Chapter Two

Elysia’s mind snapped into focus as she lay on her back in the muddy crater. With growing confusion, she scanned her surroundings. Her mind flashed back to a bright light, then nothing. Despite finding her memory blank, a shiver ran through her body as phantom pains assaulted her body.

Her thoughts paused as a long list of text displayed itself in her vision. She blinked several times, but the text remained, forcing her to read it.

Status

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 1 Lightning-Touched Human

Class: None

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Eye color: Purple

Hair color: White

Height: 160 centimeters

Weight: 49.6 kilograms

Charge: 98/100

Despite assuming she hit her head, her hands gravitated to her hair, then hugged herself while glaring at the physical information, creeped out.

As if following her wishes, the status screen morphed, removing her physical description, leaving only her name, race, and vital stats. Now convinced it was all in her head, her eyes traveled down the status menu to the next section.

Attributes

Strength: 3

Dexterity: 5

Endurance: 8

Intelligence: 9

Perception: 5

Elysia puffed her cheeks as she fumed quietly. “I’m not weak. Sure, I struggle with pull-ups, but those are unfair and should be banned.”

She glared at the last small section, willing the evil status menu to die, but it ignored her wish.

Affinities

Lightning level 1.

Moans and shuffling drew her attention away from the status screen, which disappeared on its own. She tried to crawl up the muddy wall of the crater, digging her fingers into the slick surface to gain purchase. Halfway up, she lost her grip, sliding to the bottom and eliciting a squeak as she coated the front of her dress in mud.

Elysia glared up at the offending wall as she climbed to her feet. She planted her right foot to propel herself up the wall but slipped, face planting in the mud.

“Dammit!” she shouted, punching the mud in anger.

The sounds of moans and shuffling neared, attracted by her outburst, freezing her solid. She held her breath as her wide eyes tilted to the top of the crater.

She waited with bated breath for over a minute until the shuffling moved away. A shuttered sigh escaped her mouth, but she remained still, too terrified to move. Another minute passed before her curiosity got the better of her. Quiet as a mouse, she stood and inched toward the wall with careful steps on the slippery mud.

Elysia kicked off her golden flats before digging her fingers deep into the mud to begin her ascent. This time, with the added grip of her toes, she reached the top. She peeked over the edge, scanning her surroundings. Her eyes landed on the shattered coffins scattered about the forest floor between massive tree trunks. Against her will, her gaze gravitated into the crater below her to find wood fragments buried in the mud.

Her arms strained as she pulled herself out of the crater. She stood and rotated in a circle. Befuddled, Elysia’s gaze traveled up the massive tree trunks as they disappeared into the dark. From her many hours spent running through forest trails, she knew there weren’t any trees this big within hours.

She crouched down by a half-intact coffin, shivering at the sight. Did she fall into a forgotten cemetery? No, she knew the section of woods she ran through. It was a dense, undeveloped evergreen forest, but it didn’t have old-growth trees.

Next, she glanced at her right wrist, only to find a bare, mud-covered arm. Where did her watch go? Her eyes ran down her body, causing her to stiffen. Why was she wearing a dress? Did someone kidnap her? She shivered in revulsion at the thought of a stranger dressing her.

A familiar long groan broke her out of her thoughts. She tiptoed toward the sound, hiding behind a tree trunk several times wider than her before peeking out at the source of the sound.

She stared frozen stiff, eyes wide, watching a group of half-decayed bodies shambling through the forest a dozen meters away. After a few seconds, her mind rebooted, prompting her to retreat behind the tree. Her back glued itself to the tree trunk as her heart beat like a drum. She trembled as she held her breath, too terrified to make a sound.

Several minutes passed before the forest returned to silence. She tentatively peeked around the trunk, finding the undead gone.

Her legs turned to mush as she slid down the trunk to the soggy ground. Zombies? How? Her eyes gravitated toward the crater, causing another thought to form. Did I die? Am I undead, too?

Elysia shook her head at the absurdity of it as she regained control over her body. She knew zombies didn’t exist. Figuring she had a nasty concussion, she disregarded the thoughts of zombies and status screens—or at least tried. Memories of her sister forcing her to watch zombie movies leaked into her mind, ratcheting her panic.

Eager to get moving, she used the tree for support as she stood, taking one last scan of the coffin-covered clearing before walking around the tree. Despite telling herself otherwise, her head swiveled, scanning every tree for zombies as she walked.

