Mint Wayne

Strands of long flowing black hair are draped messily on the armrest of the sofa. The thin figure laying on it is breathing raggedly as if trying to grasp for life. From the looks of the situation, it seems that she may have not eaten for a long time. Marc Lee had his suspicion but to be sure he needs to prepare himself for the worst.

Lifting the make-shift spear he slowly approached the figure and found that she is wearing a baggy shirt and tight denim shorts. Her clothes may have grown on her as she becomes thin. As he approaches nearer he can now clearly hear the woman's ragged breathing.

Then as if startled the woman suddenly turns her head and weakly looks at him. Marc Lee almost stabbed the spear but luckily stopped himself. Although the woman looks thin and malnourished, she still has life in those weak eyes.

"She's not a zombie," he muttered.

Then the woman slowly stretches her hand as she muttered some incomprehensible words. But from her mouth, he can perceive that she is asking for help. Not wanting to waste his time, he carefully checked the woman's condition.

"Hold on for a while… I will take you with me," he said as he had thought of something.

In his mind he has two options… the first one is to bring some food to the woman. That means he had to go back to his flat and then go back to this place here. He would need to pass the closed doors on the fifth floor which has a lot of those zombie creatures.

The second option is to carry the woman with him and just carefully and stealthily pass through that door. Either of the two is dangerous, but he can't think of any other ways.

"Ah… whatever. I'll just carry you, it's more convenient and I don't have to go back and forth." he decided.

Carefully strapped his make-shift spear on his back and then squatted down and lifted the woman which seems to be very light. It was as if she weighs only a few kilograms. He was able to carry her without any effort at all. He then noticed that the woman seems to have passed out but is still breathing.

However, he knew that he had to move faster because any minute now, she would be getting weaker.

As he moved silently, he was soon able to go out of the room. He then carefully tiptoed out into the emergency staircase.

But no matter how careful he is sometimes there are accidents that are intended to happen.

He began going down the stairs and his gaze is locked on the emergency exit door of the 5th floor, he didn't notice that his make-shift spear is about to hit the railing of the stairs.

Seeing that nothing is amiss, he decided to suddenly run to the 4th floor. Upon deciding, he turns around… and that's when it happened.

Tong!!!

The echo reverberates throughout the staircase and it stunned him into place. He was annoyed and blamed himself for doing such a big mistake. The sound echoed inside the emergency staircase and the noise made him stiffen with fright.

Bam!!! Bam!!!

Roar!!! Roar!!!

The sudden roaring sound from the other side of the door and the heavy banging woke Marc Lee from his stupor. Without hesitation, he quickly ran not caring about the noise his footsteps are making.

He didn't want to look back as he can clearly hear the door slowly being broken by those zombies. Then he rushed and quickly opened the exit door of the 4th floor.

While running, Marc Lee is already thinking about how to escape the situation. Then he looks at the culprit of it all. As he quickly gets inside the door, he grabbed the make-shift spear behind him and threw it down the staircase.

Although the spear is useful, right now it's getting in his way.

He quickly closes the door and leaned on it as he intends to listen to what is happening outside. Fear crept into his heart as he can clearly hear the roaring zombies outside. He tried to keep his breathing stable as his heart raced.

He then heard the zombies running down the stairs away from the emergency exit door he is leaning on.

"Whew! Luckily I threw that spear. I was right… Those idiot zombies did chase it down the stairs. Lucky… Truly lucky!" he thought as he heaves a sigh of relief.

Looking at the woman in his arms, he also felt relieved as he discovers that her breathing is stable. Her emaciated and thin body looks worrying. It was like she has not eaten for many days and her body really lack nutrients.

Marc Lee enters his flat and set the woman on the sofa. He then takes out some dried crackers and water and then diluted them making them easy to eat.

"Hey… hey… you need to wake up and eat." he patted the woman's thin face as he tries to wake her up.

"Hey, come on… you have to fight. Don't go dying on me now, after all, I went through to save you. You can do it… You can still live… there is food here. Come on." he said as he continues to shake her gently.

He needed to wake her up so that he can feed her.

As if disturbed in her slumber, the woman's long eyelashes slowly fluttered as her heavy eyes sluggishly opens. Seeing the woman woke up, Marc Lee then bends down and lifted her head carefully as he supported her thin body and made her lean on his chest.

He then carefully feeds her little by little until she weakly shook her head. This means that she's either too tired to eat or already full.

"Okay… I'll feed you more, later… You can rest now…" he then carefully laid her head on the pillow and covered her body with a blanket.

The woman is still weak but has enough energy to open her eyes slightly. Then after a while, she slept. Marc Lee stood up and walk towards the kitchen.

"Well… At least now I know that I'm not the only survivor." He muttered to himself as he prepares some food for him.

"I need to clear this building of any zombies and corpses. But the problem is… how could I fight against a horde?" he thought deeply while cooking.

Not long later, an idea pops into his mind. He needed to make traps and set up some defensive structure.

Then his mind started to make plans of what to do next. On the sixth floor of the apartment building, there is a balcony. He can go up there and lure those zombies that are in that place.

Then he can go to the balcony and set up a small ramp. He needed to lure them there where they would be falling to their deaths.

Now the only problem is… how can he go up to the 6th floor?

Then his eyes turn towards the window. He then remembers that there is a ladder on the side of the building going to the rooftop.

"Ah! Right, I can use that ladder to go to the roof and then climb back down to the 6th floor." He muttered feeling a bit excited about the plan.

With that plan in mind, he immediately gathers some materials.

He needed a fence wire or a rope, a plastic bag, and a new knife. He then began to rummage to all the rooms and found what he needed.

