Surviving Apocalypse With Powers Of Fictional Characters

'Sigh. It's no good at all.'

Zack has used the past hour to learn everything he can about hacking.

He has had some success hacking into your normal run-of-the-mill, low secured websites, but those were just a 'practice run' for him.

What he wanted was, to hack the juicy ones like military websites, defense organizations, anything related to getting an extra information that could ensure his and his teammate's survival.

"Hmm? What's happening?"

'You are offline.

Try:

• Turning off airplane mode

• Checking the signal in your area

ERR_INTERNET_DISCONNECTED'

"God ****it."

'Now it really feels like the end of the world.'

After checking the router, modem and even re-calibrating them, the connection was still dead.

With this, both the landlines and the internet are dead.

'This might cause an even bigger panic than a zombie apocalypse.'

Rendering all forms of communications useless is a great strategy to cripple the modern world.

Information could not be received or transmitted. And those information may as well contain life-saving knowledges.

Looking at his Apple Watch, it was already time for the next person to replace him as sentry.

'No use wasting energy on something I don't have control of.'

Zack then went to the fourth floor and knocked on Chai's door.

***

The hours passed by, and the members rotated with each other guarding the house.

3rd August 2018, 12:11 AM.

"Are you guys refreshed?" (Melissa)

The team nodded.

"And thank you to Joy and Annie for the wonderful dinner. We wouldn't have enjoyed such amazing cooking at these times." (Melissa)

"Please, this would be the least we could do…you three have risked your life to save us both!" (Joy)

Annie nodding furiously in agreement.

"Since fresh ingredients can't last long, it's either we eat them now or let them rot. Good thing my brother here is a glutton!" (Zack)

Zack patted Chai on his back.

Smiling wryly, Chai spoke up. "Yeah guys, all those fighting and sleeping got me hungry! Good thing you guys cooked up almost everything, it's a waste to let those fresh food go bad." (Chai)

"Hehe, are you falling in love with me now?" (Annie)

The beautiful, young blonde Australian teased Chai.

"Oh yeah. Definitely, falling for you so hard. Oh. My heart. It beats harder and harder every minute I see you." (Chai)

The others chuckled and giggled as Chai answered as monotonously like a robot. Want to tease this bro? How about I tease you back!

"Kh-hum! Alright, all of us are freshened up, our bellies are full, so let's get to business. Intelligence Officer Zack, you're up." (Melissa)

Keynote slides appeared on a 370-inch screen television, the 'Titan Zeus'. It's one of the most expensive television in the world, costing around $1.2 million.

Seated on the ultra-comfortable living room on the Chai Family Mansion's ground floor, it was as if the horrible doomsday experience they had in the past 48 hours was a lie.

Pressing on the iPad's screen while presenting, Zack noticed that his team member's facial expression became more depressed as he goes on with his slides.

"So this concludes on every single information I could have mustered these past two days. Any questions?" (Zack)

The room was silent.

Everybody seemed to be thinking about something.

"Is the infection estimation involves only Malaysia or the whole world?" (Joy)

With a complicated expression, Joy raised up the first question.

In Zack's Keynote presentation, he explained that the human population would be wiped out in approximately 100 days.

"But I guess the guy upstairs haven't really abandoned us." (Chai)

Zack also revealed to Annie and Joy, the reason why they are more powerful than a normal human.

"It's so surreal. First, undeads…now humans with powers. I-I don't get it. Why is this all happening?!" (Annie)

Curling up to her mother, Annie could not believe that the world is ending.

The mere basic thought of it could make any sane human to give up living entirely.

"Zack, what are the chances that there are other people with powers like us?" (Melissa)

With a serious look, Melissa asked Zack. In this group of five, two members has the [HERO Sytem] and one has an [ENHANCED System]. The remaining two were normal humans.

Melissa, Zack and Chai tried to identify if Joy and Annie has powers like them.

Both mother and daughter did not hear any 'second notification' after the first doomsday announcement, nor any robotic-sound alerts sounded off in their heads.

Even after saying 'System Open', nothing happened. No status window appeared.

"If we factor ourselves, the ratio would be quite small. I could best speculate that only 1 out of 10,000 people that has powers." (Zack)

There simply was not enough data.

'What went wrong? They did kill zombies. And plenty of them of them, too.'

After wracking their brain for a few minutes, they decided to let the issue rest. Paranormal occurrences was not in their control anyways.

Suddenly Annie sobbed. She couldn't handle the thought of dying and her father's safety. Joy held her daughter tightly, consoling her anxiety.

"D-dad…daddy!! I want to see daddy!! Mom…we have to go see dad!" (Annie)

Sobs and hiccups coming from her added the melancholy in the room's mood.

Chai was thinking of his brother, mother and father.

Melissa was worried about her family's wellbeing.

Zack prayed silently that his parents would be safe at all times.

Although the three of them came from influential backgrounds, nobody could guarantee their own safety in this troubled times.

"Thank you Zack for your superb effort. We'll be relying on you a lot, please bear with us." (Melissa)

Zack nodded in response to Melissa's appreciation.

"Now let's get to our objectives. I and the boys are going to Putrajaya. The last contact we had with our family confirmed that a giant-scaled base was established at the Prime Minister's Office Complex." (Melissa)

Joy mentioned that her husband works at the Australian Embassy located in heart of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.

According to the offline Google Maps that Zack has downloaded before the internet went dark, the Embassy is 35 kilometers away from their current location.

In normal times, that would just take a mere forty minutes by road.

But considering the current chaotic situation, it would pose many risks and consumes much more time than usual.

