Chapter 2: Big Daddy

Ridzwan plowed straight through the road, the power of his four-wheel drive more than enough to crush any zombie unfortunate enough to get in his way.

I winced at the wet crunching sound that signified another zombie reduced to roadkill. We rammed straight through the back gate of MGS, with Kong Yaw and Zhi Ming behind us.

Accelerating straight through the girls school, we crashed through the front gate, turned, tires squealing, onto the road, and were gone.

After giving Ridzwan directions to my house, I leaned back against the seat and closed my eyes. I thought about the people I killed. One of the MGS students I'd killed looked like my neighbour.

A wave of nausea hit me. I gulped, fighting the urge to throw up. The ride home was one of the longest of my life.

The second we got there, I stumbled out, fell to my knees, and threw up onto the ground. Gasping, I raised my hands to my face. They were shaking like leaves on a branch.

"Ah, jeez"

Ridzwan offered me his hand, not saying a word. I took it, and got to my feet. Kong Yaw and Zhi Ming pulled up and got out, along with their respective groups.

I fished out my house keys, and hit the button to open the automatic gates, half-expecting to see the gates fail to open. But they opened normally.

"At least there's still electricity."

My parents Honda Accord was gone. They'd gone to work that morning. They were probably dead now. My family's other car, the Peugeot, was still on the porch.

I opened up the plastic door, then the wooden door. Yes, I have two front doors. My mother's always been paranoid. Since my house got broken into a few months ago, we have three grills over every window in the house.

I switched off the alarm system, then headed up to my room. I pulled out the drawer I kept most of my weapons in, and pulled out a small camping knife, and the combat knife. I also grabbed a pair of heavy, spiked knuckle braces. These had a spike on each side, not counting the ones at the front, and they were heavy enough to really do some damage. I put the knuckles in my pocket. I had a set of three throwing knives too, but I was never any good with them. I took them anyway.

I tossed the knives, and other knuckle braces, to Jonathan, who'd followed me up. Then I grabbed the machetes I kept in my closet. There was also a long blade that had a blunt end. It couldn't stab, but it was a good slashing weapon. It was Edmund's. I'd been holding onto it for him.

I told Jonathan to get the two heavy staffs I used to train my wrists, then we headed downstairs. Before I left, I looked longingly at the nunchaku in the drawer. I had 7 pairs. Kong Yaw and I had spent a month in China training with them. They were the only weapon I'd trained in. But they wouldn't be able to crack a zombie's skull, or snap it's neck. I sighed, and left. I dumped the weapons on the ground in the middle of the living room for the others. I kept a machete, though.

Kong Yaw laughed, and picked up the other machete. "Dude, I will never say anything about you collecting weapons, ever again."

Edmund picked up the sword I'd been keeping for him. He swung it a few times, and grinned.

"Ima kill a shitload of zombies with this baby."

Zhi Ming kept his hatchet, but he took the combat knife. The blade was 13 or 14 centimeters long. Aaron picked up the small knife, and tucked it into the waistband of his pants. Kong Chern took the spiked knuckle braces. I felt a twinge when I saw him put it in his pockets. Those were my favorite knuckles. But the ones in my pocket were more suitable for killing the undead.

I snorted, and shook my head.

Undead. Just yesterday, the only time I'd think about killing the undead was when I was playing Left 4 Dead.

May Vin took my last pair of knuckles, the ones with the smallest, but sharpest spikes. Rohan and Shawn both took the heavy staffs. Jonathan kept his shield and club.

I grabbed the baseball bats I kept in my home in case of a break in, and tossed them to those that didn't get any weapons.

"Okay guys, I'm getting hungry. I'm gonna go grab the radio and flashlight, then fix dinner while you guys recharge them."

By then, Edward's leg was good enough to walk on, though he winced whenever he put weight on it. I showed him the kitchen, and told him to take whatever he needed to cook from the fridge.

