Chapter 79: Moving

Moments before Shadow rescued Luna, Ivy cast one last orb of darkness towards the Breeder and surveyed the situation. Luckily, Alfred's group seemed to have the situation under control. When Shadow appeared, Ivy tried to reach him with a spell, but he promptly disappeared and took the Breeder with him.

"Quick after him!" Alfred shouted.

"No, stop everyone, we don't even know where he's gone!"

"But Ivy…"

"Listen to me Alfred, Adam is in no condition to put up a fight and Miguel..."

"What happened to him?" Alfred asked.

Ivy looked away.

"I don't think he's going to make it. But this is no time to worry about it. Go help downstairs, I don't think we need to worry about the Breeder for now."

Everyone in Alfred's group looked at each other and eventually left the apartment. All except Alfred, who approached Ivy.

"If anything happens with Miguel let me know."

Ivy nodded and Alfred left the apartment. He hadn't known Miguel for a long time, but the soldier had taught him how to fight and survive against zombies, so he was very grateful to him.

Inside the apartment, Ivy returned to the room. Miguel could barely stay awake as he bled out. Miriam had done all she could, but still the wound in his chest refused to close. Adam, meanwhile, was just beginning to come to his mind and was watching Miguel with a frown.

"Is there nothing we can do?" he asked.

Miriam shook her head.

"Miguel has had too much healing recently, it's as if he's developed a resistance to my spells and potions."

"But I'm sure you've healed me many more times than you've healed him."

Miriam shook her head

"You are wrong, the wound that Miguel received at the beginning was too serious, he was practically on the verge of death. After Arlem healed him, I had to heal him repeatedly until he was balanced. I tried everything I could, but in the end it was useless."

Miriam held back tears. Part of her regretted selecting [Healer], she didn't think she could take all the deaths much longer.

Adam ran his hand across his chest. The wound the Breeder gave him hadn't been as bad as Miguel's, but it had been close, still, Miriam had been able to heal him. How close had he come to reaching the limit like Miguel?

He also noticed that Miriam's spell was beginning to expire. He felt it had been the longest five minutes of his life and suspected he would be completely unconscious soon.

"Come closer boy, I don't have much time left."

Adam approached Michael, whose voice was getting weaker and weaker as time went on.

"Listen to me, I won't be the last one to die boy, you'll have to learn to deal with it. You too Miriam."

Miriam nodded, but she could barely hold back her tears anymore.

"Ivy, don't cry, I'm just an old man you just met. I'm sure you'll go far in this world, even if you don't believe it yourself."

Ivy could stand it no longer and began to cry. Without that old man, she would have been dead from day one. It was hard for her to admit it, but Miguel became to her, in a few days, like a father.

"Don't worry about me, I feel I have lived all I had to live. This new world is yours. Now I want to give you, Adam, one last help. Look in my house for a box I put under my bed. I have some old memories there," Miguel paused for a moment and caught his breath. I don't know if the army survived, but if you meet Commander Tai Marok, give him the box and tell him what happened."

"What if he's not alive?" asked Adam.

Miguel began to chuckle faintly.

"That bastard will bury us all, I'm sure. But you can trust him. Besides, remember this Adam, it's important. I'm sure you'll run into the army sooner or later. Be careful and don't trust anyone else but Tai. One last thing, say goodbye to Krieg for me and that I hope not to see him soon."

Miguel's voice sounded fainter as he finished saying what he wished. Finally he stopped speaking and closed his eyes. The pain that until recently he felt throughout his body disappeared and was replaced by a numb feeling that invaded his whole body. A part of him told him that he should fight to stay alive, but unfortunately it was a small part.

Miguel had accepted his death. Ironic, considering the fear he had of dying when he was younger. No one imagined that the pathetic soldier who had gone to war against his will would make it back alive. Not even he expected it. However, the moment had finally arrived, almost 53 years later. The difference was that Miguel was prepared. Before, he would have expected to go straight to hell, like the murderer he thought he was. But with the arrival of the System, he was not surprised if something very different awaited him. His only hope was that it would be something interesting.

Miguel died a few minutes later, to the sad looks of Miriam and Ivy. Adam had collapsed from exhaustion, so he was fast asleep.

"Shouldn't you go help outside?" Miriam asked. The mood in the room was somber.

"Yes, I should, it's just... I felt I should be here with him... at the end."

Miriam looked at her carefully.

"Yes, I suppose so. It's partly a relief that he's gone this way. I didn't get to say goodbye to Jane."

Ivy didn't know what to say, so she looked away and decided it was time to get back to the fight. She had expended almost all of her energy, but she was feeling more recovered now, enough to be more useful in combat.

Meanwhile, in Block 3, Arnold lay on the floor of an apartment he had entered. Wounded and without strength, he could only lie down and await his death. There, forgotten by everyone else, he wished for more power. Power to do whatever he wanted, power to take revenge on Menil. It was because of him that he was in this situation, it was because of him that he had not been able to advance in level and evolve earlier. It was because of him that his strength was not enough to survive in this world.

It would also destroy the shelter and all the pathetic survivors inside. He understood them very well, for he had been one of them. For that reason, he considered it fortunate to have been infected. That gift had allowed him to shed the fear that froze him and see a way to live.

The other survivors rejected him and considered him a monster. Arnold, however, paid no attention to these useless shrieks, for they were all still dominated by fear. At that moment, he believed that he would succeed in making a place for himself in this new world.

He averted his gaze to his wound, the floor was covered with blood and there was no sign of a health potion in the whole building. He was slowly losing his strength and his only hope was that the Breeder would manage to kill everyone in the shelter before he died. That way, at least, he would know that he had chosen the path with the longest time to live, if only for a few minutes.

"So you're still alive, that's good."

The Breeder's voice startled him. Arnold looked from side to side, trying to find the source of the voice, but it didn't take him long to realize that the zombie was most likely on the outside.

"I am, but not for long."

Arnold felt glad, the Breeder's presence told him that he had probably killed everyone. The relief was so intense that he almost fainted.

"I'm coming for you, wait."

The Breeder didn't take long to break through to him, as he simply destroyed the walls in his path. By the time it reached Arnold, Arnold was already on his last legs.

The sight of the Breeder's disfigured figure caused Arnold to panic. The zombie carefully grabbed him and lifted him off the ground.

"Will you live?" it asked.

"I don't know."

"I order you, I need information."

"Yes"

Arnold didn't understand the zombie, so he just answered positively and let the Breeder do as it wished. The idea of being able to control that beast now seemed laughable to him.

Luna left the apartment with Shadow and Arnold held in both arms. It could not fly due to the numerous injuries it had sustained. So it decided to return to the haven as quickly as possible.

With difficulty, The breeder walked towards the shelter while thinking about what to do with the Siamese. The zombie revealed a lot of information to gain its trust, but Luna knew what the other was planning. She didn't need to be a genius to figure it out. If the experiment was successful and it managed to free himself from the influence of its instincts. It was sure that the Siamese would try to murder and devour Luna's heart to become a Breeder. The fact that it had revealed this information to the zombie in question was something Luna considered condescending, as if the Breeder was a stupid Stalker, incapable of even thinking.

Luna, however, held back its anger and dedicated itself to recovering little by little. When the time came, the Siamese would regret its actions. The problem was that at that instant Luna couldn't find them.