Jayr POV - Earth, Geia, King ty - 2010

  After the rexing shower, we are ba the Locker Room of the Police Station with towels ed around our waist as we are about to dress.

  Duane just finished drying his hair when Rick, who is sitting on a bench, calls him out, "Duane…" before he hands Duane some clothes so he ge and says, "Dress in the room back there."

  Duaakes the clothes and starts to walk, but Man stops and reminds him, "What you say, Duane?" making Duane realize what he fot and say, "Thank you." before he leaves the locker room.

  Once we are alone, Rick breaks out the awkard silence by saying, "Atnta sounds like a good deal. Safer anyeople…" making Man nod before he expins, "That's where we were heading. Things got crazy. Man, you won't believe it. The panic… Streets won't fit to be on, and then we'll… My wife… couldn't travel. No, not with our herd, so we had to find a pce to y low. And then, after she died… We just stayed hunkered down. I guess we just froze in pce."

  Hearing that, Rick asks, "Pn to move on?" making Man stay in silence for a little bit before he says, "Haven't worked up to it yet."

  After that, we all quietly dress before Rick leads us to the Gun Room of the Police Station where he opens the ed door, takes a quick look, and ents while he grabs and checks some ons, "A lot of it's gone missing."

  As Rick is cheg a rifle, that if I'm n it is a Remington 700 with a scope on the end, Man and Duane walk after him and the kid asks, "Dad, I learn to shoot? I'm old enough."

  In respoo his question, Man answers, "Hell yes yoing to learta do it carefully, teach you to respect the on." followed by Rick who says, "That's right. It's not a toy. You pull the trigger, you have to mean it. Always remember that, Duane."

  Duane nods and replies decisively, "Yes, sir." before Man puts a bag on top of a chest of drawers full of ammos and says to Duane, "Here. Fill this."

  Shortly after that, Rick hands Man the Remington 700 with a scope on the end and says, "Take that one. Nothing fancy. Scope's accurate."

  Man takes the Remington as the scope, meanwhile, Rick starts to grab a few more ons then he looks at me as I'm still standing outside the Gun Room and asks, "You take what you need..."

  I nod, walk inside, and take a look around at what ons are left and then I notice a Smith & Wesson Model 686, then without aation I grab it and start to check its state.

  After that, I grab a few boxes of ammo making Rient, "Oh! I see another ohat prefers a Revolver over the more on semi-automatics."

  I nod and say, "Yeah even if they are being phased out, they have some advantages over semi-automatis. For example, the ability to tolerate , rger round size, are harder for an oppoo disarm or to make malfun, they have the ability to take reloaded ammunition, you shoot again after a malfun, and subjectively, revolvers have better handles. But, of course, the main reason is that they are cooler."

  Hearing that, Riods before he ents, "That's right, I've been trying to make Shane see reason for years, but no matter what I say, he still prefers semi-automatis..."

  After taking the Smith & Wesson Model 686, a couple of boxes of ammo, and a leftover cealed carry holster I walk out and say, "I'm good with only this. Firearms aren't that good in this kind of situation especially when a gunshot draw more walkers than it kill. The only true use funs and the like at this point is as a threat against hostile survivors. Take this advice. If you want to deal with a few walkers it is better to use a close-bat on like a knife, a machete, an axe, a staff, or so on. Or more silent le ons like crossbows, bows, throwing knives, javelins..."

  At this point, Man stops me with a chuckle, and then he says, "Heh... Javelins? Are you serious?"

  In response, I nod and calmly expin, "I'm not kidding. Sure their effective range leaves much to desire as bows are much more effective, but still, javelins are more thahal enough. Moreover, they are quite easy to make, you just need some wood and a sharp point. And in case the walker gets too close you eve as a cle on. It is a good choi a situation where you 't afford to waste ammo on walkers."

  After my expnation, we tio chat until they had takehing they needed from the Gun Room.

  We finally get out of the police station and reach a police car as Rick warns us, "serve your ammo. Goes faster than you think. Especially at target practice."

  At this point, Man calls his son, "Duane." making Duane respond, "Yeah?"

  Man hands him the bag full of ammo and says, "Take this to the car."

  Once he is far enough, Rick looks at us and asks, "You sure you won't e along?" making Man reply, "A few more days… By the end, Duane will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty."

  I also shake my head and give him my excuse, "I want to find a few useful things in the area before I follow after you. After all the walker activity here is muanagable than a few areas I've been..." while thinking, 'Not that I need anything as I easily bring it out anyhing I need from my Soulbouory... but I want to help Man and Duah their issue and maybe vihem in ing with me.'

