Xian was rummaging through every suitcase that wasn't locked. Although she had morals, theivery was not enough to make her feel like a nefarious scumbag. She had already killed off a handful amount of zombies that had just attacked her due to the training she received back at her homeland. However, she did not expect this mission to require the use of those skills she learned from her superiors. This is ridiculous. How can she avenge her father's death like this? If only her superiors thought more highly of her, then maybe she wouldn't feel so ridiculed to be part of such a triffling mission.
She shook her head to stop thinking about the past. She did not like nostalgia.
She took a set of batteries and a piece of a belt from one of the unlocked suitcases before looking ahead at the empty hallway. She had already tried knocking at some of the doors to see if there were any survivors, but the only reply she received were silence and a combination of a familiar grunt and the shuffling of feet that signaled the danger the room possessed. Xian did not see herself as an idealist, but she still genuinely believed that as long as there is evil in this world, there is the basic good of humanity that existed. She did not know if she could make a difference in a place that was filled with destined chaos, but she was willing to try. This may be the only way she can prove to her superiors that she wasn't a weak little girl who only had the ability to grieve over her father's death. She was standing in a foreign territory that her superiors considered as a potential threat, and she was about to take advantage of this sudden infestation of monsters. If she survived and reported back to China, everyone will see how strong she really is, and she will no longer carry out mundane missions as this. An undercover spy learning about wealthy Americans…how perposterous. It sounded more like a plot made for a children action movie.
Xian started knocking on the doors she had not tried yet. She had just knocked on room 215 when the door actually swung open. Xian looked up at the Caucasian man with the face that she was familiar with. She remembered hearing one of her giggling coworkers mentioning about a notorious athlete that was going stay at this hotel named Logan Carter, and his face reflected the coworker's posters of him plastered all across her locker in the changing room. She did not care for American stars, but she was just glad that she finally discovered a living being that didn't try to devour her.
"Oh! You're Logan, aren't you."
He was staring at her oddly and his calm demeanor must only mean that he was either very brave and confident, or completely clueless about everything that was happening right now. Either way, she was still relieved that she had found him. An athlete like him must mean he possessed enough strength that would be really helpful when it comes to defeating those monsters out there.
"I'm so glad I finally found someone that isn't - one of those things!"
"Things? What the heck are you talking about?"
Xian realized he was indeed clueless. She started to feel anxious. There wouldn't be a need for an explanation once he takes a step outside of this hotel. There could be other people out there who could help, and she felt as if time was running out from standing outside of his door for so long like this. She had to hurry things up.
"There are…people eating each other! Come with me, we have to get out of here!"
Xian gave him the knife she took from the staff kitchen. She didn't know how skillful Logan was, nor did she know his field of expertise when it comes to fighting, so she decided to play it safe and give him a better weapon in case she misjudged his strength. Hopefully he will not be a hinderance to her.
However, he took the paddle that she was holding in her other hand instead.
"I think you need the knife more than I do, little lady." Logan's tone seemed arrogant, but she could still see and hear the sincerity behind those words. Xian appreciated his kindness, but she knew he was about to be surprised of what she could do with this knife he allowed her to keep, despite him underestimating her potential.
"I'm Xian Mei. Let's look out for each other, okay?"
Logan nodded. The two of them ran out from the room and into the elevator down the hallway. Once the two of them went inside, a scream was heard from the distance in one of the hotel rooms they passed by. Logan's eyes grew wide as he instinctively took a step back into the hallway. Xian hesitated before tugging onto the bottom of Logan's shirt the moment he stepped out of the elevator. She recognized the way the scream was vocalized, and it was not emitted from a pair human lungs. That was the scream of a zombie who had just found its prey. Thankfully, it was not them. Xian intended to keep it that way.
"Wait! That's not a person!" She warned him.
Logan turned his head to look back at her in disbelief. "What the hell are you talking about!? There's a guy over there screaming and he needs our help! What if those things got him!?"
"He is one of those things. I thought of the same thing as you did when I first heard it, but it – it wasn't human. You must believe me."
Logan's fingers gripped tightly on the paddle. He didn't want to believe her, but they were both standing in an unbelievable scenario. What is there to believe anymore? Logan looked over at the distance. The screaming had stopped and he could hear the faint sounds of something slimy being eaten by someone who was grunting. It seemed that Xian was right. He stepped back into the elevator and looked down at the paddle with a huge sigh as the elevator started to move itself downwards. He was no saint, but he was willing to help someone that seemed to be in pain if he had the power to do so. At least maybe it would make up for what he had done in the past. What he had done with Drew Peters…
"It's okay, Logan. It takes time for some people to process things they are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with." Xian spoke softly. She noticed how stressed Logan looked from the situation just now, she just had to comfort him. After all, he has yet to witness the actuality of the monsters and what they are capable of doing.
