“William, you don’t have to do this. Please. Please just stay here.”
“I’m sorry, darling. There’s only space for one of us; you’ll be safe with them.”
“But I don’t want to be safe without you! I’d rather not board the ship if I can’t be with-”
“No!” William growled and turned back to his wife. “It’s…” He hung his head and squeezed his eyes shut. “I’m sorry, Amber. It’s too dangerous. I can’t… I can’t guarantee your safety. And I can’t afford to lose you…”
Tears streamed down his face as his wife hugged him tightly. He tried to pull away, but Amber held on fast. “No, I’m not letting go. Till death do us part, remember?” Amber’s face glistened with tears as she buried her head in his chest.
A loud horn blared, indicating the last ten minutes before the cruise leaves the sector as movement increased around them. People rushed towards the large ship in hopes of finding their final salvation, splitting around the couple like water flowing around a rock. Amber shook her head in defiance, her red hair bobbing slightly as William forcibly pulled her hands away.
“I’ll be back for you, I promise. You're a better engineer than me; the government will definitely take care of you,” he said, trying his best to placate her.
“But how about you?!”
“I was granted this power for a reason, babe. I can take care of myself.” William clenched his fists, looking away at the looming ship with a freshly painted ‘SECTOR 16’ on its side. “I have to find a way to reverse this apocalypse. It's the only way we can finally be safe together.”
“I love you,” Amber whispered in his ear as she took him in a final embrace. “Don’t you ever forget that. And no matter what happens, no matter what you do, that will never change. I’ll always be supporting you.”
“I’ll fix this world for us, I promise.”
“I know you will. Promise me you’ll stay safe.”
William’s eyes glistened as Ambers’ lips brushed against his; softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, just long enough that he could inhale her breath for the last time. He did not protest; they both knew that he would never leave if they had lingered for even a second longer.
“I promise.”
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“Hey, you’re finally awake. We just crossed the border.”
William stirred. “What border…?” he mumbled sleepily, curling himself up even more.
“Sector 162, sleepy head. We’re just entered Sector 163.”
A small rumble shook him awake. A salty tang of seawater lingered in the air as William stepped out of the car. He rubbed his eyes like a baby; the few days of constant activity had seriously messed up his sleep cycle. The pale crescent moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky as the group walked towards a deserted town in the distance.
“I don’t like this, Victor,” William whispered, slowing down his pace to soften his footsteps.
“Neither do I. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Victor lifted his crossbow and pulled the trigger. The arrow flew silently through the air and embedded itself in its target. The stray zombie shuffling slowly outside the town gates crumpled to the ground with an arrow between its eyes.
“Nice shot.” Marianne smirked. “Wait, did you use your powers to hit your target?”
“No, what do you take me for?” Victor frowned, looking clearly offended. “Besides, I can’t. An arrow is too small for me to manipulate. I can only move non-organic solid objects that are of a minimum weight, remember?”
“No, I can’t.” Marianne pouted rebelliously.
“There’re hundreds, maybe even thousands of them inside that town. I’ve never felt the presence of so many in one place before,” Masako’s voice trembled.
“Then it’s a good thing we’re under the cover of the night sky.”
“What are we looking for again?” William asked.
“The reason why these two transmitters led us here,” Victor whispered, pulling a sleek pair of goggles down from his forehead. “Everyone put on your night goggles. Let’s try not to wake the dead.”
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The desolate street rested in silence as the starry black sky swept over it. William threaded the ground carefully, looking out for any noise producing hazard that could give him away. Despite the darkness of the night, his goggles allowed him to see every broken glass shard and potholes as if it were daytime. Huge abandoned buildings stood by the sidewalks like dead trees stubbornly refusing to fall even after their life was over. Bloody handprints decorated the sides of the buildings, interrupting some words scrawled in a different language.
“Our gods… have abandoned us… Well, that’s comforting,” Marianne’s voice whispered through the earpiece he was wearing.
“You can read Korean? Hasn’t that language been dead for like, a hundred years already?” William asked, gripping his crossbow tighter.
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“These poor people… I can only imagine the desperation that drove them to write in their ancestral language.”
“Shh, not too loud. What’s that? That’s definitely not part of a building.” Victor pointed at an oddly shaped structure ahead.
“I’ll take a look.” William started to hover a metre above the ground. A slight breeze rushed through the air as he flew forward, rising above the debris that blockaded their path.
He examined the structure intently as he slowly circled it. It was made from some kind of reflective metal, although its shine had been dulled over time. William furrowed his eyebrows. This certainly was not part of a building, but it was big enough to pass off as one. William continued flying along the huge slab of metal, trying to discern what it was.
He stopped abruptly where the structure ended and looked around, finding himself on the nearby beach. William tilted his head; the tail of whatever he was looking at seemed a little familiar. He soared up higher to get a bird’s eye view, but noticed something resembling words near the top of the structure. William moved to take a closer look.
