CHAPTER 16
I managed to make it all the way down without tripping again, and as we made it down, Christian taking the lead now, he peeked in the lounge room only to see Ruby with another murk next to her.
I froze. Everyone did. My eyes analyzed the situation quickly, and as I stepped a few steps closer, Nicole grabbed my arm.
"Don't," he whispered to me.
"I have to, she's not going to make it," I said, shaking Nicole's hand off me. I walked in, holding my metal bat close to me. I was scared. I was anxious, but I had to save Ruby. Even if I didn't make it, they'd rather be with Ruby than me, right? They both love Ruby.
I slowly approached the murk from behind while it focused closely on solely Ruby. I got ready to hit the murk hard on the head, but before I could act, another one ran at me. I had to resist it with the metal bat. But this one was odd. It looked... more humanly. It had two eyes, and yes, the usual structure of a human, but it had only one arm. And it still tried getting to me.
I resisted, but I aggressively pushed it off of me. Oddly, it didn't come racing back at me like the other ones normally would. I shook it off and quickly turned to where Ruby was, worried. She... wasn't there. Neither was the murk.
I started breathing heavily, a sinking feeling in my heart taking over. I sighed heavily, picking up the bat I had dropped in the process. I checked near the corner where the murk had gone through, but there was no sign of anything or anyone. My eyes fell soft, and my eyelids relaxed a bit more. I felt like I wasn't good enough. I couldn't save Ruby. Obviously, I could've—I had the potential—yet I let her go, once again. I frowned slightly as I let my shoulders slightly slump.
I walked back to the two who were behind me, and Nicole placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. I smiled, but in an upset way, and silently, we all walked out of the lounge room and made it out of the building, unharmed yet without Ruby. I took a deep breath, relaxing my eyes, walking behind Nicole and Christian back to the car. I exhaled, still having faith in finding Ruby. I can't give up, not yet.
I hopped in the passenger seat, Christian in the driver's seat, and somehow we also ended up next to each other. It's almost irritating. Nicole sat in the back seat, lying down in a relaxed position, and from the rearview mirror, I could see his eyes falling heavily as he fell silent and closed his eyes.
It was only me and Christian now.
"I could drive if you want. You haven't slept for a while," I said, not wanting to sound caring, but I felt bad. I wouldn't admit it due to my stubbornness, but I did care.
Christian sighed. "I guess I'm tired..." he said. "Oddly nice of you, sh1tty face," he added after. He laughed and exited the driver's seat, gladly taking me up on my offer. I got out as well, hopping into the driver's seat. As we both got comfortable in our seats, I took a U-turn and started driving. I didn't know where or why, but I followed my instincts for this one.
Nothing that interesting really happened, and a few twenty minutes passed. Before long, Nicole awoke to falling flat on his face as I had to stop the car dead in its tracks.
"O-oww," he groaned, rubbing the side of his face.
"Sorry, Cole," I said, looking back to see if he was alright. "I had to stop suddenly," I added, turning back and looking in front.
"You okay, bro?" Christian asked.
Nicole replied, "I'm fine. But why did you stop all of a sudden?"
"Look," I said, gesturing my head forward.
Nicole took a look, surprised at the crowd of zombies that stood in front of us.
"I've noticed that they've all been going one direction, and that's forward. And they haven't stopped coming from all directions. Though while you were asleep earlier, it went pin-drop silent in the whole city. But now, all you hear are the zombies. Weird, huh?" I said as they both listened.
"That's pretty odd behavior, even for them," Nicole added, which was true.
"Why don't we just run over them?" Christian said, smirking.
"Well, not a bad idea... but it'd attract more attention," I said, playing along.
Nicole just stared at the both of us like we were crazy.
Christian burst out laughing, and so did I.
"We're just joking, dude, chill," Christian managed to spit out, still laughing.
"Y'all are going insane, I swear," Nicole said, rolling his eyes sarcastically.
"But for real, let's go another way," I said, trying to take a U-turn out of here. I succeeded by almost hitting a building, but I didn't—so that's what counts, right?
I started speeding to take a left and continued driving from there.
On the road we were currently driving on, there were a lot—and I mean a lot—of malls, different kinds of convenience stores, plus a bunch of random stalls and restaurants. It was all dark since there was no electricity except for the car's battery.
"Shouldn't we, like, work on getting the internet and electricity working? We can't live like this forever," Christian started.
