Chapter 12: Ice Ability User

"Don't move." She said as she pressed the muzzle of her pistol against Gray's head.

With his arms raised, Gray let out a sigh.

"That won't work on me." Gray said, slowly turning his head and glancing back.

In response, she slowly pushed down on the trigger, leaving it right at the edge point before the gun was fired. Despite that, he didn't stop and had turned his head to face her.

[Pause]

"!?"

Her attention was suddenly drawn to the side of her face, where his kick had stopped. Although she had seen it, she had been unable to react.

Astonished, she stepped back, letting go of her pistol. At that moment, Gray grabbed it from the air and pointed it at her.

A beauty. Her long, pink hair reached her hips, she had cold hazel eyes, and her jawline was slender, further emphasizing her looks along with her wonderful proportions for her size. Her looks suggested that she was about Gray's age.

It was clear she had looks, but the feature that caught Gray's attention the most was her eyes. He recognized them immediately.

'Just like mine…' Gray thought to himself.

Gray had been lost in thought at the time, and failed to notice that she used an ability.

He felt a frosty cold wave pass by his feet, unable to bare it, he looked down, only to realize he was standing on ice.

Ice had risen up to his feet, causing them to freeze to the ground. Despite his current strength, he couldn't break out, and his agility was mostly useless.

Gray looked up again, only to find razor-sharp shards of ice floating in the air above him. He counted around six, and they were all pointed at him.

Gray glanced at the girl, whose skin was becoming paler as the snowflakes slowly engulfed it.

It was then that he realised why he hadn't seen any zombies, they were all frozen by her.

"Why are you here?" The girl asked.

She was questioning him? Wasn't her current use of her abilities draining her stamina? Why drag things out any longer? Gray wondered, seeing the dark circles under her eyes.

"Why do you think? To gather supplies obviously."

Grey replied honestly, if there was no need to fight her, why should they? His first impressions weren't the best, but he could overlook them.

Besides, he had bigger problems to deal with. He just wanted to take the med kit, leave, and find any clues he could to find his sister now that he had the charger. Nothing more.

"Lies."

"You're not very smart are you? This is a supermarket, it exists for this main purpose, why would I be lying?"

She clenched her fist, annoyed that Gray was mocking her, causing the ice shards to draw closer as if trying to threaten him. During this time, the ice beneath his feet was constantly rising, making it impossible for him to dodge.

Nonetheless-

[Pause]

Gray raised his hand, pointing it toward the source of the shards and watched as the shards froze after sinking into an invisible force.

The air around his arm was paused, creating a 2 meter cube made of paused air that absorbed all the impact.

"I told you, it won't work-"

"I warned you..." She muttered.

Suddenly yanked back her arm, Gray was interrupted. In that instant, he had felt a chill go down his spine.

Turning back, he noticed a lance made of pure ice coming towards him from behind him.

When Gray unpaused the air, he began to focus on the lance behind him instead of the ice shards.

[PAUSE!]

He again paused the air behind himself, but the Ice lance continued to pierce.

It began slowly freezing the air around the paused cuboid. Despite having no success, the ice lance was still trying to pierce through.

"This isn't good… At this rate…"

Gray glanced over at the girl and gave her a cold look before speaking. "You'll die."

It was true. She seemed completely inexperienced with using her power. She wasted her stamina as she threw everything she had at him.

Despite its strength, the ability was double-edged. Her own body was being frozen by the second, but she didn't care.

She was purposely harming herself, but then again, what did it have to do with him?

"Everyone's dead." She murmured, her eyes hollow, the darkness emitted by her cold words sending chills down Gray's spine.

At that moment, she raised her arm again, and Gray again felt it.

Another attack was on its way. It was possible she would die if she continued and she knew it, almost as if she was looking for that outcome. Even the words which she spoke resounded in the back of his mind.

Memories of how he had literally attempted suicide the week prior began flooding through his mind. 

It was the first time, that he had encountered another suicidal person. Whether it was on a whim, the fact that he sympathised with her or the fact that he could feel a sense of familiarity from her, he didn't know, but even if it was just for now, he wanted to help her.

'I must still be in a good mood from getting that message from my sister...' He concluded.

[Unpause]

The pause timer on the paused cuboid ran out. With nothing to stop the lance, it was suddenly launched at Gray. Meanwhile, a spike of ice erupted out of the ground and headed straight for his heart.

Gray tilted his body as far back as he could in that moment. The way he bent it made him feel as if it would snap at any moment.

However, he was able to avoid it because of it.

His new shirt was almost torn as the spike passed right by his chest. He remained leaned back as he watched the Ice lance pass right by his eyes.

Gray was about to sigh in relief when he noticed that the Ice lance hadn't stopped. On the contrary, it seemed to have headed straight for the girl.

With his last remaining strength, Gray glanced over at the lance, praying that his skill would be able to reach it.

"Pause!" He finally called out.

It was at that moment that the ice lance stopped right in front of the girl's eyes.

In disbelief she trembled and her legs seemed to give out before she suddenly collapsed.

"You're welcome." He said, struggling to stand back up straight.

While Gray had expected that she would unfreeze him as a thank you for saving him, he was instead forced to wait for the ice to cool down due to her suddenly collapsing.

Tears could be seen flowing down her eyes as she mumbled a few words quietly before fainting onto the cold ice. 

"Why the hell did we even…"

Upon realizing what he was doing, Gray shut up. Why the hell was he being so talkative? Was he simply in a good mood because there was a chance Ria was still alive? It was unlike him, so he decided to remain quiet.

As he made this decision, his eyes caught sight of the entrance to the previous section on the other side of the room.

His eyes widened when he did.

'Oh for fuck sakes…'

They were rushing in, the group of zombies from earlier. The fight had caused an excessive amount of noise.