Dried blood was smudged all over its body, but there was no mistaking what it was covering. He turned his head sideways, reading the words letter by letter.
S… E… C…
William put a hand to his mouth to stop himself from screaming as he descended with a loud thud in front of the crashed rescue cruise of Sector 16. He kneeled on the floor, trembling in shock and disbelief.
No… no… It can’t be. Maybe she got away… Maybe she wasn’t even on the ship anymore… Yes, it must be. She must’ve already left this place…
A guttural growl caught him by surprise, interrupting his babbling. William looked up through the blur of his tear stained eyes and broke into a deranged smile at the familiar sight.
The flaming red hair that used to greet him every morning. Those almond shaped eyes that he looked into every night.
“Amber, it’s me. I’m back!” he cried out happily.
A loud screech pierced the night sky in response.
“It just must’ve been too long; you can’t recognise me anymore.”
The sound of rapid footsteps got closer.
“What’s wrong, dear? Don’t you see? I kept my promise. I came back for you!”
William was knocked down into the ground. Pain shot through his shoulder as he embraced the abomination. It gnawed hard into his collarbone, but he merely cackled in denial. After all, he was finally reunited with his wife.
“William!” a loud cry called out, redirecting the monster’s attention.
The distracted zombie released its grip, snarling as it charged towards the source of the sound. Shotgun blasts rang out, ripping out chunks of flesh from its sides and staggering it. But that did not stop the monster. The zombie leapt towards Masako as she ducked and rolled to the side, revealing a wound up fist behind her. Bones cracked as Victor punched it hard in its face, knocking it flat onto the ground in front of Masako’s shotgun. A deafening blast rang out, finishing off the zombie for good.
“No! No, not my wife…” William crawled towards the headless carcass and cradled it, sobbing loudly. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”
“That isn’t her anymore, William.” Marianne knelt down beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Keep it together. We gotta get out of here.”
Screeches and howls filled the night sky, supporting her statement as though on cue.
“God help us… There’re so many of them…” Masako trembled, breaking into a slow jog away from the crashed ship.
“Run! RUN NOW!” Victor yelled as a crowd of zombies suddenly appeared, circling from behind the stranded ship like water flowing around a rock. Marianne pried William off his wife and swung his arm over her shoulder. She jumped over the debris, catching up with the rest of them.
Shattered glass and human bodies rained down around the escaping people as trapped zombies broke out of what used to be office buildings. Most cracked open their skull upon impact, but some survived the impact, crawling or limping as they joined the thousands of zombies in their chase.
“You guys go on ahead!” Victor shouted, stopping to turn and face the zombies. He threw his hands forward and a nearby overturned truck slid towards the incoming zombies. Tyres screeched and glass shattered as he waved his hands around like a demented conductor, telekinetically throwing the surrounding vehicles and concrete at them. But for every zombie he crushed, at least three more appeared.
I can’t do this all night.
A light green glow flickered in his eyes as Victor pressed his hands together, concentrating hard. The metal and debris clumped together forcefully, forming a tall wall that leaned against the building’s foundational pillars. Loud bangs reverberated as the zombies threw themselves at the barrier in their mindless frenzy. Victor ignored them, taking a few seconds to admire his handiwork before running off to catch up with the others.
Two figures lying on the ground caught his eye as he quickened his pace.
“What happened?” Victor helped them up.
“William… suddenly attacked us…” Marianne breathed heavily, rubbing her head.
“He took my gun too,” Masako continued. “Said something about going home. You don’t think he’s going to take on all those zombies by himself?”
“Has he gone mad?” Victor exclaimed. “There are thousands of them back there! He won’t come out alive.”
“I think that’s the point,” Marianne said darkly, picking up William’s abandoned earpiece from the floor. “He has nothing else to live for, now that his wife is dead. This is his suicide.”
“Reckless fool!” Victor clenched his fist with frustration.
“What are we waiting for? We need to save him!” Marianne exclaimed.
“Even with the four of us and our powers, we cannot hope to take on an entire town’s population of zombies. If he chose this path for himself, let him see it to his end. My settlement needs me; I am not sacrificing myself,” Victor said bluntly.
“Sorry, but my powers don’t work on a large scale like yours. And I’m technically the one who killed his wife.” Masako looked away, avoiding eye contact with Marianne. “Plus, he took my gun so-”
“He’s our friend! He was your friend!” Marianne shouted, jabbing a finger at Victor. “We can’t just leave him! I’m going back. If you’re not joining me, then fine!”
Victor grabbed her arm forcefully. “You’re just going to die with him,” he said behind gritted teeth. “Doing this accomplishes nothing.”
Marianne’s arm glowed slightly red, searing Victor’s hand. He quickly let go with a sharp inhale of breath. She glared at them as a small puff of smoke escaped her mouth.
“Then I die trying.”