MIRAI

Chapter 7. This is a Mess

"Ram?!"

They were taken aback.

Ram shouldn't have been alive. That was the first thought that crossed Tsuki's mind when she saw the man walking from the back room. He looked... normal. A little disorganized maybe, but steady on his feet. Eyes clear. Breathing.

She can clearly remember what Ram looked the day he flee. He looked wild that day, almost like a monster, but now, he seemed normal, just with blood stained on his clothes.

Arth shielded Saishuu almost right away when they saw Ram walking in. He pointed him his pipe readying himself to attack if Ram make one wrong move.

Chione and Ren hid on the counter while Tsuki hid behind the medicine rack.

"G-guys, it's me." Ram stuttered, disappointed that they were not happy seeing him.

"We saw you turned. Lui said you were an evolved one. How can we trust you?" Tsuki responded, not putting her guard down.

He had turned.

He remembered it. Not all of it, just flashes. Blurred images like a dream half-remembered and rotting at the edges. His skin cold and gray. His nails blackening. Hunger, not just in his stomach but in his bones. He could still feel that sick craving, like something inside him had curled its fingers around his spine and pulled.

And then... nothing.

The next thing he knew, he woke up on a tile floor, covered in dried blood, cold, and somehow human again.

At first he thought it had been a nightmare. That he'd just blacked out and sleep walked. But the blood under his nails, the broken handprint on the inside of the door he'd clawed at, it was real. He had turned. He had become one of them.

And then... he hadn't.

"How are you back?" Arth asked as well, still pointing the metal pipe on him.

"I don't know, I woke up." Ram answered.

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I've got."

They stood in silence for a long moment. Then Arth stepped closer, his voice barely a whisper.

"Are you still... whatever you were?"

Ram didn't look at him. "I hope not."

Arth studied him. The stillness. The haunted look. The way Ram didn't try to explain, or plead, or excuse it. Just... accepted it.

He took a breath. Stepped back. "If you feel it again, whatever it was, you come to me. First."

Ram nodded once.

Arth turned around and walked away with Saishuu on his hand, pulse pounding.

He didn't trust him.

But he wasn't ready to kill him either.

Not yet.

"What? You're just accepting he's back?" Tsuki demanded.

"What do you suggest then?" Ren popped up from the counter. She looked at Tsuki, then looked at Ram. "Welcome back, Ram boy."

Ram smiled and nodded at Ren with his almost teary eyes.

"I'm back, everyone..."

* * *

Meanwhile, group one edged forward down the crumbling streets, navigating cracked pavement and the skeletal remains of ruined buildings as they closed in on the convenience store. The city around them was a graveyard of forgotten lives with upturned trash cans, shattered glass crunching beneath their feet, and the faint smell of smoke lingering heavy in the air.

Their footsteps were cautious but urgent, scraping over cracked concrete and shards of glass. They have no guns, no radios. Only the cold bite of knives strapped to belts and the rough weight of metal pipes held tight in hands.

As they advance nearing the convenience store, they saw a familiar figure lying in front of a police station.

"Tafu!!!!" Cier couldn't help but shout loudly, getting the attention of the sleeping zombies nearby.

"Cier, wait!" Nowa shouted back in whisper.

But there she was, Tafu. Still. Cold.

Her body slumped against the cracked brick wall, eyes shut as if in sleep, but there was no breath. No flicker of life. The blood beneath her head was dark, dried, and sickly quiet.

Cier's hands shook, her throat tightened. She dropped the makeshift knife she carried, and the clatter was loud in the silence. She knelt beside her, fingers trembling as she brushed her cheek, cold as the concrete beneath her. No twitch, no sign. Just gone.

"I'm sorry Tafu, I'm sorry." Cier cried.

"I'm sorry to cut you off but..." Von said and looked around.

Lui shielded Mei, his hand already reaching for the knife at his side.

From around the corner, something shuffled. Then another. And another.

Nowa squinted ahead. "They're... gathering," she said under her breath.

Shapes began to emerge at the far end of the street. Slouched shoulders. Twisted necks. Limbs that didn't move quite right. One dropped to its knees, crawling as if it couldn't remember how to walk. Another dragged a broken leg behind it, but still came forward.

They didn't run. They never did. But they kept coming.

Von hissed, "Back. Slowly."

Too late.

One of the infected let out a wheezing snarl, louder than the rest, and the others responded. A dozen heads turned at once, vacant eyes locking onto the group.

"They saw us," Cier said. "I'm sorry, I got carried away, it was my fault."

"No time for that, run, now..." Von answered.

The streets they were tiptoeing suddenly became chaos, screams echoing from every corner, desperate footsteps pounding over cracked pavement, and the unmistakable guttural growls of the infected closing in fast.

