I looked out the window and glanced at the scattered apartment buildings in the area. Jackson and the ugly bunch were here to pick up anything useful from the rubble and judging from the last few times that I had been hired by Jackson. I would be in charge of the underground floors, the landfill.

"Come on guys you know the M.O," Jackson shouted and jumped off the transport. "I want the streets cleared by twelve hundred."

It seemed Jackson had gotten addicted to some military films this time... Well it was better than those anime he had been watching last time.

"Let's go you old pervert," Gwen said coldly. "Or are you planning to grope me some more?" 

"Oh? I didn't know you where the type JJ," Jesse a goblin that had seen better days, peeked his ugly rear end into the cabin. 

"Gwen, I had the hope you would have had already forgiven me by now. But I see that that isn't the case." I said while stepping out of the glorified bus.

"Would you forgive a rotten mutt that dared to bite? Or would you shoot it till there was nothing left of it? I know what I would do..." Gwen said before rushing into a stumbling hoard. 

"That girl has an attitude huh?" 

"Oh, now you speak to me?" Jesse pouted and walked off.

"You know, if you didn't act like such a sick freak most of the time I wouldn't ignore you." 

Jesse took out a slick pair of headphones and slowly placed them atop his head before taking out his weapon of choice.

"Don't worry old chap, they'll come around." Oscar, a baldie gave me a thumbs-up as he walked out. 

I gasped for air as I leaned against the cool wall. My chest rising and falling chaotically as I stared at the motionless body in front of me. The bastard had the strength of at least twice that of an adult male. If it wasn't for the length of the machete in my hand, I wouldn't doubt for a second that I'd be the one laying there. 

Zombies, as the general populous calls them hadn't been an issue for the past decade. But now after the events of a few months ago, the immense surge of undead had been unprecedented. Making it hard for folk like me to continue to survive.

After having calmed myself down, I began to search the dead man's corpse. But as I had suspected from the old man's attire, he had been a hobo previous to the Fall. All I had found that would be of any use would be an old pocket knife the old man probably used for self-protection.

"Nothing again?" Jesse asked as he jumped out of the dumpster he was hiding in. 

"If you were of more help, then maybe we could have cleared out this floor by now." I sneered and kicked the hobo's corpse aside. 

"Yeah, we could have, but weren't you the one that said he didn't need any help?" Jesse chuckled smugly and followed me into another room. "You know Jackson put me in charge this time," Jesse said as he paraded proudly from behind. "So it's best we keep off each other's backs and finish our job as quickly as possible. We wouldn't want to get paid less than the other groups now would we?"

"You're trash you know that right?" I sneered. 

"As long as I get to eat my fill JJ I don't mind whoring myself, even to you." Jesse smiled widely while looking me up and down. "As long as you'd have me that is." 

Why did I have to be partnered up with the most useless person in the troop, I shook my head bitterly and walked into yet another room full of trash. Not only had I been partnered up with the most useless person in the troop, I had also been assigned clean up. If I truly didn't need the money, would I even have to put up with this little brat.

"Check that there aren't any walking around the area. I'll sort through the waste this time." I ordered and continued to grumble as I checked the room full of discarded electronics for anything useful. 

"Roger that boss." Jesse smiled brightly and saluted mockingly. 

It had been about four months, I think. since the skyscrapers fell from heaven's gate and had crashed into Northern Terradomum. I wasn't sure how many had died that day, heck I bet even those fancy gadgets didn't know either. All I knew was what I saw, and what I saw was nothing pretty. The sheer amount of undead that rose up was unbelievable. Making this the third time the Terran race was put on the brink of extinction.

"Shit!" I heard Jesse scream and curse but opted to ignore it as another one of his pranks.

The amount of destruction caused by just the skyscraper was truly a heart-wrenching scene to behold in person. This was something the Terran race had sourly overlooked when they gathered everyone in the same location, and there was no doubt in my heart that Southern Terradomum had suffered a similar fate.

