Fragments

"If you need lighter firearms, I can lend you some," Amanda offered, her voice smooth yet nonchalant as she sat across from them, honing the edge of her daggers with practiced ease.

The rhythmic scrape of steel against stone filled the quiet air, a sharp contrast to the hushed tension lingering between them.

Amanda's team had set up camp in the skeletal remains of an abandoned building, far from the relative safety of their last refuge. They had spent the better part of the day combing through nearby facilities, hoping to scavenge whatever weapons or supplies they could find. The results had been underwhelming, but survival meant making do with whatever was available.

Victor cast Amanda a brief glance, then instinctively pulled his shotgun closer, fingers brushing over the worn grip like a silent reassurance. "I'm good," he said almost in a murmur.

Hiroshi, however, was not one to let things slide so easily. He nudged Victor’s arm with an amused smirk. "Eh? What’s with the cold shoulder? She’s just trying to help," he teased, clearly entertained by his friend’s uncharacteristically curt response.

Victor exhaled, giving Hiroshi a knowing look. "You can always tell when a woman likes you," he said, his tone laced with the weight of experience. "And when other women like you—especially the dangerous ones—you keep twice the distance. Thrice even."

Hiroshi chuckled, shaking his head. "Is that what Azumi taught you?"

Victor scoffed, rolling his eyes. "It’s what my mother taught me," he corrected. "And since we’re on the subject, I’m curious—what exactly did your mom tell you about women?"

Feigning innocence, Hiroshi raised both hands in surrender. "Hey, my mom raised me well," he said defensively. "I was just testing if you’d actually take the bait and fall for her little flirts."

Victor turned to him with an unimpressed glare. "Oh, I can bite back," he said coolly. Then, after a pause, he added with a smirk, "But if I do, it’ll snap her head clean off—so, no."

Hiroshi barked out a laugh, but Amanda simply smirked, unfazed. She continued sharpening her blades, the glint of metal catching the dim light as if silently reminding them both that she was far from defenseless.

"Suit yourself," she said with a shrug.

"So, uhm..." Victor cleared his throat, casting a glance at their other companions, who were preoccupied with storing their weapons. His voice was steady, but there was an unmistakable edge of impatience beneath it. "How exactly are we supposed to find my girlfriend?"

Amanda paused mid-motion, her fingers still gripping the hilt of her dagger before she looked up at him. "Nathan already explained this, didn't he?" she said, tilting her head slightly. "The Codes can sense each other. If she’s nearby, I’ll feel it, and she’ll feel me. That pull—it’s like a beacon. Eventually, we’ll trace it back to each other."

Victor nodded, digesting the information. "Right... yeah, I remember," he murmured, wetting his lips before pushing himself to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Hiroshi asked immediately, standing as well, as if afraid Victor might leave him behind.

Victor sighed but held up an object from his backpack—a pair of green binoculars. "I found these earlier," he explained. "Figured I’d check from the upper floors, see if there's anything useful. Any lead is better than nothing."

Hiroshi opened his mouth, likely to protest, but Amanda spoke first. "I’ll come with you," she announced, already securing her belongings before Victor could get a word in.

Without waiting for approval, she brushed past both of them, heading toward the stairs with an air of quiet confidence. Victor exchanged a glance with Hiroshi.

"So, she's one of the dangerous ones, right?" Hiroshi snickered. "Fine, then I'll tag along in case she'd snap and molest—yeah better if I stay quiet," he grinned when Victor shot him a glare.

"Here. You better put in some effort too," he muttered, tossing Hiroshi another binoculars. "We need to find Azumi and Adelina before it’s too late."

Hiroshi caught it with both hands, nodding in agreement before trailing after Victor. They climbed the creaking stairs, their footsteps muffled against the dust-covered floorboards.

At the top, they found Amanda already positioned near a shattered window, her sniper rifle balanced on the crumbling ledge. The glass was long gone, leaving only jagged edges framing the open space. She crouched low, her body steady as she pressed her eye to the rifle’s scope, scanning the desolate expanse before them.

The ruined city stretched into the horizon—abandoned buildings reduced to skeletons of their former selves, streets littered with debris, and flickers of movement too distant to identify. The wind howled through the open gaps, carrying with it the distant sounds of something—perhaps survivors, perhaps something worse.

Amanda adjusted the scope with a precise twist, her fingers moving with practiced ease. "No signs of them yet," she muttered, sweeping her aim from left to right. "But there's something happening near the old highway checkpoint. A lot of movement. Could be scavengers... or something else."

Victor stepped beside her, raising his binoculars to follow her line of sight, while Hiroshi did the same from the opposite angle.

"Oh, shit!"

Amanda and Victor immediately turned to Hiroshi when he cursed, his grip tightening around the binoculars.

"What happened?" Victor stepped beside him, raising his own binoculars to match Hiroshi’s line of sight.

"Someone’s being attacked!" Hiroshi exclaimed, his voice urgent as he grabbed Victor’s hand and pulled him closer, pointing toward a narrow, shadowed street.

Victor squinted, adjusting the focus. Down below, in a desolate alleyway between two crumbling buildings, a couple was desperately fighting off a swarm of infected.

Their backs were pressed against a rusted-out vehicle, its shattered windows catching the weak light, while the woman swung a metal pipe in frantic arcs and the man brandished a broken knife, both clearly outmatched by the advancing horde.

