"You just recovered from sickness, man. There's been a lot of things you miss lately." A man with a white shirt slapped his friend, who was walking beside him, lightly.
He chatted endlessly as they walked, mentioning a lot of things. Meanwhile, his friend, with a pale face, listened. The paleness on his countenance somewhat looked unnatural.
"His girlfriend actually dumped him. Can you believe it? Well, he shouldn't do something like meeting his ex behind his girlfriend's back. Now, she refuses to reconcile with him." The man with the white shirt abruptly stopped. "Hey man, are you listening? Are you alright?"
Thalira, who was walking behind them, had joined in and listened to the gossip, wondering what happened next after the man begged his girlfriend for reconciliation. When the man with the white shirt expressed his concern to his friend, she subconsciously also looked at the man's friend. Her pupils dilated.
His pale-faced friend let out a small cough. "Yeah, sorry. You know that I have been sick a lot lately. The doctor declared me to be fine, but I feel really exhausted somehow. It's like I am having a fever."
"Have you been examined by another doctor yet?" The man frowned in disapproval. "The doctor doesn't seem to be that experienced. Now that you say it, you do look pale…"
"Ouch!" The friend suddenly hissed. Thalira glanced down to see a cat biting his foot, making her frown. The cat looked weird; the way it walked seemed unnatural.
The pale-faced man jumped and kicked the ball of fur away out of instinct. The cat appeared to be dirty, covered in dust. Its eyes were completely white, like it was blind.
The cat stood up after it bit the pale-faced man's foot, trudging on the road and biting anything that moved. Even the dancing grass because of the wind.9
"Damn crazy cat!" The pale-faced man cursed angrily, and they continued to walk forward. Thalira threw the pale-faced man a discreet glare. His curse wasn't directed at her, but she was also a cat!
From the distance, Thalira already saw Austin walking toward them. She waved her hands excitedly.
It just so happened that Daniel, the second son of the Slade family, also appeared out of nowhere. He greeted the two men walking in front of Thalira, and then he noticed her.
"Are you the girl from last–" his words abruptly cut off.
The pale-faced man let out a guttural, beast-like sound from his throat. His eyes showed only white, making one feel creepy. Then he lunged toward Daniel.
"You, what are you doing?!" There were some shouts from both Daniel and the man with the white shirt.
The pale-faced man's face had purple veins apparent on his skin. He growled after successfully making a scratch at the unsuspecting Daniel's arm. There was a deep laceration on Daniel's arm, making him hiss and take a deep breath.
"What's wrong with him, David?" Daniel roared as he evaded another pale-faced man's attempt to lunge at him, his hand heading to his face.
"I also don't know what happened to John." David shouted in panic. "He is sick. He must be very sick in the head."
"He is trying to freaking murder me." Daniel hissed again when he felt another scratch on his shoulder.
David tried to approach John, intending to restrain his crazy friend. However, John turned to him instead and roared. He chased after David, whose countenance had gone very pale and filled with panic.
"John, wake up. You crazy bastard." David ran past Thalira, whose hair was on her back, and stood up, especially when John suddenly stopped chasing after David. His face snapped toward her in a slow manner, making an excruciatingly painful sound like bones breaking.
Thalira took a step back. Her breath hitched. It was the first time she really faced someone who most likely would turn into a zombie. He was really different from Sera.
Oh, right? It was a month away from the apocalypse, which meant that more and more signs of zombie virus infection would appear on all living beings. There were only two paths, either becoming a zombie or an ability user.
Or the third, death; although this possibility was much lower. There were some people with extremely resilient will, but their body was not strong enough to bear the zombie virus.
Just as she took a step back, hesitating whether she should burn this man to death, she heard Austin's voice.
"Thalira, are you alright?"
He glanced at the roaring John and stepped forward to kick him. John fell to the ground, but he quickly got up and chased after Austin in anger.
"What happened to this bastard?" Daniel muttered in a voice full of fright. "He doesn't look human at all."
Austin was fighting against John, who kept on falling to the ground. Yet he showed no signs of pain or slowing down at all. Until John roared loudly again. Frustrated that he couldn't get Austin, he turned his target to Daniel again, who cursed.
He was now going after David and Daniel, who were panicking. Daniel barked at Austin. "You call the police. Quick!"
Daniel lost his momentary focus because he was speaking to Austin. Thus, he fell to the ground, stumbling over a tree bark. John lunged toward him, biting his arm until some of Daniel's flesh was torn off.
Daniel was struggling wildly, yelling and shaking as he tried to get John off him.
Both Thalira and Austin raced toward him. Unexpectedly, Thalira was quicker as she kicked and punched John, whose mouth was now red, dripping with blood.
"You wake up!" Thalira shouted toward him, relentlessly punching and kicking John with her small arms and legs.
She frowned and decided to make him pass out. Her foot reached out to the back of his head and she kicked him hard, hoping that she used enough strength–enough to make him lose consciousness but not turn his brain into mush.
"What the hell was that?" Austin looked at the scene in shock.
The police came not long after. Daniel was still shaking, and his eyes were wide in fright, looking at the surroundings with scared eyes. He looked like he was worried that a random person would come and bite his flesh again. His garment was still wet with blood.
John also woke up after the police and medical personnel escorted him to the ambulance. His feet and hands were wound with rope.
"What happened? I… what I just did?" A horrified look painted his face.
Thalira withdrew her mental power, exhaling. The world would be more and more perilous in the days to come. She glanced at Austin, whose face was marred with a deep frown.
As if sensing her gaze, Austin turned his attention to her. "Are you alright?"
Thalira blinked and slowly nodded. If not for the presence of people, she would have used her fire ability. However, it was too risky to show it in front of many people before the apocalypse started.
Anyway, she was a sliver away from becoming a level two fire ability user.
"Let's go." Austin led her away, but the frown was still present on his face.
"What's wrong?" She asked him curiously.
"I don't know that you have some skills too, even faster than me." Austin commented with a smile.
Thalira scratched her head. "I need to learn some skills to protect myself."
"That's right." Austin muttered, and his mind seemed to drift off to something. He continued, "I thought that people suddenly becoming crazy like that was only a joke. I didn't expect to run into one myself."
She blinked. "Have you heard of such cases, too?"
"Yeah, from my eldest brother." Austin absentmindedly replied.
Her eyes lit up, and she suddenly found a way to tell him about the incoming apocalypse.
"Austin." She tugged on his sleeve. "Do you think that it could mean to be something bigger?"