บท 21: Fight!

1:00 pm, Afternoon of the second day of the zombie epidemic as the scorching sun shined upon the city of "dead"...

Leo and the rest are currently standing at the front yard, with backpacks brimming full of items that they scavenge earlier this morning, while Tom and three brothers looked at Leo excitedly anticipating something while Austin had a confused face looking at their expressions "Are we leaving this place? And why are the four of them has expressions like something big is gonna happen to make them look excited?"

"Is everyone ready to leave?" Leo looked around and laughed a bit when he saw their varying expressions from excitement, confusion, relief and joy.

"Yeah, we're ready boss!" John yelled with clenched fist, full of excitement.

"Stop yelling, you fool!" Joe slapped the back of his brothers head which Josh snorted back.

"Hey you two, stop causing a ruckus!" Michael said.

"Kid, let's go already. I can't wait to see my wife and daughter" Tom said smiling and the joy in his eyes can't be hidden, even though only a day passed since being separated from their families but for them it feel like a year for them, like soldiers coming from the battlefield.

"Wait, what? We're leaving?" Austin finally figured why they are gathered here with all their things.

"Yes, we will be going to a far more safer place than here" Leo smiled at them.

Laura had an anxious looked on here face when she heard that they are leaving this place which for her and family has already considered a sanctuary, a place where they truly felt safe for the first time in a while.

"T-this" Austin didn't what to say and just as he was hesitating to say something, the others interjected.

"Austin, you shouldn't worry I'm sure that place is far more safer here"

"Yeah, brother. Are families also went there yesterday just a few hours before we saw you guys"

"I know that you're worried about the safety of your family buy I'm sure that place is safer than and you might have already noticed that our gate wouldn't last soon with the continuous banging of these zombies" Joe patted him on the shoulder while pointing at the gate on the verge of collapsing and at the other of side of the gate was a huge swarm of zombies who can't wait to feast upon.

"Have you guys been there before? How do you guys know that it's safer there than here?" Austin still wasn't convinced.

"This..w-well" the guys looked at each other, not sure what to say. After all, they haven't seen the place yet. They only know that the place is safer than here, mostly because of what they saw before, a new high-technology capable of transporting people on the other side of the world.

Leo seeing that they can't answer, smiled and interjected "All you need to know is that my place is safer than here, I can confidently say that if I claim that it's the second safest place here on Earth then no one would claim they are first".

"Or you guys can just stay here and you can keep your things"

"This...Alright, we'll come with you guys" Austin hesitated a bit before immediately agreeing, knowing that he won't be able to guarantee his family's safety all alone.

"Good brother/kid!" Tom and the rest patted him happily,even though they only knew each other in less then a day, all of them are already became familiar with each other since the simple party last night.

"Are we going then?" Austin said as he started to walk slowly towards the gate while nervously gripping his new weapon, an ancient battle axe, something he unexpectedly upon from an old house that was treated as an ornament while they were acting bandits earlier this morning which cause envy among the rest when they saw it, of course they immediately about it when they heard that Leo would get them better weapons soon.

"Hey, where are you going?" Michael stopped him by his shoulder.

"Aren't we leaving? So we need to at least kill our way out from here?" Austin was really confused now, wondering how they are gonna leave if they are not gonna clean out the zombies blocking the way.

"Then why did you think we still stayed here, knowing hard it is to kill them earlier without they Boss's help?" Josh snickered as he started chuckling to himself.

"Wait, are you guys telling that this house has an underground passageway where we can safely leave from here!?" Austin was surprised, after all this is already the modern society unlike back in middle ages that they would create this kinds of passageways to escape from their enemies, of course there are still families who would build them especially those truly wealthy families.

"Okay! Let's this discussion now cause we're just wasting time now and i doubt those zombies has the patience to let us to just quietly leave" Leo clapped figuring that this talk is going nowhere.

Leo then took out the Teleportation Stone from his Inventory and tossed it on the ground, the teleportation split into four as it emitted a bright light before a portal like mirror slowly appeared.

"T-this, is that w-"

Clank! ~ Clank! ~ Thud! ~

Austin was about to shout it surprised when suddenly the gate started to collapse as the the metal like pole that was holding it in place is slowly getting bent with the wall collapsing with it and it felt like the Zombies started moaning in excitement as their moans became more louder along with the gate slowly collapsing from their weight.

"Quick! Go now!" Leo stepped towards in the front as his Armor covered him while he commanded them to pass to through the portal.

Tom and the three siblings immediately stepped inside the portal without hesitations after all they themselves know that they would only get in Leo's way, they know that they would be drowned in the face of this swarm of Zombies. Austin hesitated for a bit but immediately pushed his wife and daughter into the portal when he saw that Josh and the rest didn't even hesitate going inside.

Seeing his daughter and wife successfully passed through, Austin looked back once more and saw that the gate finally collapsed and the Zombies slowly made their way towards them, their speed is similar to that of a jog walk which even a kid can outrun them but with how many of them blocking the entire way, escape is impossible!

"Leo! Let's go! We're the only ones left!"

"Go First! The portal wouldn't close immediately because we're lacking two people! That's why it would only close itself after exactly passed five minutes and only a minute just passed! Just Go! I need to hold them off or they would also passed through the portal and it would endanger the people on the other side!" Leo yelled and the distance between him and the swarm is now only a few meters away.

"What the f*ck are you doing!? Just Go! Dammit!" this time, Leo started getting angry now when he saw that Austin hasn't left yet, not listening to his commands and even stood beside him with his battle axe ready to face the swarm.

"No! I'm a soldier and a soldier doesn't run from a fight no matter if its Zombies or Beast!" Austin shouted with a resolute gaze, as two of them looked at each other unyielding.

"Suit yourself and don't blame me if I won't show you mercy if you get yourself bitten"

"Likewise!"

Leo chuckled from inside his Armor when he heard his reply and thought to himself " A soldier, huh?" as he looked at Austin from the corner of his eyes with more respect even though the hands holding the battle axe have already gone pale.

Finally, the swarm is finally upon them, ready to feast on their flesh.

"F*ckers! Come and taste this daddy's…."

"[Primal Roar]!"