After brushing off Kait's complaint, we continued forward. I also retracted my skeleton. While it was a useful soldier, we could move better with just us. I'd bring it out when needed. 

We roamed through the library, exiting out the back door. We then continued down the street, clearing through building after building. 

With us moving quickly, rapidly dispatching any zombies that got in our way. Most of our encounters started with me sending out my skeleton. We were all hoping that killing zombies with an ability had the chance of dropping another Tome. And even if it didn't, I wanted the Ectoplasm that was rewarded for the kills. It was some kind of currency, and collecting currency was always good. 

The others were also glad to have a soldier fighting for them, decreasing the risks of getting hurt. Only, the skeleton took energy to maintain, so when I got tired, I had to pull it back and recover. 

Like that, four hours passed. In this time, not only did we make our way to a tall building with a fantastic view, but I learned a lot about Ectoplasm. 

First, not every zombie gave Ectoplasm. My skeleton killed approximately 25 zombies on our way over, and I only came out with 12 more Ectoplasm. It was a bit less than a 50% chance to gain a single Ectoplasm. 

While I wanted more Ectoplasm, I didn't actually know what I could do with it. So until I figured out its uses, I would just accumulate. 

Our group opened a metal door, stepping onto the roof of a tall office building. After clearing through the building below, sneaking past at least a thousand zombies in the process, we made it here. 

It was the tallest building for several miles, so it afforded us a view of even our stadium. But none of us looked at the stadium. 

We scanned the streets, searching for even the slightest hint of the military. 

"We heard them last night, so where could they be..."

"Hey, what's that?"

Suddenly, Kait pointed to somewhere in the sky. We looked at the ground at first, but when we followed her finger, we saw something. 

Discoloration in the air. It was a pink streak, creating a faint line from the ground and up into the sky with the resemblance of a cloud or fog. 

"Flare smoke?" I guessed.

Elijah got excited. "That's what I'm thinking. We were inside, so maybe we didn't see it go off. But that's definitely recent. It's still blowing in the wind."

"But where are the gunshots? If it were the military, we'd definitely hear them shooting. There are still zombies everywhere." Kait suddenly pointed out a problem. 

That's when our hopes were dashed. If it really were the military, they would be clearing out all the zombies in the area. We'd hear something, anything, but it had been silent for the past several hours. 

"No matter what, the flare indicates survivors. We should try and find them." Coach Todd suddenly spoke up. Even if it wasn't the military, finding survivors was good too.

"Let's do that then." Elijah nodded, and with his lead, we all went back down the building.

After sneaking past more zombies again, we exited and ran in the direction we saw the flare. As we got close, we searched the buildings and kept an eye out for signs of survivors. 

It was an hour later when we finally spotted something. Through the glass windows of a grocery store, we could spot barricades blocking the view inward. 

On top of that, we could see someone on top of the building, their torso barely peeking over the ledge. This person seemed to see us, and they waved their hand while trying to remain hidden. 

I saw the person, and Elijah spotted him not long after. 

"Let's go to the back of that store."

He spoke hurriedly. After that, we ran across an open street, killing two zombies in the way and circling around the side of the store. Along the way, I made sure to keep my skeleton hidden, also telling my other partners not to say anything about it. They agreed, and we arrived at the back of the store. 

There, we found a few storage containers backed into garages. One garage was closed, but the door next to it was cracked just slightly. 

Elijah walked over slowly, and I could tell he was nervous. 

"Hello?"

"Hurry and come in!"

With a beckon, the door opened, a barricade moving out of the way. We rushed in despite no zombies being nearby. 

After we entered, the man who welcomed us closed the door. We all looked around the warehouse. 

There were tall shelves with pallets of food and various products. Since this place was a grocery store, it had anything you could think of. 

"You guys aren't bitten, are you?"

We all turned to the voice, seeing a pair of men. Both of them were dressed casually, but they were obviously on guard. 

One of them carried a knife, and the other held a metal pipe. Elijah shook his head. 

"No, we aren't hurt. We were actually searching for survivors."

"Where did you come from?"

