"How can Will act so recklessly? It must be because of that brat Rick!..." Liam angrily roars. The survivors who saw him lift a cabinet all by himself and break the concrete window frame with a thin stick feel so threatened that they shriek and meekly huddle in the corner.
Doctor Daniel, the man usually behind the live stream broadcast slowly comes over to Liam and clears his throat.
"Excuse me… um"
"What? Is something wrong?..." Liam whips his face at him and then asks while trying to calm his anger.
"Actually… it's about your son. He left a message saying that you shouldn't worry. He's heading outside along with Rick to get his mother. He said he will also bring some stuff from your house and supplies along the way… I swear I tried stopping him a lot of times but he wouldn't listen. I couldn't possibly follow after him when he suddenly leap out of the window carrying his friend"
"L-leap out of the window?! Why didn't he wait for us to wake up? Why does he need to go along with that brat?!"
"P-probably because the other boy was panicking at that moment and could recklessly dash out on his own to go home… he was crying and calling his mother's name… that's as far as I know"
"Why?" Liam could only move his mouth like a fish on land and kept repeating this question.
"Honey, what are you doing? What happened?" Clair finally wakes up to see her husband's face distort as if he's about to cry. Her colleague on the side looks at her and asks for help.
"Our son… Will went out without telling us! Is he finally rebelling? Is it his rebellious phase?! What did we do? What should we do? We should go after them!"
"Ok, okay calm down first and talk properly. Tell me what happened from the start…"
"Dad? Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" Tom beside Clair steps forward and rubs his father's back.
After calming down, Liam starts explaining what he knows regarding his missing son.
"Maybe it really is his rebellious phase…"
"We should go after them!"
Claire takes a moment to search her memory and knowledge about Will for the likely cause of his seemingly hasty action. Then she replies.
"Our bodies are too drained right now… we probably need to take more time of rest before our energies go back to their fullest. That's likely why Will didn't want to tell us. Because he can't have us go along with him… We have no alternative weapon to deal with the zombies so we'll be in danger once we go outside in our current condition... Honey, maybe Will already considered this before going along with his friend" Claire sympathizes with her son. His actions must be calculated for good cause than being reckless. That's the son she knows.
"But honey, how could he go on to rescue without batting an eye? What if there's more of those evolved zombies out there and he encounters them?!"
"Well… didn't you know that Rick went along with him to rescue us without batting an eye? Don't you think Will would be too ungrateful if he don't go and help the friend who helped him?" Reasons Claire with that accurate point that hit Liam's spot.
"Also, if those evolved zombies are really out there, then that means wherever we hide could still be dangerous. Even this place…" Adds David who walks towards them mid-conversation.
Although Liam still feels very worried for his son, he could only stop himself from going after him for now.
"We should rest up a bit more and proceed to clear the floors upstairs as we planned… All we can do now is to make this whole place a safe base that Will and Rick could get back to. I heard the government locked our town from the rest of the world. We can only help each other to survive…" David finally hit the last hammer to bury the nail.
Liam looks out the window and prays for Will's safety.
They reanalyze their plan and make some fortification on some weaker parts and then take a rest. They need to clear the building from the zombies as soon as they can since they don't know where the evolved ones are lurking.
"I'm so hungry… it's so hot being directly under the sun like this? When can we go downstairs?" Aria fans her face with her nursing cap while desperately hiding from the intense sunbeam by leaning against the wall to salvage the remaining shadow it's creating.
"We should call them again…" Jessi suggests to her male colleague and elbows him.
"We called them earlier but there was so much ruckus on their side… something must have happened to them. Didn't you guys hear those loud banging early in the morning?" Reply by the male nurse while grabbing his phone. His phone is the last surviving one so they're all being considerate of its usage. Strictly for emergency and last call only.
"Sean, how are you feeling? Can you still hold on?"
"I think… I can"
Sean suffers from severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), also known as alymphocytosis which he got since birth. His family has had a few members who suffer from this disease for a long line of their generations. This makes Sean's body have a very weak immune system so it couldn't fend off viruses and other infections properly, making him often sick.
Sean is thin and pale from not being able to go out often so this is the first time he experience something like this. Although the sun is hot and painful, Sean thinks of this as a valuable experience. He wanted to one day, run under the sun while his feet sink into the sand on the beach. He could only imagine himself with that dream while tolerating the pain of being under this intense heat to ease his mind a little.
