James immediately regretted his sudden surge of fake bravado.
He was an honest, dedicated police officer who had always believed in duty, honor, and protecting others.
In his mind, sacrificing himself so a fellow comrade could live was the highest act of bravery a man could ever perform.
But as a gigantic, terrifying zombie with muscles like a professional bodybuilder suddenly stepped out from behind a pile of crushed cars at the far end of the flyover, every drop of courage James had possessed moments ago instantly cooled into terror.
"Fuck, how are you this big and still managed to become a zombie?" James cried out, his voice cracking as he stumbled backward.
The massive creature slowly turned its heavy head toward him. Its grey skin was stretched impossibly tight over slabs of thick, mutated muscle, and jagged bone plates protruded from its shoulders and chest like natural armor.
Right in the center of its forehead, a dark orange crystal pulsed with an eerie, violent light.
Sensing the presence of living prey, the mutated beast opened its wide, fanged jaw and let out a deafening roar that vibrated right through the asphalt.
Before James could even process the sound, the monster slammed its massive legs into the ground.
The pavement shattered beneath its weight as it leaped high into the air, crossing nearly ten meters in a single bound to land right in front of him.
"Damn it!" James cursed under his breath, his hands shaking violently.
In hindsight, it would have been so much better if that strange female zombie sitting on the truck had just killed him instead.
At least then, he could have died like a true man of culture, being torn apart by a terrifying beauty.
Now, he was about to get crushed into paste by this gigantic, hideous monster.
What terrible luck.
Yet, even as death loomed directly over him, James refused to turn around and run back down the highway.
Doing so would lead the monster straight toward the left path, completely exposing his comrade, who was still hiding in the crushed police cruiser.
Instead, James made a split-second decision. He changed direction, lunging toward the opposite guardrail to draw the creature away.
But the mutated zombie was far too fast for a human to outrun.
Before James could take more than three steps, the creature swept its massive, clawed arm forward, slamming its heavy forearm directly into his side with tremendous force.
Bang!
The impact sent James flying through the air like a ragdoll. He slammed hard into the side of a rusted sedan and slid down onto the cold pavement, immediately coughing up a mouthful of thick, dark blood.
Pain exploded through his entire body. He was dead certain that several of his ribs were shattered and his internal organs were torn to pieces.
The mutated zombie did not rush forward to finish him. It took slow, heavy steps toward its fallen prey, seemingly enjoying the agony and helplessness of the dying human before it.
"Fuck... they are actually becoming intelligent..." James gasped out, spitting another glob of blood onto the ground. "Is humanity really gonna end this way?"
A heavy sense of despair crept into his heart, overwhelming his physical pain. As he lay broken on the hard asphalt, the faces of his beloved wife and young children flashed across his mind.
He would never see them again. He would never hold them or tell them everything was going to be fine.
His right shoulder throbbed with a burning, unnatural heat where the monster’s claws had sliced through his uniform and torn open his flesh.
Within seconds, a strange, freezing coldness began creeping into his bloodstream, spreading outward from the wound toward his heart.
His vision started to blur, dark spots swimming across his eyes as his core temperature plummeted.
He watched through half-closed eyes as the mutated zombie walked unhurriedly toward him. Its colossal shadow stretched forward, completely covering his broken body.
James blinked heavily, the darkness behind his eyelids lingering longer with every second.
But just as he opened his eyes again, a sudden, thunderous crash echoed across the flyover, instantly followed by an angry, agonized roar.
GROWL!
Through his failing, blurry vision, James saw the massive mutated zombie knocked off its feet.
A violent force had slammed into the giant, blasting it backward until it created a massive crater in the center of the concrete road.
Before James could understand what had just happened, another shadow loomed over him.
This shadow was far smaller and thinner than the giant monster that had attacked him. It belonged to the female zombie.
She stood right beside his broken body, her glowing crimson eyes staring down at him. Yet, as James looked up into those deep red pupils, he did not feel terror.
For some strange reason, a quiet, peaceful sense of calm washed over his dying mind.
"Thanks..." he managed to mutter.
In the very next blink, the human named James was gone.
The light in his eyes vanished completely, replaced by a dull, milky-white glaze as his body succumbed to the virus, turning him into just another member of the walking dead.
Having just arrived at the scene, the zombie girl turned her head away from the newly turned corpse.
She looked down at the man she had previously classified as ’no eat food’ and furrowed her dark eyebrows in deep disappointment.
She pouted slightly as her simple mind registered the change.
The ’no eat food’ had now officially turned into ’no taste food’. It completely ruined her mood for some reason.
Bang!
Before she could even turn back around to focus on the crater where the other delicious scent originated, a massive shadow burst out from the dust cloud ahead.
The mutated zombie had recovered instantly. Furious at being ambushed, the giant creature lunged forward with unbelievable speed, swinging its massive, armored fist directly into her chest.
Her light body was launched straight into the air, skipping and bouncing violently across the hard asphalt of the flyover like a flat stone skipped across a lake.
She tumbled over fifty meters before finally crashing hard into the thick concrete retaining wall at the edge of the highway.
"GROWL!" The mutated zombie let out a triumphant, violent roar, flexing its thick muscles as the dust settled.
Over by the cracked concrete wall, she slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. Her body had taken a severe beating from the impact.
Both of her arms were bent at unnatural, sickening angles, her left shoulder was completely dislocated, and several of her ribs were crushed inside her chest.
However, because she felt no physical pain, she simply stared at her broken limbs with a mild look of annoyance.
She grabbed her twisted left arm with her right hand and forcefully snapped it back into place with a loud, wet crunch.
Then, she grabbed her right wrist and popped the joint back into alignment without even blinking.
She shook her hands slightly, testing her fingers as her fast zombie regeneration began working on her bruised skin.
An annoyed, childish pout appeared on her pale face.
She crossed her legs on the ground and glared furiously across the broken road at the giant creature that had just hit her.
Her deep crimson eyes narrowed into sharp, dangerous slits as she stared directly at the dark orange crystal pulsing on its forehead.
That thing was supposed to be her delicious meal, but instead, it had dared to throw her into a wall.
She was officially very angry now.