A year has passed since Soulen had met those 3.. The same year she somehow had become part of their family. It wasn't expected, nor was it something that happened coincidentally. Was it fate? Was it destiny? Whatever it was, it gave her the chance to feel like she was in a family again.
After spending this long with them, her English understanding had slowly returned. However, she couldn't fully speak it as fluently as she used to, she could only make certain words and say somethings now. Which in itself was an improvement to say the least.
It was currently Dawn and Soulen had been with molly who had decided to dress her in her mum's clothing for some reason. Bel didn't mind lending a bit of her clothing to Soulen. as her outfit before was tattered, worn-out and dirty. Soulen was now dressed in a white dress which stopped nicely a few inches above her knee with sunflower designs decorating the dress itself. Her hair was more straightened and brushed, the silver hair of hers now shimmering slightly within the evening sun rays. She looked better than before, even with the now fully grown flower on her left shoulder. the gaping heart that was on her left chest had shrunken to a less visibly disgusting form and she looked near human. though her walking still was unbalanced, her shoulder still dropped to one side and her left eyes remained a pulsing blue glow.
Few minutes after, She sat down at the balcony of the office as she stared down at the wandering infected below, hey eyes scanning the many abominations with a blank expression as molly was inside playing with her dolls. Bel slowly walked towards Soulen with a plate of noodles in hand.
"Soulen dear. will you be able to eat?" She asked with a small smile as soulen slowly turned to face her. Her eyes locked with Bel's; the blue part of her eyes pulsing slowly as she returned her gaze to the horde below.
"....thanks...…not....satisfied.." Soulen says as bel frowned a bit. she knew well enough that Soulen couldn't be satisfied with this kind of food. she wanted flesh. it was more nutritious and filling that anything else.
Bel sat down beside Soulen as her gaze fell on the horde below then at the sunset with a small smile. she hummed a small song to herself as soulen listened while now staring at the sunset.
"Do you think we will be able to survive anymore than we have all this while?" Bel asked as Soulen turned to face her. She stared at bel as the woman smiled before giving a nervous giggle.
"...I think about it every day.... how much longer can we hold ourselves in this place? how long can we survive getting rations from outside that aren't spoilt or bad....We can't do manual labor to cultivate crops due to our position and the place we are staying... Honestly it makes me feel hopeless..." Bel would say with a forced smile as she turned to Soulen, hoping for an answer from her,
Soulen stared at her before looking down at her hands. she didn't know what to say. she didn't know the RIGHT words to say. after all, she did her best to survive and ended up dead and luckily reborn as a revenant.
"...…Survive...…Don't...…stop...." Soulen would say before growling right after as she shook her head and faced bel. "Don't.....stop.....living...…."
Bel stared at her with wide eyes before smiling gently. Yeah, that's all she could keep doing. no matter what, she needed to keep surviving for her husband and daughter. Soulen didn't want them to die nor experience the hell of changing into an infected.
"Thank you for the encouragement Soulen.... i should get things prepared for Elliot. rest well" Bel would say as she got up and walked inside while Soulen stared out into the horizon yet again as her hair blew back gently,
Another day tomorrow...
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The next day came and Soulen was on the streets of the city once again. she had ventured off to Ricgin street which was quite the distance away from the safe space of the three humans she was staying with. why was she here? she was hungry. The food Bel was giving wasn't nutritious nor was it filling. it only helped a tiny bit each time she ate. She needed and craved flesh.
Walking down the road, she observed the sleeping infecteds here, avoiding, commanding and pushing aside infecteds that were in her path while walking further down the road; looking for any organic food. Though they couldnt deny that leaving the family alone for this long would be unsettling. but she continued forward until they came across a survivor running away from some infected zombies. she watched as they chased after him till he was cornered. the man screamed as he swung the metal pipe in his hand at any who came towards hum but in the end, he got overwhelmed and died with his head ripped off. An emotionless demeanor was placed on soulen's face as she ordered the zombies to leave and slowly made her way towards the man's corpse to eat.
