Sovereign: Welcome readers to Zombie Paradise 3! And wow, how long has it been since the last story? *Checks profile* Wow, six years? I didn't know it's been that long. This is a story that I actually wanted to write shortly after the second story, but because of my waning interest in the zombie genre over the years, I never got around writing the third installment...until now.

After so long, I finally decided it's time for me to revisit this project and help it see the light of day. So here it is everyone, the third installment of my zombie series after six long years!

IMPORTANT NOTE: Yes, this is the third installment of my series. But the good news is, you DON'T really have to read the previous two stories before jumping into this one. You can straight away read it without any confusion. Enjoy!


Zombie Paradise 3

Chapter 1: Yuri Lowell

January 2017

Charleston, West Virginia

Inside a bar, Yuri Lowell stood behind the counter cleaning a beer mug with a cloth. He is dressed in a black sleeveless vest with a red ribbon around his collar, a white long-sleeved shirt underneath it, black pants and black shoes and his hair is tied to a long ponytail. After he's done, he puts the cloth aside and placed the now clean mug underneath the counter. He looks up and sees his surroundings.

The bar is filled with patrons doing all sorts of things such as drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes, playing snooker at the nearby pool table or simply laughing and shouting profanities throughout the night.

Yuri grumbles as he closes his eyes. He honestly doesn't like this job, but he had no choice. He used to be a marine serving for the United States military and was deployed into Afghanistan two years ago. But his experience over there changed his life forever. Even after returning home and recovering from his trauma, he is still badly affected and reminded of his wartime past. He was no longer a happy and carefree man like he used to be. His wartime past affected his behavior. He could no longer socialize well with others and as a result, he is constantly changing and switching jobs because his behavior towards other people around him is always bad.

Yuri's thoughts are interrupted when he heard knocking on the counter. He opens his eyes, turns his head and sees a muscular man with short white-hair and wears a pair of glasses, a light blue shirt, tan pants and brown shoes, sitting four feet away from him on the left, smiling at him.

"Hi there. You seem like a fine man." The man said. Yuri watches as he digs into his pocket and takes out a fifty-dollar note. "Tell you what. If you can beat me, you can have fifty bucks."

A smirk appears on Yuri's face as he nods his head. "You're on."

The long-haired bartender adjusts his sleeves as he walks out from behind the counter and heads over to the man, who places his fifty-dollar note on the table. The patrons turn their heads and notice that an arm-wrestling match is about to happen, which got all of them interested and excited.

As Yuri sat next to the muscular man, the patrons start hooting and cheering as they walk over to them to watch their upcoming match.

Yuri and the man stare boldly at each other before they firmly place their elbows on the table and grab each other's right hand.

A second later, both men tighten their grips around their hand and grit their teeth. They transfer every ounce of strength they have inside their bodies to their hands, trying to overwhelm the other to pin the other's arm onto the surface of the table. The patrons hooted rambunctiously as they watch the ongoing display.

Sweat trickle down the sides of both men's heads as they continue staring at each other with their eyebrows furrowed while also trying to overcome the other person's strength.

But eventually, Yuri lets out a yell as he successfully pin the man's arm onto the table and wins the match. The patrons who were rooting for Yuri cheered wildly while the others who were supporting the other man groan and whine disappointingly.

Yuri gets up from his chair and pumps his fists into the air triumphantly. He smiles and shakes hands with the nearby patrons who supported him. He then turns back to the table and places his hand on the fifty-dollar note.

Suddenly, the white-haired man swiftly grabs Yuri's hand and ferociously bites it. Yuri lets out a yell of pain as the man sinks his teeth onto his skin. The patrons gasp and widen their eyes in shock as they see this happen. The bartender in response curls his other hand into a fist and swings it across the man's face, breaking his glasses in the process and sending him rolling onto the floor.

Yuri snorts as he grabs the fifty-dollar note and puts it into his pocket. As he turns around and walks away, the man quickly gets up from the floor and yells as he tackles Yuri to the floor from behind. The man turns him around and proceeds to punch the bartender's face repeatedly. The patrons could do nothing but froze and watch Yuri getting beaten mercilessly in horror.

The man was about to deliver another punch to Yuri's cheek, but suddenly, the bartender swiftly grabs the man's arm, stopping his continuous beating. Yuri's eyes are burning with rage as he yells furiously and slams his forehead against the man's face, breaking his nose in the process. He gets up and pushes the man until he slams him against the wall. Yuri proceeds to let loose a series of punches and kicks all over the man's face and torso.

"Kick his ass!"

"Show this asshole what you're made of!"

The patrons yell words of encouragement to Yuri as they watch him mercilessly punish the man for what he did to him.

A few more seconds later, three bouncers quickly arrive at the scene. One of the bouncers grab Yuri behind from him and pushes him away while the other two bouncers clasp the white-haired man's arms and escort him out of the bar.

