The sound of a droplet falling in a pool of water reverberated in a poorly lit cave. A warm yellow light flickered inside. His footsteps left shallow prints in his passing, whereas his dark aura overwhelmed the brightness.
Once inside the cave, he saw someone in a seated position in front of a fire with their back turned towards him and a hood covering their head. A female voice warmed his heart. “Welcome, Jin.”
“Who are you? What is this place?”
The young woman stood up and turned towards him. Jin, stunned, took a step back. “Y-You…?”
The girl’s golden hair fluttered like a restless sea. Her warm tone pulled Jin’s heartstrings. The thought alone of the other world hit a nostalgic note of his essence. “Nice to see you again. My actual body has no recollection of this
Jin opened his eyes and saw half his body submerged in a hole, the one he dug himself out of. Chipped nails dripped blood. The crimson liquid poured from his orifices when the sharp edges of the rocks cut him on his way out of the grave. Ripped clothes with dirt and dried blood. Cuts and bruises dripped fresh, while he chewed on pebbles. He looked around hazily. His blurry vision didn’t help, either. He stroked his eyes, but the particles tore his cornea and more blood gushed out. Once again, he felt relief, thankful he didn’t feel pain, but the situation remained troublesome. With his eyes half open because of the glued eyelids, he crawled all the way to his house. Right after he entered, he went straight to the bathroom, up the stairs, where he tripped a few times. There was no electricity, therefore the icy co
The skyline across which surrounded the valley had hues of orange painted to the east. It’s the following morning, and Jin spent the night in the camp of the new people he met the day before. Jin woke up in a tattered tent. He remained laying on his back with his hands supporting his head for a few minutes and pondered over the events that took place. At some point, he chuckled when he remembered the teen growling towards him. -Right after he rendered the teen unconscious, hurriedly the teacher approached Jin and signaled him to stop the brutality. That person wore a white round hat, which made him stand out even among the other weirdos, Jin thought. “My name is Lound…”. He looked at the teen on the ground and shook his head. Lound’s voice was calm and came out soft and unrushed. “This guy here is Ronnie. I’m sur
The shocked expression on Jin’s face became pretty apparent, even to Ronnie, who didn’t even hear what Lound said, but he could see it on him. Jin shoved Lound to the side and created some distance between them. Jin then stared straight into Lound’s eyes. His voice trembled when he uttered. “W-What did you just say?” Lound sighed before taking a deep breath. “When the corpses overran the hospital, a group had already come down from behind, trying to get away. Their leader sprained his ankle. They distanced themselves from the hospital, but corpses rained down on them from all sides.…” Jin focused intensely as to not miss a single word coming out of Lound’s mouth. When Lound paused and caught his breath, Jin’s still heart almost jumped out of his chest. Lound continued with as much detail as possible to ease the young man’s mind. “I, along with a few fellows, helped them get away, and we headed towards our camp when we heard a gunshot coming from the town…”
Jin looked around him as people of all ages stepped out of their tents while looking at him with awe brimming in their eyes. All of them had the characteristic bone through their noses as if they went through the same ritual. It creeped him out the fact that they had wrapped fingers, ears, and eyeballs around their necks. Each one of them emanated an eeriness, which Jin instantly noticed. Rattled, he took a step back. The people approached him at a slow pace. Even then, they mimicked the way undead walked. Besides that, their murmurs added weight to the ghostly sensation. The camp being in a graveyard didn’t help either. Jin turned to Lound, who kept that same smile as if it was natural for people to act the way they did. Jin froze for a moment before he approached him and whispered. “What’s happening?”
Rotten limbs and corpses rained on the dirt after Jin flew through the undead wall. The moment he hit the ground; a mouthful of blood sprayed his surroundings. A growl followed from the unfamiliar undead that shook the earth. The group of the camp shut their ears. The intensity forced them to kneel. They flinched when they saw it walking in front of them. The undead ignored them the entire time it was there. For a moment, it glanced in their direction and blood froze in their veins. It returned to where it landed the first time and walked around the altar. It stared for several seconds before knocking it over. Lound, who remained silent and, on his knees, looked over at his frightened group. With movements of his eyes and nods of his head, he signaled them to trickle back, out of its range.
The motorcycle with the caterpillar track pulled away and created a considerable distance between them and the undead, which feasted on Jin’s arm. When it finished, it threw the bones away and jumped towards them. They barely escaped its landing, which created a small crater upon impact. Blood spilled from its rotting belly. Guts made a splash on the ground. A cloud of dust obscured its visibility. The undead growled at them. The sound wave packed a powerful echo that came close to knocking them off the bike while creating a path towards them at the same time. Jin, half conscious, rode in the middle of the biker and Ronnie, who held onto him, preventing him from falling off. The young man focused intensely on Jin’s missing arm. To his surprise, though, it stopped bleeding after a few seconds. They rode as far as
Dusk brewed over the horizon. Hues of orange painted the evening sky. Sudden bursts of wind rustled the leaves. As the sun descended behind the forestry, its thick foliage weakened the warm rays. Ronnie had gone to gather more wood to keep the fire lit. Octavia helped Jin remove the corpse from the middle of the road. Together, they carried it far enough into the woods, so the stench wouldn’t reach their nostrils when the air carried it. Along the way, Jin fidgeted. “Aren’t you curious…?” Octavia looked at him for some time. She shook her head. “Not really. Lound mentioned something like this. For sure, it surprised me, but as long as you keep your teeth away, we won’t have any issues…” Jin fixated on one part of the sentence. “Wait… Wait. You know Lound?” Octavia nodded. “How did you think I got to you?” “Eh, passing through?” “Nope!” Octavia adjusted her grip. She glanced back through the corner of her eye. Their camp was a v
Jin and Octavia remained perfectly still as the undead had them surrounded in seconds. They growled just a breath away. It’s been a while since the pandemic started and the aftereffects became apparent. For some, the teeth blackened, whilst others had pieces of flesh stuck between. Meanwhile, the muscles deteriorated enough for their bone structure to be visible. What appalled them the most was the stench of death that followed. Even if they held their breaths, they had to breathe eventually. The mouthful of air they inhaled later drowned them in dizziness and urged them to puke. As they waited patiently for the corpses to walk past them, Jin monitored them through the corners of his eyes. Once he made sure they were out of grabbing reach, he walked up behind them. With a swift swing of his half-burnt log, he bro