BEEP……BEEP………BEEP……

Elijah Lee’s eyes flickered weakly as the ventilator breathed for him. It wouldn’t be much longer now till the end came.

His two younger brothers were in a similar condition and lay nearby in beds of their own.

Though they had lived hard lives it wasn’t some sudden illness that had struck them down.

It was simply age.

Elijah was 94 years old and his brothers a few years younger.

All three of them should have died long ago, either under a blaze of bullets or the gleam of knife.

But the Lee brothers did not die easy.

Originally there had been seven of them. They had all enrolled in the war when the call was put out. They were too young to see action at Gallipoli in WWI and the stories of Australians on the frontier had filled their hearts.

They were too young to realize there was no glory in war at that stage. The fierce bitterness of a career soldiers would seep into their bones much later.

When WWII began they were the first to sign up and got stationed in Singapore in the ill-fated 8th Division.

When Singapore was lost to the Japanese all seven brothers ended up interred at Changi in a concentration camp before being distributed to different labour camps to build railroads.

When the war ended and they were repatriated of the seven brothers only five remained.

When the Vietnam war came around the brothers found themselves on the frontlines again. Older, wiser and semi retired by this stage they still thrived on the battlefield.

They fought not because they believed the cause was just, but rather because war was all they knew.

After ‘Nam only the three youngest brothers were left.

The youngest three had been named after prophets of God. Elijah was the oldest, then Moses and lastly Abraham. They were of mixed heritage and beliefs. Their mother had been an Aboriginal woman from the Pilbara in the north and their father a Chinese gangster from Dongbei.

They had been raised on a mix of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs, Christianity and Taosim.

After ‘Nam the brothers retired from the military and found their way into different occupations. Elijah became an historian, while Moses took to chess and managed to place in the world’s top 100 players.

Abraham found it difficult to give up fighting, so he took to training others. He opened up a boxing and martial art gym on the south side of the river and trained disaffected youths and former drug addicts.

Now as they had all entered their final years they were again reunited in the hospital, each of them had little time left.

Elijah would be the first to go as his body had been failing him for some weeks. He could no longer breath without the ventilator and his physical strength diminished by the day.

Still he clung to life.

Elijah fought the encroaching death with every iota of his will. It wasn’t that he really had anything left to live for. None of the brothers had had children and they were old, old men.

But survival was a deeply ingrained instinct. As his body continued to give out and his mind grew weak he found himself lost in the memories of battles long gone by.

He walked old paths in his mind as his primal will to live continued to flare as he fought hand to hand with his very soul against god and fate.

He would not let the black easily claim him.

It was then, as the smell of death began to seep into his bones that the world changed.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

<……RISE AS AN XIANXIA OR FALL AS A ZOMBIE……>

What? Elijah thought as the announcement boomed through his mind snapping him out of his reverie.

He saw a drop down list begin to scroll downwards in front of him as various options began to get selected.

<12 RAINBOW LIGHTNING SERPENT TECHNIQUE SELECTED>

<………INIATIALISING……..>

Information suddenly flooded through Elijah’s mind and he immediately began to understand the 12 Rainbow Lightning Serpent method of cultivation.

Knowledge of a new world bloomed. One he vaguely recognized from his father’s Taoist teachings.

A faint red lightning Qi began to flow in his body and circulate around his veins and for the first time in decades he felt strength begin to slowly flow into his limbs.

His body jittered as electricity ran through it and small red sparks began to shoot out of his skin.

As the knowledge from the system fed into him a deep sense of crisis emerged.

He struggled a hand up in front of his eyes and saw a small white pill in his hand.

The pill gave of an amazing scent of vitality and strength. It emanated an aura of vigor and resilience.

Divine Pill of Youth! He thought.

With a shaking hand he pulled the ventilator mask aside. A tube that went all the way down his throat blocked the passageway and he forced the pill into the side of his mouth.

