บท 2: Surviving
Slowly, William collected his thoughts and tried to move all of his body parts. His legs were pressed to the front due to the chair and the destroyed dashboard. However, it was still intact and with some struggles, he could free himself.
'Let's just try to get out of here.'
Since he was off duty, William didn't wear his uniform. For the past few months, he had been working as soldier in the capital city and only recently he got days off. He was wearing normal shirt and pants that was easy to move on. Putting his hand on the handle, William tried to push it. Unfortunately, it seemed that the door was stuck.
Glanced up, William could see that the other cars were not in any better condition. He furrowed his brows as he could faintly smell the burning and oil permeated from the surroundings. It was a mess, a complete mess.
Fire might start anytime.
And with so many cars densely packed together, it would be a complete disaster should a fire start in this place.
William heaved a sigh and focused his attention to the handle area near the edge. He pulled his hand back then punched forward right at the edge. The door was pushed to the back with one swift movement and crashed to the nearby car that was parked near William's.
Gush of wind slapped his face. He walked out of the car and for the first time, he could see the devastating damage in the area. Just several hundred meters behind him, he could see that everything had turned black. It was burned to an unknown degree with countless pieces of ruins covering the street.
There was no more building intact.
Everything turned black and only several inches above the ground. Some pieces of woods, metal and other things that used to be part of houses or buildings were sticking out of the ground. For as long as he could see, everything had turned into a blackened sea.
Fire was burning in several spots. There were some marks left behind from the previous explosion on the ground and prevented anyone from coming nearby. No…
There was not even any survivor.
'Just how much did they strengthen the bomb to make this much damage?'
It was a nuclear bomb that have undergone several tempering and also modifications. Some countries often tested them in the dessert because at that place, lives were scarce and only some exotic animals could live.
However, the destruction was even more than what William could ever imagine in his entire life.
If the bomb was a bit more powerful, the destruction would reach William's place. He might not be able to survive at that condition. Even now, there were only a few people who were still alive from the cars. They were struggling to get out of the place while hoping that help would come soon.
"I should find a hospital soon…"
He might not have any wound, but William knew that he might suffer concussion since the car was crashed from the back so horribly because of the explosion. He looked around then started to check on the nearby cars, hoping that he would be able to find anyone who were still alive.
Bang!
Pushing the door open, William checked the passenger of the nearby car. The man was lying unconscious near the steering wheel with his forehead bleeding. William checked the pulse and realized that the man was still alive. However, if he was not treated in time, it might be his end.
'The wound is too heavy. I won't be able to help him in time,' William thought to himself. He didn't have any medical equipment with him, so he could only tear his clothes to make simple bandage if he wished to help anyone.
What should he do?
Prang!
William turned his head to the back and noticed that the window of the train shattered. Trains were equipped with the tools to break the window when it was emergency so that the passenger who were trapped could get out.
The window was facing his direction, and he could see a young girl with a backpack on her back walked out of the car. Her short and black hair looked messy, but she didn't seem to care in the slightest bit. She didn't immediately escape and helped the others who were still conscious to get out.
'Right, I can't help those who are unconscious, but I can help those who are still conscious.'
William turned his attention to the cars and tried to find anyone who were still conscious. Many of them suffered hard crash and thus unable to get out since the door stuck. They have to be careful since some of them also unable to move. Those who were unconscious would have to wait for the rescue team to reach this place.
"My feet stuck."
"Let me try to help."
Those who managed to get out were trying to go to the nearby hospital. There were ambulances at the edge of the road, but it couldn't come any closer because of the car's formation.
Thud!
Pulling the chair to the back, William struggled to free the man. He had just put him down when he felt that there was something wrong. His eyes moved to a distance where he could see several people were running.
As a soldier, he had good eyesight and had been trained to respond to many different type of situation quickly. However, he knew very well that the one he faced right now was totally different than what he had ever encountered in his entire life.
'Those people managed to get out…?'
It was then William recalled that one of the hospitals for people who got infected with R virus was located near the edge of the capital city. It was placed far away from the center because the government were worried that they might infect others. But since it was located at the edge and the destruction was only half at the edge, William could guess that they managed to escape.
"RUN!"
"Wha…?"
The man before him was stunned, but he still rushed to the ambulance car. William looked around him and noticed that most of the people have already run away. The only one left was the young girl who were still helping people to get out of the train.
"Girl! Get away from there!"
"Eh?"
The young girl turned around and looked at William with bewilderment. She was holding the glass breaker in her hand to break the next glass to help the people from the next part of the train to get out.
At this time, one of the people managed to reach the location of the young girl. He didn't look like an ordinary people. His face was still normal face, but his eyes held crazed look. At the same time, he was moving just like a dog that had been injected with adrenaline and wished to bite people. His mouth opened wide, intending to bite the young girl.
BANG!
Blood splattered from the man's head as he slumped on the ground. The young girl looked at William with blank look, clearly unable to comprehend what had just happened.
"RUN!" William yelled in annoyance.
However, there was another infected people emerged from the top and landed near the girl. Before William could do anything, the young girl already moved her hand and slammed the glass breaker tool to the infected man's head.
Bam!
The infected swayed to the side.
Bang!
William used the chance to shoot him down. He saw that the young girl froze in her place once more, so he rushed towards her.
He grabbed her hand and started to run while watching the 'people' rushing over to their previous location. Soon afterwards, they were busy smashing everything on their way crazily. Even if their hands were wounded or their body were scratched, they didn't stop.
It was as if there was nothing they could do aside from biting and destroying things.
"Get in!"
By this time, William reached the nearby mall. It was still standing despite some structural problem caused by the bomb just now. Most of the people there have already evacuated, but some of them were unconscious or died because of the rocks.
It was a horrid sight.
William paid no heed and dragged the young girl to the roof. The mall only has four floor, so it was not that far, but the young girl started to pant.
Bang!
Kicking the door open, William rushed into the roof and looked at the group of 'people' that were roaming around. His expression turned grim when he noticed that their number were in dozens. His gun only had 8 bullets left or so. It would be impossible for him to be able to kill them and made his way out.
"This is bad," William mumbled to himself.
The young girl looked at William then to the group of 'people' that acted more like animal. They were biting the dead bodies as if it was their food. At the same time, some of them destroyed the cars or others that still had people inside.
Her face turned pale as her body trembled. "Are they…. Zombie?"
William paused for a moment then let out a dry laugh. "It'll be better if they're zombie."
"They're not?"
If one were to see these people, all they could think in their mind would be zombie. After all, the word was already popularized to such extent. Though, no one would ever think of them appearing in real life before.
"Technically, they're still alive, so they're not zombie."
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