As I nursed the wounded and wrapped them in bandages, Luo Zehn listened to the stories of the man who kept repeating that he had to save his daughter. He fainted right after he vomited so by the time he got up, we gave him water and we decided to hear him out.
"I was originally from the Ziyou Shelter." The man began. "We never had a problem with zombie attacks before... but we- "
"Can you call them rabid humans? It's really bothering me." I spoke up, interrupting his story. "You don't have to, of course. It's just my personal preference."
"Rabid humans?" The man asked in return. It took him a full minute before he finally got it. "Oh okay."
After clearing his throat, he proceeded with the story with the same monotonous and gloomy voice just like before. At first, I thought that he was always on the verge of crying but as it turns out, that was his normal speaking voice, probably influenced by the gruesome experience he had during his stay here.
"It was unusual at first since our leader was really kind and compassionate towards us and we never had a problem with him... that is until he started asking us for our children."
Oh no... I already hate where this is going.
"Children, why?" Luo Zehn asked as he leaned in closer to make it easier for him to listen. He was oddly curious as to what happened to Ziyou Shelter.
"Since Ziyou Shelter is a big shelter, and it's probably as big as a town, our leader has a huge house albeit a simple one." The man continued. "As survivors living under him, we didn't see a problem to it since he was originally the owner of the house before the outbreak even started. But after a few years, he started asking us for our children. He said that he needed some workers to maintain the garden and the house and he was only hiring children."
"And so?"
"Of course! Some of us agreed since he was going to pay handsomely for it. Besides, he treats all of us right so we know deep inside that he's a good person."
"Let me guess," I cut him off as I bandaged another woman by the leg. "He wasn't really the person you thought him to be, right?"
"Yes, but it's... how do I explain it... Well, I'll just continue on with the story." The man rubbed his head as he found a better way to explain what he had in mind. "I was one of the few people who agreed to our leader's proposition. Well, I agreed because my daughter wanted to work there. She took a liking to our leader's son after all."
Just as I said before... I don't like where this is going! Not at all! I said in my mind but somehow, I can't stop listening to the man's story.
"And so, I received my daughter's first salary and I decided to give all of it to her since she earned it. You know, so she could go and spend time with the leader's son if he happened to be free. But then, I found it weird that my daughter couldn't even visit me. She just spent time within the walls of the leader's house without even sending me a letter to update me of her wellbeing."
"Months passed and to our surprise, our Leader asked for another batch of workers, telling us that there was more work to be done in the house and the children we sent wasn't enough. At that point, I decided to uncover the truth as to why our leader kept hiring as if there were never enough workers under him."
"One night, I decided to sneak into the leader's house to see if my daughter was doing okay. Since I was a former zomb- er, rabid human hunter before, I've got quite a few skills that let me easily infiltrate our leader's house. It was such a coincidence when I saw them dragging a boy into a sack."
"However, that was the least of my concerns. Although I recognized the boy, the first thing that I had to do was look for my daughter. I searched every nook and cranny of that massive house but there were no signs of my daughter. In fact, there were no signs of the children there at all! In desperation, I decided to track the ones who put the boy in the sack and followed them."
"That's when I saw them head towards one corner of the shelter where a huge tree was growing. It was a tree that everyone called the Forsaken Tree."
"Forsaken Tree? Why did they call it such a fancy and ominous name?" I asked, getting impatient since we left the children in the middle of the shelter without any protection. "And also, we have to get out of here as soon as possible so finish your story. I'm almost done wrapping everyone up."
"Oh, okay." The man continued. "It's called the Forsaken Tree because no one ventures near it. Those who did begin spreading rumors about how they could hear the voices of children inside. After that, everyone became genuinely scared of the tree. For some odd reason though, it kept on growing larger and larger until it was taller than the walls that surrounded Ziyou Shelter."
"I was confused at first as to why they brought the boy there. Then, they entered a hidden trapdoor adjacent to the Forsaken Tree. I barely got in and what I saw almost made me scream... The Forsaken Tree... it's absorbing all of our children's nutrients!"
"What?! What do you mean? They kill the children and make them fertilizers?" I exclaimed. "That's... that's even worse than these people!"
"No... here's the strange part. Somehow, the tree wrapped its roots around the children and I'm confident it's taking nutrients directly from them. That tree is killing all those kids slowly and my... my daughter was one of them."
"I was caught before I could do anything and instead of killing me. They left me to die outside the Shelter. I struggled to survive but I wasn't lucky. After two days, I was caught by the people of this Shelter and fattened up. I was scheduled to be tomorrow's dinner. Thank God you came here in time."
"I know I'm asking for too much but please, help me save my daughter in Ziyou Shelter."