12 Hours Later
June 28, 2075
0701 CDT
The Undead Forest, Between the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico City
Billy Cooper's Point of View
“Sunlight! Finally!” Seina exclaims in glee.
“What are you doing man?!” Anna yells out in horror.
“I’m so sorry. I just get too sweaty when I sleep,” Jake explains as he puts on his pants.
“I wish you’d just disappear sometimes, Jake,” Seina says as she stretches in disbelief. “Abracadabra alakazam,” she chants, using her fingers as an imaginative magic wand.
“Sonya Grey,” Dwayne greets as he stretches. “How the fuck are ya?”
“Fantastic,” Sonya responds in her usual calm, yet serious tone.
“So, where y’all headed?” Dwayne asks with a smile.
“Don’t worry about it,” Sonya replies.
“We know this forest better than anyone else, Sonya,” Dwayne bargains.
“I wonder why,” Sonya says as she continues to maintain eye contact with Dwayne.
“I’m trying to say that we can, uh be your navigators,” Dwayne clarifies.
“We’re not tourists,” Sonya declines.
“Sonya,” General Farrington calls out to her. “I think we could use Dwayne’s help.”
We could?
“Understood,” Sonya complies. “We’ll walk in the same formation as yesterday, but it would be best if we maintained a larger distance from each other… if that’s ok with you and your friends, Dwayne.”
“That’s perfectly fine with me, Sonya. I mean, you never know what dangers could be lurking out here,” Dwayne answers with a grin.
“Psst, Billy,” Seina quietly whispers near me while looking straight ahead as we begin to walk. “No matter what happens, I’m glad I got to meet a fan, my only fan, in fact. I still can’t believe that you changed your mind and wanted to stay up late with me and um, it just meant the world to me that I met someone who paid attention to all of my card tricks.”
“Of course. What are friends for? I think you would get along with a certain friend of mine, but she’s more into gambling than card tricks.”
“Well, both rely on deception and sleight of hand. They’re two sides of the same coin in a way, so it sounds like I would get along with your friend,” she says smiling.
“You’re pretty cool, Seina.”
“Stay still for a second,” she says as she gets close to me.
No way! A kiss on the cheek, my first kiss!
“Billy, there’s something behind your ear,” Seina quickly notifies.
“Huh? Oh, wow!”
A black ace of spades playing cards with a red kiss mark and the words “Pretty Cool” written on it. You are a great magician, Seina.
“Think of it as my autograph,” she explains with a wink.
“Thank you, Seina. I’ll hold on to it for memory.”
*
Anna Robinson’s Point of View
I guess I’ll take your advice and give him one of your hats, Billy.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Jake, I have a gift for you,” I say.
“Oh. Thank you, Anna,” Jake, thanks with a smile as he adjusts his new baseball cap. “So, what’s O-Olympus like?”
Seina wasn’t kidding about you and the sun’s reflection.
“Terrible. What was Scorpius like?”
“Terrible. I guess we finally have something in common,” he states as he puts on the cap.
“I suppose so.”
It’s so peaceful now, but the temperature is heating up like wildfire. Oh, how I do miss the cold air conditioning of the Zodiacs.
“What do you think happens to us after we d-die? The natural d-death I mean,” Jake asks as he flosses his teeth.
“I don’t freaking know!”
“I think that we’ll suffer from eternal d-darkness, or maybe we’ll get to live out our wildest dreams in paradise, but who knows?” Jake continues.
“Yeah, who knows?”
Just stop talking to me, you idiot.
*
5 Hours Later
1256 CDT
Billy Cooper’s Point of View
“Dwayne. You don’t want to do this,” Sonya alerts Dwayne up ahead.
“Sorry, Sonya, but you know how it is!” Dwayne chuckles as he reaches into his vest.
He pulled out a knife?!
Holy Shit.
“Dwayne!!!” Seina screams in terror.
Sonya just fucking sliced Dwayne’s throat open!
And General Farrington just shot…
“SEINA! DWAYNE!” Jake screams out as he opens fire on Sonya.
Sonya’s usin’ Dwayne’s corpse as a human shield, but…SEINA?!
“Billy! Anna! Get down!” General Farrington orders as he returns fire on Jake.
“Fucking bastards!” Jake curses as he slides down a tree trunk for safety.
