Chapter 236: Summer Time [3]

I didn’t waste another second on hesitation or second-guessing my decision.

The nearest Infected was already close enough that I could see the decay spreading across its face, skin sloughing off in patches to reveal discolored tissue and bone beneath, milky eyes tracking my movements.

I moved first.

Pushing off with my leg, I launched myself forward in a explosive burst of speed that would have been impossible before bonding with Dullahan. The Symbiote’s power surged through my muscles, amplifying every movement and making my body respond with precision that felt almost supernatural.

The lead Infected barely had time to raise its grasping hands before I was already inside its reach.

I ducked low beneath its outstretched arms, feeling the displaced air as rotting fingers passed inches above my head. My hand axe came up in a tight, controlled arc, not a wild swing but a precisely aimed strike targeting the creature’s knee joint.

The blade bit deep into deteriorated ligaments and bone with a wet crunching sound. The Infected’s leg buckled immediately, structural integrity compromised beyond the point where even its unnatural animation could compensate.

As the creature toppled sideways, I was already moving past it without pausing to confirm the kill.

Two more Infected were converging from my left both shambling forward with their awkward, jerky movements. Their coordination was poor, their reaction times sluggish for someone like me, but their numbers and the confined space of the corridor created genuine danger if I allowed myself to become surrounded, especially for that girl who was hiding…

I angled my trajectory to create separation, moving toward the right wall of the hallway to prevent them from flanking me effectively.

The first of the pair lunged with surprising aggression, its jaw dropping open in a soundless attempt to bite. I sidestepped the clumsy attack with minimal effort, my reflexes making the Infected’s movements appear almost comically slow.

As it stumbled past me, carried forward by momentum it couldn’t properly control—I brought my axe down in a devastating overhead strike that split its skull from crown to temple.

The blade embedded itself deep in bone and brain matter. I felt the impact travel up my arm, the distinctive resistance of a killing blow.

But I didn’t have time to properly extract the weapon.

The second Infected was already reaching for me, its fingers curled into claws that grasped at my jacket sleeve.

I released my grip on the axe—leaving it lodged in the first creature’s collapsing skull—and instead grabbed the second Infected’s outstretched arm with both hands.

Using its own forward momentum against it, I pivoted sharply and redirected the creature’s trajectory.

The Infected flew past me and crashed directly into the wall with bone-cracking force. The impact was hard enough to shatter ribs and compress its chest cavity, and the creature slid down the wall leaving a smear of dark fluids.

I spun back to the first Infected, the one I’d struck in the skull and planted my boot against its shoulder. One sharp kick freed my hand axe from where it had embedded, pulling the blade loose with a wet sucking sound.

Four Infected down in perhaps ten seconds of continuous movement.

But there were still at least eight more visible in the corridor, and I could hear additional moaning echoing from the darkened shops on either side. More of them were being drawn by the commotion.

I couldn’t afford to slow down.

The next cluster of Infected was positioned roughly thirty feet ahead—three of them bunched together in the hallway’s center, blocking direct passage. Behind them, I could see more shapes shambling in the shadows.

I charged directly toward the cluster, axe held ready in a low guard position.

When I was maybe fifteen feet away, the rightmost Infected suddenly lurched forward with unexpected speed.

The creature moved faster than I’d anticipated, closing the distance in a stumbling rush that would have caught a normal human completely off guard.

But my perception registered the acceleration immediately, giving me plenty of time to adjust.

I dropped into a slide at the last possible moment—my momentum carrying me forward across the debris-littered floor while my lowered profile took me completely underneath the Infected’s grasping lunge.

As I slid past beneath the creature, I swung my axe upward in a brutal arc that caught it across the back of both knees. The blade sheared through tendons and ligament savagely.

The Infected’s legs gave out completely, dropping it to the ground behind me while I continued my slide toward the remaining two in the cluster.

I came out of the slide in a rolling motion that brought me back to my feet with barely any loss of momentum, now positioned between the two remaining Infected in the original cluster.

They turned toward me immediately.

I didn’t give them the opportunity to adapt.

My axe swung in a horizontal slash that caught the left Infected across the throat with devastating force. The blade nearly decapitated it completely—cutting so deep that the head lolled backward at an unnatural angle, connected to the body by only a thin strip of tissue and spine.

Before that creature had even begun falling, I was already pivoting toward the other one.

This Infected managed to grab my shoulder—its grip as expected strong despite the advanced decay visible across its body. Fingers dug into my jacket and the muscle beneath with enough pressure to bruise.

