Who Are You Really?

The sound of screeching and high-pitched screams woke me up. It was not pleasing, believe me. I soon realised that there was a scuffle outside my shared tent. Despite my groggy vision, I pull myself up and walk to the opening to see Ava and Reyna pulling at each others' hair while yelling profanities.

"You better crawl back the way you came from, you fucking whore!!"

"That's funny coming from a slut like you. Some friend you are!"

"What friend?! I'll never like some backstabbing bitch like you!"

I watched the display in front of me, and my eyes slowly strayed to the figure to the side who made no effort to stop the conflict. If I recall correctly, he was called Brad. He smirked at the thought of two beautiful women fighting over him. Soon he met my eyes, and his smirk widened and gradually became condescending.

Auntie noticed my presence too, and immediately rushed to my side, blocking my view of the two women making fools of themselves. "I didn't realise how much noise there was. How are you, dear?"

I focus on her and notice her concerned face. I narrow my eyes, finding it hard for anyone to care about another in times like this, but I nod anyways.

"What happened?" I ask. Even though I can vaguely guess the situation, I would imagine the noise from this confrontation would attract some monsters. That is, if these idiots were smart enough to notice.

"Nothing. Get ready; you and Sophie are front duty." Auntie tells me with a hesitant expression, and I cringe visibly at her words. Front duty was essentially watching the front of the store to ensure no monsters were nearby. If a monster were to appear, one would have to go inform Brad while the other tried to hold the monster off.

Although the chance of encountering monsters is rare, as the monsters usually ignore their reflection off the glass and the glass doors are airtight, preventing the possibility of our scent escaping, it isn't impossible. Just three days ago, the fat man who had opened the back door for me died to a mutated cat while Reyna ran to call for help.

Seeing my grim face, Auntie jumped in to comfort me. "It's okay. Monster won't be able to see you. But in case.....here." She gives me a knife. No....not a knife. It seemed more like a dagger. The dagger felt so comfortable to hold; it was scary.

"Thank you..." I murmur. Making eye contact with Sophie, the little girl, as we both made our way to the front of the building in silence. Too bad I can't fight the idiot who decided it would be smart to let two children defend anything at all.

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We stood side by side in silence. I didn't mind the silence; it gave me some time to my thoughts. But I knew I shouldn't get carried away in them; my life was on the line. Auntie sometimes passed by to sneak in a few snacks for us both. I appreciated the action, but Sophie seemed to pale even more when she saw Auntie attempt to start a conversation with me. She also seemed anxious around Auntie.

After Auntie finally left, I turned to her. "What's wrong? You look pale?"

The little girl flinches at my voice and quickly glances around her as if making sure no one is nearby. Nobody says anything, and it's quiet for a few minutes.

"T-that woman..." She mutters.

"What about Auntie?" I urge her curiously. She looks down, biting her lips, contemplating. "That woman i-is my aunt.....I think."

"What do you mean by 'I think'?"

Sophie likes her lips before continuing, "W-when t-the monsters came, we were just leaving a nearby store when a wild dog attacked Aunt. I-I ran into this store afterwards, but I clearly saw her with a large cut on her stomach! But the next day she came back with no injuries at all!! She doesn't even remember me!"

My eyes widen at the information, "Couldn't it just be memory loss?"

"It couldn't be!" She shakes her head abruptly without hesitation. "She's like a completely different person! My aunt is a very strict person who values personal space and is always wary of strangers! Why would she get friendly with you?!"

Sophie seemed to get more courageous with each sentence that left her lips. Suddenly she froze with a choked chortle and slowly turned to the side. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Auntie standing with a cold and threatening face.

I turn my head to see clearly, but her face instantly shifts to a bright smile. My expression drops immediately. At first, it was just a gut instinct, just a faint suspicion. But now, I am a hundred per cent sure that something is wrong with that woman.

Was she a monster?

A shapeshifter, perhaps?

Flashing a cynical and mocking smile towards the middle-aged woman, I turn back towards the broken outside world. Sophie doesn't speak a word to me afterwards. I don't dwell on it, but I've decided to stay away from the 'lady' if she was one anyway.

Time passes by slowly, and my body tenses slowly as the hours pass by. Probably from exhaustion, but letting my guard down now would only mean death. My eyes stray to Sophie. Even though her 'aunt' had left long ago, she seemed even paler than before. But she didn't have any injuries on her; maybe internal injuries?

"Hey, are you-"

"They're here!!" Sophie looks at me with red-rimmed and crazed eyes. I flinch at her abrupt yell, "What are you talking about?"

She doesn't reply to me but moves towards the formerly sliding glass doors. "Hey!" I yell at her, grabbing her arm. Any closer, and she'll trigger the emergency manual opening. Despite her smaller stature, she seemed to be injected with some kind of adrenaline, and I slowly lost my grip on her.

"NOOO!! LET ME GO!" She squirmed out of my grip and slammed the door with her body. "ONLY THEY CAN HELP ME!!" She looks into the dark parking lot filled with corpses of different creatures with a euphoric expression.

"Who's 'they'?"