Even after Rein took his last breath I couldn't get myself to move. I remained on the ground and hugging his lifeless body to my chest while crying my heart out and calling out his name over and over again. But I know he wouldn't answer, he couldn't even hear me.
After several minutes a hand was placed on my back gently for only a moment and a voice spoke to me in a soft tone. "Hey, I know it's it's bad timing but we have to go now." Of course. I completely forgot he's here with me. He must have remained outside the whole time. I hate that he saw me breaking down, hate that he saw me so vulnerable but I don't have it in me to care in a moment like this.
I look up at him with confusion written all over my tear-stained face and he goes quiet for a minute before before hesitantly putting a hand on my shoulder. "I know it's hard and I feel sorry for you, I really do, but we have to move now. The second that the infected people run out of victims at the market square, they will spread all over the town and I really don't want to be here anymore when that happens." , he says in a surprisingly emphatic voice. "B-But I can't just leave him here." He looks down at Rein's body and thinks for a moment. "We can't take him with us but we could lock his body into one of the rooms upstairs. I don't think the infected are smart enough to search the whole house even if they would decide to come inside for victims." I nod and he helps me to carry Rein upstairs and lay him on his bed. "I'm going to come back once it's safer, I promise"
We lock the door on our way out of his room and I walk into the kitchen and start searching through drawers. "What the hell are you doing? I told you we have to le-" He goes quiet once he sees what I've been searching for: my weapons, all of them. "He didn't know that I always knew where he puts my stuff when he's confiscated it but he's always been bad at keeping secrets to himself. His body language when I came near the kitchen told me everything I needed to know." I grab one of the swords, a rather light armour and a pair of daggers for myself and hand another leather armour and one dagger to him. "What? For me?" "Yes, you never know what might happen and it's better to have something to defend yourself with, just aim for the heart or throat if it's needed." He examines the dagger, smiles softly and mutters a quiet "Thanks." "We'll search Eloria now. If she really went here directly after school she hopefully already had left before Rein was attacked. Let's go to her house first."
I take a deep breath and take a moment to steel myself for whatever may happen in the next hours before we both step outside once again. The sky is clear of clouds, only vibrant blue in sight. It's ironic that even though today is such a horrible day the weather is warmer than normally. If we didn't have to fight for our lives it would have been a perfect day for a walk, but fate had something else planned for this town. It's not sure if anybody will get out here alive but I think it's a nice thought to die on a day as beautiful as today, at least all victims have a wonderful view and can feel the sun on their skin for a last time. Still, I'm not going to die today. I have to get to find Eloria and get to Curtis fast.
As we walk through the streets the streets together it's eerily silent. No footsteps, no screams, no growling, nothing. Has everyone already been killed or were they able to escape? The boy and I both stop at the same time and stare ahead horrified. My question has been answered far faster than I could have ever imagined. Corpses, everywhere. The street is plastered with them as far as the eye can see. All with massive wounds of all kinds on their body and drenched in their own blood. Because there are so many of them their blood turned the whole pavement red.
I hear the boy throwing up next to me but I can't look away from the bodies. So many people. Teenagers I went to school with, salesman I brought my food from and people I didn't know personally but recognise their face. And yes, most of them treated me unkindly and I dreamt of fighting back but they don't deserve death for fucks sake. These are all people from my town. These are my people. I don't care how many monsters I have to fight, but I promise here and now that I will avenge all of them. I'm going to find and then I'm going to kill that bastard with the strange eyes.