Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

After collecting the small crystals, much to the curiosity of his surviving pawns, Zane stashed them away in his backpack. He was about to call this a day, and head back to the sanctuary when he heard the sound of the ground quaking. No, it was not an earthquake, rather the real target of Zane\'s ire had revealed himself.

Keith had a major transformation after becoming an Undead. He gained significantly more weight, and somehow had gained height. His flesh was decayed to a grotesque and putrid color. While his hair had disappeared.

One could barely make out the boy\'s identity if they had known him in life, as his face had become warped and twisted. When Zane saw the ungodly creature reveal itself, he noticed the system displaying a message, one which alarmed him.

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[Abomination – Tier III Undead]

[Level: ]

[HP: ???]

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This clearly meant that Keith was still too high of a level for Zane and his crew to reasonably take care of. But it was running so quickly that there was no chance for them to actually escape to safety before they came under its assault.

Because of this, Zane gave a shocking order to his pawns, knowing that most would not survive. But then again, he had several dozen mouths to feed, and this was a good way to thin the herd… Not that any of them knew Zane\'s thoughts when he issued the command.

"Hold your ground! With all of us combined, there is no way that we can lose!"

Though Zane said this, he leaned in and whispered to Elena and Olivia an entirely different command.

"Use your skills at your discretion, but be prepared to fall back to the camp and abandon the others should the need arise…."

As much as they both wanted to protest Zane\'s orders, neither of the two women had a chance to do so. Instead, they quickly realized their ranks had come under assault, as the Abomination barreled straight into the two dozen plus survivors, smashing those immediately impacted by its attack into meat paste as it did so.

This quickly caused the pawns to break ranks, no longer fearing Zane\'s retribution, while the man himself cursed beneath his breath, all while firing shots at the massive undead monstrosity\'s head.

"Fucking bastard…. Eat lead!"

While firing his shots, Zane found that they had little effect on the creature. In fact, the bullets shattered against the Abomination\'s skull. Not causing any significant damage to it. Knowing that 5.56 projectiles were basically useless against such a high level undead, Zane immediately switched tactics.

"Olivia, use your skill now!"

Olivia did not hesitate, and cast her skill, knowing that it was the most powerful weapon they had at this moment. But while the bolt of lightning struck the Abomination\'s chest, causing severe burns and a large cavity in the afflicted area. The abomination was ultimately still standing. Causing Olivia to panic.

"What the hell! This thing still isn\'t dead! Zane, I can\'t fire another shot for another 90 seconds!"

Seemingly perturbed by the wound it had just received, the abomination immediately targeted Olivia, rushing after her in an attempt to flatten her into a pancake like it had done to the others. Zane immediately pushed the woman out of the way of the Undead\'s assault, causing it to ram into the second building, which cracked its walls, but caused no further damage.

Knowing that their situation was desperate, Zane grabbed hold of his former homeroom teacher\'s hand and dragged her away, while commanding Elena to flee with them.

"We\'ve got to evade it until you can fire another shot, Elena. Come on!"

Elena bit her lip, she knew that her skill could theoretically stop the undead monstrosity in its tracks, but it had a three minute cool down, and she had no idea if just it would be affected, or if Olivia and Zane would be as well.

But she had no other choice, instead she called out to Olivia, and Zane, finally letting them know about her skill, which she had been hiding from them until now. All the while fleeing for their lives from the rampaging abomination.

"Olivia, how much time do you have left on your cool down?"

Olivia did not hesitate to look at her UI, and was quick to say how much time she had left.

"It looks like it will be another thirty seconds!"

With this in mind, Elena shouted her idea to the others, while reminding them that she wasn\'t entirely sure if it would work or not.

"I might be able to slow down that thing! But I don\'t know if the two of you will be affected as well. If you are still able to keep moving, then I want you to take the time that I have bought you to target the abomination\'s head with your skill! Do you understand me!?!"

Zane narrowed his eyes. Until now, Elena had refused to talk to him about her power. Probably because she was still mad at him for forcing her to awaken. But now that she was willing to reveal the power, he was more curious about what it was, then he was about the danger present to them all at the current moment.

Of course, Olivia instantly agreed by nodding her pretty head, an assuring Elena that she would not fail.

"Alright…. I understand… I\'ll let you know when I\'m ready!"

While the plan was set in motion, the trio still somehow managed to evade the rampaging Abomination, which chased after them like an enraged bull. But for how long they could continue to do so? Nobody knew...