I drove my knee up into its midsection with enhanced strength, feeling ribs crack and compress under the impact. The creature’s grip loosened involuntarily as its body folded around the strike.

I followed up immediately with an elbow strike to the side of its head—putting my full body weight and Dullahan’s augmented strength behind the blow. The Infected’s skull cracked audibly, and it dropped like a puppet with cut strings.

Seven down.

The remaining Infected were spreading out now, instinctively trying to encircle me from multiple directions.

Damn it.

This was never ending.

I shouldn’t forget that I was basically a walking Infected-Magnet. So obvious along the sound I made and Dullaha, they were attracted toward me.

I counted at least five still standing in the immediate corridor, with movement visible in at least three of the darkened shop entrances suggesting additional threats waiting to emerge.

I needed to break their attempted encirclement before it could fully form.

I sprinted toward the nearest shop entrance on my right—where I’d seen movement in the shadows—and drew the Infected lurking there into the open.

Two creatures emerged from the darkness, both wearing the tattered remains of retail employee uniforms. They’d probably been working here when the outbreak began, transformed while still at their jobs.

I met them at the threshold with a devastating double strike—my axe cleaving through the first Infected’s face in a downward diagonal slash, then immediately reversing the angle to catch the second one across the collarbone with the backswing.

Neither strike was instantly fatal, but both inflicted crippling damage that eliminated the creatures as immediate threats.

However, I caught movement from deeper inside the store—a third Infected emerging from the shadows between toppled shelving units.

This one moved differently than the others. Faster, another Hybrid.

It rushed toward me, arms already swinging in a vicious attack.

I reached out with my free hand and caught the creature by the throat mid-charge, stopping its momentum completely. In the same motion, I swung my hand axe in a brutal horizontal slash that split open its neck in a deep, gaping wound.

Before it could recover or adapt, I used my grip on its throat to physically hurl the Hybrid over the store’s payment counter, sending it crashing into the space behind the desk with bone-jarring force.

“Hyaa!!—OH GOD!”

I snapped my head around at the sudden terrified scream, the voice belonging to the girl I’d been chasing.

It was coming from below the payment desk, from the exact spot where I’d just thrown the wounded Hybrid Infected.

She’d been hiding beneath the counter this entire time.

Shit.

I’d just thrown a partially-decapitated monster directly on top of her.

“Get off!!” She shouted, her voice filled with panic as she clearly struggled against the thrashing Infected in the confined space beneath the desk.

I moved immediately, almost diving toward the counter.

Leaning over and reaching below, I grasped the Hybrid Infected that was still very much alive despite the devastating neck wound I’d inflicted. The creature was weakened from blood loss and trauma, but still dangerous enough to kill an unarmed person in close quarters.

My fingers closed around the scruff of its neck—grabbing a handful of deteriorated clothing and decayed flesh—and I hauled it bodily out from beneath the desk with one sharp pull.

The moment it cleared the confined space, I drove my axe blade through its skull with a final, definitive strike. Only then did I throw the now-truly-dead corpse away from the counter, letting it crash into a nearby display rack.

I should have made absolutely certain it was dead before throwing it. I knew I hadn’t killed all the Infected properly because I’d been rushing through the fight, prioritizing speed over thoroughness. But at least I’d found the girl finally, and hopefully she was unharmed.

I reached beneath the desk again, this time finding her arm.

“What—!” She started to protest as my hand closed around her wrist.

I pulled strongly, probably too strongly, not properly calibrating my strength for the task—and hauled her easily up and over the payment counter. She landed awkwardly on top of the desk surface, sitting there with disheveled hair and wide, startled eyes.

“Are you okay?” I asked immediately, my gaze traveling urgently across her exposed skin as I searched for any signs of bite marks or scratches.

She was wearing a sleeveless shirt that left her arms completely bare, and the sight honestly made me wince internally.

What was she thinking, dressing like that in an Infected-infested environment?

I understood that it was summer and the heat could be oppressive, especially without air conditioning. But wearing light, short-sleeved clothing instead of protective long sleeves that could at least help prevent bites from Infected seemed like an unnecessary and dangerous risk.

Whatever. Not my business to criticize her wardrobe choices when I needed to confirm she hadn’t been injured.

“Turn around for a second,” I said, already reaching to grasp her shoulder and physically rotate her to check her back and neck.

“D…Don’t touch me!” She flinched violently, slapping my hand away.