Blood smeared their clothes and stained the grimy pavement, as the zombies—gaunt, ragged figures with feral eyes—closed in with relentless hunger.

"Tsk! Why did they even trail into dark alleys?!" Victor hissed, his jaw tightening as he watched the grotesque scene unfold.

The creatures moved with a macabre blend of sluggishness and sudden, jerky bursts of speed, their outstretched hands clawing at air and flesh alike.

"They’ll be dead even before we get there," Hiroshi muttered grimly.

Without missing a beat, Amanda’s eyes narrowed behind the scope of her sniper rifle. In one fluid, almost preternatural motion, her finger squeezed the trigger. The sniper’s report shattered the oppressive silence, each shot resonating with pinpoint accuracy.

One by one, the infected fell: a clean shot to a decaying skull here, a precise round to a withering limb there. The relentless barrage of gunfire transformed the chaotic melee into a grim tableau of stillness, as the zombies collapsed in heaps along the darkened alley.

For a long, breathless moment, Hiroshi and Victor stood transfixed, their eyes wide and voices caught in their throats. The sudden silence that followed the last echo of Amanda’s shots was heavy with disbelief—a rare, unspoken acknowledgment of her lethal efficiency.

Hiroshi’s eyes met Victor’s, both sharing a silent, awe-struck understanding.

"Yep, I think they're not infected yet," Amanda muttered after making sure the couple were okay.

She then stood up and raised her hands. "Oyyyy!!! Over here!" She called, waving her hands in the air to catch the couple's attention. "Come with us!"

Victor watched as Amanda waved her hands, her voice carrying across the empty streets. The couple, still frozen in shock from their near-death experience, hesitated. The woman clutched the metal pipe close to her chest, her breathing ragged, while the man—his face streaked with dirt and sweat—looked around warily, as if expecting another ambush.

"They're scared," Hiroshi noted, lowering his binoculars. "Not surprising. We just saw what they went through."

Amanda sighed and slung her sniper across her back. "Well, they better decide fast before more of those things crawl out of the woodwork."

Victor scanned the alley again. The bodies of the fallen infected twitched occasionally, their grotesque forms illuminated by the pale light of the distant fires still burning across the city. The stench of rot and gunpowder was thick even from their vantage point.

Finally, the man nudged the woman, and with a reluctant nod, they started moving toward them, limping slightly but quickening their pace as they realized Amanda wasn’t calling them into another trap.

"Looks like they’re coming," Victor murmured.

"Good," Amanda smirked, cracking her knuckles. "Let’s hope they’re worth the bullets I just spent saving their asses."

Amanda turned on her heel and faced Hiroshi, a mischievous glint in her eyes. With a swift, almost effortless motion, she reached out and gently pressed his jaw shut.

"You might want to keep that trap of yours closed," she teased, a playful smirk tugging at her lips. "Wouldn’t want a fly deciding to make a home in there, would we?" With that, she turned away, her footsteps light and confident as she descended the stairs to rejoin the couple waiting below.

Hiroshi remained frozen for a moment, blinking as if trying to process what had just happened. Then, with the wonder of someone who had just witnessed a miracle, he turned to Victor, eyes wide with admiration.

"Goddamn," he exhaled, shaking his head in disbelief. "That woman is ridiculously cool."

Victor, however, merely shot him a look—one of thinly veiled exasperation, the kind reserved for a particularly troublesome younger sibling.

"You do realize," he said flatly, "that you’re exactly the kind of friend a girlfriend warns her boyfriend to stay away from, right?"

Hiroshi blinked, clearly confused. “No?”

“Yes.” Victor rolled his eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn’t get stuck. His gaze then sharpened, scrutinizing Hiroshi as if seeing him in a new light. “Now that I think about it… you don’t seem all that worried about Adelina being captured. Should I be concerned? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

Hiroshi’s lips pressed into a thin line. He looked down, his gaze skimming the floor as though searching for an answer hidden in the dust. Finally, after a moment of hesitation, he muttered, “Of course I love Adelina. But… she’s not exactly the kind of girlfriend I see myself with for the rest of my life.”

Victor’s brow twitched. “Then you’d better find her fast and talk to her. Don’t go around gawking at other women when your own girlfriend could be suffering God-knows-where.”

Hiroshi shot him a sharp look, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Why are you acting like you’ve never admired another woman besides Azumi?” His expression was scrutinizing, almost accusing.

“Because I haven’t.” Victor shrugged, his tone matter-of-fact as he tapped Hiroshi’s shoulder. “Now move along, kid.”

“Ew! Don’t call me kid,” Hiroshi grumbled, immediately flicking Victor’s hand away.

Victor smirked, but his voice held an edge of seriousness. “Kids are the only ones who don’t understand the difference between love and infatuation. Now get your ass downstairs before I toss you out the window.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hiroshi grumbled, rolling his eyes before begrudgingly following Amanda down the stairs.

Victor was about to follow, but the moment his foot touched the first step, something hit him. Hard.

A flash of imagery—so sudden, so vivid, it nearly knocked him off balance. His hand shot out, gripping the nearest handrail as his vision blurred, his mind reeling from what he had just seen. He blinked rapidly, trying to steady himself, trying to grasp the fragments of a memory that had surfaced from nowhere.

It was this place. This very place—before it was ruined.

His breathing grew shallow as realization settled in.

“Love…”

Victor froze. His heart lurched at the whisper. Azumi’s voice.