Not a single one was spared.
Everyone who we found lying on the ground were dead.
The women and children were scared, some were crying like the sound of wailing ghosts in the orange glow of the setting sun.
Dad had counted nine. There were fifteen who left the camp, and among the bodies, I didn't see Cal or Nash. My entire body shook from the cold wind that had pushed from behind me. Dad stopped by my side and pulled me towards him. I hadn't noticed my eyes were tearing up and my face was already wet from the tears. I hadn't felt this scared in a long time.
"Hunt" my dad bellows and Hunt comes running towards us. "Go look for survivors" he tries to turn me from the massacre but my whole body wouldn't move. My legs had turned to jelly, my feet, into lead. "This place isn't safe, we need to find a good place to sleep for the night"
"The night? What about the others? Cal and Nash, they're not there I need to go and find them, we can't just go and—
"Cal and Nash will do fine" he says. "They're the best at what they do, we'll find them, I promise, but the sun's setting now and we need to get out of the open and—
I break free from my dad's grip and start running towards the first shop. The strip mall was a U-shape building, I entered the left side, thinking it was just a large connected establishment. I hear Hunt behind me, I don't know if dad sent him to fetch me or not but I open my mouth and yelled out a command. "Hunt, find Cal and Nash!" I shout and he didn't hesitate to diverge from my back and run off towards the different direction. Good boy.
I made a dash, dad was running now that Hunt went off somewhere. I grab the nearest melee weapon there was, a bloodied katana form one of the scouts. I rip it off from his hands and continue on running. This was the largest strip mall I have ever seen. I duck under the broken glass door and didn't stop running until I couldn't hear dad's footsteps anymore.
I was in complete darkness until I opened my light.
Then the stench came. It was horrid, smelled like decaying bodies, dried blood and vomit.
It wasn't a strip mall at all in the inside. It looked like a dark forsaken version of hell that even the devil couldn't stand. Bones littered the ground, blood splatter on every wall, the echoes of something frightening in the distance. The hair on my entire body stood in fright. Hunt suddenly pops up from behind one of the mannequins which made me scream and flail the katana at his direction.
"Hunt! Don't do that—
It wasn't Hunt. It was a feral hunter.
It jumped towards me as I realized that it wasn't my companion. I dodge roll to the side just as it lands near where I was standing earlier. I ready myself, tightened the grip on the katana and gave it a good swing. The blade hits the hunter by its side and it falls back before jumping away from me. It runs around me in circle and I anticipate its next attack.
It leaps, I crouch and Hunt, or I hoped, suddenly appeared from the darkness and tackled the other hunter mid-air. They were scratching at each other, rolling on the bloody floor. I can hear Hunt growl frighteningly at the other hunter, he was pissed. That I can tell.
"Hunt, keep at him" I said running towards the escalators. I hear other infected running towards me. I ready myself as I reach the second floor. The first infected gets a blade through his skull. The katana cuts cleanly through him and his body falls limp on the ground. The next runs at me but I move quickly and slide the blade upward hitting it from the stomach and sliced him upwards through the left shoulder. The third and fourth came from behind. I thrust the blade through their heads easily.
There are still a lot of them coming up the escalators and I don't have time to find them. It was getting darker outside, the sun had set and the last remaining minute of light was slowly fading. I need to get out of this place and continue searching. I hear guns blazing from the outside. That must've been dad and the others. They're coming for me. I need to work fast.
The next two infected were bisected in two and I can see Hunt fighting some on the ground floor. I run from the rest hoping that he's got a handle on things. I need to find any clue as to where the others have went. I find an office and close the door. That should hold for a few minutes. I need to rethink this plan… Oh yeah, I didn't have one. Well, this is the best time as any to come up with one.
I ransack the entire place clean of any useful materials; pens, pencils, mugs. Anything that could damage infected if ever my katana were to get lost in the onslaught outside. It's getting colder, but somehow this place still has a lot of infected. It must've been the reason why the scouting team were separated from each other in the first place. As I search through the office I notice something behind one of the broken filing cabinets.
A message spray painted in red. It read, we need help, food and salvation. There wasn't an location just the message. I turned back from the message and continue looking just as one of the windows shatter into a million pieces. I duck down just as an infec—no, that's a survivor! He was wearing heavy duty gear, complete with a helmet. He looked old, had white hair and had the look of a crazy person.
"I'm not here to hurt you, if you want to live, you need to come with me" he said just as he peered down the window he just entered. I can see a rope in the window. He must've come from the roof, but… how did he just knew where I was? Was he watching me?
"Who are you?" I asked readying myself for an attack.
"Those things will burst through that door any second and you're worried about who I am? Just come on, if you want, I'll leave you after I get you out"
"I'm fine by myself, I just need time to—
The door bursts open and the infected pours into the room. The man starts shooting and some infected started to fall. He's right, though, there's too many of them for us to kill. We need to get out. NOW.