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2024-10-29 19:42:56Thwack!
Not wasting his time thinking of the betrayal of those he had thought were his closest in a city far from his home, Adam didn’t think twice before he struck hard at the zombie when it reached for him again.
Well-built with the right amount of muscle on his strapping frame, Adam had been the quarterback on his college football team before he came to Joville in search of work and a better life.
His body strength had been the major reason why he had not collapsed from all the vigorous work they had started giving him in the company since he got demoted to the position of a messenger.
So he was confident that he would get the upper hand on the zombie, who used to be a lanky man before he turned.
To his surprise, though, the punch only sent the zombie back a few inches before he advanced on Adam again, more angry and resilient this time. Adam jumped on the bed while wielding the goose feather pillow he had snatched in his panic.
He managed to get to the other side of the bed while the zombie ambled around the bed. It was still blocking Adam’s way to the door, though, and he knew there was no way he could get to the door before it would reach him.
If there was one thing he had learnt from the zombie games he had once played with Jean, it was to never turn your back on a zombie. Adam was not about to ignore that warning in a real-life situation and get himself killed. There was only one thing to do.
Fight to win. He must get to that door!
His eyes caught on the ornate, heavy-handled mirror of Anastasia, and he quickly picked it up and smacked it hard against the zombie’s head, using the momentum to push the zombie out of his way.
The zombie slumped hard towards the bed, hitting his head against the frame as it went down.
Adam didn’t bother to see the outcome of his work as he ran for the door.
Thankfully, Jean had only closed it.
Adam pulled it open and ran into the hallway.
He ran back as he remembered that he still had his key in his pocket.
He slotted it into the doorjamb as he heard the grunting sounds of the zombie from the other end and locked the door firmly before running out of the units.
He vaguely thought of warning his neighbours, but soon he realized there was no need to do so, because those who were still alive were already running for their life.
He was out in the street in under one minute.
He ducked back to the side of the building as chaos reigned in his street. The street he had passed moments ago was littered with writhing bodies in the hands of zombies still devouring them.
Some were currently changing, and he could see the way their bodies contorted and extended in the most inhumane way as they turned and looked around for new prey to devour.
Adam pressed tightly against the side of the building where a kiosk blocked him from their direct view.
His stomach roiled in sickness as he heard the screams of people right before those screams turned to snarls as the sickness took them.
“I need to get out of here fast,” he thought in desperation, as he knew that he would soon become one of those creatures if care was not taken.
Thanking his stars for the little facts he knew about zombies from the games he had played, he knew that they were mostly attracted by loud noise.
He knew that if he didn’t make noise and kept away from their direct view, he could at least survive this.
“I need to keep moving,” he thought to himself as he almost cried out when an executive lady dressed in peach-coloured suit pants rose directly from the floor in a distorted form, with her teeth gnashing and her dead, veined eyes looking in his direction.
He froze as he thought that she had seen him, but then she looked away as she ambled towards one of the buildings down the street.
Adam heaved a sigh of relief and started moving slowly with his body firmly against the wall and his eyes glued to the street.
He had not taken two steps when his vision greyed and he almost tumbled as nausea rose in him again.
“What is happening to me?” he thought in panic as he laid his head against the wall.
He started breathing heavily, and it looked like he was about to pass out.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had fallen sick, and he thought this was the worst timing in the world.
That was when he saw it.
Adam’s eyes widened in horror as he stared at his shaking hands and saw that there was a gash on one of them! The hand he had struck the zombie with!
“Fuck! Fuck! I am going to die! I am going to be a zombie!”
He thought in panic as he stared at the shaking hand in horror.
Willing the gash to go away.
Willing the shakes to stop.
Wishing that he was not feeling so sick at the moment.
Yet all he could remember was the fact that he had felt a sting in his fist when he struck the zombie.
Then he remembered the zombie's wide mouth as he jumped at him!
Damn it.
He was done for now!
What would he do?
What would his parents do?
His sisters would never know that he was a monster now!
God damn it!
Then, as if by pure will, the sickness in his gut reduced, and then his hands stopped shaking so badly, but the gash in his hand heated up, and he was feeling a tingling sensation in his body.
Just as he looked for something around to kill himself before he could turn into a monster, a 3 cubic meter space compartment materialised out of thin air!
Adam nearly forgot his intention to keep quiet, and he almost yelled in panic as he retrieved his outstretched hands.
The cubic space disappeared again, and the tingling sensation in his body was gone along with the gash in his hand.
The wound had sealed up just as if he had never had it.
Adam was shocked beyond words, and he was just marvelling at what happened when he heard movement to his right and saw that although he had tried his best not to make a sound, his subtle noise had attracted one zombie, who was still close by on the now deserted street.
“Oh shit! Oh shit!” he mumbled under his breath as he wished that he had something to fight off the zombie that was fast bearing down on him at that moment.
This one seemed faster than the one he had fought in the apartment, and he was a burly man too.
