TWD - Zomboid - Chapter 316: There Are No Humans Left in Atlanta (Patreon)

There were no humans left in Atlanta!

Luke barely counted as human anymore. He was more like a wild beast.

No, that wasn't right.

Even a wild beast would die here.

He was practically Superman!

A short while later, Luke and Claire reached the open area.

The situation was even more dangerous than Luke had expected.

Jill and Rebecca had landed extremely close to each other. Now the two women stood back-to-back, completely surrounded by walkers pouring in from every direction.

The densely packed horde was slowly closing in around them.

Both women had guns, but against a horde this thick, there simply weren't enough bullets.

Unless they happened to have rocket launchers with unlimited ammunition, all they could do was wait to die.

Their aim was pretty good. They were managing to clear out some space within the horde and were even gradually pushing toward the outside.

But the situation was still hanging by a thread.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before they ran out of ammunition and were completely swallowed by the surging horde.

By then, they wouldn't be drop-dead gorgeous.

They'd just be dead—and covered in blood.

"Hold on!"

Luke surged forward and reached the outer edge of the horde.

He didn't recklessly charge straight in.

With walkers packed this densely, he probably could force his way through and fight his way back out several times over.

But it wasn't worth it...

The more noise they made, the greater the danger around them became.

If the current level of danger were rated in stars, this area was probably at four stars right now.

Give it another minute or two, though, and it could easily rise to five or even six.

By then, they might even have walkers oozing green fluid showing up.

He needed some way to draw the walkers' attention elsewhere.

Luke reached into his pocket.

Between his pockets and the system backpack, he could pull out practically anything he needed.

The next second, several grenades appeared in his hand seemingly out of nowhere.

A pocket straight out of an anime, kid!

Luke judged the distance, choosing a spot a little over a hundred meters away from Jill and Rebecca.

With a flick of his wrist, he casually tossed a grenade toward it.

He still had to control his strength.

Throwing it too far wouldn't help.

"BOOM!!!"

The grenade hit the ground and exploded violently.

Walkers around the impact point were instantly blown apart, while the tremendous noise and shockwave drew the attention of a large section of the horde.

Walkers were creatures that largely followed sound.

The moment the explosion went off, countless walkers turned and began surging toward the source of the noise.

But that still wasn't enough.

The explosion could only distract them temporarily.

The walkers in the middle of the encirclement remained fixated on Jill and Rebecca.

"Claire, start shooting!"

Luke pointed in a direction and immediately gave the order.

"Keep firing and draw their aggro! Pull the horde that way!"

Claire reacted instantly.

She drew her gun and fired repeatedly in the direction Luke had indicated.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Luke even removed the suppressor.

It was so worn out by now that there was no telling whether it was still doing anything anyway.

The rapid gunfire successfully drew the attention of another group of walkers.

With pressure coming from both inside and outside, a gap finally opened in the encirclement.

"Rebecca! Jill! Can you hear me?"

Luke shouted into the communicator.

"Run toward the open ground! You'll have to fight your own way through the gap! We don't have time, so move!"

Luke left Claire there to provide support, then plunged straight into the horde himself.

Time to collect some interest!

Essence +1

Essence +2

Essence +1

Time to grind!

In truth, Rebecca and Jill had already heard the commotion even without Luke specifically warning them.

Naturally, they were already retreating toward him.

"Understood!"

Rebecca immediately turned her gun toward the opening in the encirclement and fired with deadly precision.

One walker after another blocking their path dropped as bloody holes appeared between their eyes.

While shooting, Rebecca reached out and firmly supported Jill beside her.

Jill seemed to have twisted her ankle when she landed, making it difficult for her to move.

Rebecca supported her as the two worked together, slowly and painfully making their way toward the gap that had been cleared by the gunfire.

"Come on! Move faster!"

Luke urged them on from the perimeter.

By now, severed limbs were already piling up around his feet.

He looked more like a walker than the actual walkers did.

"Add points!"

"Dump them all in!"

He had already accumulated 100 Essence.

Luke immediately added two points to Luck, two to Strength, two to Agility, two to Perception, and two to Constitution.

Str 13 / Agi 15 / Con 11 / Per 13 / Luck 15

Luke suddenly felt unstoppable.

A Hunter lunged at him, and he kicked it straight into a wall.

The creature smashed against it and turned into a bloody mess on impact.

His speed had become terrifying.

He could even burst forward from a standstill in an instant, almost like Wesker's sudden flashes of movement.

He was moving so fast that it was nearly impossible to follow him.

His Luck had gone up another level as well.

On the chest of a National Guard walker charging toward him, he actually spotted several grenades.

Why pay for ammunition when you could just loot it?

Luke happily took the grenades, shoved one into the walker's mouth, then kicked it straight into the horde.

BOOM!!

Essence +1

Essence +1

Essence +1

...

Ordinary walkers dropped very little Essence.

Sometimes killing more than a dozen might produce a single point.

Other times, he could kill a hundred without getting anything at all.

Mutants, on the other hand, had a much higher chance of dropping Essence.

So Luke deliberately targeted the mutants.

He kept killing and killing until, all of a sudden, the area around him became strangely empty.

Only then did he realize that all the nearby walkers were dead.

These things...

Were they really this easy to kill?

Luke looked around and suppressed the urge to keep slaughtering them to his heart's content.

The explosions and gunfire from earlier had caused far too much commotion.

This entire area had become like a giant magnet.

Walkers from across the city were being drawn toward them in a steady stream.

Far down the surrounding streets, massive hordes could already be seen surging in their direction, mixed with plenty of fast-moving mutants.

They didn't have much time left.

Fortunately, Rebecca and Jill had finally fought their way out.

Luke pulled an N95 mask from his pocket.

Inhaling Corpse Mist didn't carry any risk of infection, but the system still advised against prolonged exposure.

Better to listen to good advice.

What if it made him infertile...

Actually, that didn't sound entirely bad.

"Quick, you..."

Rebecca's face was covered in walker blood.

Jill didn't look much better.

Rebecca had been feeling rather touched.

Luke had taken so much pressure off them and had even personally entered the horde to help.

Then she looked down.

Luke stood atop a pile of corpses.

Filthy blood stained the corner of his eyes and his neck.

Walker remains were scattered everywhere around him.

More importantly, almost none of the bodies were intact.

Most had been decapitated.

Some even had their heads still attached to half their spines, the entire thing having been ripped straight out of their torsos.

What the hell?!

Was this a slaughterhouse?

Wasn't this a little excessive?!

Luke casually handed Rebecca a mask.

"Put this on. Don't breathe in too much Corpse Mist and fry your brain!"

Rebecca pushed Jill toward Luke.

"Alright, Hercules. It's time to get out of here. If we don't leave now, you're going to kill every walker in the city!"

That sounded like a good thing!