Face to Face

"Why me?!" In a burst of outrage Lisha inwardly cried. Why was she thrown into such a situation back to back? Not even an hour had passed since she woke up but death, she met again.

Even if the bite incident happened who knows when, for her, it was something not so long ago.

"Hey! Help us please!" Not listening to the plea behind her, hep by her flashlight she did her best to not trip over the stairs.

In a desperate prayer, she wished that the floor below didn't have any sort of barricade.

She still had people to kill!

But not content of the quest difficulty 'escape the horde', there was also QTE everywhere!

'Who the heck put these tables there!?!'

In a mad game of 'catch me if you can', Lisha fled the group and the horde hot on their tail.

'Why are they following me?! Do they think I know the way?! I don't!' If not for her acute reflexes and decision making she'd have stumbled more than once on this mad flee through the maze of corridor and barricades.

But to the reason as to why the group followed it was simply because they couldn't do otherwise. For obvious reasons they didn't prepare their flashlights and dived into the dark corridors with no sight.

Like sheep, they followed the only person who could literally 'light' their way to survival.

Weirdly enough, Lisha in that crisis felt like she knew the place and at one point felt drawn to a certain room.

With fear as motivation Lisha knew that it was now or never. She needed to barricade that door before they could enter.

It doesn't matter if they were humans and that she helped them, if they happened to catch a single glance of her body she was done for.

Just on her left she found a big shelf and started to do her best to push it down.

"Wait!"

Meanwhile, the group that followed her, went inside in a deadly rush only to see her attempt and thankfully, she had her back facing them. With this realization, they joined the fray and pushed the shelf. alongside her.

The hurdle went from 'impossible' to 'we can do it' real quick.

BOOOM

And in the nick of time, the tilting shelf became an impregnable wall to warding off the undead.

BOOOM BOOOM BOOOM

In a frightening boom, the mass of zombie hit the door and started a deadly concert behind it.

'Fuck! The light! Before they see... me!' By whatever divine grace Lisha jumped to the flashlight on the floor while they were distracted and turned it off.

"Huh?"

'Thank god I made it in time.'

While trying their best to catch their breath, one of them talked to Lisha.

"Oh thank god you were there. We've been running for so long..."

'It wasn't my intention, I swear.'

"Did-did your light..."

"No more battery, I'm saving up!" A chance that Lisha was gifted in the art of scamming. With this lie on the spot, they didn't ask anything further. Even if they had some suspicion, never someone sane would think her reason to be hiding her undead body.

"Okay, no problem, we have flashlights too."

'Never mind, I'm screwed.' She asked herself why she didn't just warp her whole body in clothes right from the start. Wasn't it better to be taken as a weirdo with skin illness than a pirate zombie!

Did she still have time?

She was hearing them rummage through their bag.

Where to go? Where to flee?!

"No, wait, please no light!"

"Huh" Thankfully the sudden plea stopped them short in action.

"I somehow have a difficult background you see. My face... Ugh, nevermind."

"Wait, what do you mean your face?"

Hook.

"Hah, well I- it is difficult for me to talk about it with strangers but as we survived death together -sigh- it's okay, I think."

"Is it sensitive?"

"It's about my face."

Line

"If you don't want to talk about it... Don't. We can't bother our helper like that... Isn't it, Nat. Nat?"

"Mhh mhh"

And sinker? What was that weird feeling right now?

"Oh sorry sorry, I didn't even tell you who I am. I'm Josh and this is Nathalie... Say hello, Nat."

"Hello, you can call me Nat."

"Look at her, already bonding with you."

'I don't like it.'

"Hello, I'm Liz."

"What a nice name. What are you doing alone like that? We nearly got eaten alive right there, but you being alone is even harsher."

"No problem, I'm used to missions like that. I can protect myself."

'It's bad. Really bad'

"The two of us didn't know that there was still a horde in the Eastside. Imagine our surprise when we found them. Ahah"

'Laughing. He's laughing while zombies are banging their heads on the door. That's not a nervous one either. Does he not care about his mask?'

'The two of you... You were three!' Lisha cursed at all the dead alive. Why the fuck was she now stuck with a psychopath?!

Although anyone facing this situation would be too tired to notice the anomalies, Lisha didn't.

Unknowingly, Lisha had smelt the odor of three people behind her. Gave it to her now undead lineage for this new ability.

When they entered she didn't care about it, attributing the disappearance to the horde. She was ready for sobs and cries but no.

Nothing.

They did nothing of that.

That 'Josh' must have thought that I didn't see notice them and of course, it was impossible for anyone but her to perfectly count people in this crisis. All the more when she ran ahead without even looking back.

'It might be the reason as to why that psycho chooses that script. But all the more concerning, the girl.' The girl indeed. She could speak but didn't say anything.

That behaviour, she knew it too well in highschool. It was the same as bullied people going silent when interrogated by teachers.

It now screamed something worst.

She was sure at 100%.

"Coughs coughs coughs"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine -coughs- I just ran a little too much."

"Okay. We have few medicines. If you want."

'Mhh?'

"If you're ill then take it as part of repaying you."

'Medicines? From you? Sorry but I cannot. Too obvious. Go back from whence you came and practice your skills.'

Then it dawned onto her. Was he trying to... do something to her? With undead outside? At least he'd have to wait that our... his safety is sure.

"But you can -coughs- help me. Did you found an infirmary, I need some things from there." Like bandages, lot of bandages.

"The infirmary?" The girl silent until there showed some reaction.

"Yeah, Nat found one on the floor below. We tried our luck but didn't found anything noteworthy."

"..."

"Thank you! -Coughs- But even with this we still have to escape-"

"From here"

'He tried to finish my sentence. I want to escape from you too, you know?'

Lisha couldn't trust the guy named 'Josh' on this either. From the moment he proposed medicine she hypothesised that he had a way out of this situation. Why else would he drug her then while in this crisis?

'Because of course, these medicines are fake. No one can tell me otherwise.'

"Lisha don't worry," In this dark study room battered by zombies, "I can help you out of here." Those words carried no appeal.

"Okay, but we need to be quick."

'This bastard... I'm sure that at the second we escape, a nice KO will await me'

Thinking on how this type of person plagued the school building, unable to help others even after this catastrophe. On how they abused people despite her effort...

On how they killed her! A silent rage that never faded took hold of her.

Would she still die by their hands? No way.

Across these years of survival, she failed only once and it resulted in her death.

People who met her knew how terrible of a personality she could be and at this moment she decided.

'Yeah, you're dead.'