The entrance to the neighborhood becomes visible, about a quarter of a mile away. To Adam's surprise Thomas has been keeping up with them the entire time. They aren't running at an impossible pace, but it sure as hell isn't an easy one either. Out of all of the six groups, only half are still running. The other groups had to take breaks and walk, causing them to fall behind a short ways. Thankfully that's not them. The remaining groups besides theirs are Angie and Mia's, as well as Jade and Rowan. Jade and Rowan are probably the strongest Hunters. Each of them are in their late twenties, and they were the kind of people who ran ultra marathons and participated in triathlons when they were bored, so they're used to being on the move constantly and succeeding easily where others fail. Their trainees also seem to be keeping up with them. They'll make great assets in the future.
They reach the entrance and keep running into the neighborhood. It's a nicer neighborhood, with a bunch of fancy houses scattered around. Each group goes a separate way down winding roads.
"How about that one?" Carter suggests and points a finger towards a large house along the road. We stop running and start walking towards it.
"Yeah sure," Adam responds, turning to Thomas and Luciana, "Alright, let's get in and get out. We'll clear each room in groups before looting the house. Understood?"
Luciana nods and grabs her machete from her pack. Thomas just looks nervous. Adam looks at him and smiles.
"Hey you'll be right behind us. Have you ever fought one of the infected?"
"Um...," he casts his eyes towards the ground, "...no."
"Well everyone starts somewhere," Carter grins and throws an arm around Thomas' shoulder, "Don't sweat it man we've got you covered."
Thomas perks up a bit and grips his baseball bat with both of his hands. We step onto the porch and get close to the door. Adam turns back to everyone behind him as he reaches towards the door, turning the handle to discover it unlocked.
"I'll make some noise to draw out any infected in the house, then we'll take them out and move in," he whispers as he opens the door. Adam takes his fire axe in one hand and steps into the house. He spots a small vase on a stand near the door. Perfect. Adam picks it up and toss it into the large main room of the house. It hits the wood floor and crashes into a dozen pieces, creating a lot of noise in the process. He leads everyone else into the house, and they step into the open room. From the other side come a growling noise, and a closed door starts banging.
"Steady everyone," Adam whispers. They move slowly through the room towards the door. The growling becomes louder.
He quickly kicks open the door. It hits the zombie inside, knocking the thing down onto the floor.
"It's mine," Luciana states, moving forward while raising her machete. Adam steps out of the way as she swings down with the weapon, slicing into its head. The zombie shrieks and goes silent. Luciana gets back up and smiles at her handiwork, yanking her blade from the corpse.
"Nice job," Adam says, a little surprised. She handled that really well. No hesitation. Just action.
"Thanks," she responds. She grabs a shirt from the floor. She cleans the blood off of her machete with the shirt. There's no sound from other infected at the moment, but there could always be more.
"Let's check the other rooms now. Hopefully there aren't any more in here. If we do this fast then we might be the first ones back." Carter starts walking out of the room. There's two sets of stairs, one going to the second floor and the other descending into the basement.
"Let's split up and meet back here after we check each floor. You can start looting stuff too," Adam instructs, "Luciana, you go with Carter to the second floor. Thomas will go with me to the basement."
"Ok," Carter inspects his machete, "Good luck then." He nods and Luciana and they start walking upstairs. Adam turns to Thomas. The boy looks nervous, but also focused.
"Chances are there's nothing down there, but if there is something I'll kill it. Just stay behind me," Adam takes his axe and begins walking down the stairs. Thomas follows. The basement also seems very large, but the lights are off. He flicks a light switch but nothing happens. Adam sighs and reaches into his backpack, taking out a flashlight. It illuminates the area a little bit, but most of the basement is still pitch black. He listens in silence for a moment, but there's nothing besides the sound of their breathing. They keep walking and find a cabinet in the one of the corners of the room. Adam opens it. Nothing. Thomas begins walking around the room. Adam checks another container beside it and finds a small first aid kit. He puts it in his bag and keeps looking around. Thomas has his own flashlight and is trying to search for things too. 903Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrlffADlQi
He'll get better at this eventually, Adam thinks to himself, I've just gotta keep him alive until then.903Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lE4ZOqZAb
Something feels off.
Thomas is about ten feet away from Adam, rummaging through a closet. He's not exactly being quiet.
"Thomas get over here," Adam whispers sternly, motioning at the boy to come closer. He doesn't hear any signs of infected, but Adam still don't like how much noise Thomas is making.
"Ok, sorry," he gets up and shoulders his backpack, walking back to me.
Adam senses movement.
He quickly whips around and shines his flashlight on Thomas. The boy is fine.
Except there's a pale figure with glowing yellow eyes standing directly behind him, silently reaching for the boy with its bloodied hands.
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