Adam couldn’t tell Carson. Once the men were in formation, and Layla and Maddy were overseeing the session, he excused himself and went to the virology centre. For the second time, he entered the centre and saw everyone busy with one thing and the other. If not for the madness raging outside that might crash over them anytime soon, one could almost take it for another normal day where scientists were doing what they do best. One of them told him where Carson was and Adam went there after assuring the lady that he wouldn’t just walk in without knocking first. Adam could see why she had insisted on that. The notice DO NOT ENTER UNLESS TOLD TO was in front of the room. Adam could see Carson and the woman he had once seen in UChicago working on something. They were both suited up and the woman had a chart and a pen in her hands like she was writing down observations about what Carson had in front of him. They were in what seemed like an intense conversation, so he waited for a pro
Adam got back to the training ground to see Maddy beating the crap out of the one-eared man.Layla stood aside with no intention to separate them.Some of the men found it hard to concentrate on their training, as they kept looking over at the man whenever he groaned in pain.One thing Adam would give to the man, though, was that he kept getting up despite how many times Maddy kept slamming him to the ground.“I assume this is all part of training.” Adm asked Layla uncertainly.Even he winced at a particular slam dunk that Maddy gave the man.Layla looked back at him with a smile and said, “Yeah. A little bit of that. And a little bit because he reminded us that we are women and we don’t have any business showing them, the men, how to fight. Well, Maddy is showing him.”“And you are watching.”“Yep, enjoying it, actually,” Layla answered with a shrug.“Ah”“Ah”Layla looked back at him and smiled mischievously. "Alright,” she said with a long-suffering sigh. “Just do what you are itch
“I am sorry,” Jared said again.Adam knew the man was not as remorseful as he was pretending to be. He just wanted Adam to do what he wanted.Jared looked up at him and said, “Okay, what about this? You all wanted us gone anyway. If you think she would be a threat to you all, you can let me have her. I have my car here. I can take her back to...take her away from here. She is my wife and you can’t just expect me to let you kill her like that.”“And someone else is your daughter but you don’t mind that your buddy would have killed her. Wow, real smooth, Watson. Real smooth”“I…”“I am not interested. I like your offer.”“You…you do?”"Dad!” Gwen protested with a whimper. “She already said we can stay.”Layla already spoke to them? Well, it doesn’t matter.Adam could see that the man had initially said what he said because he was expecting Adam to counter him.The coward had no intention of leaving, especially now that he had no human buffer to shield him and his precious family.Adam
Patricia was a mess.Little of the uptight, well-groomed woman Adam had seen earlier was left in the new Patricia.She looked worse than she was the last time Adam saw her.Adam had to send Jared out after he tried twice to get close to her.Adam also had to steel his heart and remind himself of the kind of people they were in order not to feel sorry for them.Though it was barely audible, even Adam could hear the gttural, rumbling call of Jared’s name as Patricia pinned her gaze to him immediately as they entered.It was as if she was calling for help.The bloodshot eyes and black saliva dripping from the woman he had held in his arms seemed too much for Jared to bear.Adam felt for him for a second.Then he sent him out with explicit instructions for the men at the door that they shouldn’t let him back in.“Well, Patricia. Carson seems to think you are special. Are you going to prove him right or wrong?”Adam kept his gaze on her red-rimmed eyes as he spoke, just to gauge her reacti
Carson and his team were waiting to take Patricia in.Jared made an attempt to follow them into the facility but a look from Adam was enough to stop him.His daughter was not as sensitive as her father, of course.She cried, screamed, and cursed as they were taking her mother away.Maddy was glad to do everyone a favour by shutting her up.With a sharp slap to the face that made a resounding cracking sound that shut Gwen up fast enough, she smiled and declared loudly, “We are going to be best friends.”No one gave the spoilt brat a second look, where she crumpled with a sharp yelp.Her father was too busy staring after his unconscious, undead wife.Those who had stopped to watch the entire thing unfold got back to training and their activities.Soon enough, those training dispersed, and Adam talked to them again.They made arrangements to secure all the perimeters of the property as best as they could.Adam had another meeting with the chemists who were working on the destructive chem
With bated breaths and apprehension, everyone was on alert.The men with the silencer-fitted guns were ready to shoot once the zombies got too close.Those with clubs and various other fighting tools were ready to strike as well.Contrary to the people’s thoughts at first, the airplanes were not heading straight for the house.Oh, they came a bit close to it but not too close.Then they started descending.Adam, who was quietly on his way to join the men at the treehouse at this time, gauged the area where the aeroplanes were descending to be around the area where they landed the helicopter when they first arrived.The zombies were coming closer now, snarling nastily as it seemed they were increasing in numbers."It is going to be a tough one if they head for the house instead." Adam thought in anxiety.Just as he climbed up the treehouse stairway while crouching to keep out of sight, he realised that the zombies were totally ignoring the house.He opened the door to meet the wide-eye
It was like an inferno.He could see the zombies trying to disperse like headless chickens.Each of them had consuming flames on them.The fire was making no sound and Adam was sure that nobody had lit a match from the aeroplane.Yet it was burning furiously.Adam had never seen the magnitude of such a fire before.His phone rang and he picked it up.“Is everyone okay?” he asked automatically.“Yes, all is well here. Did you see that? They fired up those monsters.” Layla said it with a bit of excitement in her voice.“Not your regular fire, I can assure you,” Adam muttered almost to himself. “Then he said, “Make sure nobody gets it in their head to explore. What caused that fire could have an adverse effect.”“Oh, they are not going anywhere.”At this point, Adam’s mind was hardly on the zombies, who were screeching and groaning in pain as they breathed their last.It focused more on the occupants of the aeroplanes.“Where the hell did they go? Did they leave?”Two minutes passed and
The familiar agal on the man’s head pricked Adam’s memory.Same as the impeccably white ankle-length robe that made it seem like the man was coming from a different planet.To think someone could find the time and luxury to dress impeccably in such a situation was beyond Adam.All recognition ended with the shawl-like clothing on the man’s head that the black, double-roped agal was holding in place, though.Adam still couldn’t recognise the man.He was sure of one thing, though: unless Ameer had done plastic surgery, the man in front of him was not the haughty man who had almost killed him in Maradoit.Yes, they dress the same way. Well, at least Adam felt all Arab men traditionally dressed the same way.“See there. I see the confusion. I am hurt, though but it is fine. I am Ilyas,” the man said in amusement as he saw the blank look on Adam's face.“Il…Ilyas!” Adam said it a bit loudly as it finally dawned on him. Ilyas was the head bodyguard for Ameer.At least that was what Adam ha
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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
“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
“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
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
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
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
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
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