50 The Continuation

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-Konoe's Perspective-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_

I giant croc leaps out of nowhere from the swamp and angrily reaches out for our skirmished water craft. I rushed to Tomori's side and comforted her with everything I have; whilst cowering in fear during the process. 

All of us are petrified upon the appearance of the wicked monster, far ferocious than the one's we've seen in the town. It was neither a normal crocodile nor a reptile written in the zoology books but a monster with similar zombified characteristics. However, Fleur-san stood tall and readied her physique as she launches herself in the nearby woods, dangling from one branch after the other. She was basically more like a monkey than any living human being. Seeing her acrobatic figure, Tomori curls up a smile and places all of her trust on the strange little girl. 

We cannot do anything to help her during this fight; and even if we did something out of generosity, we'll be more likely to be a nuisance for her preceding plans. 

"Fleur-san!" I called out for her name in attempt to cheer her up, yet my words had reached no one but the dark and fiendish trees stationed near the lands. 

I shifted my gaze forward and assumed everything will be alright. Not wanting to waste any more time, I decided to pack everyone out from these twisted occurrence and save ourselves, and eventually wait for Fleur-san to arrive at the end of the swamp. Even though this action may leave a bad taste on my mouth, there was nothing that I could do to stop or help her in this situation other than save everyone else, just like what she had wished for, for our sake. 

Fortunately for us, the vines from our horizons was now reachable to our hands, of course to us two teenagers—with Itsuki and I.

I pulled in a set of vines as hard as I ever could and drew its force with the boat to sail forward. Thus the craft moved faster compared from the pace we had started from the beginning of our voyage. 

However it was too early for us to celebrate this favourable event, as I advised everyone to remain calm 'til we could reach the end of the shore. 

Despite my frivolous job, I turned around and checked the separated battle of Fleur-san.

She was luring the mighty reptile away from our boat. And attempted to impale the said monster on the centre of its belly from the nearby branch. Just as she was about to reach for the other end of the vine, the plant-like rope suddenly tears apart. Inevitable as it was, her body hastily fell due to gravity. The reptile finally took its chance and hurriedly leapt towards the direction of her fall.

"FLEEEUR!" All of us cried for her name as we bear witness to the scene happening in front of us. The girl whom had saved our lives was now being eaten by a mutant crocodile even before we could reach the abandon building. We could only stare powerless from the site—as we slowly pray for her impossible survival. 

Nonetheless, miracles do happen once in a lifetime, and that chance was now glimmering before our eyes. 

A large existence, bigger than the usual zombies who had trampled our town, came swinging from the other side of the vine and grabbed hold on the falling body of Fleur. I was worried at first that the entity must've been a third party lurking from the shadows and stole the descending food away from the famished crocodile of the swamp. However, my thoughts were quickly demolished as we watched them flew away towards our direction and safely carried fleur—at the same time that we had landed on the other side.

"We made it!" I was excited to see the zombie who have saved our benefactor. Much to my surprise, he had a gentle look on his face despite his decaying skin and deformed body. His eyes were filled with sorrow and relief, knowing that everyone was presently safe and sound outside the realm of the laboratory. 

Still, the battle had only began, as we saw 8 zombies from the research facility heading towards our way. 

"Follow my lead" Fleur-san observed everything in the battle, as she leads us far away as possible from the centre of the field. 

The mighty zombie, who was bigger from the rest of his kind, started rampaging forward and crashed against 6 of the unfortunate zombies blocking its way. The 2 infected who had swiftly escaped charges straight towards our direction, hence our situation where Fleur had to advise everyone to follow her trial. 

"You guys better be standing back from this" She said as she called out our attention and ordered us to stick from her breech, away from any possible danger. 

During the process, Fleur-san asked the nearest person from her back, which was presently I, to find anything useful hidden inside her bag. She lowers down her huge backpack and awaited my response.

Soon after, I began rummaging her bag and found a sort of stick like weapon sturdy enough to be used as a baton, I think, and swiftly handed out the item to Fleur-san while distancing ourselves away from their battle. 

