Waves of laughter resounded in Payne's room. It was the source of life in the corridor.
"If you get discharged, don't forget to hang out with us, okay?"
Payne chuckles:"Yes, yes. But you must stop being violent with me like punching me when you're laughing."
Lily blushes and hits Payne's arm that made him hissed.
"Or maybe, stay away from when she's about to laugh," Vayne interjected.
The three of them giggled.
Clark and Sophia look at each other and nodded. The presence of Lily and Vayne replaces the depressing mood. These days they often hear Payne's laughter and his health shows good signs of recovery.
Sadly, as Ava arrives she told them how Payne's peaceful days are about to end:" I was notified by the security. They are coming. What should we do? Do we let them?"
Clark did not respond and gave the authority to his daughter-in-law.
Sophia's eyes became cold:"Father's command is still in effect. Moreover, it is only my Husband and Eldest son that is banned."
Ava said:" My husband said that Brother won't be coming, just your eldest son."
"The audacity," Sophia muttered and left with Ava to meet their dear guests.
Clark gazes at the merry atmosphere inside the room. It was his wife that is best at making family decisions, when she passed away, it was probably the start when their family fell apart. He was never a good father to his daughter and son, but maybe he can be a good grandfather, and yet he still wasn't. He was there when they lost their youthfulness and thought it was a good thing to trade it for power, however, it wasn't just power that accompanied them, but also an underlying vulnerability. Nonetheless, upon seeing Payne's smile, maybe it wasn't too late to protect such smile.
...
"Ahh! It's already five! Time goes faster when you're having fun!" Lily whined and rested her head in the bed.
Payne patted her:"Don't fool me, you just want to laze here."
These past few days, Vayne and Lily often hang out with him to the point that he forgot the future predicament. He also remembered important details of the past. For example, Lily this son of a bitch, was a source of his envy.
"I don't know why, but I don't study that much but I still get the highest score."
Lily 'protested.'
Payne glances at Vayne and saw that she became quiet.
"And you know what? I always stay late at night yet every morning, my face is always shining like an egg."
Vayne smiled:"If you don't go home, I will cook that egg face of yours, boil it and make a poached egg. Still grumbling? Want me to crack it right now?"
Lily:"..."
Payne:"..." Now I understand why I became so violent.
Payne accompanied the two girls to the entrance. To ensure their safety, Lily and Vayne were always escorted up to their homes, to thank them.
"Goodbye! I'll be here tomorrow as well! Ah! Can I also ask for a French cuisine tomorrow?"
Sometimes Payne wonders whether Lily was visiting him or the food.
Then, he heard a stern voice:"Go home or I'll feed you with eggs."
Lily obediently smiled and bow her head to Vayne. Lily waves her hand to Clark who was on the second floor, overseeing everything below.
"Goodbye, Mr. Clark!"
Clark nodded and 'instructed' the driver with his eyes. The driver didn't know why his employer was squinting his eyes and thought the sunset was upsetting him. Still, he thought to himself:'to ensure Young Master Payne's recovery, he shall protect his friends!'
Lily waves and the car slowly vanished.
Every day, Lily leave when it's 5 or 5:30 in the afternoon while Vayne stays up to 7 or 8. Payne once asked her why in which she responded with:'Children should go home when it's 6, while for adults, the night is just the beginning of life.'
When he heard that, Payne felt stupid. But then, he saw her ear reddened and she avoids his eyes. He concluded that shame hasn't left her.
"Payne, that day when you arrived, I was quite scared."
Payne just hummed. They actually haven't talked about the day when he tried to save them. Vayne never brought it out whenever Lily is present, but when she's not here, Vayne talks about serious topics.
"I was scared because I thought another crazy person was about to bring trouble. I mean, you were wearing a hospital gown and the way you smiled was freaky and very much creepy."
Payne snorted.