  Hearing our response, Riods before he opens the police car and takes out two small objects from it, he gives oan and with a quick look, I see that it is a walkie-talkie.

  At the same time, Rick says, "These are going to be useful. We keep in tact if something happens. I'll turn mine on for a few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there, that's how you find me."

  At this point, Man 't stop himself from asking, "You think they're here?" making Rick decre, "'t afford to. Not anymore."

  Seeing that it is time, Man warns Rie st time, "Look, just ohing. They may not seem like mue at a time… but in a group all round up and hungry…"

  At this point, Man offers his hand saying, "May you watch your ass." Rick holds Man's hand and replies, "You too." making Man ent, "You a good man, Rick. I hope you'll find your wife and son."

  Rick smiles weakly before he turns to Duane and says, "Be seeing you, Duaake care of your old man." making the young boy respond, "Yes, sir."

  After that, Rick looks at me and says, "Thanks for patg me up, doc. I hope I'll see you soon ba Atnta, especially if you actually find a cure to whatever this thing is." before he offers his hand.

  I smile, hold, and shake his hand before I say, "Hopefully, I'll be able to follow after you with a couple of friends. Good luck, Rick. I wish you the best."

  Rick seems to immediately uand what I mean as his gaze moves baan and Duane who are now staring at something in the distance.

  We turn our heads to look at what they are starting and notice a walker wearing the same sheriff outfit as Rick leaning against the metal ferying to push it down with its body weight.

  Seeing the walker, Rients, "Leon Basset? Didn't think much of him. Careless and dumb, but… 't leave him like this."

  Hearing that, a wary Man ents, "You know they'll hear the shot."

  In response, Rick replies, "Let's not be here when they'll show up." before he starts to approach Leon.

  Seeing that, Man starts to move toward the car as he calls out, "Let's go, son. e on. Doc too. Hurry, hurry."

  As we run tan's car, Rick pulls out his Colt Python and shoots the walker in the head, killing him before he rushes back to the police car and starts to drive away.

  Just like that, we separate from Rid we head baan and Duane's house.

  Once back there we they start w to secure the house once more and I also help them with gathering the resources they o secure their home.

  After helping them, I make use of the free time to make a Bo Staff using some wood I "found" while searg around for something to nail the door shut, and with that, I mean a remaining piece of Nymph Wood that I created some time ago to rebuild Athena's Bidoof into Athena's God Bidoof and that I pulled out from my Soulbouory.

  Making the Bo Staff was quite easy, at least for me as I simply had to shave off and chisel the piece of wood with my tools, which is a lot easier than shaping and repairing the Cloths.

  First I make sure that the Bo Staff is of the right height as it must be around one fist taller than me, in this case, around 2,10 meters.

  After doing that, I start to quickly work on the piece of wood to give it the traditional octagonal shape making sure that it is perfectly smooth, and then I lightly torch it with some fire, not enough to burn the wood, but at least enough so that the natural grain of the wood is enhanced giving it that beautiful deep color.

  Shortly after I finish my Bo Staff, Man nails the door shut, smiles at his son, and says, "Read your ic books a while. Daddy'll be upstairs." before he starts to walk up the stairs with a bnk expression on his fad seeing that, I let out a sigh before I pick up my Bo Staff and follow after Man.

  Maers a room on the upper floor and sits on a chair before he pulls out his photo albums and looks at several pictures of his wife, smiling with tears in his eyes as all the happy moments he shared with her e to his mind.

  Then after spending a few miaring at the pictures like that, he picks one of them and hangs it on the wall o an open window before he takes the Remington 700 that Rick handed him and positions the chair in front of the window to use it to keep the rifle steady so that he take an accurate shoot.

  But just before he do anything, I walk into the room, put a hand on his shoulder, and say, "You don't have to do that..." which makes Man turn his head and stare at me with almost teary eyes as he mutters, "I... I have to... she is my wife... I 't..."

  I interrupt him and say, "She isn't only your wife. She is the love of your life. The mother of your son. Look. Your hand is already shaking only at the thought of what you are about to do. It is clear that even if your brain tells you that it is the right thing to do for not only her but also so that you and your kid find some form of closure, your heart... your heart 't stand the idea of harming what it is left of her."

  Hearing that, Man opens his mouth to say something but no words e out as he 't find anything to say in respoo what I just said.

  Seeing that, I smile kindly, lift the hand from his shoulder, open the window, and then I calmly say, "Don't worry about it, Man. Just stay here and protect your son. I'll shoulder that burden in your pce..."

  Shortly after I said that, I got out of the room through the window setting my feet on the roof and then, I calmly jumped down from the two-story house safely nding on the ground while a shocked Man tried to stop me by shouting, "W-Wait, doc!"

