Strange woman

Nora ran back. Her steps echoed, her breaths were ragged. Sweat damped her shirt.

"Kyre!" yelled the girl, paying no mind to the monsters that she might attract.

"Kyre!" her voice sounded every five steps, yet not once did she hear a reply.

Soon, she escaped from the fog, ending up at the beginning of the zone. Still, no sight of the boy.

Where could he be?

Nora peered into the narrow passageway of rock. The darkness looked back.

Did he go back because he figured out that the fog was poisonous?

He should have informed her if that was the case.

Then why did he leave without saying a word?

Nora stood there, piercing into the dark passageway while her mind refused to come to the most likely possibility.

Yet, like a hungry leech, that thought refused to let go of her mind. Nora felt her body tremble. Her hands beated her chest, repeatedly knocking on her head.

"It's not true. It's not true. It's not true," mumbled the girl amidst the knocking sounds.

Her hands ripped out clumps after clumps of hair. Then, she stopped abruptly.

"I can't waste time here," whispered Nora, "I have to find Kyre, I can't give up."

Perhaps Kyren had realized something was wrong with his body. In a haste, he did not have the time to inform Nora before heading back to the previous zones, which had been cleared of danger after the nest was destroyed.

Yes, that must be it. It had to be.

She had to go find him before the wound on his arm deteriorated.

Nora was about to take a step forward when a strange sound registered itself to her ears.

Clank...Clank. Clank….Clank.

The sound resembled soles of shoes tapped on the floor.

"Are they," the girl focused, "footsteps?"

Clank….Clank. Clank...Clank.

"Who's there?" shouted the girl, but there was no answer. The footsteps had no sign of stopping or slowing down.

Nora extended the hand holding the torch forwards, her knee bent, lowering the center of gravity.

Clank...Clank. Clank...Clank.

The time between the steps was unusual. Nora lowered herself even more, leaning forward, the muscle in her thighs and arms tensed.

The fog was thinner near the border. Slowly, a hazy shadow appeared from the white curtain. From the first glance, it was easy to notice that the figure was humanoid, yet its posture and walking gait was nothing like a normal person.

It was leaning too far forward, one of the shoulders was much lower than the other. With every step, the head bobbled as if the muscle in the neck was nonexistent. One leg was lifted up and put down faster than the other, creating inconsistent footsteps.

Apart from the sound of shoes knocking on the hard floor, Nora heard beastly groaning and moaning. Then, a face appeared. The girl felt nauseous.

The skin was white as a sheet with visible blue veins. Patches were missing on the forehead and cheeks, a piece of flesh dangled under the chin by a thin string, white bone revealing. One of the eyes was hollow with grey matter oozing out, the other was swollen, protruding out of the socket like a balloon ready to burst. Yellow, rotten teeth, saliva mixed with blood. The body was barely held together. The reason for its strange posture was because half of its waist was missing, with intestines spilling out, dragging on the floor, leaving a trail of blood. The clothes it was wearing were covered in filth, blood, pus, and crust. One of the arms were bare bones, with no skin or flesh attached, and so was one of the legs.

It was not one of the monsters that her old neighbor had mentioned, but Nora was well-informed of the creature. A dead creature. A living corpse.

The remaining eye spotted Nora and at the same time, Nora found a kind of corrupted force ignited within that eye. The monster sprinted forward, baring its teeth, showing a dark, slimy tunnel leading to its stomach.

Nora gauzed the distance with her eyes. The movements of the creature were straight-forward, simple, and crude. There would be no strategy, no feints, probing or techniques, only pure bloodlust and hunger.

The muscles in her leg extended like a released spring. As her body shot forward, Nora turned her waist sideways, the tip of the torch aimed upward. One step from the monster, her other leg kicked the ground, directing all the inertia upwards. Strength from leg, waist and arm empowered the stab that connected to the creature's chin.

Nora felt a resistant force on her grip before the torch punched through. Her shoes skid on the ground.

Thud.

A round object dropped down, rolling over to her feet. She was unshaken at the gruesome sight.