"Hey… um, Simon, I'm sorry for calling again and again but don't worry, my battery will most likely finally die soon after this call so can you please tell us when are you going to come and rescue us? We haven't eaten or drank water since yesterday's lunch…I think we will die soon. We're so dehydrated under the sun right now so please… please ask anyone to help us. You remember you still owe me from that bet from the basketball match last time right? So can you just do this for me instead?..." The male nurse talks on the phone with his friend and colleague on the second floor. "Oh, is that so?... We'll have to hang on for a bit longer then… Oh, the floors up need to be cleared to get through too. Those amazing people fainted from fighting an evolved zombie? Are they going to be fine? Did someone die?.... That's good to hear then. Okay, I will stop pressuring now. But please tell them were going to die if we don't consume any water today. If we die well probably turn into zombies and bring you more trouble so you should remember to help us live! Okay, thanks…"
"What did they say?" Aria asks.
"They're apparently dealing with something troublesome down there too. They plan to rescue us but it would probably take a bit more time. We can only hold on for a bit longer…"
"This isn't good, the sun will just get hotter as noon arrives… we'll probably become too dehydrated by then. Should we head inside and find somewhere to hide?" Jessie isn't so optimistic.
They look at the distance and the image of the concrete floor sways from the heat. They could almost see a puddle of water up ahead tempting them to drink it.
"Maybe we really should do that before we become too weak… We have a dragon… 'Black' with us too so maybe we could handle some zombies by finding ourselves some weapons and then find a safe room?" One of the female nurses suggest.
Everyone contemplates and considers their options.
"Either we slowly die agonizingly in this thirst and heat or get killed by the zombies huh?... Maybe we should do what you said. We might get a chance. It's also a lot more dignified to die trying than die as cowards" The male nurse announces his resolution and then sees everyone else agree.
There are five of them, Sean included. But if you count Black the dragon, there are actually six of them.
"Okay, let's go… ah my stomach feels so depleted my tummy is touching my spine" Aria says after standing up.
They stretch their stiff bodies for a bit and then find any objects they could use as weapons.
"Let's go…" Arnold, the male nurse leads them.
Sean is placed in the center of their formation while the dragon hovers above them.
With a twist of his hand, Arnold pulls the doorknob and swing the door slowly so that it wouldn't make a squeak.
"It's quiet… it looks like it's clear. Let's go"
Feeling the cool air produced by the air conditioner when they enter, the group breaths large air and finally feels a bit relieved. However, the putrid smell wakes them up back to reality immediately.
They slowly go down the stairs without encountering anything but they did not relax their body and mind as they continue walking towards the hallway.
"There's a utility room here… maybe we could get something as a weapon…" Jessie suggests.
"Your right. But we should be very careful. Don't make a sound whatever we see or we might gather the zombies to us…" Arnold leading the way heads to the utility room in a slow, steady, and silent phase.
Thankfully, the utility room doesn't have any zombies lurking within. Each one grabs long sticks and then continues towards the hallway.
"I remember an empty room right at the second corner. We should turn left after that. The room number should be 703…" May, another female nurse was in charge of the patient here but they discharged right before the zombies appeared.
"That's definitely the sound of a zombie munching something right?..." Aria says after they hear a wet chewing and crunching sound reverberating up ahead.
"Let's just… take it by surprise and then aim at its head all at once!" Says Jessie and then ready her stance.
"let's go!"
They dash down the hall while making their steps as light as possible. A zombie up ahead is eating a man in a hospital gown while fresh blood ooze on the ground. It seems like the man is killed not too long ago. They're right at the entrance of an open room and blocking the hallway.
The group doesn't show any signs of stopping and dash even faster toward the zombie instead. What transpires next happens so fast that the group couldn't even remember it happening.
They must have hit the zombie with all their might and then trampled it under their feet and before they know it, they're getting near their destination.
Arnold grabs the doorknob of room 703 and twists it with all his might.
"I…It's locked!?"
"How's that possible, we still haven't cleared the room yet! Maybe there's a survivor inside?" May still remember these details since they happened not too long ago.
"Hey… is anyone in there? We're survivors too. Please let us in…" Arnold knocks on the door and then says in moderate volume.
However, no matter how long they wait, no one answers. Arnold put his ears against the door but he can't hear anything.
"I have a gut feeling that there's someone in here…" Arnold mumbles. He grabs the doorknob once again and then twists and shakes it with all his might. He grunts in frustration and kicks the door, creating a lot of noise.
"Hurry! Something's coming!" Jessie exclaims in a husky hushed voice.