I signalled Itsuki, who was still shivering from the matter, to move farther off on the other side, quite near from the swamp, and find a safer location to hide. Furthermore, I clasp Tomori's hand unto mine and soon stormed aside hoping to not get caught further from the present clash. 

Then again, the zombie were smart enough to elude Fleur-san's path as it quickly shifted its focus and decided to head towards our fore. Moreover, the crocodile from the swamp suddenly arrives in a terrible time while gritting its teeth thinking that its food had nearly escaped from his sight. 

All of a sudden, Itsuki bravely stood his ground in attempt to stop the rampaging zombies coming from all sides of the battlefield. 

"It'll be alright. Tomori. Konoe. Natsuki" Fleur-san came rushing towards our side and reassured us with flowery words. Her expression was dissimilar from her actions, as she immediately embraces us all and slowly folded our eyes. 

I took a glimpse of everyone who were all fazed from the occurrence, accepting their defeat. However, as for myself, I wanted to see everything. I wanted to at least know the terror of the death, specifically from the zombies surrounding us from all fours. 

"…."

I can hear the silence from the world. The world stood still, and moved slower from the usual. It is as if

"Time had frozen?" 

I murmured to myself. It was so unbelievable that everyone appeared like a picture frame—

A statue of some sort,

Petrified like stones. 

At exactly 15 seconds, the world had moved once more and resumed;

But death was too late to grasp our soul.

The humongous zombie came rushing towards our aid and smashed the 2 remaining zombies chasing our tail. He then immediately rushes forward and tackled the gigantic reptile, producing a powerful shockwave on the ground. The crocodile then flew over on the side due to the force brought by the attack and eventually splashes on the centre of the swamp, from where we had venture with. The reptile was good as gone. I mean, who could even live from that amount of strength against the big mass of the zombie? I would even argue that it could crush Mt. Everest despite its reign of being the tallest mountain that was ever been recorded in the history of man.

Thinking back, the senses I had received was amazing and unbelievable to adhere. Yet, it did happen. Although I too had been frozen during the process, nevertheless it had absolutely occurred

Every life form

Every element

Everything had turned stiffed

As if I had gained an overpowered ability to bend the quantum of time itself in my will.

Just as I was about to celebrate, Fleur-san resigned on the ground while gasping for air. She had been moving quite a lot from everything that had happened. With that, her body took a toll and was severely traumatised from the sudden jolt of brisk movements. 

"Fleur!" We all reached out for her name but to no avail. Her chest grew calmer than usual, but her limbs were completely dislocated from the overall fight. She had pushed herself too far before she could even noticed the pain and discomfort coming from her body. 

"Careful. We don't want to ruin her figure now, don't we?"

A soft voice of a woman reverberates from our ear, yet her appearance was still unknown from our surroundings. It was as if she had been speaking with us inside our mind, hidden from the outside world. 

"Please do not falter. I am neither an enemy nor an ally. However, I do not wish to harm any of you here" She said in a warm tune. "In any case, you might want to bring Fleur inside the laboratory, right there" Everyone who had explicitly heard her voice simultaneously shifted heads towards the building. 

"How sure that we can trust your word? " Itsuki was first to respond. Despite him cowering from the image of the zombie from before, his actions now were befitting for a man of honour and confidence. 

"Fair point." The mysterious voice heeded our plea and paused for a brief moment, thinking of a comeback to invite us over to her side.

"Very well. Your parents, I suppose, will suffice to our treaty?" She continued with poise and authority, referring us to an option that we can never decline.

"OUR PARENTS? ARE THEY SAFE?!" Like brothers, Natsuki screamed but was immediately followed by a roaring pain on the end side of his foot, coming from the bitten site of the wound.

"Frankly speaking…yes. You'll understand everything once everyone's here. But, in one condition?" 

"What do you need?" I asked, as we all awaited for her answer.

"I must experiment that little boy of yours. It appears to be that he is currently infected with the virus"