After fifteen minutes of silent trekking, she stopped at a wrought-iron fence. She eyed a massive tree trunk grown through the fence to her right. Despite the evidence right in front of her, she stared at the fence in disbelief. She knew there was no way this fence was old enough for a tree that big to grow through it. Unless Native Americans learned how to make a European-styled fence hundreds of years before they made contact. Beyond shocked, she shrugged her shoulders as she turned left, following the fence.

Five minutes later, Elysia stumbled upon a paved road with trees speared through it. She stared down at the road, head tilted in confusion. “Okay. Something is seriously up. How could a massive tree grow out of an asphalt road? Did they pave around the tree?” she muttered, unable to suspend her disbelief any longer.

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Her eyes gravitated to the mossy concrete arch over the open iron gate on her right. The barely legible engraved name on the arch caused her heart to skip a beat. “Evergreen Cemetery?”

Elysia spun on her heels, frantically scanning the dense forest. Panic grew as familiar landmarks stood out in the overgrown cemetery. She dashed down the street, bisecting the once cemetery and weaving through trees that had sprouted through the pavement as she followed landmarks engraved into her mind.

Her breathing became erratic as she neared her target—a gravestone next to the crater she woke up in. She fell to her knees in front of the intact gravestone, tears flowing from her eyes.

Tempa Arashi

June 17, 1983–May 8, 2006

Devoted wife and mother of twins taken too soon.

Almost against her will, her eyes gravitated toward another shattered gravestone with an all-too-familiar name. Like a truck, the memory of her death rammed into her mind. Elysia collapsed to the muddy ground, curling into a ball, unable to cope. Under her mud-caked skin, purple veins glowed as tears flowed from her amethyst eyes glued to the shattered gravestone with her name engraved on it.

Despite the sounds of groaning nearby, Elysia continued to stare at her gravestone, dead to the world. Zombies shambled by, but they ignored the curled-up woman, who was silently staring at her own grave as they moved past.

She remained motionless for over half an hour before her rational mind wrestled back control, pushing her emotions down as her veins dimmed.

Still sluggish from her meltdown, she struggled to her feet. Her eyes remained glued to the shattered gravestone for a minute longer before wiping away tears with a trembling hand. A determined expression took hold as she tore her gaze away from her grave. Her violet eyes landed on her mother’s grave. “I don’t know how I am alive, but I won’t waste this opportunity. Sorry, Mom. It looks like I won’t see you for a while longer. I’m sure you understand.”

Though still shaken from her discovery, she forced herself forward, knowing dwelling here would do her no good. Her stiff legs loosened with each stride as she jogged through the trees to the right of her mother’s gravestone, approaching the tree-speared road. Now that she knew where she was, she returned to the entrance five minutes later.

Goosebumps formed as she stepped under the arch, causing her to glance over her shoulder. Her eyes landed on a herd of a dozen zombies shambling her way. A scream ripped from her throat, and she took off in a sprint down the road. Faster than she ever ran before, she dashed down the overgrown sidewalk, scraping her bare feet raw in her haste.

A half-skeletal arm shot out through the fence, grabbing her dress with an ironclad grip. The mud-caked fabric tore as Elysia fell sideways toward the fence. Before she could recover, another rotten arm latched onto her right forearm. The arm pulled her toward the fence, slamming her shoulder hard against the iron bars.

She pulled with all her might, but she couldn’t break free. Her skin bruised, indenting against the bending bars. Elysia screamed as her shoulder dislocated. Violet eyes glowed, static writhing around her trapped arm. A sudden wave of dizziness muddied her mind as a stream of electricity released from her hand and jumped to the fence bars.

-50 Charge.

The purple electricity arced between the bars, zapping the crowd of zombies gathered at the fence. A burned flesh smell filled the air as the zombie latched onto her arm jerked back, releasing her. She fell away from the fence, stumbling a few steps before regaining her bearings. Without looking back, Elysia took off in a sprint again, crossing the street as her right arm dangled limply at her side. She continued to run for several kilometers before stopping to lean against a traffic light, panting for breath. Pain laced through her shoulder with every breath, eliciting a whimper. Too terrified of attracting further zombies, she clamped her mouth shut.

With tear-filled eyes, Elysia surveyed her surroundings, finding herself alone. With the traffic light acting as support, she clenched her eyes shut before grabbing her limp right arm with her left, popping it back into the socket. Red-hot pain seared through her nerves, filling the silent street with screams as she collapsed to her knees.

Several minutes passed with Elysia rocking on her knees, whimpering as the pain died down to a throb. With a pain-induced headache pounding in her skull, she opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she found herself alone, only to aggravate her shoulder. Too terrified to stay still, Elysia pushed down the pain while climbing to her feet.

