Phase 16 “The Mission”
[One year later]
“Go now!” Kaien yelled as the earth trembled beneath his feet. The horrified screaming of a few people who were following him did not help the matter in the least bit. He cursed when a boy slipped down. While killing a number of zombies and rescuing the boy, Kaien told the other members of the group to continue moving forward. Kaien was covering on the back as they continued to flee.
“Quick, get into that safe room now!” Kaien yelled as everyone in front of him rushed into the bank’s safe room and Kaien quickly locked the door. They could hear sounds of bumping coming from the opposite side, but they knew that the door would not give way. It was made of thick heavy metal. The zombies had no chance of breaking it. Well, talking about keeping the dirty secret from the whole world, that kind of door is a must.
Kaien smashed the safety boxes till they cracked open. There were some of them contained classified documents about people's lives, as well as gold and silver, money, and of course, weapons. After all, Kaien arrived well-prepared, as he always did.
“Here, take this, and protect yourself. Just don't shoot your friend, all right?” Kaien gave the guns to the five adult males in the room, as well as the one adult female in the room. He stared at the boy he just saved. The boy was so terrified, and Kaien knew that the image of his parents turning into zombies and trying to kill him would live on in the poor boy's mind forever.
“Come here,” Kaien bent down to the boy and said, “Your parents didn’t mean to hurt you. They just wanted to scare you so you could run from the zombies. They’re worried about you.”
“So will I see them again?” asked the boy.
“You can’t,” Kaien paused as he continued, “But they’ll always watch over you.”
“Really?” the boy finally cried.
“Of course, because they love you,” Kaien smiled as he patted the boy’s head. He could not not help but to think the boy resembled him in his past, except there was no one who was there for Kaien, no one saved him.
Kaien got to his feet and took a look around him. Most of them, he noticed, were afraid. To be fair, that was a typical response for a human being. However, he was aware that they would eventually have to leave and head for the exit, so he had to get them ready as soon as possible.
“Kaien,” a voice echoed through a receiver in his ears. He quickly put his hand on the left receiver and pressed it to have clear hearing on the voice. “We have just received six survivors. They all will be fine now. Where are you?”
“Stuck in the safe room with seven survivors, Dominique,” Kaien answered. He walked back and forth, unsure if he should ask for it or not. “I know it’s not really appropriate but can you send him to cover my ass here? We’re kind of outnumbered.”
“You’re always outnumbered, Kaien. Don’t worry, help is on the way,” Dominique stopped talking as Kaien knew the younger man had to make some statement to their superior. It was hard to admit that Dominique had become their strategy specialist in fighting these monsters. He basically made a plan for saving survivors with all his crazy ideas.
“Help is on the way,” Benji’s voice echoed through the receiver.
“Are any of you bitten?” Nathan’s worried voice echoed now. Seems like the three of them could wait to talk on the receiver. “You’re fine right, Kaien?”
“No one has been bitten so far and I’m fine, thank you,” Kaien smiled a little at himself as he laughed silently deep inside. He never knew their encounter could change everything a year ago. Benji and Nathan were not working in the hospital anymore. Both of them decided to pursue the way to fight S.M.V.
They had improvised the antidote that was more effective. It now could serve as a temporary vaccine that Kaien could bring with him on the rescue mission. Since it was not necessary to freeze the antidote in any way, Kaien was able to use it to buy some more time for the afflicted survivor before they could be treated with the proper antidote.
“Take a quick rest,” Kaien told the people around him. “We’ll be running to the exit in five minutes and then this nightmare will end.”
The people let out a half-relieved sigh despite still being extremely terrified. As Kaien reloaded his weapons, he sat resting against the wall. In his mind, he retraced the events leading up to this point.
Eleven years ago, Kaien had his first experience with the creatures. At that time, he was just a typical and cheerful young child who lived with his parents. It was a one-child household, with him being the sole son and child. It will never occur to either his parents or him to make any form of preparations for their own survival. He had to admit that he had become rather spoiled.
