Chapter 11 - Suicide

She threw the rope with force, and it immediately fell from the balcony. The moment the rope fell, the woman realized that her last hope was gone. There was no way she could survive now. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed to her knees on the balcony, her eyes filled with despair.

"It's over. Everything is over. There are no more survivors in this building, and the food is gone. Some of the corpses are already rotting and can't be eaten anymore..."

After a long while, the woman picked up the marker and continued writing on the bedsheet.

"Die! You will all die! No one can survive! Even if I die today, I will curse you to not survive. Die!!!! Die!!!!"

The woman seemed to go mad, repeatedly writing the word "die" on the bedsheet.

"She's lost her mind," Stel said calmly, watching the woman.

"Maybe she wasn't crazy at first, but after eating the first person, she went insane."

"Master, will we end up like this?" Elsie asked worriedly.

"No, as long as you behave and act like my dog, I'll make sure you don't starve. But if I find out you have any other ideas, I'll make your death very painful."

Stel didn't plan to kill Elsie anytime soon. She could still be useful, especially as a tool for him to vent his frustrations. Keeping her around and torturing her gave him a sense of revenge.

"Thank you, Master!" Elsie said gratefully, crawling to Stel. She wrapped herself around his leg, trying to show her submission.

Warmth spread from Elsie's body to Stel's leg, but he kicked her away. After she fell, he stepped on her stomach.

Elsie gasped in pain but didn't resist. She knew any defiance could mean a worse fate.

"Know your place. Don't touch me without my permission, understand?" Stel commanded.

"Yes..." Elsie replied, nodding reluctantly. 

Stel had never seen her as a person. Because of her betrayal in his past life, and how she and Tyler had caused him to be bitten by zombies, Stel considered Elsie to be lower than an animal.

The woman remained slumped on her balcony all afternoon, unable to move. Her last hope had turned into despair, breaking her completely.

That night, Stel's mood struck him again, and he continued to treat Elsie roughly. This time, she seemed more accustomed to it. Stel guessed that soon she might even become addicted to the pain.

"Master, what will happen to that woman? Will she starve to death?" Elsie asked.

"Hard to say. People like her won't give up as long as there's even a glimmer of hope. But right now, she has no hope left."

"Thinking about it, it's a bit of a pity. That woman's body was really something," Stel mused, recalling her well-toned and curvaceous figure.

"Master, don't worry. I'll work on my body too and become someone you'll like," Elsie said.

"Shut up and do what you're supposed to," Stel snapped, hitting her on the back without any tenderness. Elsie winced in pain but bit her lip to stay silent.

The next morning, curious about the woman's fate, Stel went to the balcony to check on the situation on the eighth floor of the opposite building. What he saw almost made him vomit his dinner from the previous night.

The woman had moved all the corpses from inside her apartment onto the balcony. Most of the bodies she threw off the balcony were stripped of flesh, attracting countless zombies to gnaw on them. Strangely, these bodies, despite being bitten by zombies, did not turn into zombies themselves.

"Why did Tyler turn into a zombie, but these bodies show no change after being bitten?" Stel wondered. 

Suddenly, an idea struck him. "Could it be that only intact bodies can turn into zombies? Maybe the bite introduces something that alters the human brain's nerves. These altered nerves then control the person, making them act like a zombie."

Stel hypothesized that this might explain how humans get infected and become zombies. If the emergence of zombies was due to controlled nervous systems, then perhaps reversing these neural changes could turn zombies back into humans.

After a moment, Stel dismissed the thought. "I must be rambling. This is something for scientists to figure out. It's enough that I can survive in this zombie world."

With nothing much to do today, Stel continued observing the woman's balcony. Curiously, she hadn't appeared on her balcony all day.

"Master," Elsie called softly as she approached the balcony. "Do you need to exercise today?"

"Not today. Resting the muscles is also a form of training."

"Alright..." Elsie replied, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. She had secretly stretched her body in the room, warming up to serve as Stel's dumbbell and weight. She was disheartened that her efforts were in vain.

"She's coming out," Stel suddenly said.

Stel's eyes were fixed on the woman's balcony. This time, just like the first time they saw each other, she appeared completely naked in front of Stel. Despite the eerie backdrop of countless hanging corpses, she held a knife in her hand.

Stel had no idea what she intended to do, but he had a bad feeling about it.

"What is she trying to do?" Elsie asked, puzzled.

Both of them watched the woman closely, not wanting to miss any detail. The next moment, the woman raised the knife high and slashed her own arm.

"Splurt!"

A deep wound immediately appeared on her arm, and she continued to stab deeper into her flesh.

"Master, why is she hurting herself?" Elsie asked.

"I don't know..." Stel replied, unsure of the woman's intentions. One thing was clear, though—she had gone completely insane.

"Hahahahahaha!" The woman suddenly burst into hysterical laughter. The sound instantly attracted countless zombies below, who gathered under the apartment building, futilely clawing at the walls in an attempt to climb up.

"You bastards, you deserve to die! Everyone deserves to die!" the woman screamed. She then threw the knife aside and twirled around on the balcony.

"Thud!"

She collapsed onto the balcony floor, her blood mixing with the already gruesome scene around her.