Chapitre 9: Fallen Shelter

The first bite.

A bite from an infected usually meant one would be highly likely to be infected as well. However, such was not the case for the policeman as he was bitten straight through the neck. He didn't even have the time to be infected just like everyone else. Instead, his head dangled as his carotid artery was sliced, causing it to spurt out blood as he fell like a useless pile of meat.

There was a pause as everyone stared at the policeman's lifeless eyes while a pool of deep red blood flowed around his head. Their stares then shifted to Masayuki, who casually spat out a chunk of flesh he'd bitten off of the policeman's neck.

"Who's next?" He asked as his bloodshot eyes and contorted expression brought panic to everyone present.

The shelter was compromised, and people started screaming, pushing people out of the way while they made their way to the deepest parts of the shelter. When it comes to panic, everyone did their own thing, and no one even bothered to think of their actions before they started helplessly scampered around. There was only one hybrid on sight and had they ganged up on him right then and there, they might have had a chance of defending the shelter.

But no, they fell right into Masayuki's trap.

A smile appeared on Masayuki's face as one of the policemen on sight started shooting at him. At this point, one of the policemen had already died, and that's why they were too scared to attack him, let alone shoot straight. Had they planted one single bullet on Masayuki's forehead, he'd have died in an instant.

On the other hand, though, Masayuki just had to defend his head. He didn't care if the bullets hit his body, he could heal it later with his rapid regeneration ability.

A bead of sweat flowed on the brows of one of the policemen as Masayuki slowly approached him. He continued shooting, all the colors draining from his face since not a single bullet hit Masayuki. It might seem like Masayuki was cleanly dodging the bullet, but what he was doing is simply getting out of the gun's trajectory before the shots were fired. He was able to do that thanks to his heightened senses.

"Get away!" The policeman screamed.

Masayuki licked his lips, quickening his pace.

"GET AWAY!" This time, the policeman stopped shooting and he did the most ridiculous thing he could have done in that situation— he turned around and ran away, completely exposing his back to Masayuki.

With a screech, Masayuki pounded on him and gave him a bite, transmitting the virus inside him. Before he could recover from the bite, Masayuki bit off a portion of his forearm and fed it to the policeman.

Having tasted the taste of a human, the policeman lost his mind to the virus (this phenomenon would be explained later on, but as of right now, only a handful of hybrids know about this process). In ten seconds, the virus completely took over the policeman's head, causing him to act like a normal infected, charging at anyone and biting them. As of right now, there was only one existential reason in the policeman's mind— and that is, to spread the virus and bite as many people as he could.

The spread was fast, and the number of infected exponentially increased as more and more people in the shelter were bitten. With just one hybrid present, the shelter had fallen.

"HAHHA! Now you know why you shouldn't mess with a hybrid!" Masayuki cackled, charging at another policeman and biting her. "Now rise! My army!"

...

Meanwhile, Jurou, who had been staying in the same shelter, was already aware of the disturbance before the infected even reached their room. He stood up and alerted everyone, telling them that the infected had infiltrated the building, and they should get out of the shelter through the back exit.

A few seconds later, the people started hearing the frantic screaming from the entrance of the shelter and they promptly obeyed, exiting the shelter despite the danger of even more infected outside.

It didn't take long before the infected had reached Jurou. Calmly, he packed his sleeping bag and put on all his necessities in the bag. "And here I was, thinking that I could at least get a good night's rest without these guys bothering me." Jurou heaved a dejected sigh.

By now, most of the civilians in that portion of the shelter had already evacuated, and Jurou was the only one left.

Coincidentally, the father and daughter whom Jurou found hiding in an abandoned convenience store earlier, saw him. They stopped, and the dad started helping him pack. Even though the horde of the infected was almost upon them, the dad didn't think twice about helping Jurou with his things.

"You should hurry it up, sir, the infected are almost here." The dad hastily said.

"What are you doing? You do know that those infected won't hold a candle against me, right? You and your daughter should get out of here before they catch up. I can handle myself."

Before Jurou could say more though, the daughter started helping him out as well, handing him the things he needed to pack.

"You helped us back then by attracting the infected. We can't thank you enough. Let us help you right now, at least." The dad continued. "The name's Akihiro, Tokunaga Akihiro. This is my daughter, Harumi."

