Chapter 5

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Two weeks have passed since I woke up from my recovery. During those days, I befriended Lilianne and her brother Jay.

They were both survivors like Sasha and I, but seemed to know a lot more about this world. They were at home when it all happened, and luckily survived. They had no idea if their parents were safe though, since they were on a trip in Cuba for the whole month.

Although we didn't know each other for long, they still gave me useful informations they earned while trying to survive.

First of all, I was now an 'infected', which meant I survived the Brillante's poison and had now gained some sort of skills. It didn't happen often, but it wasn't unusual. I didn't know what kind of 'powers' I gained, but for now all I could notice was my hair switching colors. To be honest, I felt like a main character from a fantasy or science-fiction novel.

The second thing is the Brillante's lack of information for their identity. All we knew was that we had to aim for their eyes. The brillante all didn't look the same, but they did had similar features. The white glowing skin, the long claws and the multiple eyes. For some reason, hitting one of them could make them weaker and we could make the last blow by cutting their head. Their skin, extremely rigid, made it really hard to cut it. It was such a struggle, for a moment I wondered how Lilianne had survived until now...

The last thing told was both surprising and yet... not this much? The truth was, I knew that the government disappeared from the surface of the earth in the first hours, but I didn't expect their ghost-silence for so long. They gave no news, the internet was still shut down and the president and other politicians were nowhere to be found. People had many theories, but one of the most telling was that they somehow knew in advance and escaped to a safe place before it would happen. Though the chances were low, I too wanted to believe this.

Also, I didn't know if my mom was safe. I lost my phone back in Sasha's house and I was now even farther away from her. Even though I couldn't get in touch with her, I decided to trust her. She wasn't my mom for nothing, being even busier than me but still paying me a visit every week. I had no idea what my father was up to, but I honestly couldn't care less.

I still had many questions and was worried since my eye was still not recovered, but I had to think about other matters too. Like Sasha.

Since that day, she never opened her mouth or looked at me. She would spend her days looking at the sky or the ground and avoid me. Of course it was understandable, knowing what she had been through. It broke me to see her like that for the first time. She was always cheerful and kind, but was now silent and isolated. I felt bad but deep inside me, I still felt frustrated. I wanted her to talk to me like she always did, to express herself even if she would get mad at me for not coming earlier.

I had mixed feelings and decided to play the game and ignore her. She would get time for herself and I wouldn't have to carry awkward discussions that way.

While things were getting bad with Sasha and me, I would already get closer to Jay and Lilianne. Me, an introvert, would've never thought making friends was that easy. There was such a comforting and welcoming feeling they gave, and I couldn't help but appreciate them. Especially Jay, who was around my age and was very kind.

He was the kind of guy who is intimidating at first, but after a first encounter you could see he's like a sweet puppy. Quiet, polite and timid, he was the complete opposite of his appearance. Tall, short hair, pretty buffed with a huge scar on his forehead. He also had a beauty mark under his eye, long eyelashes and dark skin , like his little sister. I thought he was very attractive.

At first I was curious about his scar, but didn't dare to ask. Fortunately, I still had a way to learn it. In fact, Lilianne, who is very talkative and loud, told me about its story. It was a pretty simple one for such a big scar.

Basically, when they were younger, their cat got stuck in a tree and Jay tried to get it back but got hurt. That was it. Honestly, I didn't really believe it but didn't think about it much. Maybe it was a traumatic memory for both of them. I could ask Jay about it later.

As the days passed, food started lacking. Since we were close to a market, we could do some errands sometimes but after two weeks, there wasn't much anymore. We had to move places and find a new base, near food that would be easy to get.

But before that, we needed to make preparations. We needed weapons, in case we encountered a Brillante. We also needed flashlights, food for the few days in the wild and other supplies. We also didn't know if Sasha would follow us, since the slight mention of a Brillante would trigger a panic attack. It was safer if she stayed at the current base while someone else find a new place to stay.

We then spent 3 days planning everything and this morning, we were ready to go. The idea was simple; Jay and I would go, and Lilianne would stay with Sasha. We didn't have to worry for the girls, since they were in a safe spot and Brillantes usually didn't wander around here.

With a quick goodbye, we left the parking spot. We didn't know how long it would take us, but I was sure everything would be good. I survived until now, and knew how to fight the monsters.

It all started good. The streets were empty and Jay and I had a great chemistry so there was no awkward silence. We both didn't talk much, but it was better like that. From time to time, we fought against a Brillante and honestly, if the Yuri from 3 weeks ago saw me now, he would be flabbergasted. I didn't know if I was naturally built like that or if it was an effect of my 'infection', but I was pretty strong and fast. More than at Sasha's house. I could avoid the claws, I could jump higher to aim at their eyes and my baseball bat was as light as a feather. Moreover, the masks we would wear decreased the disgusting stench and I no longer wanted to throw up every minutes of my life.

After a week though, we started feeling tired. Finding a new place was hard. Aside from the standards we had, it was physically difficult. As we walked further into the ruins of what used to be my city, a thick fog blinded us. We couldn't see anything farther than 2 meters and the masks were pretty useless against the intoxicated air. We were discouraged and Jay was worried about his little sister.

As we walked behind an abandoned pet shop, I asked him about something I was really curious about. I wanted to lighten the mood a bit.

''Hey, is the story your sister told me about your scar true?'', I said.

Jay looked at me, surprised, before lowering his head and smiling.

''No, she made it up. She thinks it's still a sensitive topic for me.''

''Then do you mind telling me what truly happened? I can't deny the fact that I'm curious. Sorry.''

He laughed.

''It's okay, although it wasn't a funny experience, I can talk about it in a normal conversation now. Well... only a part of it''

He then started telling me his story, which left me speechless.

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