotguns, he charged toward two sprinting zombies.

‘Here goes nothing.’

Sliding through the concrete with enough strength to replicate a figure skater, he glided past the two zombies. Firing his sawed off shotguns at the same time, the shells penetrated their backs, leading both zombies to crumble down. Seeing their death animation unfold, Miles turned to Jack and Sean.

While sprinting, Jack placed his finger on the trigger, before blind firing at a few zombies; without using his scope. Hitting the dead centers of their weak points, he glanced at Sean, who side glared at him back.

‘Showoff.’

Seeing two zombies coming at him, he wielded the tommy gun with his left hand, while his right carried a glitching zombie. The first zombie tripped over, making the other zombie go around him.

‘Poor choice of actions.’

While the first zombie tried to get up, Sean took the liberty of shooting the second, before moving the barrel to the first. Grinning, he looked over toward Jack and Miles.

“That's how you deal with zompires!”

“Just keep up with the group!” Yelled Miles.

Stan’s group noticed a huge group coming at them, and since they were average with their aim.

“Just fire whatever you got!”

The quad rain down the horde with a storm of bullets, leading to most of the zompires to be struck along their hearts. As smoke and mini ripples of air circled around them, it couldn’t back them down.

“Fred! Use your yo-yos!”

“On it!”

Extending out his yo-yos, he let the metallic rope sink down before whipping straight at the horde. Using his arms, he wrapped the group of zombies with his razor wire rope, leaving the others to…

“Let em have it!”

The three of them rained hell on the group, leaving no stone unturned as the zombie group glitched and turned to ash.

With everyone settling their own fights, the three mini groups began to collide back into one big one, as sweat and tar mixed upon their faces. Their skin slightly stung, they clenched their teeth and their fingers shook.

“Hey Loraine! Where do we go?!”

“Through that little wall over there. But it’s guarded though.”

Their conversation cut short, another wave of zombies began to appear. The horde twice as big, the rest of the candidates began to lock and load, with Luke controlling the group in front.

—They don’t call this the third stage for nothing…

Luke curved his sprint, while still running straight. Following Luke to the letter, and being in back of him, they felt their lungs squeeze the more they ran.

“Anyone that has mid to long range weapons, come to the left side!”

Jack, Sean, Cameron, Gary, Stan, Fred, Diego and Hope moved to the left side, giving them a clear line of sight. Their weapons locked and loaded, the eight of them unleashed a barrage of bullets, taking out dozens upon dozens of zompires.

Riddled with bullet holes, the remaining zombies bled out black tar. Most of them collapsing, glitching, and fading into ash, the few remaining only sprinted even more.

“Alright, mid range weapons still stay on the left! Long range, switch with short range!”

Curving right, Jack and Cameron switched places with Miles and Luna. As the long ranged wielders were tucked in the middle, the only two close ranged wielders joined the mid ranged wielders. Commencing another downpour, most of the zombies were slashed and torn from the second wave, leading to 90% of the horde to die.

But only a few remained. But because of the switcheroo…

Miles shot a few zombies at point blank range, while everyone began reloading their weapons. As for Luna, she took a couple of steps forward, and sliced a few stranglers that tried to pry their way into the formation. Letting the black tar splatter her face, the smell of it molested her nostrils.

‘I’ve smelled worse.’

Leaning into the formation again, they all were sync like one big blob. Seeing no signs of a third wave of zombies, all of them sighed out in relief while they ran.

“I think we’re clear.” Said Miles.

“Don’t let your guard down. They could be anywhere…” Said Stan.

Everyone scanned the surrounding landscape of the abandoned complex, as the pitch black shade of night drenched the horizon. No signs of them appearing…

“It’s quiet…” Said Gary.

They only heard the sounds of their boots thudding the pavement, leading them to flicker sweat from their faces. Pale, feeling like the walls were closing in, their breaths froze like ice the more they took in—

“Wait, hold up! I see a zompire!” Yelled Jack.

Being blessed with eagle-shaped eyes, Jack took in a zombie stretching its hand out in the air. It didn’t attack nor ran toward. In fact, the zombie started to—

Smile.

Its smile reached up to its empty eye sockets, showing no teeth as it stared at the group with no eyes. All of them started to slow down, their bodies stiffening up the more they saw the horrorful sight.

—Wait a minute…

Luke stopped, leaving everyone to stop right behind him.

