Morning came without incident

Evan had only been out of camp for a few days, yet greeting the morning without anything spectacular happening had already become a foreign concept to him. Unconsciously he found himself bracing for something big that ultimately never came. As the sun rose above the horizon of lifeless buildings, the only thing that greeted his tense nerves was the smell of smoke that peacefully wafted through the air.

“Mmm… Cigarettes – and so much, too. We should take back as many as we can.”

“I already filled an entire bag with it.”

“We can empty another bag and stuff more, right? If anything, maybe we should empty all the bags and only bring smokes?”

Violet smiled wide as wisps of smoke escaped the neat gaps between her teeth.

“It’s not like those idiots – I mean Nathan and Andy would complain. At least for me, eating bugs for several days isn’t a problem if I could have a good smoke afterwards.”

Her priorities were completely twisted. Even as a joke, he still vetoed her suggestion. Though if he was being honest, by feelings alone he conceded. That was how vices worked.

Cigarettes were the products of the devil. Yet ironically, as humanity became surrounded by walking evils, the humble cancer stick had become the struggling survivor’s best friend.

After all, it was much more likely that they’ll be eaten alive or shot dead than something like lung cancer. Perhaps cancer had even become a luxurious way to die?

“Is she still asleep?”

“Probably. It’s roughly seven in the morning now, so we’ll have to hang out here for a few more hours.”

Violet finished her smoke and gingerly lit another one, throwing the crumbled filter unceremoniously behind her. It was already her fifth that morning.

Frank was given two packs as “rations”. After he woke up, he was immediately tasked with keeping guard. The indoor balcony was the perfect place, as it overlooked nearly a full hundred-eighty degrees of space around them. In contrast, Io remained sleeping soundly at one of the staff rooms on a separate basement.

“Perhaps that’s the reason why she’s so strong? Maybe our parents were right – sleep does make us stronger. What else was there? Drinking our milk after meals? Listening to mom? Pretending that dad isn’t there when he comes home smelling like alcohol?”

She chuckled sweetly. If one were to disregard her military gear, half of her face being missing, and the thick smell of smoke around her, they could easily mistake Violet for a normal 20-odd year girl.

But Evan knew better than to make that mistake.

“Well, we’re finally at the home stretch. It would be a disaster if anything unexpected happens and Io suddenly collapses like the other night. So, just let her be. In any case,” Violet yawned. “I think I’ll go to sleep as well. Go and bother Frank instead. But make sure everything’s ready for later. We’ll be leaving after Io wakes up. See ya.”

She stood up and waved him goodbye as she walked away. He looked at the mess she left behind; a dozen cigarette filters strewn messily on the floor. But then he heard Violet jog back, only to leave after picking up another case of smokes. He narrowed his eyes.

Was she going to sleep, or what?

He turned to the bags on the table. There were ten of them in total. Some of them were much heavier than others. Normally they would distribute the bags between each other in such a way that they would be able to carry what they could comfortably drag around. And by “they” he meant only him and Frank.

There was no need to check on the bags. He had already done so the night before – multiple times, even. As such, he was essentially free to do whatever he wanted. At the top of his list one item long was to hang out with Frank. It was depressing how there’s so little to do despite the many issues around them. Surrendering to the futility of it all, he stood up, lit a cigarette, and walked outside the hall.

The corridor was a mess of fragmented sunlight, glass and bloodstains. As he stepped over the mottled carpet, the sound of glass and debris breaking under his feet echoed like beats on war drums. The crisp, almost pleasant sound caused him to drop his feet in a rhythm. It reminded him somewhat of the old days when music played over a floor of inebriated teenagers.

Playing the trumpet in the backstage to hide from the floor manager. That was his crime. He wasn’t at all talented at it, but he loved playing all the same. It wasn’t his goal to make it big as a musician, though. He didn’t feel much about dreaming. All he wanted was to listen and play.

He just liked it. No need for poetry.

“I wonder if the Floor Manager is still alive?”

