After resting for a while, Jaxon began moving again. This ti, he didn’t rush.
He slipped from building to building with extre caution, often stopping for long stretches just to watch the streets below. If a group of infected wandered nearby, he waited until they passed before moving again.
Every step was careful. He hugged walls, moved from cover to cover, and sotis crouched low while crossing rooftops to keep his silhouette from being seen against the skyline.
Slowly, patiently, he made his way across the city.
Ti passed, and eventually, Jaxon dropped down from another rooftop and landed quietly on the building where he had left Na-rin and Cindy.
He headed straight for the rooftop door and pushed it open, stepping into the dark stairwell with his rifle ready.
The staircase was silent except for the faint echo of his boots as he moved down slowly.
When he reached the floor where he had left them, he stopped. The corridor was empty.
Jaxon frowned. "Cindy? Na-rin?" he called softly.
Before he could take another step, a hand suddenly grabbed his arm from the darkness. His body tensed instantly, rifle snapping up... but he stopped.
"Brother..." Cindy stood there, her eyes red and glossy with tears.
Before he could say anything, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Her shoulders trembled slightly as she buried her face against him.
Jaxon exhaled softly and patted her back. "Hey... I’m sorry," he said quietly. "I shouldn’t have left you two alone for so long."
Na-rin stepped out from the shadows nearby. Compared to Cindy, she looked calr, but the worry in her eyes was obvious.
"Jaxon," she said, keeping her voice low. "What happened out there? We heard explosions... and those strange roars. They didn’t sound like normal infected."
Jaxon’s expression hardened slightly. "I’ll explain on the way," he said, glancing toward the stairwell above as if expecting sothing to appear at any mont.
"I might’ve stirred up sothing big out there." He looked between the two of them. "We need to get out of here first."
Both girls nodded and grabbed the back of his jacket as they followed him up to the rooftop.
When they reached the edge, Jaxon crouched down. "Alright," he said quietly. "One at a ti."
He helped Cindy onto his back first and tightened his grip under her legs before taking a few quick steps. Then he jumped.
The wind rushed past them as he cleared the gap and landed smoothly on the next rooftop. After setting Cindy down, he went back for Na-rin and repeated the process, moving them across the rooftops one by one.
Once they were all together again, they continued forward. Na-rin eventually climbed onto his back as they moved between buildings.
After a while, she leaned closer and whispered, "Won’t this tire you out?"
Jaxon gave a quiet chuckle. "Maybe I’ve got zombie stamina now," he said lightly. "Feels like I could run like this all day."
Then his tone turned serious. "Just keep an eye out for infected. If you see anything, tell imdiately."
With the three of them moving together, Jaxon beca even more cautious. If a single infected wandered nearby, he would quietly summon his rifle and eliminate it with a suppressed shot.
But if they spotted three or more, they avoided the fight entirely, either hiding until the group passed or taking a longer route around them.
At one point, all three of them suddenly dropped flat against a rooftop. Seven infected were moving along the street below.
Jaxon stayed perfectly still, barely even breathing. Beside him, Na-rin slowly lifted a pair of binoculars and scanned the surrounding streets.
After a few seconds, she leaned closer and whispered, "Jaxon... east side. Looks clear. I don’t see any movent there."
Jaxon glanced in that direction and nodded. "Alright. We’ll go that way."
He carefully helped them back up, then carried them across the next few rooftops again.
With Jaxon moving and the two girls acting as extra eyes, the three of them slipped quietly through the city.
Little by little, they drew closer to the outer edge of the city.
’Just a little more...’
Jaxon stood at the edge of an apartnt rooftop, scanning the surrounding streets as he searched for any sign of Natasha and Isabel.
Then his expression suddenly stiffened. He heard sothing. It was faint, but his ears caught the sound of movent sowhere below.
Without hesitation, Jaxon grabbed Cindy and Na-rin and pulled them down with him.
"Down," he whispered urgently.
The three of them crouched behind the low wall at the edge of the rooftop. Still not satisfied, Jaxon quickly reached into his storage and pulled out a blanket soaked with infected blood. He spread it over the three of them, masking their scent.
Cindy and Na-rin did not ask questions. They simply followed his lead, keeping perfectly still.
Monts later, a strange creaking sound echoed from the streets below. It was unmistakably the sound of an infected... but sothing about it was strange.
Then a scream followed. "AAAHHH..."
The sound twisted through the air in a disturbing mix of voices, like a man, a woman, and even a child all screaming at the sa ti, layered into one grotesque cry.
Cindy’s body stiffened, while Na-rin slowly covered her mouth with both hands.
The scream grew louder, neither of them dared to make a sound.
Jaxon slowly lifted his head just enough to peek over the edge of the rooftop.
The mont he saw it, his brows tightened. ’What kind of abomination is that...’
The creature crawled through the street on all fours. It was massive, easily three tis larger than a normal infected. Its limbs were long and twisted, dragging its bulky body forward with disturbing speed.
Its head was bald and deford, with almost no visible eyes. But its mouth... Its mouth was enormous, stretching across nearly half its face. Jagged teeth jutted out in every direction as thick strands of black saliva dripped from its jaws.
And as it moved, that horrifying mixed scream kept leaking out of its body.
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