Day 1: We Are An Object Part lll

—The way they eat each other... soon there will only be bones left of the bald one, if they don't eat those too.

—Jason, look! There are weapons... surely they belonged to them. If you'll excuse me, gentlemen.

Nikolai took the baseball bat and with all his might in one blow decapitated one of the zombies. Jason joined in, attacking one of the dead devouring the remains of the bald man. The golf club buckled from the force used to stun the zombie.

And finally, Ryan pulled out a machete he had in hand and embedded it into the dead man holding the fallen man's head. Ryan himself crushed the head, exposing a series of black fluids and, what it seem at least for a moment, a brain, but it was too black to even recognize it as such.

Nikolai checked the weapons on the ground, all loaded with sufficient ammunition. He unabashedly shot the bastard in the head, who was still focused on eating the corpse from below.

—This plaza is empty, strangely.... —Jason could see the big difference between Children's Heaven and Black Card Plaza because there weren't that many undead around the area.

—That was because the criminals made sure to decimate all the zombies, including the people. They closed the gates of the plaza to keep the dead from entering. —Ryan equipped himself with a pistol he picked up off the ground, he already had several guns on his back.

—Those guns... Have you already been to the armory? —Nikolai asked, firmly holding the submachine gun he picked up as he saw that Ryan had a gun beforehand, just the same one of the dead people had with them.

—Yes... my sister went in search of food and I went in search of a much safer place, we were barricaded in the gun shop but everything failed. As far as I know, the bandits stormed the store and started killing them all. My sister was kidnapped and I must rescue her.

Jason, who was behind Stryker, did a remarkable expression of confusion, he even said "What?" at low speech.

Stryker stepped forward. The duo followed him and saw how some men were standing guard at the armory, at the armory doors.

—Time to make magic —Jason took the toys out of his backpack and turned them on. The robots made a lot of noise as they walked across the floor. This alerted the guards, as curiosity got the better of them and they wanted to know what was causing the noise, they approached the toy, Nikolai grabbed one of the men to drag him to a jewelry store and break his neck inside, while the other subject was caught off guard as Ryan approached from behind and slit his throat with his machete.

Jason didn't understand the brutality and how it was so easy for them to kill people alive. He had an intuition that they had done it before...of Ryan he had no doubt, from what he saw on the cameras. But Nikolai?

More so how Nikolai took one of the men's shotgun and smashed their heads to a pulp.

—Let's go!

Ryan grabbed a shopping cart and the trio entered the gun shop. What was inside certainly left them speechless.

There were a total of nine women, all completely naked, with wounds all around their bodies. Two of them were tied to the sides of the store's walls, while the rest were tied to the showcases displaying weapons.

A guy was in the store, shoving a grenade up a girl's vagina and telling her that if she didn't behave he was going to take the safety off and leave the grenade inside.

Nikolai was overcome with hatred and did not hesitate to take a knife from a display case and rush at the offender. The guy did not expect the brutality to be returned. Nikolai hit him so hard with a closed fist and stabbed him so many times in the trachea with the knife that the man was already drowning in his own blood.

Because Nikolai took a pistol, he shot him in the head, which caused the survivors to become upset and started crying.

Some of the women were crying from the roar while others were already dead. The ones tied to the display cases had their legs spread open, and a lot of blood was coming out of their intimate parts, as it didn't give much to the imagination when there were broken bottles and gun magazines in close proximity to them.

In addition, it appeared that some parts of their bodies had been mutilated, as some were missing fingers, and others complete lacked of hair. Most characteristically, they had sacks over their heads, and others had black duct tape around their eyes.

—They were torturing them, Jason.... —Nikolai tried to approach one, but it had already transformed into a zombie. —Whoa! Ah!

—My sister... My sister is not here. —Ryan approached the women to identify them, but they were all strangers to him.

—Please help us! They've been doing this nonstop! They've killed some of us and they're still going on even though they're already dead! —Said a woman who wanted to get out of her bindings, crying and imploring.

