Only when I had almost reached the city did I finally understand why I hadn't seen it while moving toward my destination, only from the hill—barricades were being hastily erected around the city and the surrounding area, and in some places they could already be called a wall. And that was damn bad! How was I supposed to get there if the destination of my journey was fenced off?
All these thoughts raced through my head as I crouched down, half-lying on the roof of the two-story building closest to this "construction project of the century." No, from what I could see, the path was clear either from the park or the forest, and it might turn out that that was where I needed to go as my final destination. But it was still better not to waste time circling around; I needed to get into the city, and the barricades in some places—especially on the roads—were barricades in name only. Actually, from the view that opened up, it was clear that not even all the roads were blocked. But then again, it's quite a distance from where I am to get to them.
Should I try to break through? That seemed foolish. But a quick dash a couple of meters from the target and a jump over the fence… might work. The main thing was to get as close as possible without being noticed.
Said someone in white sneakers with lights… No, I definitely had an exaggerated sense of self-irony.
So, the target was set, which meant it was time to crawl! Surprisingly, this method of movement turned out to be only slightly slower than running for me. True, my movements now could hardly be called even remotely human—too smooth, too predatory. Lickers probably moved in a similar way. With bursts of speed and jerky dashes, I managed to get within two meters of the barricades and froze in the bushes. There were no more places to hide, and one of the posts—was I crawling or running after all? Ah, never mind—so when I was near the post, they noticed me. No, that wasn't accurate either. One of the soldiers with the Umbrella emblem on his back caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and was now searching for something, gradually approaching my location amid the laughter of his comrades.
"Mark, you're just scared of cats!"
"Maybe it's time to change your diapers?"
That's what I'm talking about. But despite the mockery of his comrades, this youngster (who looked even younger than me, maybe twenty at most) stubbornly continued moving forward.
God, if you exist and you're interested in the kind of incomprehensible crap that I am right now, then please make sure this soldier doesn't get to me! I don't want to die so stupidly at the very beginning of my journey!
Why die? Well, my chances of breaking through weren't that great. The crowd here was large and scattered, so they'd open fire without hesitation, and I have serious doubts that I could survive a bullet to the head. And let's say that thanks to my speed, immunity to pain, and survivability, I managed to overcome the obstacle and escape into the city. They would report me immediately! A dead man rushing into the city, not out of it, would definitely interest the corporation, and it wouldn't be difficult for them to draw parallels and trace a straight line from their base. So, that would let the Umbrella guys know exactly where to find me.
No, they weren't idiots. Sooner or later they would figure out where I ran and where I was. But "better late than never"—at least until I had sorted myself out, understood my powers, and could meet them with some dignity "before death," added the inner voice sarcastically.
No, I definitely had too much self-irony.
And at that very moment, a miracle happened. On the other side of the barricades, a group of survivors approached and asked to be let through but were refused and threatened with force. Well, yes, Umbrella would absolutely let someone out of the city. The suburbs were fine—easier for them to catch fugitives there—but not inside the city itself.
As for the people leaving, or rather the reasons why they were trying to leave, the corporation could have spread rumors about biological weapons or an epidemic, shown edited footage, put out a relatively safe cover story. Of course there would be no mention of the real situation, or the zombies. No, they could have come up with anything, really—what I imagined was just one possible scenario. But that didn't matter much to me.
"Step back immediately, or we'll open fire."
And automatic weapons were raised across the platoon.
Heh, what did I say?
Oh, and the survivors had their own pistols, which they lifted. How lovely! Not only had everyone completely forgotten about me—Mark had already caught up with his partners near the first fence—but now I also had a chance to sneak into the city unnoticed. The only unclear part was what the people at the fence were counting on. Did they really think threatening with pistols would get them through? Or were they hoping to kill everyone? But judging by the soldiers' uniforms, shooting them would be difficult unless you aimed directly at their eyes. The front line wasn't just wearing uniforms and body armor—they had helmets, and two of them had some kind of masks. And I suspected those masks wouldn't be penetrated with a single bullet.
A short firefight—and it was all over. There wasn't even a single casualty on Umbrella's side, and I won't even mention the dead. As for the survivors… they were completely eliminated.
Hmm, too fast. I didn't even have time to stick my head out.
A herd of sheep, not survivors! Would it really have been so hard for at least a couple of them to retreat and prolong the firefight to distract attention? No, everyone had to collapse within the first couple of seconds!