The man was an old geezer who could throw a punch harder than a boxer. Or maybe that was only because he always kept a brass knuckle inside his pocket? Either way, everybody was scared of him. It was a wholly-undeserved affair. He liked to settle on a broken stool at the corner of the counter and listen as underpaid performers racked up tips from youngsters eager to spend. He loved the hustle of the non-exclusive establishment. The music was just a bonus for him. Those times were spent in silence with a serene, satisfied smile on his face.

Evan always envied those kinds of people.

In response, his wife often gave him advice. Unlike him, she was a dreamer. She said that her dream was for him to be happy. Because his happiness was hers. That was why she worked extremely hard so she could make enough money to compensate for his low wage. That was why she always went home early so he could wake up to a meal before he went to work. She was a woman he didn’t deserve.

And all she wanted from him in return was to dream.

What did he want in life? He didn’t know. During the night the old geezer decided to pass the reigns to him, he wasn’t able to properly understand that fact due to the disaster occurring the same day.

He realized that after all that time, he still had no answers for her. That scared him. But the scariest thought to him was that she was no longer alive for him to confess that he was still lost.

A violet shiver shot up his back. Looking up, he realized that tears had trickled down his cheeks. Coincidentally, he had stopped walking beside a door. He immediately recognized where it led.

Without giving it much thought, he decided to put off hanging out with Frank. He took the doorknob onto his hands and passed through the opened path. It was pitch-dark inside, and he had to use his flashlight to navigate the wide, winding stairs that led to the basement. There, the floor was much cleaner, though it was still covered with a layer of dust.

He stopped in front of another closed door. His hand reached out to grab the doorknob, but stopped as hesitation suddenly paralyzed his muscles.

Why was he there? He didn’t have an answer. To be specific, his mind was blank and refused to form coherent thoughts. He was simply there, standing in the dark.

So, with the absence of any mental reasoning to stop himself, he opened the door. Inside was a room with simple furnishings. Similar to the state of the hall just outside, it was covered in a layer of dust undisturbed for an indeterminate amount of time. Not much was spared. The shelves, the table, the chairs, the broken picture frames; they were all coated with dust and dry cobwebs. However, the floor wasn’t completely done. Footprints led Evan’s eyes from the door to the bed, which was comparatively cleaner than everything else. There, a lone figure lay, peacefully sleeping.

It was Io.

He shook his head. There was definitely something wrong with him. If they had been in peaceful times, what he just did was definitely a crime. No sane, reasonable man would enter the room of a woman as she was asleep.

Violet would definitely tease him to no end.

A sigh escaped his lips as he turned to leave. There was no point staying there. It just sort of happened. Was that going to be his excuse? He would definitely have trouble if either of his companions saw him come out of that basement. It would be a test of his acting skills.

“I need another smoke,” he whispered. Stopping just before he exited the room, he reached to his pocket and pulled another stick.

The only way they could light a cigarette at that day and age was by using matches. Fortunately, those were quite abundant, and among Io’s supplies there were a few boxes of them. In his case, however, he needed to use both of his hands to light the match. Because his flashlight was the kind that needed to be pressed down continuously to work, becoming engulfed in darkness momentarily could not be helped.

Evan… he couldn’t make up his mind whether or not he believed in ghosts. Zombies were a thing, after all. Still, the thought of getting a jumpscare from a wandering spirit was at the very back of his mind. So, he turned his flashlight off to light his cigarette.

… and he proceeded as normal.

As he opened his flashlight again and saw the same, dreary, dusty space, he sighed in relief.

Notably, the visibility had become much worse than earlier. The smoke, dust and darkness worked together to form an eerie sight that delivered more atmosphere than information. Sure enough, smoking inside an area with virtually no ventilation was a bad idea. It was easy to completely fill the entire area with smoke.

But before he could leave the room, he picked up on the sound of something shifting behind him.

He turned around, hoping that Io had been roused awake. That way they could move out sooner than planned. Unfortunately, that was not the case. It appeared that she had simply turned over to the other side. Her breathing was still slow and her body was still completely limp. But he noticed something; as she had shifted, the bedsheet that used to be on top of her body was pulled off. It afforded him a view of her perfect, completely naked body.