"I even saw that bastar---I mean bad person, Albert, shuddered. The other two were also trembling when they saw you. I was scared and I didn't know whether to laugh or cry."
Payne retorted:"You should cry."
Vayne:"I know, but it was really funny. I even bit my lip to stop myself from laughing from those motherfu--baddies."
She was about to say bastard and motherfucker but instead use baddies, Payne chose to ignore it. He doesn't want to know why she's not using crude words when she always slips out.
Vayne giggled:"I think one of them even pissed their pants than the other one also saw it and thought mentally, 'Dude, you pissed your pants for real?' and the other one was probably shouting in his mind 'Mommy mommy, help this poor baby.' That was so hilarious that I almost cried since I cannot laugh."
Payne imagined their faces that made him stopped walking.
"When you threw the bag and it hit Albert, he muttered whether there was a rock in there because it was heavy and quite impactful. When I opened it, there really was a rock, several spiky rocks."
Payne clutched the IV pole and refused to let out a sound.
In a conspicuous corner, several patients and staff gave weird gazes to a patient standing still while a girl beside him grasps her uniform and head hanging down. Both were trembling.
They were even asked by a worried nurse if there's something wrong in which Payne replied:"Everything's okay, we are just pondering about life's surprises."
"Give me a minute," Vayne said and facepalmed.
They both tried not to let out a laugh but a few chuckles were heard from time to time.
Payne and Vayne forcefully walk and did not talk anymore, both worrying about how to stop themselves.
Vayne was walking while her head down, she grips the hem of Payne's clothes. When Payne stopped, Vayne thought he can't take it anymore and laugh silently, this made Vayne smiled and also laugh inside. She was happy that she made him delighted.
Thud!
Vayne became stunned:"Payne? Payne, what's wrong?!"
Payne fell to the floor suddenly, fear and hatred plastered into his face.
"Payne?! Payne?! Someone, so-someone please help!"
Her continued cries caught the attention of a crowd that was waiting outside Payne's designated room.
Doctors and nurses run to their side and helped them.
The commotion was seen by Sophia, Ava and Clark and the others.
"Payne, what's wrong?! Please don't scare Mommy!"
"What's wrong with my grandson?!"
"Payne, Payne... We were just laughing and then... And then..."
There were shouts everywhere but Payne can't hear them. He was terrified and his heart was full of hatred.
Everyone saw how Payne grasps his heart and as tears stroll down in his face, a mix of extreme agony, rage, and helplessness. His eyes never left the silhouette of a person.
That face, that same old heartless countenance. Payne---no, Vayne, thought she was back in that torture chamber.
She will never forget him, even his presence made her remember the torture that he did. How he commanded his men to remove her organs, how he didn't care and watch with focus as his men sever and took out her intestines and put them on display. How she pleaded for mercy and was met with great atrocities.
She was clearly a human, but why did they treat her even worse than an animal? She just wanted to save her comrades, she just wanted to help them, but why?! Why?! Why?! Why?!
She felt several hands touching her and thought they were going to torture her.
"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!"
Payne's resistance pushed back the doctors, nurses, even Sophia and Vayne.
Everyone felt the suffering and pleading in Payne's voice, but they just stood there helplessly.
"Nurse! Where is the sedative?! Quick! What the hell are you all dilly-dallying for!"
"Please help us retrain him! We cannot inject the sedative when he's flailing too much!"
Why are you looking at me like that? Why do you look so worried? Why do you look so helpless? Are you pitying me? Why are you pitying me when it was clearly you that causing me this suffering?
How dare you! How dare you! How dare you!
"Why me? Why must you treat me like this?! Why did I do so wrong for you to torture me like this?! It hurts so much! It hurts so much!"
Payne's voice cracked and everyone hears the anguish in his voice. It was full of torment that everyone felt their heart broke for the young man.
His tears blur his eyes, but they focus in a certain direction.
As the sedative takes effect, he weakly said as if his last protest for mercy:"I don't want to die...yet why are making me feel...death can save...me..."