She glanced at the street signs to find herself at the corner of Emerson Drive and Settler Lane. After a scan to ensure she was still alone, she pressed forward, each step aggravating her shoulder.

Another pain soon joined her shoulder, drawing her attention downward to discover bloody footprints. While cradling her useless arm, she twisted and lifted her right foot to find it worn raw.

She glanced across the street at the 24-hour pharmacy. After surveying her surroundings again, ensuring the area was zombie-free, she limped across the street into the pharmacy with a lit open sign. With practiced precision, she zeroed in on the first-aid section, grabbing disinfectant, gauze, and a pack of non-stick pads before approaching the counter, only to find it empty.

Elysia looked up at the camera before grabbing a pen and piece of paper from the counter with her good arm, then she wrote her phone number, knowing they would recognize her as she visited often after injuring herself running.

Elysia then limped into the bathroom and hopped onto the counter. A whimper ripped from her mouth, but she pushed it down as she set her feet in the sink. Pained tears formed as she washed away the dirt and blood to reveal the mangled soles of her feet. She next poured disinfectant on the scrapes and waited for the sizzling to die down before applying the pads. While holding the pads in place, she wrapped her feet liberally. With her feet taken care of, she gently dropped to the tiled floor, hissing in pain.

She limped out of the bathroom and grabbed a pair of flip-flops from a rack as she gave a sorry look at the camera. I hope I can make it home.

Elysia exited the pharmacy, taking a left down the sidewalk to continue her journey. The stinging from her feet died down to a mild throb as she wandered past the illuminated but deserted stores with green vegetation growing on roofs and along the brick walls. Some had trees growing through them or were collapsed, but the majority remained standing with power.

Each step was a struggle, traveling down the road leading out of town in pitch-black darkness. Fortunately, unlike most roads, the dense forest remained along its edges, sparing her from face planting into a tree trunk. Still, her feet and shoulder throbbed as she traveled several kilometers before reaching a driveway to her right.

In a practiced motion, she turned onto the dirt driveway. A couple minutes later, the driveway opened into a moonlight-lit clearing with a house nestled between several large redwood trees. Her eyes landed on the redwoods with confusion, but beyond exhausted, she put them out of her mind as she approached the house.

Tension left her shoulders as she trotted past a familiar old Chevy pickup and up to the front door. She checked the door, finding it locked, so she circled around back. After trying the back door, finding it also locked, she frowned. Odd, they never locked the back door. It wasn’t like they had anything worth stealing.

She turned toward a weather-worn brown shed a dozen meters from the house next to a small pond. Finally, her third attempt succeeded as she found the shed unlocked. While being extra careful of sharp objects, she weaved around gardening tools to the back. Elysia lifted herself on her toes, trembling from a jab of pain through her feet as she blindly slid her hand along the top shelf, finding a key.

Key in hand, she exited the shed, closing the door behind her before trotting up to the back door. Elysia slid the key into the hole before turning the lock and pushing the door open. After peeking inside, finding all the lights off, she pushed the door open, wincing at the loud creaking. How many times did she have to tell her dad to buy some damn silicone spray? She hoped she didn’t wake them up as she stepped inside.

Elysia glanced down at her dirty, mummified feet clad in mud-caked flip-flops. Afraid to hurt her feet worse, she carefully slid off the flip-flops, throwing them in the garbage to the right of the door before tiptoeing through the kitchen, bearing with the throbbing.

A left turn took her down a short hall with a bathroom on the left side, followed by another two doors on the right. Upon turning on the bathroom light, she saw her muddy trail, causing her to glance toward the door at the end of the fall with an apologetic expression. “Sorry, Dad.”

She grabbed a white towel from the shelf, wrapping it around her muddy, bandaged feet. Next, she fetched another towel before dropping to her hands and knees and following her path, wiping away her trail. Satisfied, she threw the now brown towel in the laundry basket. Stars danced in her eyes as pain speared through her shoulder.

Warning! Charge 25.

A wave of dizziness assaulted her, forcing her to rest her hand against the wall. Numbness spread through her body, washing away her pain but turning her limbs to lead. Elysia stared at the door to her left with her now blurry vision with a conflicted expression before entering her room.

Without bothering to flip the light on, she stripped away the filthy dress, dropping it on the floor before flopping face-first on her bed.

Within seconds, Elysia passed out, naked on top of her covers.

A few minutes after Elysia fell asleep, a familiar moaning and shuffling neared her bedroom window.