“About time you stopped.” said Jaime as he looked at the calmer Daniel, who was still sitting on the sofa. Carmen, on the other hand, was sleeping. Jaime walked up to the window and looked at the mayhem below, then he smiled. It was so long since he saw this familiar sight.

People running around and hiding, the zombies chasing them, the good old times. He then gave a long sigh, thinking of his past weak self. Jaime then facepalmed. He was in his old weak body right now.

“Jaime, is there a cure?” asked Daniel with a serious tone.

“None that I can think of.” said Jaime as he remembered that he thought of the same thing last time.

“Oh, then, the zombies can’t be saved?” he asked again.

“There is a way, they can be saved.” said Jaime sarcastically.

Daniel didn’t seem to get it and asked “If so, let’s save everyone.”

“Well, then let’s kill all the zombies and free them of their curse.” said Jaime while looking at a policewoman being devoured by one of her former comrades. They’d soon be comrades again. “So, are you up for it?”

“Of course not, I can’t bring myself to kill anyone.” said Daniel, then Carmen nodded, who just stood up.

“Me neither.” said Carmen.

The previously silent Mike added “I don’t want to if I can avoid it.”

Then Carmen said with an angry yet quiet voice, trying to not attract any attention towards the garage “How can you even say that? What if your family was outside and they were in the same situation.”

“I’d save them if I can, there’s no way we’re gonna risk our lives for strangers, right?” Mike turned his towards Jaime.

“Of course we can’t afford that, but if it’s a family member, we’ll try to retrieve them.” said Jaime indifferently.

“How can you be so heartless!” shouted Daniel as he grabbed him by the colar.

“I’d advise against that, without me, your demise is assured. Anyways, you can’t kill me.” said Jaime with a mocking tone.

Then Daniel released his grip and asked with a sad voice “Are you really the Jaime I know?”

“Who knows.” he said while walking down the stairs.

“Hey, wait up.” said Mike as he ran after him.

The two who were left sat in silence for a while before Carmen opened her mouth “I want to thank Jaime for saving us, but, do you want to run away with me?”

“What about Mike?” asked Daniel, looking at her into the eye.

“He’s just like Jaime, but I don’t want to leave him with such a psycho. If only he’d just run away with us two.” said Carmen with a sad voice. Then her eyes brightened as if she had an idea “How about asking him?”

“No way, if we ask him unsure of his answer, he’ll tell Jaime. And we don’t want to upset someone like him.” said Daniel with a serious tone, as if his life would be decided by this conversation.

“I get the feeling he’ll abandon us one day.” said Carmen with a frown, who didn’t know that the only reason Jaime was being so unreasonable was to protect them.

“Let’s stick with him for a while and run when we get the chance.” said Daniel, to which Carmen agreed.

Whereas, the other two were going through the first floor, looking at the various equipment and tools for fixing cars. There were all kinds of things, some strange like big nails and somehow, a toothbrush.

Two red rugs were in the middle of the room, which of course, looked awkward in a mechanical shop. It was dirty, meaning it was here for years, if not decades. “What’s this?” asked Jaime as he pointed at it.

“Well, uncle said there are scorch marks which wouldn’t look good with customers over, so he covered it.” said Mike indifferently.

Jaime looked at the ring that could be seen from under the carpet and said “That shouldn’t be the case.” while peeling the rug off the ground.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

There was a wooden basement door, with a metal ring to pull it open with. “The hell, uncle hid it from me all these years?” said Mike in disbelief.

Then Jamie pulled it open with much difficulty, considering his weak build. “Let’s see.” he said while peeking into it. There was the strong smell of a closed space, meaning it wasn’t opened in years.

“I’m going in, you keep watch.” said Jaime as he climbed down the metal ladder that came out of the stone walls.

It wasn’t that long of a descent, as he reached the bottom 3 meters down. Jaime took out his phone and used the flashlight to illuminate the darkness.

*Click!*

A blue light fell on the wall in front of him, which was yellow in color. It looked awfully like one a house would have. Jaime looked around and noticed a switch to his right. Then he clicked it.

*Click!*

A bright yellow light covered the room and Jaime was blinded for a second.

When his eyes adjusted to the light, Jaime looked around. It was a living room. The size was roughly 20 square meters and it looked cozy.

There was a red sofa turned at a 32 inch TV on top of a wooden platform, a fridge in the back. Also, there was a pool table, a table football and there were various board games stacked up on top of each other in the corner.