Its chest and stomach were painted brownish red, the red areas showing a bastion of arteries and veins. Some of it dripped out black tar, leaving it leaked like an unclosed hose. Appearing to show only muscle, there was one other thing that caught everyone’s eye…

—Is it glowing?

It began to steam, making a small mist cloud above their head. Looking at the candidates, the zompire’s smile remained unchanged, but then…

Many more of them slowly walked out, looking to be exactly the same as the original eerie zombie. Steam hissing out from their bodies like pots of tea, all of their chests and muscles glowed a burning red.

“Luke … your call?” Said Fred.

“I’ve never seen this before—”

—They sprinted toward them.—

“Help us!“

“J-Just shoot the zompires!”

Their faces pale and sweaty, all of them shot their guns like crazy, barraging the abnormal zombies with whatever they had. Jack hit a peeled zompire’s heart with his sniper, leading the zompire to—

Explode in an immense inferno; along with the rest of its friends exploding in a chain reaction.

The force of the explosion knocked them back several steps, the burning gust causing them to shield their eyes. Stumbling around, the hot dry air tried its best to burn their eyes, but to no avail, they shielded their eyes to the very last.

As the gust was swept away, they opened their eyes, seeing the horde already wiped from the face of Terra.

“Exploding zompires!?” Yelled Cameron.

“So I can’t fight them with swords!?” Exclaimed Luna.

“So much for using shotguns now…” Whispered Miles.

—Is this the same explosion … that killed Ryan?

“Luke, are you sure you want to go through with this?” Questioned Stan.

Luke looked at the area of where the abnormal zombies sprinted from, while turning his face pale. Seaming off cold sweat, along with his hands twitching relentlessly, his breathing began to turn ragged and irregular.

“Hey!”

Luna gripped her fingers onto his cheeks, making him lose focus on the harrowing gate. Leaving tar marks on him, he looked at her with fearful eyes.

“We’re this close to finishing up this stupid game, don’t tell me you’re going to chicken out on us!”

“I-I’m not going to chicken out, it’s just …”

“It’s just what?!”

“No records or studies documented an exploding zompire, so maybe …”

Luke pointed to the area of where he lost focus on, his finger quivering while raising his cheeks. Gulping down whatever saliva stuck in his throat, he clenched it down to his stomach, as he felt it sink into his crotch.

“Maybe that zompire … is so rare or so deadly … that anyone has ever laid eyes on it …”

Luke couldn’t finish his sentence.

She let go of his cheeks, and took a couple of steps back before looking down at his hands. Noticing the scars on his quivering palms, Luna pressed her hands onto them, holding them in place.

His palms sweat gently, as she rubbed them back and forth with hers.

“Where did you get those scars?”

Her tone a reassuring one, she maintained her eyes on his hands, while he did the same for hers.

“I tried saving my mom … but I was too weak. I wanted to carry all that rubble and get her out … but the world wouldn’t let me.”

“So what are you going to do?”

She looked up to stare directly into his eyes, allowing her brown irises to mingle with his red ones. Their eyes encapsulating each other, her grip on his hands tightened, as she trailed her fingers onto his scars.

“Do you want to get stronger?”

“Of course, but—”

“Then try to be smart instead. You’re not strong, hell, you’re weak; but you’re smart.”

“But I don’t have any plans in the oven…”

“Then ask Loraine.”

She let go of his hands, and walked back toward the other candidates. Turning around, Luke allowed his eyes to direct onto Loraine.

“Loraine. Do you know how we could defeat this new zompire?”

Everyone had their eyes gleamed onto the 12 year old, their ears jumped up and opened for any syllables. The tension grim, they felt their breaths freeze against their throats.

“No … but …”

________________________________________________________________________

(Prominis 20, 56 / 11:43PM)

“Just curious. Where were you all from?”

Six years ago, on the second day of training.

The 14 candidates sat around in a circle, as they watched the fire burn the oak wood in front of them. Soda, donuts, and other small snacks, they felt their bodies loosen like a kid seeing a Christmas present.

“Sean told me he’s from Aizzonia, but what about the rest of you? Stan? You look like you’re from Ticia.”

Jack looked toward Stan’s group, his eyes focused mostly on Luke. Remaining mostly quiet, he avoided eye contact with Jack, as he trailed his eyes to the ground and dirt.