"Time's up for you! Get out!" One of the bouncers yelled at the white-haired man. When the fight is officially over, the patrons moan in disappointment as they turn around and return to what they were originally doing.

Yuri walks over to the counter, places his hands on the table and lets out a sigh. The manager angrily walks over to him and slams his fist on the counter, causing Yuri to turn his head and look up at him.

"I cannot believe this, Yuri! I hired you only two days ago and you already caused a ruckus here!" The manager yelled. "I'm docking your pay!"

The manager then turns around and furiously walks his way back to his office upstairs. Yuri's shoulders sagged as he lowers his head and stares back at the table. He unties his ribbon, letting his long dark purple hair hang down freely before rubbing his cheek where the white-haired man repeatedly punched at.

As Yuri is staring at the table, a man walks over to him and stood next to him. "Rough night?" The man spoke.

"Isn't it fucking obvious?" Yuri replied in annoyance.

The man places his hands behind his back before speaking again, "Sorry to bother you but…are you Yuri Lowell?"

Yuri arches an eyebrow before turning his head and finally takes a look at the man who is speaking to him. He sees that the man has shoulder-length brown hair, purple eyes and dressed in a neat black suit with a blue necktie and white collar shirt underneath it, black pants and black shoes.

"How do you know my name?" Yuri asked, adjusting his body and stood in front of the man.

"My boss told me about you." The man replied as he stuffs his hands into his pockets. "And I am sent to come find you."

"Why is your boss interested in me? I'm just a low-life bartender." Yuri asked as he places his hands on both sides of his hip.

"Were you always a bartender?" The man said as a smirk rose to his lips. "According to your biography, you were a former U.S. marine, stationed in Afghanistan from February to June 2015. You were ranked sergeant and also a cavalry scout. Your actions in Afghanistan saved some lives and help the Afghan government and the Resolute Support win battles against enemy forces. And after you were discharged, you spent the last two years doing a series of odd jobs, with this bartending business being your latest."

Yuri stares at the man in bewilderment. "How…do you know all of this?" He inquired incredulously.

The man looks around for a moment before turning back to Yuri. "Mind if we take a seat and have a drink?" He asked.

"Sure." Yuri said as he nods his head. He gestures the man to take a seat in front of the counter. As the man sits down, Yuri goes over to the back of the counter. He takes two empty glasses from under the counter and takes them out. He places them below the dispenser and fills both glasses up with beer. After filling them up, Yuri grabs both glasses and walks out from behind the counter and goes over to the man. He sat next to the man and places one glass of beer in front of him. The man smiled as he grabs his glass that Yuri has offered him.

"My apologies, Mr. Lowell. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Nolan Mathias." The man extends out his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Mathias." Yuri said, grabbing his hand and shaking it. Both men then take a sip of their beer before staring back at each other. "Would you mind telling me why your boss is interested in me, so much as to send you all the way out here to this shit hole to come look for me?"

Nolan places his glass on the table before staring boldly at him. "My boss has a job for you." He said. "As I've said before, you are a former cavalry scout. Your specialty is what makes you the perfect person do this job."

Yuri also places his glass down on the table before leaning forward. "And what is this job all about?"

Nolan takes a deep breath before giving his explanation, "Have you ever heard of the two islands that were quarantined by our government?"

"Yes. I have." Yuri narrows his eyes. "If I'm not mistaken, the names of the two islands were Cocoon Island and Stellar Island, am I right?"

Nolan nodded. "Then I'm sure you've also heard about the rumors that the public are making, right?"

"Yeah, people are saying that the US government quarantined these islands because of a virus that we still don't know what it is even to this day. Nobody ever visited either island since and I've heard rumors that some people did escape and have been rescued before the quarantine is placed but these survivors refused to comment and they all stayed a very low profile since." Yuri said. "Do you know what this virus that our government is containing is?"

Nolan frowned deeply and places his hands on his lap. "The only way I can tell you is if you will accept the job that my boss would like to offer you. And let me warn you, this job is extremely dangerous and my boss and I cannot guarantee your safety."

"I've been through worse." Yuri shrugged. "What is it?"

"My boss wants to send you to Cocoon Island to find someone." Nolan said.

Yuri remained silent for a moment before a small grin appears on his face. "That's it? That doesn't sound very dangerous to me." He pauses for a moment to turn back to his glass and take another sip of his beer. After doing so, he turns back to Nolan. "Sorry sir, but I'm sure your boss can always find another soldier to do a mission like that, right? Hell, even the SWAT team can do that. It doesn't have to be the military."

"May I remind you the seriousness of this mission, Mr. Lowell?" Nolan asked with his eyes narrowed. "The lives of thousands of infected people who are still trapped on both islands for the last seven years and even the lives of everyone in our world who has not made contact with this virus that our government is containing depend on the success of this mission. If you accept this mission and succeed, you can save billions of lives."

Yuri throws his head back and bursts out laughing. He regains his composure after a few seconds and his grin widens. "Man, I think that man earlier must have punched me too hard."

