“Wha… what?” Haena asked nervously as her eyes directed outside following the sounds of the footsteps.

I placed my hand on top of her hands that tightly circled around my left arms as I mouthed her to keep her silence. A rampaging Tank inside a small building like this is the last thing that we wanted to happen. Small building also means that we only have a small space to maneuver thus limiting our movement and even though there’s wall surrounding us it’s only effective against those walkers – regular sized mutants that has next to zero intelligence – not a Tank.

“Follow me…” I whispered.

Haena nods her head and then we started walking toward the back of the building to look for any other exit just in case of the Tank suddenly come and barging into the house.

“Haena-ya, Try to find another exit.” I whispered.

Both Haena and I were searching for any other exits from the house… we actually found one but it’s just an exit towards the back of the house which is still inside the walls. The footsteps are getting louder by the minutes… the Tank was closing in. With things like this I could only hope that the Tank won’t be able to detect us being in here, if not things will get messy… super messy.

But then the footsteps are abruptly no more. Yes… it seems that the Tank stopped right at the front of the house that we’re in. This also made us to hold our movement as we’re getting nervous because of the eerie silence and part of me also hopes that it will leave this building alone if it detects no noise comes from us… It seems to be working as the footsteps once again started to sound through the air and slowly disappears. I moved towards the curtain covering the windows to check on outside… the Tank is really gone.

But the relieved was short lived as suddenly we heard an extremely loud thump and a few moments later something coming from above destroying the roofs and landed right at the center of the house. Both I and Haena fell to the ground as the result of the tremor and somewhat a shock wave produced by the impact… I got a bad feeling about this. I couldn’t see anything as there’s dust everywhere blocking my line of sight and causing me to cough as well…

“Haena…” I called to her as I coughed a couple of time “Haena, are you okay?”

But the answer to my question was something that was not of human… I heard a low growl and followed by a loud thump from the center of the house. This is bad… this is really bad… I slowly stood up on my own two feet while trying to find Haena. As the dust starts settled down I seen something that I wish I didn’t see… an at least seven foot Tank just standing there looking at something… and that thing was definitely not me.

“O.. op… oppa…” I heard Haena stuttered calling me.

And thus I knew what that Tank is looking at… it’s looking directly at Haena! Both Haena and the Tank have a staring contest in which Haena’s eyes only reflect fear. There’s no way I let it kill Haena! No friggin way! Without the slightest hestitation I grabbed my 12 Gauge Benelli SuperNova pump-action shotgun from the backpack that I brought with me.

“Haena!” I shouted and thus acquiring the Tank’s attention while aiming at it “RUN!”

I started shooting at the Tank a couple time as I track my way out of the building while keep watch on Haena’s escape route. The Tank of course retaliate as it’s tried to pummel me into the ground… luckily I was fast enough to dodge by doing side step or rolling. A 12 Gauge Pump-Action shotgun only manage to stagger him for a few moments for each shot so far… I hate to think about using smaller caliber firearms against this guy.

“Oppa!” Haena shouted at me as she was on the other side of the Iron Gate.

I immediately shot my last round aimed at the Tank’s eyes… and it seems to hit as the Tank now trashing around while covering its eyes with one hand and destroying everything with the other. I immediately sprinted towards Haena as I reload my shotgun and then grabbed Haena’s hand as I continue running as fast as I can. After a few turns something caught my attention.

“Ahhh!” I heard Haena yelped followed by a thud sound.

I immediately stopped and then turn around to found that Haena has fallen onto the ground, seems to be tripped over something.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I kneeled in front of her.

“Oppa, I think I sprained my ankle.” Haena said in pain.

I checked Haena’s ankle and then applied slight pressure to check if it is really sprained. At the moment I applied the pressure Haena let out a small yelp as she flinch due to the pain that I caused. Okay, she’s officially sprained… this is going to be a problem, I’m not even sure that Tank has already given up on us or not but with all those gunshot and roars we might even have hordes of walkers coming to us. Her eyes are teary and somehow seems to be screaming to not to leave her here alone. And seconds later my concern was proven to be valid… loud thumps were heard and ground experiencing small tremors. It’s the Tank… the Tank is coming after us!

“Haena, could you stand and walk for a little bit?” I asked her.

“I… I don’t know.” She stuttered.

I stood up and then extend my hand towards her and then said “I’ll help… come on… get up.”

