Yeoman couldn’t believe he let himself be dragged into this. His unused muscles ached; his feet were blistered; and the occasionally rustling sounds he heard kept his tension strung high. After the trio had exited the cabin, they left the camp. Of course, with a hundred people there, they were easily noticed, but Cody pointed a bow at the mob and told Yeoman and Ella to run, so they did. To Yeoman’s surprise, Ella was spry enough to keep up with him. Perhaps web novels were all about seizing the initiative like Cody had said, but at the moment, Yeoman couldn’t help but think about the cabin they had just left. It wasn’t much, but there was a bed. There was a latch on the door. They could’ve stayed in there for seven days without much worry. In the story, the smart infected only managed to kill the people in the cabins by setting the wood on fire, but Gordan had already put the bonfire out.

“Damn. How come there isn’t any water yet?” Cody asked. “The story never said anything about how those people in the Log Cabins got their water. If we ever make it back, I’m going to give Virlyce a poor review for missing such a crucial detail.”

“The river should be close,” Ella said. “Just listen.”

Yeoman frowned; for a while now, the old lady had been able to hear the sound of running water, but he couldn’t hear shit. Were his ears really that much worse than an old lady’s? Maybe it was because his eyes were open. Yeoman closed his eyes, and sure enough, he heard a sound. It didn’t sound like running water at all. It sounded like someone dropped a heavy metal chain onto the ground. “What was that?”

Cody coughed. “You heard that?”

Yeoman turned around and got a good look at Cody’s reddening face. “I thought it was pretty loud,” Yeoman said.

“I’ll try to make it silent next time,” Cody said and stared at the ground. “I had a pizza bagel for breakfast, and the cheese disagrees with my stomach. At least it doesn’t smell, right?”

What the hell was Cody talking about? Yeoman scowled. “If you farted, I didn’t hear it. I meant that metal sound.” He turned towards Ella. “Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“I heard it,” Ella said and pointed to her right. “It’s coming from that way, but the water is straight ahead.”

Yeoman tilted his head, facing his ear towards where Ella was pointing. There it was again. The sound of metal clashing. A shiver ran down his spine, and he pursed his lips. “I think it’s the smart infected. That clanging sound has to be the two metal rods it bashes together to lead the infected.”

Cody’s eyes lit up. “Great! Let’s go over there and check it out.”

Yeoman couldn’t help but stare at the man who instantly changed directions, heading straight towards danger. He wasn’t sure if Cody was brave because he was young, or if he was brave because he was an imbecile. “What are you going to do when you get there? If the plot is accurate, there’s going to be seventy zombies with it."

“It’s alright,” Cody said. “The infected are supposed to be bad at running. If things go wrong, I’ll lead them towards the camp and climb a tree or something.”

Yeoman’s eye twitched. What the hell was or something supposed to mean? Die? “Listen, haven’t you ever played a survival game? At the start of the game, you’re supposed to gather the basics for survival. Once you have everything, shelter, food, and water, you can start killing zombies. The mission says we have to survive for seven days, but it doesn’t say what happens after a week passes. What if we’re stuck here for the foreseeable future?” Sure, people could easily survive a week without food, but they’ll be weakened by hunger. What happens if the next mission told them to survive for another month? They’d be screwed.

Cody frowned. “But this isn’t a game. There aren’t any rules. Who says we can’t kill the final boss on the first day? It’s not like we’ll be getting better weapons over the week. We should act now while we’re still in peak condition.”

“Then you go,” Yeoman said. “I’m not going with you.” He looked at Ella. “What do you think?”

“I’ve seen a lot of things in my life,” Ella said and chuckled. “I’ve seen rivers before, but I’ve never seen a horde of zombies. I’ll go with Cody.”

Yeoman scratched his head. Was there something wrong with these two? Why were they so insistent on going into danger? Perhaps there was something wrong with him instead. He didn’t say anything as Cody and Ella went towards the sound of clanging metal. Yeoman squeezed the handle of his bat and took a few steps forward, heading to the river. The forest hadn’t seemed too scary with Cody and Ella by his side, but now that he was all alone, surrounded by trees and rustling sounds, a sense of dread washed over him. With a sigh, he turned around and ran towards Cody and Ella. There was safety in numbers, wasn’t there?

