Capsule

Eyes wide, Kiah and Naya exchanged panicked glances before sprinting after him.

'What the hell!'

Anwyll moved like a flash. They could hardly see his shadow as he swiftly moved through buildings, always sticking to the wall. His movements were sharp and precise — practiced.

The sky had begun to lighten, so visibility was no longer an issue.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kiah hissed when they finally caught up with him, crouched behind a building.

"We have seven minutes left," Anwyll said, his voice cool and focused. His eyes scanned the street ahead like a hawk. "If we get left behind, there is no escape. When the capsule arrives, it's going to draw everything to it. Every survivor will make a run for it, and every degenerate will follow the sound. It'll be a damn warzone."

Kiah narrowed her eyes. "And how do you know that?"

Anwyll shot her a dry look.

"It's common sense," he deadpanned. "The capsule's noise is a beacon. And no one is just going to wait around. It will be a full-on brawl to get in. Be ready. Any moment now…"

Just then, a low mechanical whirring filled the air. They all turned toward the sky, and there it was. The sleek black capsule appeared, descending fast.

"There it is!" Naya jumped excitedly.

"And here comes the chaos," Anwyll muttered.

Suddenly, a shadow bolted across the street. A dash of black hair ran in the direction of the descending capsule.

Kiah's eyes widened. 'Blackie is alive!'

But then, there was a crash. A degenerate burst from a second-floor window and landed hard on the street, right behind Blackie, letting out shrieks that echoed through the air. The degenerate went after him.

More shrieks came from the distance.

A dash of yellow hair also shot by. She fired an arrow at an approaching degenerate without slowing her pace.

"We have to move!" Anwyll said, and bolted.

Kiah and Naya didn't waste time following him, running down the street as a bunch of degenerates poured out behind.

The sound of the capsule grew louder.

The survivors sprinted like shadows.

Kiah looked at everybody ahead. She was the weakest and undoubtedly the slowest. The others were fast while she was struggling to take a breath.

Her lungs burned. Her joints hurt. Her shoulders hurt. And her broken ribs screamed with every step.

'Goodness sake! Why the hell won't the sun come out already?' she cursed, glancing up at the still-dim sky cloaked in stubborn clouds.

At this rate, she was going to get eaten, or worse… turn into one of those things.

"Goodbye, suckers!"

Someone yelled. Kiah recognized the voice. It was Red.

Moments later, everyone around her started slowing down, coming to a halt. Somehow, she'd caught up with the others.

Panting, trying to catch her breath, she was about to ask what happened until she saw it.

The capsule landed a few meters away.

The problem was the three degenerates that stood in front of it, snarling, blocking their paths.

Behind Kiah and the others, five more degenerates tore down the street. Kiah turned toward the sky. The sun had finally broken through the clouds, casting its glow across the ruined streets.

A small breath of relief escaped her lips.

'They'll retreat now… right?'

But then her heart dropped.

Three of them still kept coming, unaffected by the sunlight.

"I thought they were agitated by sunlight," she muttered.

"Degenerates evolve," Blackie replied, sword in hand. "Why do you think they are such a pest?"

His face was bloodied, a long gash running from his temple to his jaw. It had been cleaned and roughly stitched. He looked like hell, but he still stood tall.

"If we want that capsule, we are going to have to fight for it."

Kiah let out a low breath, raising her labrys.

She looked around.

There were six of them. There were six of them. Blackie, Yellow, Red, Brownie, Naya, and her.

There were six degenerates.

They had to go one-on-one.

She had wanted to avoid this, but it seemed that they had no choice.

A guttural roar shattered the tension as a degenerate lunged, and just like that — the battlefield erupted.

*

Kiah's opponent was tall and grotesque, wrapped in rags, its shape was human but disfigured, its limbs crooked like tree branches. Its hair was a stringy mess of brown, or blonde, or maybe even yellow. It was hard to tell.

It charged at her.

Kiah dodged its claws, barely having any time to swing her labrys.

The creature easily knocked her weapon from her grip. It clattered to the ground.

A claw aimed at her face. She ducked and staggered back, but it was on her again in seconds.

Desperate, she reached into her boot and yanked out a dagger, shoving it into the creature's eyes as it pinned her down.

A blood-curdling scream ripped from its throat. It flailed in pain.

Its movement became more erratic, giving her an opening. She didn't hesitate. With her other hand, she drew her second dagger and drove it into its other eye, successfully blinding it.

It howled again and stumbled, finally allowing her to reach for her labrys.

The degenerate wasn't going down without a fight, though. Even though it was now blind, it still moved with terrifying precision, its other senses heightened. It recovered quickly.

In a split second, it appeared in front of Kiah, taking her off guard. Before she could defend herself, a searing pain shot through her. Its claws sank into her shoulder, hot and sharp and deep. Her body jerked in shock.

"Ahhh!"

A scream of agony tore through her throat as she collapsed to her knees, clutching her shoulder. Blood spurted out in gushes. The flesh on her left shoulder was missing and was replaced with a red, glistening mess.

Kiah stared at it in horror, bile rising in her throat. The injury was so grave that she wondered if she would ever recover from it.

The degenerate loomed over her, but she was too petrified to move. Both her shoulders were wrecked now. There was no way she could defend herself.

A tear fell from her eyes. She didn't want to die like this. There was still a lot she wanted to do with her life.

What about her mother?