"Look at what you've done, you stupid bitch!" Clark yanked the mic out of Kelly's hand and gave a slap across her face so hard that she fell on the floor. And staring at her with bloodshot eyes, he shouted, "You are so concerned about a random student that you have just attracted all the zombies here. Now not only will he die because of your stupidity, but you have also put everyone here in danger! How can you be so careless and make a loud noise, alerting the zombies of our location?"
Kelly had lowered her head, and her cheek had turned red and was stinging with pain. She could even taste blood in her mouth. In fact, Clark hadn't held back his strength when slapping her. And even though she was in this situation, everyone looked at her with the same angry, murderous expressions as Clark.
They were approving of his reaction.
——
Outside the entrance, Zain had already noticed the incoming zombies moving slowly towards him, or to be more precise, towards the noise source. Fortunately, there were only four of them because the speaker wasn't loud enough to attract too many of them, and whoever had spoken through the microphone had apparently been careful not to draw too much attention.
'Whoever it was, although they risked themselves to help me, they were also aware of the consequences of their action in a situation like this. A kind-hearted fool.' Zain thought. 'But sometimes, kindness should be rewarded, and I'll reward that kindness!'
Stepping forward, Zain ran up to the first zombie and slashed the shear on its head, instantly killing it in a single hit. He then targeted the next one and hit it with his other shear before throwing the first shear at the third. However, the attack missed, and the shear struck it in the chest instead of the head.
Seeing this, Zain pulled out the baton he had taken from the mutated zombie and whacked the third zombie on the side of the head. After that, he also dealt with the last one effortlessly. Everything transpired instantaneously, and Zain defeated the zombies without fear or hesitation in his attacks.
"Whoa!" An involuntary exclaim resounded within the group watching the live video feed in the security room. It came from a young man in the supermarket staff uniform. He stared at the screen in amazement, "Did you see that? Who is this guy? Is he from the special forces or something? He killed them so easily and wasn't scared at all. Maybe we should let him in? He can be a great help."
[60/100 exp]
'I lost some exp, but the end result is still positive, and I am sure the people in the supermarket are observing me, so losing a small amount of exp to show strength is a good deal. Now...how do I get them to open this door.'
Zain thought, standing in front of the shutter. Then, just as he was looking for the cameras, he noticed the shutter shake and then went up as it rolled open. And when it finally rose, the six people huddled together inside the security room nervously stepped out and stood in front of Zain, on the other side of the entrance.
There was a glass door between them and Zain. But he could clearly distinguish their faces, and he even recognised two.
'Huh? Isn't that the gym teacher at the university and the clumsy substitute teacher?'
He also noticed the red slap mark on her cheek, and it didn't take a genius to understand its possible reasons.
Not to mention that the warning from earlier was in a female voice. Honestly though, Zain didn't blame these people's reactions. It was rational to not risk your life for others in a situation like this. Still, however, since this woman had helped him, if he could, he would try to return the favour as well.
"Come inside quickly before any more of the undead come!" Clark gestured at him to enter while speaking in a hushed voice.
Zain nodded and rushed inside, and as soon as he entered, the shutters rolled down once again. Now in the store, the first thing he noticed was the appearance of the store, and although he had expected it, the scene in front of him turned out to be much worse.
It looked like the inside of the supermarket had already been attacked and ransacked. Shelves had fallen over, several food jars were spilt across the floor in the grocery aisle, and on top of that, there was blood splattered across the floor. However, the place seemed void of Zombies, and these six looked to be the only ones inside the building.
'Well, at least they don't have a food shortage.' Zain thought.
"Wait, aren't you Zain Talen?!" Clark suddenly exclaimed, now noticing the former's face up close.
"Yeah, I go to Westfield University. I have seen you two as well." Zain replied.
Hearing this, the other three were a bit disappointed. Zain could see the look on their face, and they didn't even appear to hide it.
"You did a good job protecting yourself, Zain," Clark said, placing his hand on the former's shoulder. Zain had heard a lot about the gym teacher, and one of the most prevalent rumours was that he was always the touchy type with his students. "We couldn't risk stepping out of this place, so we don't know what the situation is like. Hopefully, you can help us out? but before that, let's introduce ourselves."
Everyone introduced themselves to Zain and revealed who they were before the attack. First, there was Mark, a young man who worked at the supermarket and was still in his uniform.
Next to him was an old woman who was quite round and had white curly hair, her name was Barbara. Next, there was a man in a suit named Ben, who looked to have just come out of a meeting, and the last one was a teenager in a tracksuit with a backpack on his back.
Zain wondered how this group of people of all people managed to survive and why the situation was what it was in the supermarket. Still, even more so than that, while everyone had their introductions, Zain noticed something off about one of them. To be more precise, it was the scent of one of them.
'Now…this is interesting.' Zain thought straight away, concealing the smile he had within. Because the situation he was in now reminded him of the many movies, games, and books he had read and it was clear that this group had no idea.
'One of them is already infected.'
******
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