It took Marshall about thirty minutes to get to the pool area. What he thought would be a simple walk was far from it. From the first turn around the corner of the apartment building, he saw multiple zombies mindlessly wandering. As he was not expecting this, it was a shocking sight. He figured he would probably run into one or two zombies on the route, but not so many and so close together.

Without having to think, Marshall ducked around the corner to not be seen by the zombies. After calming down, he peeked around the corner to gauge the zombie's reaction. He found the zombies wandering around the same area. They seemed oblivious to his presence. There was a great chance Marshall was not seen by the zombies, or maybe he was just lucky. Whatever the reason was, he was just happy not to be found.

After watching the zombies for a minute, Marshall became as cool as a cucumber. He had his bearings about him. With that said Marshall was finally able to think clearly. With all the information he knew about zombies' eyesight was not a particular gift they had. At most, they would see about five to ten feet ahead of them if they were lucky. What zombies were most known for were their ability to hear sounds and maybe the ability to sense life. Since Marshall was more than fifty feet away from them, he was safe.

Marshall had to think of a plan to deal with the zombies. He knew as long as he was not making too much noise and was careful with his decisions, part of the problem would be solved. The thing Marshall had to worry about the most was the number of zombies between him and the pool. If he was lucky, there would not be much more than he was seeing now, but if he was unlucky... only time could tell.

After deliberating on his plan, Marshall decided to not be stupid and take the longest path toward the pool. Since there were more than ten zombies around the corner, there was no way in hell he would fight them. He was not dumb enough to risk his life on such a stupid endeavor.

The building next to his was less than twenty meters away. After taking a deep calming breath and clenching his hand around his metal bat, Marshall was ready to take action.

Without taking his eyes off the herd of wandering zombies, Marshall speed-walked to the next building. The zombies did not turn toward him the entire time. After taking another glance around the corner, Marshall knew he was safe.

Ten minutes passed before Marshall ran into his first unavoidable zombie. It took a minute for Marshall to kill it. He found the zombie was more sluggish than the ones he fought and killed last night. It made the fight easier.

By the time Marshall reached the pool, he was dead tired. He had to kill seven more zombies along the way. What made it worse was he had to fight two zombies near the pool. Though the zombies were sluggish in their movements, their attacks were unpredictable. That made the fights more challenging than they needed to be.

Tired but cautious of his surroundings, Marshall and the kitten did a lap around the pool's surroundings. There was no visible danger in sight. Happy with his findings, Marshall fumbled for his keys. After finding them, he quickly inserted one into the pool’s front door entrance keyhole. Hearing the click, Marshall opened the door slowly. He did this to hide the sound of the rickety front door. Ever since he moved into his apartment, he never remembered a period of time when the door was fixed. It even became a staple in the community.

Once inside the building, the exhaustion caught up to Marshall. Before sitting down, for his safety, he walked further into the building and stopped between the weight room and the cardio room. This was the safest place he could think of to stop at. He was in between two solid walls and was far from any glass.

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Marshall slid down the wall to sit down. Within moments he remembered killing zombies would give him foreign energy through his bat. It would be the perfect opportunity for him to use it. Still tired, he got in a meditative stance and laid the bat on his lap. The kitten was following him the entire time and never made a sound. When it entered the building, it started eyeing the metal bat. Something from the bat was attracting it. So, when Marshal put the bat on his lap, it crawled after it. Marshall was surprised by this sudden change in the kitten’s behavior but was too tired to care.

After stroking the kitten, Marshall closed his eyes and focused on his metal bat. In the zone, he noticed the bat was slowly leaking energy into the air. On a closer look, most of the leaking foreign energy force seemed to be heading in a particular direction. Marshall tried following the energy but was finding it hard to push his perception further than his skin. It felt like no matter how hard he tried; he could not do so. Tired of this, Marshall was too exhausted to keep trying.

Start, Marshall did not forget to command his bat.

A flood of thick viscous energy flowed from his bat to his leg. It was hot but so comfortable that Marshall almost let out an audible groan. The new energy force was vastly different from every other time he used the bat. He felt his cells scream for more. Marshall almost lost himself to the addicting feeling the new energy force was just that comfortable. But in the back of his mind, he felt he should spread the energy throughout his body. Following that instinct, Marshall controlled the foreign energy force along his body. His control was far from perfect, but he got the job done.

After thirty minutes, the energy trickled to a stop. Before Marshall could react, the little kitten got off his lap and started wandering around the hall. Marshall looked at it speechlessly. What a weird cat, Marshall muttered.

Marshall got off the floor feeling like a million bucks. The energy seemed to melt away all of his physical and mental exhaustion. He felt something about himself change for the better. Marshall could not put his finger on it, but he sensed he was getting stronger. Maybe it was his misconception, but the feeling was there.

A minute later, with the kitten in toll, he exited the building towards the pool. The equipment shed was in the left corner on the other side of the pool. It was just a bit of walking to get there.

When Marshall reached the shed, he saw a padlock on the doors. His first thought was to break the lock with his bat, but he remembered every tenet was given the keys to the pool and shed. Around thirty seconds later, Marshall opened the shed to find the shovel. Thankfully it was still in the shed. Looking further into the shed, he saw other gardening tools.

With the shovel in hand, Marshall only needed to get a tarp. Looking around the pool, he saw one on the ground next to the building.

When Marshall was next to the tarp, he found it to be slightly bigger than he remembered. He realized he was making a mistake. His hands were already full, and the addition of the tarp would make the journey home harder than it needed to be. It never crossed his mind how he would transport everything.

Another thought snaked its way into Marshall’s mind. How am I going to dig the graves?

The weight of his decisions was getting to Marshall. He still wanted to do the right thing and bury the two people, and he did not want the dead zombies so close to his home. Who knows what kind of diseases their dead corpse would cause.

No, I still want to do it, Marshall said to himself. I just have to be careful.

With his mind made up, Marshall put the tarp under his armpit and started heading home.

Forty minutes later, Marshall was one building away from his apartment. It took a while to get comfortable with everything on him, and since he was avoiding contact with the wondering zombies, it took time for him to get home.