I had never faced so many zombies directly before. In the first moments, as I saw literally every visible space filling up with hundreds of dead people rushing towards us, I even thought of fleeing. And... I cancelled that thought.

But at least I had the opportunity to use the technique I had long wanted to try on a large number of zombies.

With a few percent of the energy in my hands, I ripped the iron door off the entrance to one of the hangars and threw it into the crowd of dead. I had to use another ten percent, but I couldn't skimp on that because I needed a visible effect. I had to think of ways to replenish my energy during the fight.

The door flew sideways like a boomerang, hitting at least twenty dead people. Hmm, not bad, but there were still too many of them. And the upper parts of the zombies that I had hit were still crawling towards us. So, I continued to eat the chocolate bars I had stuffed into all my pockets and fired a clip from my Glock. Paul, along with the fighters, also opened heavy fire to cover the evacuation. But it was so noisy there that I wouldn't be surprised if those outside the fence were surrounded by dead people too. Too bad our sensor had probably already turned into. The last time I saw him, he was bleeding to death running into one of the warehouses.

We'd probably all be dead. But the situation was improved by Amir, who had figured out how to use his abilities to stop the oncoming wave. Taking control of the dead, he simply threw them under the feet of the other zombies, instantly creating a crush. They stumbled and fell, knocking the others down. It gave us an extra 10-15 seconds.

Vika was suddenly standing next to me. She didn't look too good, to put it mildly. She had a black eye, a busted lip and a torn t-shirt. It did not hide anything, and it was symbolic of the presence of at least some clothes. The girl didn't pay any attention to me and was now firing furiously at the incoming dead.

I didn't know exactly how many zombies there were in that horde, but I thought we might had even managed to fight them off. But some of the fighters gave up and ran for the fence, hoping to jump over it faster. I was trying my best with a Tyre iron to hold back the dead, breaking through the narrow passage between the fence and the warehouse.

- Matt, we have to go!!! - I heard Amir's voice behind me.

I would have gone, but I was simply afraid to turn my back on the dead, thinking that they would immediately flood me with their bodies, and there would be no defense to help me.

But I had to run. First of all because my Tyre iron had slipped from my hands, which were completely covered in someone else's blood.

When I turned around, I saw that our first major battle with the dead had ended in a complete rout. And if the zombies hadn't been distracted by devouring people, we'd all be dead by that time.

Maybe we should run that time. We'd already saved everyone we could, staying there is suicide.

I helped Amir over the fence and ran to Vikki, who was literally dragging her brother on her back.

- Run! I'll carry him! - I shouted to her and picked up Paul.

I helped the wounded comrade to go into the opening I had made earlier, and then he was already being taken away by others. I skillfully climbed over the barrier and breathed a sigh of relief. There were no zombies on that side of the fence yet.

- Wait for someone to climb through the opening and shoot them there! - I shouted, hoping the fighters would figure out how to plug the hole with the dead.

- Get out of here! - shouted Paul, who had risen to his feet.

- I won't leave you! - cried a tearful Vikki as she was being dragged away from her brother.

- Matt, put her away, please, - he asked me in a calmer voice.

Then he raised his gun and fired a few shots into the hole in the fence.

- Vikki, let's go! We're all going to die here because of you!

- I'm staying with him! - she tried to wriggle out of my arms.

I had to use force because the girl was determined to stay with her brother. So, I threw Vikki on my shoulder and ran to the cars. There I threw her into the back seat, got behind the wheel and stepped on the gas. The girl started hitting me on the back until Amir, who was sitting next to her, stopped her.

- What the hell have you done? You left him! - she shouted.

- Vikki, calm down! He was bitten, you know what happens after that. And you still have people who need you. Just calm down!

She wanted to say something, but she stopped talking and just whimpered, looking out of the window.

Their group was based in the same house. Only now they had joined several neighboring properties, around which they had built improvised fences.

As we drove up, two lorries full of survivors were unloading in the yard.

- I got out of the car and walked over to the only familiar person I could see.

It was the same Don we had argued with about Mary.

- What are you doing here? - By the looks of him, he was unpleasantly surprised to see me.

- Helping you to free the girls. How many came?

- Eight fighters and thirty-one girls.

- Fuck...

I had no other words for it. So, there were more than 80 people down there, no less.

- Where's Paul? Vikki? - he finally turned his head in my direction.

