Chapter 13: Escape.

Heavy pants could be heard, along with the sound of hasty footsteps. The sound was followed by growls and groans.

Going to the source of the sound, we can find Gray, running desperately through the rows and shelves. On his back was the girl from before, she was unconscious and was showing no signs of waking up and on his front was his hiking bag.

As he moved across the rows and shelves, he tried to get them off his tail, but despite his efforts, he was unable to shake two of them that were running at him on all fours.

He was being overtaken by them rapidly. Gray turned a sudden left, watching as they crashed into one of the shelves full of items, only to resume their run at him.

Gray's eyes were focused on what was behind, so he didn't notice the zombie charging towards him from the front. His jaws were wide open, slightly torn on the sides, and his eyes were rolling behind his lids.

When Gray saw this, he leapt up, pausing the air beneath his feet to create a platform on which he could stand.

Pushing himself off the platform, he leapt onto one of the shelves beside them. While the zombie was doing all it could to bite at Gray, it slammed into the shelf during the course of its attack.

Gray, however, had already leaped from a shelf onto another platform he had created by pausing the air for a period of time.

With no look down, Gray began making the leap further and further up, repeatedly pausing the air below his feet as he ascended, the higher he got, the closer he got to the ceiling.

His heart sank as he glanced down to see that one of the zombies had leapt at him, almost grabbing his feet. However, instead of reaching its target, it missed, and was just about to plummet to the ground when all of the sudden, it stopped falling.

Gray stepped on top of it, pausing it's whole body in the air while balancing himself on top of it, using it as a platform.

During the course of his speech, he had a cold look on his face. pointing the muzzle of his gun at it's head, he exclaimed, "You sure are persistent.".

*Clunk*

Suddenly, Gray leapt off the zombie's face, unpausing it as he leapt onto another platform in the air.

While adjusting the girl on his back, he wondered if there were any bullets.

In order to keep her from falling off, he had been holding her legs with his forearms and elbows. Allowing his hand to hold onto the pistol and check its magazine.

There was no ammunition left. That was something he never expected.

'What the hell? Was she trying to kill me or not?'

Gray leapt up once more just before the timer on his pause expired. Immediately, he began to think about what he should do.

Originally, he intended to fire the gun to break the glass panel, but now that option was gone. Furthermore, he couldn't break it by force because one misstep would send him plunging downward.

Sure, he could pause himself, but what about the girl on his back?

'Is leaving her the only choice?' Gray pondered as he looked down.

The section was infested with zombies; most of the space was covered with their bodies, scurrying around one another with arms raised; they were starving for the two who were above them.

'It's either her or the supplies.'

In the face of supplies for his survival or a stranger he had never met before, Gray didn't give it much thought. No matter how beautiful she was, it was obvious whom he would pick.

[Unpause]

He caught himself in time once again after the timer ran out.

[Pause]

As he loosened his grip on her, he thought, "Sorry.".

However, before he could.

In the blink of an eye, he saw a bright blue light glow beside him, a chilly breeze ruffled his hair as a sliver of ice began forming beside him.

Looking to the right, he saw the girl looking toward the glass panel, with her eyes barely open. A moment later, the lance smashed into the panel, freezing it in seconds before it shattered into pieces.

Grey did not waste a second, as the frozen glass shards fell onto the zombies, he hopped across to the panel on paused platforms.

-

-

-

Gray laid on his back and stared at the sky, panting heavily. Inhaling a deep breath of fresh air, he felt relieved that he could finally rest.

He had given a quick check around the ceiling, there was nothing around.

Beside him was the girl. Her face was blank as she gazed at the sky, too.

In spite of being wary of her, Gray did nothing. Instead, he prioritized doing the one thing he had waited incredibly long to do.

As he pulled out a packet of crisps, some chocolate bars, and a wrapped ham and cheese sandwich from one of the refrigerators, his stomach growled, begging him to hurry. He also pulled out a fizzy bepsi bottle.

In a hurry, he unwrapped the sandwich, taking a big bite.

As soon as he did, he froze.

In disbelief, the beautiful girl beside him turned to him to see why he stopped, only to be startled when he suddenly began eating in a frenzy.

With tears in his eyes, Gray murmured, "Delicious!".

He hadn't eaten for so long that even a cheese and ham sandwich tasted like the best meal he'd ever had.

He was so hungry that he had forgotten to chew and savor the taste. Half of the sandwich disappeared within seconds.

Suddenly, he felt something get stuck down his throat. When she saw him struggling to force it down, she handed him the bottle.

She had drank some while he was eating. Having been worried that he would be angry at her for having had some without his permission, she was left with nothing but surprise as he gulped down as much as he could.

As he realized that he had forgotten to thank her, he stopped to take a moment to do so.

"Thanks." He said.

The moment he was about to continue, a serious look appeared on his face, and he looked over at her in a matter of seconds.

"Can you cool this up for me?" Gray asked as he handed her the bottle which was now at half.

She nodded and followed his instructions, surprised that was all he wanted. With the aid of her power, she cooled down the bottle, but she ended up cooling it a bit too much since she lacked control. The bottom of the bottle had become frozen solid, engulfed by the ice.

He ignored this and gulped down a bit more, feeling the fizzy water brush against his throat as his thirst was slowly quenched.

"Ah… That hits the spot."

He then handed her the bottle, gesturing her to try some.

Taking a sip of the drink, she looked at the cap at the area where he had drunk it from, staring at it for a few moments before swallowing.

"Good?" He asked

Her cheeks, flushed red as she mumbled. "It hit the spot…"

"Goo-"

Gray collapsed before he could finish his sentence. Fainting at the moment.