“Yeah I’m from Ticia … Stan, Gary, Diego, and Fred too…”

“We all knew each other … before the invasion. Look, I don’t want to be rude, but I kind of don’t want to pry open that box…” Said Stan.

Jack raised both of his hands to the height of his shoulders, nodding softly while averting his eyes away.

“Yeah man, no worries. Won’t pry into the details.”

He then pinned his eyes onto a pair of beast-humans, causing the duo to straighten their backs.

“What about you two?”

“We're both from Ticia. Specifically Visily Harbor.”

“Like Stan, you don’t have to tell me the details and all…”

“It’s not that deep, but um … me and Cam have always been good friends.”

Jack laid back while lifting his head, along with his right foot placed firm on his knee. With open ears, he heard the little backstory from Ryan’s mouth, who stared deeply into the fire.

“Me and Cameron were just strolling through the city, until we were stopped by a gang of dog-humans. Even though we were all beast-humans … they threw carrots at me, and tried to yank on Cam’s tail…”

Ryan looked up at his furry white hand, his hand vastly similar to Jack and the rest of the humans, yet the way he was treated…

—“I guess discrimination runs through all of us.”—

“Huh…”

“I forgot what happened next but … everything just happened … so fast after that explosion…”

Ryan rolled down a tear, until he swiped it away with his right hand. Clearing his throat, the mucus that wanted to pry out of his body stayed hidden underneath his vocals.

“It’s ok … I’ll leave you alone with the details … How about you Luna?”

He turned his head towards Luna, who was gobbling on a donut. Furrowing her right brow, she stopped her eating, while leaving crumbs on the corners of her lips.

“What?”

“When you spoke with Luke, you said your father and brothers were killed during the attack, so …”

“Why should you care?”

“Just curious.”

She rolled her eyes as she continued to eat her donut. Noticing his eyes continuing to pin her down, she swallowed the donut, letting the glaze run down her throat.

“sighs … Angharad Valley, Yamu. Happy?”

He gave her a smirk and a thumbs up, who in return, looked away with a vein popping out of her forehead. Knowing she was mad, he giggled once, as he used his other hand to cover his mouth.

‘Dork!’

“All that’s left is Hope, Loraine, Gemma, and Miles. So who wants to go first?”

Analyzing the last four candidates, Miles stood up with a soda in hand, while raising it up to his mouth. Drinking the can in one gulp, he crushed it with both of his hands, before placing it into his pocket.

“I’m from here; Kepputha.”

“Wait really? Where in Kepputha?”

Jack hunched his head forward, while everyone gasped and murmured among themselves. Looking down at the base of the fire, Miles put his hands into his pants pockets.

“I’m from City King, a rural town near Fort Stonerock.”

“Near the penitentiary? Just what happened to you? Or your town?”

“It’s … complicated.”

He turned his head to view the door to the lunchroom. But it took his eyes away, leaving him to stare blankly at the door intently and nervously, as he swore he saw…

‘A tunnel?’

It appeared for just a split second, leading his face to shiver and pale. As if it never existed, it returned to being a door again.

‘Why am I reminding myself of that…’

Miles was infatuated and lost in thought, as he remembered the frozen frost and the dead whistling leaves like it was yesterday. Jack turned toward the three girls, seeing them have their lips sealed like super glue, especially Hope.

“Hope. Wanna tell us your home country?”

“Sorry, but I don’t remember…”

“Really?”

“All I really remember is living off the alleyways and homeless shelters ever since I was 10…”

Hope silently watched the firepit as she took small bites of her s'more. Hunching her head into her body like a turtle, she wanted the eyes that were pinned at her to just disappear, wanting to pretend she wasn’t there.

“Welp … Gemma?”

“Nothing too complex, but I was pretty much an orphan my whole life. Out of everyone in the orphanage, I was the only one alive, and man … I could still remember that smell, that hideous—”

“Ok ok. You’re an orphan, so I don’t want to imagine that scene playing in my head…”

Everyone’s eyes averted away from Gemma. Despite being the most normal looking out of everyone, her background was a far cry, leaving her to be a natural born survivor.

But just how long?

“... How about you Loraine—”

She was fast asleep. Snoring obnoxiously loud, a little vein sprouted on Jack’s right temple, leading him to fold his arms underneath his chest.

“I guess I’ll pry into Loraine’s story later…”