June 15, 2025; He could see the hospital emergency room entrance from where he was currently standing. There was a problem though. In the street between him and the hospital entrance were at least a hundred zombies. And they were all clustered around the door like they had been chasing people right up to them before being stopped by a simple door.

  "Of course it won't be easy." He commented under his breath as he looked at the zombies. He could see a door on the side of the hospital with a card reader on it but so far couldn't find a zombie with a card hanging around its neck. So he moved further around the hospital and was rewarded.

  A male zombie wearing green scrubs had a card hanging at his waist as it slowly wandered around a pavilion. Not far away was another door that took a key card. Only two other zombies were anywhere near his target.

  Time being an unknown to save Dawn, and probably Luke too, he hurried to retrieve the card and get inside.

  He snuck as close as he could and then rushed his target easily smashing its head and dropping it. He moved quickly knowing the other close zombies would be on him in moments. He managed to catch the first charging zombie in the neck, nearly decapitating it. But the second charging zombie managed to get close enough to him that he couldn't swing his axe back effectively so he imposed the handle in between himself and the zombie's snapping maw.

  He could smell its rancid breath as it struggled against him. He barely managed to pull his buck knife out and stab it through the zombie's right temple. It dropped to the side as he pushed it off him. "I don't even think a breath mint could scratch that." He grimaced. "That was horrible." He hurried to the key card and retrieved it.

  "I don't know if she's worth this." He said shaking his head as he unlocked the door. He put the card in his pocket and kept his axe ready as he cautiously made his way into the abandoned eery fucking hospital. "I mean, I'm pretty sure I've seen some horror flick's that sure as hell looked a lot like this shit right here..." He grumbled as he quietly made his way through the corridors.

  He didn't know were to even start looking though so at first he just wandered aimlessly through the halls until he finally made out the distant sound of excited zombies. He picked up his pace as much as he could without being excessively loud, even dropping three more zombies as he made his way to what looked like a cafeteria.

  Through the slightly open door, he could see Luke near what looked like another set of doors on the opposite side of the cafeteria. The man was fending off four zombies and Clay noticed three others lying on the ground. And then Luke dropped another one.

  Clay opened the door and rushed to help. It didn't take long between them, and all three of the remaining zombies had been dispatched. Luke was breathing hard as he said, "We have to help Dawn!" That's when he stumbled. Clay noticed a deep dark bruise forming on Luke's right shoulder. And the man looked like he was barely able to stand.

  "Where is she?" Clay asked. He helped him to a chair nearby and winced himself when he got a good look at the other side of Luke's face. It looked like he'd fallen hard.

  "Two floors up, East wing, near the stairwell." He pointed at the doors he was by. "At the end of the hall." He tried to stand but Clay easily pushed him back down. Luke wasn't a little guy by no means but he was too injured to resist much.

  "I'll get her. You try to keep our way out open." He gestured at the other doors opposite them that Clay had entered through.

  Luke looked at him and Clay could have sworn it looked like he was about to argue before he nodded and turned towards the other doors. "Alright, Mr Clay. Please save her, she's all I have..."

  With that Clay hurried through the doors.

  Only a few zombies were in between the door and the stairwell at the end of the hall and he easily worked his way through. The stairwell was a different matter.

  It took him nearly ten minutes to work his way to the second floor, and he wasn't sure he could keep going when he thought he heard a woman's scream from up above and redoubled his efforts as he fought his way through more and more zombies. Finally nearly twenty minutes after he first entered the stairwell he reached the third floor.

  The first thing he noticed was the access door was ripped out of its frame. "That's not good," Clay said as he cleaved into another zombie's head and made his way through.

  The hallway beyond the doorway was littered with corpses, some half eaten and Clay was very thankful the temperature was so low. The stench was still terrible.

  He could hear something heavy hitting the floor inside the room at the end of the hall. Then he saw something big move across in front of the doorway. It was only a flash of white but it had been big whatever it was!

  He gripped his axe handle tighter in anticipation as his adrenaline started flowing. He could hear his heartbeat loud in his ears as he approached the door.

  "Gggrrraaarrrrrr!" Came a roar from farther inside the room. Then he heard, "BANG!" Like something being slammed on the floor. "BANG! BANG!"

  Something metal and very heavy at that.

  He peaked around the corner. While the room was dark, he could make out a hulking zombie that had to be nearly ten feet tall with the remains of a doctor's coat on. It was slamming what looked like a cat scan machine up and down. It had scooted the heavy machine across to the wall and was trying to reach inside but kept roaring and pulling its hand back out. Clay could see several fingers missing and some lacerations on his hand and arm from a knife.

  That thing was as big or bigger than the one that had fucked him up as they were trying to get out of the suburbs! "So that's a zombie lord huh?" He said silently to himself. Made sense. "This better be worth it Doc."

  He took a breath to calm his nerves as best he could and as he stepped in the doorway he said, "Dark Bolt." And immediately launched all three bolts at the zombie's back as he tried to cross the distance between the doorway and the zombie lord. It wasn't far.

  The bolts hit the beast in its back, and it let out another roar as it turned to launch itself at Clay without any hesitation. Just what Clay wanted.

