apocalypse

The General

I'm a late sleeper.

By the time I woke up, everyone was already chatting over breakfast, eggs and toast from what I can see.

"Hey, how come we have eggs here?" I ask, grabbing a plate.

"Our bunker is right next to an old farm. The chickens are still surviving without the farmers, so we go ahead and take a few eggs now and then." a girl I hadn't noticed before is sitting next to Sage. She has long brown hair and eyes. "I heard about you. The half-zombie. I'm Scarlette, by the way."

"Yeah, you've got some explaining to do." Sage says. She's obviously mistrustful of me, but Scarlette is a little warmer. I sigh. This is going to be one long explanation. It goes smoothly until I mention the Soups. Well, as smoothly as it can be when you're trying to explain how you exist.

"Oh, yeah. They've been causing you trouble?" Scarlette asks

"Of a sort. I got bit." This makes them both pause. Sage launches herself from her chair. "I KNEW IT!!" She yells. "I KNEW YOU WERE TROUBLE!"

"Calm down, Sage!" Ethan says, joining in. "We've done rigorous tests and we know what to do if anything happens!" What to do being locking me in a room by myself while I try to fight off the voices.

Sage mutters under her breath. Suddenly, Kazuki walks in angrily. "Who interrupted my NAP!!!!!" "That would be Sage." Kazuki unsheathed his sword "Woah, wait, calm down a second!" Jimmy says, blocking Kazuki from walking forward. "Jimmy, we have known each other since 7th grade and you should know by now not to interrupt my naps..." "Yeah, but they don't!" Kazuki pushes Jimmy out the way. He jumps at Sage speaking the words "rising tide!". Scarlette holds out her hands, and Kazuki is pushed aside mid-jump, as if by magic. "Don't go near her!" She yells.

"Was that-" Wesley says. "2nd form WATER WHEEL!" Kazuki destroys the area around him making a sharp circle of water cutting everything in his way. Suddenly, he is held against the wall by pure air. "I have wind powers. DON'T ASK! I'll explain later." Windy says, looking at the rest of us. "But I'm afraid that your friend needs to chill." "You disgust me, wind FREAK." Kazuki yells at her.

I step in. "It doesn't matter if she's a freak. Honestly, I'm disappointed. I'm the real freak here, and yet you've never called me that once." Kazuki puts the tip of his sword to my chin, making a small cut. "Say something and it will be a bigger cut." Oops. I had stood at arm's length.

"Shall I knock him out?" Scarlette asks.

"Nah, see what he does." Jimmy says, and Scarlette drops him.

Kazuki walks out of the bunker and says, "I'm going to train" "With what? Zombies?" Jimmy asks "What else?" Kazuki storms out of the room.

"I'm sorry about your kitchen." I say.

"Is everyone alright?" Jimmy asks.

"I'm fine." I say.

Sage sighs. "We had just managed to hook up the stove to electricity, too. Oh well."

"You said you would explain it later. So EXPLAIN IT!" Wesley says, pointing a fork at Scarlette.

"Oh great, more long explanations." I mutter.

"Actually, I tested one elixir too many trying to find the cure for the zombie plague. Don't worry, I've given up science."

Suddenly, a loud thunk interrupts us.

"That came from outside." Sage says. "I'm sure of it."

Scarlette groans. "But we just had to deal with zombies. C'mon." She gestures for us to follow. "We're gonna check it out." Outside, it is your standard Soup battleground. Organized regiments, banners, and loud chanting. But one thing is unexpected. A large zombie with a military outfit, holding Kazuki against the entrance wall.

Out of nowhere, Jimmy and Wesley are pulling out guns, and I feel someone dragging me away. "You can't be on a battlefield. It's not safe." That's Ethan's voice. And I know that he means not safe for them, if I were to lose control, especially now. Rather than allow myself to be taken inside, to watch helplessly, I wrestle myself out of Ethan's grasp. "VIOLET!" He yells as I bolt forwards.

"Tell me how I can help." I say to Sage.

"Take a gun and take down as many zombies as you can." Everyone is firing at the large zombie, but it doesn't make a dent. Kazuki's sword is lying on the ground, and the large zombie is holding him with one hand. "You think you can just come out here and cut up my regiment?" the zombie asks gruffly. "You'll have to go through me, the General!" Kazuki is trying to loosen the General's grasp, but it's futile.

"KAZUKI!" I hear Jimmy yell. Kazuki looks in our direction, and then his gaze locks onto mine. I can see a new wave of anger overtake his features. He somehow manages to wrench the General's hand away, and drop's to the ground in a heap. I can tell he's struggling to breathe. The General now turns to look at us. "So, this is my opposition?" His eyes sweep over us, pausing at me. "I was just going to destroy your pitiful resistance here and now, but I think I see someone that my boss is looking for." Of course he does. He grins, revealing misshapen teeth. He walks over and Kazuki gestures to me to not say anything. "11th form, dead calm TIDAL WAVE!!!" Kazuki yells. Jimmy's tossed him his sword, and he's back on his feet. Kazuki spins his blade around in his flesh, killing him, and taking his head for a trophy. The surrounding zombies are groaning somewhat angrily. "More?" Kazuki says in an excited voice.

"Could you not think about fighting right now?" Wesley says. "You almost died!!" "A Samurai would never run from a battle." The zombies are climbing on top of one another. "Hey, uh, what are the zombies doing?" Jimmy says. "I don't know, making a building?" Wesley says. None of us know until the General's corpse starts to move. The zombies have formed a humanlike mass, and they appear to be controlling it. Kazuki carefully unsheathes his sword. "We'll see," he says. He sets the General's head down beside him. Big mistake. The General's corpse swats Kazuki out of the way, into the side of the building, and grabs his head. He puts it onto his stump of a neck, and the flesh connects instantly. "Decapitation won't work as long as my zombies are here!" That gives me an idea. I bend down low, and sprint forwards, into the crowd of zombies. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" Wesley and Jimmy yell in unison. I jump into the crowd of zombies, planning to just do a good solid long jump, but I launch myself high into the air, far above the crowd of zombies. I cry out in shock, but stay focused on my goal. Scarlette seems to catch on, and throws me a gun, no doubt aided by her wind powers. I begin to gun down the massive zombie mound from the air, but I know it won't last forever. What goes up must come down, and I will come down hard "Aim for the weaker zombies!" I yell to the ground.

"Will do!" I hear Jimmy yell back. Looking behind me, I see that Kazuki is once again on his feet, fending off the General for everyone else. It is a whirlwind of flashing blades and flying punches and his sword techniques. But every time that he makes a fatal cut, the flesh heals instantly. I realize that I have begun to fall. I got a serious amount of hang time. I try to catch Scarlette's eye, maybe she could soften the fall. But her attention is elsewhere. I manage to tilt my body so that I will not land on my back. Good news, that means that I will not break my spine. Bad news, that means that I will break my foot, maybe a leg. From this height, it is almost certain. Side note, changing your direction in midair is difficult. I'm gunning down the zombies in my immediate area to give myself an open area to land. I look at the horrible position I've put myself in before I land.