"The college stadium a few miles from here. We're athletes, and our group came out to find the military."

Elijah explained the situation while the rest of us stood around. 

I was a bit nervous, but also excited. I could see a few groups of people huddled in the warehouse around us, and there were no doubt more inside the store. Many were families, with a few children running around. The parents watched us warily, keeping their children nearby. They looked haggard, anxious from protecting their children through the dawn of the apocalypse, though they still tried to keep them cheery. 

A grocery store was definitely the best place to find refuge, filled with food and water and comforts. It wasn't like the zombies would know to break in, so they just had to stay hidden, and they could live off the supplies for a long time. 

Elijah conversed with the man, whose name was Albert. He seemed to be the de facto leader in this place. On top of that, it seems like he was awakened, receiving some kind of offensive ability. 

He told Elijah about what being awakened involved, and since Elijah had heard from me about the awakening process, he was able to make sense of it. When asked about how he knew though, Elijah just said that someone at the stadium had awakened, though they didn't know about any abilities. 

It felt a bit weird lying through our teeth, but one could never be too careful. 

"We have about 75 people in the store. There used to be several hundred, but most either turned to zombies or died by them. I've already cleared out any remaining zombies, and now we're just waiting." Albert gave us a rundown. 

"So it was you who shot that flare?" Elijah was curious. 

Albert nodded. "Yea. Believe it or not, I had one in my car. It was a few years old, but it didn't fail me. Unfortunately, I don't hear rolling tanks, so it didn't catch the attention of the military."

"So you heard the fighting last night too."

"We did. It was pretty close, and some people left to go find them. But we haven't heard back. They either forgot about us, died, or the military hasn't patrolled through here yet. Regardless, we've opted to sit and wait. The flare I shot was the first of three charges that I have. I was going to shoot another tonight, and the last one when I hear something."

"Mm." Elijah nodded along.

The man was smart, and lucky to have those flares. Only, this didn't help us with our dilemma. We had come looking for the military, and finding survivors was fine and all, but it didn't exactly help us. 

Unless we could gather our forces...

My mind suddenly spun with ideas. I initially thought that bringing over a hundred athletes here would only run through the resources, and that was true if we just sat here doing nothing. But if we could bring everyone here, pool our resources, find weapons, and start going out to hunt for more stores and warehouses, then we could create a small militia.

We could start clearing zombies, find anybody else that awakened, make them stronger, and branch out to any more survivors.

I immediately approved of my train of thought. The country had effectively fallen, going completely dark. Now, it was time to rebuild, start bringing people back together. Reclaim essential industries like power and water filtering. Gather real weapons. Mount an offensive. Carve out a place amongst these hordes of monsters. 

Gathering people and supplies was the first step. I could see it in my mind, the vision of our community growing larger and stronger. While more people would require more food and water to maintain, we would be able to claim more with our strength in numbers. 

"Elijah. Albert."

I walked between them. I had deep confidence in my vision, and all it would take was execution. I wasn't sure why, but I felt compelled to take that first step, no matter how dangerous. I knew it had to be done. 

As for my family... Well, I couldn't just wander off on my own yet. I needed to find safety here first. 

Without beating around the bush, I laid out my plans. 

"We have over a hundred athletes, physically capable men and women. Elijah, if we find weapons, we can bring back those weapons and arm our team. We can then bring them all over here, gathering everyone in one place. Now, Albert."

I faced the leader of this grocery store, who seemed to want to object. I knew what he was thinking. Bringing more people would eat up his resources, no matter how large they were. 

"I know about the downsides of doubling or tripling our population, but I need you to believe that we're not going to just sit around. Look, we need weapons, and we need a community, a militia, who can wield those weapons against the zombies. I know of a few warehouses nearby. With people and weapons, we can clear out zombies and raid those places, taking the resources and bringing them back to our people. We can find more survivors, taking them in and arming them. 

"With numbers, we'll be much stronger. We can defend ourselves, and we can branch out. We can't stay holed up in a grocery store forever. Taking the initiative will keep us safe. We need to increase our strength, not wait and hope that the military will find us. I want to bring our athletes here and start taking things into our own hands."

