CHAPTER 14
we were only in a city, i think in Seoul, definitely couldn't be an animal nearby. But one thing was clear. It was loud. It almost sounded like the same voice as before when someone was screaming.. but i was only focused on myself, which was the problem..
I opened my eyes and realized the noise was probably a dream. but i saw ruby, and thought otherwise instantly. My eyes still blurry and adjusting, rubbed my eyes lightly.
I looked around, and my eyes widened in horror. I noticed that ruby was in the driver seat, blood covered her, i don't think it was hers, but it was... making me uneasy. the other two were.. not in sight. how though? how did they just disappear? They were here a few minutes ago. I tried calming myself, taking a few deep breaths and cautiously exiting the car. I looked around, and saw nothing much different than before. though, back in the car, i saw Christians jacket laying on the seat next to me so it probably means they were.. kidnapped? no, I don't believe it. within what? milliseconds? nanoseconds?
I walked a bit toward the gas station store, and opened it, the bell ringing and echoing as I entered. Immediately, my eyes softened at the sight of Nicole and Christian in there. I didn't know what they were doing, but I approached them. "h-hey.." I said, softly. "oh, hey Perry," Nicole said, turning his head towards me. Christian also looked at me. something I noticed, they both had weapons in them. that kind of made me concerned yet... relieved? "Why do you guys have weapons?" I asked,
"well.. It's complicated. Long story short, we came across... a new entity while you blacked out." Christian said, rubbing the back of his head. they both looked... tired?
Afterall, I think I've had the most rest out of all of us within these few weeks. "a new entity? like what?" I asked, seemingly curious about this. But, the chances of it being stronger than zombies are high. "They are like a mist, and a dark purplish color. definitely couldn't be human, and they don't wear clothes but their body is nothing like a human's. but you can tell whether it's a female or male." Nicole described. I could understand their pov on these entities, and pretty much understand what they'd look like.
"I see... is it.. perhaps stronger than zombies?" I asked, leaning on the wall next to them.
"we didn't even try, it broke two cars with the strength of one hand. it is human sized, but obviously not the same amount of strength."
"oh.. interesting. we should probably evacuate this area then." I stated.
"yeah i guess so.." along with Christians remarks. Nicole looked slightly uneased, but i didn't say anything.
"we should. and.. where's ruby? Is she alright?" Nicole asked.
"Well, she was covered in blood, but she looked alright, and she was breathing normally." I explained as they both glanced at each other, like I was stupid or something.
"pfft you checked how she was breathing? oh shitty face.." Christian said laughing his ass off as i gave an irritated expression.
"Well, idiot, I don't know if you're so heartless that you wouldn't check if one of us was dead or not." I paused, but then spoke in a slightly calmer tone.
"Plus, she was covered in blood which I didn't know whether it was her own or not. and what happened anyway..?" I asked, tilting my head slightly because of my curiosity.
"Well, you know she faints at the sight of a lot of blood, right? basically it. since she witnessed a murk eating a few zombies. But, I don't blame her." Nicole explained to me.
"ah.. well before it's too late, let's leave. asap" they both agreed, and we all walked back to the car, only to find... ruby gone..
she wasn't in her seat, and considering we were in the store the whole time she was in there, she couldn't have entered without us noticing.. we all stopped dead in our tracks, and I turned to them, in slight panic. "where the hell did that idiot go?!?"
Christian panicked. He ran up to the car, and searched around for any left behind note or something, but nothing. and her hair tie / scrunchie was left on the driver seat. We all knew it was hers, as it had her name and signature signed, claimed by her.
me and Nicole just stood there frozen, not knowing what to do. I walked up to the car and grabbed the scrunchie. I tied my hair in a loose and low ponytail. "We can't just stand here can we? we have to go find her. I'm driving, no objections"
I said hopping in the driver seat. They both hopped in the back, and I saw the monopoly still sitting there in the passenger seat. I stepped on the gas, and drove.
she couldn't have gone too far within 5 to 7 minutes, right? ...guess we'll have to find out.
I'll have to keep in mind her outfit, for any further clues. She was wearing white sneakers, light blue loose jeans and a bagged in pink? no pinkish purple t-shirt. and well, she probably wouldn't have her hair tied, so.. yeah.
I drove around, as I was observing before at the gas station and saw bloody footsteps and blood drops, which could have indicated the way Ruby went, so that's the direction I'm going in.
I drove in the direction I saw the bloody footsteps. As I kept driving, I noticed the footsteps had stopped, to only trail off into an abandoned looking old building. It looked around 20-30 stories and was pretty modernly built.
"should we... go?" i asked,
"Yes, we can't leave off the only clue we have on ruby, can we?" said Nicole, and i agreed and Christian nodded his head. "he's right, we should go.." me and Nicole agreed so we all cautiously stepped out of the car, slowly and quietly closing the doors behind us.
but, as we reached the building, right inside we could hear.. something eating? we could hear it aggressively munching on something that very much sounded like it was mixed with a lot of blood. Nicole slowly opened the door, and the door made a creak noise, which happened to be the stop of the munching sounds, and next thing, we heard loud, heavy footsteps approaching the door. We all leaned tightly against the wall both beside the door, in a crouching position, with our ears against the wall. We heard the footsteps stop for a second, but then continue on upstairs.
the door being still slightly open, i peeked inside, but no one or thing was in sight. so i did an eye thing to let them know as a signal to go inside. I first pushed the door open widely a bit and waited for a few seconds, before fully standing up, and i entered first, and quickly scanned the room before noticing a metal bat with a bit of blood on it lying on the floor. since Nicole and Christian already had weapons, its only fair i have one as well. I picked it up, and got a firm grip on it, before opening a door which was see through.
I was guessing it was a lounge since the sign was wrecked and covered in blood, though I could still kind of read 'lounge' on it. I entered, with the other two following me.
For the past 10 minutes we've been searching for this place, and nothing at all. We went upstairs, and as we entered an apartment, it was super clean. like, compared to the other houses and stores, and gas stations we've been to it was all recked and god knows what. but I think someone is still living here. but.. something odd was there.
we walked further inside, and there was... a hot cup of coffee? it was still warm which indicated Someone was here, or is here. But as we all approached the bedroom, we saw a piece of jewelry that definitely belonged to ruby. She wore it all the time. and as we progressed, we saw her ... t-shirt..?