124 Escape from Lakeville (2/2)

The infected cockroach was smashed into meat paste. It was too unexpected that Mark reflexively jumped away to avoid the white blood that splattered away from the body of the squashed cockroach. Mark also missed his attack towards the other one.

Mark did not dawdle and continued running away but could not help but glance at the beetle on his hand with incredulity. It had such a strong exoskeleton but it was actually afraid of these cockroaches?

On his hand, the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle was on the verge of crying. It was a pet beetle and was not afraid of people. It had been a pet ever since it came out of its pupa. It got infected because it was swallowed whole by its owner that had already turned submerging it with saliva and stomach acid. It was too afraid after that happened. Nevertheless, it mutated almost immediately tearing the body of its owner apart due to its size.

Due to its abrupt mutation, it gained a bit of sentience. It knew that something dangerous was happening and as such, it buried itself under the ground these past days. However, last night, it was found by a group of large cockroaches that dug the place where it hid. Because it was afraid, it immediately flew away in the middle of the night but the cockroaches followed behind it.

When it saw this person shooting the cockroaches behind it, it was elated and flew straight towards that human. But the human dodged and it impaled the head of the scary people making it rush back. When it was grab, it gave up soon as it felt no danger from the person holding its horn. But it never expected that the person would use its body as a weapon.

The beetle was really about to cry. Another time and it really would.

SQUEEEK!!!

Mark was about to swing the beetle once more towards another cockroach when it squeaked in protest while wildly swinging its spiny legs.

Due to its protest, Mark used his Machete against the incoming cockroach. It was the first time that Mark actually felt an emotional fluctuation coming from an insect so he could not guess what it was thinking aside from the faint similarity of its fear to how human and animal fear was. However, it was not hard to guess its protest from being used as a weapon.

He was now approaching the end of the street. Mark tightly hung his sports bag around his shoulder and jumped off the roof. Now that he was running in the middle of the street, he pulled out the radio with his right hand.

”Mei'er! Are you all ready?”

Almost immediately, a reply came from the radio.

”Gege! We are already waiting! Are you returning already?”

”I am! Prepare the vehicle and I'll be there soon! The large horde are just behind be so we need to leave immediately!”

”Should we fetch you?!”

”No! I'll still be able to make it there but if you guys fetch me, the car still needs to turn around so the infected will manage to catch up!”

”Y-Yes!”

Mei'er faltered. It seemed that she had the urge to fetch Mark as soon as he called but her idea was immediately denied.

”Don't worry about me! I also found something interesting to show everyone. Just be ready to leave, I'll be there in a moment!”

Mark ended the call and slashed the remaining infected blocking his way along with the cockroaches that easily caught up to him due to their fast speed.

***

With the exception of Cielo and Anna, every adult inside the two vehicles was kind of worn out. It was the first time they fought the infected making them tired both physically and mentally. Cielo did not participate due to her having panic attacks every time the infected closes unto her while Anna was still not in good shape emotionally. The children also did not participate with the exception of Abbygale and Emika who were Mutators.

They all heard what Mark said in the radio and were now anticipating his return. Upon knowing about the crystals Mark spoke of yesterday, they were also interested to see the crystals. But they also heard that Mark was being chased by the horde and felt tense about it at the same time. What made them confused however was the happy tone Mark had when he said that he found something good to show them.

Soon enough, they could see Mark running towards their direction in fast speed. He seemed tired and his speed was slower than before. Nevertheless, he was still faster than the infected. Everyone became wide eyed however seeing the infected chasing behind him several meters away.

The whole street and sidewalk was filled with infected running at full speed!

Due to the overwhelming number of infected that they did not notice the struggling oversized beetle on Mark's hand.

”Go!”

Mark yelled after he jumped into the door of the MB Sprinter. The two vehicles immediately drove off in full speed. Everyone felt tremors inside their vehicles as the road had broken and uneven parts due to being unmaintained but they just ignored the tremors. What they needed to do now was leave the place as soon as possible. If the infected behind them managed to catch up, they would sure be overwhelmed.

In less than three minutes, they reached the entrance of the subdivision. The traps they set up became very useful. Even though the ropes only tripped the first few infected in front of the horde, it was enough to cause a chain reaction and made the ones behind fall.

They continued to drive out of the subdivision and heard a loud explosion behind them. The final trap was triggered causing the grenades to explode. Dismembered bodies and blood flew into the air causing the horde an abrupt stop. The sound and smoke from the explosion impaired the hearing and sight of the infected making them lose track of the two vehicles. During that moment, the two vehicles made an abrupt turn to another street and sped off getting away from the horde that lost their targets.