"The food in here will spoil in about a week anyway. May as well eat them all now."

I ran upstairs again, and grabbed the manually rechargeable radio and flashlight. The radio was bulky, because it also had a fan and an LED flashlight. The flashlight was a lot smaller, and it came with a wire than could be attached to handphones to recharge them.

I gave the radio to May Vin and the flashlight to Kong Chern, and showed them how to recharge them. It was quite simple. All you had to do was wind the handle on the side. When that was done, I helped Edward in the kitchen.

In an hour, we were all gathered in the living room, eating.

In between mouthfuls, I spoke.

"We're eating the last of the perishable food. I've got canned food in the pantry, but it'll only last us about a week. I suggest we raid the gas station outside my taman for food and water. We should probably stock up on petrol too. And we better do all that before dark. I really don't want to be outside after dark."

Zhi Ming nodded thoughtfully, munching on his food.

"All right, who wants to go?"

Seeing as it was my idea, I felt obliged to raise my hand. Most of the others raised their hands too.

"Okay. I'm going to divide you guys into two teams. The first team answers to me. The second team answers to Yen. My team's going for the petrol. Yen's team will get the supplies."

Zhi Ming's team : Rohan, Edmund, Mark, Jonathan

Yen's team : Aaron, Kong Yaw, Shawn.

"Ridz's 4WD has a space behind the actual cabin. Kinda like a pick up truck. We'll put the petrol and supplies there."

After we ate, we rested awhile, then left. Zhi Ming and his team took Ridz's 4WD. My team followed in Kong Yaw's Merc. We pulled into the gas station, and Zhi Ming drove directly to the petrol storage pump. The actual storage tank was underground, but there was an opening at the side of the gas station where fuel tankers would pull up to replenish the station's stock. Zhi Ming pulled up next to the opening, ran to the storage shed beside it, grabbed a few empty gas cans, and tossed them to his team.

Kong Yaw pulled up beside the gas station's store. Before we got out, I reminded my team. "Watch it, guys, there might be infected in there."

As it turns out, I was right. The gas station attendants were staggering aimlessly around the store. Killing them was pretty easy. Kong Yaw sliced one's head off with his machete, and Shawn splashed zombie brains all over the floor with one swing of his staff.

I jumped over the counter and grabbed some plastic bags. Passing them out, I told my team. "Okay guys. Get the drinks first. Water's a priority."

Clearing out the gas station only took about half an hour. I made the others leave some food and drink, just in case there were other survivors, and they had the same idea as we did. Even so, there was a really big pile of canned food in the bed of Ridz's 4WD. It was mostly canned sardines and tuna, but it'd last us awhile.

Zhi Ming didn't manage to take all the petrol, but that was because he ran out of gas cans. The gas cans were arranged neatly in the bed of the 4WD, covering the floor of the bed. There were so many that we had to carry some of them with us in the car. I volunteered to ride in the bed of the truck, to make sure none of the stuff fell off.

All in all, we were in a pretty good mood as we headed home, and unloaded the stuff. The petrol went into the store room next to the front door, and the food and drink went into the pantry in the kitchen.

Looking at the gas cans lined up neatly, side by side, covering the wall of the store room, and at the stacks of sardines and tuna filling the pantry, I decided that we had a pretty good chance of surviving this.


One month went by quickly. We spent the time sharpening and maintaining our blades. Even so, sharpening a blade doesn't take much time. We didn't get them to a razor edge, though. A razor sharp edge on a blade would get damaged and jagged quickly, especially since we'd be using them to chop through bone.

I managed to get Aaron to teach me Aikido. In turn, I taught him everything I knew about martial arts. Aaron and I also taught anyone who was interested. Needless to say, since knowing how to kill an infected with your bare hands is a pretty handy thing to know, everyone in our group was interested. With nothing better to do, and so much free time, everyone soon became proficient. Rohan and Shawn showed the most change. The daily, vigorous exercise, combined with a high-protein diet, burned off the fat on their bodies, and they bulked up in muscle. They were still slow, but they were damned powerful. One swing from one of their staffs was enough to practically behead a zombie.

