As if the day couldn't get any worse, the damn building fell over next to us. Well ok, we could have been in it when it fell but this is a close second. Visibly has gone from ass to total dog shit as I can barely see my own hand in front of my face. I climb to my feet, trying to listen for any more zombies through the ringing in my ears. I can barely hear them screeching, but I can't tell if it's the distance or my blown out hearing causing it.

Unfortunately, the dust is now so bad it's causing my eyes to sting. This brings with it a whole new set of problems, like the fact I can't see anyone. I go to press the safety off on my gun, it taking me a moment to find the button to make sure it's on the red setting. Probably should have been ready to shoot earlier but I didn't want to shoot Seymore and Karen, and the follow up zombies were dispatched quickly enough.

“‘cough’ ‘cough’ Roll ‘cough’ call! Make noise if you're not dead! Sara!” Robert screams out through the dust somewhere to my right. He runs through the list of names getting either an affirmative or hacking death coughs in reply. Toby and George are to my left, Sara, Seymore, and Karen are behind me, and Greg is somewhere between them and Robert. I'm called last, and simply reply calmly with “On your left.”

Unfortunately, the screeching the damned is getting closer, probably spurred on by all the noise Robert is making. The odd thing is, the screeching sounds almost pained. Maybe it's the dust, either way, they are closing in slow enough they definitely aren't charging us. The bad news is the lack of sight means we can't see them, so we can't shoot them, at least not from a distance, which is a huge danger for everyone else. Regular people will lose in a close up fight with these things every time.

But I may have a solution to that problem, and the lack of sight plays into my favor here. I unshift my horns, feeling the new sense snap into existence a good twenty feet out. Feels a lot like opening a second set of eyes. To my right I sense who I assume is Robert, moving around a bit, slowly moving towards me. Behind me the three are huddled together. I can't tell who is who but two are standing and one is on the ground, not a good sign. Toby and George look to be up and moving, albeit also slowly, while Greg is moving towards Robert. At Least he is until he falls to the ground, and I hear cursing from his general direction.

I don't sense the zombies yet, so I watch for them while everyone else gets their footing back. Eventually whoever was on the ground gets up, while Greg makes it to Robert and they start to move towards Toby And George. After a few moments of yelling back and forth, they make it to one another. So I start slowly walking my way back to the group. Emphasis on slowly, as every fucking rock in the road and on the sidewalk seems to be between me and then, and trying to gouge a hole in my foot. Super human strength and durability or not, stepping on a rock without a shoe hurts like a bitch.

Then Karen, Sara, and Seymore start moving towards Robert and the other three, leaving me as the only one out. My ears have finally stopped ringing, allowing me to hear the unsettling sounds of the rubble settling and shifting down the street behind us. Right as I start to think that stepping out and unshifting may have been a waste of mana, the first of what is probably many zombies to come shambles into my detection range.

I double check my gun, trying to keep my eyes open through the stinging of the dust. Safety off, round chambered.

“Lucy! Where are you?” Robert calls out, causing the zombie to pick up speed and change from producing a low gurgling noise to wretched and heavy breathing.

“Shit!” I hear someone curse behind me.

I don't respond, instead taking aim with both hands at where I feel the zombie. With a bang my first ever shot is fired with strained eyes through the blinding dust at a target I can't even physically see. I fucking missed of course, judging by the metallic tang in the distance. And the recoil causes the gun to buck in my hand. I manage to keep hold on it thanks to my strength, but need to readjust my grip due to how much it moved. Note to self if I survive this, go to a shooting range and get practice, even if my parents are against it.

The zombie of course takes major offense at the loud noise, and promptly changes its direction to straight at me. By the time I get my grip re situated, it's only teen feet away, but moving at a jogging pace. I aim again and fire, this time ready for the recoil. It staggers for a moment, leading me to believe I've landed a hit, before it lets out an angry screech confirming it. Behind me, two of the survivor group break off and start rushing towards me.

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I aim again and fire another shot, this one also causing it to stagger, while the pitch of its heavy breathing changes drastically. A second shot in rapid succession causes it to fall down, before the soul and parasitic attachment both unravel and fade away. Guess I hit something important. I call them zombies but mind controlled puppets is honestly a better description, the body will still stop working if it takes fatal damage. Probably a mercy honestly, I don't want to even imagine what it would be like if they were still aware, just not in control.

