***

Back to the present, ten minutes after the fight squad Shi Huang had earlier, all the people from the group have isolated any windows and broken doors from the outside. They've used furniture that was laid around and were useless to them at this moment. The group has done this in order to not risk getting a zombie breach inside their temporary shelter to rest and wait for the reinforcements to come to their aid. The whole group stays in the house, without their gas masks because the air in this shelter is safe to breathe.

"It kinda suits your long hair." say Xin to Li as they all collectively decide to sit on a room, on the floor, couch, and sofas.

"Thank you." responds Li to Xin comment, and he looks at the girl, thinking of a compliment to give it back. "Your… um… Face looks good."

Xin giggled at this, which made Li feel a little cringe for saying this bad line.

"Ahmed." Xin looks at Ahmed, who is cleaning his machete with a cloth he has taken from a zombie corpse. "What is your story?"

"Story?" asks Ahmed, confused.

"How did you get here?"

"Here? You mean in the camp?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Want to pass the time while we are all waiting for reinforcements."

"Alright. But you first."

"Good." says Xin looking at Ahmed with a smile, she sighs and starts to tell her story on how she got here, on this Fighting Squad program. "Back then, I was a cashier. At a shop that sells clothes. Overpriced clothes that people were buying like it is original. I woke up in the morning, I got out of bed, was about to make my breakfast and my zombie neighbor knocked on my door. I opened the door, saw the neighbor was trying to bite my arm and neck. But I managed to fend him off, lock in my apartment and met with a group of two people who have helped me get on this artificial island."

"That's it?" asks Ahmed.

"Yeah." says Xin. "I was sent to a zone, then to an artificial island."

"You got lucky," says Ahmed. "I was doing my job as a bus driver in Abu Dhabi. I was a driver on a tourist bus, which was mostly empty. I hated my job and wanted to leave Abu Dhabi, but I couldn't leave because of the bureaucracy from there… I saw zombies on the street, and from video games, I understood what was happening. Likewise, I managed to help a group of twelve people get on the docks, where we and everyone get inside a ship from The Organization."

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

"You helped twelve people?" asks Yu. "Are they on the island?"

"Yes. They are still on the island. I heard all of them are living great lives there. One guy who was feeling suicidal got better mental health and also got a job as a construction worker."

"Good for him." say Xin.

"Guys!" say the commander walking in the room with a walkie-talkie. "I talked with the group. Reinforcements are coming."

"Great." says the group of five people almost at the same time.

"And what will we do until then?" asks Xin.

"We wait." responds the commander to Xin's question.

"I see." responds Xin.

"This wasn't so-" tried to say, Li Kay.

"Don't." say Ahmed and Ri Ku at the same time.

"Don't say it." says Yu being a second late.

"Alright, alright." says Li Kay.

***

There are five other squads, all of them consisting of forty-five highly trained fighters. Those five are mixed to form an army who is currently having a whole different mission than Shi Huang Squad. That mission is to establish a safe zone in the city. That city is known under the name of Lanzhou, a city that has fallen like many others around the world in the past six months. One of the helicopters that came into the city lands on the rooftop of a big building, from that single helicopter only twelve fighters, wearing their anti-biting armor, get out and start shooting the zombies that are getting up on their feet who felt human presence. How they came to this rooftop is a mystery to these fighters, that won't matter in the slightest. Another helicopter lands on a rooftop of another building, where ten soldiers get out from the helicopter and start shooting. And the last two helicopters are landing in the nearby park of this city.

"Go! Go! Go!" yells a soldier in English to his squad on the rooftop after he spots a fire door exit. "To the door!"

The other fighters are running after their leader to that door, who seem to be locked from inside. The squad tries to open it by force, but it was to no use, so a fighter steps ahead, uses his shotgun to shoot the hinges of the door like in some kind of movie, after two shots he kicks it, but the door won't budge. Then the leader steps ahead, kicks hard enough for this door to break and fall down the stairs.

"That is how you do it." says the leader to the teammate.

"Thank you, sir!" responds that fighter, feeling awkward about this moment.

"Let's go!" yells the commander. "Remember the mission. Check the building for supplies and survivors!"

"There are people here?" asks a fighter to the leader.

"Hopefully there are good people." says another fighter while he was going down the stairs with his teammates.

"Be quiet," says the commander.

The squad of twelve fighters have arrived in a hallway, the one situated at the twenty floor. In there, the squad sees a few zombies who are crawling to them. The fighters quickly use the melee weapons such as knives and machetes to decapitate the heads of the bodies. After they've killed five zombies, the leader of this squad whispers to his people.

"Don't you notice these zombies are having their legs cut off?"

"Yeah." whispers a fighter, looking carefully at a zombie's lower part. "His legs look like they've been sawed by a blade or some kind of saw." He touches the palace where the leg was sawed with his glove anti-biting armor, notice the cut is old. "He was cut a long time ago… Really long time ago."

"How long can you deduce?" asks a teammate.

"Probably more than a month." says the fighter to his friend who asked this question, then says. "I worked as a criminal investigator before the apocalypse."

"I understand." says the leader, then he looks at his people. "Check the rooms of this floor. Then we'll check the other floors."

"Yes, sir!" says all the fighters in a lowered tone to not attract too much attention to other zombies inside this building.