“What the hell?” he thought. That some people slept naked was common knowledge a decade ago, but nowadays people were always on guard against everything around them. Some even claim that the apocalypse had caused them to go from sleeping in the nude to sleeping in full gear. Other adaptations included preference to working in the dark when the undead were barely able to see, or more simple things such as, as he and Violet had discussed, developing tolerance to taking a shit in some secluded corner. Everybody had to change. That was why seeing someone sleep so defenselessly gave him a bit of a shock. Regardless of the situation, she was still naked, by choice, while being in the company of two grown men. That took a lot of trust to pull off.

He recalled the time when they were on a mall rooftop. She claimed that prayer required her to strip down. Apparently, whatever religion she practiced worshipped the sun. It wasn’t strange at all; many, many different religions had popped up since a decade ago. Some of them were created due to a combination of circumstances, such as believing that their original gods had abandoned them and the human need for spiritual fulfillment. However, worshipping the sun, which was common historically, wasn’t practiced as much at that time. Unlike what the genre of “horror” typically led people to believe, the undead didn’t fear the sun. In fact, it was much more troublesome to operate during daylight hours, as the zombies could see better. Most humans simply had no choice. They still hadn’t evolved night vision, and using flashlights tended to attract more of them than if they were spotted under broad daylight.

Also, to some people, the sun represented the sky, where the thing that brought civilization to ruin appeared. The sentiment was so strong despite being unrecognized that people avoid the sky by settling in caves.

Still, a religion that worships the sun by praying naked? Honestly, Evan was interested.

But that brought him back to the issue at hand. He looked back just in case. Yes, she was still naked. The way she was position gave him a mostly undisturbed view of her face… and her waist and hips. Unlike all three of them with their scarred bodies, hers looked completely unblemished, smooth and even shining under the light. It was too bad that her arm and legs covered the goods.

Now, Evan was a healthy male with a healthy libido. And, there was this sleeping girl in front of her, naked as the day she was born, with a face and body that models during the day would murder her over. What was he to do?

He walked over and glanced at her body again. The time in the sewers flashed in his mind. The way her arms streaked across the air in wide arcs, decapitating and dismembering bodies through flesh and bone. The blades, under her strength, broke and snapped like they were merely twigs on a child’s hands. As he took in the pleasant sight of her form, all his mind could think of was a simple question:

“How can you pull that off with that tiny body if yours?”

He reached out to her legs. They were unbelievably pale, almost translucent. The skin wound tightly around the toned, but soft flesh underneath. The area around her knees were slightly flushed pink, which added to the overall charm.

It was too much for him to take. Thus, swallowing a mouthful of saliva, he gave in.

With a heave, he spread the…

Well, the bedsheet, over her shoulders. It had been trapped underneath her body as she turned over. As he did, he noticed that her extremely long hair had latched onto the material, which became messy as the sheet unfurled across the bed. It couldn’t helped, he thought. She would just have to wake up to a bad case of bed-hair.

The place was frigid, despite the stagnant air. The last thing he wanted to happen was for her to wake up to a cold. If that happened, then their already delayed plans would have to be postponed even further.

He didn’t want to spend any more time in that city, especially after they saw that thing underground. Who knew what it could do? Perhaps it could even rise out from under their feet?

He inhaled a decent length of his cigarette and, accidentally, blew the smoke onto Io’s face. He frantically tried to wave the thick smoke off with his hands, afraid that she would be woken up prematurely by the smell. Instead, the corners of Io simply raised into a faint smile.

Evan’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re so young, but why do you look like a tobacco addict already?”

Looking around, he saw Io’s clothes stacked on a neat pile at a corner of the room. Due to the amount of gear she wore, the pile was quite large despite the size of the person. Unlike how she was when organizing supplies, the way she stacked her clothes were done with commendable consideration. It was arranged in order, with the undergarments at the top and the accessories and armor at the bottom. In case of an emergency, she wouldn’t need to fumble around for her gear. She simply needed to put on whatever was on top first. However, that also meant her undergarments were in plain sight.

To be fair, it was nothing to be embarrassed about. She simply had what looked like a sports bra and yoga shorts. Both of them were black and looked to be of high quality, but had tears in several places.

Her weapons, two swords of white and black, were propped up to the wall. He had already seen the latter, but it was his first time seeing the other. Despite the dim lighting, the white sword seemed to glow slightly. The build was roughly the same as the black one, but instead of an image of the moon on its guard, the sun with six rays was engraved instead.

