Chapter 8: Meeting A Dear Friend!

Now that the annoying situation was dealt with, as far as Alex was concerned anyway, he slowly walked away, making sure to glare at the cronies who followed Adam; however, Maria, the friend of Claire and supposed lover of Adam, gave him a seductive wink before lowering her clothes to show her cleavage.

Alex didn't accept or reject her actions. Instead, he nodded once before taking Claire's hand and headed upstairs, pushing people out of his way before coming to the second floor.

He opened the window, peering from the blinds for a better view.

They fluttered as he turned back, seeing several scared eyes darting away from him as they hid in the four rooms on the second floor; it seemed that the shop lady initially working here lived upstairs during the term.

'I guess they already dealt with her.'

Claire reached out but pulled back her hands, unsure whether Alex was angry or upset about the comments about Amy.

'Amy isn't that type of girl!' She thought in adamant refusal, wanting to comfort him.

However, unconcerned with her care, he turned around and moved close to her, his body almost pressing against her soft chest, making her heart race as she backed away, his feet following each step.

"Ah...." Claire exclaimed, touching the wall, her hands fumbling against the wallpaper.

His head lowered, moving closer; in her panic, her eyes closed as her chin lifted, sticking out her lips, 'Claire! If he's going to offer another kiss, let's take it! A handsome male's kiss is a priceless treasure!'

Alex pressed against her kissing her as their lips met in a passionate and desperate kiss. It was a kiss filled with longing, a goodbye kiss.

She could feel his desire to find them, the girl in his heart and his childhood friend...

'Will he return?' Claire thought as she continued to suck on his lips instinctively before she grasped his back tightly.

Claire could see the determination in Alex's emerald eyes as they pulled away.

"I'm going to find Sarah and..."

"I know you are! Don't you need me to come with you? I can fight?"

Her little voice trembled with a stutter as she subconsciously grasped his shirt tighter.

Although he wanted to bring her along, there were things he needed to test out alone. Alex looked down at the girl with smudged lipgloss across her lips and her breathing erratic from their kiss.

Claire couldn't help but feel a sense of despair. What if he rejected her? Would he say no, and that was it? He dies somewhere in the wild?

'I don't want to separate forever...!'

She couldn't stand that feeling, almost jumping in a frenzy, touching the warmth on her lips from his kiss and closing her eyes to calm down.

"Claire..." His voice was no longer that fearsome deep, slightly gentle and husky, which Claire found even sexier.

Her light blue eyes looked upwards, his faint smile and handsome face almost taking her breath away.

"Mmm?"

"I promise to come back; will you stay here this time? You have to be safe..."

"B-but!? I can fight!"

His hands gripped her shoulders, not wanting to order her to stay. Alex didn't mind her coming along, but there was a feeling in his gut, not the human feeling, but his Ghoul blood was telling him to leave her here; she won't survive.

"I know... Please..."

"Here, take this... As a promise of my return!"

Alex took out his right hand, a sparkling sapphire embedded inside a platinum ring and floral pattern, before removing it from his pinky and handing it to her.

"This is my mother's ring; I need it for the future... So take it and wait for me to return; if I don't return on time, you can ask me to do anything you want the next time we meet, okay?"

Claire grasped the ring like a prized treasure before sliding it on her third finger; luckily, it was just the right size for her small, delicate finger as she swooned over it, then looked towards him with a bright smile.

"A-anything, right?" She asked with a joyful voice, almost making him feel regret for the offering.

"Haha, don't worry... Also, take this... call it my special gift for you!"

Alex handed the spear scroll over to her, tightly grasping her hand with the ring before he looked into her soft, light blue eyes.

A man of his word, Alex, responded, "Of course, so make sure you get along with the women; try to get Maria away from that group and give her this bottle of water to drink; it will help strengthen her."

His hands reached into his back before cracking open a bottle and drinking from it before handing it over to Claire; Alex used an order this time, as the Ghoul instinct told him to make many female "Vesta" to help him in the future.

Alex ruffled her hair before picking up his back and turning away; Claire grabbed onto him from behind for a fierce hug from the martial artist before slowly, after taking several deep breaths of his scent, she pulled away.

"Mmm... I don't want you to go; being around you made me feel safer..."

"Yet, I will! Please make sure you see them... Those two must be waiting!"

Her shy face was red as a beetroot as she pushed him down the stairs, watching him leave through the barricade as everyone looked at him in fear; he even whispered for her to say he forced her if things went tough and use him as a target to gain acceptance.

'Stupid Alex...' She thought, watching his back enter the school courtyard as he ran east towards the martial arts club. 'As if a girl would treat their beloved crush that way... Don't underestimate me; I will become their leader before that happens!'

Her hands tore the spear skill apart before she felt the loss of willpower for the first time. She looked down towards the spear in her hands and gave a quiet thank you and soft smile.

'Thank you, I will use it well!'

With a fiery gaze, Claire pulled out her spear and descended the stairs, looking at the able-bodied women, remembering to give them this water in return for joining her.

Alex only said Maria, but Claire planned to collect all the valuable and able women because the infection inside her and her personality was built this way.