It was Christmas time, and Kaien was about to open his present in the living room when all of a sudden, his mother screamed from the kitchen. Kaien and his father rushed there, just to find that his mother had been killed by a zombie. Kaien's father tried to fight back, but he ended up getting bitten and wounded. His father yelled, telling him to run. He was terrified but obeyed his father’s words. He ran and ran, crying the whole time.
When he finally reached the street, he discovered that his neighbors had also become the same monster. Little Kaien cried and screamed as he ran quickly, but he ended up slipping and falling. A zombie got him and bit him on his arm. Kaien kicked the zombie as he managed to hide himself for the rest of the day.
He was in that small town's playground, which was his favorite. Hiding in a tunnel formed of shattered barrels, he continued to shiver and curled himself like a ball. He hoped that he would soon wake up in his bed, wake up from the nightmare, but unfortunately, there was no nightmare. The things were really happening to him.
The pain started to attack him slowly and endlessly. The pain was torturing him and he screamed till he lost his consciousness. Still, the pain continued to rip him apart piece by piece. He had no idea how much time had passed or how much misery he had been through. The first thing he noticed when he opened his eyes was a dazzling glare from the sun.
The smell around him made him puked the next second. He was on the top of dead bodies and all of them were zombies. He had no idea what had just taken place, how it had taken place, or what he had done. Terrified of knowing what happened, Kaien cried out in horror.
A soldier rushed up to him and was about to shoot him but then helped him to his feet after the soldier realized that he was a human. The government detained him and conducted research on him. Even though he was in more pain than before, he continued with the experiment and did not even once try to run away. Because of this, they were successful in developing an antidote based on the research they conducted on his blood. In return, the government would give him free reign to pursue those zombies however he sees fit.
The only thing that made him agree to undertake all of this was the desire to obtain revenge for the deaths of his parents and his buddy, as well as the terrifying dream that he would never forget. It brought him great joy to realize that he was the only person who had not been afflicted with the disease, the broken one was what they labeled him. However, he was never content with only that, and the nightmare did not go away for him either. He needs to have a strong mind in addition to a strong body. He gave his best effort in every workout with the sole purpose of achieving that goal.
Beginning with a desire for retribution, he evolved into a cold-blooded killer. No one has the right to criticize him based on that fact alone because all he ever killed were zombies. But as time went on, he stopped thinking about getting his revenge and started helping others because he genuinely cared about them. He vowed that none of them would have to go through what he had to go through.
Even now, Kaien and his superior were still in the dark about who was behind S.M.V. All they could do was try to find additional leads and slow the spread of S.M.V at minimal cost. He was really fortunate to find some pals who shared his desire to fight back in the same way that he did twelve months before. He was more than thankful to have Dominique, Benji, Nathan and . . .
“Kai, I’m almost there,” a voice echoed through his ear as he woke up from his thoughts. Kaien stood up as he told the others to get ready. He walked through the metal door and opened it when he heard a loud noise from the outside.
Blood splashed all over the figure’s face but Kaien knew he was not the enemy at the first glance. He joined the battle as he shot the remaining zombies. Kaien shouted to the survivor to follow him as he took the back counter attack.
“You’re late,” Kaien managed to utter between the shots.
“Can’t help it when zombies got your ass,” the figure replied as he leaded on. They marched toward the lobby as they killed every monster they met. It took a few minutes till they reached the front door. Kaien took the survivor out one by one from the half crushed entrance. Soon, the paramedics treated them as Kaien went back to the entrance.
“Hurry up,” he called the figure as he gave his hands. Still shooting, they connected their hands together as Kaien pulled him outside. But then he stopped as he felt a strong force pulled the man in the opposite direction. A zombie screamed and would not let go of the man’s legs even though they kept firing. Yet, the brain stopped working after a few more bullets on them. Before it lost its balance, the zombie managed to bite the legs.
“Allen!”