  This time he was ready for the beast to swing at him and easily timed his counterstrike as he ducked under the swing and jumped up to get higher. The force of the axe spike easily pierced the back of the zombie lord's head, sinking deep into it's head.

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  But it didn't kill it.

  Instead, he was suddenly kicked backward and only barely managed to keep ahold of the axe handle and stay on his feet. The zombie lord roared again, though this time it wasn't as loud. It's eyes locked on Clay and he knew there was intelligence there.

  It cautiously tested him. Each time Clay managed to rebuff its attack with one of his own and he could see the creature was getting frustrated with each failed opening. But each time the zombie tried, it burned more and more of his stamina and having already fought to near exhaustion Clay knew he couldn't keep going much longer.

  And then Clay acted. Having realized it was attacking in a pattern he took the chance and swung his axe as he said, "Crippling Strike!"

  The zombie lord managed to get its arm up in time to somewhat deflect the blow from its head at the cost of its arm. The blow still clipped it though catching it on its large distended jaw and cutting completely through its cheek. Black ichor sprayed over Clay as he quickly redirected his swing into a mighty backstroke as the zombie lord let out a gurgling growl. Its eyes shown with fear.

  Clay buried the spike into its forehead with a mighty backswing. The zombie lord quivered for a moment as if it wasn't quite sure it was dead yet before crumpling onto the floor. Clay staggered to one knee nearly spent from exhaustion as his adrenaline dumped and he felt the kick he had taken. He bet there was a bruise the size and shape of the zombie lord's foot on his abs. And his fucking ribs were on fire!

  "DING! Congratulations! Level 6 obtained. 4 unassigned Ability Points gained. Title Granted for slaying the current Zombie King: Zombie Slayer. The host radiates an aura that repels all lesser zombies." Kris said.

  "DING! Congratulations! The host has completed the System Bonus Quest and saved the Doctor from the evolved Zombie King. The enhanced difficulty grants the host the following enhanced rewards and abilities: 15 Ability Points. New Passive Abilities Acquired: Lesser Spatial Storage, Aura of Malis." Kris said.

  "Great..." He said trying to catch his breath.

  "Watch out!" Came Dawn's voice from inside the machine. "There's another one!"

  And she was right.

  Standing near the door was a female Zombie Lord in a tattered nurse's uniform. It hadn't made a sound as it had stepped in holding a bar it looked like it had torn off the side of a hospital bed. Now though it looked up from the other dead zombies face Clay's axe still stuck in its forehead and let out a rage-filled roar as it rushed forward towards Clay, its blue glowing eyes filled with hatred.

  "Ahh fuck!" He jerked his axe free in the moment he had to react, blocking the bar and directing the zombie's swing downward onto the floor. Tile exploded from the strength of the blow and he managed to stand ducking under the still-charging zombie's other arm as it slid past him on the now slick tile floor.

  It slammed into the wall not far away, hard. And Clay tried to attack while he had an opening, but the damn thing managed to block his blow with the bar. The blow knocked his axe wide, and the zombie clawed three deep furrows down his chest, laying him open. "Ahh!" He cried as he just managed to leap back.

  He grit his teeth as he felt blood running down his stomach, soaking his shirts and pants. He had to end this quickly. But how? He had the gun, but that would draw the attention of every zombie in earshot like a school of piranhas attracted to blood. He wondered for a moment and as it again launched herself at Clay he drew the pistol and fired twice.

  The zombie was still coming even after he hit her twice in the head, and he dove out of the way to prevent the fucking thing from performing a full-body tackle and bearing him landing on him. Definitely not something he was going to let happen if he could help it.

  He rolled, his ribs lancing pain as he forced his exhausted limbs to work harder. He came up on his knees and spun to see what the zombie was doing.

  And sighed in relief as he saw Dawn pulling a knife out of the top of the zombie lord's head and plunging it back in with a vicious twist. He couldn't help but swallow hard as he remembered her shooting him that same look.

  He needed to get on Amy and John's good side so he didn't have to have Dawn patch him up anymore. She saw him looking at her and said, "Where's Luke? Is he alright? Why the fuck did you fire the damn gun? We gotta hurry!" She didn't even wait for the corpse to hit the tiled floor before she stepped forward and jerked him up to his feet.

  He groaned as his muscles just wanted him to collapse on the ground and sleep for two days! But Dawn continued, trying to push him out the door but he was too big for her to physically push so she just managed to shove herself backward slightly.

  "Come on!" She huffed as they both heard the roars and multiple feet rushing towards them on the floors. "They're almost here, we can't deal with all of them, run!"

  She tried again to push him but he was done. Done with it all. He grabbed her wrist with his free hand. It was covered in his blood and the ichor from the zombies and said in a very calm but assertive tone. "Enough!" And he walked out pulling her along behind him. As soon as he had grabbed her wrist he had noticed an almost immediate change in her demeanor. She was shooting him hateful looks but she wasn't fighting or resisting him.

  In the hallway, a wave of zombies rushed towards them and suddenly slowed to a stop. As Clay continued to walk forward the zombies started shuffling back away as if they had encountered something they didn't like or couldn't stand to be near. They shuffled away as he moved towards the stairwell doorway pulling Dawn along.

