Here is today's chapter

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With his stamina bar blinking at 14% He started to make his way back to the city core, both his rifle and handgun were completely out of bullets in his doomed attempt at helping the survivors escape but in the end he had been forced to watch them all die, when he was 3 blocks from the core the sound of gunfire stopped, too tired to pick up the pace he just moved on nearly dragging his feet.

Getting to the edge of the last building he looked down, the street was turned into a war zone, burning cars and corpses were everywhere and close to the command tent there were the remains of the abomination chopped into small pieces but still trying to move, a couple dozen civilians wondered the street with melee weapons attacking the few zombies capable of movement until they were cut up into harmless bits.

Dropping down on top of a dead minotaur he had a small amount of fun scaring the crap out of the poor SOBs ”Holly fuck!” screamed a young man who actually dropped his weapon, “Where are the rest of my team?” “Man don’t do that! They are resting inside” picking up his axe from the floor the man pointed towards one of the normal buildings.

Too tired to bother with the evil glares he was receiving he dragged his body inside, it was an average business building filled with rooms most of which had people inside, resting and talking to each other, opening one of the doors he put his head inside.

A small family of three rested on the floor, the father and mother were old and a young woman was serving them some food, all of them turned to him “So… you guys know where the rest of my team is?” “On the second floor at the end of the hallway” closing the door he moved on.

Climbing the stairs one step at a time he entered the wide room and saw the rest of beta team as well as Siegfried discussing something “Hey” ignoring them he took off his helmet again and fell on his ass laying his back against the wall, eyes closed.

“Are you okay?” opening his eyes he saw a small blonde girl looking down at him, lifting his arm he ruffled her hair and smiled “Sure, sure, hey Sieg have you called an extraction team yet?” coming his way the softie lifted the girl in his arms “Yes, they should be here in another 40 minutes”.

Accepting the extended hand he let Sieg pull him to his feet “Did you take care of the elite?” “I don’t really wanna talk about that right now but, yes” getting to the table with the three Einherjar and a few civilians he saw a huge map of the city spread open.

“The city is currently in our hands so no other monster should spawn inside it, if you separate in teams of five with a gun for each team you can start searching for survivors and exterminating the remaining monsters” “are you leaving us alone?” asked the same armed woman he had seen before  on the command tent “No, fifty soldiers and sergeant Smith will stay and coordinate with you to help the rescue and help keep in contact with the government, the rest of them has to return, there are more places needing our help”.

Leaving the map open he left with the team to wait for their ride outside, as they left the building once again he cursed the fact that he didn’t get any rest, no matter he could sleep in the helicopter.

A tired man with a huge machete approached them “Ah sir… What do we do with the corpses?” “Pile them up and burn them” thinking about it Aaron suggested “Gather them in piles of about 85 creatures then have those who volunteer to exterminate the remaining monsters burn it, it should give them a level” “Good thinking.”

As the men started to pile the bodies Erick offered “Hey let me help you” motioning the wannabe hero and the Einherjar started to walk towards the bodies “Sure go ahead, I will just rest over here” choosing an abandoned car he opened the door and sat down before feeling some stares coming his way “What, I am not stopping you go ahead help them” ignoring the workaholics he laid his head back and sighed.

As he closed his eyes and relaxed the scene of hundreds of survivors kneeling among zombies flashed into his mind, jumping out of the car he decided to help with the bodies after all.

Picking up a human corpse he dragged it by its only remaining limb, a leg, towards the closest pile, lifting it with a grunt he threw it on top of the other body pieces and went back to pick up an arm that had fallen down throwing it dismissively at the pile as well.

“Don’t you have any respect for the dead?” turning around he saw an angry woman holding a shovel and squeezing with all her strength “Respect? What use do they have for that now?” he could see the desire to hit him in her eyes but ultimately she left “Fucking bastard” “you don’t know how I wished that were the case” returning to his work he grabbed the only hand of a goblin and dragged the flailing creature to the pile as well.

“Can’t you just not act that way?” releasing the goblin at the bottom of the pile he looked at Erick coming his way, a human body at each arm, gently laying them on top of the pile Aaron picked up a bottle of gas and spread it all over the wiggling corpses, most zombies were still trying to kill him.

