Generals and soldiers

Azrael started out with a lunge towards his opponent who only clumsily parried by yanking up his sword. Three strikes down the line, Azrael had Walter disarmed already and sent the blade flying away from him.

He huffed, "What, are you carrying that sword just for show or something? To be honest, I expected a little more."
Walter, who was sitting on the ground just smiled and just as he tried to reach for the gun hidden below his coat, Azrael delivered a fatal strike to Walter's throat, decapitating him in one fell swoop, sending his head flying.

The body remained upright for a few more seconds as the blood flowed out of the stump of the throat, coloring the pavement in crimson before falling over as the heart stopped beating.

'Well...that was easy,' Azrael thought as he looked at the puddle of blood that was oozing from the corpse in front of him, when he noticed something. It was no longer Walter's face laying next to the corpse, but the face of someone he had never seen before.

As if to confirm that, Walter's voice echoed through Azrael's mind, "Good! Very, very good! You have become quite the killing machine! Though I must ask you...did you really think, it would be this easy?!"
Azrael replied with clenched teeth, "I had hoped it..." before shouting out, "Where are you, you damn coward?!"
"Tsk...you've never served in the army, did you?"
"...no. What gave me away?"
"Because you apparently actually thought, that a general fights by himself!" Walter's voice cackled through the silence as the puppets stood still. Still there was movement as Azrael could tell from the corners of his eyes.
Zombies had begun flooding into the parking lot through the entrances. They already numbered in the hundreds when Azrael first noticed them and he had no doubt that there more to come. Azrael gripped his blade tighter as he prepared for the battle of his lifetime, when the voice echoed in his mind again, "Such potential...wasted on someone so stupid. You know, if you had wanted to get rid of me, all you would've had to do was take my offer, maybe sacrifice a few colonies of humans to gain my trust and then stab me in my back...but that's the problem with you hero-types. You are so damn straight forward and honest...it's a miracle that your kind didn't die out yet! But then again, I guess stupid never does...but then again, I think we can remedy that."

Azrael assumed a battle stance and shouted, "Show yourself, you coward!"
"...no, I think that wouldn't be in accordance with my plans...you see, Azrael...as you already correctly stated, you are a threat...and all that hunting has made you a far better fighter than I am, as you already impressively proved...so no, I won't show myself. Unlike you, I like my life as it is now!"

Now the first Zombies started attacking him, however Azrael made quick work of them with his blade. At times, an LI was thrown into the mix, trying to get the drop on him, but Azrael simply kept fighting with fluent movements, killing his enemies wherever they stood.

After a while, Azrael shouted, "You know what the fun thing about being the lone hero is? Wherever I strike, I can never hit a friendly!"
Suddenly the horde of Zombies stopped their assault and so did Azrael, catching a breather in the midst of chaos.

The flood of Zombies receded and only a few equipped with knives remained standing.
Walter chuckled, "Really now? I beg you then...to cut down these four."
The Zombies assaulted Azrael, who simple took them out with a few sidesteps, sending them to the growing pile of corpses next to him.

After being done with the four of them, Walter let out a whistle of amazement as he said, "I knew you were coldblooded, but that you would kill your own family so mercilessly I didn't expect."
"Nobody told you, huh? I suffer from Amnesia...I have no idea what my family looked like. And, as a matter of fact, they were dead long before my blade struck them down."
"Amnesia, huh? How very convenient for you that must be."

The fight raged on for hours on end, row after row of Zombies fell as the sun ever so slowly cruised over the sky. Every now and then, Azrael recharged his batteries by feeding on whatever Zombie came too close and after 6 hours of constant fighting he yelled, "You know, I can do this all day! And you?!"
Another 'Tsk' noise echoed through Azrael's head and the Zombies stopped moving.

After a few seconds, Walter admitted, "You are a far better fighter than I thought...yet you don't really think that you're going to win this, are you? Sooner or later you'll grow tired or slip up...and then you die. And then your colony dies. Everyone you've ever held dear will die, Azrael...but tell you what, in commemoration of your efforts I offer you a deal...kill yourself and your colony will be spared as per our agreement."
"And you honestly believe I would do that?!"
"If you want to save these people, it is your only choice. I've already positioned my forces around the colony. Even if I granted you passage, which I won't, you would never make it in time. Your colony will die, Azrael. And then the world will die, until there is nothing left but death and ashes. And from the ashes we will rise...and create a new and better world!"

