Chapter 1
“Merciful God, may you welcome this new soul into a place of everlasting light and happiness among the Saints, so that when the Lord Jesus comes again, those buried in Christ may rise first and enjoy everlasting life.
“Amen.”
The Father kissed his silver crucifix as the pale light passed through the tall, stained-glass windows of the church and fell atop the black coffin. Next to it, a woman in black sobbed, an arm wrapped around a small child, a cold hand held to her mouth.
“…Mama?”
“Mm?”
“Does God love everyone?”
“God…” The woman’s voice quivered as she took a breath. “God loves the whole world, that’s why He sent his only son so that all who believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life…”
“Then why are we trapped here?”
”…”
“Is it because some people are born unequal?”
Behind the woman the great doors of the church banged open. A wave of people rushed in, the light behind them so bright that it turned them into shadows as alarms sounded. The woman had barely enough time to pull down the thing around her neck and push it forcefully into the little boy’s hand before being yanked backwards by the soldiers in full armour.
“Run, quickly run!” yelled the struggling woman through the chaos. “Quickly run, leave!
“Don’t turn back! Don’t give up!
“Mama loves you!…”
The church rocked and began to collapse with another explosion, the blazing flames turning black and white as it drove up into the sky. The screams and wails disappeared into silence and the wind blew the ashes across the vast land.
On the open ground, the boy ran from the relentless soldiers and their dogs. Ahead came glimmers of lights before suddenly revealing a booming metropolis below. The boy screamed and leapt off the cliff.
The wind whistled past his ears as he fell toward the earth. As he dropped, the boy closed his eyes, the last thing reflected in those black eyes being the desolate, cold, never ending night.
“The dead will rise again into everlasting life-”
In his heart, he thought, “Amen.”
Year 2019, T City.
“…Ah…!”
In the dark, the young man slowly sat, pain coursing through his every nerve, so much so that it made him puke.
But nothing came from his mouth as his muscles spasmed. He hadn’t eaten all day and there was nothing left in his stomach. It took a while for his breathing to return to normal and he could look around. He was was in a narrow, dark jail cell with iron bars that gave off a weak glow.
…What was this place? A prison?
Why am I here?
He tried to think through the chaos in his mind but the pain was too great. He couldn’t even recall his name. Right as he put his foot on the ground he heard the footsteps and voices.
“…Searched the whole city for three days and only just a few alive. Are Omegas especially tasty to zombies or something?”
“Alphas too, apparently. Only those useless Betas are safe.”
“Fine. These few Omegas should be enough.”
The metal lock clattered and the door screeched opened. Two soldiers entered the cell. In the dim light they could just make out a weak shape on the bed. It didn’t move, not even to breath.
“He’s not dead, is he?”
A soldier put a finger to the young man’s nose to check for breath, then felt his wrist for a pulse.
“Unconscious. He was like this when he was found. Bit of a looker too.”
The other man smiled. “Right. You can tell through all that mud and dust?”
“Put another 18 more layers and I’d still be able to see it.”
“Damn you’re thirsty!”
“And you’re not?!”
“There’s no point, besides…”
The young man’s eyes were closed and his body limp like a corpse. He felt it as he was picked up and carried out of the cell.
As they walked, he cracked open an eye but could only see that the man who was carrying him was wearing a Kevlar hazmat suit though he could feel the man’s strong arms. Behind him, his partner was of much the same stature, tall, sturdy, wearing short ankle boots and a black holster strapped to one leg.
Two Alphas.
The dark stone walls of the hallways twisted and the young man silently closed his eyes. The pair of soldiers entered an elevator, went up, stopped, then strode on into a noisy, bright clamour.
Somewhere beside them a person shouted as they ran: “Organise the supplies! Ready for retreat! The base’s helicopter is on the roof awaiting orders!”
“The city’s already lost! There’s no time!”
“Go go go!”
The soldier in the rear answered the call and left. The young man’s eyes narrowed. Now.
“Put the Omegas in the helicopter. Don’t let them run wild on the way back to the base…”
Right as the soldier was about to reply, the Omega in his arms suddenly twisted away and into the floor.
His first reaction was to grab for him but as he did, the apparently unconscious, corpse-like body of the young man lunged for the holster at his lower back, snatched the gun from it, then hit the floor.
It was too sudden. Before the soldier could shout out in anger, the young man’s leg had already swept beneath his.
Slam!
“What’s happened?”
“Stop!”
