Differently from the previous rooms, the entrance to the bathroom did not have a proper door, so Danny could not choose to bar it and come to inspect it later. He had to either ignore it for now or get inside to check it for threats.

Since he had chosen to get rid of the three zombies in the previous corridor to avoid leaving lingering threats at his back, it only made sense to investigate the bathroom immediately before continuing with his exploration of the floor. The same logic applied to both cases.

Unfortunately, Danny could not see what lied inside the bathroom. To get to the stalls, one had to go around a wall that now blocked Danny’s vision. Whether he turned left or right, it didn’t matter. Both paths led to the same location. Most of the bathroom lied hidden behind that annoying wall that blocked his sight.

Given the tight turns and limited space, Danny armed himself with his hammer this time around. Even if killing zombies with his crossbow was quieter than doing it with his melee weapon, in the confined and tight spaces of the bathroom, his ranged weapon made for a poor choice.

Stealth was all good and dandy, but personal safety was still the number one priority. Remaining hidden would do him little good if he ended up dead.

With his hammer slightly raised in one hand, Danny quickly turned the corner, ready to swing it down at first notice.

It was fortunate that he did so as well, given that he came face to face with a zombie that motionlessly stood in front of him as soon as he got in.

The undead had pieces of his neck missing and his nose had been chewed off, completely disfiguring what once had been a fairly handsome man.

Its appearance mattered little to Danny however, as he immediately swung down his arm upon seeing the zombie. Mostly on reflex.

The creature’s eyes barely had time to focus on him and recognize the presence of a living prey in front of it before it was smacked on the side of the head.

However, as it fell to the side and crashed into one of the bathroom stalls, Danny realized his enemy was not down to the count yet. It was only momentarily dazed by the unexpected blow to the head.

Danny’s attack did not carry enough power behind it to fell the zombie in one go.

Even if he had reacted quickly to the unexpected threat, the close proximity of his enemy and the suddenness of the situation took away the power of his swing, making it weaker than his usual strikes and softer than it needed to be to claim the zombie’s life… if one could call it a life at all.

He had come to rely more and more on his improved senses to locate and identify the creatures.

So far, his hearing had never failed him. Not even once.

Danny had always managed to spot his enemies before they became a problem until now. So, when he came face to face with a zombie which, uncharacteristically, stood motionlessly and in complete silence, without groaning or doing anything else that would reveal its position, it was not surprising that he was caught off guard.

Fortunately, he did not underestimate the danger of his situation and had been prepared beforehand with his hammer semi-raised which, in turn, allowed him to react in time, even if not in a decisive way...

It did not matter that he did not finish his enemy in one go though.

Taking advantage of his enemy’s poor balance after the opening strike, with a following swing, Danny hammered its head with increased power while it was kneeling on the floor and leaning into the stalls’ partition, finally taking care of it once and for all.

He had been flustered there for a moment and fumbled a bit with his weapon but he was still learning how to deal with various situations and how to fight properly and efficiently.

And he was learning fast. The him now was way more proficient with a weapon and well-accustomed to combat than the him from a few weeks ago.

Time was the greatest of teachers.

Next time, he would not make the same mistake. He would be better prepared. He was alive and untouched while his enemy was down, and for now, it was all that mattered.

After taking care of his latest kill, Danny opened the stalls of the bathroom one by one to make sure that no other nasty surprises remained in there. Though one of them had its interior painted in blood, it appeared that there were no more zombies in there other than the one he had already dealt with.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Afterwards, Danny left the bathroom and went back to the intersection of the corridors.

Peeking over the corner, Danny scouted for any possible incoming threats that may have been attracted by his graceless melee from a few moments earlier. However, no new enemies had presented themselves coming his way.

Danny could not hear anything other than the periodic groanings he was already getting used to. They came from many different directions but without getting any closer apparently, so he threw himself back to his exploration of the floor.

The only open areas that remained for him to check on this level were the last corridor and the stairway.

After inspecting them, he could start cleaning this floor of the building of any remaining threats and securing it as a safe place to retreat in case things got dicey when he eventually faced the majority of the horde.

