“What are you…?”

“I don’t know.”

“How are you still alive…? I crushed you…”

“I don’t know.”

“I… beat your face in. You were dead. I’m sure of it.”

“Yet, here I sit, opposite you in the same room once again, Ivan. Why is that?”

“You’re asking me, demon?”

“I’m not a demon. You just didn’t finish the job.”

“I tore your jaw off and I beat your face until your brain matter was on the floor. Your eyes were nothing but pulp, your nose obliterated, your teeth all punched in and broken-”

“Spare me the gory details. I’m looking just fine right here.”

“So how is it that you’re sitting here just one week after with a perfect face and a glorious set of teeth? Your ing leg even grew back, like a bloody lizard. So, let me ask you, what are you?”

“I’m human.”

“That’s bull. Humans don’t recover like you do, no matter how much time given, much less a week.”

“So, can you explain me?”

“Demon,” Ivan leaned forward and looked at her intently, “Tell me, do you feel like yourself, Yuri?”

“I’m perfectly fine,” Yuri rolled her eyes at him.

“You know they are going to pit us again.”

“This time, Ivan, it’ll be a fight. You had once chance to end me and you failed. I am the ghost of your past.”

***

“Jessica…” Taeyeon knocked on her door, “Jessica, will you come out? You’ve been in there for a whole week…”

The locked room remained silent.

“At least open the door, Jessica. Yoona needs to change your bandages or they’ll get infected. Please.”

And only silence she received.

She knew the woman in the room heard her clear as day. She definitely wasn’t sleeping, but she was not awake either. Jessica was trapped in a realm of her own guilt, tearing away at her consciousness. Taeyeon, obviously, had the master key to open the door but she gave Jessica at least this: a respect for her to grieve.

“Jessica…” Yoona took over, “It’s me. You don’t have to open the door. Let’s just… talk.”

She took a chair and sat in front of the door.

“You know… besides Melissa, I had another brother too. His name is Stephen,” she started, “I know you don’t want to hear me right now, but bear with me. I’ll get to the point soon. Like I was saying, unlike Melissa and I, he wasn’t normal. During his delivery, an iatrogenic complication arose and his spine was severed at L1. He was never able to walk. No amount of money we sue could change that.”

There was still only silence coming from the other side of the door.

“When the outbreak began, there was no hiding from it and the truth of reality. The Enigma was the beginning of a new regime: the survival of the fittest. There was no mercy, no second chances; you fight or you die and turn into one of them. Stephen… he never stood a chance,” Yoona rubbed the bridge of her nose, “I tried, but I was overwhelmed. He got devoured right before my own eyes, but I just stood there in shock and watch as the walkers tear him limb from limb.”

There was still only silence to reply her, but she knew Jessica was listening.

“I would anything to save him. I would do anything so that I would take his place instead, but from that moment onwards, I was the survivor, not him, and that’s just the way it is. That’s fate. If he didn’t die on the first day, the chances are, even though I refused to believe it, he’d die sooner than any of us. He can’t survive in this kind of world and that just the fact of life. We are people of loss, Jessica. When he was brutally taken from me, I was consumed by my regrets and my despair, until one day, I realised something…”

Yoona stood up.

“Is this really what my brother would have wanted? If there was a Heaven out there or if somehow he’s able to see me, how would he feel if he saw me like this? He knows I did my best and I do too, but if our best isn’t enough, it’s hardly our fault. We cannot fight fate,” Yoona rested both hands on the door, “So, if we can’t find a reason to live for ourselves, live for them. You’re never alone. You’re never without purpose. Jessica, please, open this goddamn door and let me in. If you are still lost, I’ll give you a ing purpose to live.”

Yoona stood there for a minute.

Then, the lock clicked.

“Good,” Yoona nodded, “Now, let’s talk about revenge.”

***

“Alright, stop the car here.”

Taeyeon drove the vehicle to a stop close to the exit of the highway; one that all of them knew too well and a little too familiar with the pain it brought. Jessica felt like the forest was mocking her for coming back, reminding her of the origin of the tragedy that shredded her life and the second aftershock that was her sister. The woods looked even more threatening under the glaze of moonlight and the dead silence of the night, masking out the brutality it hid behind its thick overgrowing flora.

“I hope you guys remember the briefing.”

“How’s the bastard?” Yoona queried.

“He has lost two fingers and all of his fingernails,” Taeyeon commented, putting on her mask, “He deserved worse than that.”

“Where did you even find him?”

“We abducted him. He was out scavenging for gasoline with two of his pals. He’s only one to make it out alive, we made sure of that.”

“He probably wishes he was dead.”

“If he was more cooperative, his death would have been swift,” Taeyeon turned around to the back seat, “You up for this, Jessica?”

She nodded flatly and continued looking at the forest.

“Jessica, I need to make sure you’re capable of handling yourself out there.”

“I am,” she returned the stern look to Taeyeon, “I will.”

“Okay then,” Taeyeon still had doubts but went on, “Put on your masks and choose your weapons. Let’s move.”

They armed themselves with a primary weapon and a sidearm, each. Taeyeon grabbed herself a G36C submachine gun, which happened to be the sweet spot for her. It wasn’t too heavy and did not kick like a mule. She grabbed four clips of extra ammunition and slotted them into her belt pouch. She then equipped a 9mm pistol for when all else failed and had to make a last stand. She grabbed a couple of frag grenades too. She then stood back and admired her arsenal of weapons in the trunk. It wasn’t easy to gather this many weapons, but she did it anyway. It was a feat of accomplishment.

“C4s, Taeyeon?” Yoona asked.

She hesitated, looking at the silhouette of the godforsaken school from afar, thinking long and hard.