Of course, you can't stick thirteen people into a house and expect everybody to get along all the time. Minor arguments broke out every once in a while. In the end, we decided that, every time an argument broke out, the people having the argument would spar. It helped hone the martial art skills we'd learned, and more often than not, the fighters would walk away good friends.

About a week after we first started living in my house, the power went out. It didn't really affect us much. We'd avoided using lights after dark, anyway. Too much risk of attracting the undead. As it was, though, we no longer had fans and air-conditioning during the days. On particularly hot days, we all crowded around the fan built into the radio.

At night, we all slept in the living room. There was always at least one person on watch. The watch sessions were two hours long, and the persons on watch would rotate after each session.

All in all, life was quiet. If not for the eerie absence of any human noise, like the sound of an engine, life would be quite normal. As it was, I sometimes caught myself missing the sound of the mosque in my taman broadcasting prayers.

We passed the time playing poker, betting bags of potato crisps, or chocolate bars, and going on the occasional raid whenever we needed supplies. Luckily, it was the rainy season, so we easily collected the water we needed for bathing and washing by placing pots, pans and bottles outside under the sky.

It was exactly one month later that we received the first broadcast on the radio.

Kong Chern was the one that heard it first. He'd been lounging next to the radio, the fan turned on full blast. The radio was emitting nothing more than the usual static we'd heard for the last month. Then, a voice spoke from the radio. The rest of us had returned from our latest raid to see Kong Chern running out the door, arms waving like a maniac. We'd thought something had happened to one of the others. Needless to say, we were kinda relieved.

"All survivors, this is the United States military. Please report to Methodist Girls School for immediate evacuation. Upon reaching the evacuation point, maintain a distance of at least 3 meters from military personnel unless told otherwise. Food and water will be provided once you have been determined to be uninfected."

The same message repeated itself in Malay and Chinese, before starting in English again. I leaned back against the wall.

"USA, huh? Wonder what happened to our own government."

Zhi Ming snorted. "Probably all went to hide in their private bungalows"

A thought occurred to me. "You guys do realize, of course, that every survivor in Melaka who hears this message is going to hightail it to MGS."

"Uh, duh?"

"Well, think about this. We've managed to avoid the attention of the undead because we're a relatively small group, we've kept a low profile, and we've been damned lucky. There's going to be a huge group of people there, they're not going to keep a low profile, and not all of them will be lucky."

Zhi Ming nodded. "It's a risk we have to take. You heard the message. They mentioned an evacuation. We could get out of here. No more zombies to worry about. Besides, they said they'd be giving food and water. I don't know about you guys, but I'm sick of sardines and tuna."

There was a muttered assent from the group. In ten minutes, we grabbed our weapons, piled into the cars, and left.

It was only a 15 minute drive to MGS. When we got close, though, we ran into a military blockade. A soldier walked up to the car I was in.

"Sir, I'm afraid you'll have to proceed on foot from here. Civilian vehicles are not allowed inside the compound."

The soldier walked us to a parking spot. Zhi Ming and Kong Yaw were brought to parking spots nearby.

The soldier nodded at Kong Yaw and Zhi Ming's cars. "They with you?"

I nodded.

The soldier shrugged. "This way"

We walked past the blockade, and lined up in one of 5 queues. The queues each led to a military medic with a beeping gadget. He'd hold the gadget up to a person's eyes, the gadget would emit a few beeps, then the person would be let through.

As I watched, a pale looking man walked towards the medic. I noticed a bandage on the man's left arm. Blood was beginning to soak through. As the medic held his gadget up, it emitted a shrill beep. Immediately, the two soldiers standing next to the medic grabbed the man, and pulled him into a shack standing nearby. There was a muffled whumpf, and the soldiers reemerged. The man was nowhere to be seen.

