9 The Military

After a good rest, the group left the rest of the survivors on the fourth floor and made their way back to the third floor so that they would have access to the second one. Matt repair the platform that was destroy by the large infected and they all made their way down. This time, they would kill the infected out right on the floor as there were now three hybrids in the group. Before they rested earlier, Matt used his ability to separate the energy that he had gained from each of the level two zombies to enhance James, who got the muscled infected's power while Chris got the leg power of the other infected.

These powers didn't change their appearance as it had for the zombies. It only made their bodies stronger and faster for now. James could easily toss a grown man twenty yards if he tried now and Chris could jump from one floor to the next if he was standing at the bottom of the stair well.

Matt had come to realize that he could also absorb the abilities of the infected if he wanted to. It could have possibly made his powers stronger or given him the enhancements that it have given James and Chris. The reason that he gave them the powers though was that they were the two that had helped him the most currently. If he got more powers in the future then he would most likely give them to Carl and Jessie if they all stayed together as a group.

During the time that Matt was sorting out his thoughts, they had already cleared the second floor and were beginning to clean up and fortify it so that the infected below wouldn't surprise them. Even after absorbing all of the infected that were on the floor, Matt didn't feel as though he had reached his limit on stored power which surprised him. Thinking about the future further, he realized that there might not be a limit to what his power could achieve and was making plans on how to enhance if further.

After sending the survivors of this floor up to their base, they made their way to the gym to find the phone that Carl had which was a direct link to his post in the area. After finding the phone and heading back up, the call was placed with the hopes of getting a response.

After a few rings, a woman answered the phone. It was Carl's commanding office that he had managed to reach. After relaying their situation and hearing that the base had already stabilized its' position while doing search and rescue, the commander said that she would send a squad to escort them to base. She said that it would take time as the roads were blocked from abandoned vehicles.

Matt agreed to continue to assist the rest of the survivors and clear the mall while making a way for the military to easily enter and exit the mall without having to worry too much about the infected. Matt decided to do these things by himself since he was planning to test the limits of his powers.

Making his way down to the first floor, the first thing that he wanted to test was his ability to project his energy around himself. Creating a barrier of sorts, he wanted to see how tough it was since he was no longer affected by level one zombies. The first zombie that attacked him showed great yet absurd results. The zombie simply disintegrated as soon as it jumped on him.

The next thing he wanted to try was projecting his power in a straight line. Holding his hand out in front, he fired a beam directly at the closest infected. The results were similar, the only difference being that he did not receive any energy this way as he was not in contact with his target. Using both abilities at the same time proved to be a bit of a challenge at first, but it got easier the more he tried it.

Finished testing his abilities, he quickly mopped up the rest of the zombies on the first floor. After that was done, he made barricades over the entrances and retrieved the rest of the survivors. Sending them back to the base, he made his way back to the second floor where there was a walk way that extended over to the parking garage. After killing off the infected in the parking garage, barriers were erected at the entrance that could be slid out of the way and the first floor was sealed up in the open spots to keep the infected out.

It had been twenty-six hours since the outbreak and there were zombies everywhere that he looked from the top of the parking garage. The strange thing that he noticed whoever was the lack of birds and insects. They seemed to have all vanished since the outbreak. Thinking to this point, Matt concluded that most had probably did while the rest had mutated along with all of the other animals on the planet. This did not bode well for the normal humans that were left. They would surely have to find ways to become stronger or become hybrids like himself in order to survive this new world.

Matt viewed himself as a good person, but did not think that he would have the ability to save the world by himself. It would take all of the remaining countries and people to adapt to this new life. Hopefully they could all make it as that didn't seem the case currently.