CH18 - Death on one's terms

(Early warning, vague mentions of suicide in this chapter.)

[Lyon's POV]

'We could've made it further had we not had to make all those slight detours back there, I guess the residential layer's road isn't as open as I remembered it was.' I surmised as I glanced at the fuel counter and notice that its big red pointer was located only a few centimeters away from the E.

"Looks like this is our stop, we should start looking for a house or a store to spend the night in. We can worry about transportation later once we're in relative safety." I tell the others as I peer outside through the car's windshield. My words were the first ones to be spoken inside the car as everyone else had just opted to stay silent the entire time.

'They still haven't moved on? Well... I guess I can't exactly fault them for still carrying that kind of mentality this early on into the infection.' I think to myself as I sigh inwardly, I put on my backpack which I had previously abandoned on the narrow path in the middle of two front seats.

"Are we really going to have to have another talk about doing what must be done?" I tell the others, my tone laced with an unnoticeable bit of annoyance. I look at the rearview mirror and notice that my words had finally managed to get everyone's attention, including Ren who had been avoiding raising his face the entire time.

"If all of you thought that my words were limited to those zombies outside, then think again. There will be people who are desperate enough to do things they'd never have done before, things that can range from stealing up to even killing their fellow humans." I tell them as my thoughts wander back to the events of the original timeline, getting your hands bloody was a requirement to survive, one that everyone here, excluding maybe Chisato since she wasn't a part of our group in the original timeline, had to face somewhere along the way.

"All of us will have to do something similar one day, it's not a matter of if but a matter of when and why. People who kill for pleasure and thrill are bound to appear someday, those people are murderers." I tell them, their eyes were all still focused on me as I moved my attention back to the car's windshield.

"There are people who will kill because they had to, and there will be people who will kill to protect those they care about. Those are survivors, and the matter of why we killed will be the thin line that separates us from a common murderer to a survivor." I tell them as I glance for a quick second at Alyssa during the former half of my statement.

"As for you two, Ren and Chisato, if the both of you are gonna keep blaming yourselves for the death of that father back there, including his children then you need to fucking stop with the drama and realize the type of world we live in now." I raise my voice a bit at Ren and Chisato as my eyes squint while I look at the two from the rearview mirror, their eyes growing wide open over what I had just said.

"You two did the best you could and tried to help the children out of that situation. They refused of their own volition and the both of you had no choice but to leave or die back there." I comfort the two who were now grimacing as their mind wanders back to the situation before.

"I don't blame any of you for forcing my hand back there, nor do I regret killing the father and leaving his children to their fates, I'd do it again without any second thoughts for everyone here. So all of you should stop sulking so we can start looking for a place to sleep in." I state to them with my tone mellowing down as I make sure that I wasn't leaving anything important behind in the car.

I open the door beside me and leap off the car, accompanying it was the quiet sound of the sliding door being opened as slowly as possible to minimize the noise. I look around the street we were in and find almost every building here had a uniform exterior, a wall that surrounded its perimeter with a gate right in the middle.

'If we had their keys then we could probably just use those cars, I can technically try to break the glass, open the door from there and hotwire the car but I didn't really practice this skill much. That and doing it would be the equivalent of creating a zombie beacon to call them for their afternoon snack.' I think to myself, dismissing the thought as I look around the street for any gates left open.

"Keep your eyes open for any gates that are left open, and try to avoid walking close to the cars on the side of the road so that we don't accidentally set off their alarm." I command the others with an authoritative tone as I start walking down the middle of the road, we could just have one of us jump up the wall and open the gate from there but that can be left as a last resort.

We passed a few houses while searching for an open gate before we finally managed to find one. Right now, we were standing in front of a black gate that was pushed open, its handles and the very gate itself were caked with dried blood. Numerous possibilities zoomed through my head as I try to observe more details to learn what may have happened here.

'The blood... it's a bit spread out and the proportions of each handprint are different. There are about three different proportions which means there should be about three zombies inside of the perimeter at least.' I think to myself before raising three fingers, the signal meant to inform my companions of how many zombies there are.

I slowly push the gate open and find a long wooden stick broken in half, its purpose was anyone's guess though it was most likely used to hold the gate close for a bit. The door to the house itself was in stark contrast to the state of the gate as it was devoid of any blood or dirt brought about by a zombie's attempt in breaking it open. I walk inside while tightly gripping onto Gray, my other companions following close behind with Chisato sealing the gate afterward.

'They didn't manage to get inside through the front door then... I wonder if there's someone still inside.' The question enters my mind but I shake it off, we'll handle it when we get there. We should focus on clearing out the perimeter of the house first.

I look around the front yard for the zombies who managed to go through the gate before us. There wasn't anything special inside to take notes of, a clothesline to the side that still had a few clothes drying on it as well as a small bike that still had its training wheels, one designed for a female child if the color scheme and theme were to be considered.

The building itself was quite average, with a height just enough for two floors to be completely built with what is most likely a small attic right below the tiled roof. Two windows each on both the first and the second floor's front side of the house.