The same risks applied if they were to head to Putrajaya. The highways were built along urban cities.

As one of Malaysia's economic and governmental hub, millions upon millions of humans congregated nearby.

"We're looking at 6 million people here. Using the infection formula, there might be around tens of thousands of undead already." (Melissa)

"Well, we could collect points along the way. Hehe, no pain…no gain, right?" (Chai)

What Chai said had its truth. As people blessed with powers, increasing their strength goes hand-in-hand with their survival.

Melissa then drew something on the screen.

"I have a strategy in mind. You're free to criticize me after hearing me out." (Melissa)

***

Stage One of Melissa's Plan: Collect devices that could produce sound or light flash.

From their experience, zombies were dangerous because they attack without reservation, never gives up, has endless stamina and reacted to almost anything.

This awareness of the undead could be manipulated to their advantage.

With the trio's superhuman powers and those distracting devices, they could avoid a zombie horde from completely forming up.

Melissa and Chai will be in a team, while Zack, Annie and Joy in the other.

For this first phase, they will break into the houses and mansion in the USJ5 Residential Area and loot all those devices.

Cellphones, iPods, voice recorders, iPads, laptops, loudspeakers. Anything that could produce sounds by control.

There are a total of seventy houses. Each team will be raiding 35 houses.

{Test! Test! Team B, can you hear me?} (Melissa)

{Affirmative! Team A, can you hear us?} (Zack)

After making sure tactical earbuds are functioning, they equipped themselves with some light gears.

As this mission is to collect devices, they need to be light and move fast.

Team A will take the east side of the residence, and Team B will take the west side.

Chai and Melissa arrives at the first house. The house on the left of the Chai Family's Mansion.

'Oh man it feels so weird breaking into Uncle Anand's house…I'm sorry Uncle, gotta do what I gotta do to survive!' (Chai)

Comforting himself while breaking into his neighbors' house, he felt a little nostalgic as he used to visit this house when he was little.

"Okay Chai, let 'er rip." (Melissa)

"Fuuh~."

STAB!

With an exhale, Chai stabbed his right hand into a thick brick wall!

STAB!

His left hand followed suit!

Like tearing a thick Styrofoam sheet, Chai made it effortless to tear down a brick wall!

A huge hole approximately a door's entrance was carved by Chai's b.a.r.e hands. Chai entered first.

Chai took out his 9" Bowie Knife and pointed to the front.

The house was dark. Chai walked around the house carefully.

A few minutes later, Melissa received a confirmation message from Chai.

{Mel, ground floor's secured. Heading to first floor.} (Chai)

{Roger. No activities in the compound. Moving inside to bag in the goods.} (Melissa)

The reason why they did not break the doors or windows instead was because that would usually trigger the alarms.

When that happens, you can count on an undead horde coming towards you.

How about the roof? Pretty sure nobody puts an alarm on the roof, right?

Wrong. Roofs would be one of the spots where thieves and robbers would come from. Besides, it would take too much time to climb and break in through the roof.

So why the wall?

Well, first would be because NOBODY in the world puts an alarm on a wall since no criminals in their right mind breaks in through a brick wall.

Second, what's the use of your newfound superhuman strength if you don't use it? It's fast, convenient and not to mention, you just need to break the ground floor's wall and you're in!

Putting back her handgun that was equipped with silencer into the holster, Melissa searches around the ground floor for any sound-producing electronic devices.

Chai acts as the 'demolisher' and scout, while Melissa collected the loots into a black military-style rucksack.

The strategy was also being applied to Team B, with Zack as the 'demolisher' and scout, while Annie and Joy collected the loots.

***

The team completed their mission a little less than 5 hours.

4 hours and 45 minutes to be exact. They spent an average of seven minutes per residence.

"I never knew being a robber is so thrilling! Haha!" (Chai)

"If it's not the world collapsing, I've never imagined I'd do this kinda crazy thing." (Zack)

They gathered back inside Chai Family's Mansion and spread out their haul on the luxurious marble floor of the Grand Loft area.

"164…178….a total of 193 devices! 22 cellphones, 18 portable speakers, 11 iPods, 46 iPads, and 13 voice recorders. We also have 41 laptops, 33 digital cameras and 9 flashlights." (Annie)

Once the inventory has been sorted, they divided each members with equal number of devices and began charging them.

"Chai, your electric bills this month must be off the roof! Haha." (Zack)

"Brother, as if my previous electric bills wasn't high enough. Funny thing was, it makes no difference because I use this much every month anyways, hehe!" (Chai)

The best friends joked around while waiting for their devices to be fully charged. They took the charging units together when they looted the houses.

As for the power points, they had to use multiple extensions to connect all the devices. Good thing that the Chai Family's Mansion was equipped with their own personal electric generator.

The devices that has passwords and encrypted login requirements, would be hacked by Zack.

The charging didn't took long because the devices were almost fully charged or half charged.

After two hours, the team gathered all the devices and arranged them in their respective category.

"Inventory Officer Joy, is everything complete?" (Melissa)

The team established their own personal roles. Melissa would be in charge of managing, strategizing and making decisions.

Zack would be in charge of analysis and intelligence. Chai would be in charge of manual labor and the first line-of-defense.

Joy would be in charge of inventory recording and Annie would be in charge of distribution.

"Everything checks out, Captain Mel." (Joy)

"Thank you, Joy. So 'Logistics Officer' Chai, please place the devices in the Range Rover. Also, 'Distribution Officer' Annie, please make sure the team members get their food rations, equipment, weapons and devices before the journey." (Melissa)

Annie nodded as a sign of acknowledgement. It is now time to start the Stage Two of the plan.