บท 17: Mind Puppeteer (2)

Benji was sitting silently on a roof, two of his puppets were obediently guarding him.

These two were one of the first evolved puppets, the robust man with fire powers and the blond female berserker.

That's what he called them, he was too lazy to give them names. Cain was an exception, he was his absolute favorite puppet that deserved a good name.

Benji called himself Solomon a long time ago when he was a kid and Adam was still around, he liked that name after discovering inside a boring book and used it always when they played like chuunibyou.

It put a smile on his face every time his puppets called him like that.

Anyway, Benji focused back on what he was doing.

Thousands of zombies were currently swarming towards the east.

He had already locked into the location of the survivors, his range was around 5 km(1) and he could use his puppets as scouts if he ordered them to leave his range. Benji could hear and see what his puppets saw, his focus was always split into many parts.

He still chooses to stay far away, acting like a true Mind Puppeteer.

Benji saw the state of the survivors and sighed, 'They said that it turned into hell but It's even worse than I thought.'

It was around 2 am and Benji observed how some soldiers and policeman beating a man, taking his wife away...

It made him feel bad but this wasn't the reason why he came.

'I would become responsible for them if I play the hero now...'

Benji took a deep breath, hardening his will.

Sirens echoed through the base, alerting the people. More flood lights were turned on, it looked like the camp came into life.

Benji observed the soldiers run to the fences and walls, getting read to fight.

His eyes lit up when he saw their guns.

'I knew they had them, now let gets started!'

Hundreds of zombies swarmed towards the defensive lines. The soldiers and policeman opened the fire, shooting frantic at the horde.

They cursed, it caught them off gourd. They didn't expect a horde to attack them in the middle of the night. Something like this had happened before but not at this scale.

More defenders joined them after some minutes.

Benji only smiled, a second, a third and a fourth horde attacked other parts of the defending lines.

The defenders didn't even have time to curse anymore, they were overwhelmed by the four hordes. It was then that they began to employ heavy weapons.

The whole camp turned chaotic, sirens were echoing out, leaders were shouting orders nonstop and amidst that chaos 16 shadows sneaked into the camp without anyone noticing.

They moved too fast with help of the night. Those shadows searched the camp until they found what they were looking for inside two buildings.

"Bingo hahaha!" Benji saw through the eyes of his puppets what he was searching for.

He didn't care how many zombies died while trying to break through the defending lines, they were normal grunts that only served as distraction.

His puppets moved according to his thoughts, knocking down the 10 soldiers that were protecting the building.

They entered the building and grabbed the things they came for when two voices came from outside the building.

"I told you something is fishy, there is no way so many zombies would attack out of nowhere." Said a playful voice.

"Shut up, you were lucky to guess right, now let's get rid of these rats, I want to continue enjoying that fine chick." Answered a rough voice.

The puppets turned around and saw two figures stepping out from the darkness.

Benji who was sitting on a roof 10 km away shook his head in disappointment.

"What a pity, they were still discovered...well it doesn't matter, no one can stop me from taking what I want..."

Benji saw a blond and a tall youth blocking the way out for his puppets. He was a bit surprised when he noticed their red eyes.

"Those things aren't yours, drop them and surrender." Said the blond youth, his tone playful.

The tall youth spit on the ground, "Stop talking sh*t we will kill them here and now!"

Benji observed them through his puppets and laughed out.

'They don't seem to be part of the army or police....die Jäger maybe?'

His puppets walked out of the building, most of them carrying boxes.

Both youths stared surprised at them.

"You are soldiers? Wait, your eyes...who are you people?" Asked the blond youth alarted.

Benji didn't blame him for asking such question, all his elite puppets wore military clothes.

He raided the whole north and there were a few military shops, he took their clothes for his elite puppets.

Benji smiled, "And you two are part of die Jäger I assume?"

Spoke Benji through one of his puppets.

The expressions from both youths changed, their eyes turning sharp.

"How do you know? Who are you?" Asked the blond youth, his playful attitude had now completely vanished.

The puppet only smiled, not bothering to answer.

The tall youth suddenly snapped, sprinting towards the puppets.

The street cracked beneath his large strides.

"F*ck!" Cursed the blond youth, he wanted to know more about these people before killing them.

He acted quickly, punching out in the air, flames came out of his fist, shooting towards the puppets.

"Oh? Interesting!" Commented Benji far away on the roof.

Two of his puppets rushed out to confront them.

A slim middle-aged man with messy black hair and glasses faced the tall youth while a short kid that only looked like he was around 12 years old lifted his palm.

Greater flames came out of the palm of the short kid in military clothes.

Both the tall youth and the slim man punched out at the same time.

An incredibly loud sound blasted outwards when their fists met.

Their fists caused a shockwave when they clashed.

Cracking sounds echoed through the area.

"Wha...t!" The rough face of the tall youth twisted in pain, his right arm snapped back in a strange angle and he was send flying backwards like a bullet.

The blond youth stared in disbelief, he couldn't believe what the slim man did to his buddy.

He knew exactly how strong the tall youth was!

He had no time to worry about his buddy because he found himself facing an uphill battle.

'WTF!!!'

His flames were engulfed by the flames from the short kid.

The blond youth was soon blasted away by the strong flames.

"Uh? They are that weak?" Said Benji while eating crystals like they were popcorn.

Both youths crashed into the building not far away, creating a mess.

Benji had nurtured quite a few elite puppets through the last week, only 4 of them turned out to be able of creating fire the rest were berserkers that could only enhance their physical power. Except for Cain, he was special after all.

The ruckus they caused drew some of the soldiers towards them, they were quickly surrounded.

Many guns pointing at them.

A sound of destruction came from the destroyed building...

The tall youth punched his way out of the debris, he looked at his broken arm, wiping away the blood from the corners of his mouth.

His murderous gaze focused on the slim man, in return, the slim man smiled back in a creepy way that sends a shiver through the spine of the tall youth.

The blond youth blasted his way out of the debris at that moment with his fire.

He looked like a beaten dog with his jacket half burned.

It was his turn to snap, "WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING THERE LIKE STATUES? SHOOT GOD DAMNIT, SHOOT!!!"

The soldiers were shocked by his outburst, opening the fire at the puppets...

Benji who was far away had an eerie smile on his face, 'Idiots...'

Everyone single one of the soldiers stopped shooting, their expressions horrified, even the two youths stared at the puppets in shock and fear.

The reason why all of them reacted that way was that the scene unfolding in front of their eyes...

No matter how many bullets they shot, they never reached the puppets, they all froze mid-air as if time stood still...

A bald man walked slowly out of the building followed by the remaining puppets.

One of his hands was inside his pocket and the other held the cigarette he was smoking.

His emotionless eyes wandered around the soldiers, he breathed out a cloud of smoke.

"You can die now..." Even his voice sounded cold and void of any emotions.

His hand made a motion as if he was crushing something, and the bullets frozen mid-air emitted cracking sounds. They changed shapes, turning from bullets into needles that headed back towards the frightened soldiers.

They had no time to react before falling down on the ground, their bodies riddled with gruesome holes...