I turn towards the two survivors running toward me, hoping to stop them before they get close enough to see me, which would have to be very close, but still better safe than sorry.

“I'm fine, just more dead men walking. Stop running! I'm not healing you if you trip and sprain an ankle!” I chasize the two, causing them to slow down.

“Are there any more?” Robert calls out.

I open my mouth to respond no, but because nothing can ever be easy another zombie walks into my sensing range before I can get the words out, followed a moment later by a second one.

“Yea, at least two more.” I respond, which causes the two to turn their paths directly towards me.

“Hold on, we'll come help.” Robert replies.

“No!” I call out, stopping him. “Wait there, I don't want to accidentally shoot you instead. I can handle it, just wait there.” I say as I take aim at the closer of the two approaching zombies.

Robert says something back, but I can't hear it over the sound of the bang of my pistol firing. My first shot is a hit, same with the follow up. Somehow I miss the third shot, the sound of the bullet ricocheting off something metallic further down echoing up the street. Fourth times the charm, as a wet squelch causes the zombie to stumble to the ground, the soul dispersing not long after. The second zombie is closing fast, picking up speed and letting out what sounds like eager moans as it zeros in on me.

I think to myself about how the image of that sound coming from a zombie will be haunting my dreams as I fire the first of my last three rounds at it, the resulting hit causing a wet squelch and interrupting its moans. A second shot follows up with another hit. It staggers for a moment, but keeps going, now with a decrepit gurgling in place of the moaning. I hold my last shot, letting it get closer until it's right in front of me. I begin to make out its silhouette through the dust, and pop my last bullet straight into its head. It snaps back, instantly falling silent as it seems to teeter for a second before falling over backwards.

I walk forward until I can see the corpse before me, giving it a good kick to make sure its dead. It's a young woman, can't be any older than twenty five, and completely naked. I can only wonder why, the warning siren definitely gives enough time to get dressed. Of course I don't get to wonder long, as three more zombies walk into my range from further down the street again. This is going to suck, because I’m pretty sure we need to go that way. And I’m out of ammo, well shit. Well I can still physically overpower them probably, especially since most of them seem to be decrepit, for lack of a better word. I guess having a brain sucking demon attached to the back of your skull will do that. I could blast them with a screech spell then beat the crap outta them. On second thought, not a good idea. I’m already missing one shoe, and I don't wanna risk damaging the gun by beating their skulls in with it. Granted I could just try to bash only the Jellyfish. I could also try to scrounge a new magazine out of the gun bag I've got, but I don't know how they packed this thing. I might end up scrounging around forever and find nothing.

I decide to play safer rather than sorry, with three of them and low visibility something could easily go wrong. I turn around and walk back to Robert and who I assume is either George or Toby, shifting my horns away before they can see me.

“So slight problem.” I say before I near where I last sensed them.

“Don’t tell me there’s more of them.” Toby replies.

“At Least three. Probably even more further out but I can't hear them. Oh, and I need more ammo” I reply.

“Shit.” Robert says, only for Toby to pipe up before he can get another word in.

“Wait, don't you have the gun bag? How are you out of ammo?”

“I don't know how y'all packed this thing and I ain't going to go digging through it while zombie wannabes with the munchies are walkin up on me.” I reply

“How far out are they?” Robert asks.

“I don't know, like thirty to forty feet maybe?” I reply, giving my best guess on the distances.

“Alright, we’re heading back to the others. Toby, help her get a new magazine and some spares. We should have given her more to start.” Robert says, causing Toby to step up and grab one of the zippers on the bag on my back.

“Mags for your gun are stored in this pocket” He says while fishing out two new ones and handing them to me as we walk after Robert. “There’s also a few boxes of loose rounds in there if you ever need them.” He adds in.

I thank him as I shove the spare in my pocket and swap out the empty one in my gun. I have to fight with the bag a bit to get my empty back inside but get it handled by the time we get back to the others, zipping the bag up as I almost walk into Robert's back.

“Up the street is a no go, so we'll have to go the Gates street route. The streets aren't going to get any safer so we have to hurry. Everyone link hands and keep quiet, we might be able to use the poor visibility to our advantage. Robert says, addressing everyone else. Who I can't see even while standing directly behind him. Something tells me this is gona be the shitiest shopping trip ever.