"Ahmed", Doctor Richard shouted as the dog-like zombie pounced upon his colleague, student, and someone he considered like a son.

"Augh", Ahmed groaned out as the intense pain from the dog-like Zombie biting into the flesh on his shoulder assaulted him.

Ahmed could feel it tearing through the flesh on his shoulder but he couldn't do anything to prevent it. He had tried to kill it by firing a few bullets when it was still in the air but none of them actually hit the head—which was necessary to kill a subject.

If his other arm worked properly, he would've shot down the dog with the first few shots. But Alas, the consequence of missing the shot was something that Ahmed paid dearly.

The dog had jumped over Doctor Richard and David, biting him straight in the shoulder.

"Damn this hurts", Exclaimed Ahmed, desperately trying to get the dog-like zombie to let go but in vain. After a second he saw David silently sneaking up to the dog-like zombie's hind spot and figured out his friend's plan.

Ahmed wasted no time wrapping his one good arm around the dog-like zombie, restraining its movement.

David silently pulled out a knife and stabbed the dog-like zombie in the back of the head. The Zombie squeaked when it got stabbed, trashed around for a bit and after a bit, its movement stilled—no signs of life evident in its limp carcass.

"Damn it", Ahmed grunted, holding his shoulder in pain.

"Ahmed!", Doctor Richard's voice rang out in Ahmed's ear, making him lift his head to look at the worried face of Doctor Richard who inquired, "Are you alright?"

Ahmed simply gave an exhausted smile at Doctor Richard's words, saying the answer that needed to be said without saying it. He also let go of his shoulder, letting the two see the state of his wounds.

"Don't give me that look!" Doctor Richard growled, furrowing his brows as the anger became more evident. "You'll make it out of this one alive, I promise you!"

"I appreciate your concern doctor. But I'm done for. Both of my arms are almost useless right now. Plus I'm also shot in one of my legs", Ahmed gave the doctor a complex look.

"SHUTUP!" Doctor Richard shouted amongst the sirens' beeping once again, silencing and surprising Ahmed, who had a downcast look. "I swore to your parents that day that I would keep you safe. And I don't intend to break my promise."

Ahmed was taken aback by the Doctors words. He didn't think that the doctor would think this far ahead.

"Show me your arm", David said as he tore the arm of Ahmed's Labcoat, revealing a gruesome bite wound.

The wound had a peculiar design—It was a circular bite mark with some teeth missing. The wound was deep considering how much blood was gushing out from the wound.

"Damn", A grim look appeared on David's face.

"It's that bad huh?", Ahmed let out a resigned sigh, seemingly accepting his fate.

"I'll try to patch up the wound but the virus has probably already entered your blood stream and you'll turn in under a minute if I don't do anything", David said with a seemingly downcast look. The look of frustration was evident on his face.

"No...It..cannot...be....", Doctor Richard mumbled out. It was as if the whole world had crashed down upon him. He could not believe that Ahmed—the one who he saw as something similar to a son, was going to die.

"And what about after patching me up?", Ahmed asked as he looked towards David. Seemingly asking for more time if possible.

"Hmm...", David thought about it for a moment, observed Ahmed's wound, and stated as he put pressure on the wound with a clean handkerchief that he took from Doctor Richard causing Ahmed to grunt in pain, "Probably around 10 to 15 minutes if you don't move around much. Now stay still and let me apply some emergency first aid"

"Augh....Okay... Haah...But...can't you....at least...be...a little gentler?...", Ahmed let out grunts amongst huffs if breath as David applied some emergency treatment to his shoulder.

"Don't be a pussy, Ahmed. Try to endure it", David stated as he seriously focused on patching up Ahmed's shoulder wound.

After applying pressure, the blood coming out from the wound lessened a bit, and David wrapped it up with a strip of his coat that he had torn off.

But that wasn't enough to stop the bleeding so he added another layer... And then another... And a third one. He kept adding layers upon layers of bandages until he had completely covered Ahmed's shoulder, making it seem four to five times larger than before.

He also used another strip of cloth and tightly bound the brachial artery; which ran alongside the upper arm, halfway between the shoulder and the elbow. This was done to reduce the blood flow in the arm.

"There, all done. You should probably not move the arm too much— or rather, you won't be able to even if you wanted to", David spoke out without a hint of hesitation.

"I see, thanks a lot.", Ahmed stated with a smile as he looked at David who stood up once again.

"No need. I'm only doing what is needed of me", David replied with a nod.

"Hmm.. if you say so", Ahmed smiled and then continued, "Well then, off you go. The both of you. And before you say anything doctor, just let me say this; I cannot move and won't survive—at least not as a human. But that is something I'd rather not become.", Ahmed stated with a calm smile.

"B-but-", Doctor Richard tried to say something but his words faltered.

