Meeting Other Survivors

With free tears rolling down from both corners of her eyes, Renee's eyelashes flickered open. She was staring blankly at the whiteness of an unfamiliar ceiling, her tear-filled eyes blurring her vision. Even in death, these memories of her past life won't leave her alone, will they? For how long will she have to continue to bear the pain of her misery?

Closing her eyes with no hope left, to give in to the afterlife where she would be free of this torment, a cool sensation on her forehead unexpectedly calmed the feverish heat that was starting to emit from her body. It felt wet and comfortingly cool, but that only raised her alarm.

Opening her eyes with more urgency, the unfamiliar face of someone was looming just a few inches away from her own, a little too close in fact. It was so sudden, so unexpected, and every nerve in her body reacted defensively at the unfamiliar stranger, she screamed.

Her hand instinctively punched the startled face in front of her – using the profound energy she never knew her body could summon.

"Get away!"

"Fuck!" She could hear the unknown man grimace as he took a couple of steps back. Renee sat up with her defensive instincts kicking in, the towel on her forehead dropping to her thighs, but she was too frightened to notice. Her alarmed gaze was fixed on the man who kept his head low, his hand covering the exact spot where she punched him.

As if timed, someone else rushed into the room without knocking. It was a cute blonde-haired man with an equally alarmed expression on his face. He had his bat raised as he barged in without notice, as if ready to strike at something at first glance.

"I heard someone scream! Is everyone alright?" The newcomer asked, his gaze shifting between the man who just got hit in the face and the frightened woman on the bed. Asides the two of them, there were no monsters at sight, but even then, he wasn't particularly sure whether he should feel more alarmed or less cautious about the sudden tension in the room.

Taking into note that the scream he held couldn't have been caused by the sudden arrival of monsters, he lowered his weapon. His hazel eyes settled on the young woman on the bed, and there was a strange happy glint in his eyes. It felt as if he looked both relieved and happy to see her awake, but that didn't wane Renee's caution.

"You're awake." She heard him utter as a charming smile broke upon his lips. He moved closer to her bedside, wanting to genuinely check on her health, but Renee instinctively bristled from his sudden nearness till her back met the wall.

Detecting the alarm and fear in her ruby gaze, he stopped walking, and his eyes eventually darted to the only person who had been with her through her unconscious state, eyebrow knitting into a frown as he wondered what he could have done to frighten her, but then his pupils dilated in pure alarm.

"Holy shit! You're bleeding." The cute blondie gasped in shock when he saw the blood running down the other person's nose. The man lifted his head, equally shocked and dazed to see his nose bleeding from a woman's punch, and his eyes narrowed to form a slight glare.

He was gazing at the woman who looked at him with round eyes, equally taken aback by the sight of blood, but her attention was locked on his eyes.

"It's…." Renee became utterly speechless when she found herself gazing into the same pair of golden eyes she remembered seeing at her parent's funeral, except the stranger no longer had his mask or hoodie on. Her shocked, round eyes settled on his nose which was currently bleeding, and then they shifted to the towel that was starting to dampen her blanket a little.

Was this what brought the cool sensation earlier?

Immediately, a look of regret clouded her face at the realization, and she quickly apologized to the young man, "I'm… I'm so so sorry, you were standing so close that I panicked without thinking… it was a mistake, I never planned on hitting you that hard."

She explained apologetically, hoping he'd understand, but he just stayed quiet. She swallowed nervously when those glaring eyes refused to settle or show signs that he believed her. She never expected to wake up alive, plus the nightmares, and then awakening to the face that looked vague thanks to her teary eyes, she couldn't help but react violently.

"I'm terribly sorry." She apologized once more, hinting at how horrible she felt at the moment. Eventually, the man's gaze dropped, and he no longer glared at her after listening to her explanation. To Renee's relief, the blondie had moved quickly to grab a tissue from the side cupboard, and he returned to the bleeding man, handing him the tissues.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine." He sounded apathetic with his response. He received the tissue and exited the rooms afterwards, hardly sparing either one of them a glance, and Renee had this inexplicable urge to stand up and go to him, to apologize again, but she felt more horrible when she glanced at the table beside her bed to see the water in a bowl, including the thermometer used to check her temperature.

He took care of her?

"Don't worry about it, he's a good guy, he'll get over it in no time." The soft assuring voice belonging to blondie made her look in his direction, and he was standing at a safe distance, probably to avoid terrifying her after her earlier reaction, cause he politely asked,

"Can I come a bit closer? I just want to check if your health has shown more improvement. You suffered a head injury when you were brought here, it looked serious and I'm quite the doctor around here. I mean no harm at all." He kept the bat aside and raised his hands up, as if to prove he was unarmed and truly meant her no harm.

When she no longer gazed at him with the same defensiveness, he moved closer, and when she didn't react, he kept moving cautiously till he was standing at her bedside. The part of her head that was initially bandaged to stop the bleeding was gone, as if someone had removed it, and when he studied the particular spot he saw the injury, it was no longer there, and there wasn't even a mark left as proof.

He almost sighed, knowing her quick recovery was all thanks to the man she punched in the face.

"You seem fine now." He pulled back and smiled harmlessly, "but how are you feeling? Does your head still hurt? Do you feel any pain at all?"

Renee shook her head slowly, at the same time baffled to see she was alive, and not in pain. She blinked at the young man in front of her, and his hazel eyes bore not a single hint of hostility in them. He reminded her of those cute shy nerds, and his soothing smile managed to ease her discomfort a little.

The room she was in looked comfortable, with a bed big enough to fit three people. Her mind was terribly disoriented, but she managed to grasp the decor of the room – simple and idyllic, with the small bookshelves and a couch to sit on incase one grows tired of just lying all day.

"Who are you?" She finally asked, "how did I end up here?"

"I'm Robinson," he introduced himself, "the man you hit in the face was the one who brought you here, along with some other guy he found you with. It was a close call, any minute late and your bodies would have been consumed by those walking parasites. You don't remember?"

Renee's eyebrows furrowed slightly the more she digested his words, and despite the dull pain in her head, she was able to recollect the car crash. The alarm in her eyes became more pensive at the thought of Cyrus, and she looked up at Robinson with a fearful, concerned expression.

"My brother, is my brother okay?" She asked, her voice trembled after recalling the dire state he was in, "we… we sustained the car crash together and he wasn't moving at all."

"Ah…. He's your brother." For some reason, Robinson wasn't sure why he looked relieved to hear that, but he regained his composure and shook his head mildly, "he's fine. He hasn't woken up yet but he's fine. I'm monitoring his health for the meantime, but he should be awake in a day or two, so you have nothing to be concerned about."

He assured her. Moving to the table where a jug and a glass cup was placed, he lifted the jug and poured some water into the glass cup. He approached Renee and handed it to her.

"Here, you must be thirsty." He offered, and Renee was dumbfounded yet again. She wondered how he knew, or was it that obvious? Thanking him silently, she received the cup and drank the content.

It took about ten minutes for Renee to finally gain herself back, and she was grateful to Robinson who gave her time to grasp her present situation without interrupting. Her ruby eyes settled on his hazel ones, they looked naturally friendly, and she was finally coming to terms that just like her, he had survived the virus plaguing the city.

"To kill time, why don't you come downstairs with me, and I'll introduce you to the rest of the survivors." He suggested, and it was as if he read her thoughts, cause she was gazing at him wide-eyed.

"There are more survivors?"

"Well of course, there are only three women in this building. They'll be excited to see another survivor who isn't… a man." Stressing the last part, he offered a hand to her and assisted her out of bed.

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