KARMA

"Is it over?" One of Jeremy's men huffed as he slumped down on the floor, backing the wall. He took out a cigarette from his jacket and lit it. "PHEW! I think I peed myself back there..." He said in exhaustion with his heart beating wildly inside his ribcage.

"Yeah, all dead. Fuck!" Manny joined that guy as he extended the pack of cigarettes for him, which was gladly accepted. "Now, there's only one crawler to kill. God knows where that freak is hiding?" He took off his glasses and took a drag and let out a puff of smoke through his mouth.

Jeremy looked around. He saw his men who died fighting on his order, lying along with the smashed-up zombies. He wondered if staying here and defending this place was the right choice or not. He wondered if things would have been different had he not been so greedy. But it's too late to think about such matters. He came too far to turn back now.

Now is the time to find that lone enemy.

'Only twenty of us survived... Humm..." Jeremy's eyes fell on the guy beside Manny who was just puffing and resting with a winning smile. However, his left leg was bleeding and the nail marks were visible from his torn pants. In fifteen minutes or so, he will become a zombie. He took out his handgun and pointed it at the injured guy.

The injured guy just sat there with his eyes closed. Everyone's attention was on him, noticing Jeremy pointing his gun at him. Manny jumped up and took a few steps back.

"Fuuuuu! Just let me finish this cig, man," He shrugged his shoulders with a smile, "Or are you gonna drop me, right now? Ay, Jeremy."

"Juan, you know I can't take the risk," Jeremy pointed his gun to the forehead of Juan. "Thanks for sticking with us till the end through everything. Save a sit for me on the other side. Goodbye, amigo."

With a resounding bang, he pulled the trigger. His head blasted away as pieces of his brain went splattered everywhere, dying his face in the color of gory crimson red and the remaining bits of his shattered skull scattered to the floor. His hand fell to the floor as the cigarette butt remained wedged between his fingers, burning slowly.

Manny's eyes lingered on the corpse, the stench of blood wafting up his nostrils, the familiar sight of death taking him back to his roots as he tried to convince himself that he was prepared for it. But the shaking of his fingers and the sweat running down his arms made his fear evident to everyone who watched his trembling figure, 'One bite... A little scratch... That's all that it takes...' His inner voice screamed through his mind, scaring the crap out of him as he felt shivers creeping down to his toes.

"Check for injuries," Jeremy said as he grabbed Manny's shoulder, bringing his attention to the task at hand. "Make sure everyone is okay. And, if you are injured, don't hide it and put your mates at risk."

Everyone checked up on each other with their guns drawn, ready to fire at the first sign of something off, even if it meant that they might hurt one of their own in the crossfire.

Three more turned out to be bitten by zombies. They tried to run away, but Jeremy's gun was faster. With three successive shots, the three were down without anyone being able to react.

"Rest in peace."

The remaining sixteen began to clear up the area, carefully, gathering the dead zombies in a single place, creating a massive pile of dead, decaying corpses. They also put their fallen members into that pile. It's not because they disrespect them after they fought side by side, it's just that the fear and possibility of them rising back from their death is too much.

Then they used kerosene to spread on the piles and tossed the Molotov Cocktails at those mounds, immediately lighting the pyre, and burning the mounds with their brethren inside.

[Zoop!] [Zoop!] Two bullets flew out of nowhere, killing two of Jeremy's men instantly.

"Take cover!" Jeremy yelled as he jumped back inside the mall and hid behind the wall. He wasn't sure if the enemy had armor-piercing rounds, so, he crouched down on the floor.

Manny tried to run, but sadly, a bullet passed through the back of his head and came out right from his right eye, splashing the splinters of his glasses on the surrounding air, along with his blood, eye, and brain. His body fell down dead to the ground, the last sight in his eye was his fallen buddies' corpses burning into ashes with the bloody flames.

"NOOO! MANNY!" Jeremy screamed in rage, but he was already gone. "Damn! Motherfucking Crawler!"

The rest of his men jumped inside the building, but the sniper was well-equipped. Just as Jeremy feared, armor-piercing rounds were fired. The bullets pierced through the thick wall and killed the remaining of his team in just a mere minute. Now, he is the only one alive.

Grabbing his handgun with his right hand and his knife with his left hand, he lay there, pretending to be dead.

Jeremy thought that it was the intelligent crawler. But no matter how intelligent it is, pretending to be dead will definitely attract its attention and from his past experience, he knows that the crawler will come to him to check how or who or why he died. And the moment that motherfucking crawler turns him around, he will unload the entire mag into it, and if that's not enough then his last resort is his knife.

'Come to papa, I'll fuck you up so bad that you won't even realize what happened.'

The atmosphere became as silent. The crackling sound coming from the burning pile of corpses was the only thing audible. And for a good ten minutes, he lay there without moving. Then he heard sounds of multiple feet coming straight toward him. He thought it was another wave of zombies, but still, he took the chance and pretended to be dead.

'Just how many of these fuckers are there outside?' Jeremy kept wondering inside his heart. 'Damn it! I should have listened to Nick and run away from this cursed place when I had the chance. I killed too many to achieve my goal, and yet, here I was... So close, yet so far... If I hadn't killed Tyger and got in her way every moment, maybe... Just maybe...'

"Would you look at this bastard, playing dead,"

Then he heard a familiar voice that he never hoped to hear. His blood turned to ice as fear ran down his veins. He lost his hope right there. But he had no courage or any strength to face her, and now he can only wish that she would end him without torturing him for all his past misdeeds. But, he still had a chance...

'Wait! I still got a chance. I got a gun and a knife. I'll first stab the knife into her thigh, making her fall, then use the gun to take her hostage. Then negotiate to go outside without being hunted down. It doesn't have to be her. Anyone would do. I just need a live hostage. This will work for sure...' Jeremy thought he had a chance.

As soon as he heard footsteps close to his range, Jeremy jumped up, and stabbed his knife, only to meet with empty air.

[Baam!] A hard kick on his chin, threw him away, crashing on the wall. He somehow swallowed the pain and tried to shoot blindly, but an arrow flew toward him, pinning his arm to the wall.

"Gaaahhhh!" He screamed in pain.

"My, my, Jeremy... To think you almost had me there..." The woman spoke with disgust in her voice.

Jeremy shook his head to clear his vision and looked at that woman, "Tyger! Hahaha... Of course... There's no way that pussy fuck could have killed you. Hahahaha..." He began to laugh hysterically as he realized that everything started from that call in his secure line followed by the zombie wave... It was all just a plan to get rid of his men and capture him. "Aahahahahaha! You fucking bitch, you fucking killed fifty people... FIFTY PEOPLE!"

"Not me, Jeremy. You. You and your actions killed them. And you knew the rule when you crossed me, man. Now, don't pretend to be the victim here. If it was up to me, I'd have killed you the moment you arrived her, but..." Tyger walked closer to him and punched his gut, making him cough up a mouthful of blood. "Someone says you got something good on you. So, how about you give me that and I'll send you off to the other side without any pain?"

"Hahahah... Cough! Cough! Haaaa..." Jeremy coughed while laughing, "You want the map?" He looked into Tyger's eyes with an evil smirk, "I destroyed it. Now, it's all in here..." He used his other hand to point at his head, "All in here... In my head. I die. It's gone forever."

"You are bluffing..." Tyger grabbed his throat and pushed him on the wall.

"Try me, bitch," Jeremy said with a grin.

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