"Hey old man, quick day dreaming!" Jesse shouted as he dashed into the room in a hurry. "It's a second tier Accursed! Fuck, hurry up and kill it, the bastard almost killed me!"

"Damn, hurry and get behind me," I said and reached for my machete. The machete's old and worn handle gave me an assured feeling as I swung hard towards the shadowy figure approaching. 

"Yeah! go for it JJ!" Jesse shouted as he hid behind me. "Kill that monster!" Jesse cheered and whooped, whooped like an idiot as energy gathered towards him.

"You think I'm some sort of monster to able to kill a second tier singlehandedly! Call backup, you useless brat!" I felt my entire arm go numb as the dull blade hit the scaly skin of an accursed. The beast in the familiar shape of a Terran snarled and clawed at my numb arm. It's black claws could and would make quick work of my soft skin if it got it's way. 

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"Galant! protect!" I heard Jesse call out and a bright light spread out from behind me. As the light faded a square shield as thin as paper appeared in front of me, protecting me from the accursed's black claws. "Dammit JJ, hurry up and kill it. I can't hold it!" The shield thrummed and hummed as the sharp claws attempted to penetrate it forcefully. "Heaven's damned, why don't you leave us the fuck alone!" Jesse screamed as the shield vibrated intensely. 

"Calm down you idiot." I waved my machete against the accursed's scaly skin in a futile attempt to wound it. "How far are Jackson and the others!" I shouted and stabbed at the accursed's snake-like eyes.  

"Five minutes away." Jesse paled as he read the pale blue text on his wrist watch. 

"Damn, I won't be able to stall this guy for that long." I blocked the accursed's claw and punched with my left, aiming continuously at his fragile eyes. "How long do you think you can stall the beast?"

Jesse laughed bitterly at my question and said "I'm not like you old timers, the amount of mana in the air isn't what it used to be so my mana reserve is small. I can only hold him for a minute at most." 

"This is why the government should have trained everyone while the universe gave us the chance." I murmured dejectedly and continued to slash at the beat's vital points, making it keep it's distance for now.

"Jacob, use your ability," Jesse spoke, his expression serious. "We'll die otherwise."

"You can't be serious," I grimaced as the accursed managed to penetrate through the shield, his black claw wounding my arm slightly. "Since you asked you must know what I'm capable of right?" I frowned slightly and pushed back the accursed with the shield. The beast seemed too preoccupied with trying to go through the shield instead of around it. "If I mess up, you'll die."

"Use it." Jesse looked one last time at his wrist watch and nodded towards me. 

I frowned as the accursed continued to widen the tear on the shield, his black claws coming closer to shredding me alive. I could now feel the cool sweat beginning to soak into my shirt. The calm facade I kept up was slowly crumbling, as his cold eyes and putrid breath drew near. I nodded slightly and said. "Okay, Focus your shield on yourself entirely, and run toward's Jackson's group."

 I stared at the cold snake-like eyes and smiled slightly. The accursed's eyes had shrunk to needle-like slits and began to shriek horrendously. It moved in and swung it's scaled arms in a berserk rage. "So, you can feel it." I smiled and waved an arm out, in an instant my machete disintegrated and a sound wave smacked against the accursed, causing it to shriek in pain.

Jesse, seeing the accursed shriek in pain as it flew back. Ran, his shield shrinking to encase his whole body like skin tight armor. As he ran past, I caught a glance of his pale face. It was clear he wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, but I knew I wouldn't be able to hold back once I began to attack.

"I'm sorry Jesse," I whispered and felt the vibrations coming from my body intensify. The unbridled energy inside me exploded out in waves, causing the walls to shake and begin to crumble. The trash that had littered the room began to turn to dust before being blown away by the very same vibrations. It was a shame that I didn't have time to search the room thoroughly. There might have been some treasures within the huge piles of trash electronics.