Azrael sighed, "So you would also kill Wendy and Michael? Your wife and your son? What would Samuel say, if he saw you like this? He gave his life to save mine. He was brave."
"He was a mere fool, just like you are! Decide! Or the decision will be made for you!"

Azrael closed his eyes as the crimson blade in his hand felt heavier than ever before. He was tired. Tired of fighting, tired of killing, tired of it all. Just rolling over to die sounded like a really alluring offer, but Azrael knew that he couldn't just give up. Not after what happened to Samuel, who died because he tried to save him. Not after what happened to Lily, who died because he didn't love her back. Not after all the good people who died, because he didn't go back to check on Walter after the explosion.

He had to keep on fighting. He had to survive. He had to end Walter's ambitions of terror before he could overcome the wall and bring the virus to the outside world. Only then he could die.

After making up his mind, Azrael assumed his battle stance again and shouted, "Bring it, you damn bastard! And pray to whatever God you have that I'll never find you!"
"...I see. Such a waste, really. Alright."

The Zombies retreated and made room for about 20 Zombies armed with rifles. They wore torn military uniforms and aimed their guns at Azrael's head.
"I've gotta hand it to the humans. They sure know how to make weapons that are easy to use. Just pull a trigger and death comes racing your way. Say, do you recognize these?"
"No. Why, should I?"
"Probably you never even saw them...they are the ones who tried to clear out a nest of Zombies that one time you were captured...you owe them your life. How about thanking them by giving it to them now?"

Azrael didn't dare to move as the laser pointer of the rifles were all pointed at his head. Just a single nervous trigger finger might finally end him, but the soldiers were completely still, waiting for the command.

Eventually Azrael sighed, dropped his blade with great noise and shouted, "Okay, you've got me. However can I still ask a favor?"
"...amuse me."
"...I'd like you to finish me off."
"Not gonna happen. Okay guys, get ready to fire!"

Azrael noticed the muscles of the Zombies with the guns tensing as they reinforced their aim and simply closed his eyes waiting for the end.

Yet it never came. Instead, Azrael felt a devastating pang of headache and heard the clattering noise of plastics falling to the ground and when he opened his eyes again, the Zombies had dropped their guns, looking around completely disoriented and lost.

Azrael quickly picked up his blade again, getting ready to fight on, but his enemies didn't seem to have the slightest interest in fighting him any more.

Suddenly, the radio on his belt crackled to life and Gordon's voice sounded through the grunts and shuffling all around Azrael, "You still alive, Kid?"
Azrael dropped his blade again, grabbed the radio and yelled in, "Yes, yes I am! Please tell me you've got him!"
John's voice, the big smile on his face being apparent by his voice, "Mission accomplished, Azzy. We got him. Put a hole right between his eyes."

Azrael dropped to the ground, breathing hard, closing his eyes again to the sun shining down on him as the words sunk in.
"Hey! Hey, Azzy, you still there?!"
"No, I just died of happiness..." Azrael sighed without pressing the Talk-Button, as he relived all the terrors he had gone through since his journey started. And now, that it was all over, the fatigue of the battle finally caught up with him and Azrael fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

He only awoke to the noise of a helicopter approaching his position. Night had fallen in the meantime and the Zombies had cleared from the area, leaving only their corpses behind.
After the helicopter landed, Azrael, still half-asleep heard John's voice shouting, "There he is! Get him inside, quickly!"

Shortly after he felt a pull on his shoulder as his body got picked up and leave the ground.
Sam's voice asked, "Will he be alright?"
"He doesn't seem to be hurt..." Maria's voice seeped into Azrael's consciousness as he felt tugs and pulls on his clothes as she examined him.
"But...then why doesn't he wake up?"
"It's probably because of this biofeedback thing Derrick talked about."
"We're taking him to the citadel."
"Not the colony?"
"No...he needs to go to quarantine ASAP. You know, just to make sure."
"I see...and the citadel has holding cells."
"Yup...okay Sam, take us over there."

Sam replied something, but Azrael didn't hear it anymore as he fell back into his slumber, hoping that he would never wake again. That's just how tired he was.