"Why is this thing here?" the girl asked herself.

It was then that more footsteps were heard. Nora frowned. The sounds were overwhelming, so chaotic that she could not guess how many there were. There were easily dozens, perhaps hundreds, of them, a marching army.

The girl retreated into the passageway, masking her presence with the darkness. As the torch was her only weapon, she was reluctant to throw it away, though the light could blow her cover. Nora went deeper into the passageway, still holding the torch.

Crouching, the girl directed her line of sight to the hallway of fog. Even at such a distance, the footsteps were still audible. Unlike the dark passageway, the corridor, although filled with dense fog, was strangely illuminated by unknown light sources.

She was waiting for the crooked silhouettes to appear. The passageway was narrow, even if all of them charged at her, Nora would only have to deal with at most three at a time, which would be manageable. As long as she could pile enough corpses to block the path, lighting it with the eternal fire, the hoarde would no longer be a problem.

Could she manage such a feat? What if the plan failed? What if something went wrong? None of such questions crossed her mind. The topmost priority, the only thought occupying her mind was to find Kyren and ensure his safety. Every obstacle along the way was to be trampled upon with no time wasted, no hesitation.

She waited. Yet the footsteps did not get closer. No shadow appeared on the white murky curtain.

Soon, the sounds were drowned by the looming silence. The hoarde merely passed by, without a single monster approaching the girl.

Nora heaved a sign, standing up. As she turned back, about to walk into the dark passage, a scream resounded. A high pitched voice of a person.

Her legs moved faster than her thoughts. Nora sprinted into the haze, towards the source of the footsteps.

"Help!"

"Let go!"

The voice was heard again. Nora put more force in the legs and her speed increased.

Not long after, she was met with the sight of a zombie carrying a woman on its shoulder.

"Let me go!" the woman yelled, flailing, hitting the monster on the head, yet it was unfazed.

Nora ran towards the woman and the zombie, jumped and landed a drop kick on the nape of the zombie. A squishy feeling crept on her sole.. Once her feet touched the ground, the zombie kneeled, then collapsed, its head a few meters away.

Nora did not have time to greet the woman, she turned to face the hoarde, getting into stance with the torch held in reverse grip. However, in her sight were twisted figures disappearing into the fog, none of them even spared her a look.

Confused but relieved, Nora dropped her guard, turning around. The woman was sitting on the ground, rubbing her bottom with a pained expression. Seeing a shadow approaching, she crawled backwards, fright painted on her face. But when realizing that the shadow was a teenage girl, the woman put her hand on her chest and heaved a long sign.

"You scared me," she said.

"Can you stand?" Nora asked, offering her a hand.

"Yeah, thanks," the woman took the hand and stood up.

The woman was a head taller than Nora. Her curvy blond hair reached her back, loose strands pointing outwards made her hair look bushy, like a newly washed ginger cat, but much dirtier. The white officer shirt, soiled with blood, dirt and mud, emphasized her burst. Her tight black pants showed the curves of her lower body.

Nora expected to see a pair of heels on her feet, yet she looked down, it was a pair of sneakers. The woman followed the girl's line of sight and smiled, "I got them from one of the zombies. The heels were really hard to run on."

So she did wear heels.

"My name is Riley," the woman extended her hand, asking for a handshake, "Riley Westrose."

Nora shook her hand, "Nora Greenwald."

Riley tilted her head, "Greenwald? It sounds familiar."

Nora ignored the comment and inquired, "How did you end up in this place? Did you also get kidnapped?"

Riley shook her head, rummaging through her pockets then taking out an ID card, a type that Nora had never seen before, "I'm an investigator of the Supernatural Police Department. I'm here to investigate the cause of the recent kidnappings."

Then, she put the index finger on her lips, winked and flashed a mischievous smile, "Don't tell anyone, okay? It's supposed to be a secret."

Nora blink.

Looking at the charming face with blurred make-up, the messy hair covered in all kinds of dirt, the dirty but still intact outfit, the pair of worn out sneakers, Nora could not see how her attitude could fit in this situation.

…