—We will help you! All you have to do is follow our instructions. The world is a very fucked up place out there.... But don't worry! We have a shelter, with people who will help you.... Shit... —Jason saw that the bindings were tight, so he took a knife to free the woman.

In all, only five were alive. One who was hanging had had her throat slit, and her blood was placed under a bucket that was filled. Meanwhile, the other girl was lucky.

Of the other bound women, three had not withstood the brutality and succumbed to the torture. The zombies moved erratically in the presence of fresh flesh and its distinctive smell.

—Megan... we found the women. Nine in total. Four are already dead... and five of them are in very bad shape. Tell George to prepare a room for them...

—But what do you mean, Nikolai? -Megan looked around the rest of the room in confusion.

—Look at the cameras, woman.

Megan saw Jason come out with a cart full of weapons and ammunition. Behind him the deserter and lastly, five women who didn't look too good. The wounds and marks on their bodies did not go unnoticed.

Nikolai stayed behind to grab a shotgun and tell the girls to get down on the ground.

—So... Ryan. You allowed this? —Nikolai loaded his shotgun as he wanted to confront him.

—Hey? What are you talking about?

—I'll get to the point. We know from the cameras that you were a member of this group of sadists. There is no place for you in our community.

There was a dead, uncomfortable silence. Ryan just smiled.

—You don't know what I had to do to survive! You have no fucking idea what it's like here.... I had to adapt! I had to do horrible things against my will because I wanted to go on living....

—And that's why you're lying? That's why you allowed this? Look at them!

—It was a mistake! I never touched them! I deserted from the group because I don't want this for myself... You should've seen them try to hunt me down! I swear! Don't let me die out here alone! I never hurt them! Believe me!

Ryan knelt on the ground and begged, he didn't even try to defend himself because he saw it as useless.

—Please! Don't kill me... Don't kill me, please, man! I'm one of the good guys! I never wanted any of this! Let me live, please!

—What do you say, Jason? Do we let this guy live? —Nikolai asked, while pointing a gun at Ryan's head.

—Do you know if there was more people involved in all this? —Jason asked, because if there were nine, there were probably more victims. —Look, if you tell us, we'll take you with us. I swear.

—To the butcher shop! They were being taken to the butcher shop! We used the cars in the parking lot to transport them to the butcher shop at Spring Plaza. I don't know what they do to them!

—Perfect. Thanks for the information, Ryan.

Without further ado, Nikolai shot him in the stomach with the shotgun. The women gathered around each other, shielding each other in fear, and Jason was just stunned.

Jason could see the horror on Ryan's face, even as he looked terrified. Those eyes... those eyes that didn't quite process what was happening....

—You... You lied... you...

Jason had had enough of watching the gun store massacre, but that was enough to make him vomit.

—It's for the greater good, Jason. This guy was capable of deserting and abandoning these women to their fate. He was a lone wolf, one who hurt and killed people. Remember... we do this to survive.

—But Nikolai! He...

—He raped and killed many of the girls —A woman answered. She apparently wet herself. —He was the bastard who touched and mutilated us. Thanks to him many girls are dead.

—I remember his voice. Even though we were always being gagged... suffocated with the stupid plastic bags... I remember his voice perfectly well. I didn't want to say anything because of fear of his reaction —Another girl spoke.

—Please... help us. We can't walk, it burns so much... it's very hard for us to walk... ah... uff.... —One of the girls was still crying, she was in a fetal position due to the burning, she even tried to put her hands around her private zone as if it was a reflex to try to "rub" and appease the pain, but it was useless.

—I have an idea... it's just an idea. Jason...

—Girls, considering a shopping cart is too small, we'll have to put you in the dumpster car. Don't worry, we'll put you in a car later, where we'll proceed to the shelter.

They all agreed, at least with gestures, as they did not have the strength to speak. The girls got inside the wheel-dumpster and they went right to the car, where they headed to the Safe Zone.