Along the flat of the blade read: “the sun, to my heart”

Placing two and two together, that would make the swords named “The Sun” and “The Moon”. It was quite a romantic name, and the child within Evan approved wholeheartedly. The swords contrasted both in color, in name, and even in feel. Whoever forged them must have been a veteran of the craft. Respectfully, he stopped himself from touching the white sword. Unlike previously, he didn’t have the owner’s express approval. But that didn’t mean that there was no problem.

“You shouldn’t leave your weapons out in the open…”

Was she like that normally? She mentioned that it was only recently that she left home to find her mother. Fortunately for her, the first people she encountered weren’t bandits.

He sighed. The realization that someone would have to teach her how to take care of herself made him feel tired. He thought about who he could push the responsibility to and quickly arrived at a couple of suitable candidates. Certainly, Violet wasn’t one of those.

Sighing once again, he blew another lungful of smoke. He gave the room another once-over. Besides Io, her clothes, and her weapons, there wasn’t anything else in the room worth noting. Her large case was still on the banquet hall, safe from Violet’s trespass. Though he spotted a few, possibly useful things like an old smartphone, he didn’t bother picking them up. What good was a phone if you couldn’t charge it on the regular? They already had a few working ones back at camp anyway. So, he left the room with no regrets, as he had planned to do so earlier.

A pair of bright green eyes followed his back as he did.

Violet stood by the door on her full gear. She had torn a piece of the paper cover on the glass to peer through. Though she was just being diligent, she looked more like a peeping tom than a seasoned veteran. It was probably because both Evan and Frank knew who the person was behind the mask, but once it crossed their minds, it was impossible to get rid of the image.

They had already crossed their first block and were currently waiting for the chance to cross the street. Unfortunately, there was a sizeable number of undead in their way. They had already created a distraction a distance away on the two opposite sides of the road. At that moment they were simply waiting for the remaining zombies to clear out of the area.

“They’re almost gone. We’ll pick out what remains in fifteen minutes.”

Violet flourished her sledgehammer before holstering it on her back. Evan narrowed his eyes.

“The hell are you doing?”

She immediately avoided making eye contact while whistling sloppily. Evan narrowed his eyes into lines.

“You… don’t know how to whistle, remember?”

“I ahh, I’m going to check out the back if there’s undead, see ya!”

With that, she sprinted away.

“What’s up with her?” Frank asked. Evan followed Violet’s figure until it disappeared around a corner. He was about to reply that he had no idea until he caught sight of Io’s figure on the wall.

“I think I have an idea.”

Io stood imposingly. The facial protection gear on her made her look more intimidating than usual. Combined with her clothing and armor of black, she looked perfectly suited for surviving out in the wasteland of that day. She even breathed like Darth Vader, too.

What was different were her arms. They were covered in what looked like gauntlets. Similar to her swords, it was unlike Evan had ever seen before. The frame was dotted by wicked-looking spikes, while the fingers ended in sharp claws. Each piece of metal was bordered by gold, and the tips of each sharp surface had a stain of red. And they were big. The plating was thick enough that Io had to raise her elbows slightly just so she can rest her arms on her sides.

Evan had seen many improvised weapons in his time. The quintessential nail-bat was very popular, and some people have welded blades on metal wrist guards as well. The most ridiculous thing he’d seen was a guy who attacked bullet slots onto a pair of brass knuckles so it would fire whenever he punched with it. But unlike those cobbled-together messes, the ones Io were wearing actually looked tailor-made for actual combat.

Honestly speaking, Evan thought they were really cool, if not over the top. And that was the reason why Violet acted very awkward earlier. She was weak to those kinds of things. For example, the reason why she insisted on using gas masks when they couldn’t be infected via the air they breathed was simply because she thought they looked awesome. Obviously, she thought the same about Io’s armor.

She was simply jealous.

As to why Io was only wearing them at that time, she claimed that she had left them on her main base when she set out. According to her, she typically didn’t wear armor unless it was absolutely necessary. They were quite heavy after all. To her, missions were not categorized by their objective, but by their apparent difficulty. And depending on how hard the job was, she would prepare her gear accordingly. That was why she had been trapped on the other side of the bombed-out ruins without her other belongings; because she was only supposed to be performing some reconnaissance.

