Chapter 6: Week Three: Wednesday

Last night was rough. Though we eventually did fall asleep after our nerves calmed down, it did take a few hours. Throughout the night we could hear their roars, and the screams of those unfortunate enough to draw their attention.

I've decided to call them Night Crawlers. It's strange that I've never seen them during the day, hence the name.

"Let's get started with the workout."

"Workout? B-But I'm so tired. Can't we, you know, not do it for today, please?"

"Quit your bitching! That's no excuse for not getting shit done. You give in now and you'll give in every time. Then suddenly it's been a week, a month, a year, and you're still bitching and giving excuses when that time could have been better spent becoming a badass!"

"Long way of saying no."

Did he... mumble something?

"Huh? Say something?" I stared at him with my eyes narrowed. Know damn well I heard something.

"N-No."

With that out of the way we got started with my least favorite part of the day. Unfortunately due to him being a weakling he can't follow along with me. So I gave him some basics exercises. As he loses weight and gains muscle he can move up the ladder of being a badass. Certainly won't come close to me but that's a given, seeing as I've been training for years.

He started off with following my stretching, which he couldn't fully do, and went into jumping jacks. Next was some running in place followed by a measly 3 knee pushups, which wasn't proper form in the slightest. Guess we all start somewhere. I then gave him my dumbbells and instructed him to do various exercises.

"W-Why are these so h-heavy?!"

"Uh sorry, those are the weakest I got. Just push through the pain!"

"A-Am I dying? Is this hell?"

"Not yet. Keep going!"

It was finally time for brunch. When I told him that he seemed to visibly brighten like a star. But when he saw his portion he deflated. Such a nice expression.

"Just this much?"

"Whatchu mean 'jUsT thiS mUcH' that's plenty! Don't worry, you get another meal for dinner. 2 meals a day, you know some little infected african kids can't even get a slice of long pig after a week of starving! Be grateful for what you got."

"Long pig? What's that?"

I licked my lips before speaking, making sure he sees.

"Human flesh me boy! Best meat there is! Keep whining and I may put you on the cutting board. Phewy, you lookin mighty tasty there friend."

The look of horror on his face was glorious.

"I'm kidding... maybe."

After distributing the water, which was going to be two a day, we were going to head to the last open apartment. But Zach did need a weapon. When I asked him about it he got all excited and rushed to his room.

He returned and showed me a fucking katana! It was gorgeous! It seemed as if it could cut through Cap's shield in a single strike. I want it for myself, but just snatching it from him seems too dickish even for me. Besides, I'm kinda starting to like him.

"That's pretty cool looking. Where did you get it?"

He suddenly brightened as if he was waiting for this.

"I know right! I got this in a little online auction that was featuring a bunch of cool stuff from Japan! This katana was created by the legendary Masamune! After a fierce bidding war I became the victor only having to pay $310,000! It was practically a steal!"

"$310,000?! Why the fuck are you living here if you have that much cash? What kind of job do you have that pays so well?"

"I just like living here, you know? Got this place when I first left my parents house, has sentimental value to me. As for work I had a job at a game company and while it does pay well, the money I used was kinda my life savings. Hehe, it was worth it." 

He started to rub his face onto the katana. Is he... sniffing it?

"Alright enough with that, let's get going."

"Where are we going?"

I deliberately walked slowly through the hallway while speaking to him.

"To the last unlocked apartment. If there's anything there we're going to clear it out and take whatever goodies it holds. Then, we'll move onto the locked ones. Not sure how we can get into them without breaking the door down, but we'll cross that bridge later."

As we moved through the hallway I could see his hands holding the katana were shaking, and his steps were a little off. Probably got the jitters.

"Nervous?"

"Y-Yeah. J-Just a little."

"I'll handle most of it. I'm gonna tackle him and pin him to the ground, then you're gonna finish him."

Saying that out loud makes it sound a little dumb, but it'll be fine... probably.

"M-Me?! Why?"

"You need to get your hands dirty. Now be quiet."

As soon as I finished speaking we were right outside the door. I gripped the doorknob and pushed it open slowly. Please don't creak sweetheart...

The door was cracked open just enough to left me see inside with one of my eyes. I could see 'them'. Their heads and bodies would occasionally twitch in a creepy manner. There were 2 of them standing with their backs turned towards me and for some reason... they were naked.

Lovers that wanted to die together? Or maybe when the man so graciously fed her some long and thick sausage she took a bite out of him to show how thankful she was. That doesn't matter. What matters is, how am I gonna play this?

