2025-04-24 11:19:17The night deepened and the world turned a tad bit quieter. With the sudden silence they could hear the occasional groan of distant zombies and the howling of beasts, the sounds of fights reached their ears making their imagination run wild.
Were humans fighting the zombies or zombies fighting zombies? Unfortunately, stuck in this car, they could never know. The first half of the night was spent in palpable tension and they could almost hear their hearts beating wildly.
Despite being imaginative and quite a wild thinker, Dave was still just a normal man who had quickly become comfortable with the monotone life of a cog in a capitalist system. He was brave, true but he had been so distracted, so active, so anxious lately that he had no time to think. About the sudden change in the world's atmosphere, the betrayal girlfriend of his girlfriend who he deeply loved and the cruelty of his best friend with whom he was close.
"What are you thinking about?" He suddenly heard Hei Yu's voice, her accent making her quite fascinating to listen to. He'd never noticed before but her Chinese accent was quite distinct when she spoke and it made her voice pleasing to the ears.
"My girlfriend Clarissa" he replied offhandedly. Turning his head sideways to Hei Yu, he studied her facial expression as she eyed him.
They'd both relaxed the backrest of their chairs so they were somewhat lying down. Perhaps due to his tense nerves, Dave's eyes roamed Hei Yu's and traced her nose to her lips where his gaze lingered. His eyes began to heat up and his gaze followed down to her heaving chest so that he took note when her breathing hitched and increased slightly.
Apparently, he was not the only one whose tense nerves sought a release. His eyes met Hei Yu's again and they could both see the heat in each other's eyes. Hei Yu was not a young girl but an experienced mature woman and her allure was stable and at this time irresistible.
But as their eyes fixed on each other longingly, a hint of clarity appeared in both of them and they turned their gaze away at the same time.
"I think I met her a few times in the elevator" Hei Yu spoke after a few seconds of silence breaking the tension and dispersing the mood.
Dave took a long deep breath of relief to calm himself and a feeling of guilt welled up in him only to later realize that he was now once again single.
A chuckle escaped his lips as he mocked himself.
"She talked about you but I'd never seen you. All I could think about was how much she loved you" Hei Yu continued, her gaze fixed sternly on the windshield but her thoughts distant.
"Loved me?" Dave scoffed and a smirk appeared on his lips.
"Found her in bed with my best friend just before we met. He took her away after sacrificing me to a zombie. That was my first kill" he narrated and Hei Yu turned to him again, her eyes wide. Unfortunately, Dave was staring straight ahead and could not appreciate her beauty at this moment.
"For some reason, I assumed you were military" Hei Yu said with a questioning gaze.
"Nope just a programmer" he replied without turning to her.
"That explains it" Hei Yu muttered. She found Dave to be an efficient person, in his actions and words, he seemed to be task-oriented and subconsciously avoided redundancy.
"You are military, right?" Dave asked and turned to her, this time they gazed at each other with serene expressions without avoiding each other's eyes.
"Yes, Navy SEAL" Hei Yu replied, her voice low as if about to whisper.
"SEAL?" Dave was stunned, his eyes widened as he reconsidered all he knew about her.
Indeed, since he met her, from the way to talked, to the way she followed him, helped, guarded and listened to him, everything was done fluidly with familiarity. There was no time when she got too shocked to react or too slow. Her precision system helped her aim but often she noticed beasts and zombie attacks far earlier than he did.
"That's impressive" he commended.
"How long have you been in service?" He asked.
"Very" Hei Yu relied, her eyes glazing over as she fell into a twirl of memories.
"Three years of training before I got assigned to a Team and about nine years of active service"
"Wow, so you've killed people?" Dave asked.
Hei Yu let out a cute giggle, "Why is that the first question everyone asks?" She asked back in a gentle tone.
"Yes I've killed people" she replied, her tone teasing.
"Any medals?" Dave asked again, at this point, he was already a fan.
"A few, I mean I've been on active duty for a while. A lot of missions, naturally after so much time it's inevitable" Hei Yu shook her head at his sudden fangirling attitude.
