Chapter 5

Aria's POV

Darn, these tears won't stop coming down. 

Damn it, Aria! Breathe!

Just take a deep breath.

The painful memories will go away.

Just forget about Father and Mother dying. 

Forget about them being killed by the zombies.

Forget about how we had to leave them behind.

Forget it. Breathe. Let it go.

That was what I told myself for the past ten minutes but my tears are still falling. Why won't they stop? I need to focus on Jaehyunnie! She might be endanger! 

I lifted my arm and wiped the tears with the sleeve of my top. Focus Aria! You can't risk losing another important person! I told myself. I went back to monitoring Jaehyunnie's movements towards Krystal-shi's location in an attempt to save her. But we don't even know if she's even alive.

"Does...does that mean, my sis..ter Krystal might be d-dead?"

I shook my head to get rid of Jessica's quivering voice from my head. FOCUS! There is no time to be thinking about anyone else unless it is Jaehyunnie and possibly Krystal-shi. If she is even alive, but that is only fifty percent of survival in this global catastrophe.

"S-Soojung, I-I need to f-find my sister!" 

How can you know for sure that she's alive, Jessica-shi? It would be too dangerous if we went out to find someone, who may have died already.

"T-That's an enough reason for me t-to f-find her."

"ARGGGH!" I screamed, taking a hold of my own head and ruffling my hair to control my sanity. Why can't Jessica-shi leave my head? But how can she say that without any logic behind it? The world is not based on hope or luck. It can be solved through logic and mathematics. Hope and luck is based on probablity, the likely chance of something happening or not, which is determined by doing math calculations and formulas. 

But even though I knew that from the deepest part of my heart...why did I try to help her out? How could I just suddenly agree to help her without knowing the situation or having a plan in mind?

"I'll find her. Do you know where is her last location?" I could hear the same words that I've said to Jessica-shi before. How could I just offer like that? Was it because of guilt? Or was it that I could relate to her with the fear of losing a loved one? Or could it be that I...?

"Aria." A hand landed on my shoulder, making me snap out of my cloudy mind. I looked from behind my shoulder to see Hyesunnie so I returned my eyes to the moving screen.

"What is it, unnie? Is there something that you need?"

Unnie didn't answer me back but I kept hearing some shuffling behind me. What is she doing? Then, a pair of arms went around my body and a warm body was pressed against my back. A head rested on my shoulder and the light brown hair tickled the side of my right cheek—Hyesunnie.

"Unnie," I said to my sister, whom was hugging me from behind, "Is something wrong? You should keep a look out on any zombies within the range of our location to keep everyone safe." 

Hyesunnie just rubbed her face into my shoulder and didn't respond back to my words. I didn't say anything afterwards. If unnie doesn't want to talk, then I won't push it. Keeping a clear mind is key to survival now.

I watched the monitor as Jaehyunnie plowed through the streets with her gun and high speed motorcycle. The same scene repeated over and over again: zombies being killed by bullets or the wheels of the motorcycle and Jaehyunnie's childish grin on her face when she cleared the mob of dead living beings. I noted the simple behavior of the zombies:

They wouldn't notice a person unless loud noise has been made. Their interest will then be focused on the source of noise. Their momentum were straggling as they try to catch up to Jaehyunnie so most likely, their overall speed would be slow but that could be determined for the zombies chasing Jaehyunnie. However, I'm assuming that would depend on the person's health when they were not zombies.  If everything was silent, then they would be mindlessly walking around.

I frowned since I wished there were more clues of the zombies to the find source of this world wide spread disease. Yet, that isn't important right now. Everyone's safety is what matters right now. I let my eyes wander away from the monitor screen to the girl—who was still hugging me—then towards the huddled nine girls by the helicopter. 

We need to keep them alive especially...

My eyes landed on that eye smiling female—Tiffany-shi—the one who caught Jaehyunnie's attention before switching it to the doe-eyed woman, who surprisingly is looking at Hyesunnie—Yoona-shi. She saw me looking at her so she went to hide her face in Jessica-shi's shoulder. Then, I found another watchful person—who is staring at me—Jessica-shi.

I arched a brow which made her widen her eyes when she realized that we made eye contact. She did the same action as Yoona-shi but she hid her face in Tiffany-shi's shoulder. Weird but I shrugged it off and returned my attention onto the monitor. Jaehyunnie seems to be doing fine, still killing and driving down the streets in top speed. She is not in critical condition. Yet.

My heart nearly dropped when Jaehyunnie did another crazy flip with her motorcycle off a broken car. I shake my head in amusement. What a reckless unnie. I wish she'd take notice of her health.

Then, a set of heavy footsteps were coming my way so I grabbed a nearby pistol and quickly did a one eighty spin—with Hyesunnie still on my back—to meet the head bodyguard who had full gear on. I lowered my gun after I scanned him for any scratches or bite marks on his body. He's still safe.

"Yes? Is there something that you need, Saber?" I asked him with a soft gaze. He looked at me and I could see cold as well as unhindered concerned eyes behind his shades.

"Ma'am, I was wondering how do you plan on securing this area until Sir Blake arrives." Saber saluted to me to show respect towards someone with higher status. I nodded at the request. After all, everyone must be informed before any action can be taken or else the worst could happen.

"Possibly, we could use the Defence in Depth method and Fabian Strategy. All we need to do is delay some time for Jaehyunnie while protecting the girls from getting infected after all. First, bring them to the helicopter and have some bodyguards—including you—on standby when it comes to a possible raid of zombies coming towards us. Then, we also take measures in shooting down zombies around our range of shot with Hyesunnie and other bodyguards specialized in sniping which should wear down the enemy and avoid physical contact with them. Our formation on the roofstop—excluding the snipers—will be a line up that is similar to the Phalanx but we will not be close to one another because it could cause critical situations. Therefore, we'll space out the bodyguards and the line up behind that group will be placed behind the spaces since if they are in the spaces, then it's a complete line up just like Phalanx which won't allow any room for back shooters to cover those in the front if there was a huge mob. However if and if there is a chance where we may have to get into contact some zombies, you will get the girls to safety while Hyesunnie, the rest of the bodyguards, and I try to hold them back until you guys are far enough but that will only happen if Jaehyunnie isn't back by then." I told him and I could see that he wants to protest so I allowed him to speak with a gesture of a hand.

"Ma'am, your father," Hyesunnie flinched at the mention of father, "gave us a clear order to keep his daughters safe. His precious jems." Saber looked deeply into my eyes. How dare he mention Father in this?<