I gulped. These guys mean business.

Our group got through without any problems. On the other side, we were ushered through MGS's gates, and into one of their classrooms. We were told to wait. After a few minutes, several soldiers came in, carrying food and water. It wasn't anything fancy, but after a month of canned fish, it tasted like gourmet food to me.

While we ate, we were told that there was a military Chinook transport helicopter taking off from the base every 20 minutes. We'd be evacuated to a military aircraft carrier off the coast of Malaysia. The last flight had taken off just before we got here, so we had another 20 minutes to wait.

After I was done eating, I decided to go walk around the base. As I walked, I saw two .50 cal machine gun nests situated near the main entrance. There were a pair of Hummers at the back of the building. I stopped one of the soldiers to ask how they'd gotten so many men here in a pair of Hummers. The man laughed.

"Kid, we got here the same way those Hummers did. Dropped in via chopper."

The man didn't seem to have anything better to do, so we got to chatting. The man's name was Andrew Brown, a private with the 21st battalion. I asked him why the USA was bothering with a small country like Malaysia. His mood, cheerful so far, sombered.

"Kid, humanity's at the edge of extinction. The 7th Day Virus, the virus responsible for the goddamned dead not staying dead, killed off an entire city when it was first released by a group of bio-terrorists. Needless to say, those terrorists were the first victims. Anyway, the virus was only airborne for about a week. But the zombies went forth and multiplied. Every man we lost, came back to kill us."

"Now, I'd guess there's only about 0.5% of humanity left uninfected. America's got the highest number of survivors. About 0.2% of the total uninfected in the world. We're trying to bring what's left of mankind together, and get a fresh start."

Just then, Andrew's radio crackled to life.

"All units, be advised, we have a pair of Big Daddies incoming. I repeat, two Big Daddies incoming, western bearing."

"Fuck!" Andrew spat, standing up and shouldering his M4A1 assault rifle.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Kid, Big Daddy's one tough son of a bitch. Normally, he ain't much trouble, but we're fresh out of grenades and missiles. We were hoping he wouldn't come visit until the next cargo drop in-" He checked his watch. "-about 10 minutes."

Andrew broke open the M203 grenade launcher attached to the underside of his rifle's barrel, looked inside, and cursed.

"Damn. I was hoping I'd have at least one left."

"Don't you guys have air support?"

He laughed bitterly.

"Air support's tied up, kid. We're on our own."

He shook my hand, and pushed me towards the classrooms I came from.

"Get your friends, head for the field out back. That's where the chopper'll be landing. Me and my pals'll buy you some time."

Something in the tone of his voice made me stop.

"Just how tough is Big Daddy?"

"Let me put it this way. Unless that cargo chopper gets here early, we're fucked."

An inhuman roar drifted across the air, coming from the main gates. As I watched, a pair of grotesque monsters, looking like mutated football players, covered in sleek, glossy scales, with arms as wide as tree trunks, and at least 2 meters long, slammed through the gates.

I glanced behind the Big Daddies. The crowd that had been lining up behind the gates were dead. Andrew pushed me towards the classrooms, harder this time.

"Move it, kid!"

I ran towards the classrooms as the .50 cal machine guns opened fire. I glanced over my shoulder to see a Big Daddy pick up a mangled part of the gate, and throw it at the machine gun nest. The soldier manning the gun ducked, then resumed firing. I admired his spirit. Even so, not even the .50 calibre bullets, the biggest bullet available for small-arms fire, were able to penetrate the Big Daddies armor. There wasn't even a crack on either of the Big Daddies.

The others had come out to see what was happening. I yelled at them.

"MOVE! Get to the field! That's where the chopper's gonna land!"

As we ran towards the gates, we were joined by the other survivors that had been waiting inside the base. Soldiers ran past us, faces grim with determination.

When we reached the field, we saw a group of soldiers keeping the crowd back, keeping a space open for the chopper to land.