"Besides, I'd rather die as a human. So go! Run along, I'll have a surprise waiting for the bastards who are coming", Ahmed smiled, his face pale for the blood loss.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Hmm.... Alright", Doctor Richard nodded reluctantly. He did not want to leave Ahmed behind but he knew that there was no other way. So, he gritted his teeth and looked away, wiping a tear from the side of his eye.

"I know this may seem a bit out of character, coming from me. But you've done well. And I wish to see you again", David said as he looked towards Ahmed with a relatively stern yet somber expression, "Be it in this life—or the next, Brother."

Ahmed's eyes widened at David's words but he closed his eyes and nodded, seemingly happy that David had called him brother.

"Indeed, me too", Ahmed smiled and then his face turned serious, "But before you go, do me a little favor...."

"Hmm?", David looked towards him with an inquiring gaze.

***

Ahmed's POV:

Ahmed sat with his back alongside a wall, his complexion pale from all the blood loss and exhaustion.

He sat alone, holding a few wires in his hands seemingly waiting for something.

Doctor Richard and David departed around a minute ago after helping him set up with this plan of his.

Ahmed sat back as he thought about his life choices. He had a rough life, from an abusive father to a mother who belittled herself and didn't want Ahmed to stand out as well. And a sister who had not yet married.

His father would beat him senseless whenever he tried to do anything other than what he wanted and he would practically rape Ahmed's mother Infront of him—who at that time was not even nine years of age.

His father died ten years ago when he was still 12 years old but he clearly remembered the bastard's face.

Ahmed had sworn to take revenge on that bastard when he got older every day for Abusing his Family. But he could not do anything to that bastard as he was still a weak and frail child at that age.

But fate didn't bless him that sweet moment. Instead, he was given the harsh medicine of reality called "life". His father died in a fire when he turned twelve.

He had been grieved about it for a while. No matter what happened between them—the bastard was still his father and only he deserved to kill him.

After his father's death, although his family grieved a bit. It was mostly his mother because, although the bastard would rape and beat her. He was still the man she had married And the man which she had fallen in love with.

But that didn't last long as they had to carry on living their lives. At long last, their family had been free of the cruel shackles of the thing called "Fate".

But Ahmed suffered the worst for another reason. He grieved for the reason that he wasn't the one who could kill that bastard, that he had failed to keep up on that promise of his.

After that, he became a person who was dead inside. He had no aim, no reason for living, no particular need or anything of the sort.

One saying is that "Reality always comes to bite you back". And that's what happened to him and his family.

His father's debtors and all the people he had owed to came like hungry beasts for his family, intending to tear it apart.

If they had gotten their way, Ahmed's family would've been on the streets. But it was at that time that he met a professor of his.

This professor was a middle-aged man at that time. He was a foreigner—something that was very rare in Pakistan; his native country.

This professor of his had been rich....like really really rich. Ahmed would go so far as to say that he was like one of the top 50 people in Pakistan when it came to monetary funds.

Ahmed didn't know why this man chose to become a professor but he was one of the only ones in his life who had never ignored Ahmed. He even spoke out and shouted at the bastard known as Ahmed's father when he tried to force Ahmed to drop out of school. And Ahmed respected him greatly for the fact.

Anyways, this professor was called Professor Richard Krooks at the time, a peculiar name, not known to many but that didn't matter as he was a good man in Ahmed's eyes.

The professor had always encouraged him to study and live his life to the fullest—despite all the harsh circumstances of life.

It was this professor of his that saw a talent in Ahmed. Someone who was seen by many as the bastard son of a bastard.

But Ahmed had rejected his offer to leave town and live somewhere else with the professor just to hone his talents—despite the location being one of the best universities in the entire world.

He just couldn't come to leave his mother and sister. Doctor Richard, who had been enthusiastic about inviting Ahmed, sulked and walked away dejectedly after Ahmed's rejection.

It had been a few years from then and Ahmed was now 15 and his family was stuck in a massive debt of more than 8 million Pakistani Rupees.

It was this professor of his who reunited with him made time for him and listened to his worries.

And after listening to him, the professor proposed something that Ahmed could not refuse.

The professor also had a son near his age named David.

The professor proposed that Ahmed should join IUBS—International University of Biological Sciences along with his son David who was two to three years younger than Ahmed.

The normal age for admission into a university such as this was at least 18. But this university in particular accepted students who were Extraordinary geniuses and helped them in achieving success.

Ahmed knew that he had to leave his family to go to the University but it was all worth it if his family was safe and living peacefully. And Professor Richard also promised him that all of his family's necessities would be taken care of by the professor's trusted people so he didn't have to worry.

Ahmed also knew that the professor would've helped him without the condition—he was that great of a man. But he did this so that Ahmed's pride didn't get in the way of him accepting the help offered.

