"Clark, are you leaving? Is my brother okay?" Viola leaned against the wall, watching Clark, who was repairing the door, with a cautious look. She, who knew nothing about the apocalypse, was unaware of what she would face if Clark couldn't obtain the antidote.
Viola's hands were behind her back, and her delicate fingers nervously twisted the hem of her dress. Under her long skirt, her slender legs were marred with scratches on the knees. Her pure white dress had been stained with blood and dust, making it look dirty. Her frail body, devoid of color due to worry, elicited sympathy.
Clark carefully reattached the iron door that had been kicked off. Since becoming an awakened individual, he was still getting used to his newfound strength. Hard metal felt like plastic in his hands and could easily be bent or even destroyed if he applied too much force. So, he had to use a pile of discarded steel bars to make some makeshift repairs to the damaged door. It looked ugly and unattractive but was functional. After fixing the door, Clark fell into a brief silence.
"Viola, I'll be back soon. Don't worry," Clark didn't intend to hide anything.
"Dirk." Clark paused for a moment, then turned and smiled warmly at Viola, his expression determined. "Both you and Dirk will be fine. Trust me."
Clark let out a sigh. His parents had left him at a young age, and Viola and Dirk were the only people he cared about. Even though they weren't related by blood, they were like family to him. Dirk's parents had taken care of him as if he were their own child, and Viola and her brother treated him like a real older brother. Viola and Dirk were the last traces of softness in his heart.
Viola, looking at Clark's determined and handsome face, hesitated for a moment, her eyes becoming teary. Listening to Clark's familiar tone, she felt reassured, just like when they were children. It was as if as long as Clark and her brother were around, she didn't have to worry about anything.
"Clark, when do you plan to leave?" Viola asked timidly. She was afraid of disturbing Clark and had hesitated for a long time. She hadn't voiced what she really wanted to say. She hoped Clark would stay with her a little longer.
The cries of zombies and humans in the neighborhood never ceased. Meanwhile, her brother remained unconscious. Viola was very scared, but she also feared that expressing these thoughts would be too selfish and would interfere with what Clark needed to do.
After sealing all the windows in the room, the room became pitch black. Clark turned his head, his enhanced eyesight allowing him to see in the dark as if it were daytime.
"I'll leave early tomorrow morning. Tonight, I'll stay here," Clark understood Viola's expression.
Even though Viola was just a young girl now, in his past life, when the apocalypse broke out, even he, a military man, had felt uneasy and afraid. Faced with life and death during the apocalypse, many people with poor mental resilience had even chosen to end their own lives.
"Really?" Viola's head, lowered in surprise, lifted up, looking towards the darkness where Clark was. She couldn't see him, but she knew he was there.
Clark didn't respond with words; instead, he walked over to Viola and affectionately ruffled her hair. The faint scent of shower gel masked the bloodstains in his nostrils. He wasn't delaying his time because of sentimentality.
At this moment, "The Stitcher" hadn't appeared yet. Twelve hours later, the zombie in the WD mall would mutate into "The Stitcher" among the many zombies. Subtracting the two-hour travel time, he still had about ten hours to stay at Dirk's home.
Moreover, Clark was in extremely poor condition and needed rest. After consecutive battles and activating his awakened abilities, his body had reached its limit. He was now relying solely on his willpower to keep going as he embraced the young girl.
Viola buried her head deeply in his chest, her body trembling lightly. "Clark, I'm so scared..."
Clark felt the girl's shivering in his embrace but remained silent. He only tightened his grip around Viola with his right arm.
A night passed in silence.
On the morning of the emerald day, there were no longer the usual cheerful bird songs outside the window. Sharp cries woke Clark up, and not far away, a man's panicked cries for help were quickly drowned in the zombie howls, accompanied by a moment of silence. It seemed that someone else had died.
As Clark woke up, he felt that his condition had returned to its peak, and his body was filled with strength.
As long as he had enough rest, he would quickly recover his condition. This was one of the benefits of the data template.
After quickly checking Dirk's condition and confirming that he was unharmed, Clark breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at Viola, who was curled up on the couch, and shook his head slightly.
Viola, sleeping soundly, furrowed her delicate eyebrows slightly, and her hands instinctively searched by her side a few times. There were faint traces of tears on her dainty and exquisite face.
Clark smiled bitterly. It was clear that Viola had secretly changed his bloodstained clothes for clean ones in the middle of the night. Clark and Dirk had similar heights and body types, so the clothes fit perfectly.
"Ding ding." The alarm clock that had been set the night before rang. Clark extinguished the cigarette in his hand and gazed deeply at the two of them.
As Clark was about to leave, Viola, who was sleeping with her back to him, suddenly had tear streaks on her face.
"Viola has so much she wants to say to you. You must come back safely," she said, her voice trembling.
Before leaving, Viola was still fast asleep, and Dirk was still unconscious in the room, but he looked much better. It was likely that he would wake up soon. Clark moved several zombie corpses to cover up the residual human scent at the door, and then used various items to block the entrance.
With this done, Clark finally felt at ease. However, he sensed that there were survivors on the other side of the door. While moving things around, his keen hearing picked up sounds coming from the neighboring room. The person inside was cautiously observing him, thinking that Clark hadn't noticed. Clark paid it no mind but made sure that someone was watching him. He casually picked up a zombie head and crushed it in front of the person. It was as easy as squeezing a water balloon. The hard skull shattered into pieces and scattered everywhere.