Knowing it would be almost impossible to swallow because he lacked the strength to pull out the breathing tube, he prayed the pill would dissolve.

As he put the pill in his mouth his eyes sharpened as the door to their ward creaked open.

A pretty face peered in.

Pale with black hair and a generous body.

Nurse Stevens

Except…….she was different.

Blood ran freely down her mouth and it looked like something mangled and fleshy hung out of it. Her eyes were blood shot and veins pulsated across her face.

“ungggggg.” She groaned as her mouth opened and she smiled. Cocking her head to one side she sniffed the air and began to amble over towards him.

Her left leg dragged as if it had received some kind of injury and slowly she made her way over to Elijah with hungry eyes.

Son of a bitch….

Elijah felt the pill begin to dissolve as it sat wedged against the inside of his mouth.

“arghhhhH!” The Nurse groaned as she staggered into Elijah and pressed down towards his face.

Weakly he tried to ward her off with one hand but her strength was too great. She battered his hand away and her face fell towards his.

Elijah felt a sharp pain as dull teeth began to gnaw on his cheek and he felt flesh ripped away as she fed on him.

A sickly green Zombie Qi invaded his body and attacked his cells. He smelt rotten flesh and burnt ashes as the Zombie Qi began to burn his DNA.

A normal person’s mind would collapse in terror at this point.

But Elijah Lee was not a normal person.

He circulated his red lightning Qi in his body into a spear and thrust it at the Zombie Qi in his body. Under this assault the Zombie Qi broke apart and faded before it could penetrate any deeper inside of him.

That’s it circulate the Qi Elijah though as he began to put knowledge into practice.

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He softly directed the thin amount of Red Qi remaining into his arm and grabbed the nurse by the throat holding her face away from his.

“aggggg!” she moaned loudly as she desperately tried to savage him. Snakes of red lightning arced from his hand and began to burn her face.

As the zombie realized it couldn’t get free its arms began to claw at his body instead and he felt ribs snap.

I aint going out like this Elijah thought as he felt strength begin to surge in his body.

Finally, the Divine Pill of Youth began to have an effect.

He reached across with his other hand and began to rip the breathing tube from his mouth as he fought off the zombie.

Finally it came free and he surged off the bed and dragged the zombie down onto the floor with him.

Old fighting instincts he thought long buried surged to the surface as he reared back and began to strike down towards zombies face with all of his might.

Fucking still weak as shit Elijah winced as his blows rained down on Nurse Stevens.

Despite the damage the zombie didn’t seem affected at all.

This is some Walking Dead shit!

Thinking smarter he focused the Red Lightning Qi into the end of his fist and slammed it down. His fist exploded through the zombie’s head sending brains and bones everywhere.

An announcement echoed in his head.

Points? For killing a zombie?

Shaking Elijah slowly stood up to see another zombie had wandered in and was chewing on one of his brothers.

“Moses!” Elijah cried as he ran over.

Moses was trying to eat a pill in his right hand as his left was being chewed on by an orderly.

“Motherfucker!” Elijah cried as he pulled the zombie backwards. A horrible ripping sound accompanied the action as Moses’s arm was shreds.

The smell of blood filled the air and the sound of shuffling feet grew stronger.

The zombie surged forward and Elijah struggled hand to hand with it as they wrestled.

Suddenly the zombie was wrested away from him and he saw Abraham grip the zombie in a choke-hold as he thrust a broken bit of metal directly into his skull. Abraham had always been the biggest out of them and even though he was old and fat his eyes shone with some kind of manic strength.

“Secure the room.” Elijah ordered without even giving Abraham a second glance.

He moved directly over to Moses who looked like he was in some kind of a seizure. Moving with experienced hands he dragged gauze and medical instruments out of draws and began to treat Moses wounds.

THWAK

THWAK

THWAK

Dull fleshly sounds echoed in the background as Abraham fought zombies that had staggered in.

Though Elijah wanted to assist him his first priority was to stabilize Moses.