The group hurries to a corner that seems clear from any zombies without looking back.
Sean in the center is slowly running out of breath. He's running too much and he's surrounded by everyone's warm and sweaty bodies. He's also very thirsty and hungry.
Aria turns to check on his condition. The long stick she's holding also shifts and unfortunately hits an ornament nearby and makes it fall on the ground. The expensive and fragile vase shatters when it hit the marble floor, creating a crisp reverberating noise that becomes even more significant due to the still and quiet halls. The noise permeates and echoes down the cool concrete hallway and rooms.
Hearing this, the zombies in the area whip their ugly rotting faces in the direction of the sound. They growl and start running towards that source of the sound.
The group hears multiple footsteps clamoring from the distance. All they could think of is that this might just be their end.
Sean under everyone's protection could hear their loud beating hearts and then remembers that there was a public bathroom near here.
"Let's go that way!..." Sean honestly couldn't bear the uncomfortable temperature and break free from their formation to run ahead first and then beckon the others to follow him.
There's a lot of blood on the smooth floor while Sean is running barefoot since he couldn't get his slippers yesterday. He slips and almost falls down face first on the bloody ground but then the dragon hovering above him bites the back collar of his hospital gown to steady him. Sean continues with rigged breathing and keeps looking back to check if everyone is following him. Black continues holding on to his hospital gown to keep him steady and move faster ahead. With light steps, Sean could run faster than the other and could also afford to look back without worrying about tripping on the ground.
Finally, They arrive at the bathroom. Thankfully it's not locked and looks clean from any blood stains.
Once they see the tap on the sink. They practically pounce at it and drink a little at a time. They also wash their face and arms to cool their body down.
Arnold lock the door and then put his stick against the doorknob and the corner so it would push against the door.
They all heave large breaths and grab anything that could keep their body up. It's bad for them to directly sit down after running that much.
"I thought we're already a goner…" May sigh a long breath of relief.
"I'm very sorry everyone…" Aria says gloomily. She looks like she's about to cry from guilt and frustration.
Nobody could say anything immediately as they were trying to catch their breath.
"We're still alive Aria. You almost caused me a heart attack but you're not at fault with anything…" Jessie says trying to lighten Aria's feelings.
Aria couldn't look up to them.
Suddenly, from one of the toilet stalls that they initially thought was empty, a human foot suddenly falls on the floor from up on the toilet bowl. Before anyone could react, the door swung open, and a female zombie in a hospital gown dashed at Arnold that is closest to it.
"Ah!" Although Arnold gave up his weapon to seal the door, he still put his arms against the zombie on reflex. The zombie's teeth clamp it with all its might.
"Arnold!" Sean exclaim. Black on his shoulder spread his wings and leap on the zombie head-butting it.
Black's horns pierce the skull of the zombie but it couldn't fully reach and destroy its brain. Black's sharp claws grab the zombie by the neck and then spit a strong beam of concentrated heat right between the zombie's eyes. It instantly boils the zombie's skin and the contents of its head. With a puff, it disintegrates into thick smoke and scatters among the air, not leaving any liquid or solid particles.
The headless zombie falls on the ground as if a puppet with its strings cut.
"Arnold!" Sean hurries and checks Arnold's arm. Deep teeth mark penetrated the thin fabric of his long sleeve and onto his skin, blood slowly spread on the white fabric picturing roses blooming in time-lapse.
"God no…" Jessi mutters and falls to the floor.
Outside the door, multiple uneven, dragging, and swaying footsteps slowly creep closer. This floor has large hallways and the zombies outside could gather in large quantities. The stick stuck on the door creaks softly and the door bulge from the zombies trying to push it open. Sean and the others hurry to put their bodies against the door to prevent it from opening.
Banging starts hitting on the door from the other side. The zombies can tell that there's someone inside. Arnold put his index finger and gestures to the others to stay quiet.
Soon, after not hearing anything on the other side of the door, the zombies seem to lose interest and start wondering aimlessly again.
On the rooftop.
Liam and his son, Tom are hovering in the air. They came from the second floor all the way here with the combination of their abilities. Liam makes his and his son's weight practically zero while Tom uses telekinesis to carry and maneuver them in the air.
After hearing the situation of the survivors on the rooftop, they hurriedly make preparation and then directly come up here after Liam feels like he's finally fifty percent restored his energy.
"Where are they? Can you see them, Tommy?..." The two land on the rooftop and looks around but couldn't see a shadow of the survivors. Tom shakes his head not seeing them anywhere too.
