Maizen: Return of the Zombies

Chapter 23

(Aaaaand there goes my daily update schedule. That's because school started for me, I'm a freshman now, so it's very time consuming and stressful, so I might not be able to update daily anymore. But I still love Maizen and this book, so I'll stick with it despite everything getting in the way right now. Even though literally one person reads this book at this point, I still love it regardless)

By the time morning came around, the weather had cooled down enough so that everyone could put on their armor on. Because when they came to the ancient tower, they would definetely need it; no doubt it would be crawling with infected.

Despite how good Mikey usually was at hiding the things him and JJ did together, he seemed to be acting especially silly this morning. It seemed he was still thinking about last night, and as much as JJ tried to get him to calm down, he just kept giggling everytime JJ talked to him. As annoying as it was, he remembered his promise and refused to get angry. Instead, he just hoped it would blow over and nobody would ask about it. But, of course, Mary was the first person to notice. And, suprise suprise, she asked about it.

"What's so funny, dude-"

"Oh you know, I was just thinking about something..." Mikey managed to control himself for the sake of the interaction, but he was still acting suspicious. Of course Mary caught onto it, and kept interrogating, thinking she was going to get something out of it. She started gaining a devious smirk too.

"Dear god Mikey please don't say anything-" JJ prayed as Mikey started thinking of what to reveal and what to keep a secret. He must know what she was trying to do by now, right?

"And?" Mary prompted. "Does it involve JJ?"

"Noooooo..." Mikey said, and started giggling again. JJ decided to take it from here and took Mikey back to their room before he went nuts entirely. Even inside, Mikey didn't stop.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing... just thinking about how sloppy your moans were last ni-"

JJ slammed his hand over his mouth, his face burning hot from embarrassment.

"This is not the time!" He hissed, nervously eyeing the outside. He'd prayed nobody heard that. "We're going to leave for the journey right now, and the last thing I need is this. Try to relax - nobody can know about last night. Please don't give it away."

"I won't, I won't... you're such a worrisome, JJ."

"Okay... so, are you good now?"

"Uh huh, and I'm ready to go too!" Mikey said casually, as if nothing had happened. JJ just let him do his thing and went back outside, where everyone was waiting for them.

"What were you guys doing?" Mary asked, with that annoying as hell face.

"Can it." JJ said, and Mikey copied him and looked away from her. She didn't take the hint though, and JJ knew for sure she wouldn't let this go. Typical Mary.

As everyone finally left, JJ felt rejuvinated. It was good to have the mission back on, and travel in a biome that wasn't a scorching hot desert. Now, they were only so far away from finally finding the cure and ending this god damn apocolaypse.

-

As long as they had to walk, JJ didn't complain; travelling for a long time in these conditions was way more prefferable than the previous ones. And now that they were here, there would be a lot more do besides walking.

Despite the known strength the infected had, JJ was eager to finally fight something again. And with Bob on their team, plus three other people, he had no doubts they'd win over them. On top of having armor and weapons, they'd be unstoppable!

So why did everyone look so nervous to go in? There wasn't anything scary about it; just tons and tons of vines and cracked stone.

"What? What's wrong?" JJ asked, starting to get impatient.

"It's just, this place kinda has a menacing aura..." Mary explained. "Don't you feel it?"

"No?"

"I feel it too," Bob chimed in. "Probably because nobody's been in it for years."

"It's freaky for sure." Will said. "But, at least we got our armor and weapons. Any danger that's in there, we'll be able to face it."

"That's the spirit," JJ said, moving and having to detach Mikey from him in the process. He came up to Will and started pushing him inside. "Now let's get inside and face it already!"

"Okay dude, now get off me-"

That got everyone moving. Forget "auras," JJ had a mission to do. Mikey stayed close to him like usual, and Bob took the lead while everyone else trailed behind. Eventually, they found a wide open room, with withered away remains of what used to be cubicals; presumably where people used to work when the building was in use.

But suddenly, JJ noticed a shape moving around slightly. When he looked closer, he noticed that it was a zombie.

He stopped, and he alerted the person closest to him other than Mikey, Will. When he saw it, he made everyone hide behind one of the cubical remains to make a plan to take action.

"Is this really nessacary?" Bob asked. "Couldn't we just, all attack it at once?"

"Yeah, let's ambush it!" Mary exclaimed, and Will shoved her as a response. He didn't want her being too loud.

"No, stop." He said. "We need to be practical about this. I think we should sneak up on it, like t-"

"Don't worry guys, I'll kill it!" Mikey said, and suddenly left his hiding place. He started sneaking up on it like Will suggested, but JJ didn't feel comfortable with Mikey doing it alone. And judging by everyone else's faces, they thought the same thing. But of course, they couldn't tell him to come back, or else it will alert the zombie. So, overall, it was a hopeless situation, and all JJ could do was pray that the attack went well.

Just as Mikey came within striking distance, the zombie finally noticed him. But suprisingly, instead of attacking, it just stared at him. Mikey was confused at the reaction, and stared right back. For a minute, it seemed as though he forgot about the attack entirely. JJ so desprately wanted to remind Mikey not to let his guard down, but he could cause something to go wrong if he did. Mikey started waving his hand in front of the zombie, but it still didn't react.

"Isn't this weird?" Mikey said, and turned to everyone else. At the sound of his voice, the zombie finally gained it's senses, and started growling.

Forget staying quiet. Something was going to happen if JJ didn't do something. "Mikey, watch ou-"

But before he could finish his warning, the zombie lunged forward and sank its teeth straight into Mikey's arm.