There was a dining table with 6 chairs. There was also a room next to the platform which the TV was standing on. Curious, Jaime opened it, which revealed a bedroom with 2 master beds. There was also a big wardrobe at the corner. Also, next to it was another door, which was locked.

Jaime then found out that there wasn’t much to explore, so he climbed up the ladder and got out. There, Mike was currently looking through the things they brought, which Carmen had joined. Daniel was probably lying up there.

“Sup, we have a home now.” said Jaime as he walked up to them.

“What?” asked Carmen, a little confused.

“There’s a storm shelter in the basement.” he said with a smile.

“Ugh, Uncle Tom, just why.” said Mike as he pressed his head.

Then Carmen scolded him “It’s your fault for not coming here even once after he inherited it to you.”

“Hey, I live in a dorm, okay?” said Mike with a wronged expression.

“Honestly, how can you two be so carefree, there are people dying outside.” said Daniel, who was standing near them now.

Carmen had a sad expression, while Mike was as normal as he could be. Jaime sighed as he looked at them.

“Well, let’s go down to the basement, shall we?” asked Mike with a smile.

“I’ll stand watch outside, in case someone breaks in. You three go in, I already saw the insides.” said Jaime as he walked upstairs.

Daniel and Carmen had a strange expression on their faces, but complied. Mike didn’t even bother thinking about it and jumped in.

Jaime looked through the window and saw a child being eaten after possibly coming to a police for help, which was already a zombie by the way. There was a person dressed in a black suit who had a short hair and the gender couldn’t be known so easily. He/she was around 16, the same as them.

The person was running from a few zombies and was quite fast. Jaime then saw that his/her speed could be needed in the future, but watched for a while.

The person then grabbed a metal pole from the ground and slammed it into one’s head, blowing the contents away. Then she used the momentum and blew out the brains out of another.

‘Woah, is she a martial artist?’ thought Jaime, a little surprised. ‘I guess I’ll help that person, she looks useful.’

He then quickly strode downstairs and opened the lock with the key that was still attached to it after grabbing a small axe.

*Click!*

He then swung the door open and shouted “It’s safe here!”

The person then ran up to the door as fast as humanly possible and jumped inside. The door was closed after her arrival. How Jaime knew? Because a non-K-POP man would never look like this.

She panted for a while before her breathing returned to normal and she looked up at Jaime “Why did you help me?” Her voice had a tint of irritation.

“Because you looked useful, are you a martial artist?” asked Jaime with a smile.

“Didn’t you think I was infected?” she asked.

“Nope, there was no way that someone like you could afford to be bitten by these weaklings. Anyway, why don’t you introduce yourself?”

“You can call me Emi, and weaklings?”

“Yep, they are only the harbingers of the apocalypse, you could say. They’ll go through mutation and become far stronger and dangerous.” said Jaime while thinking of the past. In only a few years, every zombie became as strong as a bodybuilder. Some became even stronger, some faster, some smarter and some more sensitive.

“Then that means-“ said Emi but was stopped halfway by Jaime.

“We don’t have a chance?” asked Jaime.

Emi nodded.

“Well, it’s not like we won’t be mutated too.” said Jaime, shrugging his shoulders.

“How do you know so much?” she said, looking at him with skeptical eyes.

“Oh, my father is a genetic engineer who works in a secret lab in China. We actually predicted something like this would happen, so we were prepared. But who’d think the government would destroy the lab and all our research with it after hearing our news. Thankfully, dad and I were in here when it happened.” said Jaime with a sad look and sighed.

“Oh, how convenient, finding a scientist living all alone by himself in a garage.” she said with a sarcastic tone.

“Well, it is convenient, but I’m not alone. My friends are in the basement.” he said which tensed Emi up.

“If you mean you’re a murderer or some mad scientist trying to test on me, think again, you won’t beat me with such a weak body.” she said with an evil smirk.

“Ugh, I don’t like being misunderstood.” said Jaime as he sighed “There’s a storm shelter underground.”

“Stop your babbling, I know you’re lying.” said Emi as she didn’t even move one inch since taking her fighting pose. “Why else would you help me?”

“I said before, you look useful. If you stay here, I’m thinking of using you as a scout. That’s better than living alone, right?” asked Jaime with a bored expression and walked upstairs.

“I’d advise against going into the basement, my friends might think you killed me and proceeded to the shelter.” said Jaime, when Emi dropped her stance.

“Hey, aren’t you scared that I might kill you when you’re not looking!” she shouted.

“Nope, since you won’t kill me anyways. It’s not like you can either.” he said fully disappeared from Emi’s field of vision.