Our team is composed of three people, ranging from 14 to 18 years old. Each of us wields close combat weapons such as axes and crowbars that we managed to find from the fire department a few months ago. These types of weapon are more durable compared to machete and spears. We had cleared most of the zombies in our small town, it was a slow and painful process which took us almost two years but the fruit of the labour is so sweet. We haven’t encountered any zombie herds except for a few slow, rogues which could easily be handled by us.

Food supplies are running low so we decided to do a scavenger hunt on a shopping lot, which is just around forty-five minutes walk from our home. As we are scavenging, something grabbed our attention- a funky signboard with the word ‘canned deals’. The best supplies to scavenge in abandoned stores has always been canned food. They usually last forever and you can even eat those that are way past the expiry date.

###

Prim, being the eldest of the three entered the store cautiously. The first thing that she notices is the faint smell, nice and sweet as vanilla. She sees a figure, sitting down on the store while eating something from a tin can.

She maintains her guard up while she maintains a safe distance, trying to focus on the figure. A petite girl, with a slender body, and the only thing that covers her pale skin is her smooth long hair that reaches down her waist. She seems to be in a daze, chewing slowly on something that she took from the tin can. Kayle and Kyle reach behind Prim as she grips her axe, preparing to defend herself if worse comes to worst.

Cautiously, Prim said. “Hello?”

The pale girl turns her head around without moving her body “Hel-” A slight pause, as she tilts her head. “-lo”

“Are you sure she’s not a zombie?” Kyle is worried, seeing such an unnatural state from a naked girl, alone in the store.

“Have you heard about a zombie that spoke before?” His sister responded, trying to dismiss his thoughts.

“No, but-”

“She doesn’t even have any visible bite mark. Remember our neighbours? They only turn when they got bitten.”

Prim snapped the red curtains from the shop’s window and approached her, draping her subtle, bare body. The sweet vanilla fragrance grew stronger as she approached the girl. “She smells so nice, or is there a perfume nearby?”

Prim tries to initiate a conversation as she faces the girl. “My name is Prim. This is Kayle, and that little kid is Kyle.” He points to each of them respectively.

The girl took another handful from the can that writes ‘baked beans’ in her hands, and kept chewing, appearing uninterested.

“She seems to be traumatized. Should we bring her back with us?” Prim said as she is worried about the attitude of the girl.

“Are you alone? Don’t you have any friends?” Asked Kayle with concern in her voice while she makes a fist with both of her hands and brings it together.

“Friends?” The word seems to catches her interest. She stops chewing and looked at the conjoined fist.

“Friends help each other in need. Do you want to be my friend?” Kayle continued.

“What are you eating?” Kyle, being the nosy kid as he is, inquires the girl.

“Eat. My.” She responded, as she paused and gaze towards the can.

“Stop teasing her! It’s okay, nobody will take your baked beans away from you.” Kayle defended her while taking a peek at the can, it is almost empty.

Without warning, a zombie came out from a room beside the cashier and grabs her. The momentum carried her towards the rear entrance of the shop.

Startled, Kayle shouted, “We have to help her!”

The thin wooden door broke, and multiple hands appeared from the darkness, dragging her further into the abyss

“A horde!?” Without hesitation. Prim takes a huge swing of her axe and chops one of the hands that tried to grab the pale girl.

The girl flails around, scratching the hands that try hold her down. Splashes of fresh blood are spilt on the floor.

Tears running down her cheeks, Kayle tries to grab the girl’s hands but it was cut short by her brother.

“We can't help her anymore! Look at all the zombies! You’re the one who keeps on repeating about our neighbour!” Kyle shouts, trying to regain her sister’s composure.

“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry” Kayle plea, as Kyle yanks her away.

Prim glances at her while he backs up slowly. “Please forgive us.”

“HELP? FRIENDS!” her voice became coarser as she gets dragged away. The flowery smell is now gone, instead, it has been replaced by a lingering pungent stench.

The trio escapes the lot. A unanimous decision was made to move out of the area, as the three of them are no match against a horde of zombies. It is unknown to them where the zombie came from as there has been no zombie activity for the past few months.

###

A few months have passed

A lone man is seen on the street, his eye roams wildly towards the surrounding shop and locks onto a signboard that says ‘canned deals’. The sound of stomach rumbling can be heard on the empty street. He has been starving for the past two days, ever since his group was ambushed by bandits.

Stepping slowly inside the shop, hoping to find some food. He noticed a few tin cans on top of the cashier counter. As he gets closer to the tin cans, rotten smell stung his nose. He grabbed one of the tin cans and gasped, accidentally spilling the contents.

“Brains?”

Fear seeps into his heart. His pupils dilate as he saw two of the zombies behind the counter. The zombies’ condition is bad as if something had pried their skulls open. All of a sudden, pleasant odour gushes into his nasal cavity.

“Caramel and honey?” The man sniffles, as he searches for the source of the scent.

“Friends?” A voice reaches out abruptly to him.

The man turned, he saw a well-endowed beauty with flawless skin. Transparent scarf made of silk sways from her neck, little purpose does it serve, other than to further enhances her allure. Suddenly he felt like everything was upside down. His vision focused at a monstrous claw, dripping with blood. The sharp talons seemingly change into an elegant, slender hand.

“Illusion?”

Her ephemeral charm becomes corrupted. Tentacles jut out from her mouth, scurrying to the man’s head. The feelers wriggle it makes its way through the orifices of the crippled man, with his eyes rolled up and foam forming up at his mouth.

As she slurps- she presents the most sinister of a smile. A rough voice came out of her as if sandpaper is being ground against a rough surface. “DELicIOuS. FriENDsHiP.”

Then, there was a faint whisper, sounded like two different voices, “Sorry, not sorry.”

What was It that betrays?