I spoke with excitement and vigor. With each passing second, I was becoming more sure of my vision. Our athletes were the muscle we needed. If they just had weapons, no matter how rugged, then we could handle any amount of zombies between us and the stadium. 

My tone reflected my confidence as I explained the details a bit more, though perhaps I was a bit too shaky for my liking. We would bring back a supply of weapons like pipes, golf clubs, wooden stakes, or whatever else we could find, to the stadium. Then, we would arm our athletes and march our way to this grocery store. After that, we would gather, recuperate, and begin planning our next steps to acquire more resources from various nearby warehouses. 

Perhaps it was my confidence, or maybe the hope he felt, but in the end, Albert agreed. He also understood that a hundred fit and strong college athletes were a valuable fighting force. Most of the people in the store were mothers, children, or the elderly. People capable of fighting were scarce. 

Elijah was also eager to carry out this plan, and with the finalizations, we got to work. 

Our plan was to gather weapons, stay at the grocery store through the night, and return with our supplies in the morning. 

Kait, Coach Todd, and Elijah split up and wandered through the grocery store. While this wasn't a sporting goods store and didn't carry anything that could really be used as a weapon, there were plenty of objects that we could repurpose. 

For example, the metal poles that comprised shelves or racks could be dismantled and used as blunt force weapons. Fold the tip a bit and it could be a spear. 

We even found a few gardening tools, so we took things like shovels, hoes, and stakes. 

After plenty of dismantling and gathering metal tools over the course of several hours, we ended up with over a hundred items. Naturally, this was a lot to carry, and it wouldn't be easy getting it all back to the stadium. However, if the four of us packed everything in backpacks, a plentiful product in this store, we would be able to carry plenty. 

At night though, we were a bit surprised when Albert came to find us, bringing along three other men. 

"Elijah, Jack, these men are here to help. I know you need to carry a lot, so they can help. I briefed them on your plans, and they want to assist. Hopefully with them, you can get everything back safely."

Pleasantly surprised, I quickly greeted the three. Mike, Thomas, and Jason. They were all adult males, Jason being around 25 and the other two looking to be in their 30s. 

We got acquainted, and I thanked them for their help. Not only would we now be able to bring everything back in one trip, but with lighter loads, we would be able to move faster. 

So with the weapons ready and our helpers, we settled down for the night. My group of four make a large bed of blankets and clothes on the floor, sticking together. Though, because we were in an unfamiliar place, we took a bit longer to fall asleep. 

Still, when the night got deep, we all drifted off. We weren't alone, most people in the store opting to stick around each other. Perhaps because of that, we felt a bit safer. 

...........

*SCREEEEEE!!!*

Suddenly, I jolted up out of the makeshift bed. My heart pounded out of my chest, and I looked around with a terrified expression. 

Everyone else in the store was the same. Elijah and Kait, who slept beside me, similarly popped up. 

The scream we heard shook the entire store, and several children began to cry. The parents of these kids desperately quieted them down, but they had pale faces filled with fear and dread. 

That scream... wasn't human. I've never heard anything like it. It was guttural, yet shrill. It was so loud that my ears actually rang a bit. 

I knew it had to have come from a zombie, and one that was nearby. Only, I couldn't understand how a zombie could do that. They were all normal people, and not even the loudest people I knew could scream like that. 

It was a zombie that had mutated. It made my brain spin with horrible thoughts of the zombies being able to get stronger themselves. 

"Everyone, stay down and quiet."

A low voice spread through the people. It was Albert, who had emerged from the garage. 

He made his way over to us, crouching as if there were zombies in the store. 

"Do you guys know what that was?"

"No idea."

We shook our heads. We had been detected by no shortage of zombies coming here, but all of them were just basic zombies, normal people that had turned into monsters. None of them screamed like that. 

I looked past a shelf. It was still night, though I didn't know what time exactly. 

Albert looked at his watch with a frown. 