By the way, she was wearing the gauntlets already because she deemed their run out of the city as more dangerous than their fight out of the sewers. That thought startled everyone.

“Long quest. More unexpected things,” was what she said.

Out of curiosity, Evan asked her what difficulty she would assign the gauntlet they ran through the other day—the one Evan almost died on. At first, she gave a rather vague score, rating it as a “Disaster”. Evan requested her to translate the idea into a number from one to five. Shockingly, or maybe as expected of her, she only gave it a score of three out of five. That ordeal where he and Frank pushed themselves half to death was only mildly challenging for her.

None of them were sure if she was just bragging, being audacious, or was simply that strong. Violet preferred the last option. That would mean that they would be able to contend, if not outright beat the Djibril Company as the strongest survivor team in the country.

“Someone should call Violet over. Most of the undead’s gone now,” Frank, who had taken over for Violet as lookout, said. Soon, the entire party was back together, and they moved among the abandoned cars on the street in as low a profile as they could.

As the area had been full of undead until recently, they also had to be careful of any stragglers who had gotten stuck beneath any vehicles. This was easily solved by Evan hugging the ground and checking for any. Fortunately, there were none.

He recalled the time when Frank was suddenly grabbed and pulled by one of those under a bus. It was not a pleasant experience for everyone.

They had taken a familiar formation, with Evan in the lead followed by Violet, Io and Frank in that order. Despite the short distance they had to cover, they had to be aware that there was a mass of undead either side of them. Glass bottles could only make so much noise, and anything bigger risked attracting more undead instead. Back when they were separated, Frank and Violet were able to use an explosive well because they were acutely aware of the number of undead in the area. That was because all their racket before had pulled most of them into one place.

He raised his fist and stopped behind an old pickup. Behind him, he heard the light footsteps of Violet and Frank halt as well. Io, who was still trying to wrap her head around the many gestures and signals the trio used, bumped into Violet. Fortunately, none of them made a noise.

He then raised two fingers and swung his hand side to side, indicating that there was a distance to cover. Violet responded by tapping his shoulder once. That meant they should wait. From behind, he heard Violet whisper the situation to Io. At that point he realized that if Io was going to be part of their team, then they would need to revise their gestures to include her. There was a chance that she will be assigned to Andy’s group, but considering Violet’s character, it was more likely that Frank will be the one to transfer.

Finally, Violet patted him thrice. He then saw both her and Io move out in opposite directions.

There were two undead ahead of them, but they were located a decent way away from each other. But because they were facing each other, there was a risk of the other one making a noise if Violet took them out one by one. While they weren’t aware if it could attract the attention of the others, it was a risk they didn’t want to take. The more they manipulated the undead concentration around them, the more unpredictable it becomes ahead. Furthermore, they were being more cautious than usual because of what they saw underground the previous day. The thought of encountering more high-tier undead haunted their decision-making.

The two women moved swiftly amidst the messy street and immediately pounced on the unwitting undead. Violet brought her sledgehammer down onto the head of one, crushing it completely. Io stabbed her target’s neck with the claws on her hands, beheading it messily. Their kills were done at exactly the same time.

Evan inhaled sharply. He was made aware at that point. Io might be strong, but Violet was just as good.

They continued to traverse buildings, rooftops, staircases and streets until dusk, clearing undead and making targeted rackets as they went. However, their pace slowly suffered as the sunlight gradually disappeared from the sky. Eventually, they found themselves on a sidewalk right before the sun had completely disappeared.

Fortunately for them, the apartment building before them had a balcony fire escape that ran all the way from the ground to the rooftop. It was their easiest building to tackle, as they could completely bypass the large population of undead inside. Even better, the rooftop was completely devoid of undead, though there were quite a few on the adjacent building that they had to clear in the morning. There was no way to get rid of them in the meantime, as the platforms were surrounded by tall safety railings.

“We could always just go through the windows below,” Frank suggested. Indeed, they could. But as much as possible Evan wanted to avoid glass shards from injuring them.

