4: One's End

(Longer chapter....)

"Everything has an end....that includes us too...."

-???

***********************************************

After that encounter with Sohan, Soulen felt a bit depressed. She had silently left their conversation and made her way towards the building she was resting in before.

As she walked, she heard someone reach out to her.

Turning around, she faced Tougz. He heaved slightly before placing both hands in his pocket and stared at her.

His eyes were... Cautious, calculating and also showed a bit of empathy.

"....Sorry about Sohan. He is a douche bag sometimes." He apologized with a bow which caught soulen off-guard. She quickly shook her head and hands as she asked him to stand properly.

"N-no it's alright. You don't have to go that far to apologize on his behalf.." she began before holding her left arm and looking at the ground.

".... He's right though. I should probably leave. I mean I don't think I'll fit here to begin with." She said gently which caused him to raise a brow.

"That's not true. Majority of the people here were picked up from random places in the world." He began as he turned slightly to look at the camp.

"Each person here has gone through hell before coming to our camp. I am pretty sure you'll be at home after some adjusting. After all, you've been here for a month now." He said reassuringly as Soulen still felt uneasy.

Heaving a sigh, he went towards her and placed his hand on her head, comforting her with a gentle headpat.

"Don't think too much on it alright? What ever decision you make, I'm sure Cassei will understand." He would say before turning to walk away.

"....Thank you" Soulen said gently as he stopped and faced her before giving a small smile and waved goodbye.

She waved back at him before making her way towards her room upstairs. Now back inside, she crashed down on the bed and stared at the ceiling before thinking of what he said. He wasn't wrong, she could get use to being here. But part of her still didn't want to say. She was use to being alone. Especially since she's being surviving by herself for 6 years after her father died. Interacting was a bit.... Awkward for her.

Her mind soon drifted to tougz and how he looked. He wasn't as tall as Sohan, maybe 6.5 but he was still quite tall. Even Cassei was around 6.4. Grr was around 5.7 which meant Soulen was the smallest among them. It was a bitt embarrassing standing beside them. They were too tall.

Now that she thought about it, Grr was quite a person. She gave off a sort of Big sister aura whenever she was around. Her shoulder length-ebony hair matched her quite well and her fair skin tone also had less injuries like Cassei.

Unlike Soulen, Cassei was busty with a great shape while Grr was a slender beauty with nice things. Soulen was pretty sure the two off them had guys fawning over them.

Speaking of guys, Tougz did look cute though. He was a red head, although the color was more crimson than a bright red hue. His eyes were a dark shade of red and he was actually well fit. She could see the shape of his muscles through the tight shirt he wore.

Her face had grown a shade of pink as she realized she was thinking about him. Quickly, she shook her head before sitting up frustrated. She might have a crush on him now and she knew he was gonna be stuck in her mind for a bit.

She decided to just lay on the bed and wait till she fell her asleep which eventually came minutes after

***********************************************

Dad!?

Dad?! Where are you! I... I can't breathe....

D....Dad....it's ....it's so hot here....

"DAD!!" Was the word she uttered as she bolted up from her bed. He breathing was heavy and her body was drenched in sweat.

She could still recall the nightmares of her father's death. The house she and her father was staying in was in flames and she was trapped inside there suffocating within the smoke and flames. She recalled barely escaping from there as the whole building crumpled down.

She gripped the bedsheets tightly as the image of the infected bride flashed in her mind briefly. A tall mutant that was 10 ft tall. It had no eyes and wore a wedding gown which was why it was called the infected bride. It's arms were long and the fingers were as sharp as razor blades. She was incredibly fast and also annoying loud.

She heaved a sigh before hearing a loud siren go off. Was there an emergency? She sat upright from the bed before walking towards the mirror and removing her clothing to inspect the injury. She turned on the lamp beside her as it was late in the evening and the room was completely dark.

Her wounds had healed up, though not completely, she still had to avoid moving too much. But she was in a better shape than last month. Once she was done, she wore her military clothing back, picked up the cap, a few bandages and two bottles of antiseptic, her sword as well as her Trevor gun that Cassei managed to bring back before heading out of the building then towards the right side which was were one of the camps defence gates were.

From what she learned from Cassei, each camp has four huge gates similar to the dams that they would build to control the flow of water. In this case, it was use to separate the camp from the zombie hordes that tend to make their way here. And it wasn't a small amount of zombies.

