To kill a mockingbird

The cry of pain repeated, reverberating through the area. Without delay, Ellin jumped down from Eve's bike and rushed towards the storehouse from which it came. After a moment of wavering, Eve followed after, leaving the bike behind and catching Ellin by his shoulder.

"Slow down! You don't know what's ahead!"

To Eve's dismay, that didn't even make Ellin pause; instead he just shrugged her off and continued to run, unsheathing his sword on the way. Cursing his recklessness under her nose, Eve followed his example, at the same time pumping her scary aura to the maximum. They reached the storehouse's gates together and Ellin kicked them open with a loud bang.

Insides of the storehouse met the two of them with clouds of dust. Towers of old boxes and crates rose to the ceiling, creating a maze that became even more confusing in the dim lighting that came from outside. No signs of zombies were seen, and no signs of humans; the only exceptions were someone's tracks in the dirt that gathered on the floor over years.

"A-a-ah!" a blood-curling man's scream came from the depths of the shadowy maze. Now, from the inside of the storehouse, Ellin and Eve could hear it perfectly. "Help! He-e-elp! They want to kill me!"

Hearing this, Ellin wanted to charge in, but he was stopped by Eve's hand on his shoulder again. This time, though, Eve wasn't intending on letting go.

"Stop! It's a trap! Think about it, you idiot!" She pulled him back towards her. The strength of level one wasn't able to compete with that of level two, and Ellin was stopped in his tracks despite his attempts to free.

"Let me go, Eve! Someone is in trouble!"

Before Eve could explain something, another cry for help rang through the storehouse. This time, the voice was undoubtfully female. "H-his stomach, h-he has no stomach! No, no, please, a-a-ah!"

Hearing this, Ellin paused with a frown. Even he could detect something fishy going on in there. For a moment, he was brought into a helpless stupor of indecision and suspicions; Eve used that opportunity to hurriedly explain her earlier actions.

"Ellin, earlier, when we were outside, the voice was women's too. And now the voice shouted about 'them', but look at the tracks—it's clear that only one person had entered through here. Something is on."

"But what can it be?" Ellin turned his head to look at Eve helplessly. "What if it's really someone in trouble?"

"We will walk in, but carefully. If this is an ambush, there's too much place for people to hide in." Eve frowned and stepped forward. "Don't rush in again."

Another cry came almost in time to muffle her last words. This time, it was male again, but not the same one as before; and instead of pain and fear, it was full of anger. "You won't kill me, stupid zombie! Come on!"

Ellin mirrored Eve's frown. "Another voice. This is really strange..."

He moved forward, but not in a reckless run, but in a careful, measured steps. Eve walked alongside, straining all her senses including the sixth one, but everything seemed to be clear. Even the acid zombie's presence disappeared from her internal radar. The maze of crates together with an atmosphere of anticipation and fear of an unknown created an eerie atmosphere. Eve's back covered in goosebumps; every small sound from the outside made her feel more and more nervous. When one more scream pierced the quiet, both she and Ellin almost jumped out of their skins.

With madly beating hearts, Eve and Ellin followed the tracks in the dust towards the very depths of the storehouse. Without a word, both of them did their best to hide their presence. The further they went, the darker it was around. The nanites enhanced Eve and Ellin's vision enough to see the silhouettes of things, but nothing more.

After a turn around another pile of fallen crates, they finally saw something else than endless crates. A dark, crooked figure stood in front of them, almost merging with the shadows. When Eve and Ellin entered its line of sight, it shifted imperceptibly in place.

A loud voice came from its side. It was high and childish, with sobs heard between the words. The contrast between the voice and the surroundings was creepy enough to make Ellin's face a shade paler. "Mommy! Mommy! Save me, where are you, save me!"

At the same time, Eve could hear a second voice. This one was robotic and even; it clashed and meshed with the first voice, making it hard to understand what was being spoken. "Multiple data sources located. Gathering in process."

But Eve didn't need to understand the words to get what was going on. She raised her katana on the shoulder level like Ellin had taught her. "This a zombie. Be careful."

"B-but... It talks!" Despite the hesitation and disbelief in his words, Ellin also assumed a battle stance.

"It just repeats what it had heard before." Eve frowned, trying to feel up the zombie's level. "I think it's less than level three. It's not even smart enough to set up a real ambush."

Just as she finished her analysis, the zombie charged towards her with outstretched hands. As it came closer and closer, Eve could almost hear Ellin's explanations from yesterday repeating in her ear. "...Zombies' most common tactics is to give you a strong, friendly hug... And if that doesn't choke you or break your neck, they aren't above biting off your face. These bastards may be slow, but they have grips stronger than bulldogs! So, remember, Eve, don't hug zombies."

Afterwards, Ellin had explained how to counteract this. From her stance, Eve swung upwards with her katana. The sharp blade flew through the air like a silver ribbon. The timing was perfect, and the speed of the attack didn't let a zombie a chance to dodge as the katana slashed through its wrists. They fell onto the ground like two dry twigs. Eve turned the katana for a follow-up slash, but it was too slow this time—the zombie jumped away.

"A good one!" Ellin cheered. "It's now totally... h-armless! Finish it!"

Eve cringed, but didn't turn away from her opponent. 'I am in presence of two idiots. One of them is artificial, and one is all natural!' But now, thanks to Ellin, whatever anxiety was still hiding in her heart had disappeared without a trace.

The zombie was slowly backing away from her. "Warning! The host had suffered serious damage! Immediate retreat is advised! Retreat is in progress... Error—no retreat routes found. Returning to the previous course of action..." After saying this, the zombie stopped in its tracks and rushed towards Eve again.

Without his wrists, this brain-dead tactic represented even less of a threat. Eve calmly raised her sword, preparing to finish the zombie off with a single clean strike. She only needed to wait for it to come to her...

"Watch out! Behind you!"

"Analysis complete. Gathering of the data source now in progress..."

Ellin's shout and a zombie's voice from somewhere above came at the same time. Eve turned her head on reflex. She saw a shadow jumping on her from a top of one of the crate piles, but was too late to react. The sudden attack made her feet freeze to the ground; but when Eve was almost seeing her entire life rushing in front of her eyes, Ellin pushed her to the side. Both of them fell on the ground a couple steps away, just when the unknown attacker landed right on top of the armless zombie with a loud thud.

As Eve and Ellin hurried to get back on their feet, the attacker stomped hard with its foot. There was a quiet sizzling sound and a stomach-churning smell of burning flesh mixed with a sharp, chemical tang. A pair of familiar green lights flickered through the darkness of the storehouse. Ellin gulped; Eve's heart was beating madly despite her outward composure. She activated her scary aura immediately, focusing all of it on the green-eyed zombie.

It reacted immediately, but not in a way Eve hoped it would. Instead of retreating, it turned its face towards her. "Warning! A threat detected! Calculating threat level... threat level low. Commence data gathering."

Ellin took his sword in one hand. In another, a two-meters long whip was gathering out of water in surrounding air. "It has returned... Eve, quickly, scare it away!"

"It doesn't work!" Eve's eyes darted to the sides. To the left of her were boxes; to the right of her were crates; behind her was a wall, and more crates. The only exit out of this dead end was through the acid zombie. "And we're also trapped."

'I just knew that it was going to return to bite us in the ass in the worst moment possible...'