On the side, Violet and Io were wiping themselves off. Blood and chunks of flesh stuck to their body in various places. Io in particular had to do so more thoroughly, as her many pieces of armor retained the carnage more than Violet and her waterproof clothing.

“Here, let me help.”

After finishing with herself, Violet started to work on Io’s gauntlet. With the face she was making, it was obviously troublesome for her. The armor had many crevices where flesh had gotten stuck in. It would have been better if Io had used her sword, but for some reason she didn’t. Did she perhaps wanted to show off her other weapons?

Meanwhile, Evan prepared their dinner while Frank took a corner to relieve himself. Compared to the previous night, it was much more frugal that even that word couldn’t be used to compare it. After all, there was only boiled preserved grains on the menu.

“Hey, help out, will you?” so Violet demanded as she threw a towel, wet with gore, at his lap. Of course, she wouldn’t throw it at his face. She raised her hand that held one of Io’s gauntlets, meaning to throw it at him, before thinking twice and changing her mind. Evan met her with a scowl. If that had hit him in the wrong place it would have been more than just painful. Instead, she just handed it over to him without any further commotion.

“Careful, it’s heavy.”

It was more than just heavy. He reckoned that the one he held alone weighed around ten pounds, or just short of five kilos. Practically speaking, it would work great as a means to increase the power behind her swings, but it would also make her less agile as well. To be fair, the metal was thick enough that he couldn’t imagine any kind of body part that can naturally be created in an animal could get through it. As a defense against the undead, it was impeccable.

It was also incredibly difficult to clean.

Evan had to be extremely careful not to injure himself trying to clean the thing. The spikes, despite how battered the gauntlet looked, were incredibly sharp. In particular, the clawed ends on the fingers hurts at a mere touch.

“What is this made of? It’s so heavy.”

Even the segments on the fingers were difficult to move around. He struggled to wipe the surface from the grime that stuck to it since the blasted thing kept sliding off his leg. On a whim, he thought of wearing it so he could manipulate the gauntlet freely. But as he tried to place his fingers inside, a sharp pain shot through his arm.

“Damn, that hurt!”

In his shock, he dropped the gauntlet to the floor where it made a dull thud.

“What happened?”

Violet ran over to him, followed loosely by Io. He showed them his hand. There was a shallow wound on his finger where blood dripped sparingly. Though he looked angry, he was more surprised than mad.

“I don’t know, but I hit something inside.”

He tried to check what was inside, but Io swiped it away from him before he could and immediately placed it back on her hand. She then bowed to Evan and apologized.

“Sorry. Only me, can wear.”

Evan wondered what she meant, but decided not to ask. If anything, she should have mentioned that before they let the others borrow it. But in his mind, he wondered. Was that pain a prerequisite to putting it on? Whatever it was inside had drawn blood, but Io seemed to lack any kind of injuries on her hands. Was it a case of a fit only for her? Impossible; her hand was definitely wider than her wrists.

“Well, it was your fault in the first place. What were you doing, trying to wear a girl’s article? Eww, that’s no better than trying out a bra or a pair of panties.”

Certainly, Violet had her way of making the situation sound as vulgar as possible. But Evan decided to ignore her completely and instead asked if Io needed any more help. She shook her head and told him that everything was fine. In response to being ignored, Violet kicked his shin, causing him to yelp in pain. The two were about to have a standoff when Frank arrived with a tired look.

“… What are you two doing?”

“Nothing,” they both answered. Frank sighed.

“Whatever. Come, you need to see this.”

Frank led them to the edge of the rooftop, on the opposite side of the area they designated to be their latrine. There, they could see the immediate vicinity around them from a bird’s eye view. Thanks to the relatively high platform they were on, they could even see past the buildings before them and peer through to the other block.

As it was already dark out, they couldn’t see much. However, with the light from the moon, it was not impossible to see what was going on underneath them.

“Are they moving?”

“Yeah.”

Since they had pulled the undead horde apart some time earlier, the streets below them shouldn’t have had that many undead yet. Nevertheless, there they were, shambling along the road. Evan, however, couldn’t immediately see what the issue was. So, he looked at Violet, whose instincts may shed light to the problem. But instead of looking down, she was instead gazing further beyond. He followed her eyes and saw the hotel they had come from in the distance.