Close to eight hundred thousand zombies would come towards the gates, dividing themselves into four and going to one of the gates. To try and breach it. If just one division of the horde made it past the defensive point, everyone in the camp would be massacred.

Arriving at one of the giant walls, Soulen made her way up the many stairs before finally arriving at the very top where a huge amount of soldiers, around a thousand were stationed.

There were around four huge sentry guns mounted and two middle turrents mounted as well on the wall were Sohan stood and stared at the approach horde.

each soldier wore a military outfit just like Soulen while Sohan wore his blue assult armor and held his assault rifle in his hand. On his back was a chainsaw like blade called razor edge that rested nicely on his back.

For being a weird guy, he was good looking, she had to admit..

Once he noticed her though, he gave a disappointing look before turning back to the crowd.

"What are you doing here twinkle toe. Did that short stick tell you to come here?" He asked which caught soulen off guard.

"Short stick...are you calling your mayor that?" Soulen asked as he scoffed gently.

"Yes Cassei. Why?" He asked as she kept quiet; unable to really give a response.

"....I wanted to help." Soulen said, changing the topic as Sohan shrugged slightly.

"Do whatever you want. Just done die. If you do, that's on you. Not me" he would say as Soulen nodded gently.

The air was cold, the night long and the horde below terrifying. As they grew closer, Sohan raised his left arm up whicch caused everyone to take aim on the horde. Once they got closer, he dropped his hand and screamed the words FIRE! as loud as he could.

The next thing that could be heard were guns booming and missiles flying.

Everyone began attacking the horde as bodies slowly began to form below.

The fast runners slowly began maneuvering through the horde and dodging the bullets while racing towards the gate below. This was when Sohan and a few others jumped down using the ropes attached to the gate.

Everything was happening way too fast for Soulen to grasp. He and the other individuals here were so accustomed to this it was admirable. Were they not terrified of the horde below them? No it wasn't that they weren't. They truly were. But the thought of them loosing people dear to them was their driving force. So they would face this fear head on as they have countless times.

Soulen looked down at the horde, her hands trembling slightly before she gripped her gun and bit her bottom lip. She came to help, not be scared. So instead of quivering in her boots on the wall, she grabbed one of the ropes and jumped down to Sohan to help.

Down on the ground, she joined in with the mayhem and sprayed her bullets on the approaching infecteds.

Huge mutants that were also part of the hordes were being delt with by the missle turrents and the mounted sentry guns, While those that made it past were being delt with by her, Sohan and the few soldiers that joined them.

It was a hard and long battle, a battle that took close to 4 hours to finish. During the chaos, they had lost a few of the people stationed on the walls, some sentry turrents were broken and a bit of cracks were formed on the reinforced wall due to the stronger mutants that had appeared. Her bullets ran out so she had to rely on her blade and cut down the infected that got too close. But finally it was over. Soldiers died... But they had survived another month of freedom.

Soulen was currently resting her back on a rock where she tried to stead her breathing. Sohan was ordering the rest of thee sooldiers to regroup and ask them to carry the dead bodies that didn't get bitten back to be given a proper burial. He really was an official after all. Despite his personality, he took his job and the safety of his soldiers well.

Suddenly, an excruciating pain shot up her right arm as she turned to see one of the infected that hadn't died. It's legs were broken so it must have crawled towards her when she let her guard down.

She groaned in pain before using her blade too pierce its head and removing its teeth from her skin.

She stared at her bitten hand as the virus slowly began spreading from it. It was painful. Extremely painful.

She quickly pulled out the bandage in her pocket and covered up the bite mark before staring at the two empty bottles of the antiseptic on the ground. She had already used them during the battle as she got bitten before. But she didn't expect another one to be alive.

She was careless...

She needed to get back to the infirmary and see if they had any spare left.

Sohan called out to her few seconds after which caused her body to tense up.

"Yo! You alright? You were fidgeting earlier." He asked with a bit of concern.

"O-Oh? I am fine. Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just....tired. You guys do this every month?" She quickly said, making sure she kept the topic on this and not on her bandaged hand.

"Ah yeah... It has always been as stressful as this. But we lost a lot less than the previous month..." He pointed out before crossing his arms as he looked at her.