I look around and notice that the two sides of the house had a small narrow pathway in between the house's wall and the wall that separated it from the other houses which meant we'd have access to the back of the house by going through there. There weren't any zombies at the front of the house which meant they were either inside of the house itself, in the backyard, or on the narrow pathway instead.

I point to Ren and Chisato before pointing at the pathway on the right side of the house, Chisato takes point while Ren follows her as she goes down the pathway, the two disappearing from my sight as they go in deeper. I head to the clothesline and get a clean white t-shirt, I then bundle it up into four layers of fabric and hold it with my left hand.

I start walking toward the pathway on the left, intending to go down it as well to meet up with the other two only to find one zombie shambling through it, tripping as it stumbles due to what appears to be his foot which was now bent in ways a grown man would cry over.

I rushed toward it before it could rise and put the clothe against its head, plunging my blade through it as blood began to seep through the hole, staining the previously pristine fabric of the shirt with red. Why did I use the fabric? It wasn't truly necessary but it was just an extra precaution to muffle the sounds of metal hitting bone.

'I doubt zombies from far away could hear it though, this is more of a precaution that would've been useful back at the campus wherein we had to kill zombies close to one another.' I think to myself as my mind briefly wanders back to when we had to kill three zombies that were blocking the stairway in the eastern building at the same time after Alyssa killed the only one that separated from the other three.

I go through the pathway that the zombie I had just killed went through earlier, Alyssa following close behind me as we went deeper into the pathway while passing a few more windows, ones that were covered with curtains that prevented us from peering through to learn of the situation inside.

The narrow pathway had a narrower straight footpath that was cemented, its sides which were connected to the perimeter wall, and the house itself was filled with dirt. Small plants dotted the dirt-filled sides of the pathway, probably intending to enhance the beauty of the house itself for visitors to look at though I doubt anyone left would still have the time to appreciate its beauty.

We continue walking down the narrow pathway before we ultimately reached the backyard, at the center of it stood your typical zombie, a small chunk of its leg was bitten off though. I narrow my eyes and spot a dog's body lying motionlessly on the ground, a large chunk of its body missing while a thin layer of fabric could be seen close to its mouth.

'Well, at least those zombie animals that movies portrayed don't exist.' I sigh in relief since if animals were capable of being infected, that would mean we'd have to worry about flies who've drank their blood. Just imagine being able to fight and live through hordes of infected humans only to then die due to some fly that drank blood off of a zombie before tasting yours.

While the blood and bite of zombies, and in rare cases even their scratches, can infect humans with the virus. Any contact with animals and the virus always kills the animal, killing off a large chunk of house pets, predatory animals, and scavengers in the process as even the flies weren't able to adapt to drinking a zombie's blood and surviving afterward.

I turn my attention elsewhere and glance to my right, only to then find a wooden porch that had its edges cordoned off with a wooden fence and a glass sliding door in the middle with a zombie standing right in front of it. A large chunk of its neck is bitten off as the former human's dark blue shirt had already turned a shade darker as a trail of dried blood leaked from the hole to the shirt.

On the opposite corner stood Chisato and Ren who were already waiting for us there, they were standing close to this side's exit of the pathway they had taken earlier. I notice how a portion of the porch there had its railing facing downwards though instead of sealing the portion itself, prompting me to believe that it was probably a small stairway that they could use to reach the zombie on the porch.

Ren finally glances to his left and notices me, I shake my head in the direction of the zombie on the porch while I pointed my finger at myself, then to the zombie that stood in the backyard, close to where the dog's corpse laid. He taps on Chisato's shoulders and points at me, she notices my gesture and nods in understanding as she walks up the stairway with Ren close behind her.

I, in turn, move closer to the zombie I had assigned myself to, watching it bump itself onto the perimeter wall that inadvertently creates a quiet thud sound, causing me to glance at the zombie on the porch which seemed to have not heard or just straight up ignored the sound created by the other zombie.

I continue moving close and notice Chisato was now standing at a safe distance from the porch zombie, waiting for me to finish positioning myself as well. I glance at her before nodding as she takes out the knife she had taken with her from the campus canteen. I raise Gray over my head and bring it down dead center on the zombie's head, coinciding it was the sound of a body falling to a wooden surface.

I pull Gray off of its head and bring it down once again, a form of double-tapping the zombie just to make sure that it's fully dead now. I take out the machete and wipe it on the zombie's pant leg before glancing at Ren and Chisato who were both now waiting for me and Alyssa on the porch. Ren's arm dangled on the railing while Chisato just stared at the glass sliding door.

"Ren, were any of the windows on your side of the house broken by any chance?" I asked Ren as I stopped moving once I stood close to him. None of the windows on the front yard, the left side, and the backyard of the house were broken which meant that none of those side's entry points are compromised.

"No, why do you ask?" Ren answers before questioning me with his own query. His answer isn't enough to assure me that there are no zombies inside the building though. Who knows? Maybe one of its inhabitants was bit by one of those zombies but was able to somehow drag his/her sorry ass inside of the house before he/she turned.