Logan nodded quietly and stepped out of the elevator that had just stopped. The two of them rushed out of the hotel and into the bright sunlight of the outside world. Logan grunted from the horrible stench of blood that suddenly filled his nostrils. They both heard the groans of the zombies in the distance. It seemed as if every ounce of innocent life was long gone by now and only the cesspool of the undead remained in this area.
"Alright, now that we're out here, where should we –" Logan stopped talking as he noticed a figure of a woman that was on the road, not too far from where they were standing. She was seemingly hurt. "Hey, there's someone there!" He dashed towards her, unable to hear Xian's words that sounded like a protest.
"Hey! Girl!" Logan ran towards the road, trying to get her attention. He stopped running when he realized what Xian might have said after he rushed towards this person.
A fountain of blood was erupting from the side of the girl's skull. It was not a trickle, not a drop, but a mini waterfall gushing out from that hollow area. It was flowing through the folds and cuts of her decaying skin, and it was splattering onto the ground with every step that thing was taking towards Logan. Her hand was reaching out to him as she walked, but all he could see was her middle finger facing the wrong way and two other fingers that were missing. Logan could taste the vomit that was coating his throat. He had seen his fair share of bloodified men from getting into fights with them, along with horror movies that involved gory scenes such as this, but this was too much to see in person. This girl reminded him of someone. She reminded him of Drew Peters. She looked about the same age as this zombie and had such similar resemblance. Logan was fortunate enough not to have witnessed Drew's corpse after the accident, but this must be how she looked like after the accident. His arm that was holding the paddle was shaking. He thought he was ready to kick the asses of all the zombies that got in his way, but it was difficult to lay a finger on someone like this. It was difficult to create a greater harm on someone who looked as if she was in absolute pain already.
Just then, Xian caught up with him and looked at Logan who seemed horrified at the undead figure walking towards them. Xian decided to regain order. She threw her knife to the girl's head. The accuracy was perfect, and it would have killed a normal human being instantly. Obviously, that was not an ordinary human being. The blood gushed out more intensely than before. The girl's shirt, legs, and her entire face was now drenched in a grotesque crimson color. The blood was everywhere. The girl looked at both of them now, her eyes glued onto the shocked human meal in front of her and the sudden chaos began.
Logans attempted to do the impossible. He tried to talk her out of it.
"Hey, snap out of it! Let us help you! We can patch you up and you'll be fine!"
Somewhere in the zombie's mind, she recognized his voice as a harmless sound that had meaning behind it. A sound that she may have once possessed. As a zombie, however, that sound only bears upon her prey's plead for peace. As long as she can hear the sounds that her prey can make, it can only mean two things. One, they are fresh. Two, they are deliciously waiting for her attack. The girl tilted her head back to face the sky and unleashed an ear piercing screech that can be heard from the heavens of the above. The girl then reacted to Logan's voice by running tirelessly toward him. Logan tried to throw his paddle at her, believing that he had enough arm strength to knock her out. It was a useless attempt as it had merely bounced off of her face before plummeting onto the ground, breaking it into two. He then began throwing everything around him such as pebbles and orange cones. The girl was very close to him, ready to take a bite out of his face. Nothing had worked until Xian took out a second blade she was hiding in a less obvious pocket she created in her skirt and slashed the girl so deeply, her entire arm flew from her body and landed on top of a crushed car that was entwined against another. The sound of the girl's scream came to a halt and was replaced by a painful groan. A sound that one would take pity on. A sound that sounded so innocent, and so – human. That was the last sound they heard before the girl became peacefully quiet.
Logan and Xian were both panting heavily in exhaustion as they looked at the bloody scenery they had just created. It looked as if a massacre had just taken place, even though they were only against one zombie. Logan looked at the corpse that was once alive. How can a frail looking thing like that generate so much blood? This thing that had just attacked them was once a perfectly fine, rational human being. What could have possibly caused her to lose all traces of humanity?
Xian placed her instrument of death back into its original hidden location and looked at Logan who could not take his eyes off of the body. She had thought Logan was a big bulk of muscles who would be more than happy to crush the skull of anyone as long as he was allowed to. She thought American celebrities were supposedly wildly violent. All she could see now is a man filled with a million of emotions from seeing one dead body. She was worried how he will fare when he sees the thousands and thousands more out there.
"Logan? Are you alright?"
"J-Jesus. What the hell is going on?"
"Logan, I know how you feel, just—"
"G'damn it. I need a beer." Logan muttered bitterly, ignoring every word Xian was saying.
Xian looked ahead to view the beach. There were umbrellas hovering over some mini tables and mats. When the infestation occurred, many people rushed out of the premises so quickly that they had forgotten many belongings. There should be some items left behind that can be of some good use to them, along with some beer that Logan seems to desperately need to be stabilized.
"There should be some beer over there. Let's go and see."
"Oh is that so?" Logan's eyes lit up brilliantly and looked over at the beach. "Well let's head on down then!" He began walking quickly with Xian following him. Logan then suddenly stopped on his tracks, causing Xian's face to bump onto his back. Xian took a step back and looked around cautiously, assuming there were more zombies.
