Face a zombie for the first time

"Then why did you freeze? Why didn't you help?" Fablo asked further.

Edward looked at him again with a glare that seemed to be asking 'Seriously?' but he still managed to answer in the end.

"I…I don't know" Edward replied in a muffled voice.

Fablo looked at him for a few more seconds before glancing at the zombie in the distance, he knew his last question was not appropriate after all their dialogue but he had a reason for it.

"Then, how about we go find out why? So what happened today doesn't happen again" Fablo said as an assuring smile suddenly formed on his face while one of his hands raised and he pointed a finger in the direction of the zombie that was minding its business in the distance.

Edward was caught off guard by this sudden turn of events and subconsciously took a step back, a sudden thought that Fablo wanted to make him die at the hands of a zombie briefly flashed through his mind but he shook his head. That was not possible, right? Fablo would not do that, right? 

He looked at the man with an expression that screamed 'Is that an expensive joke? You can't be serious' 

But Fablo was dead serious as he pointed at another metal ladder that they could use to climb down without having to use the metal door.

(Author's note: and no, zombies can't enter through here because… duh? They can't climb and as for high-level zombies, they would need to destroy the metal door on top so why bother using here when they can just blast through the front?)

Edward's next thought was to return to the building and forget all this bullcrap but that would make him appear like a complete coward, and it looked like Fablo was genuinely trying to help him. Even if he was not, Edward doubted that Fablo could win him after his changes; he could literally rip steel to pieces, and fighting humans was not the same as fighting zombies so he should be safe if he went out with Fablo.

Worse case, he would get badly injured and let the miracle that had happened twice repeat itself…hopefully.

He took a deep breath before nodding, Fablo did not say another word and started to climb down the ladder while Edward followed behind.

A shadow appeared soon after they left as Lia walked to the place they had been standing and watched them from the top of the building as they sneaked into the street. They had left the door that led into the building open as it could only be opened from inside so they did not hear when Lia came out.

She watched them until they disappeared into the night, even with the brilliance of the moon, her eyesight was a bit above normal people's but not as good as Edward's and Fablo's so she could not see the zombie but she had heard half of their discussion so she knew what they were going out to do. 

She stood all by herself at the top of the building for a while as the cold wind crashed into her and whispered incomprehensible words into her ears.

(Lonely at the top, lol)

"Tks!" She clicked her tongue in the end before returning inside the building to try to get some sleep, it was just too cold for her outside.

"Those two are simply crazy to go out and fight zombies in this cold" she muttered before climbing back inside while leaving the door as she had met it.

….

Meanwhile, Edward and Fablo quietly moved closer to the zombie without it noticing, Edward was getting more and more surprised at Fablo's abnormal eyesight. The man was not moving like it was the night at all, Edward almost suspected that he was like him but dispelled the thought. It shouldn't be, he was only lucky that time and did not even know how he had become like this so how could there be a second case? But the thought was already there so it began to bother Edward, he could not have been the only lucky person, right?

Putting that thought at the back of his mind, Edward decided to focus on what was in front of him now and left the unknown for the future.

They had gotten very close to the zombie and by now Edward could already perceive the awful stench coming from the zombie; he doubted he would be able to get used to the smell anytime soon because he still made a frown whenever his nose caught the smell of zombies.

They were currently hiding behind an overturned truck, the zombie was only a dozen meters away and had yet to spot them. Fablo found two broken steels along the way and passed one to Edward.

"You ready?" He asked Edward before he alerted the zombie.

Edward stared at the steel in his hand and gulped down hard, his heart beating madly against his ribcage as he had just finished a sprint. Was he ready? Was he ready to face a zombie head-on? The answer was obviously no, he would rather not face them in his life but he knew that it was an impossible wish because even if he did not want to, he might find himself in the same situations he had been in the past where he had to watch others die or when the female zombie had cornered him.

Though he was scared and cowardly and did not feel any regrets for the people who had died in front of him, he would not mind changing things if he had the ability to do so. Moreover, this was not about helping others, this was about being able to defend himself and fight back so a situation like the female zombie and that abnormal zombie did not repeat themselves.

He grabbed the steel tightly looked at Fablo with a determined expression and nodded. His resolve was as hard as the steel in his hand and Fablo could see it in his eyes.

"Good, I'll attract the attention of the zombie. You deal with it while I stand watch in case there is another zombie close by" Fablo said before leaving their cover. He did not need to tell Edward how to fight zombies as it was a piece of general knowledge.

'Even if he had never faced a zombie before, he should know their weakness, right?' Fablo thought to himself and suddenly became paranoid 'Just in case he doesn't know' he sighed before turning to Edward again.

"Aim for its head or heart position" Fablo said to him.

Edward could only stare at him blankly, who did not know such simple knowledge after three years on this hellish planet? On second thought, finding a person who had not fought a zombie was even more rare so he could only nod with a defeated expression on his face.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" Fablo's voice rang through the night as he struck the body of the truck with his steel, causing a loud clanging sound along with his voice.

The zombie immediately reacted to the noise, its rotten face swiftly turned in Fablo's direction as its red eyes gazed at Fablo giving one the impression that it could see through the night. It opened its monstrous mouth and let out a beastly roar before starting to trash towards Fablo's position like a hungry man who had seen food after so many years of eating rubbish.

"You're up kid, time to shine!" Fablo smirked at Edward as the zombie moved closer before dashing away.

Edward looked at the running man and he almost cursed, he was leaving him alone? Edward had thought that Fablo was going to stay close and only abstain from helping him.

"What am I thinking? It's just one zombie, calm down Edward!" Edward said to himself and closed his eyes for a split second to take a calming breath but the stench of the zombie ruined it for him, he still managed to calm down in the end and clenched his steel tightly and his eyes turned steady.

' It's now or never!'