"It's 4am. I'm not sure why a zombie would scream, or how it could scream so lo-"

*Bang!*

Albert was interrupted by another loud noise. It came from outside the store, and it sounded like metal on metal. 

Then, we heard some other screams.

"Run!"

"Don't get surrounded!"

"Get inside a building!"

My heart beat even faster at the sound of voices. There were people outside. 

"Follow me!"

Suddenly, Albert waved us over. We jumped out of our bed and followed as he led us to the roof of the store. 

We emerged into the night air, keeping ourselves low to the roof. We slowly inched over to the edge, barely peeking over to see the street outside. 

The front of the store was a parking lot, and it was rather full with abandoned cars. 

Beyond the parking lot, on the street beyond, we could see a small group of people that were weaving through more abandoned cars with flashlights. We counted 12 figures, 7 of whom had flashlights. 

They ran across the street, and zombies were gathering and hoarding them from all sides. There were easily over a hundred, and even more were running from further away. 

And they were all gathering near one particular zombie. We could barely make out this zombie through some of the abandoned car lights that were shining on it. And it looked particularly horrifying. 

Its legs were abnormally skinny, and it was at least 7 feet tall. Its waist was thin, but it had a huge chest. Not muscular, but bloated. Finally, its jaw seemed to have been unhinged and expanded. 

Then, we could hear it breathe in. The wind flooded into its rapidly expanding chest. Then, its jaw opened wide, raising into the air. 

*SCREEEEE!!!!*

It let out another horrifying scream. We all covered our ears, watching as the zombies nearby got agitated. They all rushed even faster toward the survivors that were running away. 

A Screamer zombie. It obviously acted as some kind of beacon, an alert system for zombies. 

Albert grit his teeth as he stared at that grotesque creature. 

"That thing is extremely dangerous. It can call a horde when alerted."

"Our plan just a got a bit more complicated..." Elijah sighed quietly. 

With that Screamer there, we knew that there could be more of them. This also showed us that zombies could mutate, taking on special properties. This zombie apocalypse was no longer easy to combat. 

Getting back to the stadium, and then moving over a hundred people, was now much more difficult. Even with weapons, our athletes weren't trained soldiers. Fighting hordes of hundreds would end in deaths. 

With that Screamer in the area, nobody could be certain about moving quietly. 

"...Is there any way we could try to kill it?"

Kait mumbled. Naturally, if the zombie were dead, it wouldn't pose a problem. 

And to this idea, Elijah slowly bobbed his head. 

We could see the Screamer move. It had long legs, but that only seemed to make it taller. It wasn't fast, and definitely wasn't coordinated. The only thing it could do well was scream. 

If we knocked it down and killed it like every other zombie... Even if it screamed and called other zombies, with our small group, we could slip away into a building. We could avoid the horde, and get on with our objective. 

I nodded. "We should try. When the sun rises, we can try and kill it first. With it gone, we can get on with our plan."

"We can help you." Albert chimed in. "I'll grab a few men and we can hunt it down. They need experience fighting anyway, so this is a good chance."

Elijah hummed. "Very well. Sun rises in a couple hours. I'm not going back to sleep, so I'll wait up here and watch it. When we get light, we'll move out. I suggest you prepare the others, and get our weapons ready."

"Sure. As for those people..."

We all looked toward the survivors who were running. After a few moments, they disappeared amidst some other buildings, the zombies following them. There was nothing we could do. 

Silently, we headed back into the store. Kait opted to stay with Elijah and watch.

Coach Todd and I went to pick out weapons. Albert also grabbed those volunteers, Mike, Thomas, and Jason. With them, there were 7 of us. 

We equipped the three men with weapons and made any auxiliary preparations. Everyone picked out and wore a sweater or two, for defense against scratches. Gloves were also essential. And with metal poles as spears, we looked like a rag-tag bunch of thugs. 

After eating a meal picked out from the vast grocery store, we waited those couple hours, deciding that another hour of sleep wasn't worth it. Before long, the sun peeked over the horizon.

Elijah and Kait gathered with us in the garage. They had also eaten a meal and prepared. 

Now, it was time to hunt.