"My father was Marine along with some nearby farm owners. They taught me how to handle a gun and fight and a work most of our team-building sessions were done in a martial arts center since the company owner also owned the gym and wanted to use us to create the illusion of bustling business"
"So that's where you learned to fight"
They continued to chat like this for a while, in low tones, in the dead of night with their eyes fixed on each other until they ran out of topics to talk about.
"We should avoid being like this in the future" Dave suddenly said, it was his turn to break the silence. They were getting too comfortable staring silently into each other's eyes.
"Why? My husband?" Hei Yu asked a small smile on her lips.
"Yes?" Dave replied with a squint, his expression saying "Obviously!"
"Well, it's a silly story really. Back home being a female Soldier isn't really good news for a girl's family so I was something of a black sheep. Especially since I served a different country and one my parents saw as a rival. You see they were patriots." Hei Yu started, her eyes glazing again. Something Dave found fascinating as it was visible every time she was in her thoughts. For most, it would just be like they were staring ahead blankly but her eyes literally glazed.
"I went home once after a long six months mission and my mother sat me down and talked for a long time about face and not being able to raise her head among friends and all that. Then she mentioned marriage and I didn't care at the time so I agreed, see I'm not a romantic person" Hei Yu smiled and her eyes focused again.
"You're not?" Dave asked teasingly.
"I'm not!" Hei Yu exclaimed and let out a soft chuckle.
"Yeah so the wedding day came and she came to talk with me again, making me promise to be a good wife and all. I was taken to the wedding hall we rented and just after the ceremony, I learned my parents passed away from an accident on the way over" Hei Yu's expression fell and her eyes lowered to Dave's jaw contemplatively.
"I'm sorry" Dave muttered resisting the urge to reach for her.
"It's okay" Her eyes brightened again and returned to gazing into his.
"It was a while ago and with the whole shame to the family dynamic, we'd drifted apart. Not that we were ever close. But that last promise to my mother is a crutch I kind of held on to... You know, my way of wishing or assuming a relationship with her that we never had."
Hearing her explanation, Dave understood what she was trying to say. She did not care for Peter let alone love him. She cared for what their legal relationship represented; a last promise to her now-dead mother.
Her marriage represented something she never had but longed for.
"I understand" he replied, his eyes moving upwards to admire her wavy red hair.
"Why did you dye your hair?" He suddenly asked.
"Are you changing the subject out of heartbreak or are you actually curious?" Hei Yu let out another low giggle and Dave laughed with her.
Suddenly there was a low groan outside the car and they both turned solemn.
"How are you feeling" Hei Yu asked but this time her eyes were trained on the window.
"Like I got hit by a train and dropped in a car of boiling water" Dave replied.
"But we have to kill it" he added, knowing what she was thinking.
"I'll engage this time, stay here" Hei Yu suggested but Dave reached out immediately to stop her.
They both paused and Hei Yu glanced at his hand on her arm then turned to him with a gentle smile.
"I'll be okay" she shook her head.
"Not with a gun." Dave refused.
"We'll fight together, you keep me safe with your shots while I engage it"
Leaving no room to argue, he opened the door and rolled out into the dark of night.
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Dave returned his attention to the three figures in front of him. He recognized the leader in the middle. He was one of the local thugs. Before now, despite having seen him from a distance many times, Dave had never had any interactions with him. “Hey, what do you have there?” One of the thugs, a lanky man with his hair dyed yellow, stepped forward menacingly towards Dave, who took two steps back. “What did you do to him?” Dave asked, gesturing towards Peter's unmoving body. “Ehhh, he's just taking a nap” The lanky man shrugged and glanced back at the other two thugs who chuckled. Further back, Hei Yu continued to struggle, trying to scream something, but her mouth was tied.“This is Mamba territory; what are you stealing from us, huh?” The man in the middle took a step towards Dave while the lanky man continued forward forcing Dave to back up again.“Hey hey, aren't you worried about the police?” Dave tried to discourage further violence.“What are you on about? You broke into t
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