Jake I

The squad he belonged to stood frozen in place. All around them were beasts that once were of the same kind as them. None of them knew how many was there, it was too dark to see.

Jake knew that going into a town at the evening was a bad idea, but he had no choice. Army wasn't kind to those that don't obey. He could only follow Mike's orders and curse at him in his mind. Desertion wasn't an option, Jake has seen what they did to those that tried.

The jewel that he had was called Spark. It had two charges of electricity, that could be used only in direct contact of the enemy. Not something that could be used on the group of hundreds of zombies, but effective on a single target. Mike's fireball was the only salvation for them, but he only had one charge.

Minutes passed as the groups stared at each other, all the zombies were controlled by an evolved one. Intimidation was an often used tactic, seven people that were part of 117's squad felt it well. 

Suddenly Ryan used his jewel, the beam of light exploded in zombies ranks. Following it, the caster quickly made a dash through the fallen beast. 

Mike yelled at the top of his lungs as he was blinded by the flash of light. "Stay your fucking ground!" Seconds later Ryan was torn to pieces by dozen of zombies. The beam wounded two zombies, not that it made any difference other than staggering them, Ryan was a rookie with a novice jewel after all.

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The standoff continued as if nothing happened. Ryan's fate rested heavily on the squad members minds, no one dared to move afterwards.

'Intimidation is a great tactic.' Jake though as he stared at the torn body. He looked at his hand where he had his jewel imbedded into a glove. 'What am I good for with a melee jewel.'

"Sir?" Gregor said in a whisper while starring in front of him, not daring to lose sight of the zombie wall that surrounded them.

"We wait, the sun will soon come up. If they move before that, I will make a path. Use your jewels only when necessary." Mike responded quickly. The squad already knew this, it wasn't the first time the leader explained it in the last two hours that they stood in this place.

Ryan's fate was soon forgotten. Jake didn't knew him long, he joined the squad just one week ago and that was the first mission they were assigned since. 

Scouting and looting was the most common activity in the army now, it was just their luck that they met an evolved zombie in such a small town. It should be a simple mission. Kill a zombie or two in some local store, pack some food and just leave. 

If it were up to Jake he would rather wait for the sunrise before entering, but no. Mike had to decide that since they wasted few hours on fixing the truck, they had to enter the town at the evening to make up for the lost time.

Not that Jake could blame Mike, he wasn't far from getting a promotion. He wouldn't have to risk his life on such missions anymore, if they returned and gave a report about an evolved zombie Mike would get promotion for sure. Too bad that Jake himself would take Mike's place afterwards as he was second in command. 

"Now!" Mike yelled and a great fireball the size of a van appeared in front of him and flew into the group of zombies exploding on contact.

The whole squad was on the move at the same time, forcing their way through the gap where dozen of zombies once stood. The scorched parts of human bodies dotted the ground where the explosion took place, the 117's squad ignored it as they run as fast as they could.

Few minutes later at the truck location Jake noticed that only Mike, Paul and himself made it to the truck. They got in and started driving off. No one said anything to Mike, those that didn't make it were gone for sure.

'And now they will get us another rookies with jewels, that cant even kill a single zombie.' Jake though as the squad made its way back to the camp.