Beyond the Walls

Greater Good

There are no records of how or when the walls were created, at least not available in public records. Some people say that it appeared out of nowhere or even a gift from God. Ridiculous as it may sound, the issue faded over time. 

As the humanities population grows, the walls expand more and more district walls. They are built in a concave manner like flowers, but that is only for the outer walls. The inner walls are not divided by concave walls. Inner wall districts numbers 20 to 50 are placed inside a taller circular wall and so are the innermost wall districts.

That’s why… Macord bites hard while watching the less than 10 soldiers trying to defend the crew of under construction Wall 104, through aerial shot of drone.

*Bzzzzt

“Sir, we can no longer maintain our position. We are pulling back.” The soldier reported through his earpiece.

He acted late. The drones had spotted the wave of undeads already, squeezed themselves to the spaces of the unrisen wall and only the soldier guards on duty were accessible.

Yuslan and his team are on their way, but even if he prays hard to all the Gods or even if Yuslan somehow flies in there, there is no way they will make it on time. Macord knew that from the start, but he still had to try within the limits of his authority.

The wall is wide open and hundreds of hundreds of undead are passing through. The shooting and screams seem to be the only sounds Macord is hearing. 

“Sir… Sir” The woman who seemed to be his secretary called to him.

“What?” He glared. His head was already pounding. It’s getting out of hand by a second.

“Sir, a phone call, from the innermost wall.” The secretary handed him a phone.

He swallowed his dry saliva and grabbed the phone.

“Lieutenant Macord is speaking.”

Macord was not able to speak a word besides. ‘Yes and I understand.’ 

His fists are closed tightly and he glances at the failing defense of the limited soldiers against the undead.

Level 0 or the newly turned undead was among the crowd of undead. They are fast and deadly. It was too much to handle for newbie soldiers.

One by one, they fall prey and become food. Two left soldiers moved backwards, killed undead and stayed vigilant to Level 0 undeads.  It became more impossible to protect every citizen.

“ARGHHHHHHH!”

“WahhhhH! Help!!”

“Nooo! Nooo!!! Please!!!”

Cries, pleads and screams are much louder than their guns.

*Bzzzzt

“Sir! We can no longer!! We are requesting back up!” The soldier desperately cries for help in his earpiece as he struggles in strength with level 0 undead.

*Bang

The woman soldier headshot kills the undead from the side. As soon as the woman offered her hands, she was snatched by another strong undead and bit her neck.

“AHHHHHH! ARGHHH!” She screamed. Her companion, the soldier she helped, was taken back and just stared in fear at her while she was being devoured.

Two more undead came close and kneeled to take a bite at her flesh.

Her bloody hands were reaching for him, but all he could do was to step back and turn away.

*Bzzzt

*tooot tooot tooot

His earpiece is no longer connected.

Running profusely with unpaintable defeated expressions. The soldier didn’t even mind even if he hit another person. All he could think was to get away from there fast.

“Ahhh!” Donald, who was taken down by a mere shoulder bump, groaned in pain. The kick on his stomach is barely back to normal and now his shoulder is aching.

He was stunned to see his surroundings turning more and more chaotic. His workmates are being devoured left and right. 

“Kwargkkk!”

His attention deviated to the growling sound right in front of him. An undead spotted him. It was busy eating a soldier, but now it went up and growled at him.

Shivers, goosebumps all over his body had washed his entirety. Mixes of flesh and fluids are dripping in its mouth.

Donald stepped back as it went slowly up to him. 

‘No, please. No…’ he silently pleaded. The undead’s hands tried reaching him but all he did was to shake his head. 

As the hand reaches him, his tears are on the edge of his eyes. 

*BAM

The undead’s head was bashed out of the way.

“What the hell are you doing, Donald?!” Another worker came to his rescue.

“Kyle?” Donald trembles.

“Come!” Kyle, a man who is almost the same age as Donald, dragged Donald out of the open area and they hid behind the piles of steel bars.

“Donald, where is my brother?” Without wasting time, Kyle, who has black hair and freckles, urges Donald to talk.

“Your brother?... Ah!” He seemed out of it but he remembered Kyle from the delivery supply section, he has a little brother, who looks exactly like him, only younger. 

“I’m sorry…” Donald apologized immediately.

“What? He came to get you! Where did you leave him?” Anger is flashing through Kyle 

‘Did he not hear or see it?’ Donald thought. 

Kyle is the older brother of the kid.

“Ah! No…” Donald pulled himself together. He stood up to look for something but Kyle pulled him down again.

“What are you do-”

“He is in the ambulance!” There is more urgency in Donald’s tone.

“What? Who— Why?!” Kyle realizes who he is talking about.

“Long story! We should go now!” Donald is still looking scared but he is not frozen stiff now. He checked the way and seeing it’s clear he ran low and Kyle was behind him.

“If he is in there, then they must be long gone now. Let’s retreat to the wall.” Kyle suggested. 