"Food..." she says hungrily as she devoured the body while the other zombies stood around her or slowly started walking away.
Once she was done eating, she licked the blood off her mouth, her outfit stained with blood as she began making her way back to her new fond family. She slowly groaned and growled as she walked, her hands bloodied as well as her shirt and hair. it would be a while to get back to the family but she continued forward.
After an hour or so, she eventually made it back to the building and noticed the door's barricades undone. strange. she walked towards the door. noticing it was left ajar. she walked to see the place is a complete mess. what happened here? she felt uneasy and quickly ran out of the building; running down to the street as she was looking for the family she had stayed with for so long. she came rom the left so she turned right and made her way down the streets till she eventually found a group of zombies crowded in one spot. she roared as loud as she could, causing the zombies to look at her and move away. and when she came closer to what was going on, her eyes widened a bit as she stared at the Elliot who was bleeding mess. Molly and Bel were lying motionless on the floor, holding each other with their eyes closed as Elliot looked up to Soulen with a relived yet pained smile.
"H-haha.... what....took you so long Soulen..." Elliot says before coughing up blood. Soulen stared down at him, her mouth opened as she stared, not knowing what to do.
"....Sorry.... in the end, we made a mistake and ended up here....i couldn't save them....and myself.." He continued as he dropped the giant machete stained with blue blood as he leaned back, showing the huge chewed up part of his tummy.
He steadied his breathing as he looked up to her before coughing up some more blood as soulen curled her fist into a ball. tightly squeezing. this caused Eillot looked up to her once and smiled a bit before controlling his breathing.
"H-heh.... first time ive seen you cry kid..." Elliot says with a more honest smile despite the blood dripping from his mouth.
He wasnt wrong though, her eyes were watery as her cheek trailed down with her tears as she blinked and touched her face, feeling her own tears trail down. she was surprised. she thought she had lost all forms of emotion but right now she was feeling two. Sadness and Anger.
"Thank you... for spending time with us kid. having... an additional.... person made it feel like we...we, were one big family again. molly....molly she... thought of you...as her big sister..." Elliot says as he coughed up more blood before leaning down near his wife and daughter as he closed his eyes.
"i rather you eat us than we become a half zombie. or just kill us if you don't want to....I don't...want us to be forever....a walking corpse... please... Soulen..." he says with heavy breaths
"Thank...you for.....being with us..."
His body grew numb as his breathing slowly stopped, a small satisfied smile on his face while tears slowly rolled down his cheek. Soulen stared at them with a heavy heart as she slowly opened her fist and fell on her knees beside, placing a hand on his body. it was slowly turning cold. they were truly dead. that amount of time spent with them, now gone, slowly turning to a memory.
she stared at the bodies with tears slowly going down her cheeks as a zombie slowly walked passed her and tried grabbing at the corpses. Suddenly a sharp vine shot out of the ground and pierced the head of the infected which it groaned before getting decapitated.
Soulen slowly got up as her left eye glowed bright blue. Vines began growing all around her, consuming the infecteds around and destroying the roads and properties around her as she growled angrily; tears refusing to stop flowing from her eyes. The vines carefully covered the family as it buried them underground while the whole area was covered with vines and branches as she screamed out in agony.
A few minutes had passed and Soulen found her way back down in her corolla. Her tears had finally stopped and she felt alot more sober yet depressed. She walked towards the base of the corolla and sat down, her legs curling up towards her chest as she held onto it; resting her head on her knee. she thought for a while. on everything that had happened and what to do next. after all, whatever had happened was not the initial plan. She was suppose to find people to use for her experiment of becoming like her but she didnt want to that with the family she was with for a long time. it would make her feel bad. But there was good development.
She now knew she could still feel emotions. but it was just that she forgot how to express them. it would take time but it would come back. next was her English. Though not perfect, she was able to say some words now and knew eventually she would get better at it again. But what would she do now?
Just then, one of the branches moved on its own to comfort her before feeling the corolla communicating with her. She stared up at the corolla as it relayed an information into her mind where she nodded and got up.
She knew where to go and what to do now. It was time to hunt.