Heads turned in surprise only to see the young man yank the Alpha soldier by the hair, smack his face into the ground, then hold him up in front of him as a meat shield, gun pressed to his temple. “…Get…”
He wanted to say ‘get back, don’t move’ but his throat was dry and he had to take a few moments before he could try again. “Halt! Put down your weapons!” he said sternly.
The hall was full of soldiers. They turned in concert, surrounding him with weapons drawn.
“Commander, there’s a situation!”
Tang Hao hung up and raised his head. “What?”
“There’s an Omega resisting capture,” said his deputy. He pointed toward the hall, his face still shocked. “He’s taken one of our men captive and is trying to escape!”
The strained breathing of the Alpha and his captor intermingled. The soldier could feel the cold metal of the gun at his temple and swallowed. His mouth was full of the taste of blood.
“Let… Let me go. You can’t escape… Ah!”
The young man’s iron grasp griped the man’s throat. “Shut up.”
This hall, the communal area of the prison was round and filled with soldiers in full regalia. The young man cast an eye around and estimated over a hundred of them. Beyond them was a perimeter of emergency medical equipment and stretchers and countless bodies. The air was difficult to describe, full of smoke, ash, blood and the smell of rotting flesh.
The hell was this? A rebellion?
War?
Who am I and what the hell am I doing here?
At the far end of the hall a metal door opened and a man strode through. He was tall, tanned and wearing camouflage gear.
The young man stepped backward, eyes fixed on the man as he came closer. The tall man came to a stop and drew his own weapon, the movement revealing the epaulets on his jacket and his rank. Commander.
“Let him go.” Tang Hao ordered as he looked at the slowly retreating Omega. Though he had a strong, muscular build, his voice was quiet without a hint of urgency. “We’re here to rescue you. The city has already fallen. You can’t get out.”
The young man stared at him, blinked. “Who are you people?”
Tang Hao didn’t immediately answer. “Our mission is to find and protect : Omegas. You are our strategic resource. Once we take you to our main base, you will be in no danger. Our base has already deployed measures to secure your safety and transfer you to the safe zone…”
There is no safe zone, a voice in the young man’s head said.
Not just in this city, this country but the whole world.
The young man stared blankly, clueless as to where this knowledge came from.
“Let go of the hostage and we’ll pretend none of this ever happened. If my soldiers have been rude to you, allow me to apologise on their behalf-”
“No… no.” The young man interrupted Tang Hao. His back hit the wall behind him. “Put down your gun and let me go. I have to…”
Before Tang Hao could reply his face darkened.
Alarms blared throughout the building. From not faraway came the sound of countless dragging feet and the clank of metal as the steel roller door was battered by many hands.
A fine dust fell down the walls. “Commander!” Tang Yao’s deputy’s roared. “The main entrance has been compromised! The zombies are coming!”
“Put down your gun!” the young man yelled.
“Commander!”
“Let me go-!”
Tang Hao turned and shot his gun.
The taser shotgun shell peppered into the Alpha soldier and the young man. The pain from the electrical shock made the young man stagger, fall, and even lose consciousness for a few seconds.
Tang Hao pressed a knee down onto the young man’s chest, holding him firmly to the floor. The young man coughed violently, blood spraying from his mouth. He raised a hand to struggle but Tang Hao easily pinned his hands as the electrical current shot through him.
”…” Tang Hao wordlessly cursed, his expression dark, not because of the tussling, rather because of the blood this Omega had spat.
Even with a face full of grim, the young man’s fine features were still evident. They weren’t soft like Omega’s usually were but rather sharp and stark. His brows cut across his face like swords and his nose was sharp. Even the shape of his jaw and neckline cut a beautiful curve.
The blood on Tang Hao’s cuff was full of pheromones, pheromones best suited at provoking a reaction from an Alpha.
“If you leave now, in this state, you’ll be in more danger from those still alive than the zombies.” Tang Hao used a finger to stroke a line across the young man’s face. Beneath the grim his skin was startlingly pale.
“You won’t survive the night and even if you do, being eaten by a zombie will feel like a blessing.
“Someone take him! Full retreat!” As though he were trying to hide the way his body had just reacted, Tang Hao suddenly rose and strode away.
As he did, he suddenly noticed the faces of those soldiers around him change. Before he could react some force latched to his ankle. It dragged him down, smashing his head into the ground.
“Fuck!”
Having narrowly escaped a concussion, the long suppressed cuss finally escaped his mouth.