In the process, he finally decided to dispose of the two rotting bodies in the other room. He wore a plastic disposable glove and then wrapped the corpse with a plastic bag. Then he threw them outside from the windows.

In doing so, he even puke several times.

After finishing that troublesome task, he heaves a sigh of relief.

"Okay, I think this is enough for now." he thought as he puts everything inside his backpack.

When he returns to the room, he noticed that the woman is awake once again. And she seems to have regained some energy, although she is still unable to sit on her own.

"Oh, you're awake. Wait a minute… I'll prepare some food for you," he said as he quickly went inside the bathroom and washed and change into a fresh set of clothes before preparing some food.

Right now, he is determined to nourish the woman back to health as he never wanted to spend the rest of his days in this hell hole alone.

Having someone to talk to at least would not make him lose his mind. He can actually live alone, but that is with the condition that there is an internet and he could play online games. But the situation right now is different.

After feeding the woman, who still seems to have no strength to speak yet, he carefully tucked her into bed.

Then looking at the sky, he can deduce that it is already late in the afternoon. If he moves fast he can make it before nighttime, and he still can prepare dinner after disposing or trapping those damned zombies.

With that in mind, he quickly carried his backpack and checked the kitchen windows. After seeing the ladder on the far right side of the wall, he quickly climbs out through the window.

Marc Lee can now see the streets littered with many wrecked cars, debris, and trash all over. Curiously, no dead bodies are on the streets… unlike on the other side where the balcony of the flat of the woman is located.

He then carefully walks on the ledge near the window, and with an agile move, he jumps toward the steel ladder with a safety cage. Since he cannot access the ladder due to the steel safety cage, Marc Lee used the side to climb up.

With some effort, he was able to reach the sixth floor. He noticed that the ladder is actually on the opposite side of the balcony where that woman lives.

He decided to go to that woman's place again. After reaching the woman's house and climbing inside, he began to set up his trap and cleared a path toward the woman's house.

Marc Lee has changed his plans and decided to use the woman's house as it is nearer to the emergency exit ladder. He started to move any obstruction on the path and created a guided path using the appliances in the middle condo.

He then removed the thin steel railing of the balcony and even created a ladder so that the zombie would be able to go up the balcony.

This setup would send those zombies to tumble down from the sixth floor to their deaths.

After he finished everything and checked that all seems good, Marc Lee then walked carefully towards the emergency exit door.

He leaned against the door and quietly listened outside. Judging that there seems to be no movement he takes a deep breath and forcefully calmed himself down.

At this time, his heart once again began to beat wildly. He knew that it was a crazy plan and it seems to evoke a certain fear deep inside his heart. It is the fear of the unknown and uncertainty that is very fatal in this kind of situation.

But right now, he has to forcefully empty his mind of those things as he decided to execute his plan.

He slightly opens the door…

Creek!!!

The sound startled him.

To his surprise, he saw the figure of a gruesome-looking man greeting him on his face. This made Marc Lee's heart almost jump out of his throat. Unlucky for him the zombie's dull eyes are already looking straight at him.

It was attracted by the door's movement and the zombie has already caught him peeking through the door's small slits.

"Holy Shit!" all Marc Lee could do was utter these cursed words as the zombie's strong-arm suddenly forcefully pushed the door open.

This flung Marc Lee backward at his back and hit the wall with a loud thud.

That loud sound seems to attract the rest of the creatures as before he can feel the pain, his eyes grew wide with disbelief as one figure after another came rushing inside.

Without a choice, he drags himself and dashed towards the path he made to the woman's condo. His mind turned blank as all he can think of is to escape through the balcony.

Roar!!!

Marc Lee heard a loud roar from behind him and felt a gush of pain on his back. It seems that he was wounded by something sharp.

He has no time to think of pain right now as his mind is filled with the stench of death breathing down his neck.

Panic, fear, anxiousness, and horror are clearly displayed on his face as he pushes his body with all his might to run.

He didn't think twice as he quickly jumped while grabbing the rope he prepared to swing his body towards the emergency fixed ladder.

As he did so, he quickly turns around and his body shuddered in horror. A large crooked mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth is actually breathing down his neck. Luckily for him, he did not turn at that time while running.

If not then his knees would have buckled in fear.

But that creature did not reach him. It eventually fell down followed by dozens of deformed figures of zombies running towards the balcony and plunging down to their deaths.

"This… just shows that these things are mindless. I'm glad that I think of this way to get rid of them. Hahaha!" Marc Lee with shaking hands and body hugged the cold steel and clings with his dear life to the emergency fixed ladder cover.

He looked down and saw the corpses piling on the ground with their heads splattered on the roadside. However, he found that not all of them died in that fall. Some can still crawl and tried to get up as they aimlessly walk away.

"I'm… I'm glad it still went well in the end," he muttered.

"It's getting dark already, time to go back..." He then goes down the ladder towards his apartment window.

After he got inside, he noticed that the woman is awake again and is sitting calmly on the sofa. She turns around cautiously when she noticed him entering the kitchen window. With a surprised look in her eyes, she saw him with some blood on his body.

"Oh! You're awake again. That's good. Wait just a moment, I'll prepare some food for dinner." he said as he gets down from the window and walks towards his room.

The woman noticed that although Marc Lee's back is bloody there was actually no wound.

Seeing that, she calmed down and decided to just wait for the young man. After he got cleaned and dressed, he once again prepares their food.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Marc Lee… How about you? What's your name?" he asked as he prepares her meal.

As the woman is still a little bit weak, Marc Lee carefully feeds her.

After hearing the young man introduce himself she put some effort just to smile and with a rough voice said.

"I'm… Mint… Mint Wayne. Th… thank you… for… helping me."