- Paul is dead. Vikki is in the car, waking up.

Don swore profusely. Then our attention was drawn to a girl who was insistently saying something to the fighters. They were asking her to go further into the house. I decided to ask her what she wanted.

- Hey, fighters, let the girl come to us! - I shouted to them.

They let her go and she started walking towards us.

- Did you want something? - Don asked.

- Yes. There are children hiding at the school, near the grocery store. I saw them through the window and ran for help. But I was caught.

- Can you describe exactly what you saw and where the school is?

- Yes, of course I can. Will you help them?

Don hesitated, obviously not knowing how to politely refuse.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

- Look, we've lost many people now. I'm not sure we'll have time for a mission any time soon.

- I'll go, I told them.

- Do what you want - he shrugged and walked over to Vikki, who had finally gotten out of the car.

- Now, tell me where this school is.

I drove carefully to the place, hoping not to attract the attention of the same crowd of zombies. I had an idea to go to the base and see what was going on there, but I dismissed it immediately, simply because it was stupid and suicidal.

Amir wanted to come with me, but I asked him to stay with the group. The defense was already very weak there. Basically, just women with machine guns. God forbid they should be attacked.

So, I walked alone towards the school, not forgetting to look around. The girl said she saw schoolchildren in the canteen. They were building a barricade and refusing to let her through another entrance. I had to find out why the children were so determined.

As I looked down the corridor of the school, I realized that clearing the building was out of the question. There were too many dead. Children, teenagers and parents who had come to rescue their children and were inevitably trapped. By the way, it was the adults who looked the most terrible, because they were so badly bruised.

And the children were found. In the canteen. I decided to go in through a separate entrance, where the food was delivered, and knocked politely.

- Go away! - I heard a child's voice as soon as I knocked.

Well, at least some kind of post has been set up, that's not bad.

- Boy, open up, come on. Haven't you got any grown-ups in there?

- I said get out!

Oh, come on. The boy had to be about ten years old, he had got a child's voice.

- Kid, either you open the door, or I'll take it out. I'm warning you, - I said, adding a little threat to my voice.

- W-wait, - he replied and, by the sound of it, ran off somewhere.

A few minutes later I heard the lock open. As the door swung open, a boy of about fourteen or fifteen was standing in front of me, gesturing for me to come in.

- Come in, - he said roughly, showing me a knife in his hand.

- Just don't cut yourself, OK? - I wasn't afraid at all.

There were about thirty children of all ages in the dining room. The door to the school itself was littered with chairs and tables, and in the middle was a chair with one of the older children in it. But what surprised me most was that at his feet was a naked girl, with long dark hair, quite a nice figure and very big eyes. She probably worked here as a teacher. English, probably.... they were mostly young and pretty.

- Doggy, - the teenager turned to her and kicked her lightly in the side. - Don't you see we've got visitors? Hurry up and get him a chair.

She nodded vigorously and crawled on all fours towards the pile of furniture.

- Who is this Lord of the Flies? - I wondered aloud.

In fact, I was wondering if there would ever be a time when nothing in my life would be a surprise.

- Like what? What flies? - He frowned. - Uncle, are you on drugs or something? What the hell are you talking about?

Meanwhile, the kids had formed a semicircle and were trying to get me into a ring. And the girl, who I had already called 'teacher' in my head, pushed a chair over to me and immediately ran over to a boy and started kissing his feet.

How did they break the girl so quickly? That was fucked up. OK, let's try and find out what was going on.

- Sit down, sit down, while I let you, - the schoolboy said. - What do you want from us?

- Actually, I was sent to help you get out of here and take you somewhere safe.

- What if we don't want to?

- You're not suicidal, are you? This town is full of dead people, and it's getting worse every day. When the food runs out, what will you do?

- Uncle, I'll only tell you once. .... I am God! And I can save my own people. So why don't you get the hell out of here? Or do you want to have some fun? Although I'm not really interested in your opinion. Just sit there and watch, because I told you to. Doggy, he said again. - Suck my dick.

She immediately unzipped his fly and began actively polishing his cock.

- Nooooo, boring - he said, taking her by the hair. - I'm bored with you. Better crawl over and serve my guest well. Only in such a way that he thanks you and goes away. Do you understand? And you, Uncle, be happy that I shared such a beautiful girl with you!

