Looking at the mission, there is 1 hour and 05 minutes left.

I bit my lips, trying to ignore the heartache. I need to move on, since I can't release them from their wandering, I should look at the rest of the neighbors.

I got down and moved the ladder again, looking and calling in the other walls. At the left side, there was no movement or sound, it seems the house was empty at the time of falling.

Going backward it began to wind.

Looking at the house in the back, I looked down, since the night was clear I could see the house backward just fine enough, or so I thought.

Even among the noise of the leaves, I can hear some crunching sound and cracklings, which after this evening, I couldn’t just discard as nothing.

But I still can’t see its source.

I closed my eyes, trying to discern the sounds better.

Finally opening them, I locked my eyes in one place.

Narrowing my eyes, I could detect slight movements that differ from the leaves around.

I looked back and, not seeing anyone from my family, a tactical flashlight was brought out from my space between me and the wall, blocking anyone's view of how it showed up from thin air.

I bought this baby some months ago thinking one day I could need it and I was right!

Such useless thoughts were erased from my mind when I turned on the light and saw something I wanted to unsee.

It was a bloody mess…

There were bones of a baby in the yard, which I only noticed now, a child zombie and an old woman with their body whole, they must have been the first to turn, an old man with half his face eaten and without an arm and a woman with her back to me with some meat missing and the scalp without some chunks.

They are crouching, moving something I couldn’t see well, because they’re piled up above it.

I didn’t want to think much, so I focused on finishing it soon.

After attaching the lantern to the arch with some tape, I shouted:

“Hey… YOU! YES, YOU ALL! COME HERE!”

Calling them to have a better view of their head to hit, they stood up and I was able to see a man's body, almost fully eaten, there was just some meat in the face, abdomen, right leg and shoulder and some viscera left.

I couldn’t help feeling cold, even as this was the second time I saw a person being eaten.

Looking at the zombies, I could see some bits and pieces that didn’t go down their mouth attached to their teeth or nails and blood that could be from any of the ones that rises from being bitten, the man or the poor baby.

‘Don’t think, don’t think, don’t think…’

I gritted my teeth and began shooting arrows.

When I finished putting the bodies to sleep forever, I saw movement in the corner of my field of vision.

“Gasp!”

That body still moved, not because it was alive, but it turned too.

Moving its jaw in place, it looked fixedly at me with glassy eyes, unable to change position immediately, but still forcing its body to move. His remaining muscles visibly trembling, contracting, with some black blood gushing out.

After some effort it moved a bit, in my direction.

From some point, I covered my mouth without noticing.

‘Why is it like that… Why even in that state it still moves and looks for people to eat…’

I pulled another arrow and soon lodged it in its forehead.

I glanced around, it was a whole family, from old to young, the result of just two people that turned. That shows me how bad the world must be transforming right now.

‘Who knows if the government and army can even react, after all, how many of them I can hope to survive if things are like this? I can only help myself…’

I turned off the flashlight.

Moving again to the front wall, I looked at the street.

"Hey, are there any zombies around? Come here... helloooo...."

There are little more than thirty minutes left before the mission time is up, so I hope to get some more points, while eliminating possible dangers.

I called a few times, looking around.

Hearing the door opening, I glanced back, seeing Sophia, my cousin, walking out. She was pale, opening her mouth a few times, but no sound came out of her mouth. In the end she just got inside again.

I stopped calling and just looked down.

The same happened after a minute, but one time with Gael and the other with Gui.

‘Are they worried? Should I stop?’

When I decided to go down, I heard a bunch of heavy footsteps.

Narrowing my eyes, I turned on the flashlight again.

Glancing all around, I finally found the origin of the sound at the end of the street.

A man came running with a bunch of zombies in his back.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

There were at least ten, from what I can see.

I pulled an arrow in a hurry.

“Come on… Come on…”

Ready, I prayed the guy was fast enough to get where I can help him a bit.

One hundred, ninety… Even though I didn’t feel confident enough of hitting, seeing the guy was almost getting caught, I shot.

Shoulder.

Eighty-five, eighty…

I tried again, the arrow grazed the face of the closer one and hit the chest of another in the back, neither fell.

And again, this time I hit it’s mouth, but it continued moving.

Seventy-five, seventy, sixty-five, sixty, fifty…

After a few more tries, I finally knocked out the two closer, giving the man a space to breathe.

He shouted with all his might:

“OPEN THE DOOR, PLEASE, OPEN THE DOOR!!!”

‘Stupid!’

As soon as the thought came, I saw four zombies scrambling from the side, on his front, less than ten meters away from him.

“DAMN.”

I pulled a few more arrows and shot those.

“Arya, what happened?!”

At the same time, I heard my dad's voice from the back, but I couldn’t spare the time to look or talk.

After I knocked down the ones in the front, the ones in the back almost caught up to him, because he slowed down when the ones in the front showed up.

“RUN, damn it.”

