Apocalypse Life/Issue 30

Previous Issue - Stricken

Preview
Julius tightens the grip of his bat, as he looks at the collective eyes of the walkers blocking their only path. Each one of them, save for a few, have their heads turned toward the pair. Their groans start to grow louder.

“Kill anything that gets past me,” Julius exclaims, his eyes still fixated on the amassed walkers. “Okay?!” He turns to Nina, who had a terrified, nervous look about her, sweat dripping from her forehead. She nods her head briefly.

Julius lets out a bracing sigh, then leaps toward the nearest walker in front of him. He swings his bat sideways, his left hand tightly gripping the barrel. This swinging method was something he learned out of desperation, when he found himself in a bind during his supply runs. It was effective for the most part, so long as a huge part of the tip makes contact. This was the only other time he had to do it.

He moves up quickly to the next walker, swinging on the opposite direction. Nina closely followed him, minding the two he had just taken down. She tightly grasps the sharp metal bar with both hands close to her chest.

Julius didn’t know what they’d do next, if they even make it out of this bind. The walkers were at least thin enough to pass through, but there’s no telling what’s in store for them at the end. He continues to swing his bat at any walker he comes across, ripping through the halfway point. He glances Nina behind him to see if she was still following.

She was looking ahead of Julius’s direction by this time, confident that the walkers he took down won’t be standing back up. She felt comfortable with her current stance to the point that she didn’t want to change it.

Julius continues to move up, finding success in his method, until he is finally stopped; a walker managed to get a hold of his bat, putting him at a standstill. The walker was face to face with him, trying to take a bite out of anything it reaches. Nina, too busy paying attention to the walkers he left behind, bumps his back.

Almost everything comes crashing down around her upon seeing Julius struggle; her body temperature shoots up, darkness started to shroud the corner of her eyes, and her rapidly-beating heart seizes her every move.

She swore she could hear Julius pleading for her help, but all the sound around her was too faded. She was ready to accept her failure, ready to faint. The walkers to her sides were starting to stand back up, heightening, increasing in size.

“—me!!”

She wakes up from her predicament upon hearing a sharp cry from Julius; all of her fear vanished in the blink of an eye. Everything was back to normal.

There were already to other walkers at Julius’s shoulders; if it wasn’t for his desperate evading movement, he would’ve been bit.

Nina steps closer to him and stabs the walker’s head to his left shoulder. She almost instantly pulls out the metal bar then transfers it to his right direction, stabbing the walker’s head with precision. She then moves past him, delayed by the lack of space at first, but then moving fast afterwards and stabbing the walker that caused his struggle.

Upon finishing, she looks at Julius half-timidly, half-terrified, some specks of blood visible in her right cheek and neck. Julius was almost dumbfounded to see her spontaneous courage.