“No, you don’t get it! We have to get him out of there now.” 

“Why?-- *Omph. Why did you suddenly stop? What is wrong?” Donald is frowning hard seeing from afar that people are gathering at the wall gates.

“The ambulance. It’s still here.” He said and started sprinting.

Maybe because the undead are busy eating some humans near the collapse wall section, that they still haven’t reached the other section. Kyle and Donald freely run in the streets while others are evacuating. As they get near the wall gates, the people’s number is getting concentrated. 

Most of the people here are wall workers or district city construction workers, but there are other people who came for business, like vendors. Luckily, it is still early morning so the usual more or less thousand people out here are down to a couple of hundreds.

“Let us through!” Kyle and Donald squeezed in to reach the ambulance in between the people.

They manage to get to the ambulance but the back side is locked.

“What the hell! Andrei!!! Andrei! Are you there?!” Kyle bangs the doors but it doesn't open nor there is no response inside. He went round and went for the driver seat. It was empty, there was also no key in the ignition or anywhere else.

“It’s empty!!!”

Donald was busy turning heads.

*BAM BAM BAM

He kicked the ambulance door but it still couldn't be opened.

“Andrei!!! Are you there?!”

“Hey!! Hey!! Are you sure he is inside?” Kyle called him.

“Yes! I see him carried inside.”

Another set of stomping and shaking but there is no budging it.

“This can’t be. Did you see who has the key?”

Donald remembered, it was hard to miss such guy. He only needs to look more closely on anyone with white overalls and a mask.

“There!” Close to the wall gates, he spotted the guy. They didn’t waste time and squeeze themselves. They suffered from scratches, light punching all over their bodies as they got closer and closer. The air is also tight and spaces are scarce. Since the ambulance vehicle is placed near, They only have to suffer for a little. 

“You!! Where is the key!” Kyle collared the suited man. 

“You can’t open that!” The man retorted. They are swaying with the waves pushing humans.

“Give it to me!!” Kyle then punched the man repeatedly. They were given a little space in fear of getting caught between their strife. 

The man wasn’t able to defend himself, he was knocked out after a few punches.

Kyle frisk the man’s body and was able to get the desired key. He left the unconscious man to the ground. Donald tried helping him up but his attention was caught by something else, only then a shout and banging had registered in him.

“Let us in!”

“Open the gates!!!”

The horror dawned on him, the reason why the people’s number was not decreasing no matter how much time had passed by. The main gates can fit huge vehicles inside and out but strangely, the ambulance is still out and the people have gathered.

All because… the gates are closed.

He looked up and saw the camera moving. 

‘Why are the gates closed?’ He thought silently, wanting it to rely on the people behind the camera.

“AHHHH!” One woman cried.

An injured man suddenly collapsed on the ground. He is convulsing, his eyes are rolled up and black veins are coming out of his collars. It coughs blood then he dies.

The door of the ambulance opens and from afar, Donald can see the horror look of Kyle and the others who witness the inside.

Understandable since, the inside is not a medical equipment but rather a cell. The inside is composed of the first batch of the injured workers, chained to their seat. Kyle went up inside despite the alarming look.

The kid he brought out is not moving and he looks like he coughed more blood. His brother tried shaking and calling for him but the child didn’t move. His unmoving body was hugged tightly.

“ARGHHHHH! HELP!! They are here!” Someone shouted pointing in the distance. 

There a sole undead is standing and watching the hundreds of humans that gathered.

“KWARKKKKKKKKKKK!” It screeched before it dropped to the floor and sprinted towards them.

“.!!!!”

“PUSH!!!!”

“OPEN THE DOOR!!”

The people start panicking.

The man that collapsed earlier, opened his eyes and grabbed a woman’s leg and bit it.

“Arghhhh!!” The undead crawled to her.

On the ambulance vehicle side, the little kid opened his bloodshot eyes.

“Andre— *bite” The kid bit his brother on the neck and gushed out the blood like a fountain.

“Arghhhh!”

One by one the injured ones from the ambulance jump down growling. Their arms are either torn or they are dragging the chains with them…

Donald watched it unfold as he was squeezed tightly on the crowd.

Humans eat humans. 

Watching the stampede, Macord on the other side of the camera, bit his lips and said. “Connect to Captain Yuslan.”

*Bzzzt

“Yes? What is the status of the gates?” Yuslan answered. The moving vehicle can be heard on the other line.

“We are switching operations.” Macord said.

“...”

“Captain Yuslan, the walls are closed. Your mission is to make sure that nobody from the outside gets in, whether alive or dead.”

“Macord, is this your final decision or…?”

Wall 104 is the start of another petal layer and for now it’s only connected to Wall 104 while Wall 103 is already inside and placed like flower petals line with others. Somehow the infection gets inside the wall 103, who have several gates to other wall districts ,there would be more casualties.

“This is for the greater good. I can’t risk the infection coming inside the walls.” Macord replied.