But I interrupted him. "Well, smartass, we aren't living forever," I replied.
Although Nicole seemed to be minding his own business, he burst out laughing. "TRUE—true." (#NicoleWheezing)
Christian just ignored me and irritatedly rolled his eyes. "But I guess you're not wrong. We can't live on like this for too long," I stated.
It fell silent, and no one seemed to want to reply, so I just kept it that way.
It was getting pretty late now. Sigh, it's just another day passing by in the apocalypse, but it's so... lonely. I know I have Rub—... Nicole and Christian, but I miss the random people I'd judge off the street. It's so empty, and the feeling of only knowing me, Christian, and Nicole while wanting to believe Ruby is alive—it feels uneasy. Homesick. I'm getting homesick. Even though I don't really care about my family, I care about humanity, yet I'm just realizing so.
I sighed deeply, just silently to myself. It was pretty quiet as I was only focusing on me and my thoughts. But I realized that Nicole and Christian were chatting about Ruby. I decided not to just eavesdrop, but my ear slipped…
"She's pretty kind and nice, specifically to you. Pretty lucky, you know," Christian said.
I could see from the rearview mirror Nicole blushing, a faint hue on his cheeks. They continued on, but I was too lost in thought and focused on driving to really listen in. I know that Nicole and Ruby definitely like each other, and they're just too stubborn to admit it. At least Ruby is.
By the way, you know earlier I saw a tech store? Y'know, with all the expensive PlayStations and stuff? Yeah, that store.
I wanted to bust in so badly and take a VR since I've wanted one since I was little, but since it was surrounded by zombies and like one Murk, I decided it'd be too risky. And besides, I don't think it would work in my situation now. No electricity probably means no internet or WiFi, so… yeah.
Though… did I just realize that I didn't really get to celebrate my birthday properly? It's been a few weeks now, like one or two months, but still, I want to fully make it up for myself. I should ask them if they'd wanna join. I don't know about Christian though…
Speaking of him, I don't think I've ever really explained why we're "enemies." Well, a lot took place between middle and high school.
It all started in middle school. Oh, and Christian at the time was like the troublemaker of the grade, and me? I was known for getting into fights.
So, back then, me and Nicole were in PE class when Christian walked up to me. I don't know where he got the intentions from, but he just randomly started insulting me about my outfit.
But I stayed pretty chill and took the insults, almost completely ignoring him.
He got pretty pissed and went too far.
"Well, at least my real parents wanted me," he said.
I got pretty pissed, but I stayed cool. I insulted back at that point and left with Nicole.
Not long after that, I met Ruby. She was really nice, and we'd even study together occasionally. But after I found out Christian and Ruby were best friends, I was pretty shocked, but I decided not to bother with it.
A few weeks after that happened, Christian started just coming up to me when classes ended and insulting me for God knows what, then leaving.
Sometimes, he'd even push me around and mess with me a lot, but I was pretty chill and hit back a lot. It was pretty much a love-hate relationship. And while we'd banter all the time, usually Nicole would be with me and Ruby with Christian. So sometimes, it got pretty awkward, and they'd just start chatting away while we were fighting or messing with each other.
Though... there was this one specific day that stood out.
After the session, he approached me and took me away from both Ruby and Nicole, into a classroom that was not used often.
He pushed me against a wall, and I was pretty nervous… but played along.
And I quote:
"I heard you were dating Nicole," he said in all seriousness.
"What kind of bullshi—"
He grabbed both my shoulders and looked directly into my eyes.
"Is it true?" he asked, almost anxiously.
"No, of course not. He's my best friend. I don't even like him that way," I replied, shoving his hands off me.
He sighed and left the room.
I was left completely puzzled, and I stayed silent for a few minutes before shaking it off and meeting back with the others. Ruby and Christian were already gone, so me and Nicole walked home together.
We walk home together almost every day, as we're neighbors—one house apart. We'd usually stop by a convenience store, grab a snack, and sit at a bench nearby, just talking about our day.
"What did Christian say to you?" he asked.
For some odd reason, though, I didn't want to tell him the real reason back then.
"Oh… nothing. He just asked me about something since we're working on a project together," I laughed out awkwardly.
"Then why'd he drag you all the way back into the school?" he kept questioning.
"…Just a private matter along with it, I guess."
I'm the worst liar, but Nicole seemed to be gullible enough to believe me.
But… why is it that I didn't feel guilty for lying to Nicole about this?