The low humming of the plasma shield felt like a permanent fixture in Aqra’s life. He looked up at the shimmering surface of the dome above, marveling at how such a thin layer separated them from the horde of zombies outside. The metal gates and wall felt safer to him but after that incident in one of India’s safe zones where the zombies scaled a hundred-meter wall by hurling themselves at it, he wondered how tall they needed to build their wall to be safe. Two hundred, three hundred meters? His fingers tightened around the machine gun as he walked the zone perimeter.

“Daydreaming about girls?”

His colleague’s voice by his side shook him back to reality. He snorted, “No, of course not.”

“Well, I know I am.”

“I know you are.” Aqra laughed, darting a sideways glance at Timo. His blue-eyed colleague was a woman charmer with his good looks and sweet tongue. “New conquest yesterday, I take it?”

“Come on, Aqra. Don’t put it that way. It makes me sound bad.” Timo complained. “I can’t help that my feelings run crazy around women.”

“Are you sure it’s just your feelings?” Aqra teased.

Timo shook his head in denial. “Enough about me. When are you going to start coming to social gatherings with me?”

“When the zombies are eradicated.”

“That would be in twenty years or more!” Timo exclaimed. “When was the last time you even had-”

Aqra shushed him as a group of kids ran towards them, giggling as they played tag. He stopped the kids with outstretched hands. They came to a halt in front of him and stared in awe at the gun in his hand. He smiled and addressed them gently, “What are you doing here? You’re not supposed to be this close to the wall, you know? It’s dangerous out here.”

The older boy of the trio said sheepishly, “Sorry, sir.”

“It’s okay. Go on back home to your parents.”

He watched the kids take off towards the safety of the zone before continuing on their daily patrol. It was pretty much a normal day. Nothing out of the ordinary to be wary of. There was the earlier announcement about the fall of Holland Zone but he hadn’t heard any sounds outside the shield. They were still on high alert naturally. Anything could happen. The most critical area would be the second entrance into Zone 0, near the food supplies. They were still a distance away from there but the other guards would be on top of the situation first.

“As I was saying, when was the last time you were with a woman?” Timo got back on topic to Aqra’s misfortune.

He snorted. “You know very well that my religion requires me to only have physical relations with the opposite sex after marriage. And I am a very obedient person.”

“You? Obedient?” Timo lifted an eyebrow. “The guy who I know snuck in drugs even though he knew that it could mean the death sentence for him?”

Dashing a look around them, Aqra shushed Timo for the second time. He hissed, “That was ages ago and it was only an ounce. I did it that one time out of curiosity. Never did it again. Never will.”

Timo laughed. “Sure, Aqra. I believe you. But you see my point, right? I don’t believe a rugged guy like you hasn’t had his fair share of suitors.”

Aqra flushed. He ran a hand through his short-cropped hair and tilted his squarish jaw away from Timo. “Fine. My last girlfriend was a year before the apocalypse hit.”

“What was she like?”

“Fiery, adventurous.” Aqra chuckled. “We always fought.”

“Why did you two break up?”

“Well-”

The ground shook underneath their feet, followed by a muffled roar. Aqra and Timo tensed. They exchanged a look of concern.

“What was that?” Timo said quietly, his voice on edge.

“I don’t know.”

Aqra’s brow creased. Something was wrong. He looked around them, his fingers tightening around his gun. His gaze fell on the wall or rather what laid behind it. It was the deafening silence. The plasma shield was gone.

“Look.” He gestured to the wall. “The shield.”

Timo sucked in a breath. “Oh my god.”

“The food supplies, Timo.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

The two men broke into a jog. Their feet pounded on the ground in tandem with their racing heartbeat. Every second seemed too long, every meter too far away. It felt like an eternity since the first rumble of the ground. Anything could have happened since then.

Aqra’s sense of disquiet intensified as they ran. A billowing cloud of smoke rose from the other end of the zone. It must have been an explosion. That would have taken the shield down. But shouldn’t backup power kick in anytime soon?

Timo huffed, his eyes shining with a sharp clarity that wasn’t there before. “Do you hear that?”

Aqra strained to hear over his quick breaths. There it was - the unmistakable guttural groans and the staccato firing of machine guns. One glance at Timo and they both nodded in understanding. They dropped their pace and brought their guns to their chest level, ready to fire any second.

As they approached the second entrance, Aqra’s heart dropped to his stomach. Zombies were streaming in by the dozen. They must have come from the fallen Holland Base, attracted by the electrified plasma shield. Guards were strewn all over the place, both dead and alive. Some took positions behind quickly erected barriers while others were out in the open, picking off the zombies as they came in. Orders were being shouted across the space, screams tore through the air as more men fell prey. 

Aqra and Timo ran to the nearest barrier. A middle-aged man with blood streaming down his forehead looked up at them and gestured to the back of the half-open barricade. “Head to the food supplies. We need more backup there. We’re falling back!”

“Roger!”

