Episode 6: Mu (4)

"H… hey… hey!" I heard. "Wake up!"

"Huh…?" I yawned. "What's…"

"Finally! You're awake."

"Yeah, yeah," I replied sloppily while resting my head on my arms on top of the table. I still felt sleepy and wanted to sleep just a little bit more but the noise was echoing in my ears. "Guys… can you let me sleep in peace-" I muttered while lifting my head.

*BOOM*

*CLANK*

I heard a loud explosion and the shattering noises of glass resonating in my ears. I jumped up in surprise and in front of me, I could see a screen. Squinting my eyes, I saw a small dot at the centre of it slowly growing in size. I walked forward approaching it. Suddenly, it popped out of the screen and flew towards me. I ducked down covering my head with my hands and the flying object whizzed past my head into the background. I slowly turned around and watched as it collided with the seats.

*BOOM*

"What the…" I hesitantly said. Looking back, the screen was gone.

"Huh!?" I shakingly said. "H-hey! Are you guys alright?" But before I could finish my sentence, I glanced around the place and it was empty. I couldn't see the end nor the walls of the room, not even the table I was sleeping at a moment ago. A void.

Suddenly, a loud ring pierced my ears. "ARGHH!" I screamed covering them with both hands.

"Kdknfjfn."

"Difjocooklll…duhfnkkx."

The loud, high pitch noise muffled the voices in the background; I couldn't understand the words clear.

"Jfjfkkdkdkdkklihhb."

"Fuunsiijb...idikfiosi… aha, aha, aha," I heard slightly.

Who's laughing?

"Aha, aha, *ziiii* *zzzzzzeeee* it's nice to see you again *bzzzziiii*"

My eyes opened wide and I could see a transparent room in front of me.

*bzzzksk*

*bzzzz*

A person approached me. They smiled and opened to speak, but I couldn't hear them. Wearing a white, knee long coat, I could make out it was a lab coat.

"Ray. Go. Now."

*BZZZZzzzZz*

I jolted up huffing and puffing while catching my breath. My hands were shaking.

What's... going on? A moment ago, I swear… what was that?

Rapidly, I turned my head and Sam was there, soundly sleeping.

I got off the bed and walked towards the room windows. The night view was mesmerising and the sky was glowing beautifully.

"That nightmare…" I stated. "My uni lecture room… a lab coat… a… woman…?" I sighed. "Just what was that all about…"

*shuffle* *shuffle*

I could hear a faint shuffling noise in the bushes outside. Instinctively, I ducked below the window and peeked outside.

Claire? What was she doing out there?

I couldn't tell what time it was, but what was she doing out there all along at night?

I looked carefully and she was holding something shiny; it was the rifle.

"What the-! Hey, hey, hey! What are you planning to do, Claire?" I thought, but I couldn't say it out loud. Instead, I slowly opened the window and jumped out into the open.

Following closely behind, we soon reached the depths of the forest near the house. I saw Claire gripping tightly on to the rifle while proceeding slowly. But suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and sharply turned around. Her eyes were wide open and I could see bloodlust emitting from them. It was dark. The forest was dense. I was a long way behind her.

She shouldn't have noticed me, right?

But I couldn't tell. Her eyes and mine met and fixated for a couple seconds.

I slowly crouched down and backed off trying to hide myself behind the trees but her eyes didn't stop looking at me. Her head tilted and I could see her body beginning to turn around.

I gradually got myself behind the tree and turned around in a sigh of relief.

"Ha… what, what was that…?"

The wind slowly calmed down and silence befell upon us. I slowly turned my head and poked my head out.

A face. A face with shaking eyes 10 centimetres away from me and a grinding noise coming from her mouth. I could see the side of her face slowly poking up into a grin. My shaking hands held on to the tree as I slowly muttered, "C-Claire…?"

"Ha…" I heard.

"Ha… ha…" I heard, again.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!" she screamed. "You'll never get away again."

She took her rifle and smacked my body with it. I flew a metre away from her as she slowly approached me.

The pain resonated through me as I tried to get a grasp of the current situation. I coughed and vomited blood on the cold ground. Because of the dense forest, I could barely see in the darkness but her bloodlust silhouette caught my attention. I squinted my hesitating eyes and focused it on her. The vision around me blurred as I made out the position she was at.

"Claire…" I mumbled. My voice was coming out but I could hardly even hear myself speaking. "Claire…" It was difficult to speak up with all the blood in my mouth and possibly my lungs.

"You, you, YOU!!!" Claire shouted.

With each word, she clobbered me with her legs aiming for the same spot as where the rifle hit me.

"WHY! WHY! WHY!?" Her voice intensifies.

Though the surrounding was silent, it seemed like the forest muffled her voice.

"HOW COULD YOU? WE WERE OUT THERE SURVIVING!!!"

I could hear her voice starting to shake. My ears began to ring and I could hear her voice echoing.

"We…" she sniffed. "We were kicked out."

"K-kicked… out…?" I muttered but she didn't hear me.

"Out there… it's hide or be killed…."

"Huh…?" I wondered. "What's she talking about…"

"We scavenged for food, for the little resources YOU people have left behind." Her voice began to calm down. "The fire, the buildings… all gone." She took a step back and looked up into the sky. "All we could see was blood, blood, blood, blood, BLOOD!!!" Her voice raised and she pointed the rifle at me with one hand. "Ah… yes… it was like that."

Rain? I felt water droplets fall into my head. I looked up and a few more droplets fell on my face. "Claire…" I muttered but I didn't have the strength to continue.

"You people abandoned us… you people left us to struggle… I… I watched him… To protect me from the crazed people, he took hits and fought back. I, worthlessly shaking, and crying… I couldn't help, I couldn't do anything… even in the last moments…"

"Last moments…?"

"We ran, and ran, and ran. Until we could no more. We hid and stashed away our supplies, but it was no use. They caught us. They chased and chased. But his wound reopened." She slowly bent down and pushed me again. I heavily fell backwards and she poked me on my side with her rifle. "Yes… just there… the wound reopened."

*BANG*

What…?

Intense pain coursed through my body, it was worse than the previous one.

"ARGH!!!" I tried to cover my wound but the blood was leaking out from behind as well.

"He got this wound from one of you people."

I wailed and wailed. My consciousness began to fade.

"He persisted, and we ran to the top of the building while his blood slowly dripped… With his arm on my shoulder we ran up to the top floor. But they still caught up to us. 'Hide…' he said, spitting out blood. 'Just go…' but they arrived and began shooting. He pushed me and turned around cushioning the bullets. The blood splat into my eyes as I broke and fell out of the window. He fell alongside me. We both fell. He held onto me and turned around and smiled. He hit the car beneath and the sharp metal pierced his chest." Claire undressed her shirt. "You see this? This wound, I'll never forget. Hunter protected me. After that, it was a living hell. I swore to get revenge. And who do I see NOW!!?" Her voice raised. "I SEE MY ENEMIES THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT HELL UPON US." She kneeled down with a chuckling grin on her face. "Now go to-"

I reached my shaking hands out and touched her face. The tears wrapped around my fingers. "Claire… don't make such a sad face…" I said coughing up more blood. I could feel her face shaking. Though my vision was blurry and I couldn't see her face, I smiled.

She dropped backwards and shuffled backwards. "H-Hunter…? NOOO!!!!" she screamed and ran off deep into the forest.

"Ha…" I sighed. I rolled on to my back and looked up into the sky. "This… is awfully familiar… being shot into the same place… twice."

I closed my eyes and the wind resumed its peaceful whistling.

"Claire… what happened in the past few days…?"