"Nothing, just making sure none of the windows are broken. We can use this house for the night once we finish securing the house and the gate. Those zombies had a reason to come here so there's also a chance of survivors being here." I answer him as he nods to my words while they all prepare themselves to enter the house.

I take out my phone and turn on its flashlight feature before sliding the glass door to my right, we are then greeted with the sight of a green countertop that had empty glass cabinets left open. I point my flashlight around before entering the house itself and see a door to my right that was left open. It led to a narrow hallway that only had what appeared to be a small bathroom at the end of it.

I walk past the countertop and find a round table that was accompanied by four chairs. On the walls hung various forms of decorations and pictures of a family that consisted of what was most likely the mother, the father, and a daughter that looked no older than six years old.

I glance at the living room and spot a shirt laying on three separate couches that could be grouped to form a big one on a large rug, the couches were facing a large wooden brown table top that had a television and small openings meant for books and consoles to be kept. In the middle of the two stood a small round black desk that was substantially dirtier than the surrounding furniture itself as tin cans, candy wrappers, and bottles of water dirtied its surface.

A switch that I would assume was meant for the lighting was placed close to the wall beside the door that led to the front yard, on the opposite side stood a shoe cabinet that was waist high in height. The door had two locks, the kind you'd push deeper into the door knob to lock, as well as the chain lock which had its chain on the wall that was now connected to the lock itself which was on the door. I turn my attention back to the living room and its contents, ignoring the stairway beside it.

'Hm, this looks a bit recent, the shirt looks to be a perfect fit for your average teenager.' I think to myself as I passed the stairway that led to the second floor and moved closer to the shirt and raise it from the couch, observing its dark red color scheme and medium size. It had a minimalist design as both the front and back were devoid of any design that set it apart from the rest of the fabric.

I hide it inside my backpack and move closer to the door, flicking all of the switches which caused every lightbulb on the first floor to turn on and illuminate our surroundings. I turn my attention back to the stairway and move closer to it, noticing that it had two switches which I flick on as well, causing the lights on the landing halfway through the stairwell to grow brighter.

I start moving up the stairway with the others following close behind me, one hand gripping onto the metal railings as silent footsteps echoed from the stair's wooden surface. I reach the landing halfway through the stair before it reverted to an alternate direction which meant that we were now facing the left side of the house.

The light on the final landing of the stairway was already on, most likely due to one of the other switches I had flicked on at the entrance of the stairway. I continue moving upward and reach the landing itself as three doors and a small rope that dangled from the ceiling presented themselves to me. The small rope most likely caused that portion of the ceiling to fall alongside a ladder we'd need to reach the house's attic.

I move closer to the door nearest to the stairway and position myself on its left side, I glance at Chisato who stood opposite to me, and nodded at her as she put her hands on the handle and opened it quickly, mimicking the kind of movement that you'd see in movies. I rush inside as soon as there was ample space for me to go through and find a room that had its wall and all the furniture inside designed for a female child.

'This room most likely belongs to whoever that bike on the front yard is meant for.' I think to myself while checking every corner of the room, including the space beneath the bed as well for anything. There wasn't anything inside though so we turned our attention to the door opposite to the child's room.

Mimicking the same procedure we had done with the child's room, Chisato opens the door for me while I rush through it. This room was empty of anything though as there wasn't even a single piece of furniture inside, a window to the side in front of the door laid open with a weak breeze going through it. I look through it and find dirty markings of what appeared to be shoe marks on the perimeter wall directly below it.

'So this is how the person escaped? Well, they're certainly brave, whoever that person is.' I think to myself before shrugging to the others. I close the window shut and get out of the room, the others filed outside as well as we moved closer to the final door in this house.

Chisato sticks her back to the wall while I stood in front of the door itself, she rotates the knob open and pushed it with enough force to quicken the process. I rush through the opening and was greeted with the unmistakable odor of death and rot.

'I see...' I sigh to myself as I take notice of the sight in front of me. The room had the typical furniture you'd find inside a bedroom, a window was placed on the same side as the room beside this while rays of light from the setting sun pierced through the thin fabric of the curtain. A small table stood beside the bed, on its surface lay an empty pill jar, an empty bottle of wine, and an ashtray that had two used cigarettes laying on it.

Three motionless and pale-skinned bodies lay on the bed, two of which lay on the sides of the bed while hugging one another, as well as the third body which was smaller in contrast to the two while laying in the middle of the two. Resting in what seemed to have been a peaceful manner on the bed was the same family that we had seen in the picture frames downstairs, every member having departed this cruel world on their terms.

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AN: Just a reminder, this book isn't one of those fics where it will be a happy-go-lucky world with an mc that can just bs their way through every dark and problematic thing with magic or op abilities. This is an apocalyptic world and mentions of dark topics and death won't be an uncommon event in my fic. If you are incapable of stomaching such things then this fic isn't for you.