Chapter 100: Blood Rain

Chapter 100: Chapter 100: Blood Rain In the ruins of the naval base, humanity lived like cockroaches. The once-proud people had turned to feasting on the dead to quell their hunger. It had been the case ever since the main base fell. The zombies and monsters killed half the population, leaving the other half unharmed. Why? They didn’t know. Some were thankful for their survival; some hated their condition. The latter were in the minority. After all, it was under their rule that the majority had suffered. That’s right. Blaze had flipped the coin of dominance. The chosen, once proud and unstoppable, now feared for their lives. Not from the zombies, but from the minority they had exploited. The unawakened ruled over the chosen, with the help of Blaze’s zombies. The chosen were made to fight one another in cages for survival. If they didn’t, Blaze would kill them. Even if they won, they’d be forced to fight again and again until they lost and died. It was Blaze’s way of controlling the chosen population. Effective and entertaining. Meanwhile, the unawakened, driven by revenge, didn’t notice when they became chickens for the zombies to harvest. Those who did notice disappeared quickly. So, people ignored everything and focused on the present. Everything was going well. At least until the final evolution. That’s when the unawakened began dropping like flies. Even though Blaze provided them with food, medicines, and other necessary things, they just couldn’t adapt to the rapid changes. Within days, a sizeable chunk of his human farm was gone. The chosen grew stronger, and the unawakened perished. It was the perfect time for the former to escape, and they did. Blaze’s horde captured some, but most escaped into the unknown crevices of the city. Fester and the ants found more awakened, but over time, things changed. The chosen began fighting back. The invincible zombies didn’t feel so strong anymore. Not with the weapons they earned from clearing dungeons, only the mortals could enter. Blaze still kept them at bay by throwing more zombies at them. But it wasn’t enough. The chosen who had escaped the base formed camps in hidden places throughout San Diego. At one such base, a celebration was going on. A celebration because they had killed another batch of zombies Blaze had sent their way. "A few more days. That’s all that bastard zombie lord has to live," Mark boasted as the crowd around the fire cheered him on. After escaping from Blaze’s captivity, the ragtag group of chosen hadn’t lost a single fight against the zombies. All thanks to their evolved talents and weapons. Not all of them had weapons, but once they did, they thought defeating Blaze’s army would be a piece of cake. They had a reason for their confidence too. Blaze’s zombies had been obliterated from the western part of San Diego. They believed it was because they killed so many of his zombies that Blaze chose not to fight. In fact, it was the mutated animals they struggled against more. They believed it was worse for Blaze. That’s why he expelled the zoo animals to the west as a last resort. In a way, his strategy worked since the mutants kept the chosen preoccupied. However, it also worked against him. As the humans began fearing the mutants more than the zombies. Regardless, the lives of the chosen improved once again. Just then, they heard the raindrops hitting the broken walls and windows. It wasn’t extraordinary, so they continued their chat while coming up with plans to defeat Blaze. Someone leaned closer to the window, watching the droplets streak down the cracked glass. After all, some people enjoyed rain, but then a woman frowned. "...Doesn’t it smell strange to you?" "What smell?" The others looked at her until they noticed the familiar smell. The smell of rotten blood. Fearing another horde was coming to attack them, they grabbed their weapons and rushed out. But then they realized the smell wasn’t coming from zombies. It wasn’t raining water, but rotten blood. "What in tarnation is this?" "That zombie... he’s up to something!" While they were discussing that, someone pointed in the distance. It was Mark, his eagle-eye mutation tore through the darkness, and he saw something. "Hey guys... was there a tower near the zoo before?" he asked. "What tower? I can’t see shit." "Just answer the question." "I don’t think so." However, Mark could see the silhouette of a strange structure in the distance. It wasn’t tall enough to pierce the clouds, but it was still large enough to be seen even from here. More importantly, it seemed the tower was causing the strange rain. "We should inspect it tomorrow once the rain stops," Mark suggested. Others nodded and were about to head in when Mark spotted something else. "Hostiles, 11’O cock." Their heads snapped in the direction Mark pointed, and sure enough, they saw a group of zombies at some distance. They were just as strange as the blood rain above. They were slower than walkers and wobbled with every step. Their outlines were swollen and hunched, their arms dragging almost to the ground. They looked more like bloated sacks than anything else. "They look weak... strangely so," Mark said, lifting his bow. An arrow shot straight towards the zombie, hitting it in the head. The arrow pierced the undead’s skull, and it fell to the ground, dead. "Another one of his freaks," someone scoffed. "That’s it? Even walkers take two arrows to die, at least!" One after another, they mocked the fragile-looking zombies, and Blaze along with them. In their eyes, Blaze’s desperation had reached its limit. That’s why he was throwing everything at them. Even such weaklings. They were so busy mocking him that they didn’t notice the corpse twitch. Slowly, the fallen corpse expanded, and then... BANG! The corpse exploded, but that wasn’t all. It ejected black smoke everywhere. The wind and rain carried the dust towards the chosen. Thinking it was poison, they covered their mouths and noses. However, after a few moments, Mark looked at his arm and scoffed. "It’s safe, guys," he said. "It’s just some dirt. The fucker is trying to scare us. Just kill them from a distance and it’ll be fine."