"Shake and crumble everything in your way, Taurus!" The energy within me surged and exploded outwards, creating a massive image of a rampaging bull. The bull smacked against the accursed and collapsed wall after wall in front of it. Hit after hit from the vibrations caused the accursed to be completely ripped apart in seconds. It had only lasted no more than a few seconds, but the massive energy discharge caused me to collapse helplessly on the ground, completely paralyzed from head to toe.

Now that the walls had come down I could see a disheveled figure crawling miserably out of the rubble. The thin armor around his body thrummed and hummed periodically, but it was clear it wouldn't last much longer. I felt sorry for Jesse, but at the same time thought he deserved it. The brat could be so fucking annoying sometimes.

"Hey Jacob, are you still alive!" Jesse who had managed to stand up called out to me.

I groaned and using all the last bits of energy within my body, yelled back. "Yeah! I'm alright. How far are Jackson and the others."

"They're a few minutes away, old man! Oh, and Jackson seems to be mad!" 

Damn geezer, it was never enough to live up to his impossibly high standards. I sighed and lay back, taking a look around the destroyed rooms. It was truly magnificent how far the Terrans had come in terms of architectural engineering. If they hadn't, I chuckled. I'd be buried under tons of rubble.  

Usually, when someone has the power to completely destroy everything in their paths. you would think that that person would at least have the military ranking of a general, so what am I doing here. laying paralyzed in a pile of rubble? Well for one. my power isn't something as magnificent as most people seem to believe. This power is simply the last remaining ounces of power my body is able to hold. if only I was young, I chuckled again. I would be able to destroy this entire building without breaking a sweat.

But now I was old, my body had been gauged and shred apart by claws, talons, and weapons of every kind. I was no longer the young man I was, a few decades ago. Look at me, working for some lowlife scum who's only purpose in life was to get ahead of others by any means possible. I've truly hit rock bottom, heck even back then I wouldn't resort to eating some of the monsters that spawn from the heavens. Damn, I laughed, my life sucks.

"You're creepy you know, old man." Gwen a petite woman with shoulder-length hair said snidely. 

"you've made a mess of the place Jacob Cross," Jackson said as he walked up to me. "Do you know how many of those undead bastards are crawling around the place because of you," Jackson crossed his massive arms and scowled. "Not only did you attract unwanted attention you even destroyed half the cursed core." Jackson spat. "you've truly taken a shit on this whole operation."

"Take him back to the transport." Oscar, Jackson's right-hand man waved at the two standing beside him.

"Yes sir," The two saluted and walked up to me. 

I hadn't seen these two before, so they might be new recruits. Which could be why they were so eager to please. 

"Sir, permission to carry you," The two saluted at me and reached down to pick me up after I nodded. It had been a long day, so I didn't mind being carried back.

"Prepare to depart," Jackson waved at the wanna be soldiers and walked behind the two carrying me. 

+++

I sat looking out the transport's window. Our group had reached the outskirts of Zombie Eater a small community built by Jackson and his thugs. I had been surprised when I awoke that we had already arrived since it usually took half a days time. 

Jackson must be anxious to eat the cursed core, I chuckled. If only he knew the amount of danger that came with ingesting any part of the accursed.

"Jacob, how long have you been awake," Jesse asked as he rubbed his tired eyes.

"Not long, can I ask you something, Jesse," I asked.

"Why are you so serious old man. Ask away, we just went through a life and death experience." Jesse laughed and waved his hand nonchalantly.

"What are your plans for the future, are you going to continue working for Jackson." 

"I don't see why not, Jackson pays well and the staying within the community is safer than scurrying around the city by myself." Jesse looked out the window and smiled gently. 

"Why are you trying to look cool, you stupid brat."

"Who's acting cool dumb old man," Jesse snapped out of his cool facade and yelled.

I laughed. "A word of advice from an elder, don't stick in the area for long. Oh and try to get stronger, your shield, as it is won't be enough to protect you."

"You sound like your saying goodbye.