“That’s weird.”

“What is?”

“The undead move mostly at random, right? The only exceptions include whenever we expose ourselves or make a racket somewhere. But look,” Violet beckoned to the horde underneath them. “We didn’t do anything after earlier, but it looks like they’re being pulled by something.”

She pointed towards the hotel with a grim expression. Frank looked aghast at what she was implying. It took Evan a bit later to understand.

“You think it was that thing?”

Violet hesitated before replying: “I don’t know.”

“But I think we should pick up the pace starting tomorrow.”

That said, she took one last glance at the direction of the hotel before marching back. Frank quickly followed suit, and then Evan. But as he did, he felt Io stay where she was. So, he looked back and saw that she indeed didn’t move. She was still gazing out, her back turned to him. What was she seeing?

He gave the two a quick glance before he went over to Io. Unlike Frank who looked down and Violet who looked forward, Io’s eyes were drawn to the dark, starry skies. He followed her gaze and found nothing but the moon, still hanging low, and dark clouds overhead.

“What’s up?” he asked. She didn’t respond.

Instead, she kept staring. Because she wasn’t wearing her goggles, Evan could clearly see her eyes. It looked troubled – like it was begging for something. Was she praying?

He was entirely unfamiliar with her religious practices, so he decided to keep quiet.

“Sorry. Let’s go.”

Suddenly, she turned to him just as he decided to shut up. It startled him slightly, but ultimately, he wrote it off as just something she always did: surprise people.

And so, they ate their meals in relative silence. The sight they saw earlier weighed down on their minds and made dinner anything but peaceful. While Violet did her best to keep the mood light, it was difficult even for her when the idea was hers in the first place.

Io, in particular, had a complicated atmosphere around her. She kept staring at the sky uneasily, fidgeting as she did. When bothered, she would react like a child and squeal a little. Her eyes would then dart around, gravitating towards Violet in general. It was a curious behavior, but Evan felt uncomfortable asking her what the problem was for some reason. Even when she drank her favorite coffee, her nerves barely quieted down at all. Despite only having spent a few days with her, Evan had learned to recognize the small gestures she made.

She was gripped by extreme anxiety.

Unable to bear her condition, he invited her to a secluded corner of the rooftop with the excuse going for a smoke. He planned to do so, of course, but it was as good an excuse as any since Frank, though a heavy smoker himself, disliked the smell during meals. He dragged Io under Violet’s wide, toothy, suggestive, idiotic grin, with him.

Thankful of the lack of rain in the recent days despite the season, Evan lit his cigarette and watched as Io did the same. They then spent the next several minutes in silence, gazing at the sky clouded slightly by the tiny wisps of smoke.

He looked at Io. She was still nervous. Her eyes were firmly glued to the sky. She breathed deeply, like she was trying to calm herself. Even more than that… He didn’t recognize the look immediately. It was likely because almost everybody had lost the feeling years ago. Among everybody he knew, not even Violet, in her boundless optimism, possessed it. Her eyes, he realized; there. it had a look of longing.

Because she didn’t budge after finishing one stick, he decided to light another one for himself just to make him staying look more natural. As he continued watching the same stars Io did, he noticed her placing another one on her mouth as well. But then she paused, look towards the sky and then went into silence again. With an unlit cigarette dangling from her mouth, she looked like a bleak painting.

He wanted to ruin that picture.

“Here.”

So, he offered her a light. The burning match on his hands startled her. Her eyes went from the fire, to his eyes, and back. It didn’t take more than a few seconds before she recovered. She accepted and lit her stick using the match on his hands.

“… Thank you,” she said in a whisper before looking upwards again.

There was a notable change in her after that. While there was barely anything different in her appearance, Evan clearly felt that the air around her had gotten lighter. Slightly.

“My mother…”

Suddenly, she started to talk. He wasn’t expecting her to. That was why he couldn’t help but turn his head to her. Her words were practically only to herself. But somehow, he knew that she was talking to him. So, he perked his ears as much as he could so he could catch what she was saying.

“Up there, those two. In the sky.”

