Mutagen

Chapter 19 The Back Corridor Encounter

"F-!!!"

Mark almost cursed as he sprang into action.

With him leading the group, he slowly opened the double doors just to find several distorted faces staring his way.

As there is no other choice but to fight, he took advantage of the seemingly confused state of the zombies staring at him. He jumped forward and hacked the neck of the nearest zombie making its head fly and kicked another zombie to his right away. Though he want to commend the sharpness of the machete on his hand as it managed to hack through the zombie's neck with little resistance, he found the feeling of cutting through human flesh a little unpleasant.

"QUICK! RUN! TOWARDS THE EMERGENCY EXIT!"

Mark shouted at the bewildered people behind him and pointed towards the other side of the corridor. They all immediately moved as fast as they can after his command.

He is just as baffled as them. He made a small barricade back there with the goal of hindering them somehow. So how are these guys already here?!

'Don't tell me that these guys can teleport like zombies in that American zombie series?'

Then he saw the state of the corridor in front of him as he hacked his machete to the head of the zombie on his left and his uneven eyes grew wide.

Four, Seven, Fifteen, Twenty-six… The corridor is filled with zombies. There is about forty or more in his estimate as he didn't have the luxury to count them all. Then he saw the barricade he made that is already overturned and not like the barricade was pushed to the side but rather, the barricade was struck with overwhelming force. Even some of the heavy boxes are scattered several meters away from where he built the barricade.

The zombies also noticed the commotion and saw Mark and his group. And of course, like hungry beasts that hadn't eaten for a century, the zombies started moving towards the direction of the prey they found.

The fast zombies immediately overtook the slower ones as they ran. Since the running speed of the zombies also differ, their beastly actions also created accidents on their side. Some of the slower zombies would be hit by the ones overtaking them making some fall down to the floor and…

SPLAT!

Their bodies became mashed zombie meat under feet of the stampeding zombies behind them.

Mark continued dealing with the zombies that came closer. A female zombie jumped at him aiming for his arm holding the machete. As he didn't have the time to pull back his right arm that he just used to hack another zombie, he crossed his arms and pointed his revolver towards the zombie's face.

BANG!

The bullet entered the female zombie's widely opened mouth piercing through her brain and her body flew back due to the impact.

Another zombie lunged towards Mark from his left but he didn't need to take action this time. A metal baseball bat mercilessly slammed unto the zombie's face. The force in that swing would have probably made a home run in the professional baseball stage since the zombie hit by it literally flew back slamming at the other zombie behind it with excellent force.

Mark and Ange looked at each other for a split second and nodded. The otaku shut-in wielding a revolver in his left and a machete on his right took care of the zombies on the right side while the more experienced fighter holding the baseball bat took care of the zombies on the left. With their somehow rough teamwork, they managed to hold the zombies back as they retreated.

It is lucky that the corridor's width is rather limited or else who knows what would have happened. The bodies zombies that they managed to kill that was left on the floor also worked to their advantage as the zombies from behind would step on the bodies would slow for a bit while the clumsier ones would actually fall down.

Their group is moving at a steady pace. Though it could be faster, there is no helping it. They had two injured people with them after all.

Just as they reached the emergency exit that Mark checked earlier, a louder commotion broke out from the zombie's side. Several zombies lagging from behind were struck by heavy force literally flying to the sides hitting the wall with loud thuds.

Then Mark and Ange saw it. Mark was also sure it was the one behind the quick breakdown of the barricade he made.

What caused the commotion was a bulldozer, no, a large pig, wait…

It was large fat zombie running at about 20km/h, bulldozing its way through the group of zombies!

Mark recognized the guy. He was the rude fat guy who was accompanied by his guard wearing a suit earlier. He was the person who was responsible for them getting locked out of the TechZone. Earlier, he bulldozed himself through the group of survivors, now, as a zombie, he is still bulldozing his comrades away.

Bad habits never change do they?

He already turned and is still causing a lot of problems. Where is his bodyguard? Mark did not see any zombie wearing a suit since earlier. He also noticed that the fat guy was literally bigger than how he remembered. Waaaay bigger. He was seemed to be more than a head taller and his fat body literally occupied more than a third of the corridor. And just what is with his speed and strength?

Did he mutate or something?

"Hey."

Mark called Ange.

BANG!

He shot another zombie with his pistol as he removed his duffle bag from his shoulder.

"Help me carry this and exit the door. After you guys exit the door close it. There is a ladder behind the-"

BANG!

Mark fire another shot.

"Behind the door. Climb the ladder to the rooftop."

Ange was bewildered as she took his duffle bag from him.

"What are you sa—?"

"Quick! Just do what I say! We don't have much time!"

Mark started holding his spot and stopped retreating. Fighting the zombies hacking and shooting the zombies that came his way.

Although she was very reluctant, Ange quickened her retreat and followed the other who already exited the door. She then slammed the door shut under the surprised eyes of the others people.

Seeing the door that had been just slammed shut, he fired the last bullet from the chamber of his revolver. He still had some of the bullets for the revolver in his pocket but he is sure that he won't have any time to reload.

Instead, he slid the empty revolver into the empty holster on his belt and held the machete with his left hand. He then pulled the shotgun from his side and shot directly at the fat zombie who is already at point blank range.

BANG!

The fat zombie staggered and fell sideways as Mark shot its right leg. His big body blocked a large part of the corridor but sure did not stop the zombies from coming after him from the unblocked side.

BANG!

He shot the zombie running by the feet of the fat guy adding another body to the blockade. This gave him time to retreat and he ran away though he ran straight south not following the others through the door. As he passed by the door, he saw the teary eyed Mei peeking at the door window. He then shouted.

"Hide! Wait for me at the roof top!"

He then sped off and the zombies came running after him at a distance.