  I ignore Man and start to walk toward a nearby roaming walker while sighing and muttering in a low tone, "Haa... maybe I should have climbed down instead of simply jumping... sometimes I have to remind myself that normal humans aren't that used to such feats..." while thinking, 'Well, this isn't that much of araordinary feat... trained people fall from such a height and safely nd without much issue if they know how to nd too. In fact, they safely nd even from higher heights if they diffuse the impact with a roll like many parkour athletes could do in my previous life... It is just that seeing such a thing is still impressive for anyone who doesn't know it.'

  But while thinking that, I also realize that I don't actually care too much that the people living in this world find out what I'm truly capable of but eve doesn't mean that I want to reveal it, at least not until I know more about the other Champion who arrived in this universe, so I tio walk with a light heart.

  As I approach the roaming walker, I take a quick look around and notice that there are only a few walkers roaming in the immediate surroundings, to be precise, there are only 5 and none of them is Man's wife.

  Seeing that, I realize, 'It seems that I have to attract a few more walkers here... maybe I should have let Man fire off a couple of shots before stopping him... Oh well, it seems that it is time to rely on my lugs.'

  ing to that clusion, I start to hum the intro of a certain heavy metal song that seems quite fitting with what I'm about to do before I start to sing in a whisper-like voice, "?Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the...?"

  At this point, I'm pretty close to the walker that is now stumbling toward me and without aaiton, I swing the Bo Staff in my hand hitting the walker's head with such force that it basically bees paste.

  At the same time, as the now headless walker's body falls to the ground, I roar out at the top of my lungs, "?FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!?"

  I watch as the nearby walkers foe and start to stumble in my dire as fast as their deg bodies allow them and seeing this, I'm pretty sure that my earlier roar attracted all the walkers in a few kilometers ra the very least.

  Shortly after that, I start to run toward the walker and quickly take care of it with a single precise swing to its head that once again cushes the head into an unreizable mess as I tio sing, "?Beaten... why for?"

  Before the body of the walker fully fall on the ground I use the momentum of the swing to spin my body and throw a kick light enough to push the walker's body back by a few meters and push down another walker behind it as I sing the verse, "?'t take much more.?"

  I sing the lyrics, "?Here we go... Here we go... Here we go. Now.?" as I rush toward the downed walker and finish it off by crushing its head under my foot.

  At this point, I wait for more walkers to approach as I calmly sing the pre-chorus, "?One - Nothing wrong with me. Two - Nothing wrong with me. Three - Nothing wrong with me. Four - Nothing wrong with me.? One - Something's got to give. Two - Something's got to give. Three - Something's got to give. Noooooooow!!?"

  As I'm surrounded by dozens of walkers with many more approag, none of which is Man's wife.

  I sing the chorus as I swing, and twirl the Bo Staff around finishing off all the walkers surrounding me, "?Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the... flooooooor!

  While the bodies of the walkers in my immediate surroundings fall on the ground, I sm the Bo Staff on the ground and use it as a pole to vault over them toward the wave of walkers.

  I kick the walker down, nd on the ground, thrust the Bo Staff into another walker's head, and tio loudly sing the chorus without the o catch my breath"?Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the... flooooooooooor!?"

  Suddenly, I notice the figure of Man's wife as it stumbles toward me.

  She is an Afri Ameri woman in her mid-30s with messy bck hair ay bck eyes, dessed in a simple dirty white nightwear that shows the bite mark on the upper part of her chest very close to the neck.

  Seeing that, I tio sing, "?Push, me again. This is the end. Here we go... Here we go... Here we go. Now.?" while thinking, 'Here she is... now I have to be careful and take her out without damaging what remains of her body too much. After all, Man and Duane have to say goodbye to her properly.'

  While thinking that, I calmly turn around and swing the Bo Staff low, tripping four walkers who were approag me from behind before I qucikly finish them off by smming the Bo Staff on their heads as I sing again the pre-chorus, "?One - Nothing wrong with me. Two - Nothing wrong with me. Three - Nothing wrong with me. Four - Nothing wrong with me?."

  Shortly after that, I use my seo check my surroundings and notice that there are around 50 walkers who are attracted by my singing and the sound produced by my fight and that are now quickly encirg me.

  Shortly after notig that, I immediately e to the decision to focus on them first before dealing with Man's wife.

  Man POV - Earth, Geia, King ty - 2010

  "My god..."

  I 't help but wat awe as the young man I met yesterday is dest an overwhelming number of those things armed only with a simple wooden staff he made right in front of my eyes.

  At first, when he jumped down and started to slowly walk toward one of those walkers, I was ready to immediately use the rifle Rick gave me to help him but I restrained myself as the shoot could easily attract more of those things which could endanger his life.