I helped Haena to get up and then lead her into an empty building where she could hide for the time being. I won’t let her die here… I helped her seated in the far corner of a room. The room is quite spacious, some kind of waiting room or something. And in the corner there’s this collection of Vending machines that could provide cover for her.

“Stay here! Do not move from here, not matter what happens, understand?”

Haena responded with a couple of nods as a sign that she understood what I’ve requested. I grabbed another gun that I have from my belt, a Walther P22 handgun.  It’s quite small and light, I think Haena would be able to handle this.

“Take this…” I said as I handed over the handgun “The safety lock is already unlocked; all you have to do is aim and squeeze the trigger. Remember… aim for their head! This should be enough to handle one or two walkers.”

Haena nods in acknowledgement of the gun that I gave to her but not without questions in her eyes.

“Okay then… keeps yourself hidden and use the gun only when you need to. And you do use it… leave immediately!” I said as I stood up and headed towards the doors.

“Oppa! Where are you going?” Haena asked with a panicked tone as she grabs hold of my hand “Please don’t leave me here! Please!”

I turned around and then give a small smile to her and said “I’m going to distract that big guy chasing us… with your ankle sprained like this you would stand a better chance of survival if you stays here.”

“No Oppa, No… please don’t.” She cried to me “You could got killed! I don’t want to be alone again… I don’t want to.”

“I promise you… I will be back, Haena. And if anything compels you to run from here, just run… I will find you no matter where you are. I haven’t told you my name right?”

Haena nods a couple of times as her answer.

“I promise you… I will be back for you and tell you my name myself.” I said as I wiped her tears with my thumbs and smiled.

The thumping outside is getting louder and louder by the moments… the Tank has catch up to us. If I don’t leave now it would be difficult to distract it. I stood up in hurry and then ran towards the street once more… I headed back to where I came from as I remembered that I saw this intersection before. I’m going to lead that thing away from Haena, as far as I could.

Once I’ve arrived at the intersection everything suddenly has become too quiet after one extremely loud thump… I couldn’t hear anything. I don’t think the Tank would give up so easily or just suddenly stopped on its tracks… what happened? But then I realized something… the Tank has done this before when we’re at the Guest House before. I immediately looked up and I was right… the Tank was coming down towards me from the sky! That Tank jumped and now its fist readied to crush me!

I manage to jump my way to safety from that Tank’s attack! I looked at the aftermath of the Tank’s attack on the ground below him… the ground caved in! The Tank then starts moving towards me, I pumped my shotgun and then shot at the incoming Tank which managed to stagger it a little bit and oh boy did it looked pissed. The Tank let out a loud roar and then continues to charge at me. I won’t be waiting here for it to reach me that am for sure. I sprint towards the other way and lead it away from Haena’s location...

I keep on running and running while once in a while shot at the thing with my shotgun and avoiding its fist from pummeling me to death or any debris caused by its fist. And now another bad news has reached me… my stamina has started to run out… if I couldn’t lose the Tank soon, I’m dead for sure… damn it! I could try to make a sudden turn up head if I see an open solid fence or something and then hide behind the walls to fool that thing! After a few moments I saw a construction site which surrounded by thick stone walls.

Once I arrived near the construction site I looked back briefly and saw nothing in sight, only loud thumping and the sound of things being destroyed… I immediately make a turn and then hide behind the walls. The Tank’s footsteps are getting louder and louder by the seconds, when suddenly I hear a very loud thump. 

I keep on praying that my plan will worked… because if it didn’t that means that I’ll be a liar as I will broke my promise to Haena and I hate breaking the promise that I’ve made. The Tank came from the sky with its back facing me… that extremely loud thump, it was the Tank! I immediately move towards the other side of the wall before it looked at my direction and waited there.

I can’t really see anything as I don’t really dare to move as the slightest noise might gave away my position. All that I could heard was the Tank trashing around the area… I could hears the sounds of bricks and woods and some metals being destroyed and I could also feel some light tremors caused by it. But soon everything calmed down… there are no more noise or tremors except for something sounds like a heavy breathing, the Tank breaths.

It seems the Tank has finally gave up on me and decided to roam around again as all that I could heard was its footsteps getting farther and farther away. I took a peek behind the wall, just to make sure that Tank has been gone already… but what I saw behind the wall was something that makes me widened my eyes and says…

“What… The… Hell?”