Chapter 13: Chapter 13: The berserker
The Berserker, meanwhile, stopped at the end of the hallway and turned to look at everyone. Jane and Tarin attacked with all their might, but the arrows bounced off the zombie's skin and the icicles simply shattered into pieces. The fire seemed to be the only thing that could hurt it, but it didn't seem to affect the zombie much.
Miriam healed Adam as best she could, but they didn't even have time to talk when the Berseker started running towards them again.
Meanwhile, a certain someone was keeping an eye on the fight. Tracel was watching everything from his apartment, and while he was sure of his plan, the power of the zombie Berserker had surprised him.
A zombie can acquire such power, isn't that a bit ridiculous? He thought. According to the information his brother had given him about the superblock, there were 5 other zombies with that power in the building. Tracel cursed as he realized that he might have to start getting serious about leveling up. He snapped out of his trance and called Carlos.
"Adam is fighting, start clearing out the easier apartments. Whatever you do don't go near the dangerous apartments, the zombie power is much greater than expected."
In the superblock, Carlos and his group listened to the noise of the ongoing fight while trying to listen to Tracel on the phone.
"Okay, we'll get started," said Carlos before hanging up.
"Now it's our turn. My group will start cleaning the first floor. Alfred and the others will go up to the third floor."
"Do you want us to go downstairs? Adam and his group seem to be fighting in the hallway!" one of the men exclaimed.
Carlos thought for a moment and in the end concluded that it was worth sacrificing the second floor for the advantage they would gain on all the other floors. Alfred watched his father intently. He noticed at once that he was sweating and that the hand holding his sword was trembling slightly. He too was scared to death, especially when he thought of the previous fights he had been involved in. A brief glance at the whole group revealed to him that the others were not much better, and only the fact that his father could maintain an apparent calm kept everyone from panicking.
"My father's plan may work, but... Can we clear the apartments without Adam's help?" Alfred was beginning to doubt it.
Carlos dialed another number on his cell phone and reached another group of survivors on the 9th floor.
"Han? Can you hear me?"
"Is it time?"
"Yes, start clearing the apartments and avoid the dangerous areas."
"Perfect."
On the 9th floor, Han hung up his cell phone and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Behind him stood a group of four people watching him with concern.
"We'd better get moving."
The others nodded and then stepped aside to let a fifth person pass, who until then had been smoking by the window. In his hands he held an assault rifle and was wearing his National Guard uniform.
Disaster had caught Noah in the middle of his patrol routine. After leaving the strange dark place, he appeared in the parking lot, right in front of the superblock.
After his sudden appearance, he was fortunate that none of the zombies responded to his presence in the first few seconds. However, this did not last long, as he and the few people in the parking lot were attacked from all sides.
Noah managed to retreat to the superblock and, in the midst of his panic attack, ascended floor after floor until he reached the ninth floor, where he cleared the aisles of zombies. Finally, right there, he met up with a group of survivors.
"Let's get going." Noah said before leaving the apartment.
Meanwhile, on the second floor, the fight against the Berserker continued. This time the zombie didn't charge with all its might, so it managed to stop just after Adam managed to dodge it as it entered one of the apartments.
Marlen tried to get closer and attack with her axe, but she couldn't penetrate the zombie's thick skin. Instead, the zombie hit her with its forearm and sent her flying over the railing and into the first floor. Marlen fell into the ravine, into the tall grass, and disappeared from sight.
"Sister!"
Miriam leaped toward the first floor before Adam could stop her. With no time to curse, the Berseker came at him and tried to hit him again.
Adam dodged the blow and fired another round of flames before retreating back into the apartment. The fire continued to consume the thick layer of skin that seemed to stop all attacks.
Luckily for Adam, the Berserker was slow in tight spaces. Which was why he managed to back up into one of the rooms and wait until another charge of the flamethrower could be used.
Adam hid and set up an ambush. When his weapon was ready, he took a deep breath and waited for the right moment. The Berserker entered the apartment, destroying anything that interrupted his path. It finally stopped and started checking all the rooms. Jane and Tarin followed him silently, without provoking it, aware that their attacks would be useless.
Adam waited hidden by the door and, just as the zombie ducked to enter, he fired the flamethrower straight at its face.
This time the fire took effect and the zombie screamed in pain. Adam, who had originally intended to duck between the zombie and the door, had to back away as the Berserker began to tear it apart, along with the wall and an old TV that was nearby.
By the time the zombie regained control and looked around, Adam noticed that it was missing an eye and part of its face was disfigured.
He didn't have much time to be surprised at how little damage he had caused, as the zombie spotted him immediately. Adam repeated the previous attack with his last charge, but the Berserker raised one of his arms, blocked the flare and advanced towards him, ignoring the new burns.
Adam circled the zombie and tried to get closer to the exit. At that moment, Jane appeared and fired an arrow from the hallway, which bounced off the Berserker's back without causing it any damage.
What's wrong with this thing? Nothing works!" she shouted in exasperation.
Adam thought so too, but he was too busy trying to avoid being smashed against the wall. The Berserker, this time, took his time to approach Adam step by step, never taking his eyes off the flamethrower.
Observing this, Adam raised the weapon, and when the Berserker raised his arm to stop the flames, Adam ran into the hallway.
It took a few seconds for the Berserker to realize what was happening, so Adam managed to get around him and dodge a hit by a few inches.
"Get out of the apartment! Now!"
Tarin and Jane backed away along with him. Miriam and Marlen were still nowhere to be seen, but Adam was more concerned about themselves. The Berserker charged at them from behind. Adam followed the others out of the apartment, but heard the Berserker's heavy footsteps right behind him.
Adam dove to the ground in time to dodge the following hulking giant. The zombie kept going, smashed through the hallway grate and fell to the first floor, hitting the ravine at the bottom and making a horrible noise.
Luckily, there was not another of the dangerous zombies on the first floor, but from the apartments and hallways a myriad of zombie Stalkers began to emerge along with Crawlers and Brawlers.
In addition, some of the flames still consuming the Berserker's body set fire to the dry grass and a large fire soon spread throughout the ravine.
"What do we do now?" Tarin was trembling.
"We go down and find Marlen and Miriam. Let's go."
Before they went down, on the upper floors there was the sound of several gunshots and what sounded like a big fight. Adam looked up and frowned, but decided he had to finish off the Berserker first before worrying about anything else.
He took advantage of the brief moment, in which the fire had yet to reach the first floor of the building, to jump down and kill the nearest zombies. It didn't take long to find Marlen, who was fighting two Brawlers while protecting Miriam.
Before the group was reunited, however, the Berserker was back in action. Filled with rage and completely covered in flames, he emerged from the middle of the flames, ready to kill Adam.
The zombie charged at him with unmatched fury, much faster than it was before. Jane and Tarin fired again and, to their surprise, their attacks worked.
"Keep attacking, it will die at some point!" Adam shouted.
However, the attacks did not stop the Berserker. The zombie kept going unstoppably and reached Adam, who covered it in flames again before being hit and sent into the wall.
The blow was much stronger than before. In one blow Adam was severely wounded and lost consciousness.
Marlen approached cautiously, but changed her mind when she saw the state Adam was in.
"Don't stop attacking!" She shouted, while thinking of a way to attack.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone