Operation: DeadMan

CHAPTER-06: Trust and Belief

31st October, 2025: 2:45 PM

The late autumn wind blowing slowly under my ear, my heart still running on the thrill of despair. The clanking sounds of Shikto trying his best to shut the gates has yet to disturb the dead calm atmosphere.

“Y’all could help me out, you know. I’m trying my best to close this thing without sending a welcome note to those brain deads.” Shikto said as he struggled with the gates of the market. “Don’t bother, that pathetic excuse of gate ain’t holding any zombie down.” Mahi replied. “Better safe than sorry” Shrugging off Mahi’s comment, Shikto continued his quest to close this damn gate. The rust of time has slowly but surely eaten away the fragments of the gate’s pathetic existence. Even a blind man can tell from a glance that no man has bothered himself to give this gate a second look. The cogs of this thing have not met a single drop of oil in ages. “Is it even possible to close this damn thing without that terrible screeching noise tearing my ears off?” Shikto said to himself in annoyance. Taking a deep breath, he said, “I guess I gotta take this slowly. Remember, slow but steady wins the race.” “Shikto” “Hmm” “Shikto” “What? Don’t disturb me while I’m worki-” Shikto stopped as Mahi grabbed onto his arm. “Don’t make a single noise,” Megh whispered.

The road in front of the market was swarmed by countless zombies all on their knees. They were circling around some huge prey while flies were roaming around above. The road was painted in dry blood, which made it smell like a butcher shop. The store stood behind their gut-wrenching banquet. Every corner of the store was filled with zombies, not a single space left to breath. They could see zombies roaming around on the raw meat container outside the store. “I fricking told you guys that they would be here, you two just wouldn’t listen to me..” “Shut up! They could hear you yapping, Mahi.” Megh whispered. “What do we do now? Where do we go?” Mahi mumbled in fear. “We’re just gonna stick to our plan, we can draw them out you know.” Shikto consoled him. Their conversation came to a brief end when a zombie started walking towards them. Shikto gripped onto his axe, prepared to swing at full throttle. The zombie made eye contact with Megh. Its glare pierced his heart. His heart sank. The zombie continued to walk towards them. But suddenly, It stopped, and changed its path and started walking on the other direction. It walked past the tin shed they were in, looking uninterested. “What happened?” Shikto asked. “Maybe Its eyesight is terrible,” Megh replied. “Whatever happened, it won’t happen again.” Shikto added. Mahi broke a sweat and said “Do whatever you guys want…quickly. We don’t have much time.” “You see those metal handis piled on that van?” Megh pointed to a van parked in the sheds. Shikto’s brain flicked immediately. He asked, “Do you think we can pull this off?”. Megh replied “I doubt it, but what other chance we got? Let’s set up the rest of the trap.” “Yeah, leave that to me.” Shikto added.