The rest of the exploration proved to be less exciting than he expected.

After closing a few more doors and isolating the remaining rooms, Danny found out that the third and last intersecting corridor did not contain any zombies in it.

‘I guess that the proximity of the stairwell made it easier for any zombies that may have initially been here to fall down to the floor below.’ He thought, venturing a guess as to why there were no threats waiting for him there.

‘I am not complaining though.’

Danny closed the last opened doors on the third corridor before cautiously risking a peek at the lower levels of the stairwell.

Although its shape and structure did not allow for him to see beyond the second floor, Danny could discern the toppled outline of an improvised barricade.

It appeared that some survivors had made their last stand on the second floor of the building.

The flimsy barricade comprised of various different pieces of furniture piled atop one another sadly did not manage to stop the onslaught of undead as the various splotches of blood and the gaping hole right in its middle revealed. Even so, it gave Danny a good idea on how to better secure and cement his position at the third floor.

He already had the idea of finding a good funnel point to deal with the horde, but making multiple ones might be even better.

By constructing a similar barricade at the entrance of the third floor from the open stairways, he would have more options in case he needed to retreat.

‘Though it will take some time to build anything actually useful, it is definitely worthwhile’.

That was something for later though. For now, he had to clear all of the office spaces from threats and see what he could find in them.

Danny doubted he would find anything extremely useful for his current mission like a gun scavenging the rooms on his floor. If the survivors had anything like that available, they should have made use of it when they were overrun, no doubt.

If so, even if he eventually found a firearm on the factory’s premises, then it most likely would not have any bullets left. Not to mention that it would have been left where most of the fight had happened, definitely not on the third floor where Danny was currently at.

Even so, it was still worthwhile to check what he could find. There were no immediate concerns insofar he remained hidden to the horde at the factory, so he could take the time to snoop around a little.

Just to make sure he was not missing anything particularly useful.

Now that there were no more threats left in the corridors, Danny could afford to relax a little bit. He could not drop his guard entirely, but he had some extra breathing room to think and plan without worrying about being ambushed at the next second.

He had two short term goals for now. First, he had to set up a barricade by the stairs, and second, he had to clear out the office rooms and search them, not necessarily in that order.

‘I think it is probably best to start with the rooms closer to the emergency stairwell.’

The closer the room to the open stairway, the bigger the risk that any noise he made while fighting the remaining tapped zombies would alert the undead below.

Therefore, Danny chose to start with the rooms closer to the emergency stairwell which were easier. The better sound insulation of the emergency stairwell gave him a little bit more of wiggle room in terms of noise. Each one he cleared was one less room he had to worry about, improving his situation even further before he had to deal with the thornier options.

Besides, the more rooms he secured, the more places he had to run to in case something went wrong and the more resources he could potentially find stored in them, increasing his advantages all the more.

By the time he had to pull up his metaphorical sleeves and deal with the bulk of his enemies, Danny wanted to have as many boons lined up in his favor as possible.

This was humanity’s way. This was why humans had ruled the world for so long.

To make use of your intellect to bend nature and the environment to your favor was the reason why intelligent creatures could come out on top of much stronger ones. Tiger’s and lions, elephants and rhinoceros were all stronger than mankind, but ultimately, they weren’t the ones that ruled the world.

Us humans did not have to endure harsh winters with only the power of our bodies, we could build homes and make fires. We did not have to travel by foot to get where we need to go, we can make cars, ships and airplanes.

We also do not have to fight our enemies head-on, we can arm ourselves and make use of tactics, stacking the cards in our favor. It only made sense to do so.

Why take a half-half chance of failure if you could turn it into a one-fifth or one-tenth chance of failure instead with a little bit of preparation, right?

Tactical matters aside, the first room Danny opened ended being empty. There were only a few beds in there and a few tables that were filled with piled up clothes. It appeared that this room served as a dormitory for the former residents.

The next room Danny entered was not nearly as neatly organized. There were overturned pieces of furniture and brownish-red stains in the carpet and walls, easily explained by the presence of four zombies inside the room.