"We should call them…" Liam grabs a phone from his bag and then calls the last contact on the dial.
Arnold's ringtone suddenly reverberates from within his pocket. Due to the dead silence, the fast and jolly tone permeates the room and the hallway.
"What?" Everybody who is trying their best not to make any sound turn terrified.
The zombies outside gather on the door once again and start banging on it hungrily.
Everyone tensed their bodies to put their strength against the door.
"Come on hurry up and turn it off!" Shout's Jessie.
Arnold grabs his phone while his injured arm trembles. His body starts producing beads of sweat and his lips turn pale. The fact that he was bitten and will turn into a zombie slowly sinks into him.
"Y-yeah!" The phone screen displays the name of his colleague from the second floor. He probably has something to report to them regarding their rescue request. Arnold already heard that they're dealing with their situation down there and will probably take time to go and save them. Arnold rejects the call and it finally stops ringing.
Arnold glance at the red icon indicating that his phone is running out of power and then at his injured arm. The situation is inevitable. He will turn into a zombie and will only endanger the others if he stays with them. He needs to save everyone from the zombies and himself.
"Arnold… what are you thinking?.." Jessi peers at Arnold who seems to suddenly turn silent.
"You know what will happen later if I stay with you…"
"But!" Jessi knows exactly what will happen and choke on her words. She can't accept what's happening to Arnold. She already lost so many friends and colleagues, that she doesn't even know what happened to her family. She's not ready to witness this up close.
"Everyone… you know what will happen soon. I can't stay with you any longer. We finally found a safe place and water to hold on to until the rescue arrives. The only problem now is… me!"
"No…" The other's faces turn indescribable. They don't want this to happen.
Thinking about what will happen soon, their chest contract as if a force is pushing it inwards. The pain is unbearable and they're getting harder to breathe. Before they know it, a warm streak of tears falls on their faces. They make the sound of grunts in pain and then sob. Slowly their chest and throat numb. Uncontrollable cries fill the room.
"Guys… I will be fine if you turn out fine. You will have to survive for me. Jessi, May, and Aria, you're very kind to me ever since I started working here. You made me realize that it's okay to stay single… Probably because you're all singles too. Although you kept pushing me to find a girlfriend so I won't make a move on you, I didn't. I probably won't even if I survive longer… because I'm gay. I kept this all my life. I'm very regretful that I couldn't come out to my parents but I'm glad that I could have you guys hear this out for the last time…"
"What? I said that you'd make a move on me!" May turn shocked after hearing that revelation.
"Arnold…" Jessi couldn't put all the things in her mind into words.
"I probably shouldn't tell you this but the man I like is Simon. I know he treats me as his close friend but you know… you can't just force your feeling to feel the other way. I want you to know this but I don't want you to tell him that. I don't want him to feel burdened about my sudden confession after I'm gone. Please don't stop me from my own determination. I will go out once the zombie outside dissipates so you won't hear anything gruesome. And… whatever happens, don't make a sound and wait for the rescue to come"
May hug him tightly as if protesting silently not to go. Aria grabs his shirt tightly with large tears rolling down her eyes.
"I'm so sorry…" Jessie could only say this word.
Sean hug Arnold's stomach and his face full of tears dampens the other's shirt. "Is there no other way?..." He asks while sobbing.
"We don't know. But we can't risk it… we don't know how much time we have left" The zombies outside still pounce on the door hearing their conversation. They could only turn silent and give Arnold one last tight hug and whisper how much they'll miss him.
They all know that they can't spoil Arnold's resolution. They empathize with how hard it would be in his situation and shouldn't give him a hard time. There's no guarantee that there's no other way but they don't have time and this is not the right place to experiment on that. Arnold will willingly sacrifice himself instead of searching for ways to prolong his life and might endanger them. That's how much Arnold holds them dearly. They can only hold on to his sentiments and remember this day for the rest of their lives.
"The zombies are scattering…" Arnold says while listening to the sound outside the door. He grab the doorknob and his stick that somehow fell on the floor, steeling himself to stick in his decision.
Everyone looks at him solemnly and tears well up in their eyes again.
"I can't believe I'm saying a cliché line like this but… please live on for me okay? Sean, I pray to God that you will grow strong and can protect yourself... Jessi… ah, you know what, I should stop this before you hold on to me tighter. I shouldn't probably make a farewell speech in this situation" Arnold left those words then twist the doorknob, open the door and dash outside before closing it again.
