The silhouette stalking us across the city was already only a couple of steps away from his lunch. And at the moment when it jumped at us, Pakhom slammed the brakes and abruptly turned the steering wheel to the left, diving into a small passage between the houses. He lacked in skill, or maybe the wet asphalt was to blame - our car bounced on the sidewalk and crashed into the wall of the house with its right side and stalled.
Pakhom, as if expecting such an outcome, grabbed Katya's armpit and pulled her out of the jeep. The giant creature having missed its target, flew ten meters forward, and crashed into the thin trunk of an ash tree with its shoulder. There was a crackle, a rumble, and then a frenzied roar of the creature.
Two conflicting sides took up arms against the monster at once. The defenders fired rounds from their carbines, and the altered ones from the green faction, like ants, quickly clung to the huge specimen from all sides and clung to it with their toothy maws. The creature roared again and, waving with its powerful long arms, scattered most of the attackers to the sides. He grabbed a particularly impudent one who bit off his ear and, lifting it to its chest level, tore it in halves with a wild roar. Having bathed in the blood and guts of a smaller monster, he launched parts of the bodies at the people who were on balconies.
Having dealt with the small fry surrounding him, the giant remembered its target - us. But by that time, I had gotten out of the car and, exhausted, was hanging on the shoulder of Pakhom, who was dragging me away. In my left hand, I still clutched my precious spear - as long as I live, I will never leave it behind! Apparently, this «never» will come in about five seconds when this creature gets to us.
I pushed Pakhom aside and, staggering, grabbed the spear with both hands. The old man, cursing, stood next to me, and unsheathed his saber. The one-eyed creature charged at us, splashing everything around itself with rainwater. In an instant, the giant closed the distance separating us and already carnivorously opened its huge mouth, clearly intending to swallow us both at the same time.
Here the mutant gorilla leaps, but stops dead in the air. For a moment it seems to me that this is exactly the feeling that people experience in the seconds before their death. Consciousness freezes and allows you to think about your mistakes, to come to terms with what will happen now. However, a second passed, then another, and the creature was still hanging in the air. Its eyes, burning with malice, now clearly expressed bewilderment. The creature squinted at its belly, at two layers of slimy tentacles with suction cups around it.
The giant, dangling its legs in the air, grabbed a tentacle and tried to tear it apart. His fingers slid over the writhing flesh, and it could not free itself; it couldn't even inflict obvious harm on his new opponent. And now his legs, armpits and throat were clasped by the tentacles of two sub-elites from the green faction. They abandoned the fight with humans and came here for more valuable, or tasty, prey.
The octopus-like creatures pulled him back. Giant roared, jerked and loudly clicked with his toothy jaw, unable to reach the slimy flesh. Suddenly, abandoning all resistance, he stared at me and opened his mouth.
«Crap! I know this trick. »
The spiked tongue shot out like an arrow would from a bow. I put up the bone spear in front of me, and it saved my life again. Red flesh, like a snake, coiled around my magnificent weapon and flew back.
“No!” A cry of pain and resentment escaped me. The bone spear slipped out of the wet hands and flew back, towards the creature, ending up between its teeth. It feels like my weapon was his target from the very beginning.
The giant clenched its jaws and the spear cracked, breaking into three pieces, one of which the creature immediately swallowed. A second passed, and the creature began to increase slightly in size, and the eye, which had been blinded out by a shot, was restored as if by sorcery.
«This bastard became even more dangerous! »
“Let's get out of here!” Pakhom yelled into my ear, throwing my right hand on his shoulder. I finally came to my senses and, allowed myself to be led away from the epicenter of the battle.
“Where's Katya?” I asked him as soon as we turned into the yards.
“Hopefully already at the camp! Fuck, they barricaded all the passages!”
The three-story old building now looked like an abandoned property. All windows up to the third floor, both in the apartments and in the entrance, are boarded up or were stuffed with furniture. The doors are iron, and probably blocked from the inside. It was as if no one else was going to leave the house ever again.
We hobbled across the yard and came across another barricade on the other side of the road. The same blockade, two meters high, only it rested against a concrete wall with barbed wire, behind which there were railway tracks. All around it was deserted: neither the monsters, nor the guards of the fortification were visible.
Jumping over the barricade, I almost fell into a bear trap. There was almost a dozen such traps; they were not even hidden, and, in fact, it is clear why - after all, they are defending from mindless zombies. As soon as we overcame the peculiar ramparts, a sonorous children's voice was heard.
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“Here they are!” Katya shouted, pointing her finger at us.
Pakhom and I immediately stopped dead, still, because a couple of senior people pointed their guns at us - a man and a woman. They were prudently covered with yellow and blue raincoats from bad weather. After carefully examining our faces, the plump, cheeky woman was the first to speak:
“Were you bitten?”
“No, beauty!” Pakhom answered quickly, not giving me a chance to open my mouth. “Lucky for us, we arrived almost without any incidents!”
The happy owner of the blue raincoat decided to break into the dialog:
“Why is that friend of yours staggering and holding on to his side? Got sick somewhere?” The voice was creaky in an old man's way, and it became clear that he was about eighty years old. Thick eyebrows and a long-hooked nose peeked out from under a wet hood.
«I don't understand: only old people and children survived? »
“Nope,” Pakhom shook his head. “He ran into an old and rusty armature, about half an hour ago! I saw it, I swear to God!” And several times vehemently crossed himself.
