Sara Tornavoi

"Hey, hey son! What 's up!?"

A heavy hand hit Nikolas' shoulder, waking him up from his stupor. The boy turned around and saw that Reginald was looking at him concerned. Sara, on the other hand, was once again huddled in a corner, holding back her tears.

[She couldn't be the Evil Queen, could she?] Doubts arose in Nikolas' mind as he inspected that girl covered in her own snot.

In fact, he - as the Dragon King - had never seen the Evil Queen personally, because he spent the first year in hiding and later was training with Yuemura outside society. Yet her legend became well known throughout the whole country and Nikolas was told of her real name and appearance by a warrior who survived the skirmish against her.

Sara Tornavoi, the devil for any man! A cold-blooded killer, she didn't kill women but maimed any man in her path. After a time, parents would even use her name to scare the small children.

Even so, the girl in front of him was weeping silently, scared by him! Nikolas just wasn't able to put the two images together.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you!" he slowly approached her, trying to show a relaxed and non-threatening attitude as much as possible. "I just thought I saw a zombie nearby…"

Nikolas was a terrible liar. Even so, he stretched his left hand to her and smiled.

"You are safe now, girl. I'm a retired cop, don't need to be afraid." Reginald intervened to calm her down. "We heard some noises and came to check it out."

She stopped sobbing and nodded. After a few seconds she accepted Nikolas' hand and got up slowly. Unfortunately for him, her hands were wet from tears and probably snot.

The boy tried to discreetly wipe his hand, drying it on his pants.

At the same time, Reginald had already tied the two assailants to the nearby lamp post. One of them was still unconscious.

Sara Tornavoi now had the time to see her saviors, but weren't they a bit eccentric to say the least? The older man was clearly hiding a knight's armor behind a black jacket, he even carried a medieval sword for God's sake! Moreover, the younger one was no better: he seemed as young as herself but wore total black clothes and had a katana on his waist.

[A knight and a ninja!? Aren't they a bit dated?] she couldn't help but thought.

"So,Sara, right?" Reginald chimed in. "I'm Reginald, and this one here is my son Nikolas, isn't he great?"

She nodded ashamed.

"And he doesn't have a girlf…."

"Father!" Nikolas interrupted.

Why did his father always try to get him a girlfriend? Even now, in the worst scenario possible!

"My bad son, it can't be helped." Reginald scratched his head.

Sara blushed.

[Can this girl really become the Evil Queen?] Nikolas analyzed her with the corner of his eyes. [There was no other possibility, she must be the Queen from my past!]

Yet he was perplexed. Could her transformation into the Evil Queen have something to do with the moment he just interrupted?

[If that's really it, I'm already causing more butterfly effects than I imagined.] But he was not preoccupied, he had already decided to change the future anyways.

"Sara, tell me: what should we do with them?" Nikolas changed the subject, at the same time trying to see her potential. "I vote to kill them."

She looked at the perpetrators with rage. Yet, she was just a simple girl, how could she settle this complex matter? Based on the current judicial system, there was no death penalty. Quite the opposite, they would be arrested for killing the tied men.

"I know it's not easy, but think about what would have happened to you if it weren't for us." Nicholas added. "It's not too hard to see that this kind of act will only become more common as time goes by, the society you knew no longer exists…"

Despite sounding extremely pessimistic, Sara could feel that the boy spoke the truth. She then nodded while Nikolas waited patiently for her decision.

At the end of the street, a small group of zombies could be seen. Attracted by their unusual commotion, they walked slowly towards the tied men.

[It's a blessing that they are slow…yet] Nikolas couldn't help but to ponder.

"D-Don't kill me!! We were only following orders!" One of the attackers, noticing that they were really considering killing him, pleaded.

[Oh, this just became more interesting!] Nikolas smiled lightly, which scared the tied man even more.

"From whom!?" Reginald pointed his gun at him.

The man cowered and, at that moment, the other one woke up with drowsy eyes. His head hurt like hell because of Nikolas' punch. The first thing he saw were the zombies coming closer and closer. He tried to get up but soon realized his real situation.

"Free me!! Help! HEELP!" Despaired, he screamed.

"SHUT UP MOTHERF****!" Nikolas hurried and punched him again, this time in the gut.

