The End Of Life

Kevin gave a slight nod, seeing Mark show his hand. Mark turned towards his sword and noticed it on the ground a bit far from them. The blood was still on the blade, but luckily not on the handle like before. Mark went near it and was shocked when the blood did not corrode the design on the hilt. 

As he reached out for it, Kevin caught his hand and shook his head. He was too concerned about Mark. Mark could only gently shake his head and remove Kevin's hand. He grabbed the hilt and could only grit his teeth at the slight burn his palms were feeling. He could feel the skin peeled off, but he did not show it on his face. 

"See, it's fine." As he whipped the sword to the other side to remove all the blood on the blade. The drops of blood simmered on the carpet and walls as it corroded both of them a bit. 

"Alright, let's go and get the petrol pump working again." Pointing at the control room in the corner. Kevin gave a nod as both of them slowly made their way to the end. Mark took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. He was feeling tense at the possibility of another zombie-like the one before inside the room. 

But luckily there were no zombies inside. Kevin got to quick work and fixed started to check the problem as Mark stood near the door to give him space to do his work properly. He looked outside towards the dead zombie body and the corroded surrounding. He sighed, seeing the new variation. 

'A new problem. This one is too much to handle. It spits acid, and it looks highly corrosive in nature. We can't fight this one with a melee weapon like my sword. Only a gun.' looking at the sword in his hand. 

'Looks like my healing power is more active after the last meeting with those devils. But does this also fight against the zombie virus? It healed the injury from the acid blood just now. The blood of a zombie should be enough to turn a person into a zombie if it gets into the body. So there are probably only two conclusions, one the acid blood does not have the same properties as the normal ones or my healing powers can negate the zombie virus. Which one is true?' 

He continued to get his observations in order and started making some basic conclusions from them. This only created more questions on top of the existing ones, which is a headache for him. 

"Mark, let's go. It's done. The pump should be working right now." said Kevin as he made his way towards the door after fixing the problem. Mark gave a nod, and they slowly crossed the hallway, without stepping on the acid blood. They got into the store and Mark said, "Check if you need anything from the store." Kevin gave a nod and went around the store and Mark went out. 

Walking out of the store, he saw Suzie and David's anxious faces. Suzie was the first to react when he saw Mark come out of the store, "Mark, what happened inside? We heard gun sounds. Did something dangerous happen? Where is Kevin?" she bombarded him with questions. 

Seeing her worried face, Mark could only shake his head and say, "No, Everything is alright. We encountered a new type of zombie, so we had to use the gun for it. Kevin is inside the store, checking for some equipment in the store." 

Suzie finally took a breath of relief hearing him. But David asked, "New type?" and Mark only nodded. This made Suzie also pay attention to Mark's reply. 

"Yes, a new type of zombie. This one spits acid and its blood is also acidic in nature. It was enough for the concrete to melt to some extent. We need to be careful of this kind. It is purple and the rest is similar to a regular zombie. At least this is what I noticed till now." he explained the zombie's features. 

David was shocked by hearing him. 'A new variation already? It looks like the zombies are also adapting similar to us.' he thought. David was concerned about the quick changes even the zombies are going through. Hearing the new variation which could spit acid took the difficulty up a notch. He looked at his hands and thought, 'When would I gain some advantages? Is my body slow in adapting to the virus?' 

"Alright, let's quickly fill the truck and the jeep. We need to get going and find a place to hide the truck." clapping his hands, he asked David and Suzie. David snapped out of his thoughts and nodded. He went towards the pump nearest to the jeep and started filling it up while Suzie filled the truck. 

After filling the vehicles to the brim, they noticed Kevin making his way with some tools in his hand. Like before, Kevin opened up the truck and kept his tools inside before closing it back and getting behind the wheel with Suzie next to him. 

David once again started the jeep and the two vehicles rolled out of the fuel station. David looked at Mark and asked, "Where should we go to hide the truck? We should find a big enough place for it." looking at him. 

Mark gave a nod and said, "I think we should search for moving companies or empty warehouses. They tend to have closed spaces with an open roof." as he remembered David's little adventure back in Loshin town. 

David also understood what Mark was up to and gave a nod. He slowly drove through the streets and could finally find a moving company. But it was useless as they did not have a closed place to hide the truck safely. Mark shook his head, seeing this, and David drove off. 

After searching for another entire hour, David stopped the jeep in front of the railway station. Mark looked at him and asked, "Why a railway station?" 

"Well, you see Evergreen railway station is a bit different from the other stations. It has a train repair and manufacturing factory right behind it. So there should be enough space for us to park the truck in the open under the sun. And the other reason is, I don't think people would come and search for the railway station for anything. So, we do not need to worry about it." 

Mark couldn't help but pat David's shoulder and say, "Looks like you really know a lot of things." David gave a nod and said, "Well, some perks from traveling a lot." 

"Well, let's drive towards the place they keep trains." and David nodded. 

David slowly went around the station and stopped the jeep once again in front of a steel gate. Mark looked out of the window and noticed the 'No Entry' sign on the jeep. He got down and climbed the gate. He opened it from the other side security room and David drove inside with the truck right behind them. 

Mark looked at the parking space the factory had and noticed a few bloaters and bitters already making their way towards the vehicles after hearing the gate open. He inhaled and exhaled as he took out his gun and started shooting. David and Kevin did not wait long to stop the vehicles and also get down with their guns to shoot the zombies down. 

Suzie also got down, and she had her way towards a nearby light pole. She grabbed it with both her hands and pulled it out. Mark stopped for a few seconds when he saw this and thought, "Looks like her body is now stronger than before.' 

She did not wait long to swing the electric pole towards the small horde of bitters making their way towards them at full speed. Her swing was enough to pop out a few of the heads of the zombies and throw the rest back. 

David and Kevin looked towards her and shivered for a second before they continued to shoot the zombies. Suzie took another wide stride and ran towards the nearest bloater. She once again swung the pole and surprisingly it was enough to throw it back a few steps too. She did not wait for it to stand up and brought it down right on its head. 

'Looks like all the times we went to the cages are slowly paying off now.' thought boh Kevin and Mark as they shared a look. After they continued to shoot and take out the zombies for the next 15 minutes, they stopped. Mark wiped the sweat off his forehead and looked at the zombies in the parking lot. 

He made his way towards them and said, "Well, looks like this place is done. Let's get going towards the warehouse in this place and we can finally get some rest after that." getting a nod from everyone else.