Chapter 2 – Time Attack
I opened the door and immediately crouched to get a better view of the surroundings. Carcasses of dogs and other animals lay on the pavements, leaves were scattered and weeds are growing ridiculously high in between potholes and other cracks in the asphalt. Houses were completely abandoned. I wouldn’t doubt if there were dead bodies inside them. Looking to the left and avoiding the glare of the sun in my scope, I spotted a Humvee, shot down by 8 people whose face are covered by blue scarves.
“Thugs, we were dealing with them ever since the survivors were transported in the capital. They escaped from the capital, and now they’re pillaging every town looking for supplies and arms.” Said Dean, who was looking through his binoculars. He turned at me and said “Hey, Kiffer. Wipe a few out, I’m going near them. I’m getting a hard time sniping them with this god damned iron sights.”
I got nervous by his plans. This is the first time that I’m actually going to kill people, but if it’s for the better… “Just send me a signal if you’re near and will go in. I’ll cover you.” I finally said.
He hugged me and walked downstairs. I pulled down the tripod and placed it on the ledge of the veranda. I scanned the area again, revealing another 3 thugs. Slowly, I aligned my scope to place it on the head of a tall one who’s carrying a grenade.
“Kill…” A voice inside my head made me place my finger on the trigger, but not to the extent of pulling it. I need to stop this feeling. But people are in danger. Ugh, this is damn hard.
I held my breath, following the bobbing head of the walking bomb. “This is going to be a little messy” I muttered and gulped. But his arms are now reaching for the grenade. Instincts kicked and I shot blankly.
BANG
To my surprise, I shot his right hand. Man, I think I just found a solution to my problem. I zoomed again to snipe his other arm and prevent it from detonating the grenade. BANG. There goes another bullet. The other thugs are now confused as to where the bullet came from. I sat down and hid behind the plant that’s beside me. After a few seconds, I got up and sniped another one, whose arms were both holding a shotgun, aiming at the windshield of the Humvee. Carefully, I placed the crosshair to shoot both arms and disable it from using the gun. BANG. Another bloody guy down. As I snipe another, a bullet hit the ledge which is about a few meters away from me. Damn. I’ve been spotted. I ducked and made my way inside the house and ran to the door. Luckily, I came just in time to lock the door and shut myself in. I peeped at the hole, seeing 3 men guarding the door. “I’ve been cornered.” I muttered. I ran to the pantry and grabbed my modified Magnum, some pack of bullets, a grenade, and extra mags for my rifle. I ran upstairs, but halfway there, I heard unmistakeably an AK-47 shooting atleast 4 bullets at an interval. I guess Dean’s near the Humvee right now. I slightly opened the veranda door, and carefully threw the grenade down just to clear those freaks at my door. The grenade set off and I ran down to the door. “Damn, this place is a fort!” I exclaimed as I saw the windows that were still intact, the door was still holding on, and not a noticeable thing was seen, except for blood that was creeping inside the door. I guess they’re now dead. The Humvee’s tire was now screeching near. I grasped the handle of my pistol and opened the door, but to my surprise, someone grabbed my hand arm and punched me in the face. “Putang-ina mo!” (Son of a bitch, in Tagalog) screamed a thug while he punches my face furiously and another one who’s locking my arms in my back. I now shut my eyes, waiting for what will happen to me. I’m going to die… or I thought I was until a knife came flying out of nowhere and hit the thug who’s now holding a gun. As soon as I felt my arm free, I grabbed my pistol from my pocket and turned around, shooting the thug who was holding me, in his right eye.
“So you’re the sadist kind, huh?” A familiar female voice said. I searched for the owner of the voice, finding someone who looked very famil- “Maxine!?” I exclaimed, feeling something streaming down my cheeks.
“Better get your eye checked, kid. I’m not Maxine. I’m Denise, by the way” she held out her hand, expecting me to shake it. And I shook it. I stared at her eye-to-eye and thanked her.
“I assume that this is the house that Dean’s talking about huh? Cool dude. Your door survived a grenade attack. Unlike them…” she pointed out the scattered body parts near my porch. “As a token of gratitude, we’ll clean ‘em for you. Don’t worry, we’re used to this shit.”
Pretty soon, the Humvee’s now parked at the front. I lead the driver in the underground garage to park it there, since the place’s bullet proof and bomb proof. And now 5 people are with Dean and me at the living room. I prepared snacks as they talked about something. Denise soon helped with the snacks, opening a nearly expired can of sardines and fresh meat from my fridge which she was planning to make some pork chops.
“It’s been long since I saw fresh meat. Where’d you get these?” She asked. Without answering, I grabbed her hand and lead her down to the basement, in a room with no flooring except for dirt and grass. Half of the room was a divided pen, with 2 pigs and 4 chickens. Across the room, there stood a couple of corn stalks and vegetables, which were brightly shone by a tube-and-mirror spy scope-like mechanism which gathered light from outside, and delivers light inside for the stalks to grow. Denise was now in awe, and grasped my hand tighter. “No wonder you lived all throughout these years.”
“It was all my granddad’s idea. He was all-freak about zombie apocalypse since 2012. I guess his craziness was a big help to us, huh?” I said to her, as she’s still deep in thought.
She hugged me and said “Thank you for helping us. Really, everyone that we’ve encountered is either a thug, or a dead body. And you’re the first one to help us. Thank you so much.” She sobbed. Fuck… she really sounds and feel like Maxine.