Everyone couldn't see it coming while trying to imprint Arnold's last words and couldn't react when he suddenly ended it and dash outside the room.
"How could he do this? We still haven't said our goodbye…" Jessie says with pain and frustration.
They could hear Arnold running further away and then several others going after him.
Sean stares at the headless body by the toilet stall. He feels so frustrated and asks how did the zombie hide itself. There don't seem to be blood stains on the floor.
The most probable reason could be that before it becomes a zombie, she must be a survivor who somehow hid herself here from the zombies. Unfortunately, she was bitten somewhere and then slowly turned into them herself.
Sean gets closer to it to search for its wound. Grey-blue skin and blood vessels bulge all over her body. It's already starting to smell bad, but it doesn't seem like it died yesterday. It must have only turned to zombie shorty after they came here. Then, he sees a bruise shape a hand on its right arm. Its skin is open slightly and a small amount of coagulated blood covers it. It looks to be done by nail.
"This can't be, can it?" It seems like even getting scratched by the zombies will also turn you into one.
"We have to be very careful…" Sean looks at everyone with a solemn face. The tear marks on his fair cheeks shine and his eyes look at the others worriedly.
"Dad, someone is running down there…" Tom is using clairvoyance to peer down the floor below and sees Arnold running and fending off the zombies.
"There's a lot of zombies after him dad"
"They must be the survivors! I thought they couldn't go downstairs! Why did they go down?" It will be too dangerous for only the two of them to go and save them since the floor down there is filled with zombies. Liam grabs the phone again and dials a number from one of the survivors on the second floor.
"Get this call to David… something happened" The person on the other line immediately runs towards David and hands the phone over.
"What happened? Did something happen to the survivors?"
"Yes, they seem to have gone down the floor. There's a lot of zombies down there, should we go after them?..."
"Oh God… we don't know whether they are getting bitten but we still have to try. We'll clear the elevator and head there directly. For the time being, could the two of you search for them? I don't want to say this but your small son could probably clean up the zombies there… you've seen it before too didn't you?"
Liam didn't want to endanger Tom but he also has seen what he was capable of. If anything happens he's here to guard him too. Tom specializes in accuracy and long ranged attack while he will be guarding him against the zombies that would get too close. They could probably do it but he's reluctant to depend this on his five years old child.
"Liam, I know what your thinking. But we should help those poor people. They've been through a lot…"
"…Okay, we'll meet you up here. Hurry up and don't put my wife in danger!" Liam hangs up the call and then tells Tommy that they're going to improvise their plan.
"Okay! Big bro said that I'm probably ready to use two shurikens in one go, but I still haven't practiced obstacle courses with two at once!" Tom manipulates another shuriken out of nowhere aside from the one hovering around them.
"Maybe that's something you should use as the last resort. For now, focus on the first one okay?"
"Oh…" Tom dejectedly pouts.
"Come on let's go!"
The pair of father and son enter the floor below and smoothly kill zombies one after another. Tom is terrifyingly good at handling the shuriken and kills any zombies he could find in under three seconds. Liam with his foldable stick just continues moving forward without moving his hands.
Based on their intel, this floor is mostly made out of private suites for VIPs so there are fewer zombies here than on most of the other floors.
"There's a person…" Tom says.
"Where are they?"
"Over there" Tom points the location while riding on his father's neck while Liam heads to that location.
Arnold wields his stick while fending off a horde of zombies. The zombies scratch and bite him here and there while he attracts them far from the location of Sean and the others.
"Oh!" one after another, the zombies around him get hit on the head with something shiny and fast. This thing pierces their skulls and brains as if a hot knife to butter. One by one, the zombies stop moving and fall to the ground.
Arnold stops fending for himself dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.
"It might just all be a dream…" He might not have been bitten by the zombies and he might not turn into one of them. This unbelievable scene causes him to think such. All of them are just his wishful thinking. The pain he's feeling all over his body is as real as it could get. The shiny thing maneuvered in the air with nothing resembling technology or strings attached to it. The flat, shiny spinning thing seems to be moving on its own.
"Hey, you're bitten! Are you the survivor from the rooftop?" Behind Arnold, he sees a pair of father and son walking as if there are no zombies or dead bodies around them.
"What are you doing here? There's a child too!"
"We're the rescue. Are you alone?"
Then Arnold remembers seeing them somewhere. Although he hasn't seen their faces before, they look incredibly familiar.