"This is no joke, Mr. Lowell. And you will take this seriously." Nolan demanded flatly. Yuri's smile disappeared instantly upon hearing his authoritative tone. Nolan takes a moment to calm down before continuing, "This virus has already fallen into the wrong hands twice. It was created by a terrorist named Yaag Rosch and he let the virus loose on Cocoon Island in January 2010. Then ten months later, a rogue soldier named Hades brought the virus over to Stellar Island and infected everyone there too. Thankfully, we have contained the virus for seven years now and there hasn't been another place caught by it since. And now, we believe that someone, this person that my boss and I want you to find, has found the cure. If we find this person, we can finally free everyone who had been trapped and quarantined on these islands for the last seven years." Nolan's eyes and tone both softened. "So please Mr. Lowell…please reconsider in accepting this mission."

Yuri sighs again and pulls some strands of hair away from his eyes. "I'm sorry but…after my time in Afghanistan, I'm truly done being a soldier." He paused for a moment. "It's funny. My childhood dream was always to become a soldier. But when I eventually do get my dream job, it ended up becoming my worst nightmare. Do you want to know why I left Afghanistan after only being stationed there for four months? Because I was traumatized…and I also lost hope. Every day, I see people, both my fellow soldiers and civilians, die in the battlefield. And even right now, the memories of seeing their corpses lying around still linger inside my mind. I even killed terrorists who have slaughtered innocents. But doing so made me fear for myself that I'll become a cold-blooded killer as well, just like them. Afghanistan is a country that has been suffering for the last sixteen years and I thought by now, our country would have done something. I thought by now, we would have brought them peace and stability. We won the first war in 2014, and then what happened? Another war broke out only four days later! Why? Because the people over there think violence is the only option to solve their problems. If we, human beings, believe that the only way to solve all the problems in the world is violence, then I've truly given up hope in humanity. And I'm done being a hero." After Yuri finishes his explanation, he turns away from Nolan, takes another sip of his beer and finishes consuming everything that was in his glass.

Nolan stares at Yuri silently for a moment before he clasps his hands together and frown. "What if I can make a promise to you?" He inquired.

Yuri widens his eyes upon hearing that. He places his now empty glass on the table and turns back to him. "What is that?" He asked.

"If you help us find this person on Cocoon Island, I'll reward you with something. Something that will change your life and in a long run, help you recover from your guilt and trauma." Nolan said.

"Seriously? You can do that?"

Nolan nods his head solemnly. "You have my word. Also, I appreciate you giving me your explanation why you left Afghanistan, and I really do have sympathy for you for what you've been through. As a fellow soldier myself, I know how it feels like seeing death in the battlefield and it's never comfortable to experience it. But…really think about it. This mission that my boss is offering you...why don't you see this as your second chance? Your second chance to be a hero, save lives, do the right thing…and prove that there is hope within humanity." Nolan turns away from Yuri for a moment to take a sip of his beer. Yuri watches in awe as Nolan drinks up his entire glass of beer in one sip. He places his empty glass on the table and lets out a sigh before turning back to Yuri. "Think about it. Either become a savior or continue staying here as a low-life bartender."

He then puts his hand into a pocket underneath his suit and takes out both a twenty-dollar note and a numbered card. He hands both items over to Yuri, who takes them from him. Nolan bows his head down to him. "Thank you for your time." He then gets up from his seat and Yuri watches him leave the bar.

After the man is out of his sight, Yuri turns his head back to the items he's holding in his hand. He puts away the twenty-dollar note into his pocket before looking at the card. He sees the telephone number printed on it and the bartender pondered. Should he accept this mission? Yuri always swore to himself that after his time in Afghanistan, he's done trying to be a hero. He's done trying to do something good for the world. He's done helping his country to win a war when ultimately, there's going to be more unrest, violence and suffering again after victory has been achieved.

But then, he thought about this person that Nolan and his boss are looking for. He imagines that this poor soul has been trapped on Cocoon Island for the last seven years. This person has found a cure that can free other people who are also trapped on the island with them. But there's no one in the world who would want to risk their life to rescue them. No one has the courage to enter a quarantined island to save a poor soul. But only he can. Only he has the skills to enter into a remote island to save someone. Just like how he is the only person courageous enough to enter enemy territory and gather valuable data for his fellow brothers-in-arms and save innocent civilians who were captured. He is the person's only hope for freedom.

Yuri grumbled as he rubs the back of his neck. Again, should he-

"Yuri! What are you sitting down there for?! Get back to work!" The manager shouted from his office at the second floor.

"YES SIR!" Yuri yelled in annoyance, turning his head to the direction of his office.

After hearing the office door shut, Yuri turns back to the card he's still holding in his hand and frowns. Yeah, he should accept this mission.

It's probably better than working in this shithole anyway.

END OF CHAPTER

Sovereign: Be sure to leave a review! It will only take a minute.