“Bring them, just in case.”

Fifteen minutes had passed. They had their Kevlar vests on, with full-black clothes to complement with the darkness of the night. They had their weapons locked and loaded. It was three of them against an entire community of psychopaths. They didn’t have any night vision goggles with them. Those were extremely hard to find. So, they only had a couple of flashlights to help them navigate through the woods in this moonless, bleak night. The night was still young, and little did they know that it was about to get even bleaker.

Taeyeon and Yoona walked ahead, with Jessica following them behind, ever so silently. Jessica lost count as to how many times she had treaded across this goddamn woods and the terrible memories that each visit had brought her. This forest was an omen to her life. Perhaps now, she found solace in the anticipation of sweet revenge.

“Yoona, are you okay?” Taeyeon whispered as she cut down some of the vines.

“Yeah.”

“We’ll find Melissa. We will.”

That was it. The conversation ended there.

Yoona just stopped responding.

The darkness made it very difficult to make out her expression.

The three of them kept their mouths shut as they broke across the forest edge to the other side, seeing Novak in all of its dreadful glory. The empty field that surrounded the compound was now filled with walkers, clamouring towards the blindingly bright floodlights. There had to be at least a hundred of them, brushing themselves against the highly-erected and sturdy wall that segregated the compound from the outside. Their groans could be heard all the way from within the forest itself. Somehow, the Novakians weren’t affected by them at all.

“Why are the floodlights on? It’s attracting the walkers from within a mile…” Yoona queried, “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Let’s just focus. Stay away from the lights. The walkers are blind in the darkness. The night is dark enough for the scouts to miss us. We might just be able to pull this off.”

As quietly as possible, they snuck their way towards the west wing of the school compound. They walked right past some of the walkers, who were completely distracted by the floodlight and outright ignored them right under their noses. For some brighter areas, they had to crouch or even crawl through the moist grass and get themselves filthy with soil and mud. Parts of the grassland had mud so thick that some walkers got trapped within its soil vortex.

They approached the perimeter wall, but kept their distance from the moat of walkers clamouring, however close enough for Taeyeon to have a good look at the wall. This wasn’t just a makeshift barricade at a closer glance, this was military grade confinement. She had seen this lumber barricade at military outposts set up during the Enigma. There had to be an explanation as to how a place such as this fell to a group of bandits.

They approached the point of entry. There were three thick layers of aluminium and wood panels being stacked up on top of each other on the ground, just next to the wall. They gave their surroundings a quick look-see and it was clear. The walkers were mostly gathered towards the front entrance, where it was the brightest. Taeyeon lifted the covering layers with a loud grunt, revealing a trench just beneath that led below the wall and supposedly straight into Novak, if the informant was telling the truth. There was no guarantee. However, this information costed hours of interrogation and costed one poor bastard’s fingers and nails, so he should be at least a little honest.

Jessica went first, followed by Yoona and lastly, Taeyeon herself. As soon as the latter was in the dirt trench, she closed the layering back to the way it was before. They crawled across the pitch-black narrow space, with only their flashlights to shine what was up ahead. They had nothing to look at but the crawling and bumping in front of them. It was bloody uncomfortable to crawl in a space that every movement felt restricted. It was stuffy and humid as hell from all the moisture that had seeped in from the soil above and got trapped from days of stubborn rain. It smelt like decompose. Taeyeon began to feel thankful for the darkness because she didn’t want to know what the gooey and sticky slime that was on every surface was. All she knew was that she was covered with it.

A lot of things ran through Taeyeon’s mind as they were struggling across that dirt path, things like that cyanide pill in her pocket. Each of them had one. They decided that it was better to just die than to be captured. It was a grim and haunting decision.

“Of all goddamn places…” Yoona cursed out loud, moving the tiles aside to make more space and helped Taeyeon out from the ditch, “Come on.”

“Ugh…” Taeyeon groaned and held her breath as she got up, “Right next to the toilet bowl.”

She put the tiles back as the way they were, leaving no traces behind. All three of them were covered in revolting filth, from mud and soil, to brownish goo that they really prayed was not what they thought it really was. Their noses were brutally invaded by rude stenches ever since the crawl. Exiting the ditch via a gagging, disgusting lavatory did not help either. The tiles were white before, but now they were covered in grime, dirty foot prints, and . The toilet bowls and sinks were coated in moss and fungus, and they stunk like someone had explosive diarrhoea three days ago and didn’t flush. Needless to say, neither of them wanted to be here any longer than they had to.

Yoona took point this time, with her sidearm drawn out, and pushed the toilet door open from inside, with a soft creak. She glanced out into the hallway, giving both directions a quick glance. She signalled clear and crept out quietly, keeping her head down. They followed suit. The long walkway had some windows on the left, with lights pouring in from the outside. Apart from that, the hallway was empty and dark. There were classrooms on the right: first and second grade classes. They were locked tight and chained from the outside. The windows and doors into the classrooms had an inch thick of dust, turning the glass completely opaque.

What sent her the creeps were blood stains that splattered across the windows; those splats look like they came from the outside. It wasn’t just a few drops; it was splashes of blood, like an arterial squirt. That ought to give insight as to whom they were actually dealing with. Yoona glanced and peeked out the window, having a look at the inner primary compound. It was the pavilion for the students’ assembly, and it was empty.

“It’s too quiet.”

“Stay on mission, Yoona,” Taeyeon commanded, “Be extra vigilant.”

Yoona went all the way to the end of the hallway where a rusty steel door loomed. She looked back and checked on the others before receiving the go signal from Taeyeon. The door opened a little, with a typical groan of rusted out hinges, but somehow got stuck; it was as though something was block