  "Let me..." She said as she tried to pry his fingers off her wrist and he growled. Jerking her forward and scooping her onto his shoulder. As she let out an indignant yelp.

  "I said enough." He slapped the side of her thigh where he had ahold of her as she tried in vain to flail against his strength. She yelped as his large hand landed with a short, "POP" as landed on her skin-tight jeans.

  "Uhh, you fucking brute!" Dawn squealed as he continued into the stairwell and down. She went quiet though and then quietly asked, "Did you kill all these to save me?"

  He just grunted, too exhausted to give a shit about anything but getting to Luke so he could drag her contrary ass back to the brick house.

  The look on the man's face when he came through the door went from dread to relief when Clay sat her on her own two feet. He rushed over and Clay stumbled to the chair Luke had just vacated, slumping down hard.

  He closed his eyes. His chest burned so fucking bad!

  And then he felt a hand on his chest as the stinging and burning became a buried branding iron and his eyes snapped open to see Dawn, her hand "Purge." He let out another groan as small black drops of liquid started being pulled out of the wounds on his chest gathering in a small ball of what looked like ink about the size of a cherry.

  As the black drops were drawn out he felt the deep burning sensation starting to become less and less until he could only feel the deep scratches, now puffy and irritated. They were going to leave a scar.

  Dawn finished drawing the black liquid out and as she moved her hand out from under the floating ball it dropped to the floor with a splat. It almost looked like tar to Clay. He nearly fell out of the chair, only barely being studied by Dawn's hand.

  "Luke, I'm too exhausted to heal him right now. Can you help him?" Dawn said. "Where's the bags?"

  "I left them outside the door when I managed to get up. That drop nearly killed me." Luke said as he helped Clay stand.

  "Thanks," Clay grunted as they walked out the other door.

  "No, thank you, Mr Clay. For saving Dawn." He winced as they opened a side door that led outside. Several zombies moved toward them as they exited the hospital but stopped about ten feet away as if they hit an invisible barrier.

  "What the hell's happening?" Luke asked as he could see Dawn gripping her knife tight, ready to defend herself. Clay could see four large black duffel bags full to bursting lying beside the wall nearby.

  "When I killed that big guy I got a title. Zombie Slayer. Apparently, I'm like a fucking zombie repellent. At least to these weaker ones. I don't think it works on the bigger Lord's and King's though." Clay said. He motioned for Luke to go ahead he could manage and the man hurriedly grabbed three of the bags as Dawn grabbed another and rushed back to his side.

  As they moved away from Clay the zombies had moved towards them still outside the ten-foot radius. Only barely. They clicked their gnashing teeth and swiped but weren't near fast enough. "Come on. I feel like I need to die for a day or three..." Clay mumbled as he started back to the brick house.

  He caught a glimpse of Dawn staring at him. This time she had a puzzled look on her face as if she was mentally working through a problem. Luke on the other hand was hyper-aware of everything, and easily guided them through and around hazards. Clay didn't mind that the man didn't trust his ability to repel zombies, especially if it wouldn't work on the more dangerous ones. Not that they've seen any.

  But none of them knew if drawing the attention of a bunch of normal zombies would draw larger, more dangerous ones out. And they didn't care to find out.

  It took nearly an hour to make their way back to the brick house where Jill and Tonya were waiting, anxious at finally seeing him returning. He hadn't told the two women anything before taking off. And they both wore worried looks like he had abandoned them.

  "You're hurt!" Cried Tonya rushing up to take one of his arms to help support him. He was barely walking still.

  "What happened?" Jill asked as she examined his torn chest. "Dawn?" She looked at the woman who shook her head.

  "I did what I could. I managed to extract the poison." She slumped into a chair as they made it inside. "I don't have the Mystical Points to heal him too. I'm sorry." She said to Jill.

  What the fuck? She actually sounded sorry to Clay. What the hell happened?

  His leg almost buckled as he made it to the couch and Tonya helped him sit. His ribs hurt so bad he almost had trouble getting a breath in. His vision was getting darker as he slumped onto Tonya. She managed to guide his head down to her lap as his vision went completely black.

  "Mr Clay?" He heard Luke's worried tone.

  "Oh no, Clay!" Came Jill's desperate cry from right beside him. He could feel her hand on his shoulder. He heard the "thump" as he dropped his axe to the floor.

  "Do something!" Tonya cried.

  He knew they couldn't. Dawn was spent. Luke needed to be healed too. "It's just a little scratch..." He mumbled as he felt his consciousness slipping away. Tonya was running her soft fingers through his short hair and it felt oddly nice. He couldn't seem to "Breathe..."

  He felt his legs get lifted onto the couch arm and small hands quickly stripped the remains of his shirts off.

  "Oh my God. Look at those bruises. How the fuck has he kept goi..." That was Dawn's voice.

  Her hands felt surprisingly warm as she examined his injuries and were being uncharacteristically gentle.

  So did Tonya's.

  And who was holding his hand?

  The sweet bliss of oblivion finally took him as his exhaustion and fatigue slammed home, rendering him unconscious.