He reached less than thirty meters away, while I hit some more giving he some distance from his pursuers, so I took the time to say to father:

“Dad, I will explain later… Just open the door when I say you can open, if I don’t say, please don’t be a hero… please, dad… Oh, and close the door soon after he gets in…”

I pulled another arrow and shot.

‘I'm getting tired... this is dangerous... if we had met them going out, I don't know if we would be able to survive… I don’t know if this guy will be able… and saving him is a risk too…’

‘It’s okay… We’re many together, we can just get him out of here when there are less zombies…’

Glancing down, everything is in place.

My dad is at the door with the key, ready to open it.

Fifteen meters…

Shot… Missed.

Ten meters…

Gritting my teeth, I shot another two arrows, even with my hands trembling a bit from overwork, I hit my targets this time.

“OPEN IT.”

Pulling another one, I hit the closer one, giving my Dad enough time.

“BANG!”

The door was closed when the guy got inside and I was finally able to stop.

As I felt the strength in my body fading, I chose to go down. Sitting on the floor, my whole body was trembling from exhaustion.

‘Seems like I have exceeded my limits.

As the adrenaline leaves me, I can’t take it anymore.

‘What to do…’

Finally unable to bear, I laid down in place.

A blank in my mind, I couldn’t hear any sound.

'Maybe I passed out without noticing for a moment?!'

With such useless thoughts, I came back to myself again and noticed the persistent bangs at the door that drowned my dad’s and the guy’s voice while they’re whispering, I couldn’t discern any word.

‘uhu… I hope the door is strong enough…’

“Arya, come here, let’s go inside.”

Dad called me.

‘I don’t want to get up...’

I continued lying down.

Noticing something wrong, my dad came closer, looking down at me.

“What’s wrong?”

Mustering all the strength I still had in my body, I said:

“Too tired… even to talk.”

I closed my eyes, refusing to continue.

“Arya?”

Remembering how I have been running since the morning, I felt even more tired.

I really need a pause, just a bit…

《☆》

“hmmm…”

I stretched. There is a bit of pain in each muscle of my body, but I still feel refreshed. Still lying, I began massaging my arms… but it was a bit strenuous with my body like this.

“Awake?”

I heard a voice and jumped in place, kicking the sheet over me and opening my eyes wide, only to close again the next second.

“Auch…”

The movement was so sudden that my whole body protested with pain. So I fell down in the bed again, still managing to look up.

“Now you remember to be vigilant?”

It was my dad, looking at me condemning.

“You said for me to not be a hero, but there you’re shooting arrows to exhaustion, just to sleep in the ground soon after with zombies hitting on your door and with a stranger nearby, without knowing if it’s safe… Even if I was there, you shouldn’t be so carefree!”

I got up, doing my best to not show pain again.

I instinctively knew it would get this talk to length…

While hearing his constant berating, I remembered the situation before sleeping.

Knowing I was wrong, I sheepishly nodded my head, repeatedly saying sorry and ensuring that I'll be more careful in the future.

And as my dad wanted to continue, my belly rumbled loudly, protesting.

‘I could eat a cow right now.’

“Sigh… Okay, you go eat, your mother kept some chicken for you in the kitchen.”

“Thanks, dad…” As I felt like running out after amnesty, I remembered to ask, “oh, by the way, how much time did I sleep? And where is the guy?”

My father massaged his temples, mumbling something, while I looked at him confused.

"Two hours… Steve, the guy, is sleeping. Now you go…" He stated, somewhat unhappy.

'I wonder what made him like that… well, forget it, let's eat…'

I walked to the kitchen, humming.

《☆》

After getting my fill, I belatedly thought I had more importantly things to worry about.

I got up and walked outside.

Noticing that from time to time there was a small bang at the door. I climbed the ladder that was still in the same place I left.

It was excruciating, the pain in my abdominal and arm muscles became more noticeable, above any other, every second climbing the ladder.

From the top, I saw scattered zombies moving in the street, with two walking in circles near the door and sometimes hitting it with its body before continuing their circle, besides many bodies of the ones I killed in the ground.

‘One, two, three… eight, maybe…?’

It was a bit dark in some places, since I don’t have my flashlight with me and had to rely on the light of the street poles and gate lamps.

‘That’s just the ones near my house after my two hours of sleep… How many did I kill? System? What is the outcome of the mission?’

A mechanical voice sounded in my head:

“Mission concluded, prize is 310 points.”

“Sigh… That’s good, but I wish I was able to kill those yesterday too… I would have enough…”

Thinking about finishing it, I remembered I left my bow lying beside me when I slept.

“Huh?”

I looked down thinking about going down and up again.

“No, nope… I won’t.”

I gave up cleaning and just stepped down, getting back inside to rest more.

Back in my room, I got it all to myself even when there were many people, thanks to sleeping almost fainting earlier, and locked the door.

After pulling out of my space some muscle relaxant and massage cream, I chugged down the pill and applied the cream in my arms, abdomen and legs with slow movements, choosing to not massage too much, since my arms are too sore already, and hope the cream and medicine solve it.

I laid back in bed and began planning what to do from now on.