Payne was immediately put under care.
Outside the room, everyone was looking nervous and from time to time, look inside the room.
Sophia was crying while Ava was comforting her.
Clark sat beside Vayne who was trembling and comforted her.
"Don't worry, the doctors said that Payne would be fine. Shh.. Shhh..." He patted Vayne and soothed her.
"We were just laughing and then... And then... Payne suddenly fell... He was looking into someone..."
Vayne didn't raise her head. She felt so guilty and thought it was her fault.
Sophia sniffed:"Vayne, dear, who was Payne... Looking at??"
Vayne raised her head, her eyes were darting around as if scared of pointing out the cause.
Clark:"It's okay, it's okay. Don't push yourself..."
Vayne gulped. She raised her hand and pointed shakily.
"Payne was looking at him."
Everyone look at the person. It was a young man who shares the same features as Payne. His face was full of worry and remorse, his eyes never left his younger brother.
Clark:"That's..." and didn't continue.
Vayne's impression of the handsome man fell rock bottom. When she saw the person Payne was looking at, she didn't have any good feelings, it's as if she knew that the person has no good intentions, and her intuition didn't fail her. The reason why Payne became like that was due to that man, Payne was in pain because of that man. Vayne never felt something like this, why she felt a split of affection then was replaced by immediate rage.
"Will brother Payne be all right?"
No one answered the worried teenager girl, however, everyone prayed that he will be all right.
....
She was such a fool. She realized why the body's appearance looks so familiar.
Payne was that man's younger brother. She once saw Payne's body submerged in a liquid that was secured in that man's room. When she had a chance to run away, she made a big mistake in entering that man's room.
In there, she saw that man crying, clasping his hands as if worshipping Payne's body in the capsule. Vayne knows that Payne was dead, maybe for years. And then Payne opened his eyes, but his eyes weren't of a human nor of a zombie's, it was mixed.
Payne clamored and banged the glass, but that man affectionately ignored it and spouted nonsense. He was ignoring the pleas of Payne.
Half-human and half-zombie. Only God knows how painful it was. When someone was infected, the zombie virus will eat and turn the body into a zombie immediately. Since Payne's body was submerged into a purple liquid, Payne was living every day only to feel how the zombie virus gnaws every inch of his being but cannot completely be zombified because the purple liquid also humanified him.
Vayne was the first to have been experimented with, so she knew the effects of the purple liquid.
That was probably the reason why that man even became more crazed and ruthless.
At that time, Vayne didn't know whether she saved him as an act of kindness or for the sake of revenge. When the man left and was alarmed due to her disappearance, Vayne used her power and freed Payne of his suffering. She also left some power to his body and suspended the zombie virus like a partition. Half of his body was zombified, and half of it died as a human.
When that man saw that Payne wasn't responding anymore, he became a maniac and deluded himself that Payne was just sleeping. That was the start when hell descended on her when she was caught.
When she opened her eyes as Payne, maybe this was her retribution or what. She doesn't know.
All she knew is she didn't care anymore. Who cares whether she and Payne swapped bodies? From now on, she will be Payne. Payne who will never live pitifully in the apocalypse.
The joy brought by Vayne and Lily clouded her judgement and made her feel like the old times. That time when she felt that everything's gonna be alright. That time when life taught her that hope is the most dangerous sin.
When Vayne realized everything, she felt sudden shock and the familiar energy eased her emotions.
The energy was jumping merrily throughout her body as its restraint was destroyed. It stayed into her brain and it weeps to her like a child.
She whispered:"You've become stronger."
The energy bounced back and forth.
Vayne looks at the light bulb, then an invisible force destroyed the bulb. The light bulb exploded as the dark descended to the room.
Vayne--no, Payne was smiling and the darkness was also assimilating in that smile.
Zombies or humans, what's there to be afraid of them when they are all just a bunch of moving rotting flesh?