A sense of crisis swept through Jason's body, but there was no trace of fear on his face—what he wore instead was a wide grin. Slightly raising his rifle, Jason pulled the trigger, and from the mouth of the barrel, a bullet shot straight toward the head of the walker that had just reanimated.
Bang!
The walker's head was pierced by the bullet; part of its skull and dark blood splattered the back of the bed. Showing no emotion, Jason turned around.
"Zz… Elias, I need you to give me an escape route and call for reinforcements."
However, just as he was waiting for a response, Jon Seda's agitated voice rang out from the other side of the tent. "Sir, you need to see this…"
As he stepped outside, the first thing he saw was his group in a circular formation. All of them had their weapons raised, and nervous expressions were visible on their faces. When Jason turned his head to the side, he saw the walkers standing at a distance, staring at them with that dead look on their faces.
In a short amount of time, all the corpses outside that shelter had risen from the ground and were slowly surrounding Jason's group. But the most surprising thing was that none of the walkers were moving, as if something or someone was controlling them.
From what Jason had seen, he knew these walkers weren't acting on the same basic instinct that governed other walkers. What once seemed like a common pathogen had turned into something that defied all logic.
"Combat formation!"
As Jason's words rang out, everyone sprang into action, covering the angles from which attacks could come. This time, Jason was deeply unsettled.
"Don't take off your masks! We don't know what's going on with these walkers, but this is something beyond our understanding!"
Even though they didn't know why the walkers had stopped moving, they were in the middle of an unknown anomaly, and they needed to get out of there before they could make sense of the overall situation.
Crack!
In a flash, the head of an unmoving walker exploded into pieces, acting as a catalyst that triggered the rest to suddenly charge toward Jason's group.
"Open fire!"
No reminder was needed. The rest of the group immediately began shooting at the corpses. The truth was, this was far from normal—their movements were much stronger than those of any other walker.
Bang Bang Bang!
With a deafening roar, bullets flew from the barrels of various rifles, whizzing toward the walkers at a speed impossible to follow with the naked eye.
The walkers were agitated by the sound of gunfire; some began moving much faster, and in no time they were advancing toward Jason's group at the center of the camp.
However, no matter how fast these walkers could move, there was a limit they couldn't surpass—and that gave Jason's group the upper hand in eliminating these abnormal undead.
Because of a lingering negative effect on their bodies, the walkers moved a bit slower, and as a result, one bullet went straight through the arms of a walker reaching for one of the men and pierced its skull.
A large gaping hole suddenly appeared in the walker's head, and the blood and brain matter shredded by the bullet made it look like the creature had grown a new breathing hole.
There were no screams, and when Jason's group began to run, the only sound behind them was the muffled thump of bodies hitting the ground.
"Stay alert!"
Bang Bang Bang!
"Reloading!"
Right now, Jason looked like a killing machine. His movements were swift and precise, focused solely on eliminating these abnormal walkers and finding out what was behind all of this chaos.
"Argh!"
The walkers were numerous, some emerging from different directions, but at that moment, Jason's group maintained a flawless formation. Everyone covered one another as they slowly advanced along a specific path out of the area.
"Keep moving in that direction!"
The group continued pushing forward, getting closer to the infected individuals rapidly approaching their location. They could already hear the howls of the abnormal walkers in the distance.
Click!
Jason's rifle clicked—he was out of bullets. He quickly moved to change the magazine, but just as he was about to raise the barrel again, a dark figure darted past him.
Sensing the imminent danger, Jason lowered the rifle and drew a knife. Leaning slightly to one side, he struck at the figure, and once he got a good look at the kind of walker it was, he realized it looked completely different.
"A mutant…"
Those few distracted seconds were enough for the infected figure to grab Jason and throw him aside. The sheer strength of the push sent Jason flying, helpless to resist. This thing definitely wasn't a regular walker.
"Boss!"
Seeing Jason go airborne, George—who was the closest—rushed in and fired at the infected figure with a pistol. But shockingly, it moved swiftly, dodging the bullets aimed at its head.
Screech!
The creature, struck by an unknown object, let out a high-pitched shriek and flailed its arms wildly—but the group of walkers continued moving toward its direction.
Bang Bang Bang!
"Don't come after me, I'm fine! Get out of here, now!"
Argh!
Amid the muffled sound of the pistol popping walker heads, Jason moved his body, now holding a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other. With impressive agility, he cut down numerous walkers.
Jason couldn't afford to worry about anyone else in that moment—his own life was at stake. There were too many walkers around him, and a single bite could mean the end.
Of course, that didn't stop the abnormal walkers from trying to get to him, but Jason moved with incredible flexibility, dodging all their attacks.
Rghhh!
Soon, the walkers began to gather around his position, pouring in from all directions.
Suddenly, one walker leapt from the top of a military tent. Fortunately, Jason reacted fast—he fired twice, stepped on the corpse, vaulted over it, and reached the rear of the tent.
After dispatching the last of the walkers, Jason felt a presence watching him from behind. He spun around to look.
"So there you are again. I'm definitely taking you to the lab for a full examination." As he said this, Jason took off his bulletproof vest and pulled out a larger knife from his back.
"Come at me, beast!"
ARRRGGGHHH!