But my gaze had already traveled across the visible skin of her back, shoulders, and neck during the brief moment before she pushed me away.

Nothing. No bites, no scratches, no breaks in the skin that would indicate infection exposure.

She seemed physically fine, at least from what I could observe.

What a relief, every damn time I was scared that I had to ’cure’ a woman I barely met and the awkward conversation I’d have to have with them…

When I looked back at her face and met her glaring aqua-green eyes, I suddenly felt awkward about how invasive my examination had been.

“I was just checking for bite marks,” I explained defensively. “Making sure you weren’t infected….”

“You could have just asked me instead of grabbing me!” She shot back.

“Right… sorry,” I said, recognizing that my approach had been unnecessarily forceful and probably terrifying from her perspective.

However, from the corner of my eye, I caught movement—her hand fumbling across the desk surface toward something metallic.

A pair of scissors that had apparently been lying there among the scattered office supplies.

Her fingers closed around the implement and she immediately swung it toward my head in a stabbing motion, aiming for my temple or eye.

I caught her wrist instantly.

“Is that really how you thank someone who just saved your life?” I asked, staring at her.

“I’d rather die than be taken by Callighan’s group and forced into whatever he has planned,” she retorted, still trying to pull her arm free.

“I am not with Callighan,” I said.

“I don’t believe you,” she replied immediately, her expression hard and distrustful.

I took a breath, recognizing that I needed to provide actual evidence rather than just repeated denials.

“I know Callighan, yes just from name,” I explained patiently. “But I’m not part of his organization or community. My name is Ryan. I arrived in Atlantic City recently with my own independent group of survivors. I even visited your community just a day ago after some misunderstanding between our groups. Your doctor, Shawn, he treated my friend after she took a bullet from one of Callighan’s men so believe me when I say I am absolutely not affiliated with him.”

I watched her expression carefully, hoping my detailed explanation would be convincing enough to at least reduce her panic.

Her features softened slightly as she processed the information, her gaze dropping from my face as she seemed to be thinking through what I’d said and whether it aligned with things she’d heard.

“I did hear that another survivor community had arrived in the area recently…” She said slowly, her voice losing some of its hostile edge.

“Yeah, that was us,” I confirmed with a nod.

“Then what were you doing lurking near our barricade—” She started to ask, but stopped abruptly as her eyes widened at something behind me.

I swung immediately, my hand axe coming around in a tight arc that intercepted the Infected that had been shambling up behind me during our conversation.

The blade caught it perfectly across the neck, and the creature’s head separated from its body in a spray of dark fluid. Both pieces collapsed to the floor with wet thuds.

“What were you saying?” I asked calmly, turning back toward her.

She had her mouth hanging open slightly, as if shocked by what I had done. Her gaze traveled from the beheaded Infected corpse back to my face, and I saw her fingers clenching more tightly on the desk’s edge.

She still seemed extremely wary, and I couldn’t really blame her.

Now that I thought about it, I’d essentially trapped her—making her sit on this desk while I loomed directly in front of her, blocking any easy escape route, covered in blood and holding a weapon. From her perspective, this probably looked deeply threatening regardless of my actual intentions.

“I’m genuinely not here to hurt you, I promise,” I said, trying to make my voice sound as non-threatening as possible. “Everything I’ve done has been to make sure you’re safe.”

“You chased after me through an Infected-filled mall while wielding a blood-covered axe and looking like a serial killer,” she pointed out with a stare. “Your actions are not exactly screaming ’friendly neighborhood helper.’”

“Well…”

She had a point. That was hardly convincing behavior for someone claiming peaceful intentions.

“Let’s get somewhere safer first,” I suggested. “More Infected are definitely being drawn by all the noise we’ve made. Once we’re secure, I’ll explain everything properly and answer whatever questions you have.”

She looked at my face for a long moment, clearly weighing her extremely limited options.

Finally, she nodded slowly. “I know a safe place not far from here. Come with me.”

“Just don’t try running away again,” I said, then immediately realized how that sounded.

“If you’re genuinely trying to convince me you’re a good person, you’re failing spectacularly at it, Ryan,” she said with another pointed, unimpressed look.

I opened my mouth to say something that might salvage the situation, but honestly, I could see how my words kept coming across as vaguely threatening. “Sorry… I just meant please don’t run. I will explain everything, so there’s no need to make me chase you again through dangerous areas.”

“That’s somehow even worse than before.”

“Just… walk, then,” I said, giving up on trying to phrase things diplomatically. “Lead the way to this safe place.”

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