“Seina?! No, why?!” I say.
“She’s dead, Billy,” General fucking Farrington says. “We have to g-”
“Shut the fuck up, you fuckin’ murderer! You just killed our new friends, and I’m not gonna let you kill our last one!”
“Billy, stop!” General Farrington calls out.
I can do it! I can save Jake; I have to save Jake.
*
“Oh shit!” Jake yells out in fear the moment I reach the ground.
Sonya’s down here already?! She’s so fast!
Jake’s shooting at her but is missing!
“Stop!” Jake says, followed by Sonya kicking his gun away and stabbing him in the stomach, trappin’ him against the tree. “Ugh! It hurts! It hurts so much!” Jake cries out in pain.
Now she just sliced his left arm off with no hesitation whatsoever.
“I have no sympathy for bandit thieves, regardless of our past. You three should’ve left us the fuck alone.” Sonya states in rage.
“Sonya, how could you-” I say.
“Billy Cooper!” Sonya says. “Open your fucking eyes, dumbass! If I hadn’t taken Dwayne hostage last night, then we all would’ve been food for the zombies by now! Don’t you fucking understand?! They were after my Halos and were just waiting for the first opportunity to kill me! You’re not in Brackettville anymore, so grow the fuck up and enter reality like the rest of us! Not everyone you meet is your friend, and I won’t take shit from anybody, especially an ungrateful baby who’s about to criticize me for the dirty shit I have to do to protect everyone!”
She just cut off Jake’s other arm.
“This will be enough,” she says as she chops up his right arm into bits and pieces and puts them into one of her pouches. “Billy! In case you’ve forgotten, there’s a certain mutated that’s attracted to blood. You know, the one we should always avoid no matter what?! Yeah? Well, guess fucking what? We’re in the undead forest where God knows how many Behemoths reside. That means we need to haul ass immediately!” Sonya says as she removes her blade from… Jake’s gut and prepares to fire her Lighting Bolt.
“But can’t we give him a mercy kill?! Sonya! He’s sufferin’!”
“We’re all suffering, Billy. What makes him so special?”
“He’s bleedin’ out!”
“Precisely. His blood and his screaming and the chopped-up pieces of his arms I’ve collected will be used as bait to allow us time to escape.”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t leave him here.”
“Damn it, Billy! I’m sick of your shit! I thought you wanted to be better! We’re in The New World now! The real world! Life doesn’t give a shit whether you’re a tyrant or a saint because we all share the same fate in the end! The only thing that matters is protecting yourself and your loved ones, and you’re going to learn that the hard way at this rate!”
“I don’t care if you hate or abandon me! I’m not leavin’ him like this!”
“You don’t have the guts, and neither does he, so let’s go!”
Gulp. You’re right, Sonya.
“You’re evil, Sonya.”
“I’m whatever I have to be to protect my friends,” she says as she approaches the half-dead Jake. “Jake, tell Dwayne I said, “you know how it is,” if you reunite with him and Seina in hell.”
You just stabbed him in the head, like it was nothin’.
“Billy, stop crying!” She says. “Fuck! Dwayne!” She shouts in fear as we use our grappling hooks to reunite with the others.
*
“Sonya, we need to leave!” General Farrington yells as he finishes collecting pieces of… Seina’s mutilated arms.
“Is Dwayne mutating?” Anna asks in concern.
“Yes, he tried to wait until I was tired before he attempted to kill me, but he obviously miscalculated and paid with his life,” Sonya explains. “In case you forgot, Halos are identified by the faint blue tint they give off and, a side effect of Halos is that they indirectly speed up mutations of a corpse upon contact with the skin, which is why only the most skilled fighters are entrusted with one. I ended up slicing his throat open by mistake, but I could’ve fixed it if someone hadn’t gotten in my way as I dealt with Jake.”
I think this was my fault…
“Can’t we just kill him now?!” Anna asks in worry.
“And risk attracting even more zombies to our location?” Sonya says. “Bad idea, not to mention the fact that we don’t know what kind of creature he’s mutating into, which means his brain could be anywhere by now.”
“We’re not sticking around to find out,” General Farrington says.
“Exactly. Our best option is to get the fuck out of here while we still can,” Sonya explains.
“I’m sorry, Sonya,” I say.
“I’ll accept your weak-ass apology after we complete the mission, Billy.”