Lui grabbed Mei's arm, pulling her into a narrow alleyway as a shambling horde surged past them, teeth bared and eyes glazed with hunger. They pressed against the cold brick, gasping for breath as the creatures thundered by, missing them by inches. Mei's heart slammed in her chest.

"Keep moving," he hissed, dragging Mei forward before the danger circled back.

Von sprinted ahead on the main street, his eyes scanning for a way out. A heavy pipe in his grip felt clumsy but necessary. Suddenly, a groan to his right made him spin, swinging wildly, but it wasn't just one infected. A second group had appeared, cutting off his path.

He cursed under his breath and darted down a side street, hoping to circle back and find Mei and Lui. But the city was turning into a maze of death.

Meanwhile, Cier and Nowa stumbled through an abandoned pet store, desperate to barricade the entrance. Grotesque figures pounded on the windows, scratching and snarling. Nowa slammed a wooden plank into place, breathing hard.

"We have to find the others!" Cier shouted over the din. "We can't stay here."

Nowa shook her head, eyes wide with fear. "Not yet. We need a moment."

Outside, the sounds of shuffling feet grew louder, and the group's fragile connection shattered like glass.

Mei looked up from the alley, spotting Von disappearing down a different street. "Von!" she called out, but the roar of chaos swallowed her voice.

Lui grabbed her arm. "We have to go. Now."

Torn apart by the relentless swarm, the friends were swallowed by the city's shadows with each of them fighting to survive alone, haunted by the desperate hope that they'd find one another again.

* * *

Nowa had pushed a shelving unit against the broken entrance, but it wouldn't hold long. The infected outside slammed their fists and shoulders against the frame, shrieking with feral hunger.

"We have to find the others!" Cier shouted over the banging, pacing behind her with a makeshift knife in hand. "We can't stay here."

Nowa's breath came fast. "Not yet. We need a moment. Just, just one."

Cier looked at her, her flushed cheeks, the trembling in her fingers, the blood spattered on her sleeve that neither of them had time to question. She was right. They weren't ready to run again. Not yet.

The groaning outside intensified. One of the windows buckled under pressure.

"We won't get another moment if we wait too long," she said, softer this time.

She nodded.

Then crack.

The front window split with a sound like ice breaking. A pale hand burst through the gap, jagged glass slicing its wrist. It didn't flinch. More followed.

Cier grabbed Nowa's arm. "Back exit. Now."

They sprinted down the dark aisle, feet slipping on spilled cans and dog foods. The emergency door loomed ahead, dented but still intact. Cier shoved against the bar, it stuck. Nowa jammed her shoulder into it, both of them pushing together, and finally it burst open, slamming into the alley beyond.

Fresh air hit them like a slap. But the alley wasn't empty.

Three infected turned at the sound, blocking the way forward.

Nowa raised the crowbar. Cier pulled her knife.

And behind them, the shrieks from the grocery store windows grew louder.

They were trapped.

* * *

Von ran until his lungs burned.

The moans behind him were fading, but he didn't stop. Not until he ducked into an alley choked with trash bins and broken fences, where the noise of the city fell into a distant hum. He braced himself against a crumbling wall, sucking in ragged breaths, hands still gripping the blood-slick pipe he'd nearly dropped twice already.

He turned his head slowly while his eyes were scanning the shadows. Empty. For now.

"Mei?" he called out softly. "Lui?"

Nothing but wind.

He gritted his teeth, trying to silence the panic bubbling in his chest. He'd seen them just minutes ago, ducking into an alley on the other side of the street. Then the horde came, spilling in like floodwater, and the city had pulled them apart like pieces on a broken board.

Think.

They were heading east, trying to loop around the convenience store. If they made it, they'd loot for food and water.

But what about Cier and Nowa?

Von clenched his jaw.

He hadn't seen where they went. One second they were behind him, the next gone. Swallowed by the chaos. He cursed under his breath, then turned toward the alley's far exit.

A distant scream echoed behind him. Sharp. Human.

His fingers tightened around the pipe. He didn't know whose voice it was, but he couldn't ignore it.

"Damn it," he muttered, then took off again, deeper into the maze of the city.

Alone now, but not ready to give up.

Not yet.

* * *

Lui yanked Mei's arm, pulling her hard into a narrow alley just as the infected spilled into the street behind them. The sounds of snarling and stumbling feet crashed around like a storm. They pressed flat against the cold brick wall, every breath shallow and silent.

A rotting figure lurched near the alley's entrance, head jerking side to side, its glazed eyes searching the darkness. Mei's heart hammered 'cause if it caught their scent, they were done.

But after a long moment, it turned away, swallowed by the crowd.

Lui didn't wait.

"Move," he whispered, tugging Mei deeper between piles of broken crates and trash. The stench of decay was suffocating, mixed with smoke and wet concrete.

Lui glanced back toward the chaos. "Did you see Von?"