The two of them ran swiftly past the barriers. As they dodged a flaming zombie, a guard lunged at them, teeth bared in a snarl. Aqra ducked to the side, noticing from the corner of his eye the red tinge in the guard’s eye, the feral look on his face. Timo pulled his gun up and shot the zombie guard in his face. Without breaking pace, the two sprinted to the food supply storage building. 

It was clear that the barricade was going to fail. The plasma shield hadn’t kicked back in yet. They had only enough manpower to stave off a group of zombies, not a steady stream. Unease built in Aqra’s stomach. He fired off another volley of shots, taking down three zombies. A guard to their left screamed as a zombie, and then another, pounced on him. Aqra grimaced but could do nothing to help.

“Watch out!”

Aqra whirled around to see a zombified guard grappling at his leg. Terror gripped him as the zombie’s fingers clawed at him. He stumbled back, his foot lashing out and stomping down on the zombie’s hand. Blood splattered onto his legs. He breathed hard, swiveling around again just in time to take out a zombie behind Timo.

The two men stood back-to-back, taking out zombies left and right as their machine guns rattled off bullets that were rapidly dwindling in number. Aqra dashed a glance to the food supply store. Zombies were already crawling inside, overwhelming the workers and guards within. It was a gone case. Frantic, he searched for a way out. He spotted a clear path to the parking lot. With one hand on the trigger, he patted Timo twice on the back.

“Timo, parking lot!” Aqra yelled over the screams.

“Lead the way!”

Squeezing off a few more shots, Aqra advanced with Timo guarding his back. He swept his gun from left to right, spraying bullets into anything that lunged their way. It took several grueling seconds to reach the parking lot but it was worth the sight of more than three scout cars remaining. As they approached the first car, a zombie leapt at him from the roof. He let off a volley of shots and the zombie dropped dead at his feet. Heart racing at the close contact, his fingers trembled as he nudged the corpse away with his gun and tried the car door.

He swept the interior of the car. All clear. He scrambled into the driver’s seat and reached for the keys, fumbling as he balanced his gun.

“Aqra, it’s no use,” Timo hollered over the din. “The tires are flat!”

Aqra poked his head out and glanced down past the dead zombie. Someone had taken a knife to the tires. He cursed. Who in their right mind would damage their only transports out of the zone? He moved to the next car with Timo behind him. No luck. All tires were slashed.

So was the next. And the next. There were no more cars.

He darted a helpless look at Timo. Timo’s lips thinned as he squeezed off another round. His blue orbs conveyed the same frustration and terror that must be in Aqra’s brown eyes. Aqra swept his gaze across the mayhem. Shrieks tore through the air as the horde of growing zombies surged into the residential areas. Corpses were strewn on the street, barricades went up in fire and smoke.

His gaze fell on a group of crying kids huddled behind a row of bicycles. The same kids he had seen earlier on patrol. His heart leapt into his mouth. Touching Timo on the shoulder, he pointed to the kids and they broke into a jog. They were more than fifty meters away and he could see a few stragglers turning in their direction. He leveled off a few shots, striking some of the nearing zombies right in the head. The oldest kid glimpsed him and shot to his feet, hope glimmering in his young eyes.

Aqra yelled, “Get down!”

The kid hurriedly ducked to the ground but it was too late. Two zombies had caught onto the scent of fresh blood and were closing in. Aqra squeezed off a few shots but he was too far away.

Aqra!” Timo called out.

Aqra spun to his left as a zombie hurtled out of an alley. He pulled the trigger.

Fuck! He was out. Timo rattled off a shot that floored the zombie.

Timo cursed. “Shit, I’m dry too.”

Two zombies lunged at the men. Aqra screamed as the inertia of the zombie tackled him to the ground. Bared teeth snapped at him. He thrust the gun up, forcing the stock of the gun into the zombie’s mouth. Saliva drooled from the zombie’s moving jaw onto his shirt. The weight of the reanimated corpse pressed down on him, straining his arms as he tried to fight off the gnashing teeth. 

He grunted with effort, hearing Timo struggling beside him as well. His arms burned, his legs fighting for purchase to shake the body off him. From the corner of his vision, he saw more zombies drawing closer. In a few more seconds, they would be dead.

His eyes squeezed shut. Memories of his parents flashed in his mind. He uttered an apology to them, wishing he had joined them in their safe zone across the causeway. Death was only seconds away.

Blood splattered on his face. The body on him fell limp. He opened his eyes, seeing what was left of the zombie’s brain spilling onto his torso. He scrambled away in shock, chest heaving.

“Aqra, get in!”

He snapped around to see Joon Woo’s head sticking out of a speeding scout car. In the cart behind, two supply runners crouched with guns raised, showering bullets everywhere. He didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled a dazed Timo to his feet and they dashed to the cart. Timo jumped in first, pulling him in a second later.

Aqra hit the top of the car. “Joon, get the kids too!”

“What kids?”

Aqra gestured at the kids behind the-

His mouth went dry. The kids were up on their feet, red tinging their eyes, chunks of flesh missing from their torso. As the scout car sped away, Aqra dry retched. This was worse than death.