Apocalypse: The Ice King Returned

Chapter 42: The Second Floor

"Luther, are we going inside?" whispered Oliver.

Luther didn’t seem phased. "Stand against the wall," he said.

As he stepped away from the group, Luther slowly pushed open the metal door. When the door opened, the howling died away, but the silence was eerie. Everyone was very nervous, and they felt as if their hearts were stuck in their throats.

There was a sudden noise in the fourth room, and Luther rested his hand by his sword. No monsters had appeared. But the whining picked up again, and this time it was much louder.

Luther stepped forward and looked inside. It was a private room for restaurant guests. The tables and chairs inside were tilted sideways, the windows were blocked by upturned tables covered in plastic wrap, and the sound was made by the wind blowing in and slapping the plastic tablecloths against the furniture.

"It's all right. It was just the wind."

Luther led the way down the hall.

Everyone took a breath of relief and Oliver leaned against the wall and smiled wryly. "We were scared by the wind," he sighed.

“It was a false alarm,” Frank said. “That terrified me.”

Oliver chuckled and said, "Frank, a big guy like you afraid of a noise?"

"Everyone is afraid of something." Frank blushed.

"Behind you, Frank..."

Frank didn't like how Oliver's eyes fell behind his back. "Oliver, are you mocking me?"

"No, really, look for yourself." Frank stared at Oliver. He looked serious, and his face was getting pale. Next to him were Elena and Eric, equally frightened.

Frank was so taken back by this that he turned quickly, tensing his body and looking at the wall behind him.

There were bloody fingerprints along the walls. This was something they hadn’t seen when they first walked in. In fact, there were no fingerprints on the walls before. Only blood splatters.

In a matter of just two minutes, the walls suddenly were overrun by these fingerprints, but they hadn’t heard a sound. They couldn’t imagine it was the mark of a ghost. They felt afraid and goosebumps formed on their skin.

"Luther... Luther......"

Hearing Frank shudder, Luther came back out to see how what left everyone so shaken up. His eyes followed the path of Frank's finger. Luther was also surprised when he saw the fingerprints.

"It has to be a ghost..." Eric whispered in horror.

Luther frowned at him. If there was an evil spirit anywhere it earth, it would be Eric himself. All Eric did by saying this scared the others even more.

Oliver and Elena were quiet and looked around cautiously. But Frank, a big man, turned white like a sheet. He was obviously deeply terrified of abnormal things like this.

But Luther didn't know the best way to try and reason with them. "Don't be afraid," he said. "A mutant must have done this."

Some color returned to Frank's face after he said this. He didn't want to appear weak. He forced himself to relax. "Luther, I'm fine."

Despite this, Luther could see that he was still afraid. But that was normal. Humans have an instinctive fear of the unknown. Luther was no exception, but he had grown accustomed to fear and uneasiness.

"I don't think this mutant would be very aggressive, otherwise it would have seen us and tried to attack." Luther's explanation made sense.

"Leave it alone and keep going."

-----

After this, they were all noticeably more alert. After a few minutes, they went up to the fourth floor.

There were no stairs above the fourth floor, and they had to go through the arcade to find the entrance to the other side.

At the top of the stairs, Luther could hear a small noise behind the security door. Luther pressed his ear to the door and heard a slight bump. It was the slow movement of feet, and a sound that usually meant zombies were nearby.

"There are zombies ahead of us. I'll go in and make a path. I need you to cover for me. Come on."

Luther gave his instructions and nodded when the others understood. It was a narrow walkway and he had some difficulty getting through it, not to mention traveling with other people, so he had to concentrate.

Luther looked back. They were all ready to fight.

"Go."

The door was suddenly pushed open, headlights shining in, and Luther cut off the head of a nearby zombie before it could react.

A dozen zombies were scattered around the game floor, which was surrounded by glass walls. There were an Internet cafe and a game room, with a coffee counter in the middle.

Luther's headlight shone in, and suddenly there was a loud roar from the Internet cafe and game hall.

To their horror, dozens of other heads appeared behind the glass walls. They were all rotted zombies without a thought in their head but to kill. As soon as they sensed Luther’s presence, they slapped and ran into the glass to get to him.

"Don't just stand there! Run." Luther took the lead and ran into a zombie attack.

Luther attracted half of the zombies. They were on every side of him, but when they got too close, the leg of the grim reaper would stab them and prevent them from reaching him.

Elena's skills were very in tune. She and Frank stood back to back. They fought the zombies as they came.

Oliver, on the other hand, jumped straight to the ceiling, over four meters above the ground. He started to attack the zombies from above while hanging from the ceiling.

He knew it was better for him to kill them from above since they would try and fail to reach him as Elena, Frank, and Luther fought them from the ground.

As for Eric, he hid in the space between Elena and Frank with a frightened look on his face, holding an axe and staring at the zombies. He was too afraid to make a move.

The other entrance was about thirty meters away. The group fought their way to it, gaining ten yards in their pursuit.

Over a dozen zombies had been murdered, but some had found their way out of the arcade and were joining the fight.

Luther sliced at a zombie with his sword, then kicked another zombie into the air. Then he sent a frozen arrow through the head of a zombie who bit Elena.

Elena looked at Luther with gratitude, but Luther, who was on the front line, could not make eye contact with her.

At that point, a wall of glass in the game room on Luther's side cracked. The same wall that was keeping the other zombies separate from them.

He knew they would break in eventually, but not this soon. He warned the others to watch their backs.

The glass panes shattered.

A loud scream pierced their ears and made their eardrums tingle. The room could barely hold a dozen zombies, but in a few seconds, over two dozen rushed out at Luther and the others.