The zombies almost cleaned the carcass of the animal, not even leaving a single fur behind. The only thing left in it were the bones and its horn which made it appear to be a cow. They were even trying to lick and bite the bones but it was too thick and robust to break off. Some of the zombies seemed to lose interest and walk off but none noticed their motion in the shadows of the shed. Suddenly, the metal handis and pots got pulled by something and fell off of the van, collapsing on top of each other which made an ear-splitting clanking sound. All the zombies from the roads thundered towards the van. Some of them slipped and fell on the metal pots, some got their feet stuck on the small pots and started running with it without even trying to detach it. The chaos they made was hilarious, making more noise by themselves and confusing each other. While the zombies were busy struggling, the trio sneaked out from behind a giant cauldron and made their way to the now completely disburdened store which looked like a safe haven. Shikto threw the rope which he was using to pull off the handis. They crouched past the cow’s carcass and went up the stairs to the store. Megh closed the glass door but there was still a drawback. The zombies could just push the door and get inside. “Look for the key, we have to lock it, quick!” Shikto decreed. Mahi rushed to the cash counter and started to look for keys in the drawers and cabinets while Megh and Shikto were looking out for potential threats in front of the glass door. The zombies seemed to be making enough noise to keep themselves busy, but it was just a temporary setup to buy some time. They should be able to figure it out sooner than later. Meanwhile, Mahi keeps opening and shoving in the drawers under the cash counter. “Shhh! Can you make any less noise?” Megh asked in annoyance. “I’m trying my best down here. We don’t have all day to look for keys nicely. Will locks even hold those things out?” “Leave the thinking to us and find the keys already.” Finally, Mahi got his hands on a bunch of keys, “I Think I found it!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Toss it ove-,” Before Megh could finish, some nearby zombies were already on their way to the gate, overhearing the noises inside the store. Mahi tossed the keys to Megh. “You lock the door; I’ll look out for them,” Shikto uttered. Hearing that gave Megh the slightest aspiration but that was all he needed. He bent down on his knees reaching for the door lock which was in the bottom-right corner of the door. He shuffled around the keys and chose a key that seemed to match the lock. He put it in the locker and tried to twist it but it didn’t budge. The zombies were closer than ever and were in great number. Shikto prepared for the worst. Megh selected another key but this time it didn’t even fit the lock. He looked up just to be greeted by the sight of the zombies dashing up the stairs. His worst fear came true, the eerie screams echoed around his head and his mind started to go blank. Megh fumbled and drop the key chain. Just then, Zombies started to push the door with such force that the duo got pushed back a few inches. With even more zombies coming, Mahi sprinted towards them and held the door handle tightly. “Pick up the keys, we know you can do it!” Mahi cheered. With the fates of his friends in his hands again, he picked they keys up, selected a key in notion while getting pushed back completely. “The zombies are pushing in, we gotta shut the door completely or the lock won’t fit,” Megh said in desperation. With his hands shaking rapidly, he put the key into the lock and twisted it. It fit perfectly, but they were too far off position to lock in the door. “LET’S SHOW THEM WHAT WE GOT!” Shikto screamed and together they pushed only a few zombies off limits. Shikto and Mahi started to push harder. The veins in their face were turning red, but the hopes of survival kept them going. Their combined effort was just enough to get the door back in position. With about fifty more coming along the way, Megh finally reached lock point and spun the key, successfully locking in the door. “Are you sure this would be enough?” Mahi pondered. “Let’s put things up and block this door for good before those rat suckers break in.” Shikto said.

They blocked off the door from the zombies view with store racks and display cases. They could still hear zombies banging in the glass gate but the noise was getting softer with each moment passing by. “Damn, that was close, it could’ve gone horribly wrong.” Megh sighed in both trauma and the sense of relief. “Don’t worry, we believe in you. Even if u didn’t manage to lock the door, we would’ve found another way out, trust me.” Shikto reassured. “You saved me twice now, man. Uh-I was a little ungrateful towards you, sorry about that.” Mahi consoled him. Megh managed a smile, “Well, you owe me then,” “He saved you punching that slippery son of a fish back there too.” Shikto added. “Well, guess we’re even then,” Megh corrected his previous statement. “Yeah, well I-I just…really miss my family…you know,” Mahi suddenly trembled down with his eyes full of tears. Shikto grabbed him by his shoulders, “Hey-hey, don’t cry now…not after-,” Shikto suddenly felt a sharp pain on his chest, as if something was trying to force out of his throat. “Your dad must be in Chattogram, he might be fine….the virus seems to only exist in Dhaka as of now. Don’t lose hope…” Shikto tried to brush of his anguish. “But we don’t know for sure,” Megh opposed. “Megh…” “Look, I know we all lost our families, man. I even had to kill my sister and father with my bare hands. There was nothing else that could’ve been done, just accept it. Crying right now wont change anything, just move on from it, like I did, your dad may be alive but we all should be prepared for the worst.” Megh said. “You aren’t helping too much….but the important thing is that we still have each other, we should be thankful.” Shikto added even though he was holding back streams of pain stinging in his chest. The pain of losing his beloved ones. He wondered what it would’ve been like if the never went to get the groceries, maybe he could’ve saved his parents, maybe they still would’ve turned into the living dead.