“Is he mute? W, why didn't he even squeak once?” He stared at me with a pair of small, barely distinguishable because of shaggy eyebrows, evil eyes.
“I'm not mute.” My voice sounded hoarse.
«I hope Katya didn't have time to blurt out anything... Otherwise, half a day of running around and suffering will be in vain. After all, I could've died from the same old fart in the morning»
That old man, shaking his jaw, thought. During this time, I was able to inspect their camp a bit.
«Given how much time has passed, they organized everything here quite well»
Behind the back of the procession meeting us, taking up the most space in the middle of the camp, there was a huge tarpaulin tent. I'm willing to bet that such a colossus has been collecting dust in this hunting shop for a long time.
To the left of the tent, long, low-floor buses were parked against a high concrete wall. On the far edge of the camp from us, there was another two-meter fortification blocking the road. However, it was also empty - after all, all the defenders repelled the attack from the side where we came from. I quickly counted about thirty people. This, of course, is clearly not all survivors; some, I remember, I saw on the balconies, for sure, even in apartments, several people were hiding in were. According to my estimates, the total number of people gathered here should be about a hundred, maybe a little more.
The silence dragged on a little, and Pakhom disrupted that moment's peace:
“Estimated hunters and fishermen, sirs, are we going to get wet for much longer?”
The long-nosed one grunted and, lowering the gun, held out his freed hand to Pakhom:
“Edward!”
“Pakhom!” My friend gladly answered the acquaintance.
After a firm handshake, Edward noticeably relaxed and extended his hand with a slight friendly smile. I forced a grin in response; a wave of relief swept through my wounded body. The palm of the old man turned out to be rough to the touch, like an old dry branch. Edward was now looking into my eyes with warmth, when, suddenly, his gaze unfocused for a second. He turned pale abruptly, as if a liter of blood had been sucked out of him.
“Ehm...” I wanted to describe how it really is, but in the next second the big-nosed old man jumped back and threw up his gun, aiming at my head.
“Alla, he's infected!” Edward screamed.
A couple of events happened almost simultaneously: in the street behind the besieged barricade, several loud explosions and a series of rifle bursts thundered. Looks like reinforcements have arrived.
And one shot sounded a meter away from me, the bullet whizzed past my ear without harming me. Pakhom made it in time, saving my body from getting another hole. He was able to intercept the rifle at the last moment.
Now he was standing, covering me with his body from the big-nose senior's companion. The gun in her hands was shaking; the fingers on the trigger were trembling; likely it was a novelty for her to shoot at living beings.
“No need to panic, my friend is fine!” Pakhom said in a stern tone and grabbed the gun out of the stiff hands of the big-nosed senior. “The bites of these creatures do not work on him.”
“Lies!” A fountain of saliva seemed to fly out of the old man's mouth; even heavy rain could not overpower such a powerful outburst. “My talent clearly indicates that he is infected! It works with everyone! We need to kill him before he transforms and infects the entire camp!”
“Aunty, don't listen to him! Uncle Sasha won't become a zombie!” Katya also came to my defense.
«Damn you, skills! Just as I thought that everything goes too smooth! »
Pakhom turned his head slightly in my direction.
“Are you infected?”
“Yes, it says so, but...”
“SEE?! I DID TELL YOU THE TRUTH!” The senior squealed, nervously, gesticulating with his hands. “Somebody help, infected here!”
However, there was no one to listen to his cries: it seemed that everyone was busy with the final battle with the sub-elites.
“Shut up, maggot! Otherwise, you will have to look for an experienced dentist for a very long time!” Threatened Pakhom.
“Alla, shoot this one too!” Edward continued to rage.
“Wait! Let me just leave now, don't shoot anyone!”
«Eh, farewell to the place in the camp of survivors with other humans and carefree leveling. »
“That's right, we're leaving!” The old veteran decided to support me in this matter. From this, even somehow, it became embarrassing for all the previous thoughts about him.
“No, I'll go alone. You will stay here with Katya.” I winked at him and smiled slightly. “I'm sick of looking after you two!”
Pakhom took my joke in silence and with a sullen grimace, but Katya, on the contrary, unexpectedly stamped her foot in the puddle and shouted:
“Yes, go away, even if you have to move on all your fours!” Although her overly emotional play looked believable, her eyes remained the same cold and calm.
Pakhom sighed heavily and said:
“Katya, give me the backpack.”
“No need!” I tried to refuse immediately, but…
“Yeah! Are you going to scare the ghouls with your ugly asshole? Come on, take it, take it! Don't be silly.” The old man put a backpack on my shoulders by force and shoved his precious saber into my hands. “And here's...” He rummaged in his pocket and handed me the last grenade, trying to do it furtively, without attracting the attention of a local sweet couple.
I was forced to accept his gifts and, looking up, met the eyes of an extravagant neighbor:
“Thanks, I owe you.”
“Of course you are! And now, go already.” Pakhom patted me friendly on the sore shoulder and looked in the direction of the barricade. A dozen guys jumped off to the other side of the road. The battle had already ended and they, apparently, went to meet the arriving help.
I said goodbye to Pakhom and, after looking at Katya for the last time, wandered away from the camp. Now I won't be able to come back here soon. Tired and exhausted, I somehow got over the barricade and, holding my hand against the high concrete wall, wandered off I don't know where.