RE: The Walking Dead [Zombie LitRPG]

Chapter 139 – Death

BOOOOM! BOOOOM!

A small shockwave spread in all directions alongside small chunks of concrete debris that flew in every direction.

Since it was a little too close, Michael made a run towards the wall of the building from the moment he threw the grenades. He did not actually plan to throw it at such a close distance, but he was worried that the mutant would just swat it away. So he decided to take the risk, even though it was obviously a dumb decision since he’d be risking his safety from an enemy that’s obviously far more dangerous than the ones he had faced before.

He was about to take a peek to see the result when a sudden sense of danger struck him!

Michael quickly bent his body to the side as a grotesque and dangerous looking weapon sliced past the side of his head and struck the building!

Thud! Crack!

“Shit!” Michael cursed as he rolled and quickly hopped backwards to create distance.

‘This bastard’s fast! I didn’t even hear anything!’ He was panicking a little since he didn’t even anticipate that kind of attack from the mutant. It was fast and dangerously silent.

“Grrr!” The mutant groaned and slowly pulled its weapon out of the hole it made on the wall. A huge portion of the wall crumbled down into pieces, revealing what’s beyond it.

Michael was perspiring, he felt this might be the most dangerous situation he’d gotten himself into. Even though that’s the case, he still saw a silver lining that made him smile with some relief.

‘It’s injured.’

It seems that despite its tough appearance, it is actually quite fragile. The two grenades did so much damage to its body that they took out one of its arms. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the arm with the mutated weapon attached to it and except for its missing arm, there were also some scratches and tears all over its body.

“ROOAR!” The mutant turned its head towards Michael and let out an angry bellow before it took a step towards him, and like what happened earlier, it immediately appeared before him, swinging down that monstrosity of a weapon towards his head.

‘Fast!’ Michael immediately jumped backward in an almost panic and dodged the attack by another hair’s breadth. The mutant was certainly fast on its feet, but Michael had quickly noticed during that second attack that its speed when attacking is actually a beat slower than when its moving.

Thud!

Though he might have successfully dodged the mutant walker, he had unknowingly pushed himself against a pillar, which has now restricted his options to maneuver.

‘Shit.’ Michael cursed and slightly turned his head to the side.

When he turned his attention back towards the monster, he saw it smiling at him before it disappeared like a wind and appeared before him like a ghost again. It launched the same pattern of attack, but this one was coming from the side. The monster had figured out Michael’s predicament and came to this answer that only leaves Michael with two options, to dodge or to block it.

Realizing that it actually possessed some form of intelligence, it threw Michael off his concentration and caused him precious time to react to the sudden attack.

‘Shit!’ Seeing the weapon inching closer to his body, Michael knew he couldn’t dodge this one and since he didn’t even have the time to draw his sword. Michael’s only choice is to turn his back towards the attack and block it with the sword on his back while hoping for the best.

That was the plan, but when he saw the victorious smirk on the mutant’s face, something inside him suddenly snapped.

“How dare you?! DIE!” His legs bulged a little bit and suddenly rushed towards the monster like a charging bull and tackled him!

BAM!

The two monstrous bodies collided and produced a sound similar to a ball being dribbled once on a hard ground. Michael managed to neutralize the attack thanks to his sudden outburst of strength, but it was only half successful since the mutant’s arm had also struck his shoulder like a baseball bat.

The mutant fell on his back with a thud while Michael was forced to take a knee as he grabbed his aching shoulder and groaned loudly. His face contorted from the pain like he was eating the spiciest chili in the world.

Michael slowly stood up, his left arm looking like it was hanging on an invisible sling and his hand on his upper abdomen. He pulled his sword with his working hand and slowly walked towards the mutant who is having a hard time standing up.

“Heh.” He let out a snort while watching it struggle to get up, but the mutant kept failing on its side since its remaining arm can’t support its center of gravity.

‘Such a ridiculous flaw.’ Michael thought while watching it trying to desperately get up and using its axe-like arm as some sort of a cane.

He did not allow the clown show to continue and immediately beheaded the monster.

Ding!

[You terminated a Mutated Zombie! Gained +500 EXP and +500 Coins.]

‘This thing is worth five hundred walkers? That’s kind of cheap.’ Michael was unsatisfied since this monster was fully capable of killing him, but it was only because of its arrogance that it lost its life to Michael.

‘But for something like this to possess some form of intelligence is alarming.’ He made a mental note, he’d decided he’d discuss this finding with the others when they get back to base.

“What the..fuck was that?!”

Suddenly, a loud mouth interrupted his thoughts. He looked over and saw Glenn coming out of the hole with a bewildered look on his face, like he couldn’t believe what he just witnessed.

But he ignored Michael and ran towards the dead mutant. He looked at it with curious eyes. His actions left Michael chuckling while shaking his head.

“Are you okay?” Andrea came out after him and looked at him with worry.

“Not good actually.”

“We saw the fight from the floor above. That was reckless of you.” She said while fixing his broken arm onto an arm sling she found on the way down.

Rick and the others also came up to check on Michael, and when they figured he was okay, they left the two lovebirds and instead started studying the dead mutant.

While Andrea was fixing him up, the others also slowly trickled out of the hole on the wall. Even the hospital residents came down to see what the commotion was about, but it was already over before they could even catch a glimpse of the fight.

“My goodness! Something like this actually exists among the rotters?” an unknown hospital resident exclaimed in horror and weirdly enough, there was a tinge of excitement in their voice.

“Shush, will you? No matter how amazing this is, those explosions from earlier would attract trouble to this place. We were lucky that we managed to survive the previous rotters siege.” someone immediately rebuked her.

“And who helped us with that? Wasn’t it the same guy who killed this one? So don’t shush me!” The woman rolled her eyes and retorted back.

The officers also came down with the residents, but compared to the residents crowding around the body, they stood slightly away and were looking at Michael.

Michael saw them and looked at them with a slight frown on his face. He slowly moved towards them and asked. “I hope you came bringing good news Officer Shepherd.”

Officer Shepherd did not immediately respond and instead looked towards the body being surrounded. They had never encountered something like that before, but even seeing it from afar is already sending a tingling sense of danger in her.

‘I heard them mentioning earlier that it's a mutant version of the rotters. I didn’t see how the fight went, but to leave Michael injured, someone who easily dealt a horde, speaks of the threat it can pose. Shit!’ She cursed at the end. For something like a mutant walker to exist, this would leave them with no choice but to align themselves with Michael’s group if they want to survive. She’s not stupid to believe that there’s only one mutant out there.

She turned to look at Michael and finally came to a decision that would change their lives.

“Very well, we will help your fight against Woodbury.”

“Good. You won’t regret it.”

Michael grinned.

‘I hope so.’