The night had grown deeper, shading the entire world of Aurelia black. The cold winds howled through the wide and messy streets of Grefort City, chilling the restless undead.
Dozens scoured the rooftops, countless more on each floor and building. A few shadows moved through the covers, hoping to avoid the watchful eyes of these monsters.
In the middle of the city center stood a sharp meteorite fragment that pierced through the cement and split the statue of a person in half. Faint pinkish lines pulsed through it, turning brighter as time passed by.
The zombies remained ignorant but subconsciously distanced themselves from it.
No sooner had a minute passed when the ground shook slightly.
Decayed tree roots burst out of the ground, dragging dirt, mud, and broken cement with them. Then, as if looking for prey, the roots grabbed a handful of zombies and pasted them against the meteorite shard.
Unsatisfied, the roots searched for more and pinned more. The rustling roots and the wet splats of crushed zombies didn't attract the others.
For the rest of the survivors still alive, all they heard were the continued thumps throughout the night.
...
Another day passed and morning sun glowed through the silent cities.
The previous night had been a feast for the team, eating delicious food cooked by their Commander. It was followed by a briefing led by Dmitri, reporting the situation around the apartment building.
Hans and the others gave their varied opinions but soon came up with an agreement: clean the apartment first, barricade the second and the third floors, then clear the parking lot.
For the following days, the team focused their efforts in cleaning the apartment and barricading any hole or window to prevent intrusion.
Hans also earned an additional 400 Gold and trained a new Army Soldier named Ryan Keller, immediately put to help the team clean the rest of the floors.
Dmitri was stationed at the rooftop, overlooking the apartment buildings and the diner from time to time. He was also tasked to check for any changes in the zombies outside or if there were sightings of survivor groups approaching the area.
Hans knew how favorable the area was due to its sparse zombie population and distance away from the city center.
Fortunately for them, Dmitri hadn't found anything out of place.
And so, three days passed.
10:50 AM.
Today, eight soldiers gathered at the first floor, with the lights brightly lit up. The newly washed floor reflected their resolute figures, their backs equipped with their personal packs.
A young man stood in front, drawing all of their attention.
"Now that the apartment building is cleaned and secured, the next step is to expand outward. The parking lot behind us may have sparse zombies but do not underestimate them." Hans gave a small speech. "Dmitri, take care of them. I hope that they would be alive and well when they return just as they have left."
"The mission will be a success with no casualties, Commander." Dmitri saluted, followed by the seven soldiers behind him.
"I shall return to my room now. You may all go." Hans turned around and went upstairs, leaving the rest to Dmitri and his team.
"Good luck out there," Kenji nodded, opening the door for them. He, together with Ravi and two other conscripts, was on guard duty at the apartment building entrance today.
"Make sure to guard this area well." Adam patted before following the rest.
Alexei and Selene moved first, acting as the vanguard of the operation. The man patiently waited at the entrance wall, looking at Adam, Ethan, Noah, Nadia, and Ryan get into position.
"Ready?" he asked. Dmitri, together with Rex at the rearmost, gave Alexei the hand signal to start.
Alexei pushed the horizontally aligned boom barrier vertically. After that, he and Selene moved forward together, holding combat knives on their hands.
Once they arrived at the first car, both halted and inspected it, watching the inside through the hollow windows.
The rest moved past them, and across several rows until the second group of Adam, Ethan, and Noah, stopped before checking their own area of responsibility.
The last two were Ryan and Nadia, checking the farthest edge area.
"Let's do this slowly." Ryan whispered before he arrived in front of a green hybrid car.
The interiors were chaotic; glass shards sprawled across the seats and the floor. A few slips of papers could be seen stuck at the corners, coupled with dirtied water bottles and jugs carelessly left inside.
"Nothing valuable inside here." Ryan called out before pointing at their next target. However, a zombie was straggling near it.
Ryan sneaked behind the zombie's view and brandished his camo-colored combat knife. A sudden thrust on its head sent it falling to the ground, alerting two more zombies near them.
He took a deep breath and patted Nadia's shoulder, pointing at a zombie for her to deal with.
A while later, two more zombies fell to the ground, painting an ugly decoration to the slightly neat and tidy parking lot.
Dmitri patiently waited as they cleared the area column by column, car by car, meter by meter. The most important thing was to make sure that nothing gets ignored, nor left behind.
As he was thinking of this, Team A composed of Alexei and Selene managed to acquire a few silver accessories from a nice-looking vintage car.
"The Commander shall grow richer, and his soldiers of a higher star promotion." Dmitri walked ahead before laying his back to the wall again.
He would only intervene when things became a little too rough for his subordinates.
His eyes shifted to Team A who was a little distracted about their recent hauls.
A zombie underneath the car crawled slowly to the edge. Selene, who was busy checking the car's interior, suddenly felt her right boot being grabbed by something.
"Zombie!" she pushed her body out of the interior and grabbed her combat knife, slashing the zombie's arm that immobilized her.
She flung her right leg, throwing the detached arm away and distanced herself from the dangerous car.
"Are you okay?" Alexei came over to her side. They both watched as the zombie growled in anger after losing its arm.
Selene was angrier and advanced. She took advantage of the zombie's slow movement speed while it was trying to stand up.
Her knife aimed at its chin and drove it up through his brain. Blood splattered underneath, staining her uniform in dirty black blood.
"Hmph!" she flicked her combat knife and kicked the zombie's body aside, moving back to the car and inspecting its interior again.
Alexei gulped and put himself beside her and watched the surroundings. His carelessness of having no zombie around resulted to this accident.
Good grief, she's okay...
Dmitri watched the incident amusingly. It seemed that there was some sort of bond forming between the two, but he was unsure if it would fall into that kind of level.
"The searching speed suddenly increased. Did the others promote already?"
His eyes caught Adam at Team B who had just decapitated another zombie.
"Finally, I have been promoted." Adam lightly touched his skin and muscles, feeling slightly less tired than before. "What a magical sensation indeed."
"Congratulations team leader." Ethan and Noah congratulated him.
"No need. You will also earn this when the time comes. The next few kills will be for you both."
"Thank you, team leader. We'll do our best to become stronger for our commander and for the rest."
The squad progressed rapidly as more of them promoted to the next level. When noon had passed, apartment building number one's parking lot has been fully cleared.
At least seventy zombies had been killed, rendering the squad a bit tired from it. Everyone halted and returned to the apartment building.
Dmitri knocked on the door three times, following a particular pattern.
After waiting for two seconds, the door opened. Kenji peeked out and saw that it was the squad from earlier.
"Go in."
The eight soldiers went inside and didn't waste time talking. They washed their hands and ate their lunch, and not long after, Kenji opened the door for them once again.
The afternoon phase went without problems and soon, they neared apartment building number three's parking lot.
At this moment, Rex growled lowly, its body lower than usual.
"What's wrong, buddy?" Dmitri frowned.
Rex ignored Dmitri and locked its eyes at a certain direction. Dmitri followed and realized it was where that manhole cover was located.
Did that creature arrive there? Or did Rex smell it from far away, even through the cover?
He quickly advanced ahead of the squad and signaled for them to halt. He equipped his MP7A1 and aimed at the manhole cover not far from him.
From there came faint sounds of something sharp clawing at the metal, followed by the cover being lifted and pushed aside.
"Rex, get ready." Dmitri muttered, ruffling Rex's back.
"Woof!"
Rex, red-eyed, barked, then bent its body, waiting for the unknown to emerge.