Zombie survivor

[97] Blood and fury

The chaos of the melee surged like a storm, every swing of a weapon and every scream a reminder of how quickly everything could end. The scavengers fought desperately, but the raiders pressed hard, their numbers still enough to overwhelm despite the losses they'd suffered.

Amid the fray, Jean caught sight of a raider moving toward one of the survivors—a boy no older than seven who had been huddled near the back, clutching the scraps of food Evan had given him. The raider's machete gleamed as he raised it, his eyes locked on the boy like a predator about to strike.

"Shit!" Jean yelled, adrenaline surging through him. Without thinking, he sprinted forward, throwing himself between the boy and the raider. The two collided, and Jean's momentum sent them both crashing to the ground just as the machete came down.

The blade slashed across Jean's back, the pain immediate and searing. He gritted his teeth, a guttural scream ripping from his throat as blood soaked his shirt. The boy scrambled away, his terrified eyes wide as he clutched the food to his chest.

"Jean!" Akira's voice cut through the chaos, shrill and panicked.

Jean tried to push himself up, but the pain in his back made his arms shake. He looked up just in time to see Akira sprinting toward them. Her face was twisted in a mask of pure fury, her usually calm demeanor shattered.

The raider turned to face her, but he didn't stand a chance. Akira closed the distance with inhuman speed, her twin knives flashing like fangs. She slammed into the raider with the force of a freight train, driving him backward as she plunged one knife into his gut.

And then she kept going.

She stabbed him again. And again. Each strike was fast and brutal, her blade slicing through flesh and muscle with precision. By the time she hit the fifth stab, the raider was already limp, but Akira didn't stop. The sixth stab ripped through his ribcage. The seventh tore into his chest. The eighth hit his throat. By the tenth, his body was barely recognizable.

The others froze, momentarily stunned by the sheer ferocity of her attack.

"Holy shit," Brad muttered, his crowbar pausing mid-swing as he stared.

"Dude, she's gone full John Wick," Jordan whispered, his eyes wide.

Akira didn't hear them. Her focus had shifted to the next raider, a hulking man armed with a spiked bat. She launched herself at him without hesitation, her movements a blur. With an airborne somersault, she landed briefly on his shoulders, her knees digging into his collarbones.

Before he could react, both her knives plunged into his neck. Blood sprayed in an arc as he collapsed, gurgling as he clawed weakly at his wounds. Akira flipped off his shoulders with effortless grace, landing in a crouch as she locked eyes on her next target.

The third raider barely had time to raise his weapon before Akira was on him. She darted low, slashing his thigh with one knife while her other blade gutted him with a precise upward strike. His scream was short-lived as he crumpled to the ground, clutching at his stomach in vain.

The battlefield seemed to pause, the brutal efficiency of Akira's rampage silencing both scavengers and raiders alike. Even the raider leader, still writhing on the ground from Chloe's earlier attack, stared at her with something close to fear.

"Jesus Christ," Chloe muttered, her grip on her shotgun tightening. "What the fuck just happened?"

"She snapped," Blake said, his voice trembling. "I mean, completely snapped."

Evan, crouched nearby with his crowbar, could only nod in agreement. "Remind me never to piss her off."

Jean, still lying on the ground, managed to prop himself up on one elbow. His vision was blurry from the pain, but he could see Akira standing over the bodies, her chest heaving as she scanned the battlefield for more threats.

"Akira," Jean croaked, his voice weak. "Stop. You're... you're scaring them."

Her head snapped toward him, and for a moment, her gaze was wild and unrecognizable. But then something shifted. Her expression softened, the fury in her eyes dimming as she took a step toward him.

"Jean," she whispered, dropping her knives as she knelt beside him. Her hands hovered over his back, hesitant to touch the wound. "You're hurt."

"I'll live," Jean said through gritted teeth, though the blood pooling beneath him told a different story. "You... you saved that kid."

Her hands trembled as she reached for the fabric of his shirt, trying to get a better look at the injury. "I couldn't let him hurt you," she murmured, her voice barely audible. "I couldn't..."

Their moment was cut short as another raider charged toward them, a hatchet raised high. Akira grabbed her knives without missing a beat, spinning to meet him with a snarl. Before the raider could swing, she drove one knife into his wrist, forcing him to drop the weapon, and slashed his throat with the other. He dropped to the ground, lifeless, as Akira stood over him, blood dripping from her blades.

The rest of the scavenger squad snapped out of their shock, spurred into action by the ongoing danger. Brad swung his crowbar with renewed vigor, smashing it into a raider's chest and sending him sprawling. Chloe, having reloaded her shotgun, fired a blast that sent two raiders flying backward.

Blake and Evan worked together, the former throwing debris to distract the raiders while the latter used his crowbar to take advantage of the openings. Garrett, as always, moved like a veteran, his strikes calculated and brutal as he methodically took down any raider who got too close.

The survivors, inspired by the scavengers' resilience, joined the fight with makeshift weapons. Pipes, bricks, and even fists flew as they fought to defend themselves and the people who had risked everything to help them.

Through it all, Akira stayed close to Jean, her movements precise and deadly as she guarded him like a predator protecting its territory. Every raider who dared come near was dispatched with terrifying efficiency, her knives carving through flesh as though they were extensions of her own body.

The battlefield was a blur of blood and chaos, but one thing was clear: the scavengers were holding their ground. And Akira, in her unrelenting fury, was the storm that had turned the tide.

But the battle wasn't over. Not yet.

Q: Have you ever watched future diary before?