I yelled at one of the soldiers.

"How far away is the chopper?"

"ETA, 5 minutes!"

A nearby soldier yelled at him.

"Tell them to haul ass! We won't be here in 5 minutes!"

The sounds of gunfire echoed from the school as we waited, scanning the skies.

I noticed one of the survivors sitting on the ground, her head hanging. Her companion, a big man, caught me looking.

"She's fine."

I raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious.

"Is that a bandage on her arm?"

He moved, putting himself between me and the girl.

"I said she's fi – ARRRGGHHH!!"

The girl had fallen, and bitten him on the leg. Kong Yaw brought his machete down, cleaving the girl's skull in half. At the same time, one of the other soldiers who'd been watching us drew his handgun, aimed, and blew a hole in the man's head.

"Jesus!" I stepped back as the man fell at my feet. "What the hell did you do that for?"

The soldier holstered his handgun and spoke in an even voice. "He was infected."

Another survivor cried out.

"I see the chopper!" We glanced up, and saw the Chinook transport chopper, twin blades spinning in tandem, flying towards us. It was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen.

A soldier, probably the commander, started yelling into his walkie-talkie.

"Chopper's here! All units fall back!"

The soldiers that had been delaying the Big Daddies turned and sprinted towards the field. The chopper landed, the ramp lowered, and the crowd of survivors pushed forward.

The soldiers shoved back. One of them yelled.

"We need to unload the cargo!"

A soldier appeared from the plane.

"There's nothing to unload! We dumped most of the stuff to get here faster!"

By this time, the soldiers that had been delaying the Big Daddies had reached us. The commander yelled at the crowd to let them through. When all the soldiers were onboard, the commander gestured for the crowd to come up. He counted heads as the crowd rushed past him.

Kong Yaw was boarding, holding onto his brother, when the commander stopped him.

"We're fully loaded! We can't take anymore!"

I glanced behind me. The Big Daddies had spotted us, and were charging.

"You're gonna leave us here to die??"

Kong Yaw glanced behind him, then picked his brother up and pushed him at the commander.

"Please, at least take my brother! He's only thirteen!"

The commander shook his head.

"No. We're full."

He hit the button, and the ramp started to rise. We were forced off it.

"YOU ASSHOLE!" yelled Kong Yaw.

Suddenly, someone jumped off the chopper, picked Kong Chern up, and tossed him back into the cargo hold. As the ramp closed up, Andrew turned around and grinned at us.

"There. Now Commander Dickwad won't have to complain about the weight anymore."

His radio crackled.

"Private! I did NOT give you permission to get off the chopper! Get your ass back in here!"

Andrew answered his radio. "Sir, I cannot in good conscience do that. Unless you're willing to load up the rest of the survivors. Since you can't do that, I guess I'll see you in hell."

The Big Daddies about 60 meters away when a grenade landed in front of them, and exploded. It wasn't an explosive grenade, though. It was a flashbang. The Big Daddies roared, blinded and deafened by the light and sound from the flashbang.

The chopper took off, at the same time the commander spoke through the radio.

"...Godspeed, soldier. Here's a little something we found onboard. Guess they didn't throw everything off after all."

A long, shallow crate fell from the chopper and hit the ground. The label printed on the crate read 'ATHS-4'

Andrew's eyes gleamed. "Thank you, sir!" He wrenched the crate open, to reveal a bazooka safely packed in, along with three rockets.

I glanced back. The Big Daddies were starting to look around.

"Andrew, give me your gun."

He glanced at me. "What?"

"Give me your gun! The Big Daddies aren't gonna stay there forever."

He tossed me his rifle. I nearly dropped it, not expecting its weight.

"You've got a full clip."

I nodded, and slung the strap over my shoulder. I ran off, away from the others, firing a short burst at the Big Daddies. They roared, and charged at me.

That got their attention.

