Meanwhile, with Team 2

Sergeant Zhang's POV's

You frowned again as you saw yet another bunch of arrows scattered around the place or embedded upon an undead skull; even as they left the carnage of scorched, motionless corpses in the burnt-up streets behind them.

Scratching your chin, you kept counting and realized that this updated your count to more than 800 sharp and pointy bolts.

"This group had so many skilled archers that were able to shoot down a large number of walkers," You thought in silence as you inferred from what little intel you were able to gather. "And yet they did not bother to recover these arrows. This is strange since they can be reused in a fight, unlike bullets and they attract fewer zombies as they are less noisy. Which meant they either had to leave in a hurry or that they felt confident enough in their ammo stores to afford to leave them behind. And if it was the latter...just who the hell were they?" You wondered yet again.

Because you were still convinced that the other members of your squad that separated from your group had given the now truly dead horde of walkers hell on this neighborhood. Even if the tell-tale signs of Sergeant McKenna's state-of-the-art flamethrower didn't make it obvious to you, there were also hundreds of walkers laying around the damaged neighborhood that were clearly snipped from nearby rooftops with bullets, but you had still seen comparatively few slugs on the streets or sidewalks that missed had their target.

This meant that the group that ambushed and then came upon the horde with everything they had with very, very precise aim and almost certainly had military training while knowing how to operate as a well-coordinated unit. Plus, the neighborhood was no more than 8 miles from the city district where your squad got separated from the rest of your team. So yes, you were reasonably sure that your team had been near the night before.

Now, if only you could figure out where all those archers came from though...

You were shaken out of your musings when Johnathan lets out a contagious sigh of relief when the nearby supermarket finally came into view and they realized it was, thankfully, not consumed by the blaze. You smiled at the bit of good news fast approaching.

Then, you focused on looking carefully through both windows of the SUV and saw that there were no walkers within sight. In fact, the whole block looked completely deserted of both the living and the undead. More than that though, you noticed a tall hill on the other side of the street that would have blocked out or at least slowed down some of the toxic gases that would have been near while the fires still burned but now that the strong winds were blowing from behind the store itself, it would have expelled most of the potentially hazardous residue that may have lingered in the area. You nodded to yourself slowly, determining that it was safe enough to risk it.

"You can stop there, Mr. Carter, " You told the leader that their owner appointed for Team 2.

"Very well, then," He said, still a little uneasy, parking the car as slowly and silently as possible near the supermarket's side entrance. "But are you sure we won't get poisoned if we breathe the air outside the SUV?"

"A lot more so than I was of the other places on the way here," You assured them. "The desert winds east of the city gather strength before moving fast in this direction around this time of day. Besides, we will spend most of the time inside the Supermarket gathering what we can before getting back to the car. We will be fine."

Your words seemed to reassure them enough so, they got out, keeping a tight grip on the weapons they brought as they approached the door. Once inside, they looked around quickly, scouting ahead as a group and paying close attention to be sure the place was secure. Soon though, you realized it wasn't, as there were at least two dozen walkers spread across 3 aisles of the supermarket.

You noticed Jeremy and Jonathan had paled significantly at the sight, so you decided to quickly take charge of the situation by coming up with a plan. Thinking fast while your heads were still covered by the checkout desk of one of the lines, you looked around and quickly came up with an idea.

"Okay, I have a plan of attack," You said in a hushed tone, grabbing their attention immediately. "Those zombies are still many paces away from us so, I am going to start climbing the tilt slowly to gain the high ground as stealthily as possible. Then, once I give you the signal, I need you two to start running so you can quickly move a couple of the closest wheeled carts to block their path toward my position. That should slow them down long enough for me to blow their brains out."

Jeremy nodded slowly, seeing the logic in your plan even if he still looked concerned as he gripped his revolver tightly. His son seemed more uncertain though. "Are you sure you have enough ammo? Or that you will be quick enough once the pack starts rushing in?"

You smiled at him with confidence you honestly felt and taped at your trusty XM10 rifle, your favorite semi-automatic weapon ever since the model was invented in and distributed in the early months of 2030. "More than enough for this lot, you can be sure of that. And I am a pretty good shot, if I say so myself. Plus, this model has one of the best suppressors ever designed for a high-powered rifle," You told them. "With most of the walkers in the neighborhood in general and the block in particular either gone or fried extra crispy, there is no way they will be able to hear us past the parking lot of the building."

After that speech, you grinned suddenly as you thought of making a morbid joke about what may be the taste of a zombie nugget, fried extra crispy and if it would taste better with ketchup or barbecue sauce. In the end though, you decided it was probably not the best time to have the civilians you needed to watch your back to question to your judgment by being your more usual, jokester self.

"Missed opportunity though," You thought to yourself while suppressing a sigh.

"Anyway, we just need to focus and keep our cool. I will be able to take care of most of the pack, if not all of it. I just need you to buy me time by throwing those wheeled obstacles their way, and then watching my back so that I can get things done. Can you do that for me, for the team, for the mission, and for our boss?" You asked of them, your whispers turning more than a little emotionally patriotic.

This time, Jonathan’s eyes filled with resolve and the young athlete cracked his knuckles in anticipation for the fight ahead, before gripping the handle of the steel baseball bat he had brought with him tightly.

"That I can do. And for the people back in our apartment too," He replied, sounding determined.

You noticed Jeremy Carter looked at his son with a sad smile but proud eyes and nodded to yourself. They will certainly do their best to watch your back.

"Then, when say I "go", get started," You responded after double-checking your rifle's state before the approaching skirmish got started. "Run fast and watch out."

With that, you started climbing the metallic table where people usually put up their groceries before paying.

Then, you watched the pack carefully, your eyes observing them from just above the small shelf filled with razors and batteries that was right in front of the cash registry desk, and waited for your moment...

A/N: Just for the record, I wanted to clarify that the high-powered rifle model I mentioned here, the XM10 rifle, does not exist...yet. As of 2023, they are in an earlier numerical version of a weapon called the XM7 model of the rifle series but since this branch of mine takes place in the early 2030s, assume that they had reached this model within the past couple of years of this timeline to fight in the final Pre-Zombie Apocalypse conflicts I made up for this.

I first started hinting at that when I had Garcia and Mills reminiscing about the mission the latter was involved with when they were in a military conflict during this timeline's year 2031, against a new attempt by a successor movement of ISIS to conquer land and enforce their will there. Hence why some in the media in this world started calling that group the NEO-ISIS group and the name stuck.

Anyway, I hope this explains that well. More on why I decided to pick this story about a decade after the year this branch started getting written later on. Know, however, that it wasn't just to have an excuse to be able to use newer technological models of useful things compared to what's available now.

I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and the branch so far. And if that's the case, I would definitely appreciate some feedback in the comment section.

Happy reading and until next time.