77 The Woodmen (1/2)

Day 3 – 8:14 AM – Molino Boulevard, Bayanan, Bacoor City, Cavite

After getting ready, Mark sat beside the door of the vehicle with Abbygale beside him. Mei and the two kids were intently watching the monitor as Mei unskillfully maneuvered the Drone over the infected.

About ten minutes after Mei and the children started luring the infected away, she finally managed to lure the majority of the infected in front of the city hall towards the back of the building. It was then that Odelina stepped on the gas pedal and drove the vehicle towards their destination.

Along the road, Odelina mercilessly mowed down the infected that blocked the path of the car. The vehicle would rock every now and then but there were times that the shaking was unbearable. Those situations happened when Odelina ran over the infected with wood like skin. It felt like they were ramming the car on something very heavy, like a small tree.

Adding these infected to his list, Mark decided to call them the ”Woodmen”.

Arriving at the destination which was the office area of the gymnasium at the north of the City Hall, Mark quickly opened the door of bolted off. He started shooting the incoming infected specifically, the Biters as they move closer than the other infected.

Mark's eyes became sharper and his movements became faster. He was using his adrenaline rush! He aimed at the heads of the infected as accurate as he could. Also with the short distance between him and the infected, it was unlikely for him to miss his shots too much. It was not like he was aiming as several hundred meters away with his bare eyes. He would surely miss if that was the case.

While Mark was shooting the infected, he and Abbygale entered the broken glass walls of the office reception. It was then that Odelina moved according to the plan. She made a U-turn with the vehicle and sped off out of the compound. It was to ensure that the vehicle would not get swarmed over by the infected just because they had to wait for Mark and Abbygale.

***

Going back to the place where they parked the vehicle earlier, Odelina started to do other things Mark ordered her to. It was to teach Mei and her children at least how to fire a pistol.

When Mark asked her before if she could use a gun, she readily nodded. It was because one of her late husband's hobbies was hanging out on a shooting clubs and practicing shooting with any kind of gun. Before they had their children, there were several times that he would bring her along with him and taught him how to.

As they had just returned from the compound, it could not be helped that there were infected chasing after their vehicle.

Using a pistol, Odelina unhesitatingly shot the Biters closing in without batting an eyelid. She left the slow moving ones for the training of the three. Looking at her skills when shooting the Biters, it was obvious that she had a higher level of gun skills compared to Mark.

Odelina taught the three how to shoot the gun one by one. Of course, it could not be done in one session. Mei and her children were flinching for every shot they made with the pistol. There was another thing to Mei though. It seemed that she could use the pistol crossbow Mark made for her than the gun. She managed to kill several Eaters when she used the crossbow but she missed all her shots with the gun.

The children also managed to shoot the gun at the zombies but the ratio of the shot hitting the infected was very low. In the end, the arm of the children had already become sore due to the recoil of the gun and Odelina had to finish the remaining infected by herself. As the Eaters were not really much of a threat, a grey gauntlet made of grey bone slowly emerged from Odelina's hands and she started punching the infected. The punches looked clumsy but as a Mutator, her strength was not a joke.

When they cleared all the infected around them, Mei rushed back to the vehicle to monitor the situation around the City Hall. She launched the drone she made to land on the rooftop of the gymnasium once more and patrolled the area.When she saw the situation, she panicked as she immediately reached for the radio.

***

While Odelina and the rest had good time learning how to use a pistol, the situation on Mark and Abbygale's side was not that smooth sailing.

The infected outside the office were flocking into the office without stop. The sounds created by the pieces of glass walls on the floor being stepped on by the infected coming in were attracting even more infected.

The M16 Assault rifle he was using, even if equipped with a suppressor, was still making sounds enough to attract the infected nearby.

Mark continuously shot the infected as they retreated further inside the office.

Even while he was shooting the infected, there were still times that one or two would still manage to come closer to them at directions he was not facing. At those situations, a red blurry shadow would charge at the incoming infected. By the time Mark faced the infected that came closer, he saw Abbygale's shoe planted on the infected's face snapping its head backwards.

However, it was not the large number of infected that gave them the worst headache. It was the Woodmen.

As they were closer, Mark could see the features of the Woodmen clearly. Their skin totally turned into wood with a texture of a tree bark. They were slow, even slower than the Eaters. It looked like that their wood like bodies were hindering them from moving freely.

It was fine since the Woodmen were slow but the problem here was their skin being too sturdy and thick, like a tree. Their bodies were also too heavy. Another thing was their mouths were non-existent. Mark could not think of where these mutated infected was able to get the energy to move. Photosynthesis? Mark, did not know they did not seem to have leaves on their bodies though.

Two Woodmen blocked them from going further into the hallway. Mark shot a single burst onto one of the Woodmen's head but the shot mutated infected only staggered backwards without even falling. It regained its balance and continued moving towards Mark. He could see the bullets being stuck on its forehead and the white colored blood flowing out of its wounds. Rather than blood, it looked more like tree sap.

A Biter came rushing from the reception area of the office making Mark turn back to deal with the Biter. As the Biter was too close, Mark did not use the long bodied rifle but slashed the Biter decapitating its head.

Mark turned back at the two woodmen and hacked the neck of the nearest one with the machete. It almost made him curse.

”Tsk!”

The sensation it gave him as the machete made contact with the Woodman's neck was the same sensation he felt when he was chopping firewood! It did not only fail to hack its head off but the machete almost got stuck!

At that moment, Abbygale charged with fast speed towards the Woodman. She jumped towards the wall and used it to propel herself to the side of the Woodman and kicked it on the part of its head where the ears should be located.

The kicked Woodman was pushed back by the impact of the kick and staggered. However, it still did not fall down. What tenacity!

Still, the impact by the kick still pushed it enough for Mark and Abbygale to slip past the hallway. It was a good thing though. With the heavy and sturdy Woodmen blocking the hallway, it would be harder for the infected outside to chase after them.

Mark and Abbygale entered a wide corridor. He knew they were near the area behind the stage inside the gymnasium. The stairs going up should be just around the corner. Why did he know? He had entered this place several times before! Most of the time it happened was before local elections in the past years!

As they were about to continue running, the radio in Mark's belt vibrated. He hacked an incoming Eater's neck and took out the radio.

”Mei'er? Is something wrong?”

He just finished his question when he immediately heard Mei's panicked voice.

”Gege! Hurry and escape, the large infected behind the City Hall is coming your direction!”

”What!”