“Oh? I thought you weren’t coming with us,” Cody said with a smug smirk plastered over his stupid face. “Well, whatever, it’s good that you’re here now. Try to avoid stepping on branches; we don’t want them to hear us.”

Yeoman watched where he stepped, avoiding twigs and leaves alike. It was difficult, but still possible. It also relaxed his mind, having to focus on something so simple. However, it was a completely waste of effort. As they got closer to the clanging, the sound of crunching and groaning almost drowned it out. The infected herd didn’t care about keeping quiet. They dragged their feet against the ground, brushing leaves and breaking twigs. Moments after hearing them, the infected appeared in Yeoman’s view. The infected at the very front made eye contact with him, its yellow eyes lingering on his. The infected raised the two metal rods in its hands and bashed them together.

Clang, clang.

Yeoman froze on the spot. A tickling sensation assaulted his cheek as a bead of sweat rolled down his face. When his sweat dropped to the ground, he found that he could move again. He grabbed Cody and Ella by their shoulders and tugged. “Hey, wake up!”

“Shit! What was that?” Cody asked and clutched his chest while panting. He took one glance at the infected herd and raised his bow, moving his hand down to pull an arrow out of his quiver. “Two thousand points, here I come.” He nocked his bow, steadied himself, and fired. It flew straight towards the smart infected’s head.

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The smart infected raised the metal rods in its hands, and the arrow collided against one of them, sliding off and striking another infected instead. The stricken zombie collapsed to the ground.

“Bullshit!” Cody shouted. He nocked another arrow, unfazed by the approaching herd. At this distance, Yeoman could practically smell the infected; the stench made him nauseous. Cody released his hand, firing another arrow. “Give me my points!”

Ding.

Once again, the arrow was deflected. Before Cody could nock another arrow, Yeoman tugged on his shoulder. “Run back a bit.”

“Did you see that?” Cody asked while jogging away. “That was a load of bullshit!”

Yeoman frowned. It wasn’t possible for a normal person to block an arrow with just a stick. The first time could’ve been discounted as luck. The second time was coincidence. “Try shooting it again.”

Cody stopped running and nocked another arrow. They had run a safe enough distance away. Luckily, the zombies were slow. “Let’s see you block this one.” He took in a deep breath and steadied his stance, holding the bow such that the string pressed against his nose, the arrow just under his mouth. With a swishing sounding, the arrow flew through the air, heading straight for the smart infected.

Ding.

And the arrow was once again deflected. The third time proved the ability true. “It’s likely the smart infected isn’t just smart anymore. Its physical capabilities must’ve increased,” Yeoman said. If the smart infected remained weak and slow like in the original story, it wouldn’t have been worth two thousand points. Yeoman grabbed Cody’s shoulder, stopping him from loading another arrow. “It’s not going to work. Now’s the time of your plan where we pick the option or something.”

“Damnit,” Cody swore and zipped up his quiver. “Let’s run to the camp. When we can hear people making noise, if we haven’t lost the herd already, we’ll climb trees. If we lost the herd, we’ll slip away towards the river.”

Yeoman stared at Cody as if he had three heads. “You’re going to lure this herd of infected towards the camp without warning them?”

“Yeah,” Cody said. “It’s pretty common in MMOs. If you accidentally pull too many mobs, just train them onto an unsuspecting victim to get away.”

Yeoman once again wondered what he had gotten himself into when he chose to listen to Cody and leave the camp. A second opinion would probably help. “Ella? What do you think?”

“It’s a great plan,” Ella said. “Imagine if we hadn’t followed Cody here. We’d be on the receiving end of this herd.”

Or not. For some reason, this old lady supported Cody in everything he did. She did mention she had a granddaughter. Perhaps she was trying to set her up with Cody? Yeoman shook away his stray thoughts and forced himself to stare at the ground while running lest he trip. It didn’t matter whether or not training the herd was the right thing to do. His life was at stake. Except, what the hell was Cody doing? “Cody?”

“Even if I can’t kill the smart infected, killing ten normal infected shouldn’t be too hard,” Cody said. He had stopped running and was unzipping his quiver. “What if the camp kills them all? Do you know how long it’ll take to find thirty stray zombies walking around?” Cody raised his head as if sensing Yeoman’s gaze on him. “What? What’s with that look?”

“Nothing. I was just wondering how you kept up with us with balls as huge as yours.”

