"Yes," Bella replied without hesitation.
Ross, on the other hand, rely nodded, looking far too relaxed for what lay ahead.
"Just lead the way and I’ll be there," Ross answered with an easy smile, as if they were about to take a casual walk rather than sprint through a death zone.
Their figures burst forward in a blur, flashing through the dense forest at terrifying speed.
They dodged roots, leaped ravines, and skimd over uneven ground without ever breaking stride.
The wind scread past them, tugging at clothes and hair as the forest itself seed to recoil from their passage.
Ahead of them sprawled a massive horde of zombies, hundreds—perhaps thousands—of decaying bodies shuffling aimlessly under the harsh daylight.
Low groans filled the air, and the stench of rot drifted toward them in waves.
Without exchanging words, the trio veered off course.
Speed alone wasn’t enough here—care and precision mattered just as much.
Part of him hoped—unreasonably—that Ross would finally show signs of strain, lagging behind or at least focusing seriously on keeping up.
Ross was practically lounging in midair, his body reclined as if resting on an invisible bed.
To make it even worse, he was calmly eating an apple, taking slow, deliberate bites, his expression relaxed and almost bored.
While Sebastian and Bella stayed sharp and alert, muscles tense and senses stretched to their limits, Ross looked like a king enjoying a leisurely ride.
That man... Sebastian thought grimly. He wasn’t just strong. He was showing off.
From the outside, it looked abandoned—just another forgotten structure in a dead world—but those who knew the signs could tell it was alive.
They were let in without the slightest hassle.
"Red and Shadow are back!"
"No way... they actually made it back!"
Voices overlapped, disbelief turning into laughter and cheers as people rushed out from rooms, hallways, and lookout posts.
Others ran forward without hesitation.
A few laughed loudly, unable to contain their relief. Others wiped at their eyes, tears streaming down weathered faces they no longer bothered to hide.
More than a week apart might not have ant much before the apocalypse, but now it felt like forever.
"I’m glad you two are back!" a big, broad-built man said as he stepped forward.
He didn’t care who saw him cry.
A full year into the apocalypse, they had all been pushed to their limits.
Every mission thinned their ranks a little more. Every loss made the base quieter, heavier, more haunted.
For a brief ti, the base felt warr, louder, and alive again. Laughter echoed through the corridors, and shoulders that had been weighed down by grief straightened just a little.
A few minutes later, the crowd finally noticed that Bella and Sebastian hadn’t returned alone.
"He’s—" Sebastian began, then paused, as if searching for the right words. "He’s a friend. He’s the one who rescued us," he finished firmly.
Murmurs rippled through the group as curious eyes turned toward him, sizing him up from head to toe.
Bella shrugged lightly. "That’s just the way he is."
Before long, Ross found himself being pulled into the group, receiving rough but friendly slaps on the back and earnest handshakes.
Ross might have been a stranger, but in that mont, he was already being treated like one of their own.
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