"Oh! That's right! The strong man that belongs to that amazing group!... Right, right... I'm one of the survivors from the rooftop. Please save my friends there in the restroom shortly ahead…. Please save them…" Arnold starts weeping when he realizes that he won't have to worry about the other's safety anymore. He also realizes that they made a hasty move and should have waited a bit more on the rooftop. Such a regretting and frustrating thing. However, he's too relieved to worry about that too much.
"I'm so sorry we got here too late… Are the others fine? Anyone else bitten?"
"No! It's only me! Only me okay! Everyone else doesn't have injuries anywhere, you can check them! But please save them!..."
"… You… You'll probably turn into a zombie soon. Your body is too tattered with bites and scratches…"
"I know… it's too late for me… but please, please save them!" Arnold repeat his pleas for everyone else's sake and couldn't stop crying. He even starts kneeling and bangs his head on the floor.
Liam sighed with pity for the man and couldn't imagine how much he sacrificed to save his friends.
"Yes… don't worry. We will save them… but about you. We can't possibly leave you alone.."
"No! I don't want you to dirty your hands…. I will end myself with my own hands. So please hurry up and check their situation for me. Maybe they'll go out of the room to go after me!..."
Liam couldn't handle it anymore and only nods to the man and walked toward the direction Arnold keeps pointing at.
"Thank you…" Arnold's faint voice is left behind as Liam proceeds to save the survivors in the bathroom.
Most of the zombies on this floor have already been dealt with in one go when they all gather to Arnold so there are no zombies on their way.
They finally encounter the bathroom door so Liam knocks on it and asks if anyone is in there softly.
Liam explains that he's here to save them and tells them about a man on the way.
Sean, Jessi, Aria, and May who hear this starts bursting into cries once again. Soon they open the door and let Liam and Tom come in.
"What happened to mister nurse?" Tom's sad voice asks them.
Sean and the others couldn't stop weeping. They're too tired and hungry, they fall to the ground while bursting all their feelings out.
With a ding, The elevator on the sixth floor slowly opens. A woman and a large wolf make their way out.
"It's quiet…" Clair wonders. David sniffs the air and uses his superior eyesight to see what's up ahead.
David leads the way while using his senses to detect any moving object. Suddenly, he growls and points his nose in the direction nearby. Clair produces a sword of pure force field and points it in that direction.
Soon, from a corner, a zombie wobbly appears. The sword flies in the air and separates its head from its body. Then, the two continue onward.
Claire calls her husband for their status and location then later, they regroup with the survivors. They successfully rescue them and bring them to the second floor using the elevator.
"We're here…" Will pulls over near Rick's house.
The neighborhood is as peaceful as always even despite the zombies appearing all over the town. Although there is a lot of mess scattering all over the ground, there's relatively lesser blood and bodies littering them.
"There are more survivors here than zombies… Your house has several people inside. I just don't know what their intention is" Says Will while scanning the area with his 'perception' ability.
"My mom… is she in there?" Rick leaves those words and then disappears, leaving a gush of wind behind.
"Mom! Are you there?!" Rick twists the doorknob but it seems locked. Rick remembers where the extra key is hiding and instantly grab it and open the door.
"She's here… go on while I go to my house. Lock the door until I come knocking… those people don't seem to have a bad intention and are simply hiding here from the zombies… we'll have to rescue them too if they seem won't do anything bad" Says Will and then heads to his house.
Rick closes the door and then explores the house in one run. He easily finds his mother in her room.
"Mom! Are you okay?"
"Oh, Rick! You came! Did you go all the way here by yourself?" Natalie hugs her son as soon as she sees him.
"No, I came with Will! Wait… you're not worrying about where I've been?"
"Well... I've been watching over you all this time" Natalie shows her phone. Although there's no more live broadcast playing on it, Rick knows what she's implying.
"Although I was worried when the live broadcast stopped… but you're here now" She hugs him tightly once again.
"Yes… we're here to get you. There are more survivors in the hospital and we're slowly clearing it from the zombies… You will come with us!"
"What about the house? Our stuff?..." Natalie worries about burglars and hoarders.
"We'll ask Will to do something about it… I heard him saying that he'll do something like put enchantment on his house to avoid others from entering it. But we need to gather in one place for when official rescue arrives… when they don't come… it's also a lot better to stick with other people. We have people with abilities there and it's also a hospital so we don't have to worry when we get sick or injured. We have a lot of hospital staffs survivors"
"Is that so… we have to gather our important belongings then!"
With that, they start gathering all their important things and pack them up.
End of chapter