Olivia was definitely dealing with some mental health issues.
While she was in the psych ward, she started hurting herself and was one of the first to wake up after everything went sideways.
She topped the charts at the shelter, ranked number 001, the toughest of them all!
Her special power was [Deadly Agony]. The more she hurt, the stronger she got, and her power had some serious legs.
Landon was right behind her at number 002, rocking the ability [Fearless Frenzy].
Turns out, the less you know, the bolder you are. Landon could go nuts, dropping his smarts to zero, but his muscle game went through the roof.
At that moment, Olivia was in a college hallway, rocking a hospital gown with blue stripes, her right arm all bandaged up, swinging a firefighter's axe.
"Roar—"
Two zombies up front went wild and charged at her.
Olivia, all stone-faced, swung her axe, busting their heads open.
Blood splashed all over the walls, leaving a gruesome trail.
"Let's roll."
Behind her were a bunch of scared survivors.
From around the corner, they heard the crazy steps and angry growls of more zombies.
Turning around,
they saw a swarm of zombies bursting out, stumbling over each other, packing the hallway like a flood.
"Oh snap! That's a ton of zombies!"
"Book it!"
"...."
The survivors were freaking out, running with Olivia.
But regular folks couldn't outrun zombies, and they were quickly losing ground.
Luckily,
there was a stairwell up ahead. If they could make it there and slam the door, they might block the zombies.
Olivia hacked down a few zombies in her path with her axe and dashed into the stairwell.
The survivors hustled in after her.
But one girl, slipping on a zombie's blood, crashed to the floor.
"Ah—"
She screamed in shock.
But Olivia just glanced back, saw the girl about to get overrun, and slammed the stairwell door shut.
Huff—huff—huff—
It got quiet, and a few students were panting hard.
But one guy was staring, horrified.
"You... why didn't you save Keira just now? And you locked her out?"
"I couldn't save her," Olivia said, ice-cold.
But the guy was desperate.
"Keira's our classmate, she's cool. We can't just leave her, we gotta try."
"Oh..."
Olivia nodded, turned back, and yanked the door open.
Then, she grabbed the guy's arm and shoved him out.
'Bang!'
Olivia slammed the door with a thud.
In this messed-up world, the nice guys bite the dust first.
"Anyone else feeling heroic?" Olivia eyed the crew, her gaze sharp as nails.
Everyone was shivering, too scared to even breathe, just shaking their heads like crazy.
They got the message loud and clear—Olivia was not someone to mess with.
"The chopper's on the roof, let's move," Olivia commanded, leading the way to the stairs.
The stairwell was dead quiet, a nice change with no zombies around. Here and there, a few zombie corpses lay around, taken out by someone else.
Looks like there were other tough cookies in the school...
Saving one of these power-ups could score you some serious perks at the shelter—like an extra couple pounds of flour...
Just as they were about to hit the roof.
At the top stairwell door, a dude appeared, clutching a bloodied paper cutter.
He just stood there, giving them the cold shoulder.
"You take out these zombies?" Olivia called up.
"Yeah, that was all me."
Turns out, he was another student, but with some newfound powers.
"Nice."
Olivia nodded, "Roll with us to the shelter."
But the guy shook his head, his eyes wild, "Why should I box myself in there? Out here, I'm free. You should ditch the shelter and stay here with me."
"Dexter, have you lost your mind??" a girl from the group yelled.
Power does weird things to people.
"Oh! Really now?"
The guy's face twisted as he flipped the paper cutter and lunged, blade aiming to kill.
'Pshht!'
But instead of hitting the girl, the blade sank into a bandaged arm, blood soaking through, turning the white to deep red.
Like a dark red rose unfolding.
That arm belonged to Olivia. Even with the blade in her arm, her face didn't flinch.
"Hmm?" The guy frowned, puzzled. Doesn't she feel pain?
As the bandages on Olivia's arm unwound, revealing a patchwork of old and new scars, the guy's eyes bugged out.
"Pain, how delightful..." Olivia's lips twisted into a smirk as she triggered her power [Deadly Agony]. Then, with a swift move, she shoved the guy's chin, snapping his neck with a brutal twist.
'Crack!'
Down went the guy, crumpled on the floor.
"Two pounds of flour down the drain..."
...
When Olivia and the gang made it to the rooftop, there was a chopper waiting, and a skinny figure stood there, back turned. It was Landon, oddly enough holding onto a zombie.
"001, this is 002, come in!" Landon barked into the radio, one-handed.
"What's the deal?" Olivia asked, stepping up behind him.
"Uh..." Landon spun around, a flicker of smarts in his eyes.
"Just finished a rescue and wanted to make sure you were cool."
"That a rescue?" Olivia nodded at his 'companion.'
Landon glanced back and realized he was gripping a zombie, now stretching its neck to bite him.
"Eh? It was human just a sec ago, when did it turn? My bad."
'Boom!'
With a flick of his wrist, he smacked the zombie's face, sending it flying off the roof.
...
Meanwhile, Zane was chilling at home, watching TV. Never thought he'd see his old pals on the rescue team list.
Out of curiosity, and nothing better to do, Zane hopped online to check out the shelter's site for more info.
Sure enough, there they were on the rescue team page, complete with photos and quirky bios.
Under Olivia's pic, it read: "Me, a gentle girl, scared of pain."
And Landon's: "Me, a handsome dude, unmatched in bravery and brains."