I held my breath. Making a break for the corner so I can maybe somehow make it out alive from ths shitty situation.

One… two… three… nothing.

A little more.

One… two... where are they!

That sound was too loud to not be heard. I was pretty sure that if I dropped a pencil on the floor earlier they would’ve all just come running for my head.

Like a teacher walking around during an exam and as soon as your eyes wander just a little bit to the left, they slam your desk with a ruler or call out your name like. “Jack, stop looking around and focus!” or something like that.

Well, anyways, if you don’t know by now. I tend to think useless thoughts and analogies while in the middle of a life threatening crisis. Don’t worry, it just helps me with stress. Ya know like those small, soft, yet still hard stress balls that help with stress. Well it’s like that except thinking of comparisons!

Thump...thump.

Ah, here they fucking come! Well, I’ve lived a good life. Goodbye. It’s been a good ride so far. Honestly, making it this far should be like an achievement or highscore in some messed up video game… or a very well made one. Depends on how you look at it.

Thump...thump.

Why is this thing so slow! Can’t it go any faster eh? If you’re gonna kill me atleast do it quickly! It can be boring knowing that at the end it's all hopeless in what you can do.

From the corner of the stairs, I could see long black hair flowing down. Wait, long black hair? The fuck? Why does it look so nice too? A former model?

“Hurry up! What the hell are you doing Jack?”

Oh? Never have I been more glad to hear that annoying harsh voice than I do now. I’m safe!

“Well? Are you going to stand there and die or will you come back up? Are you an idiot?”

Ah, ok, nvm, I'll take it back. Hello zombies? I’d like to make an appointment with you. If I have to be stuck in this apocalyptic world with someone who is gonna be this annoying then I’d rather just go next like in a game of League of legends. ‘Ff 15!’

….Just kidding.

“I have never been more delighted to see you in this moment than I am now, Kayla.” I whispered.

I don’t know if she heard or not but her eyes widened and her body flinched for a moment but then just cleared her throat. She looked back up and motioned her hand at me to come towards her.

Am I hallucinating or is she a little red? Is she sick? I’ll repay her with some hot tea or cocoa later. Maybe a hot towel or something to cool her down.

Smiling, I shuffled on over to the stairs and looked up to where Kayla was looking.

How is there no zombie hoard running down to come eat my brains after that loud noise? Are they still at the very top banging on that roof door? Either way, there’s no way all of them are just gone, is there?

Kayla turned back towards me with her finger to her lips as if I didn’t know to be quiet.

Like, seriously? Do you think I want to go through the same thing I went through outside just two minutes ago? Sometimes I don’t know if she’s doing it on purpose or if she seriously thinks shushing me will result in me being quieter than the kid in the back of your class who never talked.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

I mean, I was the quiet kid in the back who never talked, but that’s beside the point.

We crept quietly up the stairs until we reached our floor. When we peeked our heads around the corner and into the hallway, even though the lights were off we were still able to make out that no one was there.

With Kayla in front of me, she kept one hand gripped on my arm as if she was worried about me running away or something. The other placed in front of her like she's a spider trying to look small.

She is so close to me that I could smell the shampoo she used from which I assumed was her place. Because sure as hell I don’t have anything that smells like some type of foreign flower that had the scent of an angel.

Trying to pull away just an inch, she didn’t even look back before yanking me closer to her. Even more than before…

Personal space? None? Okay. I understand. At least lend me your shampoo so I can smell good too. I reek of close death scenarios. Wait… did I just trigger a death flag?

She walked forward, using her hand to follow along the wall. Without saying a word, we inched through the hallway until we arrived at our door. Kayla shook my arm without looking back and I understood what that meant.

Taking my keys out, I placed them in her other hand that stretched out towards me. She opened the door and we shuffled inside. Closing the door behind us I clicked the locks shut and took a huge breath of relief.

Placing my back against the door, I slid my hyperventilating ass down and proceeded to process all that occured. My head hung low, with my arms limp beside me.

I almost died. No doubt about it, that fucker almost killed me! Not even human beings are safe anymore. What is left with humanity? Ahh, let me just turn on my PC and hop into a few games to blow off some steam. I can’t handle this anymore. What the fuck happened to this world…

“Seeing you so down is abnormal.” Kayla said, sliding down the wall on my side.

I could feel a slight kicking sensation on my foot so I glanced up. Kayla was playfully nudging me with her own foot, until finally laying both her legs on mine like a resting stool.

“Do I look like an ottoman to you? A shoe rack?” I said without a hint of playfulness in my voice.

“Mmm… not quite.” she replied.

I looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

Is this girl trying to piss me off? If so, I’m really not in the mood.

“You look… like a puzzle.”

Ok… how do I even respond to that, What is a puzzle supposed to look like? Confusing? Frustration? Because that’s definetly the first thing that comes to mind when I think of puzzles. Ah, she really is trying to get on my nerves!

“I could see you giving me a dirty look. I know I’m pretty and all but don’t start getting any funny ideas and try to use the situation at hand to fulfil your unspeakable desires! Just because you're sad doesn’t mean I’ll give in!”

With my mouth open in disbelief, I raised my hand to stop her from accusing me with her projections.

“A puzzle because you are looking like scattered pieces right now.” she continued.

“Listen, I’m really not in the mood fo--”

“Once you finish a puzzle, and have all the pieces in order, you believe the image to be quite beautiful, amazing. But that feeling doesn’t last forever. And after a while you lose interest and move on to the next puzzle under your bed.

“An uncompleted puzzle however, is quite different. They are interesting. Something to look forward to at the end of the day. Something that you can’t wait to fill all the pieces for and have that sense of fulfilment. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

No, not a clue. You are talking nonsense right now. Of course, I can’t really say that with the mood right now huh? I can read the room!

“That dumb look is telling me no. Hah… I’m saying.” Kayla got scooted over to me until our shoulders were connected at the corner of the wall. “That I can only rely on you to make things interesting. I’m looking forward to your completed puzzle.”

Kayla smiled at me with her annoyingly cute smile that puffed out her cheeks with her eyes closed. Highlighting her slightly red cheeks would earn me a smack huh? Let’s just let that moment slide for now.

“Mm… I underst--”

“Mission success.”

Ding!

My eyes widened as two hundred credits flew into my currency icon in front of me.

Holy shit! I almost forgot about the quest, this can be so helpfu-

“What was that?”

Hm?

Turning slowly towards Kayla, I could see her stare in the position of the giant text box in my face.

Uh-oh.