CHAPTER 16 THE UNDYING
Inside the deserted café-bar, multiple corpses lay scattered across the floor. Their bodies were covered in bite marks, with large chunks of flesh torn away, leaving the once lively café barely recognizable.
Then something strange began to happen.
The wounds on the supposed corpses started healing at an incredible pace. Those with missing limbs grew them back, while shattered skulls and torn flesh rapidly regenerated. The most disturbing sight of all was their glowing yellow irises.
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"Just what is going on?" a police officer holding a rifle muttered as he and twenty other officers cautiously moved through the city.
"This virus was only discovered today, yet the entire city already seems deserted," the officer said as they continued on foot. The roads were blocked by abandoned vehicles, forcing them to leave their patrol cars behind.
"The strangest thing is that we haven't seen a single body, even though there are clear signs of fighting everywhere," another officer added.
Minutes later, they finally spotted movement.
A silhouette emerged from a nearby supermarket.
The officers immediately took cover, unsure whether the figure was infected or not. Moments later, an old man stepped into view. His clothes were torn, his body was covered in dried blood, his hair was filthy, and his eyes glowed an eerie yellow.
"It's a true infected. We can take it out, sir," one of the officers whispered.
"No. Stand down," the captain ordered. "We've already received reports about how ferocious these things are. Fighting one could cost us lives and attract even more of them."
The infected old man suddenly turned and stared directly toward their hiding place before slowly walking away in search of another target.
The officers let out sighs of relief.
"Those things are terrifying," one officer joked nervously, trying to hide his fear.
"Move out," the captain ordered.
The team entered the supermarket the infected had just left.
The sight inside sent chills down their spines.
Nearly fifty mangled corpses littered the supermarket floor. Some had been torn apart, others had been half-eaten, while many were covered in deep bite wounds.
"How could one infected kill this many people?" one officer asked, his voice trembling.
No matter how well trained they were, nothing had prepared them for such horror.
"Search for survivors. This city has already fallen. Once the search is complete, we leave," the captain ordered.
The officers quickly searched every hiding place, but every shelter they found contained only corpses. It looked as though those who had hidden had eventually been dragged out and slaughtered.
As the search continued, something horrifying happened.
The wounds on the dead bodies began healing, and one after another, their eyes started glowing yellow.
One officer froze as the corpse lying in front of him slowly regenerated before his very eyes.
"Captain!" he shouted.
"Leave the supermarket! Everyone, get out!" the captain yelled after noticing the same phenomenon.
They rushed toward the shattered front entrance, only to find five newly revived infected already standing there. Their bodies cracked unnaturally as they twisted into strange postures, moving as though they were still getting used to their new bodies.
"Back door! Go, go, go!" the captain shouted.
The officers sprinted toward the rear exit, only to find it locked.
Without hesitation, the captain raised his rifle and fired, blowing the padlock apart.
"Let's go!"
Just as he stepped through the doorway, something slammed into him, knocking him to the ground.
It was the old infected man from earlier.
The officer struggled desperately to keep the creature's jaws away from his neck. Pulling out a combat dagger, he drove it deep into the infected's side.
The creature let out a terrifying roar as its canines elongated even further.
Gunshots suddenly echoed through the alley.
The infected collapsed.
The captain lowered his smoking rifle.
"Move!" he shouted.
But as they prepared to run, their courage shattered.
The sound of gunfire had attracted more infected.
They poured into the streets from every direction, smashing into abandoned cars, leaping impossible distances, sprinting on all fours like wild beasts.
"What... what is this? We're going to die... We're really going to die and become one of those monsters," one officer thought.
Unable to bear the thought, he made a grim decision.
He slowly raised his pistol to his own head.
Bang.
He collapsed lifelessly.
The remaining officers froze.
They immediately understood his choice.
"I'd rather die than become one of those infected."
But none of them could bring themselves to do the same.
Instead, they tightened their grips on their rifles and unleashed a relentless barrage of bullets, choosing to fight until their final breath.
"Officers... it has been an honor serving as your captain," the captain said while continuing to fire.
"It has been an honor serving under you too, sir!" the officers shouted back.
Moments later, the swarm overwhelmed them.
The infected tore through the officers with savage brutality until not a single one remained alive.
Silence returned.
Then something impossible happened.
The infected that had been killed slowly began rising again.
Bullets were forced out of their bodies as flesh regenerated before the eyes of the fallen officers.
Even the old infected man stood back up, completely healed, his glowing yellow eyes burning with hunger once more.