  That is something that is much more valuable than my desire to give Jenny a proper rest, even more so if what he said about himself is actually true and he actually back up his cims.

  The reason for that is that the young man named Jayr Pucci said that he is some kind of genius doctor who was even able to find a cure for cer just before the world went to hell and is now heading toward the CDC to see if he use the equipment there to find a cure for whatever is causing all this.

  The young man for sure has enough medical knowledge to pass as a doctor, after all, the way he patched up and took care of Rick was surely professional, I easily reize that in my former job as a meic, I and my colleagues had our fair share of acts and were forced to visit hospital many times before.

  After all, meics work in a hazardous enviro, every day, we risk injury from falling, being struck by objects falling on us, toug engine parts that burn us, or other damages only resulting from w around power tools, equipment, and maery.

  I have seen my fair share of medical personnel and the way doc worked and moved around reminded me of them, whi turn makes what he cimed likely true.

  But while my mind momentarely wanders back to that topic, the singing voice of Doc as calmly fights what are more thay walkers snaps me back to reality, and finally notice the presence of Jenny among the walkers surrounding the doc.

  I could only wat disbelief as Doored Jenny and focused on the surrounding walkers as twirled around that wooden staff and crushed the heads of all the walkers around him with deadly precise blows while singing that heavy metal song that came up a year after Duane birth, "?One - Something's got to give. Two - Something's got to give. Three - Something's got to give. Noooooow!?"

  I remember the song quite well as it was quite popur but it was briefly taken off radio stations due to September 11 attacks due to the nature of the lyrics, the reason for that is though the song is lyrically about moshing, it was also meant to be vague in order for the viewer to have their own interpretation, just like this very moment as the lyrics seem to be quite fitting to what is currentily happening in front of my eyes as scores of walkers tio drop on the ground under Doc's fierce assault.

  "?Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the... floooooooor! Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor.?"

  Seeing that Doc is able to deal with such a rge number of walkers alone, I 't help but remember what he said yesterday during dinner wheold us that walkers aren't a dao him as he was trained by his grandfather who was in some kind of special ford think, 'He isn't even breaking a sweat...Damn...! That guy for sure wasn't a normal doctor and not only because he allegedly found a cure for freaking cer. No, that guy is way to of a fighter to be simply that. Maybe he was some kind of super spy or secret service who got stu this mess like us all... Oh well, at the very least he doesn't seem like a bad guy that wants to harm us as seeing how strong he is I'm pretty sure he could have dohat already if that was his iion.'

  While I'm thinking that, I notice that now there are more than 50 bodies lying on the ground all around Doc, the only oanding is Jenny who is still slowly stumbling toward Jayr as he looks at her with a bloody staff in his hand and sings in a lower, somber tone, "?Skin against skin, blood, and bone. You're all by yourself, but you're not alone. You wanted in, and now you're here. Driven by hate, ed by fear.?"

  "Dad! No!!"

  I suddenly hear Duane's voice behind me and I quickly turn my head and see him standing behih his eyes wide open as he stares at what is happening outside with tears in his eyes.

  Seeing that, I move on instid run up to him, hugging him and c his sight with my body shouting, "Don't look, son!"

  At this point, Duaarts to cry as he tio slowly repeat, "Please, don't let anything happen to her... Please, don't let anything happen to her... Please, don't let anything happen to her..."

  Hearing that, I feel my heart wren pain but I hold on knowing that in the end this is indeed for the best, not only for me and Dua also for Jenny as her body shouldn't tio be in that state.

  At the same time, I hear Doc's voice as he tio sing, but this time in a mrave tone, and almost like a loud whisper, "?Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor! One - Nothing wrong with me. Two - Nothing wrong with me. Three - Nothing wrong with me. Four - Nothing wrong with me."

  Still holding the g Duane close to my body blog his sight, I turn around and once again watch out of the window as Jayr slowly walks toward Jenny with a serious expression on his face as he still sings in the same tone as before, "?One - Something's got to give. Two - Something's got to give. Three - Something's got to give. Now!"

  At exactly the same time he sang "now", Jenny suddenly luoward him and I winch a little expeg him swing his wooden staff just like he did before and crushe her head in a single blow, but he doesn't do it, instead, Jayr side steps and easily dodge Jenny's lunge before he lightly taps the back of Jenny's head with the staff.

  The moment, Jenny starts to falls on the ground like a puppet whose strings got cut, but Jayr quickly pick her now still body up and starts to walk back toward the house while somberly singing the st verses of the song, "?Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor! Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor. Let the bodies hit the floor.?"

  Odyin