It was a good thing that I had a death grip on Teddy, because the moment the zombies attacked one of the humans, Dimitri had me up and over his shoulder as he bolted for the stairs.
"Keep straight," called out Ronan, his slow, soothing voice cutting through all the chaos around me. "I got your back."
"I'm not worried about my back," replied Dimitri, practically jumping over the railing. All I felt was the sensation of falling before a jarring feeling of being forcefully stopped. "Protect Kitten."
"Toss 'er to me," interjected a voice I was starting to recognize as Max. Or at least, that was what the woman had called him. "Yous be the best with cold weapons. If something comes, take their head."
Dimitri grunted, and suddenly, I was flying before landing on something hard. The man's arms wrapped around me, and I could have sworn I smelled the ocean for a moment. "Bonjour, Niblet. Don' yous be lookin' like a feast."
I was so stunned by his smooth drawl that it took me a moment to understand what he was calling me.
Why was everyone starting to call me by food right now? I know I just had a shower, but I didn't have any meat on my body. I wouldn't be good for eating. First Pudding Pop, and now Niblet.
Humph.
Crossing my arms over my chest, tucking Teddy even closer to my body, I grumbled under my breath about people coming up with stupid nicknames.
At least Thumper was better than a food.
"Awe, Pudding Pop, and here was me thinking that we were getting along well," interjected Gluttony in my head. "At least you know this meat bag has good taste."
'Why do you call them that?' I asked in my head as I was princess-carried to an unknown location. 'Meat bags, meat sacks… what does that mean?'
"Humans are only good for three things; for entertainment, for food, and for possession. They are literally walking meat sacks, ready for a demon to take control at any moment."
'That seems rude,' I said, letting my head rest on Max's chest. 'I am a human, after all.'
"You aren't just human," reminded Greed, interrupting the conversation I was having with Glut. "You are ours. Ours to hold and cherish until Earth burns in the fires of Hell. Even then, we'll protect you."
'But you can't. Not until you have more power,' I reminded them with a sigh as I closed my eyes. I didn't need to know where we were going. At this point in time, every place was the same, so who cared?
"We might not be as strong as we used to be, but that doesn't mean we can't influence the humans," answered Pride, determination in his voice. "They will protect you in the flesh when we cannot. And if they fail, we'll simply find someone to take their place. There are billions of humans in the world, but only one of you."
Soothed, I drifted off to sleep, Max's comforting scent surrounding me.
----
"There's something wrong with that girl," murmured Alicia as she and René ran behind the survivors from the mall. René was always so selfless that he insisted on being the one to watch their backs to make sure that nothing happened to anyone.
She both loved and hated that trait. Sometimes, he treated her just like he did everyone else, while other times, he made her feel special. But as long as she was beside him, he wouldn't care.
"What do you mean?" asked René, looking down at the woman he was going to marry. He couldn't imagine life without her. Her insight into people was always so spot on that it helped him on numerous occasions. If she didn't trust Dimitri's plaything, then the girl wasn't to be trusted.
"The zombies seemed to be looking to her for guidance," explained Alicia as she started to pant. It hurt René's heart to see her struggling to keep up, but he knew she would just turn him down if he offered to carry her.
She hated the idea that she couldn't do everything on her own, so he would just stand behind her and help her from the shadows.
"I didn't see that," he admitted, hating the fact that he wasn't as observant as she was.
"They didn't really attack us until she said that something needed to happen. Then, they targeted the one guy who spoke out against her. That can't be a coincidence."
"If you say that there is something wrong with her, then there is something wrong with her. It's as simple as that."
Some of the stress that Alicia was feeling ever since she saw the girl in Dimitri's arms disappeared by René's belief in her.
"Thank you for your trust," smiled Alicia as she rubbed her right arm. There was still no feeling in it, but she really couldn't figure out what happened. But at least the limb was still there.
"Where should we go next?" asked René, once again proving just how important Alicia was to him. Any feathers that were previously ruffled smoothed out.
That was right; now that the apocalypse had come, René was going to have to set up his base of operations.
"We need to go to the navy base," replied Alicia, having a bit of inspiration. It was close enough that it would only be a day or two walk to the base, and it was small enough that there shouldn't be any trouble taking it over.
"Da navy base?" sputtered René, not expecting that answer. "I's thought that we be gonna to the station. We's be needin' to check on our own, sees how many survived."
'Great', sighed Alicia. 'And now he's back sounding like some backwater hick.' Not once in any conferences or meetings in her previous life had she ever heard him talking like that. In fact, if she hadn't done her research, she would have thought he was from N City up north.
Whatever, she would cure him of his need to speak the local dialect.
After all, he had an image to protect.