My Undead Princess, Let's Run Away

"Promise me you'll come back?" a dainty-framed girl asked with her pinky finger stretched out to him.   "Yes, I promise," the boy answered before intertwining their fingers together, a genuine grin gracing his features.  Two young souls bathe in the warm pool of mid-day light, painting the entire scenery a pleasantly mellow hue. They remain standing there for what seems like an eternity, relishing in each other's presence as if it's their only anchor in reality.  Her golden dandelion hair dances along with the blowing gust of wind while his pitch black one is being gently tussled. But then, as soon as her diamond grey orbs lock contact with his celeste blue irises, an eye-opening realization dawns on both of them -   Everything is just like a mere trance.   Nothing but a fleeting dream.  Then again, the world can be so desperate of a place that they had to struggle so much just to snatch a ray of light - a momentary solace. For orphans like them, life can be quite harsh, and now that one of them has to leave the other, that ray of light will start to get dimmer starting this point.   "Don't worry, Cassie. I'll be back for you... I promise."   "I'll be waiting, then."  Cassiopeia "Cassie" Woods, age seven, wholeheartedly believed in her childhood bestfriend.   They'd been together since they were born - abandoned by their biological parents, raised by the city's church, and had grown up having only each other to rely on. Life in the orphanage may have been gruelingly difficult, especially when they're being mistreated and ostracized by other people, but even then, they were able to get through it since they had each other.   Although they had to part ways now, all hope's not lost yet.  They made a vow, and they're certain that love would fulfill it.   -----   "...Or so I thought."   Ten years later, Cassie found herself lonelier than ever - and that promise only remains as a promise up until the present.   Cold.   The icy rainwater is bitterly cold.   Beneath a stormy evening sky, the blonde tucks herself within the dimness of a tenebrous alleyway. With her small frame crouched down into a ball, she only buries her face in her folded arms.   Eerie darkness pierces through the caliginous street. Not a single soul's in sight. It's only her and the pouring rain -  Grrrr...  As well as her growling stomach.  "Ugh... I'm hungry," Cassie grumbled underneath her breath before standing up to rummage for something to eat.   For a while, she silently passes through one building to another. Broken windows, crumbled homes, rubbles and debris - her everything is in chaotic shambles, and they serve as her only companions at that moment, along with the sprawling forlorn quietude.   Her whole world is an enormous ghost town.   A deserted land.   A soulless city.  A stomach-churning setting.   Even then, she isn't as perturbed as how her surroundings want her to feel. Freezing and hungry - that's all she is now, and perhaps, that's all she will ever be.  Benumbed all over, just like always, Cassie only lets her feet take her to wherever they please. That's until she hears the sound of approaching footsteps, making her swerve to its direction in surprise. Only then did she realize that she has already walked too far.   Now, it's much too late.   She needs to hide.  Picking up her pace, Cassie starts to make a sprint for it. Despite her stomach's complaints and the continuous downpour, she just lets both her hunger and the cold bite, not faltering in her feverish race. "Kyaaa...!!!"   Then, she crashed.  Not even a moment later, Cassie found herself stumbling backward before falling on the ground with a loud thud. Tonight may not just be a good night after all - for what suddenly came into view as soon as she looked at the thing she bumped into was a grotesque figure.   "N-No..."  Unsteady breathing, a stenchy scent that reeks, ripped clothing, rotten flesh, and a spine-chilling pair of b****y irises - staring down at Cassie at that very moment is no human, but a ravening beast in the form of one.  Thoroughly petrified to the bones, she only returns an affrighted gaze to this creature's ghastly one. As the heavy rain gets even worse, her erratic heartbeat starts to match with the hammering sounds of the clamorous weather.  The two only exchange looks for what seems like a decade as it just sniffs and heaves a breath away. It appears to be scrutinizing her frame with how its exotic pupils dart all around her pale, terror-striken frame.  Shoving away her aghast shock and nonplus, Cassie then takes this chance to put her knees together, aiming to kick this monster off of her with all the strength that she can muster. It also appears to be ready to pounce on her any time now as it begins to scoot closer and closer in each passing second.  "N-N-No... Get away from me-!"  Then came the flummoxing blare of gunshots.  At that moment, she came to a standstill. "Hey, are you okay?!" shouted the gunman.   Cassie didn't respond, though. All words leave her throat as she just continues to watch how blood oozes out of this horrid creature's head - extremely appalled and horrified.   With her eyes as wide as saucers, she only gawks at the creature as he staggers back and forth before eventually collapsing, its corpse-like body knocked out cold as it bathes both in its pool of blood and the merciless drizzle. She then crawls backward, away from that harrowing sight, until her back eventually hits the wall. "Miss, are you fine?" asked the same guy as he made his way towards her, panic-stricken.  But then, Cassie only turned away and faced the wall, clinging onto it as if it's some sort of a fortress. Struck petrified, she only shudders and averts her gaze, but that's until the man suddenly turns her around himself.   "Miss, you really shouldn't be out here-"  Then, they froze.   Time seemed to halt the instant they locked eye contact, and right then, her perturbation doubled.   "Red... eyes?"  As soon as those words left his mouth, Cassie recalled why she was scurrying away from the person who just saved her, and that's because he won't stay as one any longer -  To begin with, she wasn't really saved.   If anything, Cassie felt like she only got herself into more perils.