"Across the street," Mei said, her voice tight. "But I didn't catch Cier or Nowa."

"We need to find them," Mei said, eyes scanning the alley's end.

Lui shook his head. "Not here. Not now."

He kicked at a rusted fire door, its hinges protesting with a creak. It gave way to a dark, narrow corridor smelling of damp metal and mold.

Without hesitation, they slipped inside and shut the door behind them. Silence swallowed them whole.

Mei swallowed hard, fighting the tremor in her hands. "We'll find them. We have to."

Outside, the distant groans still echoed, relentless and hungry.

* * *

The scream had been sharp, short, but unmistakably human.

Von skidded around a corner, feet pounding over uneven pavement, pipe raised and ready. The sound had come from this direction, near the crumbling backlots of an old industrial block.

He rounded the next building and froze.

It was Cier.

She was backed against a rusted dumpster, blood streaking down her forearm, her knife clenched tightly in one hand. Three infected closed in on her fast. Too fast.

Von didn't think. He ran.

He let out a roar, drawing the nearest infected toward him. It spun with a hiss, and Von swung the pipe, cracking it across the skull. The thing dropped like dead weight.

Cier kicked another in the knee, sending it stumbling, but the third lunged.

Nowa appeared from the shadows behind it, crowbar in both hands. One swing, then another. The creature fell with a sickening thud.

Cier gasped for air, her back still pressed to the metal. Nowa dropped beside her, checking her quickly.

"Bit?" Von asked, panting.

Cier shook her head. "No. Just cut. I'm fine."

Von stared at them both, relieved, angry, exhausted. "You're alive."

Nowa looked up. "For now."

The three of them stood in silence for a second, surrounded by the sounds of the dying city.

And Von asked the question none of them knew to answer: "Where's Mei and Lui?"

* * *

Lui and Mei slipped out of the broken service hallway, the fading light casting long shadows across the cracked pavement. The city around them was silent. Empty storefronts were shattered, streetlights flickering weakly, and distant groans echoing from deep within the darkness.

"The convenience store's just a few blocks away," Lui whispered, eyes scanning every corner.

Mei gripped the handle of her knife tighter, muscles tense. "I don't like this. Too quiet."

They moved swiftly but cautiously, weaving between piles of rubble and abandoned cars. Every footstep felt heavy, every breath loud in their ears.

"Almost there," he said.

The neon sign of the convenience store flickered weakly in the dusk, a small beacon in the broken cityscape.

Lui glanced at Mei. "We'll wait inside, keep watch, and hope the others make it."

Mei gave a grim nod. "I hope they make it."

As they stepped through the shattered glass doors, the world outside seemed to fall away. For a moment, amid the dust and flickering lights, they had a fragile hope.

* * *

After the fight, Nowa leaned heavily against the cold brick wall, her breath uneven. Cier's eyes caught the dark blood seeping through her torn sleeve.

"Let me see," she said quietly.

Nowa slowly rolled back her sleeve, revealing a deep, swollen bite mark on her forearm.

Cier's chest tightened with fear, but she fought to keep her voice calm. "You're hurt. We need to stay put, rest, and watch the wound."

Nowa shook her head, her expression hardening. "No. I can't stay with the others, not like this. If I turn, I'll only put everyone in danger. I have to go."

Cier stared at her, disbelief and desperation mixing in her eyes. "Nowa, you're not going anywhere. We're a team. We stick together, no exceptions."

She met her gaze, voice steady but sad. "You don't understand. This isn't just about me anymore. It's about keeping you all safe."

Cier shook his head fiercely. "We survive together or not at all. I won't lose you, not like this, not after Tafu. We'll find a way to get through it."

For a moment, Nowa's resolve wavered. She looked away, biting her lip.

Cier reached out, gripping her arm gently. "Please. If I lose you too, I will...."

Nowa gave a fragile nod, though the weight of the secret bite lingered between them, a silent shadow neither dared speak aloud.

Von came back after scouting the area. "What happened to you both? You looked like you just lost someone"

"Yes, Tafu" Cier answered flatly.

Von smiled awkwardly before changing the subject.

"Let's go ahead to the convenience store. We might find Mei and Lui there."

* * *

Meanwhile, group two were scavenging for medical supplies peacefully when Arth noticed that the pharmacy was connected to the village small hospital. Although it is small, it is still the only hospital in the island; And he knew that in zombie apocalyptic world, the hospital is one of the dangerous places.

"We have to move fast" Arth said to the group.

Arth looked at the big wall clock hanging just outside the pharmacy and for some reason, it was bothering him.

"Let's move. Now," Arth said firmly, his instincts screaming. "I don't like this."

They stepped into the corridor. The sterile smell mixed with mold and rust hung in the air. Chione crept ahead, checking room after room for supplies. Ram kept guard near the stairwell.

And then—

CLANG!//*sound*