Throwing the bottle away he turned back “I am just tired, my stamina bar is blinking at 9% damn it” looking at his mana bar he saw it was already back at <89/1112> so he sat down and manifested 2 strings using them to pull amputated limbs and pieces “What happened with the elite?” “Let’s just say, knowing hundreds of innocents died away from me and seeing it with my own eyes while powerless to help are two completely different things”.

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The loud noise from a military transport helicopter started to be heard in the distance and soon the Einherjar joined them in waiting, Beta 2 Threw him a rifle “Here, the guy you lent it to is dead” taking the riffle he had been using off he threw it back “So, who is the owner of this one?” “Beta 1” “Oh… have you found my blades?” “No, want me to ask some people about it?” he shook his head “Leave it, we have more of them and those men could use some good blades here”.

As the grey and green helicopter appeared over the top of the buildings the small blonde kid came running out of the building and hugged Erick’s leg, looking at him with big puppy dog eyes “Are you going to leave?” he could just imagine Erick’s helpless look behind his helmet, it cheered him up a little “Yeah Sieg, are you going to leave?”

The glare he received could have killed a lesser man, he just snickered, crouching down Erick put a hand over the girl’s head “I have to honey but, do you want to go with me?” “Can I? But what about mommy and daddy?” “People will inform me as soon as they find them”

The Einherjar didn’t have the authority to question but he opened a private channel and whispered “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” “I can’t leave her man” “What do you mean you can’t leave her, its easy just release her and walk away” “I can’t” wanting to massage his temples he stopped gathering body parts and got up “Whatever, it’s your problem”.

As Erick and the others turned to watch the helicopter’s final approach he bulled a piece of burning wood and called for the little girls attention, putting the piece of wood on her tiny hand he motioned for her and whispered “Now throw it at the pile” she obeyed him before anyone noticed, as the zombies caught fire the girl took a step back and Erick turned around giving him the evil eye once again.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” “Giving her a headstart since you insist on taking her along” stepping in front of the little girl he shielded her from his evil influence “Lily you don’t have to obey the mean uncle” “Hey I am not an uncle!”

The transport helicopter didn’t land hovering above them it send down a ladder from its side, the Einherjar were the first to climb then Erick climbed helping the child along the way, as he grabbed the ladder he screamed to be heard above the noise “I still think you should have left her!” without anyone noticing he materialized a thick rope and wrapped it lightly around the kid’s waist ready to catch her if she fell.

Being the last to get into the helicopter he saw there were fourteen Einherjar strapped to their seats, six losses were a big blow but less than expected for a first mission in this new and strange world, he had to lift an eyebrow at the sight of the familiar four young civilians sitting together in a corner, command probably saw some use for them on the long run.

Strapping himself besides Erick he looked out the door at the civilians lighting piles of zombies on fire, there were already many women and children carefully leaving the buildings, no longer as afraid to help as before, as the helicopter started to gain height the tightness in his chest abated a little, he was not a hero in any sense of the word but seeing that the lives he sacrificed were not completely in vain made him feel a little better.

They lifted above the buildings and he saw the sun starting to rise on the horizon, he appreciated the view for a few seconds, he had spent nearly two years on that underground facility with little chance to see neither dawn nor dusk he was caught in its beauty every time, it gave him a sense of freedom.

Turning towards the four civilians he said “Long time no see Mica” the four turned his way and the one he recognized as Raphael grumbled “Great, so you are alive” ignoring the less than animated response he asked “Didn’t you guys want to find someone in the city?” it was the girl who answered with a monotone voice “Not anymore, my parents were among the zombies that attacked our location” “Oh...”

After that he choose to keep quiet and lay back, to the left of the helicopter a flock of huge terror birds started to fly towards them but two of the Einherjar sat at the machineguns mounted on the door and opened fire upon the creatures, they were not undead and fell rather easily.

Just to annoy the guy he laid his head on Erick’s shoulder and pretended to be asleep knowing his victim was too much of a good guy to say anything, his team communicator sounded in his ears “Beta team this is command, we have another situation that requires your attention before returning to the base” Beta 2 the new team leader answered “Understood command, moving to the new destination now”.

Rolling his eyes as the helicopter turned sharply to the right he relaxed and got more comfortable in his seat, soon he didn’t have to act anymore as sheer exhaustion dragged his consciousness away.