Dawn

“Boss, I can perceive something strange coming in our direction. It's very...strange, must be very powerful—AH!”

Inside the humvee, a young man with a handkerchief tied on his forehead screamed in pain. He gripped his head, enduring the stabbing sensation inside his brain. The woman beside her saw his situation and panicked. “Gio! Gio! What's happening to you!”

Everyone knew that there's something wrong in this place. They were looking warily in each direction, prepared for any unexpected attack. Gio, who's a person with a perception ability, is a very powerful ability-holder. Having these kind of reaction only means one thing; they encountered something beyond the scope of  their abilities.

Their leader didn't hesitate. “Retreat! Now!”

The military vehicle made a loud screech as it retreated quickly. No one wants to die on a unfair battle. It's obvious that the zombie in this place is much higher level than them, going forward would be similar to committing suicide. The leader of the group frowned. In the intel they received before accepting this mission says that this place is clean of any high level undead, but it's clearly nothing but bullsh*t! 

They must have been placed in a trap!

Gio, the young man with perception ability, suddenly had his eyes rolled a the back of his head. His female companion screamed, hugging Gio's fallen body. Before the others could even scold the woman for screaming, there's a loud thud at the roof of the car.

'BANG!'

Everyone cursed. One of them passengers blew off the roof using his explosive-like ability. The car made a zigzag motion before it lost control. Before the car smashed into a building, everyone jumped on the ground. 

Finally, they could see the powerful zombie face to face. 

Several meters away from them is a female zombie, she was nothing but bones and on her boney hands was a huge bloody chainsaw. The zombie longingly observed each and everyone in this group before slowly licking her half-eaten lips. 

‘GRRRRRRR’ 

The female undead grinned as she turned her weapon on, and with a roar she attacked them head on. 

*

The battle lasted for a very long time, some died, and some fled under their leader's urging. The only one left fighting the monster was their leader. But because he's been fighting for so long, he still lost no matter how powerful his thunder and fire ability was. 

The moment he felt the sharp pain on his neck, he knew he had failed. Using the last bit of his ability, he created a dome made of fire, with him inside of it.

He can feel the female undead trying to open the dome, but he didn't care anymore. He was bitten, he was losing his human senses, he was turning into a flesh-eating monster like the female undead outside. 

Closing his eyes, familiar images flashed in his mind.

'Dio....'

'Papa! Papa!'

The man felt bitter, he's dying and he'll never gonna see the two most important people in his life ever again. Holding his last breath, the man thought:

'I'm sorry, wife and son, I broke my promise. I'm not coming back anymore...'

Then, he stopped breathing.