'Why? Why? Why?'
'Why won't I wake up from this nightmare?' Rachel screamed in her heart as she scrambled out of the locked bathroom and back into the room.
She noticed the wooden door had long disappeared, scorch marks licking the walls and floors.
- BOOM!
- BOOM!
- GRRR!
The sounds of rapidly approaching explosions and feral growls made her cry in fear, as her body trembled greatly, her heart beating so fast against her chest she felt it hard to breathe.
She quickly scrambled to the other wall of the room, opposite from the approaching explosions, and huddled against it. Tears streaked down her pale face.
She was tired. The fear that had gripped her these past days had been so much she had felt numb to it. She had thought she had accepted her fate.
Yet, feeling death approach made her realize she had been wrong.
She didn't want to die!
The only reason she had felt that way was because she had been able to enter a group that had offered her some medium of protection. They had made her feel somewhat safe, even if for only a short time.
Yet, that group had abandoned her.
First, they had shunned her, probably deeming her useless. They hadn't thought of adding her to their plans. And most importantly, they had not hesitated to leave her, a fellow student and a surviving human in this apocalypse.
Rachel's hands clenched tightly as thick hatred flashed in her hazel eyes.
'I hate them. I hate them so much. They have such wicked hearts. How could they just leave me like that?'
'They were the ones who abandoned me first! So I also had no choice.'
The more she thought of it, the angrier she felt. Especially vivid was the image of a short dark-haired boy with matching eyes that refused to leave her mind.
The way he had looked at her, threatened her! Those eyes that had gazed at her as if she were nothing!
She didn't know how she had offended Kael. Of course, she knew him. He was popular in the academy after all. They had never really had much interaction, but even if she had offended him in some ways she couldn't remember, was it enough to justify such harsh treatment?
Rachel's jaws tightened, a malevolent light flashing within the depth of her eyes.
It was then it happened.
- BAM!
"AHH!" Rachel screamed in panic, all her thoughts on revenge scattering like smoke in the wind when she felt something land a short distance away from her, from the opened entrance.
Her body trembled, as she quickly covered her mouth with her hands and held her breath, praying whatever horror was there had not heard her voice.
"Rose!"
Her shut eyes opened involuntarily when she heard that scream, and she quickly raised her lowered head to see an undead lying helplessly just a short distance away from her.
- Thump! Thump!
- Thump! Thump!
Rachel felt her heart beating faster, this time not out of fear. No! The beat was fast, sure, but there was a steady cadence to it this time.
The fear in her eyes quickly morphed into greed, and before she knew what she was doing, her body lunged forward, her hand pulling out the kitchen knife she held hidden in her bag. She arrived before the undead whose head was in her room, and its other body was still in the corridor. The zombie seemed to be neutralized, its limbs twisted in unnatural angles.
Yet, when her eyes met those unhinged crimson eyes, Rachel trembled in fear, her body almost instinctively retreating.
'No! I won't have this opportunity again!'
'This is my only chance to grow stronger!'
"AH!" She gathered all her courage and jumped, her knife driving into the skull of the undead. Yet, despite this zombie not having bone armor and looking frail in terms of size compared to the others, it was still a creature enhanced by mana, corrupted or not.
The knife barely plunged into the decayed flesh before it snapped. Black blood splattered on Rachel's terrified face. She quickly shut her mouth to prevent the blood from corrupting her.
She had seen her friends turned from bites, and even mere scratches. She didn't want to test if ingesting their blood would also turn her as shown in movies.
"HMMM!"
A muffled scream escaped from her clenched mouth as she raised the snapped knife and plunged it into the undead's head at the same spot.
- SQUELCH!
'DIE!'
- SQUELCH!
'JUST DIE YOU MONSTER!'
Her knife repeatedly stabbed at the same spot and slowly but surely, the decayed flesh was giving way.
Yet, Rachel couldn't relax at the sight, as she suddenly felt movement in front of her.
Her raised hand stopped, the knife in it practically composed of just its hilt and a small steel shard. Her eyes widened at the little girl that had appeared before her.
"What the hell are you doing? This undead is meant for me!" Rose shouted in anger, her cute voice holding a deep seething wrath, one that was barely being restrained. That undead was prepared for her by her brother to control with her abilities, yet the first thing she saw was this figure—who had shut them out of the room and had almost cost them their lives—about to ruin their plan.
'The sister...' Rachel thought in her heart, her fear slowly returning now that the adrenaline had ebbed. She could see that behind the little girl was Senior Nathan, while in the room across from her was the little girl, Sophia, trying to heal Alice who was lying in her crying sister's embrace with burn marks covering her skin.
Claire, hearing Rose shout, quickly shifted her attention from the healing Alice to the front entrance, causing her eyes to widen when they locked with Rachel's own hazel eyes.
'I have to move now! Just once more!'
Rachel quickly stabbed what was left of the knife down, but the little girl suddenly rammed into her, sending her sprawling to the ground.
'This little bitch!' Rachel's eyes flashed with hatred, as the weapon in her hand moved towards the small body on top of her. Yet, her hand had barely moved a few inches when an iron grip wrapped around it and stopped it dead in its tracks.
Nathan's emerald eyes looked upon her with a chilling icy disdain.
"You are disgusting!"
The little girl scrambled away from her before quickly approaching the undead, not even willing to spare her another glance.
'That is my kill!' Rachel roared in her heart. She wanted to shout at the hateful brat to stop. Not to take her kill. But looking at Nathan's eyes made her think otherwise.
Those eyes seemed to have lost their usual softness and cheerfulness. Only disgust and apathy returned her gaze.
"You are hurting me." She couldn't help but groan out as she felt his grip tightening. Yet despite hearing her voice, Nathan's hand only grew firmer.
Scared, she screamed, her hatred and anger seeping into her voice:
"Let me go!"
"I say let me go! You bastard!"
Rachel cried out, the familiar tears returning to her eyes. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare. She only wanted for it to stop.
While all these events sounded long to explain, the truth was that from the moment Kael threw the undead to now, barely thirty breaths had passed. After all, Rose and the others had reacted quickly once they heard Kael's voice. Which was also why Rachel had been able to cause significant harm on the undead, not that she could in the first place with her meager strength and mundane weapon. Her mind was simply interpreting what she wanted, what she hoped would happen.
Nathan, whose eyes narrowed at the screaming mess below him, didn't know what to do. He felt so angry to the point he wanted to hurt this junior of his. Yet, he just couldn't bring himself to. Thankfully, fate didn't seem to want him to carry such a burden as a loud explosion suddenly rocked the entire building, their senses overwhelmed by the sound.
*****
AN: Thank you for reading. Vote power stones if you enjoyed the chapter😁.