Kapitel 45: Chapter 45

**- Xenon -**

I'm not completely certain, but I had a feeling there wasn't supposed to be this many walkers. Not that it changes anything, really. There are around 41 walkers. I could eliminate most of them before they began to be a problem.

I had twenty throwing knives on myself. I equipped all the smaller ones, even putting multiple throwing knives in a single slot. So that's 20 walkers down. I had my Glock and hatchet on myself that I insisted on wearing, even though I got remarks that I shouldn't wear them in camp.

The Glock held 17 rounds, so that's a total of 37 walkers down without putting myself in any real danger. Four walkers remained, which are quite easy to take care of. Not to mention, we had quite a few weapons on camp already: Dale's rifle, Shane's shotgun (he had it before I gave him mine apparently), Morales took the shotgun I brought, and Jim had one of my revolvers. I assume T-Dog's revolver is still with Shane, there is that.

Overall, as long as we handle this correctly, I believe we can get away with no casualties.

I waited until they were near Ed's tent, before I gave the first sign they were here. Amy was about to say something, but I gestured a "shushing" motion for her.

"I see walkers, we need to warn the rest. Keep silent. We can't be allowed to panic." Her face drained of all colors at my words, and she nodded multiple times. I started running towards the campfire where everyone minus Ed was gathered, they noticed something was wrong fairly easily.

"What's wron-" Lori asked but stopped mid-sentence.

"Shh! Everyone, stay quiet. There are walkers nearby." They all got up immediately. "Don't make any noise!" I hissed. "You'll draw them here."

"Walkers?!" Carl asked fearfully, but Lori was smart enough to cover his mouth with her hands.

"Take out your guns!" Shane whispered loaded his shotgun he always kept close.

"Let me draw them away. You guys lead the rest to safety that way. No matter what you do, DO NOT SHOOT. Let them focus on me!" I asked before leaping to action.

* AAAAAARGH *

Ed's voice reached our ears, creating even more panic and haste.

"Ed!" "Daddy!" Carol and her daughter, Sofia, cried in horror, remembering that Ed was still in his tent.

"Go, NOW!" I cried out. That seemed to wake them up, as Carol and Sophia were dragged away by Morales, whose wife was now ahead of them with their two kids along with Lori and Carl.

I really didn't want them to interfere in this. This may be my only chance to hunt walkers for a while, and I intend to make full use of it. Not only that, but I also got a notification from the system.

<Title: Attack on Camp.>

Description: Kill the walkers attacking the camp single-handedly.

*Requirements:

->Walkers: 0/41

*Rewards:

-> ???????

While I did indeed plan on killing most of them, it seems the system is challenging me on this one. I won't say no to more experience and rewards, thank you very much. The problem I had in this situation was getting the others to listen to my instructions.

Morales was doing the right thing by leading the others away to safety. Andrea and Amy had other ideas, however, as they wanted to stay and help out with this. I'm assuming they wish to act as bait, like we did last time, which is commendable. Jim had his revolver on him, while Dale always wore his rifle on his back.

**- Author -**

Shane was reasonably skeptical about what Xenon intended to do, he didn't want him to die trying to play the hero, when they had so many people who could help.

He was about to go after him, when a hand held him in place.

"Don't." Jim shook his head. "We've done this before. Wait for him to draw them away, it won't be dangerous as long as he doesn't trip."

"They are easier to handle when their attention is all over the place." Andrea added. "We should hide for now and wait for him. The others are being taken to safety."

"Heey! Over here!" They looked to find Xenon waving at walkers whose necks snapped in his direction. "That's right, come to daddy." They would've facepalmed if the situation was as serious as it is, they were already a man down judging by how Ed was screaming like a little girl.

"Good boy."

* BANG *

Xenon shot the first walker eating from Ed's dead corpse with the bullet that's already been loaded to the chamber. He needed their attention on himself, and the best way to do that is by combining visual and auditory stimuli.

He hoped to redirect the whole hoard, not only the few walkers at the front.

"Alright guys, I've got their undivided attention!" He cried out for the rest of the group to hear him. "I'll keep drawing them away! We don't know how many there are, so I'm taking them as far as I can! DO NOT INTERFERE. I've got this!"

He ran to the other side of the walkers, as they seemed to get more excited by their proximity. While they usually only walked, they could increase their speed when excited.

* BANG *

Xenon shot another walker again, as he kept running to circle behind them, making full use of his [Sprint] skill, reducing the zombie's pace to a snail's compared to himself.

"We should start moving, stay behind the walkers." Jim broke the silence between the group with a whisper. "Keep your distance, and don't do anything to attract attention." They all nodded and followed behind him through the woods.

**- Xenon -**

This is far enough. I couldn't see anyone because of the hoard blocking my vision.

"Do not engage them! I have a plan, just wait for my signal!" I cried out again, hoping they could hear me.

I took out a bundle of throwing knives, and put them on my left hand, while I took one in my dominant one. I was ahead of the walkers, and I had enough distance between us to shoot and run, and the path ahead was clear. So, I got to work.

My plan was fairly simple: take a shot at them with my knives, back off. Rinse and repeat, until I am out of throwing knives. And that's what I did.

I spent the next ten minutes, running for my life and throwing Empowered Knives at them, headshoting every single one. As I had a very limited supply of knives, I had to make sure not to miss my shot, which is fairly easy in the middle of a stressful situation, no matter how good a shot you are. I made sure they within the 5-meter mark each time, which resulted in a frag. I should probably stop using gaming terms in real life...

Now, they were down to twenty. Which means it was time to use my Glock. I had just remembered the bullet loaded in the chamber, which means if I don't miss any shot, I'll only have to deal with three of them.

By now, I was very exhausted, my stamina had already reached the 50/240, which means I'm pretty vulnerable. My arms were sore, more than they've ever been, because of the repeated use of Empowered Strike in such short time window.

I took aim at the nearest walker, but noticed how unsteady my arms were. Deciding it isn't worth risking, I waited until it was so close I couldn't possibly miss the shot, before pulling the trigger.

* BANG *

I had to circle around them every time they were close enough, because I didn't want to melee it in the end. The best way to do that? Get my throwing knives back, which is admittedly harder to do when you have a bunch of zombies ready to eat your ass at any time, and not in the fun way... Not that I personally find either way fun, mind you.

I made full use of [Sprint] to create enough distance, which had the unfortunate side effect of putting too much stress on my legs. I could feel I would be paying for this later on, but that's a problem for a different time.

I managed to take two knives, before they reached me. And that was enough for me. I used [Empowered Strike] again, regardless of how much my arms were screaming at me to stop, and used both my throwing knives. They both hit the target, albeit not exactly where I aimed, but took them down nevertheless. The fight was taking its toll on me, and my stamina was reaching dangerously low levels.

* BANG *

I shot the rest of the walkers, until it was down to a single walker. (22 knife kills + 18 Gunshots)

A smile graced my face at my accomplishment. I decided to finish with style. I took out my hatchet, and slowly approached the walker.

"AAAAARGH!" With a war cry, I split its head in two, as I plunged my weapon into its skull, before falling to the ground as its brain splashed over my face. I wasn't entirely certain if it's because of exhaustion, or cringe. Or perhaps both? I guess we'll never know.