Recalling the story from the other night, he remembered that among the four people she considered her mothers, two of them were already dead. Family departing sooner than expected was a common story during those times, so Evan barely gave any thought about it. But that was unfair for everyone else. To Io, they were family. Undoubtedly, if it had been his wife, he would have been acting the same.

“But… an answer, it’s not.”

She removed her cigarette with her hand and faced him. Her eyes were focused, unlike earlier. A deep crease formed on her well-sculpted forehead, indicating the severity of her mood. At that instant, Evan felt pressure. It was incredible how such a young person could exude that kind of presence. He swallowed and nodded to indicate his understanding, and he was awarded by her acknowledgment.

“I trust you,” he said. She smiled in return. But then she immediately dropped it.

“We must hide. The sky… opening.”

“Huh? The hell are you two talking about?”

Violet glared at the two with suspicion.

Upon listening to Io’s explanation, Evan marched back to the others and told them her proposal. As expected, he was faced with the incredulous reactions of the two, more or less reasonable members of the team. Violet, in particular, looked quite opposed to risk themselves inside a building filled with undead in the middle of the night. It annoyed Evan slightly.

“Why are you refusing her now,” he thought. “You were all too happy to dive into a sewer with hundreds of undead just a few days ago.”

Ignoring that, Violet was actually the one being sensible. There was no reason to believe that the Leak will occur on such short notice.

“We’ve had an occurrence just last month, which was already two months ahead of schedule. You’re saying we’ll have another episode now, one month after the last, and just less than a month before the next hits? Two advanced cases in a row?”

It was difficult to argue with Violet especially when she, someone who tended to use emotions and gut feeling, was using logic. It was true that the Leak tended to occur every four months, and there were times when it happened sporadically. However, it always happened every four months, regardless of when any unexpected events occurred in-between. And after a decade, there has never been an instance, at least in their country, where the sky opened more than once within the four-month regular intervals. But then again, just because it had never happened, didn’t mean that it will never do. Their entire experience in that city had all been out of the norm.

“There are undead moving underneath us. We can’t pull apart a migrating horde. And if we make any sort of noise, they’ll come up this building and converge. If this was a narrow place like the sewers, we could have dealt with them maybe. But it isn’t.”

“Why are you being sensible now?”

It was true that they were going to take a risk if they to move at that point in time. Due to the undead inside the building, they wouldn’t be able to avoid confrontation. It was possible if they had reduced the population on the streets, but there was no way to do so when there was a mass migration occurring. Not to mention that the visibility was going to be questionable, and if they were to use flashlights, it would only attract the massive horde under them. Transferring to the adjacent building only added more problems, since there was a small crowd of undead there.

He looked back towards Io. She was nervously fidgeting about while staring upwards. The sky itself was still calm, though a little bit cloudier than earlier. He wished that she was just being paranoid. Being caught out in the middle of a city was much, much worse than being underground. In fact, he would rather be in a sewer if it came to that.

Violet sighed. She lit a cigarette and looked up. They were looking at the same sky, but her tilted head showed that she didn’t share the same misgivings as Io. But then, she scratched her head in frustration.

“Fine,” she declared. “Io, you and I, let’s check out the two floors below us and clear it out. We’ll barricade the staircase after that, and then come fetch you two when we’re done.”

Io looked visibly relieved upon receiving Violet’s forced approval. She immediately nodded and walked off to retrieve her gauntlets. It was difficult to use a sword in a narrow building, so her fists would work better in comparison. Evan was thankful of the consideration as well. If it all ended up as just Io’s paranoid ramblings, then at least they would be able to sleep on a bed with a roof above their heads again.

Awash with the feeling of accomplishment, he lit yet another cigarette and looked towards Frank. He was looking up to the sky. Because he had his facial protection gear on, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking. Evan himself often found himself looking up at the stars at night, so some part of him dismissed Frank’s case as something similar. Violet—she was looking at the sky as well, but without any gear on.

Her face was contorted in shock.

His heart stopped. Fear gripped his gut. He found himself unable to move his neck for fear of what he would see. But he had to. The bones on his neck creaked as he forced his muscles to push his chin up.

“Run! Go!”

Io screamed. She was right. Evan stared at the sky in disbelief.

And the sky stared back at him.