Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night - Chapter 50

A Horrific Shriek
After scavenging all of his equipment, Zane found himself prepared to leave the shopping mall. However, as he began to pass by the archway which led towards the cashier area, an archway which was actually a giant aquarium, one that was now full of mostly dead fish. A gunshot echoed in the air, but Zane had only heard the shot after he felt the pressure of a round whip past his face.

The bullet missed its mark, particularly because Zane had shifted at the last moment, reaching down towards the ground where he saw a small, and blood stained stuffed bear. Zane did not have time to further examine this peculiar, and out of place object. Instead, he dashed behind cover, not knowing where the bullet had come from.

It became increasingly clear to Zane as the aquarium began to rapidly crackle, that he was about to have several hundred gallons worth of water come crashing down on top of him. And because of this, he decided to risk taking a bullet and dashed backwards inside the large sporting goods store.

Luckily for him, he was fast, faster than he had ever been, allowing him not only to evade the wave of water which began to flood the cashier area, but also the multitude of bullets which trailed behind him. Eventually Zane ducked into a part of the store which sold football equipment, where he hid behind a rack of pads, while aiming down his rifle’s fixed 4 power optic. Desperately searching for his attackers.

Naturally, Zane knew well enough that the light on his rifle had attracted unwanted attention, and thus he did not press the pressure switch, which allowed him to activate the light, leaving him alone in the darkness.

A natural benefit of his all black attire was the fact that Zane was more difficult to spot in the darkness. An advantage that he took advantage of as he covertly maneuvered around the football section of the store. It was at this moment he heard a gruff and deep voice approaching him. Followed by an oddly feminine voice afterward.

“Dammit, bitch, you fucking missed your shot! I thought you said you were an expert marksman? How the hell did you miss a guy who was stuck in place examining a bunch of dead fish?”

The feminine voice scoffed as she commanded the guy she was with to keep his head on a swivel. After all, Zane was clearly armed, and neither of them knew when they would come under attack.

“Shut the fuck up and keep your eyes peeled. The guy is armed, and by the looks of it he’s carrying an automatic weapon. I want that fucking fun switch, you understand? So make sure not to get your dumb ass killed!”

Just as the woman finished saying this, she heard something loud and deafening erupt from what one could only assume was a few hundred meters away. A banshee like shriek flooded the entire shopping district. It was so loud, and ear piercing that it actually caused the group of armed bandits to fall to their knees and cover their ears, all while shouting in agony.

Strangely enough, Zane appeared unaffected by this horrific shriek. Whether it was because he had scavenged a pair of in-ear electronic hearing protection while looting the tactical area upstairs. Or because of his ability [Dead Man Walking]. But the moment Zane heard this hellish howl, he understood what had happened.

The gunfire had attracted the Howler’s attention, and it was now alerting all the undead within a one-mile radius that there was prey to be had. Knowing this, Zane did not bother to stick around. He was willing to risk the gunfire of the thugs in order to escape from an undead encirclement.

Luckily for him, these three thugs, and their compatriots who had surrounded the building, were all debilitated by the loud and ear-piercing shriek. Allowing Zane to swiftly run away from the area without attracting a storm of bullets.

Zane had never run so quickly before in his life, but the moment after he got out of the sporting goods store, he saw thousands, no… tens of thousands of undead, flooding into the shopping center. His worst fears were realized. There was simply not enough time for him to escape.

It was only now that Zane understood how utterly terrifying a howler truly was. Especially when it was embedded in an undead hot zone like this one was. Zane was just about to raise his rifle and go out in a blaze of glory when the first Walker ran right past him and into the sporting goods store.

This peculiar incident was followed by the next Walker, and the next after that. Until finally, an entire wave of walkers came rushing by at breakneck speeds. Like a flood of running corpses. It was a truly horrific sight to witness and was the result of one shriek from a Howler. All of which completely ignored Zane. It was only then that Zane understood that his ability [Dead Man Walking] had saved his ass.

Zane figured there were two possible explanations for this peculiar situation that he now found himself in. From what he knew about his skill, Zane would be considered a living being by the Undead, and thus aggro them, if he was within close proximity to another living being.

Thus, it stood to reason that while the bandits were paralyzed by the Howler’s shriek, Zane had successfully managed to put enough distance between himself and his attackers, so much so that he was now out of range, and thus no longer considered a living being by the Walkers.

The second potential explanation for why the Undead simply passed him by was that because the bandits had attacked him, Zane was treated as a friendly by the Undead, and was thus considered one of their own.

After all, when Zane first encountered the Stalker, he was next to another living being, but by murdering the student who was by his side, the Stalker and the surrounding Walkers treated Zane as if he were an undead.

If this theory was true. Then the Undead would treat Zane as one of their own, even if he was near other living beings, so long as he was hostile to said living beings. But if Zane was friendly with other living beings who were nearby, then the Undead would treat him as a member of the living and thus attack him.

Obviously, this could not be confirmed right now, nor did Zane want to risk finding out an answer to this. Thus, Zane walked off from the shopping mall, at a casual pace. All while the agonizing deaths of the would be bandits could be overheard in the background.