Cody chuckled and nocked an arrow. “It might not look like it, but I’m actually scared as hell, but at the same time, I’m super pumped, you know? School was so boring”—he released the arrow, striking an infected heading towards them—“and I always daydreamed about a situation like this.” He loaded another arrow. “Now that it’s here; I don’t want to freeze up and die right away. I’m going to be the fucking main character.” The arrow flew from the bow, hitting another infected in the head. “Sweet. That’s four down. Let’s kite them some more.”

Ella chased after the two men. “Kite?”

“It’s a gaming term,” Yeoman said while running. “You maintain your distance from an enemy while attacking it from far away, so it can never hit you.”

“Oh.” Ella nodded. “But what if they can hit you from a distance too?”

“Then kiting doesn’t work unless your attack range is longer.” Yeoman glanced at the infected herd behind them. The smart infected had grabbed both its metal rods with one hand. The other hand was holding something red and rectangular. Its arm blurred, and a red beam flew through the air.

Bang!

A cloud of dust and wood splinters exploded from a nearby tree trunk a foot away from Cody’s head. Cody nearly tumbled to the ground but caught himself at the last moment. “Holy shit! What was that?”

“I think it threw a brick at you,” Yeoman said, his legs pumping even harder. As a biochemical engineer, his job was mostly spent in front of a computer. His mother had told him an engineering major would make him a lot of money, but he was sincerely regretting not pursuing his dreams of being a fireman. Maybe his legs wouldn’t feel so goddamn weak if he had. “Run faster!”

Cody’s face was pale, and sweat trickled down his forehead. “Let’s forget kiting for now. If that brick hit me, I bet I’d be dead.”

The three ran in a straight line towards the camp. The infected herd couldn’t keep up. The smart infected didn’t throw anymore bricks; perhaps it didn’t have any left, but Cody wasn’t willing to bet on it. If it could throw a brick that hard, it could throw a fist-sized rock just as well. Yeoman’s sides were burning; his throat felt raw, and every breath he took caused him pain, but he didn’t stop running. How were the other two doing so well? Was he really so out of shape that a grandma could last longer than him? After what felt like another year of running, but in reality, was probably only a few minutes, a different sound entered Yeoman’s ears.

“Do you hear that?” Ella asked. She was panting. “It sounds like people are arguing.”

Yeoman stopped running and placed his hands on his knees, hunching over while trying to breathe in a manner that didn’t hurt his throat. He couldn’t even find the strength to speak; instead, he took a glance at Cody. The man seemed to be doing fine.

“I don’t think climbing a tree will work,” Cody said and wiped at his forehead with his sleeve, raising his arm over his head. “If the smart infected spots us, we’ll be sitting ducks for any rocks lying around. We should sneak away from here, head to the river.”

Yeoman nodded. In the story, the smart infected hadn’t learned how to track things even after the book ended. It followed its senses, and with the people arguing in the camp, the herd of infected would definitely head there first. “River.” Yeoman panted. “Which way?”

Ella pointed to her right. “It’s that way.”

Yeoman took in a deep breath and straightened his back. He wobbled as he took a step. A hiss escaped from his lips, and he clutched his sides. It felt like someone had stabbed them with a knife. “Let’s go. Before it gets here.”

“You’re really out of shape, man,” Cody said. He squatted down and grabbed Yeoman’s arm, putting it over his shoulder. “We don’t have to go too fast. I think we pulled ahead enough to take it easy now.”

Much to Yeoman’s embarrassment, Ella went to his other side and put his arm over her shoulders as well. He, the responsible adult, had to rely on a student and a grandma to carry him. His face was already red from the exhaustion, but it burned even more at this moment. It should’ve been him carrying the grandma on his back. It should’ve been him killing infected like Cody. Since when did Yeoman ever have to rely on anyone else in life? Everything he had ever accomplished was achieved by his own two hands. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Just shut up and thank us,” Cody said. “I’m the main character. How uncool would I be if I let my teammate die in the first chapter? Huh, maybe we’re on the second chapter now. I’m not sure, but it felt like a lot has happened.”

Ella stepped forward with a soft smile on her face. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you now, and maybe you’ll help me later. It’s a fair deal.”

Yeoman repressed his sigh and trudged forward, leaning against his two newfound companions. It was a lot easier to walk when he rested his weight on them. He pursed his lips before managing to squeeze out a word. “Thanks.”