Operation: DeadMan

Chapter-03: Survive

31ST OCTOBER, 2025: 2:15 PM

“How long have I been running for? The muscles of my legs are no better than the zombies. With each step I took, it felt like needles to my feet. The gap between me and the zombies are only increasing, but it’s never enough. I neither have the strength to run, nor the courage to fight, nor the will to die.”

The streets were littered with trash. Each puddle wasn’t of water, but blood. Blood of those too weak to survive. The roadside stalls weren’t filled with laughter of cricket fans whose team just won, it was filled with the screams of those who lost. Even in the end of October, the sun shone harshly. It was almost as if it mocked the sufferings of the people below. Each and every car that is left abandoned in the street is nothing more than an obstacle in Shikto’s path. Without giving it a second thought, he jumped over every obstacle that met his eyes. He hurt his knees and ankles several times from constant struggle for survival. His palms had turned red. Cuts covered his hands. But he couldn’t take a break, he just couldn’t sit back and rest for a while. Each moment was as precious as gold. He had to keep on fighting to survive. Desperation made him climb such walls he never thought he ever could. But a mere wall is far from enough to stop the parade of zombies in seek of salvation. They crushed each other’s head to get to be the first one to reach him. He was running aimlessly, just trying to find some space to breathe. He chose the streets with the least zombies but there were still too many of them. He suddenly came across a dead end with nothing but another huge wall Infront of him again. With zombies at his back all the time, he didn’t think much before he started to climb the wall. As the arms of zombies almost slashed his face, he fell on the other side of the wall. But the other side of the wall wasn’t the destination he had hoped to reach. In front of his eyes was a construction site. A huge building met his eyes, it wasn’t fully constructed yet. There were rubbles and debris all over the place. The noise of the drillings had been buried under the screams of the zombies. Zombies dressed as construction workers chased after him the first chance they could. He tried to throw slabs and rocks at them out of desperation. But it did nothing to the undead. One of them even held an axe in his hand. Who thought these creatures who knew only the taste of flesh could’ve wielded a weapon like that? The zombies swung the axe. An axe coming for his face is the last thing Shikto had expected in a zombie apocalypse. By the skin of his teeth, he dodged the axe. He miraculously performed a kick to the zombie’s stomach. He never learned how to fight. It was as if the kick was just a last desperate attempt to survive. The drop kick was more than enough to break the balance of the zombie. He snatched the axe in the blink of an eye. Even though he struck the zombie aiming for its head, he still missed. How? Not even he could answer. He swung the axe once more to kill a zombie coming from his left but he missed again. He knew he couldn’t bring himself to attack with the axe anymore as more zombies were coming for him. So, he started running again. He got himself in the same situation once again, but at least he’s got an axe with him this time. Running in a construction site is no easy task. The people that once built the foundation of structures has become the very reason the foundation of mankind has shaken.

Zombies were chasing Shikto from left and right, a parade of zombies were coming from the front, His back was no stranger to zombies at that point. He started to walk up the stairs of the unfinished structure. It could buy him some time. The building seemed to have fewer zombies than the ground. But without a solid plan, going up a building in this situation could result in a bad way. After he went up two stories, he pushed some slabs to block the stair way. The slabs pushed some zombies off the unguarded stairs and made it impossible for more zombies to climb. With the stairs all blocked, he looked behind. Not to his surprise, there were still some zombies on the second floor but, there weren’t too many of them. This gave him some confidence. However; the zombies were already coming for him. The closest zombie came forward with its jaws wide open but this time, but he was prepared. He swung his axe with full strength and it landed on the right shoulder of the zombie. *CHOMP*. The axe came clean off the zombie. Its upper body slid right off and blood splattered under Shikto’s feet. He watched in horror as the upper part was still moving. But he knew what to do. He swung hard at the head, splitting its skull in two. It’s just like in the games, dismantling the brains seems to be the most effective here. With a few more zombies coming at him, He prepared himself to swing his axe again.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

In just mere seconds, the entire floor turned into a pool of blood. The once called “humans” lied motionless on the floor with their skulls scattered and a few had their heads ripped clean off. Shikto came to his senses. He fell down to his knees, “What have I done!”, he cried. He covered his face with his arms, he wanted to die, right then and there. He felt like a monster. He had just murdered six people. No, these are not people, the humans inside of them had already died. They are just husks of their former selves. Even though he knew that, he couldn’t bring his heart to it. He slowly started to stand up again, he had to survive. It looked like he triggered some zombies upstairs with the swings. He quickly tried to think of way to get off that building but it was too late, more zombies were coming downstairs. He couldn’t let himself to attack the zombies again so, he jumped to the side where the main entrance to the site was located. He landed on a pile of sand but it was still very painful. His legs felt like jelly but with zombies coming at him again, he had no choice but to stand up and run again. He forced his way out of the construction site somehow and made it to the same road he was in the first place in front of the market. A mini truck left deserted in the middle of the road met his eyes. With zombies coming from all direction, he had no choice but to climb on top of the truck that stood proudly in front of him. When he climbed to the roof of the truck, he saw helicopters in the sky searching for survivors. But unfortunately, he wasn’t in a position in which they could rescue him. He knew that. They probably even noticed him as he was on top of a truck in the middle of the road. But they weren’t foolish enough to come down and save him from the middle of a gradually increasing army of zombies coming out of everywhere. Saving one life with such risk just wasn’t worth it. His existence has no value for those at the top. The zombies down the truck reached out their hands in search of his skin. Beware! Even one scratch could be fatal. With a heavy heart he struck each and every arm that reached out for him with the axe. Intentionally or not, his grip was weak. The strikes were far from enough to slice those rotting arms clean off. With each arm he struck, it felt to him as if he was denying the arms of a beggar. If you look at it from a different lens, zombies are nothing more than beggars in need, in need of flesh that is. Shikto refused to attack more than he needed this time. Some zombies even tried to stack on top each other to reach him but he kicked them off. He struck one in the eye but couldn’t afford to go further. He was gradually getting outnumbered and his stamina was at its limits. He stood there shaking, not from fear, but from guilt, guilt of being the only one to survive.