Seeing that Moses had swallowed a pill which he could only assume was the same as his he breathed a sigh of relief as he staunched the blood loss.

“Clear!” Abraham’s voice echoed out.

Elijah looked over to see four Zombies bleeding out on the ground and two hospital beds wedged against the only door to the room.

Abraham smiled as wiped brains of the bed leg.

Skin was falling off his face as if some mask was getting peeled off.

“What the fuck is wrong with your face bro?” Elijah asked. Abraham reached up and felt his face and began to pull loose skin off in large chunks.

Feeling his own face Elijah realized his skin was peeling too.

He began to pull it off over and over again and it seemed to come off in never ending amounts.

“It’s the pill…..” a hoarse voice croaked out.

Elijah looked over to see Moses staggering off the bed. His arm was already healed and his skin was flaking as well.

Elijah rushed into the bathroom looked in the mirror. Slowly as he peeled old skin off until he could see fresh young skin underneath.  

My god.

Stripping the hospital robe off he began to tear old wet skin off his naked body over and over again until finally he stood born anew.

A face he had not seen for a long, long time stared back at him.

His hair was jet black and thick and his face unlined and full of youthful vigor.

He looked 18 again.

He clenched his fist and felt that old man weakness was gone. His body was strong and fit.

He rushed out of the bathroom and saw Moses and Abraham smiling back at him.

“I can feel my dick again!” Abraham laughed. Abraham had always been a little bigger than the rest, but it was easy to forget his size in his old age. He had gotten stooped and bent in on himself in his advancing years.

But as a young man he now stood in front of the others. 6ft 4 and wide as a barrel.

Moses was a little different 6ft 3 and thin as a whip.

Elijah on the other hand was somewhere in between at 6ft 2 with an athletic build.

The door to the room began to shake as zombies tried to force their way in and the hospital beds leveraged against the wall began to slowly shift.

Instantly the brothers began to move. Old patterns of working together to survive kicked in.

“Status check.” Elijah called out.

“Zombie Qi infected me when I got bit. It seems to have been neutralized by my Qi. Otherwise 100%.” Moses called out.

Abraham just smiled.

“Cocked, locked and ready to rock.”

“Weapons check.” Elijah called. Abraham put a metal bed leg on the table and walked over to two of the remaining beds.

In a remarkable display of strength he ripped two legs off and passed them to Moses and Elijah.

“Strategy.” Elijah called out.

“Let me take point Eli.  My cultivation method is Invincible Metal Ogre, high defense, high attack with a specialization in physical based attacks. My Qi can last for a long time.” Abraham said.

Elijah looked at Moses for his input.

“I got Ancient Wood Tyrant as my cultivation path. High defense with flexible attack forms at higher levels. My current Qi is limited, suggest Abe takes point and I take rear.” Moses said looking at Elijah in expectantly.

“I got 12 Rainbow Lightning Serpent method. Seems like high attack and damage and effective at both close and long ranges. Qi consumption is enormous, I already have very little Qi left.”

“Let’s go with file formation as hallway is too narrow. Abraham takes lead, I’ll take second, Moses you bring up the rear eyes on the back. I’ll call out sliders if any get through.”

“Stage 1 is evac from room, potential swarm when we jack the door. I’ll play lure, cut my arm and draw them with blood. Abraham take right wing, Moses you’re left. As they enter kill from the back first but leave the first two for me so they funnel.”

The brothers just nodded as they assumed positions on either side of the door.

Elijah dragged the jagged bed leg across his arm and let the blood drip on the floor in a trail towards the back of the room.

He stood there for a moment as he looked at the youthful faces of his brothers.

“Sure beats dying in bed like an old bastard.” Elijah grinned.

“You’re still an old bastard!” Moses quipped.

“Let’s fuck shit up.” Abraham grinned.

“Go!” Elijah shouted as the two brothers kicked the beds aside the door swung open and a group of zombies swarmed in.