Hmm, maybe I should be stealthy about this. I could come up behind them and smack one in the head, then grapple the other to the ground. Seems too risky. Maybe hit one in the head and throw his body into the woman? When they're both on the ground it may as well be easy pickings. Of course, could just get bitten and die. What are the chances of that? I opened the door just a lit-

*CREAK*

Am I cursed because of how handsome I am? God can't allow such a badass like myself to have an easy go of it. The infected lovers twitched a little at that sound. Then, the male slowly looked towards the door. His mouth opened wide and he let loose a foul roar, and started charging towards me. Time to improvise.

"Handle the man!"

I burst through the door and waited for the man to get in range. Once he was I swung sideways as hard as I could, cracking his skull open! He fell down onto the ground off to the side. The woman wasn't far behind, only a few feet away.

I front kicked her in the chest which threw her to the floor on her back. The recoil made me stagger just a little. By the time she got up halfway I was already swinging at her head. After 3 more swings, she stopped moving.

After she was done, I turned around and saw the male infected crawling on the ground snapping towards Zach! He was just standing there, petrified! Fucking useless!

I jumped on top of his back and smashed his head again and again until only chunks remained. 

"What the fuck are you doing?! You wanna die or what?!"

He then turned around and started puking. Is that the normal reaction to seeing this stuff? After hurling up his brunch, I spoke again to him.

"You done?"

"Y-Yeah I think so... sorry."

"Listen Zach, you need to do this. If you cower away at every turn you will never survive. You need to get used to scenes like this. I'm not saying you have to like it, but you need to be able to deal with it."

Suddenly, I heard a moan behind me. Seems I didn't kill the woman. Next time should make sure they're dead.

"Good! See her right there? Kill her. Kill her now."

I stood next to her, ready to beat her ass if she tried anything funny, and waited for him to act. He hesitated for a while. I had to wait and not speak again, he had to do it himself. 

"Ahhh!"

He ran towards her with his katana pointed towards the head, with his eyes closed. I smacked him up side the head, which made him stop and open his eyes.

"What in the fuck are you doing? You think you're some anime character? Quit it and do it right."

He looked really embarrassed. Damn well should be. He came a little closer, went over his head with the blade and hesitated. Did so for a while until he finally swung down with all his might. He cleaved the thing's head in half and it only stopped when it got to the chest. Holy hell. I need a sword like that.

My hammer's nice and all, but that is way too cool! He then backed up, hurled whatever was left in his stomach, and began to cry. Well, it's a start at least.

Waiting him to calm down, I then set him to the task of finding anything of use while I moved the bodies. I picked up the man and threw him over my shoulder, went to the railing then dumped his body over the edge.

Was about to leave, when I noticed something. The other bodies. They're gone. A trail of blood could be seen going over to the alleyway, where I saw that shadow. Interesting. Once the woman was taken care of in the same fashion, I went to help Zach.

There wasn't really much. Nothing for water, but there was some granola bars and beef jerky. Unfortunately no canned goods, guess not everyone likes that.

"Is this it?"

"Must I tell you about the little starving african kids again?" He shut up real quick after that.

I raided their bathroom to find any sort of medical aid. Did get some bandages and band aids, more ointment, and antibiotics. All in all, this was a good little mission. Once I put everything away, Zach said he needed a break and went to his room to read manga. I could understand it, he needs time alone to process.

As for me, I followed him to his room and 'borrowed' My Hero Academia. My plan was to sit by the balcony doors out of view and see if I can find the body snatcher while reading at the same time.

My 'genius' plan never amounted to anything as the corpse thief failed to arrive. After a few hours of nothing I gave up. My current goal was to clear the hallway of any threats and ransack the remaining apartments for whatever food or water they have. But I don't have a clue how to do that.

"Oh! That's easy! I can just lockpick the doors."

When I came to Zach with my troubles I wasn't expecting much, turns out I was wrong.

"How did you learn that?"

"From games of course! Like Skyrim and Fallout. I got curious about it and started learning. Even got some gear for it!"

He ran away to parts unknown and returned with a little bag in his hands. When he unzipped it, the bag revealed all kinds of things that I definitely knew the names of.

"What am I lookin at here?"

"Well these here are bobby pins! And over here is blah blah! Blah blah blah blah!"

Weather sure was cloudy today. Wonder if it's gonna rain.

"Super interesting. Anyway, that's for tomorrow. Come on, let's eat dinner."

He followed me back and I opened my freezer. The only thing in there was the chocolate ice cream. It hasn't been opened yet. It's pretty large so it should be enough for the 2 of us. Although, it is a little melted.

"Chocolate ice cream?! Awesome!"

"...You like this flavor?"

"You kidding?! I love chocolate ice cream! Nothing can match it!"

Seems like he has an express ticket to Heaven for his Holy Words. 

After eating I was just gonna go to sleep when...

"Sleeping with me again?"

"Can I? It's really scary alone."

"Sure, whatever."

This time was a little different. He brought an... Ei body pillow?