"Well, this is no time for introductions, you guys go on ahead. I have to deal with the infected here." Jurou continued. "Thank you for helping me pack, appreciate it."

"Deal with the infected? All by yourself?"

The horde had finally caught up, and one of them charged at Jurou without thinking twice. By the time the infected realized that Jurou was also infected, it was already too late. The infected was already committed to biting him.

Jurou brought his arm out, swinging it sideways without even batting an eye. The infected's head immediately caught the swing squarely on his face, landing a clean blow and smashing the infected's head in. Blood and gore spurted out of its head as it lifelessly fell limp on the ground.

"You guys go on ahead. I'll meet up with you. Don't die out there, mister." Jurou called out, turning around before Akihiro could call out to him for a second time.

"Let's go, Harumi, I'm sure he'll be all right." Akihiro had no choice but to run away. In an instant, he picked up his daughter and started sprinting out of the shelter. "How will he meet up with us, though..." The dad asked himself, but there was no way of knowing it now since Jurou had strayed deeper inside the shelter.

Just like Masayuki when he dodged that bullet, Jurou's eyes also turned a nice shade of bloodshot as he charged at the horde alone. Since he was already infected akin to the rest of them, they didn't attack him, but that didn't stop Jurou from stopping the horde in its tracks.

First, he tripped one of the infected, causing a domino effect of infected falling on top of each other. This bought a considerable amount of time for the uninfected to get out of the shelter and escape.

"Hey man, you're a hybrid too?!" Masayuki then screamed from afar upon seeing Jurou menacingly walking toward him. "Great! We can take over this entire shelter together!"

Jurou didn't speak another word. He continued his casual stroll towards Masayuki. He knew that if he spoke, his bloodlust would then leak out of his body, giving Masayuki some time to escape. Judging from their hybrid types, Jurou could tell that Masayuki has higher stamina than him. Once he starts running, he won't be able to catch up.

However, Masayuki was as simple-minded as he was brutish. He didn't even see Jurou as a threat. In an instant, he assumed that Jurou would be a like-minded person since he was also a hybrid.

"A bulwark strain, huh, you'll be a fine addition to the team." Masayuki smiled, extending his hands towards Jurou without a second thought.

As for Jurou, he didn't waste any time grabbing Masayuki's hand. Once his grip was fixed, there was no way Jurou could escape... unless, of course, he cut off his arm and ditched it.

With a calm expression worn, Jurou growled at Masayuki, his inner hybrid emanating from his words. "What do you think you're doing to this shelter?" He angrily gritted his teeth as he squeezed Masayuki's hand.

A soft squelch emanated from Masayuki's hand as blood and water were wrung out from it. His flesh and bones appeared from the gaps of Jurou's hand as Jurou continued to tighten his grip.

"GRAARGAGGAHH!!!!" A deathly scream came out from Masayuki's hand, but Jurou continued to squeeze the blood out of his hand. "Please! We're hybrids! We should be on the same side!"

"We were on the same side... until you attacked the shelter." Jurou pointed out. With his free hand, he grabbed Masayuki's head and snapped it out of place. "Don't worry, you won't die from just that... unless of course... I do this."

Amidst the screams of the people in the shelter who were bitten by the infected, another agonizing scream could be heard, coming out of Masayuki's mouth as Jurou squeezed the life out of his neck. "You're a hybrid, you should know better than bring a shelter down." Jurou continued.

Masayuki's body went limp and plopped to the ground. He was dead... but what of it? It's not like his death would stop the infected from taking over the shelter. The only reason why Jurou carried through with killing him was to put a stop to a potential threat— a hybrid willing to take over a shelter using a horde of infected would most likely do it again, and Jurou knew that for a fact. That's why he prevented what could happen in the future by eliminating the root cause— Masayuki.

.....

[How was it? A failure?]

[It was a success, the Merc is killed, but we located a Bulwark]

[Good job, Hound. Return to base]

[Roger]

From afar, a figure brought down her telescope after watching the aftermath of Masayuki's attack on the shelter. Her striking red lips curved upward as she licked them.

"A bulwark, the boss would kill for such a fine specimen." She muttered before leaping from one building to another, scaling them without even breaking a sweat.

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DaisukiDayoSenpai

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