"....well....you weren't half bad. I could use another strong soldier like you in the camp short stack." He teased after complimenting her.

This caught her off-guard which made her give a rather confused expression. He actually complimented her, granted it was accompanied by a teasing remark. He rose a brow before clearing his throat then telling her to head back to camp which she did right after.

Once back, she made her way towards the infirmary and entered the storage room for any antiseptics that was around. It took her around 40mins in total to get here and maybe around 10mins to search before finding three bottles of antiseptic.

She quickly opened them and drank every single drop as the bitter-sweet taste entered her system.

She removed the bandage to see the state of her hand and her eyes widened in shock.

The drugs weren't working. Did she waste too long? From a bite, she had to get it treated within 40mins of being bitten or the drugs wouldn't work anymore.

She was too late. She had less than 2 hours before she turned. There was no point in staying here anymore.

She crashed down to the ground as tears slowly formed within her eyes. Was she going to die? After coming all this way? It was her reckless that brought her to this state. Maybe she should have listened to Sohan and shouldn't have partook in the defence. She wouldn't be crying her without any option or hope.

Just then, her whole body began heating up as her mind began aching. It felt like someone was drumming on her head and it hurt a lot.

Her visions became blurry and her breathing became more violent and heavy. She growled and clawed as her surroundings; making a mess of the storage room. With bokes, desk and all flying about.

It took every willpower she could muster to take control back as her breathing slowly lessened.

Her temple was covered in sweat as she held her chest. She was changing and at a fast pace.

She needed to let Cassei know she was leaving. At least, if she was going to die, it wkuldnt be in the home of the people who saved her. With that resolve, she tied the bandage around her hand and made her way towards the camp center, making sure her military outfit covered her left arm as a bit of her veins had turned blue.

Back at the camp center, Cassei and grr were busy discussing about the invasion before spotting Soulen which they immediately smiled and walked towards her.

"Hey girl! Heard you helped in the invasion. Thank you very much for that. " Cassei said as Soulen smiled uneasily.

"Now that we've taken care of the invasion. We can now go for that party we were invited to. And actually you should join us" Grr pointed out which caused Soulen to blink in shock.

"U-uhm...that sounrs cool but um, Cassei i-"

"C'mon it would be fun. We want to show you around plus I also wanna tell the mayor of our newest member who did a good job on the invasion." Cassei said which made Soulen even more flabbergasted.

"New....newest member? What do you mean?" She asked confused as Grr smiled happily.

"I'm saying welcome to Camp Bound Soulen! You are officially a member now." Cassei said with a smile as Soulen's eyes widened in shock.

It felt like a mirror cracked within her mind as she bit her bottom lip. She simply smiled after before grr waved goodbye to Cassie and led Soulen back to her temporary building.

"I'm glad you are a member now Soulen." Grr began as Soulen stayed quiet.

How was she going to leave now. No she still has to leave, she would still need to let them know. And if she can't, she'll judt leave a note and run away.

Once inside the building and in her room though, she turned to Grr to speak but wss stopped once she was handed a blue box.

Confused, she gently opened it to see a bran new outfit. It was a black latex outfit with a some orange designs around it. It had a black utility belt and a place to keep a Glock, grenades and some other gadgets.

There was a slot for the blade if she wanted to keep it on her back and a name tag. The outfit was called Night Runner.

"Here. I hope you like it....it was once for my little sister....so I thought...hey you two are kinda similar so here..." She said with a sad smile as Soulen frowned.

Her initial thought was that her sister has died years ago as this is being handed to her now instead of her sister. She didn't want to ask what happened or how but instead went towards her and hugged her gently.

"I'll gladly accept this gift." Soulen said before grr smiled gently. Soulen knew grr was treating her like a little sister and it was fair as Soulen was probably the youngest among Grr and Cassei. To be honest, among the officials and most people in the camp.

After the hug, grr took a deep breath, she must have been holding herself from letting it a tear. She smiled right after before turning towards the door.

"Once you've changed, meet us at the heli. We will be going to the party once you arrive." She said before opening the door and making her way downstairs and out of the building.

Soulen stared at the door for a few seconds before looking at the outfit as she removed her military clothing then switched to the Night Runner outfit. It was slightly tight, mainly due to her hip and ass being slightly bigger than the original size but it did fit her nicely. Although her shape became more prime and firm.