Adam knew that he was dead for sure this time if he couldn’t do something fast.
He was out in the open with no weapon around.
The only thing close to him was the wooden kiosk, but even his strength was not enough to lift it.
Still, he ran back towards it, hoping he had something in his hand that he could kill the zombie with.
A jolt went through his body, and a spatial orb suddenly appeared in his vision.
He paused for a while as he quickly reached for one of the wicked-looking swords with his mind.
Immediately, the ornate, claymore-style sword appeared in his hand, and the orb disappeared again.
Not waiting to test the unfamiliar weight in his hand, Adam swung back to face the zombie that had almost caught up with him.
He held the sword tightly with his two hands and swung it towards the zombie.
Due to his lack of finesse and skill, the blade only glanced off the zombie’s arm.
The ash-coloured, veined eyes widened with pain as it looked at the blood pouring out of its arm, and then it bared its teeth at Adam again.
Fear held Adam’s body in its grip, but he knew that he had to finish the zombie off or be killed.
He swung again, but the zombie knocked the blade out of his hand.
In desperation, Adam recalled the little martial training he once had in his hometown, and he gave the zombie a roundhouse kick.
He dived for the blade again, and just as the zombie grabbed his leg, Adam swung hard at the zombie’s head, decapitating it!
Not sure if that was enough to keep the zombie dead, Adam continued to swing desperately at the head until it shattered.
He finally got a hold of himself.
Breathing heavily, he moved back from the zombie but stopped when a crystal core rolled out of the shattered zombie’s head.
Before Adam could look at it well enough, the core shimmered and disappeared.
Simultaneously, Adam saw the spatial storage he had seen earlier shimmer and expand by another 1 cubic metres in his mind’s eyes. Making the space 4 cubic metres wide.
He did not think much of what happened as another horrible thought appeared in his mind.
His family!
What if they had all been killed or turned into these horrible creatures?
He patted his pocket and almost wept with relief when he saw that his cell phone was still in the pocket of his tight-fitting jeans.
With unimaginable fear in his heart, he called his parents.
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- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
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I can’t thank you enough, dear reader, for turning the pages until this point. I really do appreciate you for checking out this book, adding it to your library, unlocking chapters, voting for this book, giving this book your gems, and for your amazing and inspiring review and in-chapter comments as well. You are the reason I kept going to this point. You are my strength. I appreciate you a lot. Lots of love and blessings to you! I assure you that there will be more improvement in my writing style, plots, settings, and the way I portray the characters in my subsequent books. I would like to have your comments and suggestions on what you would like to see in my other books. I will appreciate that a lot, and I assure you that I will work hard to infuse your wants into my books. You can check out my other stories on this platform. I assure you that they are quite interesting and much more satisfying too. Thank you so much for being here. KABIRAT ALEEM
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Epilogue - The Art Of Survival
Adam left the house after Theo was buried.Even though Lisa was not happy with the idea, she respected his decision after warning him to stay away from danger and call her from time to time.Layla paid him no attention as he left and in a way, he knew she might never really forgive him.Reminding himself of how much more important the art of survival was to them at the moment than the matters of the heart, Adam became a scavenging nomad.Layla was right in a way after all, if Theo had not been with him, he wouldn’t have died.So he thought of the best plan.To travel alone from place to place, helping those he could and educating people more on how they can beat this thing.He gathered men from place to place, and trained them in ways they could get food, avoid attacks and how they can survive.Soon enough, Lisa and the others made out the first batch of the new vaccine they were working on.It was a vaccine that could mask people’s scent when they are near zombies.They had been able
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Chp 227 - Good News
“Please tell me you were not out here all night.”Adam threw the soil off the shovel and swiped at his sweaty brows before looking back at Lisa.She stifled a yawn as she peered at him through bleary eyes. “You really have been here all night?”Adam smiled as he said, “Pot. Kettle.”“Well, excuse me. I have been trying to think of ways to save lives. What is your excuse?”Adam’s smile was gone as he said, “I have been trying to do what I can to preserve the body of the life that was taken because of me.”“Oh, Adam,” Lisa said in a heartfelt tone as she came closer to him. “She blamed you, didn’t she?”“She was right,” Adam said automatically. “I couldn’t even get the tools yet a man died because of my decision. That is not on anybody, Lisa. It is on me.”He turned away and continued digging again.He ignored Lisa’s approach and continued to dig in a frenzy.His back glistened with sweat in the cold air and the increasing light of dawn brushing the sky.“Adam!” Lisa called sharply when
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Chp 226 - The Unwanted One