Meanwhile, after leaving the store, Alex frowned on his way to the martial arts clubroom; the number of zombies seemed far too low from just an hour earlier.

Alex broke into a dash; he wanted to find Sarah and Amy as fast as possible, using the low stone walls to increase his pace, dashing over them like some acrobat; after ten minutes of parkour.

He was within sight, able to hear the loud shouts from the other members; a mass of zombies surrounded the familiar Eastern-style dojo.

"There!"

Filled with excitement to see Sarah, the closest person to him other than Amy, who he had slept with countless times, he dashed forward.

His hand grasped the executioner's sword, easily slicing the zombies en route.

Alex fiercely smashed them with his foot, knocking them off balance and decapitating them with a violent swipe across the neck, spinning around to avoid them surrounding him.

Because he wore the defensive vest, there was an excuse to get wounded, causing Alex to become bolder and wilder as he killed them.

Silky silver hair flowed through the air, and his black suit jacket with golden embroidery fluttered in the light wind as the black shirt from Claire added to his heroic figure.

Alex took a long stride across the path, slicing a zombie's head off with his blade, its body collapsing with a thud.

He stopped the quick movements, taking a moment to correct his footing and take a breather.

In just a few moments, more than eight zombies were annihilated by his wild and violent attack; his hair swept back, and fierce eyes narrowed like bright emerald lights glowing in the darkening evening.

"Ah!?"

At that moment, he gasped.

Seeing a group of zombies shoot out of the dojo, their heads cleanly decapitated, a moment later, she appeared, holding an eastern sword in her left hand, a burning cigarette in the other.

The woman sheathed her sword with a clink after wiping it clean and taking a drag of her cigarette, the light smoke filling the night sky while the red illuminated her face.

A beautiful high jaw, soft cheeks and smooth chin moved as she pulled it from her lips, looking out towards the massacred corpses, those beautiful blue eyes, like miniature oceans glittering in the dying sunlight as they saw him.

Moments of silence greeted the two like the end times didn't happen.

Her eyes seemed to become wet, the rugged, heroic face of her's breaking for a moment as her lips parted before turning away, wiping herself swiftly.

Turning back, her face returned to the gorgeous and heroic "mafia princess."

Mafia Princess was Sarah's nickname since primary school, but it used to be a curse, to drive people away from her.

But this boy...

'This bastard... He's alive; I'm so fucking glad... To think he might have died... His phone didn't connect!'

She wanted to dash into his arms, tell him how scared she was when half the club suddenly became living corpses, yet her morals and own mind stopped her.

'Sarah... He has Amy... That girl is so stupid... asking for a break because her pussy was too sore... Even sending me a picture of how red it was... fuck these two idiots!'

Her eyes became slightly gentler despite her homicidal thoughts before moving her chin towards the clubroom, beckoning to enter as if it was just another night of practice.

"Enter!"

Alex stepped forward slowly, his thought too chaotic; since the Ghoul bloodline appeared, his thoughts and desires became more honest, no longer hiding them.

'Fiance in the future? Hah! Kill him!'

'Has more money than you? Huh, take her by force!'

'Parents reject you? Turn them! Make them your ghouls!'

These were the feelings and thoughts it instilled in him, all those dark feelings towards the girl with a perfect body, tight muscular frame, eight-pack abs, and a large red rose tattoo with a black stem down to her wrists.

The two of them didn't speak because both knew how the other felt and how much delight they felt during their reunion.

As he passed by her body, Sarah's lips opened with a murmur, "I'm so happy you're alright... Alex, please don't die or become one of them... My heart couldn't take losing you forever."

Alex heard even the last bit, which became as quiet as a mouse as she took another drag of her cigarette and threw it to the ground before crushing it with her leather boots while exhaling into the night sky.

'He's back, by my side and alive!'

- Amy, your little prince is now in my possession! Haha, unlucky you were in Vedira City the moment it happened! Please ensure you become stronger, or I'll steal him from you! Fufu

Love Princess.

Sarah imagined the angry little face on that pink-haired girl; honestly, she regretted letting Amy leave yesterday after she argued with Alex as she returned home and was now quite a distance away.

'Let's make sure you both reunite together... My feelings aren't important during the apocalypse!'

"Is it just me, or did he become even more attractive? What was that wild hairstyle and look..."

Sarah began to turn back into the dojo, closing the heavy wooden doors, her mind thinking back to the image on the security cameras of him dashing through them, using a sword to cleave them down, 'His swordsmanship has improved... I'm happy

"His new look is my type... Amy, I don't think you should blame me for stealing your man...Haha!"

Placing her long white cigarettes in the silver case, she walked down the long wooden hallway to the main floor, where everyone stood, practising and making food and drink for everyone.

She looked around, wondering where that guy had vanished, only to find him walking towards the martial arts clubroom.

Yet Sarah's mind still pictured the way he fought earlier, the powerful muscles, his tight movements that were a considerable improvement from last weeks, causing her lips to form a sultry smile.

"Alex! How far will you tempt my maiden heart! You handsome little cunt." She mumbled as she followed him.