Tysone's eyes scanned the group of survivors, who looked more and more like children being scolded by their parents. They shook their heads. No one dared to question his orders. Not after they'd seen what he was capable of.
He then looked at Kohta. "You're on overwatch. Take a good position and provide cover fire if any of them get too close."
Kohta's eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning. "With pleasure." He grabbed his sniper rifle, a gleeful, almost maniacal grin spreading across his face.
Tysone gave a curt nod, and with a simple gesture, the doors of the truck swung open.
"Move out."
The first one to jump out was Haruto, with his heart pounding in his chest. He nearly tripped on his own two feet as he landed on the ground, the jarring impact sending a tremor through his entire body. Yumi followed him, moving with a surprising grace considering her sprained ankle. Kenji and Tanaka stepped out after them, their faces grim with determination.
They formed a shaky, but still coherent line, a small wall of flesh and sharpened metal standing against the tide of the undead.
They were all novices, but that would soon change.
"Begin!" Tysone commanded from the back of the truck, his voice carrying over the groans of the approaching zombies.
Haruto let out a shaky breath, raising the baseball bat he'd been given. It felt heavy, unwieldy in his trembling hands. The first zombie, a former office lady with her glasses askew, shambled towards him, her arms outstretched. Haruto squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, then swung.
The bat connected with a sickening crunch. The zombie's head caved in, and it collapsed in a heap at his feet.
Haruto stared, his chest heaving. He'd done it. He'd actually killed one.
"Keep moving, Haruto! Don't just stand there!" Kenji's voice cut through his daze.
Kenji, with his spear, was far more efficient. He thrust the sharpened point into another zombie's eye socket, pulling it out with a wet squelch before moving on to the next. His arms trembled from exertion. Clearly, he wasn't used to this kind of physical labor, but his will was strong. And he was determined to survive.
Tanaka was a whirlwind of clumsy but effective strikes. He wasn't a warrior, but the zombies weren't either. And any zombie that got too close for comfort would get a bullet in their heads.
Yumi was also holding her own. She was smart. She used her small frame to dodge under a zombie's clumsy grab, her knife flashing as she slit its throat. Then, while it was staggered, she drove the knife up through its jaw and into its brain. She shuddered as the creature fell, its black blood staining her hands.
It was a brutal, messy affair. The air was filled with the sounds of crunching bone, tearing flesh, and the guttural moans of the undead. It was a baptism of fire.
Haruto's movements became more confident with each kill. The initial fear was being replaced by a grim, almost adrenaline-fueled determination. "Die! Die! Die! Die!" He screamed, battering away at a particularly tall zombie that was wearing a tattered business suit. He was getting into it. And that was exactly what Tysone wanted.
The frontline held, for now. The survivors, once timid and afraid, were becoming something else.
"Good." Tysone nodded in approval. "Marin, Rei, you're up. Support them without making it too easy. Don't steal their kills. We're here to build up their confidence, not their reliance on us."
Marin grinned, twirling her short dagger. "Got it. Time for some target practice."
Rei nodded, her expression serious. She understood the importance of this exercise. They needed to expand their roster of capable fighters.
The two of them moved to assist. Rei, with her lance, was a pillar of support, her movements fluid and precise. She'd parry a stray zombie that got too close to Haruto, giving him the opening he needed to finish it off. Marin was more aggressive, her movements a blur of stabs and slashes.
Tysone heard she'd be sort of learning from Saeko too, but that was a story for another day.
Kohta, from his perch atop the truck, let out a gleeful laugh. "Clear shot! Clear shot!" He pulled the trigger, and a zombie's head exploded in a shower of gore a hundred yards away. "Oh yeah, baby! The king of destruction is on fire!" He was a man in his element.
Tysone watched over the operation, his eyes narrowed. Saeko stood beside him, her katana still sheathed. She was a silent, watchful guardian.
"It's going well." She noted, glancing at him.
He nodded. "They're doing better than expected, but I fear Haruto is getting a little too cocky."
Haruto, indeed, was now screaming incoherently, swinging his bat with wild abandon. He was no longer aiming for the head, just hitting whatever he could. A zombie's shoulder, its chest, its arm. The creature, though battered and broken, was still coming.
"Haruto! The head! Aim for the head!" Rei yelled, noticing his behavior. She dispatched a zombie of her own before turning to him.
Haruto didn't listen. He was lost in the adrenaline, a berserker in the making. He brought the bat down again, this time on the zombie's knee, shattering it. The creature fell, but it was still alive, crawling towards him on its one good leg and its arms.
If he didn't have a well-organized team backing him up, he'd have been surrounded and eaten. Haruto was hardly keep distance between himself and the horde. If he was on his own, he'd be swarmed. He had no technique and no discipline. Couldn't keep a clear head in a fight. He was just swinging wildly like a madman. It wasn't enough. It was sloppy and dangerous.
"Tanaka, Kenji! Cover Haruto's left flank. Yumi, your right. Don't let him get isolated." Tysone's voice cut through the chaos.
He wanted to let Haruto learn from his mistakes, but not at the cost of his life. They were a team, after all.
Tanaka and Kenji moved to flank Haruto, their weapons working in tandem to dispatch the zombies that were closing in on him. Yumi, despite her injury, managed to keep up.
Haruto finally managed to land a clean hit on the crawling zombie's head, silencing it for good. He stood there, panting, his chest heaving, his bat dripping with black blood. Still, he charged forward again, screaming his lungs out, swatting aside the zombies that came at him.
Until he slammed into a much bigger one. It was a big man, easily over seven feet tall and built like a wall of muscle. He was wearing a tattered construction worker's uniform, his name tag, 'Kenshiro', barely visible under the grime and blood.
Haruto's bat bounced off the big zombie's head with a dull thud. The big zombie didn't even flinch.
Tysone's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "An evolved..." Then he smiled. "This is a good test."
Saeko's hand tightened on the hilt of her katana. She was ready to intervene at a moment's notice.
Haruto, however, was not so lucky. He was so caught up in his frenzy that he didn't realize the danger he was in. He swung his bat again, and again, but it was like trying to chop down a tree with a toothpick.
"Haruto, get back!" Yumi screamed, lunging forward and stabbing the big zombie in the leg with her knife. The zombie grunted, but it was barely a scratch.
Kenji and Tanaka tried to help, their own weapons glancing off the big zombie's thick hide.
Tysone merely observed as the evolved zombie lifted a meaty arm and swung it down.
Haruto's eyes widened, death flashing in his eyes.
Kohta fired, his rifle bullet aiming for the zombie's eye.
The monster, sensed the incoming threat, and moved to block it. The bullet pinged off its thick, forearm muscles.
Meanwhile, Rei hastily moved to yank the frozen Haruto out of the way. "You idiot, you could've gotten yourself killed!" She screamed, her voice laced with panic. Haruto's eyes stared blankly, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He had just stared death in the face, and it was not a pleasant sight.
Marin, seeing the opening, darted in. Her movements were a blur, her daggers flashing. She aimed for the back of its knees, trying to cripple it.
The zombie grunted, stumbling slightly, but its immense size and strength made it difficult to bring down.
The big zombie turned its attention to Marin, a low growl rumbling in its chest. It swung at her, a slow but powerful blow. Marin managed to dodge, but just barely. The wind from the swipe sent her staggering back.
"It's too tough!" Yumi yelled, her knife now broken at the hilt after a failed attempt at stabbing it again.
The survivors were struggling. They were out of their depth. This was a different kind of threat. A stronger, more resilient one.
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.