After somewhat helping Zain out, the friendly Reborn had decided to back away, and many of the others in the room had turned their heads or faced their bodies away from the bars. One could tell just from this that they were nervous about whatever was walking through that hallway.
"Alright!" A loud voice echoed through the halls. Stopping in front of them were a group of around eight zombie hunters, all wearing identical black leather jackets with white words painted on the back. Unlike the other zombie hunters that Zain had seen, these looked a bit older and more rugged. Their eyes said a lot about them as well.
'I guess these aren't your normal newbie zombie hunters. Although I would like to say I would still be confident about breaking out of this place, I still have no idea where we are,' Zain thought.
"Follow us, and don't even think about trying to fight us. We wouldn't want to injure you before your big debut, and trust me, if anything were to happen to you before your debut, it would only make it harder for you," the large man said.
Zain didn't respond, but he seemed willing to comply as he didn't say much. The bars were unlocked, and two of the hunters came in with large metal poles. They pressed them against Zain, one towards the front of his body and another towards the back, while the hunters divided themselves, escorting Zain in the front and the back.
'I guess they're still worried about getting infected.'
"So, redhead!" one of the skinny hunters who were holding the pole called out while they walked down the hall. "Tell me, is there anything special about you? Like, are you strong, used to be in the army, or maybe a martial artist or something?"
"Are you crazy?" one of the hunters replied. "Does he even look that old? My bet is he won't even last five minutes."
"Hey," the large man, who seemed to be the leader of the group and was walking out front, shouted. "What are you guys doing, asking him questions? You know it's against the rules to try to get any information beforehand. It would make it unfair to all the others."
Due to their careful movement of Zain, to the point where one of them had to walk backward, they were going through the area slowly, but it allowed the red-haired zombie to take in his surroundings.
'There are a lot of cells down here, and from the smell, I can tell that they have captives as well. How many people are down here, and just what are they trying to do? From the sounds of it, the others have been through the same thing and they're still alive... I guess I'm just going to have to find out.'
Eventually, Zain had gone up a flight of stairs and had reached an empty, large room. It looked like the reception of a hotel, with a front desk, sofas, and marble flooring.
'Were we in the basement?' Zain thought.
Soon, however, he realized that he wasn't the only one who was out and being treated as a captive. There were about ten others. One of them looked to be a Stage 2 Zombie, tied up and restrained. Another was a human, severely beaten and wearing a Zombie hunter uniform.
There were regular humans as well, and a couple of Reborn Zombies in the mix. All of them were being led by a group of Zombie hunters to prevent them from running away.
Looking at the hunters, he soon locked eyes with one of them because he recognized the girl with long black hair. He had seen her before.
'It's the hunter that goes by Wendy. She was the one... that helped me out before with Skittle.'
It wasn't just Zain who recognized her because when they made eye contact, they held it for a couple of seconds before she realized who or what she was looking at and turned away.
To the right of the reception, there were a set of double doors. If this was a hotel, it had an old Victorian feeling to it, but it was large and grand in size. Out from the double doors, a wild-looking white-haired hunter with nothing but the leather jacket and a large scar across his chest emerged.
"Haha, so these are the lucky contestants!" the man shouted. "It looks like we have a good batch today. I think we will have some history makers!"
Many of the hunters stood upright upon seeing this person. It was clear he held a high position of power.
'Is he the leader?' Zain thought. 'No, that wouldn't make sense based on where we are on the map, but it all has to be linked. Why even the need to do all of this in the first place?'
"Alright, there's no time to chat. All of you will learn as you go," the white-haired hunter declared, heading back through the door he had just exited from. After that, the rest of the groups of hunters started to follow.
Passing through the door, they entered a bigger hallway, and at the end of the hallway, an arched entrance could be seen. The sound of many voices could be heard, and soon they knew where all the noise was coming from.
Cheers erupted as each one of the groups entered. They were in a large ballroom that had two floors and a banister that went all around the top. It was a room that would be used to decorate for weddings at times. Now, it was being used for something else entirely.
The wooden floors were stained with blood, and the whole area was surrounded by the Zombie hunters. But on the second floor, there were several men and women dressed in completely different attire, something unexpected given the current situation everyone was in.
Elegant dresses, suits, clothes that in the past people would have saved for special occasions.
"Alright, everyone, you know the rules. We will introduce everyone one by one, and with that, you are all to make your bets. Will they survive or... will they die!!!"
*****
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