He got up and headed towards the direction of Samantha. He was glad that his backpack was still with him. He grabbed some jerky and water from it and munched on them as he walked.
He still spotted some flashes of lightning in the distance and wondered if the survivor had just set the longest record of surviving the barrage of lightning and zombies in this apocalyptic world.
He noticed a tomato plant on his way that he had missed before, as he had been dragged by the insistent Samantha at that time. He plucked some ripe tomatoes and added them to his breakfast.
He also saved some for later in his backpack. He savored the juicy fruit, thinking about how much fun he would have with Samantha when he reached her destination. He walked with a spring in his step, feeling happy and excited.
Meanwhile, in the place where the sky was ablaze with flashes of lightning that struck the same spot over and over again, a scene of horror and devastation that defied words unfolded.
A metal tower that had once been a proud symbol of human civilization was now a twisted wreck of wires and steel, some of which were blackened or severed by the relentless bolts. The tower was encircled by a ring of metal rods that stood like bars of a cage, keeping a proportional distance from each other.
The tower acted as conductors for the electricity that surged through the wires, sending it to an unknown destination far away. But most of the wires were tangled and draped over the rods, causing sparks and noises that pierced the ears and eyes of anyone who dared to look.
The zombies that roamed the land were unable to cross the ring of rods, as if they sensed a deadly force that repelled them. The electric field that surrounded the tower was their nemesis, their bane.
Every time a lightning struck, dozens of zombies would fall to the ground, twitching or burning, adding to the pile of corpses that formed a gruesome moat around the tower.
But none of the zombies underwent a mutation like the one Blaze had faced, as if that was a freak occurrence that violated all rules and logic.
Inside the tower, three pieces of metal debris offered some shelter from the storm for the survivors. Outside, the bodies of those who had not been so lucky lay scattered, victims of either the zombies or the lightning.
The debris had been modified by someone who had a knack for engineering, creating a makeshift faraday cage that shielded them from the electric shocks that could kill them instantly.
And in one of the debris, an old man was caring for a young lady who was wounded and unconscious.
The old man had a bite mark on his shoulder, a souvenir from a zombie attack, but he ignored it as he tended to the young lady's hand, which was scorched and blackened by the lightning that had hit her. He applied some salve and bandages to soothe her pain and ward off infection.
The young lady was barely alive, her breaths shallow and weak. Her right leg was in worse shape than her hand, not because of the lightning or the zombies, but because of the explosion that had shattered her bones and ripped her flesh.
She needed immediate medical help, but there was none to be found in this infernal place.
"Leyna…" the old man whispered, his voice breaking as he finished wrapping her hand. His eyes were wet and tears rolled down his cheeks, showing his sorrow and despair for her state.
But the most apparent thing was his red eyes that almost hid his retina, his veins that bulged under his skin, and his hand that trembled uncontrollably.
He knew he was turning into a zombie, and he knew he had only minutes left before he became a monster. He knew he had to end his life before it was too late.
He grabbed a handgun that lay next to him and pressed it against his temple. He took a deep breath and steeled himself as he pulled the trigger.
*BANG*
The sound of the shot rang out in the debris, but Leyna was deaf to it.
His final thought was a gratitude to his granddaughter for giving him a purpose to live. He wished things could have been different and he knew that Leyna had no chance of surviving even if he managed to treat her wounds. She was too badly hurt and weak to withstand the storm and the zombies.
But he still hoped that by some miracle she would live and have a normal life that a young lady deserved. A life filled with joy and love, not horror and pain that haunted this world.
He was glad he had insisted on joining the ground unit, at least he knew what had happened to her, unlike her mother. He never found out what had become of Leyna's mother when the outbreak began and she disappeared.
Leyna was unaware that she was the last one alive in the team. She was alone in the storm, surrounded by zombies and lightning that could strike her at any time.
Meanwhile, Blaze had reached Samantha, who was still tied up and squirming, still dazzled by the lightning in the distance.
He was already tinkering with her zombie body, trying to understand the connection between the dots of light and her decaying flesh.
He discovered that the dots of light remained even if a part of her body was cut off, as he saw that Samantha's toes on her right foot were missing but the light was still there, hovering in the air.
He noticed a clear membrane that wrapped around her body, like a thin layer of skin. It seemed that this membrane kept the dots of light together, as if they were linked by invisible threads.
He compared the arrangement of the dots for both of them, and named it Light Blueprint. He wondered if the light was some kind of life force or energy that kept the zombies alive and gave them some awareness.