And then the teacher immediately began to carry out the order, walking in my direction.

- What are you doing? - I asked, getting up from my chair and approaching her. - They're just students.

She waved her head hysterically and started to cry. I sat down, took her hand and said:

- It's all right. Calm down. Tell me what's going on.

- Hey, where's my spectacle? What the hell are you whispering about? - the teenager shouted.

The girl looked back at him, then pressed herself against me and whispered.

- He's not human... not human. Run while you still have the chance! He can move objects using only the power of his mind. He used to kill anyone who spoke against him. And when he got tired of that, he started throwing knives and other things at us just for fun.

- Aaaah..... That's what happened.

The guy thought he was the only one with powers. The feeling of omnipotence multiplied with teenage stupidity and sometimes even cruelty was a crazy mix. And then he just went mad with the permissiveness. Well, I was going to get this straightened out.

I stood up and walked towards the grinning schoolboy, who turned out to be telekinetic. It was obvious that he really wanted me to attack him, to demonstrate his power and to see the fear in a grown man's eyes. He even did it theatrically, lazily moving his palm and throwing a knife at me. The knife just hit me like a concrete wall and fell to the floor.

- Oh. I should say 'ouch' now, shouldn't I? Do you still feel like a god?

The guy panicked and threw the rest of his knives in my direction. Whether he was weak or hadn't learned how to use his power properly, he only managed to take 12% of my energy. I even politely let him finish his attempts before giving him a light pat on the head. He was a schoolboy after all. And subconsciously, I had a hard time fighting kids.

- Is anyone else against your leaving this place? - I asked, looking around at the frightened children.

They were silent. That was understandable. As was the way this schoolboy had managed to organize his improvised 'kingdom' here. I saw only four high school students here. All the rest are children under 12-13 years old.

The teacher didn't seem to care about violence at school and ran up to the teenager and started kicking his unconscious body in anger. I thought if I hadn't stopped her, she might have killed him. Although maybe that was what she wanted to do, who knew.

- All of it. Stop, - I pulled her away from the schoolboy.

She turned, put her arms around me and burst into tears. Then she took my hand and led me to the room where the dishes were being washed, as I remembered. She didn't even try to cover herself, obviously used to her own nakedness.

Inside, the rest of the teachers were waiting for me - there were seven of them. They were all women, of course, of all ages. All naked and looking terrible. Everyone was cut and dripping. Including an old lady who looked to be in her seventies. The bastard didn't even spare her.

- They didn't want to obey, so he abused each one of them, - the girl began. - Kevin and his classmates beat us, raped us, cut us. They put a bottle inside Kate. I thought she wouldn't survive, honestly. Then I offered myself to him so he wouldn't touch the others. I was afraid he'd play with us and move on to the children. I know he had stared at me at school, I had seen the looks. So, I thought... if I told him I'd obey him completely, he wouldn't touch the others. And then maybe someone would come and get us out. Thank God you're here.

Bitch. Bastard. Moral freak.

- Did you say the rest of the students were in on it too? - I asked, carefully removing ropes from the teachers.

- Yes, they helped him.

- Can you walk?

- We'll try. But where to?

- That's my problem.

I walked briskly back to the canteen where some guilty teenagers had taken several primary school children hostage with knives to their necks. Apparently, they realized they were about to be turned over. I glanced at them and quickly tied up one of the pupils who was still out of his mind.

- I warn you, - I said in a deliberately calm voice. - If you surrender, I'll just tie you up and take you to the military. They will take care of you on their own. But if there is even a small cut on the children, I will cut off pieces of you and throw them to the dead in front of you. And then I'll make you watch as they eat your body parts. I've got anesthetics and I can stop the blood.

Yes, I was bluffing, but it was important to scare them as much as possible.

- Your friend is only a telekinetic, and a very weak one. There are much stronger people these days. Like me. Are you sure you want to upset me?

They gave up and let the children go one by one. Then they let themselves be tied up.

Meanwhile the women began to come out.

- Where are your clothes? - I was surprised they hadn't put their clothes on yet.

- That bastard threw them out into the street, - the teacher told me. - It must still be lying there.

I went to the window where the teacher was pointing and saw the clothes lying there. Well, of course, this was in addition to a dozen wandering dead. And that time for me was the task with an asterisk. How did I get all this kindergarten out of there?