I turned and sprinted away. There was a loud BOOM, and a shockwave hit me. I rolled, coming back up on my feet, and turned to see the last remaining Big Daddy charge Andrew, who'd separated himself from the others. Ridz, Edward, Aaron and Johnathan charged the Big Daddy, hoping to delay it long enough for Andrew to reload.

Didn't work.

The Big Daddy slammed them with its arm. I heard a loud crunch as they landed several meters away. They didn't get back up.

Only Aaron had managed to duck the blow. He popped back up, pulled his knife, and slammed it into the gap between the scales. The Big Daddy roared in pain, and brought both its arms crashing onto Aaron's head, before resuming its charge towards Andrew.

Andrew rammed the rocket into the launcher, and heaved it into his shoulder just as the Big Daddy reached him. With one swing of his arm, he sent Andrew flying as well.

Enraged, I shouldered Andrew's rifle, and fired. The rounds slapped into the Big Daddy. It started charging. I kept right on firing until it reached me, and swung its arm. I ducked under the arm, then leaped to the side, in the same direction of its return swing. That helped to absorb the shock, but I still had the wind knocked out of me, and I felt my ribcage strain from the impact. If it had hit me even a bit harder, the entire left side of my ribs would have cracked and broken. I landed, rolled, and brought the rifle up again. There was a dry click as I pulled the trigger.

Empty.

The Big Daddy had assumed I was dead. It advanced on the others.

I heard a cough, a few feet away. I turned, and there was Andrew.

"Shit, you okay?"

He smiled weakly.

"Vest absorbed some of the impact. I broke a rib or two, though. Bazooka's over there."

He gestured with his left hand. His right arm had been broken at the elbow. I scrambled over to the bazooka, and hefted it onto my shoulder.

Damn! This shit is heavy.

I looked through the sight, and the Big Daddy was dead center.

"YO UGLY!!!!!!!!!!"

The Big Daddy stopped chasing the others, and turned around. I pulled the trigger, and watched as the rocket turned the Big Daddy into a fountain of blood and guts.

The others ran up.

"Yen! You okay? We thought you were dead!"

I grinned savagely.

"Not even Big Daddy can take me down."


I grunted in pain as May Vin helped me take my shirt off. The left side of my torso was one big bruise. I looked down and whistled.

"Damn. Never had a bruise that big." The bruise stretched from under my arm, right down to my waist, and covered the left side of my chest.

I glanced over at Andrew. We'd improvised a sling for his arm. Luckily, it was a clean break. He'd told us to leave his ribs alone. Said his vest would keep them from moving around. I'd checked them though, and they were only cracked, not broken.


We'd gone home, taking the Hummers in the school. The keys had been in the ignition. There were a few walkie-talkies in there, so now it was easier for us to communicate with each other when we had to separate. Andrew had been an engineer before the zombie apocalypse. He'd adapted the manually rechargeable radio and flashlight to be able to recharge the walkie-talkies as well. Right now, he was building a transmitter for the radio, using parts taken from the TV, and one of our handphones.

We'd raided a grocery shop on the way back. The perishables had spoiled, but we took the canned foods, the potato crisps, stuff like that. This time, at least we got more variety. There were canned beans, canned pork, canned lettuce, canned peaches, and others. Shawn smiled.

"Never touching canned tuna, ever again."

Of course, Zhi Ming promptly tossed him a can of tuna.

"That's your dinner, you fat fuck."

Seeing Shawn's crestfallen face made me laugh so hard, I nearly cried from the pain from the bruises.


Kong Yaw tossed me a tube of CounterPain, to help with the bruises. I popped the cap with my right hand, and squirted some onto my hand. I looked around.

"Somebody help me get the ones on my back?"

The guys just looked at me.

"Didn't think so."

I looked at May Vin. She sighed and took the tube of CounterPain from me.

As we lounged around, watching Andrew work on the transmitter, with the sharp smell of CounterPain in the air, I glanced at the clock on the table.

5.23 in the evening.