Warm blood filled the man's throat. He heard some bones snap in his head and from the sounds of it, some of his ribs were probably broken. Without stopping, Nikolas grabbed the man's neck causing him to nearly choke on his own blood.

"Cough…cough" The assailant tried to breathe but to no avail.

"Tell me, who sent you both!?" Nikolas asked harshly, he didn't have the time to play anymore, the zombies were getting closer. Moreover, he didn't want to be spotted by any third party.

"J - John, it was John Grant." He moaned after Nikolas released the grip.

Nikolas smiled slightly, the missing pieces falling into place in his mind.

[Here it is… So this was indeed the Evil Queen story!] As soon as he realized who the girl was and what the men were trying to do to her, suspicions arose in his mind. [So that's why she killed the Heaven Lord...Well, now I want to see what butterfly effects this will cause. How funny!]

The small group of zombies were coming closer and closer, there were five in total. In the direction they were going towards, it would lead them directly into the assailants first. Because of that, the men started to despair and plead. Still, Nikolas and Reginald looked unfazed.

"I lead you to Grant! Untie me, please!!" one of the men cried out loud. "I'd do anything!!"

"HAHAHA!" Nikolas laughed out loud, sarcastically. "I love how the apocalypse brings the best aspects of people!" He said to no one, but Reginald understood that his son was probably remembering something.

Reginald looked at Sara and smiled.

"It's up to you, girl. Do you know who this Grant is?" The older man asked, unaware of the whole history between the two.

She nodded, no longer crying.

"He used to study in my college, there were rumors that he was a thug, but I never thought that they were real. As for them, I really don't care." she shrugged.

Deciding not to act, the group just took a step back and waited.

It didn't take long before the group of zombies reached the tied assailants. The men's pleas were not enough to move Nikolas' heart. Soon the five Zombies feasted on both, their screams echoed through the night but it didn't take long to end. Even though Sara hated them, the grotesque sight made her throw up.

Unperturbed by the soon to be common action, Nikolas tried to change the subject.

"I almost forgot to ask, how did you survive? Are you alone?"

She held her tears back once again.

"My parents traveled to São Paulo last week. I - I told them to listen to the warning on TV but they didn't believe it! I was trying to contact them when the men entered. The spawned zombie I just locked in my room."

"Shit, to São Paulo!?"

São Paulo is a Brazilian municipality, capital of the homonyms state and the main financial, corporate and mercantile center in South America. It was the most populous city in Brazil with over 12 million people!

That meant in raw estimates there would be around 12 million spawned zombies (perhaps 6 millions more if you consider that half of the people died afterwards). A total of 18 million zombies in one city was not a fun sight. The chances of survival were pretty slim even for Nikolas in his current state.

However, as the main financial city of Brazil, that also meant that the best loot and opportunities were there. He had plans to go, some important events would happen in that city, but not so soon.

"Well, perhaps one day we can go there and take a look, okay?"He tried to comfort her, but in his mind he already considered her parents dead.

"Really!?" The woman smiled brightly, a spark of hope flashed in her eyes.

"Yes, but first I must ask you:" he said slowly, extending his hand and giving his tanto to her. "Would you like to be part of our group?"

The insinuation was clear, she would have to kill a zombie to be part of the team!

She hesitated for a second, disgusted by those beasts feasting on the dead men.

To make things easier for her, Nikolas killed the spawned Zombies. He couldn't let these effortless experience points pass by, right?

"I can't make it easier than that…" he shrugged.

It didn't take long before the tied dead men transformed into new dead-but-alive monstrosities, to be more precise it took around four to five minutes.

Sara held the tanto and approached steadily.

*Puchi*

The sound was the same as a balloon deflating. Although she stabbed awkwardly, she effectively pierced its head. Without resting, she extracted the tanto back and immediately stabbed the other one.

[That's the potential I need! A resolute heart to face the harsh times!] Nikolas saw the decisiveness in her. [I just hope she doesn't turn into the Evil Queen once more…]

Nikolas was not a man who liked to play with fate. But he hoped she could show the mightiness he was looking for.

Sara sat down, exhausted. The tanto fell off her bloodied hand.

Nikolas walked over and collected the eyes of the beast over an inquisitive gaze from Sara. After finishing that, he walked over to her and patted her shoulder.

"Welcome to our group, Sara." he smiled. "Alright, let's go home!"