WHEN DEATH SKIPPED A SOUL: LIFELESS

A truck appeared in the scorching heat of the Holshire Wood. Behind the truck were the local military officers who were assigned to travel the road and enter the Academy, to retrieve certain documents that the upper echelon had an eye on. Silence was devouring them as they sat on the hard bench, having their M16 beside them, gripping tightly as they get near the gate. The truck stopped and it took a moment before everyone moved, they spoke whispers and prayers because, sure enough, uncertainty lay after them when they step forward. The vehicle creaked as they got off in alignment and when reached the ground, they lined accordingly and reviewed the mission with their Lieutenant. Retrieving the document owned by Doctor Reiss Ferrel. "It's a job that requires sacrifice and valor. Do you accept it?" he asked his platoon "Sir yes sir!" they answered in chorus "Even your lives are at stake?" He added "Sir yes Sir!" "I can't hear some sincerity!" the Lieutenant shouted "SIR YES SIR!" "Good. Survey squad, move!" The survey squad must monitor the area first if there are infected lurking. They must ensure that there is no crowd of infected when the truck got to enter. "Sir yes sir!" they replied and started to move, surveying by two's not getting too far away from the main platoon. After a moment, there are growling and gunfires heard from the places where the survey squad is, everyone was alerted and was ordered to work in groups to help the others. It was a smooth cleaning because there are only one or two of the infected that has appeared. They were slow and weak. And that made the soldiers sigh in relief for the moment, they were given hope that everything that they'll face on will be something like this easy. But it was quite the opposite, summer heat pressed on inside their uniform and the metal guns became hotter on their palms, assuring them that the journey in the road towards the Academy will be tougher as the infected appears along the road one by one. It was reported that this Academy was safe 2 days after the outbreak of the unknown virus in the City. The Holshire Woods doesn't usually have tourists or travelers visiting here that's why the infected were all students and faculties which were mysterious because the academy issued a locked down on here, no one has entered nor went out but they've gotten infected from inside which was a strange matter. It was soon reported in the Military camp that something important related to the current crisis has been kept inside that's why the local government issued a retrieval operation for these certain documents. The soldiers silently observed their surroundings as the truck travel the only concrete road towards the Academy. They got to pass some infected students that manage to get half the distance in reaching the gate. It was a 6-kilometer road away from the academy. One soldier who was on the edge of the leathered-cover truck observed the road as they were passing by and his eyes caught an infected at the east side, standing still without any motion following her gaze on the truck. And he frowned as if it stared directly at him. "Hey, have you been in the City?" one of the soldiers asked as they wait for their destination. "No, ever since our family break 3 months ago, I've never set foot on the City." one replied "I can't contact my family nor my relatives." "Me too." "Me too." "I've got a call from that 'day' but soon after all I can hear were screams and growling." They silence down as those words are uttered in the air. They realized the fact that since they were busy training and had to live in the camp far away from the city, communication with their relatives isn't possible and they've never got the chance to meet their family or friends since the outbreak went loose. It was later they found out that the city was burning in several corners, infected people were eating their kind and had turned into savage monsters, all of the officers and privates that were sent to help and settle the situation didn't come back. Then after the hour of the outbreak in the city, several towns and provinces in the country have reported the same destruction. The government was in great dilemma but decided to issue lockdown to all of the infected areas and has implemented order to gather all of the survivors, be quarantined, and let them stay on a camp provided for them which were under surveillance at all times as they thoroughly research this sudden phenomenon. And now, they are issued to retrieve documents without deeper details. "We're 3 kilometers away from the academy, the captain declared. As they tightened up their grip on the guns, something clashed above the truck roof which was made of leather and supporting rails only. It was immensely heavy that the metal railings which were supporting the leather cloth bent down, some were cut down and landed on the soldiers seated by the side, the sharp edges caused by the sudden cut pierced into their head, shoulders, and legs. Screams and agony were heard inside but it became more horrible as something that looked like sharp huge nails cut through on the side of the truck, and pierced through from the back of the soldiers. Some who manage to survive immediately carried their shaking legs and got off from the vehicle but before they could even lay their eyes on what was above the car, it swiftly jumped inside the west part of the woods. Their eyes shot wide open as they are certainly sure that they'd seen the shadow of that huge beast. It was enormous. "Ready to fire!" The captain who got wounded on his head faced the crowd of infected coming their way. They were many more than what they'd encounter and much vigorous than the previous ones. The soldiers who survived quickly fired up their guns and manage to get the heads of the frontliners down. But it wasn't enough, there are a lot more joining. The growling becomes louder and fears slowly overcome them. But before they can even fire more, one of the students jumped and got the captain, they lost their focus. Sensing that the gun fires had ceased down a bit, the infected became more savage and ran faster towards the others. One soldier ultimately lost his will and turned around, running away from the scene and got himself running deep down on the east side of the woods. He ran and ran as if the crowd of infected was still chasing him, he was breathing heavily resulting in him stumbling, directly falling to the ground. He groaned as he pants for breath. Fear is consuming him. He aspired to be a soldier and right after he graduated from college, he applied and started training in the camp 3 months before the outbreak. He hasn't experienced a real military mission because he was a newbie but this was his first! Unfortunately, it was far from what he imagined. Human-hunting monsters and now, some mysterious beast inside this old woods... even their guns can't annihilate them. He ran away in despair, having a bit of self-importance. "Urgh..." he slowly got up and felt the tingling pain on his head and legs. But he froze and started trembling. His eyes shot wide open. An infected stood in front of him, standing still as nonchalant and pensive she may seem, staring directly into his eyes. Now he remembered, it was the same eyes of what he saw earlier. Grayed eyes and stretching dark purplish veins stretching on her neck going to her pale cheeks. Her appearance wasn't different from the others except she's not grimy as the others are, there's no blood all around her gym uniform. She's just pale white and you can feel death around her. The soldier trembled terribly but managed to take his gun and unhesitatingly fired a shot. It hit the infected's right shoulder but it didn't do much to her. She was standing still without minding the gun noise and the bullet. "Head... Head... I need to hit the head." he mumbled as he fired another shot and even though the gun was shaking terribly, he managed to land a bullet on her head. The infected's head was inclined by the impact of the bullet but her body didn't move a bit. But it was after a moment that the bullet in her head was pulled out as if it was some kind of an unwanted bacteria. The flesh and the skin that was destroyed reconnected, as if it healed on its own. He's done. His eyes were already red from fear. And his shaking was more visible, he didn't know an infected can also do something like this. The infected stepped forward, it was so slow that made it more miserable for the poor soldier. "R-Run...." it's coming towards him as it started making incoherent sounds but he was sure it wasn't the sound of growling "R-Run..." her hands were lifted towards him as if she was begging The soldier was scared without any more thoughts but all he can think right now is that he can kill it for how many times it wanted. He's about to fire another shot but before he can even move his finger. His head was taken off by something he didn't see. .....