“So it was your fault!” Layla said immediately Adam finished his narration.She had been holding herself so rigidly as Adam told them everything without sparing any detail.Even as others gasped and muttered with sympathy and shock as Adam explained exactly how Theo had died, she had only stood their with soot and sweat drying on her body.With her arms tightly around herself, she stood still, like she might crumble if she moved.Tears falling from her eyes had increased, but she didn’t say anything.Then, immediately after Adam completed his narration, she blurted that out.“Layla, I don’t think Adam...”“No, it was his fault.” Layla cut Maddy off. “If he had not told him to stop, if he was not so concerned about getting some goddamned farming tools, Theo would still be here with us!”Each of her words dug a dart into Adam’s heart.He had not expected that from her.From anyone else, he could have expected the hateful words coming out of her mouth.But not from Layla. She was...Layla
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Chp 225 - Layla's betrayal
It didn’t take Adam long to realise that his guess was right.The fiery halo was nothing but a blazing fire.“Who the fuck was making a fire out there?” he wondered as he ran with all his might.He started hearing the sounds of rushing feet ahead of him as well.Soon enough, he caught up with Maddy and some other men also running in the direction of the fire.“What is going on?” Adam asked instantly.Maddy’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw him. Without stopping, she said, “You are back! Good, we are about to find out who the fuck wants to die so badly.”They burst out into the opening to see Jared struggling with Molly!What the… “Hey!” Adam called out in fury.The two struggling figures turned to look at Adam.At least Jared turned.Molly used that opportunity to send her elbow into Jared’s guts.Though her hit didn’t do much to hurt him, he grunted and staggered back a bit.That gave Molly the chance to turn around as well.Her face fell when she saw Adam.Then she looked guilt
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Chp 224 - I Knocked Her Out
Adam recognised the car even before he saw the cutout van behind it. His heart leaped for joy when he saw Layla at the wheel of the car. But then his happiness was tainted by what Lisa just told him. He looked back at his sister just as the car parked. “You are sure?” he asked urgently. With tears in her eyes, Lisa nodded. Adam stepped out of the car. “Adam!” Layla called excitedly as she rushed forward to hug him. The men in the van came down just as Layla realised that Adam was not as excited as she was. She moved back from his embrace and asked, “What is wrong? Were you able to get…” Layla saw Lisa at the back of the car just then. She smiled in greeting and said, “Glad to see you are okay, Lisa.” “Hi, Layla,” Lisa responded in a gloomy tone. That made Lisa’s brow rise in confusion as she looked back at Adam and asked, “What is the problem?” Adam didn’t bother to mince words. “It is Theo,” he answered. Layla automatically looked towards the airplane, where Jeremy w
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Chp 223 - Divine View
Hoping that he wouldn’t cause their crash, Adam quickly turned his phone on and searched for how to land an airplane while it was on autopilot.He could see the anxiety on Lisa’s face as she removed her jacket and placed it on him to keep him warm.Silent and morose, Jeremy stared intently at the unconscious body.Lisa looked up at Adam and he could feel the hope dying in her as she asked, “How far to go?”“Not too far,” Adam stated.Not that he was so certain of all the digits and radars on the system.He just hoped they would soon be in Sydney.He was glad for the fact that Theo had already inputted their destination into the control system before the unfortunate incident happened.Adam looked over at the body on the floor.The blood had finally stopped.Lisa had made sure of that.Still, Thomas remained very unconscious.When Adam had checked his pulse earlier, it had been threadbare.Things were not looking good at all.Adam took his mind off the morbid thoughts and focused on sea
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Chp 222 - More Than A First Aid
Adam ran as fast as his pain-wracked body would allow. The angry shrieks and snarls behind him were thrumming in his head. Even though the sword kept slashing zombies down behind him while following him, the zombies were relentless in their pursuit. At that moment, Adam thought fondly of the chemical the Emir’s men had used on the zombies. He would make it his life mission to ensure they had something like that too. That was if he survived. Which was not looking so likely at the moment. The bites on his body hurt like hell as he ran without pause. The overgrown weeds slowed him down, while the mindless zombies plowed on without stopping. He had to turn to shoot at the closest two zombies that escaped the sword’s reach, even while backing away. The zombies were gaining on him as the airplane came into view. He could see the anxious faces of Lisa and Jeremy by the window as they were yelling something he couldn’t hear. The sword gained him some ground as he quickly climbed th
- THE APOCALYPTIC RISE OF ADAM
Chp 221 - Hornet's Nest
They started coming from everywhere. The more the zombies that were with them snarled and growled, the more other zombies started coming to join the feast. Adam regretted his urge to stop at that place. As he swung, slashed, and cut, he wished he had never thought of stopping at all. He took no notice of the crazily increasing storehouse.Cores dropped in succession and the storehouse increased in tune with it.Adam was too busy fighting for survival to marvel at the size of the storehouse.One couldn't stand at one side and see the other side of the storehouse again at this point.Adam was sweating profusely as black blood flew yet more zombies poured out of what had once seemed like a ghost town.It was like entering a hornet’s nest. The more he killed, the more they started coming. Theo was holding his own, and Adam was helping him out whenever he could. But when Adam was able to pull out a gun and toss it to Theo, the gun fell to the ground uselessly as Theo shouted, “I don
