As he opened the door, Alex peeked inside slowly to see what was going on. Apart from the usual stuff in supermarkets, he found nothing inside.

But suddenly, something fell off the shelves, followed by rapid footsteps.

‘Back,’ he shouted at Lisa, walking backwards to stare at the door.

Her hands were clutching the bat as she stood behind him. Shivering, she peeked at the door. The trauma she suffered from killing her father still lingered in her.

Alex pointed the gun at the door, prepared to respond to anyone who made their way out.

“Don’t shoot”, the man screamed from the doorstep, displaying the signs of surrender by holding his arms up.

A skinny man, wearing light-colored jeans and a white t-shirt. He had average height. A cloth with bloodstains was wrapped around his right hand.

Several bulging veins were visible on his neck, which were becoming black.

“Please don’t shoot,” he said in a pleading voice, with snot doused on his face.

“What happened there?” Alex asked, pointing towards the wrapped hand.

He quickly hid the hand behind his back and stammered, “Ju... Just go. I got injured awhile back”

After taking one glance at him, Alex fired a shot through the forehead.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH” Lisa cried from behind

As he turned, Lisa backed away from him, looking at him with fearful eyes. “Wh..why did you do that?”

Alex shook his head and turned back as he walked towards the man’s corpse.

“He was bitten,” he said after taking a moment to look at the corpse, and then he walked into the market.

Her eyes stared at the corpse for quite a while, as she stood rooted to the spot. She approached it slowly and then noticed a bloodstain on the wrapped cloth.

She bent over and removed the cloth to see that a chunk of meat had been removed from the man’s hands.

Her body began shaking as she ran hurriedly into the market. A lot happened to her in a matter of one day, and she could not comprehend it until now.

The moment she entered the building, she noticed Alex was standing at a spot. Approaching him slowly, she muttered.

“Sorry,”

After looking at her for a moment, he moved towards the area that held food items.

The lack of response from him made her resent herself for judging him too quickly, but then she saw the undead corpse lying nearby.

An unidentified woman’s body lay with her head stabbed with a knife.

Taking a deep breath, Lisa ran in the direction in which Alex was heading. Her eyes were instantly drawn to him as he collected the canned food.

She stuffed the items into her bag as well.

After some time, she noticed Alex looking for something.

She asked slowly, “What are you looking for?”

“Gas can,” he said and stopped briefly before continuing his search. After finding four empty cans, he left the store.

She rushed after him, as he was the only hope for her in those dark times, and she did not want to let go, even for a moment.

Her gaze was drawn to Alex as he filled up the fuel cans. After taking a deep breath, she went back to her Hummer and sat on the passenger side, waiting for Alex to arrive.

Her mind replayed the scene, when she killed her father with the bat and when Alex shot the man in the head.

The sudden opening of the door snapped her out of her thoughts, and she spotted Alex seated in the driving seat, starting the Hummer on the spot.

“Sorry, I....”

‘You don’t have to say anything, I understand,’ He interrupted her and drove off.

“Why is this happening?” Lisa muttered as she stared out of the window.

“Even I want to know,” Alex murmured as he fiddled with the radio in the Hummer.

His hand suddenly stopped as he heard a broadcast.

“We have recaptured the capital, we repeat, we have recaptured the capital, if you are listening to his broadcast, you can come to the capital, we have cleared the area of the undead, we repeat, it has been cleared.”