Speedster In The Apocalypse

Chapter 3 :Encounter

"Come on, we're almost there," Andrew told his sister as they ran through the streets.

However, the much less athletic girl wheezed as she struggled to run. They'd been running for more than ten minutes now.

Andrew looked back and cursed. The monster that had been chasing them hadn't relented at all. It looked like a person, well, its upper body did. Its lower body looked like that of a spider and it would give Andrew nightmares for the rest of his life.

He looked at the shotgun in his hands and hesitated. He didn't want to use the weapon both for fear of attracting more monsters and for fear of wasting what little ammunition he had left.

He glanced back again, the creature was just ten steps behind and gaining quickly. He gritted his teeth and made a decision.

He looks around and sees a grocery store with the front door open. Perfect.

"Dina over there!" He yells and points at the grocery store.

The two make a break for it and Andrew lets his sister get in first before moving in himself. He turns back and just as he thought, the infected was too big to fit through the door!

However, Andrew's joy didn't last long and the infected shrieked and pushed with its front two legs. The glass doors started to crack and Andrew frowned.

"Dina, get behind me!" He instructed and his sister nodded and quickly went behind him.

And held up his shotgun, but he didn't fire. He wanted to make sure he'd get the creature right in its vital spot and he didn't risk walking up to it as the glass could shatter at any moment.

So he waited. More and more cracks spread across the glass and the infected pushed with more vigor. Andrew steadied his breathing. Not yet.

The hinges of the door began to give way. Not yet.

Finally, the glass shattered and the infected let out a triumphant shriek and was about to charge in.

"Now!" Andrew shouted and started to pull the trigger.

*SPLAT*

However, halfway through, the creature's head exploded to one side leaving both Andrew and his sister stunned. They watched dazedly as the monster's body wobbled before collapsing on the ground. What just happened?

***

Philip looked at his baseball bat and gave a wry smile. It had bent significantly and Philip doubted he'd be able to use it much more.

He forgot that due to his speed, his damage output would be proportional to the moment. So when he swung his bat down, it instantly crushed the head of the infected. It also made his baseball bat wish he had left it in his room.

It served its purpose, that's good enough I guess. He sighed and resolved that he would get something he'd use as a weapon later.

Still, he marveled at his speed.

Right now, he realized two things. One, he was incredibly fast. Two, his perception had increased to the point where his brain could match up with his speed. Hence, he didn't need to worry about running into a wall at the speed of sound.

Another thing he realized was that his body's toughness as also risen to handle his speed. Normally, if a normal person tried to move as fast as he did without any form of protection, a broken neck would be the least of their worries.

To him though, he felt like he was moving like normal. Just that everything else had become painfully slow.

He wasn't sure, but he could only attribute this strange but miraculous ability to his infection. He speculated that maybe, he was an odd case. An anomaly who instead of becoming a monster, actually gained superhuman abilities.

He wondered if there were others like him, but decided that he would just focus on surviving. A task he felt much more confident of now.

However, he noticed a problem. One that would become an issue if he didn't solve it quickly. Food.

His speed may have reached superhuman levels. But so did his appetite. He judged that his body needed an equal amount of sustenance for the insane speed it could release. As a result, he had already eaten through two of the canned food he'd packed.

Hence, right now, he wasn't using his speed and walking normally to conserve energy. He decided that he'd only use his new ability when he had to or when he had enough food for him to use it freely.

It was then that he heard a shriek followed by a yell. His eyes narrowed.

Is that a person? And that shriek. They must have encountered an infected. Realizing this, Philip debated helping.

On one hand, he had no interest in someone who could be a burden to him. Moreover, how did he know that the person had good intentions?

But on the other hand, he'd been out for God knows how long and was lacking in information. Moreover, if the person was reliable and good, they could make a good ally. Most of all, it didn't sit right with him to let someone die when he could have helped.

Great, my morals win again. He sighed but still ran.

Now, he'd taken to using his speed in bursts where he would shoot himself forward in one leap instead of running constantly.

He didn't cover as much distance, but it was still quite a lot. Also, it didn't take nearly as much energy as full-on running.

Six bursts later, he arrived at the source of the noise.

A spider human-like infected was trying to break down a glass door and Philip spotted two people behind it, one of them holding a gun.

He took a deep breath and readied himself. He leaned his body forward and held his baseball bat in Ina height grip.

He pushed his legs forward, and he moved.

Time seemed to slow as he reached the infected in an instant. Using his momentum, Philip twisted his body and swung his bat at the creature's head. It was almost broken anyway, so might as well just completely break it now.

Due to the speed, the creature's head got smashed like a watermelon and blood and brain matter splattered in the direction Philip hit it.

Philip also canceled his speed and watched as the creature's body swayed before falling.

He looked at the destroyed bat that was smeared with thick blood and nearly gagged before throwing it to the floor. Then he looked to the grocery store.

There, he saw the two people, a man who looked to be in his thirties and a young woman around his age, looking at him like he'd just done something impossible, which he had.

"Hey, I'm not a threat." He said and raised his hands in a show of surrender.

*BANG*

Philip's perception slowed the flow of time by sheer instinct.

He watched as the shotgun shell slowly peeled allowing the pellets to approach him. He had no doubt that a normal would get shredded if they were unlucky to get hit by those.

Philip dropped his hands and casually walked around the pellets. He then went to the man and carefully carried the shotgun from his hands.

He then stood back in front of the man with an amiable smile and let his perception return to normal.

The man flinched when he saw that Philip was unscathed. He was about to say something when his eyes widened as he saw his shotgun in Philip's hands.

"If you're willing to talk like a normal person now then that would be nice." Philip said with a smile.