"Mr... Barry?" He called out
The man lunged at him with his mouth wide open, but he tripped and fell to the ground.
Lucas could imdiately tell that sothing was wrong with the man, panic flashed across his face as he tried to rush back to the building.
As he attempted to move Mr. Barry grabbed his leg and caused him to fall to the ground.
His hand was firm on his ankle, with a grip so powerful it was almost crushing.
Lucas tried to break free but to no avail,
’How is he doing this?!’ he wondered as he kicked the man’s hand over and over.
Mr. Barry didn’t even flinch.
His fingers only dug in deeper, nails pressing through the fabric of Lucas’s trousers and into his skin like iron clamps.
"Let go!" Lucas shouted, his voice cracking with fear.
He twisted around and slamd both hands against the ground, trying to drag himself forward, but the man’s strength was inhuman. It felt like being pinned by a machine.
Mr. Barry slowly lifted his head.
There was blood sared around his mouth.
"Mr... Barry?" he whispered again, desperately hoping there was still a person in there.
The man answered with a low, guttural growl. Lucas’s stomach dropped.
Just when the panic was about to set in, a foot ca from nowhere and smashed into the man’s head, crushing it and splattering the particles everywhere.
Only after that did Lucas feel his grip loosen from his leg.
Standing above him was Carol.
"Tsk. It got all over my boot," she said irritation heavy in her tone.
Lucas stared at her in complete shock, still lying on the ground with one leg half twisted beneath him.
Blood—and far worse—was splattered across the pavent, so of it staining the edge of his pants and the tip of her shoe.
His mouth opened, but no words ca out.
Carol glanced down at him with mild annoyance, as if she had rely stepped on gum.
"What?" she asked. "Were you planning to keep screaming until it ate your face?"
"I—I..." Lucas pointed shakily at what remained of Mr. Barry. "You just—his head—you—"
"Yes, I noticed," she replied dryly. "Try to keep up."
She crouched slightly and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to his feet with surprising ease.
Lucas nearly stumbled into her.
"That thing wasn’t Mr. Barry anymore," she said, her voice calm but sharp. "If you hesitate like that again out here, you’ll die."
He stared at her, breathing hard.
"But... he was alive. He—"
"HE was trying to bite your throat out," Carol cut in. "You’re lucky I was here to save your ass, why did you even co out here in the first place?"
It took Lucas a few extra seconds to process everything she had said.
"I actually ca out here to thank you... for saving the other ti at the convenience store."
The words felt awkward the mont they left his mouth, especially since she had just saved him again.
"You’re welco." She paused, as if studying his face. "You should head back inside before more of those dead creatures show up. You’ll be safer in there."
"What are they?"
"What do you think? They are the people that have been killed by that monster, if they bite you, you’ll turn into one of them,"
"So they are zombies?"
"The system calls them ’Dead-walkers’. They are pretty easy to kill if you level up your stats a bit,"
She gave him another look with a frown.
"You do know how to do that at least right?"
"Yes, of course," he blurted out
Now that she had saved his life again, Lucas considered giving her one or two of his points, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it.
’I definitely need it more than she does, if she’s strong enough to crush a head like that’
He turned to leave.
"Before you go... why did you decide to keep all your points?"
"Because they’re mine?" Lucas answered, as if it were obvious.
"And what do you plan on doing with them?"
"Why do you want to know?" he shot back.
"No reason in particular..." she said, then paused. "It’s just that tis have changed. In the last five days, more humans have died than in all of history. I heard there are cities where monsters appeared and reduced everything to dust."
She folded her arms and continued.
"We believe more than ninety percent of humanity has already been wiped out, and everyone is on edge right now. I understand that you want to keep your points, but you also need to understand that doing sothing like that might not be in your best interest."
Lucas frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
She exhaled softly. "Nothing. Just be more careful. I won’t be there to save you next ti."
He turned and headed back inside, gritting his teeth as he climbed the stairs. Even if she hadn’t said anything, the fact that he had been there to hear everything Saito and Arnold said was enough to get the ssage across.
As he passed Stacy’s apartnt, her door opened.
"Lucas—"
His own door slamd shut before she could finish.
A rush of emotions swirled inside him, but two stood above the rest.
The first was fear. After what he had just heard downstairs, he was certain it was only a matter of ti before the so-called Heroes ca for his Karma points by force.
The second was anger.
Anger at his own inability to protect himself in the event of that happening.
Just then, there was a soft knock on the door.
Lucas took a mont to force a smile onto his face before opening it.
"Hey..." Stacy paused, imdiately noticing his mood. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I’m fine," he answered.
"What happened down there?" she pressed.
"It’s nothing," he replied.
"Okay..." she said slowly. "I was about to make dinner and was wondering if you’d like so."
"I’m fine—"
"Co on, you can’t expect to eat noodles every night. There’s even so at."
Lucas was in no mood for this and was about to shut her down again when sothing flashed through his mind.
"Okay,"
User Comments
0 comments from readers