His departure from his family had been a hard one as her sister and mother didn't want him to go and thinking back, maybe he should've listened to them. But Ahmed would not be ungrateful.

In his time at IUBS, He discovered that Although he was a bit Inferior to David in terms of pure genius, He could out perform the child with hard work and gain excellent marks.

There, he discovered that he was not a good for nothing like his bastard of a father said and that he could achieve something great in his life despite what others said.

After leaving IUBS, both Ahmed and David had been scouted into HBDRS—Humanitarian Betterment and Development Research Centre. And were made the deputies of the entire research center—the leader being Professor Richard.

It was at this research centre that he discovered things that previously seemed impossible and a "RESEARCH" that would be detrimental to the betterment or fall of the entire world.

All in all he was very grateful to both Doctor Richard for giving him the chance to become better and to David for acknowledging his merits and not treating him harshly.

He was grateful and he wouldn't let the chance to help them survive slip by.

Initially, he intended to escape together with them. But after the bite of the Zombie. He knew that it was a matter of time before he succumbed to the virus and became a lesser version of himself. So he wanted this time to help them both escape.

Ahmed broke out of his thoughts at the tremors in the ground.

'Tch, they're here already. It hasn't been enough time yet, he thought internally, gritting his teeth in frustration.

He looked at his stopwatch to see it counting back for about thirty seconds.

'I see, I'll just have to hold them back for thirty seconds. Seems plausible enough', Ahmed pondered, firming his resolve as he looked at the hallway in Infront of him, gripping the strings in his hands tighter than before.

Suddenly, the tremors began to increase into miniature earthquakes and the rumbling increased to shaking.

Ahmed tried to gulp down his saliva but failed miserably, causing him to cough frantically—his throat sour and dry due to anxiousness and pain.

'I guess not', Ahmed chuckled to himself.

Multiple tapping sounds of bodies hitting against iron rung out in the vicinity. Ahmed concluded that these were the sounds of the Subjects hitting the large iron door they had just crossed. Ahmed had remembered to close the door as just a type of Insurance. He knew that even though how large that door was, it wouldn't nearly be enough to hold back the subjects for more than ten seconds. But ten seconds were better than nothing right?

And it was not like what Ahmed had concluded. It didn't take the subjects ten seconds to overcome the obstacle known as the Sewerage door.

But rather they cleared it in four seconds at most. Another significantly larger rumble occurred as the twenty-meter-high sewerage door fell with a boom.

Ahmed sat against the door at the end of the hallway which was only a long single and narrow path with only one entrance except the one where Ahmed was sitting. And that entrance was a turn at the end of the hallway. This turn was around seventy to eighty meters away from his location.

Instantly after the booming sound the rumbling began to increase once again as the hound similar to a herd of wild buffaloes running resounded in the area.

Ahmed narrowed his eyes to the corner from where the subjects were supposed to enter, expecting them to arrive any second now. And it happened just as he expected.

A single zombie came running from around the corner at around speeds of 6-7 meters per second. Due to its high speed, it could not change it's direction fast enough and its head rammed against the wall perpendicular to the hallway entrance, causing its head to burst open, its body became limp and it fell to the floor.

"Well...that was anticlimactic", Ahmed spoke out loud as he couldn't stifle in his chuckle. He had resigned to fate so remaining gloomy wouldn't do this any favor so he decided to embrace everything instead.

But even though only one zombie arrived, Ahmed knew that it was only a matter if seconds until the rest arrived because he could faintly guess the amount of zombies from the rumbling of their footsteps.

And it was if reality had accepted his words as a form of challenge.

Not a second after the arrival of the first zombie. A huge collective mass of reanimated bodies and carcasses came flooding out from around the corner and hit the same spot as the first one with a huge thud.

The visual of hundreds upon hundreds of zombies running straight at the wall in front of the corner seemed eerie. If Ahmed didn't know what they were, he could easily imagine them to be some sort of wave of water flooding the entire hallway.

The zombies toppled and fell over one another creating layers upon layers of dead bodies. The zombies front tried to get up but couldn't as the ones behind them trod over, trampling them into the ground and creating a sort of stepping stone and belining towards Ahmed's location.

Seeing hundreds of zombies running towards him at high speeds, Ahmed's heart faltered for a moment. But then he firmed his resolve and waited for a moment.

And then it happened, the zombies covered the distance between Ahmed and their initial entrance in approximately 10-11 seconds.

Ahmed's stopwatch beeped almost instantly after giving him the signal that David and Doctor Richard had escaped.

But due to his wait for the signal, a few zombies had bitten through his clothes and into his bare flesh, causing him to release a blood-curdling scream that reverberated over even the sounds of the zombies' running.

He prayed in his heart for their survival and the safety of his family, firmed his resolve, yanking on the wires in his hands. Instantly after, an explosion occurred with a boom which engulfed the entire hallway.