He couldn’t believe that this Omega, having been shocked for ten whole seconds, was still conscious, yet, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young man stoop and pick up his gun. The young man dropped nearer to him, his lips nearly touching his ear.
“I prefer dying of old age.”
The young man took the magazine clips from his waist, stood, then quickly walked backwards towards the window, gun trained on the soldiers surrounding him.
Tang Hao realised what he was planning. “Don’t-!”
But he was too late.
To everyone’s shock, the young man suddenly leaped at the glass, breaking through it.
This was the third floor!
Tang Hao shot like an arrow to look out the window, the rest of his soldiers quick behind him. Time seemed to stretch and pause as the young man’s thin body turned, flipped, body tense and black hair flying.
Thump!
Even at such a distance the sound of the impact rung loud in Tang Hao’s ears.
The young man rolled with the momentum, his posture textbook perfect, then rose, a gun in each hand.
Who the hell his he?!
Tang Hao just managed to hide his shock as his deputy suddenly asked, “Commander, do we follow?”
Tang Hao raised a hand, signalling them to stop. It was too late.
From where he stood, he could see dozens of zombies in the parking lot below suddenly turn, drop their fleshy meals, then stagger toward the young man.
The young man hesitated a moment, seemingly surprised by the turn of events. Tang Hao raised a hand to signal a soldier by him who raised a rifle, pulled the trigger, shooting one of the zombies in the forehead.
Bang!
The living dead fell to the ground, body stiff and patchwork with livor mortis, its dark purple blood winding snake-like into the already filled gutter.
The other living dead seemed to not even notice and continued to moan as they continued to stagger forward.
“You be infected if you get bitten!” Tang Hao shouted from high above. “You must destroy the head!”
The young man seemed to wake from a stupor and suddenly-
Tang Hao blinked and missed how exactly the young man, whirlwind-like, brushed past the second zombie, somehow killing it, and leapt into the air.
As he stepped on the shoulders of the third, its head split in half, red-black, rotten flesh pouring out, as he continued firing into the swarming mass of zombies, the heads of the furthest rows of them bursting in sequence.
But even more zombies continue to pour into the carpark and Tang Hao could see from the third floor that yet more stumbling from the street beyond.
He didn’t have enough bullets!
The young man showed no hesitation or fear and dodged sideways then nimbly used the zombies as stepping stones on his way toward the front gate. In seconds he reached it and landed on one knee by the road.
Tang Hao suddenly realised what his goal was.
The young man rose smoothly and ran toward the nearest car.
The car was your average Toyota Camry. All its doors were open and its former drive, now a zombie, was still strapped in with his seatbelt moaning and groping around blindly with purple fingers.
The hoard of zombies turned, one by one, and continued to stumble after the young man. Without looking back, he shot the zombified driver in the head, yanked his corpse out of the car, slipped into the driver’s seat himself and slammed the door shut.
A male zombie stumbled, tripping those behind it. Far away, Tang Hao watched the situation through binoculars, a grim expression on his face.
“Commander, we must retreat immediately. Our doors have already…”
The hall’s solid steel doors were on the verge of collapse and the concrete walls shuddering under the zombie’s relentless battering. Finally, there came a blood curdling scream and the door gave way.
The zombies surged through into the firing range of the first line of defence turning the great hall into a bloodbath of mangled flesh.
Tang Hao took a step back, shifted, and took the MP5 from his waist. He fired into the torrent of rotting bodies, those bodies flying back from the force of the 9mm Lugers.
“Commander!”
Tang Hao continued to fire as he gestured a signal. “Go!”
The soldiers quickly retreated through the emergency corridor, Tang Hao at the rear, gun still raised and firing. Right before he crossed the threshold, he looked back toward the window and the hoards of zombies below.
As he did, he saw the Toyota Camry cut a bloody streak through the stumbling bodies and disappear into the burning remains of the city.
Tang Hao turned back and kicked ruthlessly at the swarming zombies knocking them back into the hall. The soldiers charged up the stairs to the roof of the building and as he started to follow them, Tang Hao suddenly smelt something. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed.
The smell was coming from his sleeve. It was the smell of that Omega’s intoxicating pheromones.
“Commander?”
Tang Hao took the stares two at a time. He gestured to the stain of blood with the muzzle of his gun.
“When we get back to the base, I want a DNA sample of this taken. I want to know the identity of that Omega.”
His deputy nodded.