She smiled gently at the mirror before removing the bandage on her right hand and seeing it turn pale. Her veins were blue and y had already reached half way up her arm.

She pulled the gloves on and was actually greatful the outfit was long sleeves and not short. So everything was hidden.

"....I just need to talk to Cassei and quietly leave the party....I still have time.... I still have time..."

Minutes later, Soulen, the girls, Sohan and Tougz made their way towards Hope 101 by helicopter.

Hope 101 was one of the last standing cities that welcomed abandoned people in the cities if they ever find it. There were different cities with the same name Hope but different numbers. Hope 101 was the first and oldest though. It was surprising how long it had lasted.

Upon landing, Soulen was greeted with the beautiful lights and decoration the place offered. It was clearly night time so the beauty of the place with the decorations and lightning was beyond what she expected.

Cassei and Grr lead her around, showing her various places before finally sitting at a bench near the fountain at the middle of the town.

Cassei had gone ahead to fetch the mayor while Grr and Soulen sat down and enjoyed the atmosphere.

It was calming, the songs were gentle and the dance was heartwarming. Soulen was mesmerized. It was nice to see humanity enjoy something even in this state the world had become.

"I knew you'd like it here." Grr said as she beamed a smile which caused Soulen to smile gently before frowning.

"Hey grr..." She began as Grr turned to face her. "...U-Uhm...there's..... There's something I want to te-"

As if on cue, her body froze before she screamed loudly as her entire body vibrated gently. She was in pain, massive pain. Her eyes slowly turned to a shade of blue as he skin grew pale. Her breathing grew heavy and harsh as she clawed at the fountain and towards grr.

Grr stood up and backed away as a reaction as Soulen looked up to her with hunger before eventually calming down.

She crashed down on the ground, holding her chest as she tried to calm here breathing.

The music had stopped and all eyes were on her. Grr was scared and confused on what to do. But soon enough she slowly wLked towards Soulen.

"H-hey...are you-"

"You brought a damn INFECTED in here?!" A voice spoke up to their right.

Walking angrily toward them was a huge and chubby man with a top hat. Hee was probably the mayor of Hope 101. Beside him was Cassei who was shocked and confused.

"I...I didn't....she wasn't.... Sir there much have been some misunderstanding here.."

"Misunderstanding? From how it looks, she's been infected for more than an hour! She's gonna turn soon!"

"W-Wait! Sir please!"

"Guards! Grab that girl, throw her out and execute her!" The mayor ordered as Soulen's eyes widened in fear. She quickly got up onto her feet as Cassei screamed for her to run.

Without thinking about it, Soulen ran away from the center and towards a random direction. It didn't take long before the guards and some soldiers were after her.

Bullets flew past her as her heart raced from the thought of being shot. She didn't want to fight them. Heck she wasn't sure she would win anyway. So her only option was to run.

It was a small chase but she managed to finally get to the main gate. There were cases where she was cornered but managed to avoid them grabbing her and just dodged them, hid or ran away again.

Now close to the entrance, she felt a painful sting come from her leg, the right side of her chest and shoulder. She was shot and was bleeding. And due to being shot on the leg, she crashed down on the ground harshly.

She turned around to see the soldiers slowly gaining ground towards her. If she was caught, they would kill her

Weakly, she got up and ran out of the gate and into the grassy field while holding her shoulder and chest. She was still bleeding profusely and limped with each step she took but she somehow managed to escape from their view.

Now away, her legs finally gave up where she crashed down on the ground, a pool of blood slowly forming beneath her.

"C-C'mon.....p-please.....move!" She shouted to herself as her hands gave up in an attempt to push her body back up.

Tears slowly trailed down her eyes as she cried. She wasn't going to survive. She should have just left since without making anyone worry or cause trouble. She hoped Cassei and the others would be alright. After all, she had caused a lot of trouble in their name now.

Her breathing was slowly deteriorating and her vision slowly became more unfocused. A figure of her father slowly appeared as she reached towards it, her tears still trailing down the aide of her cheeks as she desperately resched out to him.

It wasn't long before she eventually stopped struggling and her body grew limp, her breathing slowly reached a halt and her eyes weakly closed...

She in the end...died....

...

....?