"Hey, chill. I just wanted to say…uh…" He glanced over at the bloody scene they were walking away from. "Thanks for that. I woulda been a zombie meal if it weren't for ya." Logan wasn't the type of guy to get all mushy like this. He never thanked anyone for anything because he had always believed he deserved it and that it was a necessity for everyone to serve him. Right now, however, he knew he was no longer in that beautiful world. Xian risked her life to save him, when she had all the better reason to let him die in the hands of that zombie.
He couldn't even defend himself. In fact, it had been a while since he had hit anyone. The last time was a day after the accident when he was still pissed off at himself and when someone tried to insult him, Logan smacked his fist into the guy's cheek. He threw him to the ground and stood on his neck while he begged to be let go.
Logan did let him go.
Normally he would still beat him into a merciless pulp despite the guy's pleads. Unlike Xian, he wasn't not a Buddha. It didn't take a lot to push him into violence of any kind, and those moments were usually far from being extreme. After the accident, he wished that wasn't the case. That energizing vibe that caused him to do things he regretted doing did more harm than good and it took something as extreme as the accident for him to realize it. Logan was trying to change himself. He was trying to be a better person. It was incredibly difficult with someone of his stature and stubbornness. Anything to make up for what he has done. But right now, it seems that he had to break through that mentality and go back into that aggressive phase in order to survive. He wished there wasn't a violent stain on his psyche, but it's there. He had not shown it yet, but it was waiting in the close corners of very hostel situation that will undoubtedly come very soon.
He hoped he would be able to return the favor to Xian in the future.
Xian looked up at Logan surprisingly. She did not expect him to feel any gratitude for anything, judging by his demeanor. She must have been wrong. Americans must have been a bit more civilized than she had thought.
"Y-You're welcome. We're watching each other's backs, remember?" She gave him a small smile, causing Logan to grin a bit.
"Heh. Hey, you're kinda smokin' when you smi—"
"Oh! Look!" Xian had just noticed a metal wrench laying around on the sand and quickly went over there to pick it up. She handed it over to Logan. He looked over at it and back at her. He realized she always thought of him first when it came to getting ready for survival, just as she did back in the hotel. They both knew she was magnificent at throwing the blades, but she still gave it to him at first, despite the blade being more conveniant for her. Now she had just picked up a pretty fine weapon, and she was giving it to him.
"You sure about that?"
"Yes! You don't have a weapon, and it will be difficult going against everyone with your fists."
He took the wrench, swung it around in the air a few times, and nodded at her in appreciation. Xian was such a nice person. Although there were many fans that have been nice to him before, he didn't feel much sincerity behind those kind gestures. He felt that they were only nice to him because he was Logan Carter and they all just wanted to be part of his many parties and conversations. Xian barely knew anything about him, and yet she was doing her best to keep him safe.
Xian looked at the safehouse near from where they were standing and tugged onto the sleeve of Logan's shirt to snap him out of his thoughts.
"I saw figures moving behind the boarded window. I can't tell if they are human or not, but I think we should check it out."
Logan nodded and followed her towards the doors. Logan had both of his hands raised over his head while gripping tightly onto the wrench in case a zombie flew out of the door. Meanwhile, Xian held her knife in one hand while pressing open the door with the other. Immediately after she did so, they both jumped as they saw a man pointing his paddle at them.
"Oi! They're survivors!" He spoke in an Austrailian accent. Xian and Logan heard the sounds of sighs of relief in the background and looked inside the building to see a whole group of surivors sitting around. The man dropped the paddle down to his side and stepped outside towards them. He had a tattoo around his right eye and was wearing a lifeguard shirt.
"Aye, thanks for dropping by. The name's Sinamoi. We've been stranded in here for God knows how long, and we're running out of food and water. Think you can help us?"
Xian looked at everyone. They were all wearing their swimsuits. Some were nervously walking around the room while others were comforting those who were sobbing in fear. This was such a pitiful scene, she couldn't help but to agree.
"Yes!"
Logan looked at her immediately. He knew she was doing this out of the kindess of her heart, but he never imagined he would be doing favors for random people and supporting these moral values when they are probably the reason why he'll be kicking off a zombie that's trying to go for his throat in about an hour or so. Perhaps it's fine because he has a partner as capable as Xian who can save his ass when the time comes, but you can't get lucky forever. The odds are always stacked against you…especially in a risky scenario such as this.
"Hey Xian, can I talk to you for a bit?"
He walked away from the building with Xian following him from behind. Logan turned around and folded his arms across his chest.
"Are you sure you wanna do this? We don't even know these people, and we haven't even heard what we are suppose to do to help them. It's hard enough to defend ourselves trying to get the hell off of this island!"
"Alright then, I will ask." Xian spoke calmly and walked away from Logan. He watched as she approached Sinamoi and spoke to him about something before seeing the man nodding his head and smiling slightly towards her while handing her something. Then Xian ran back towards Logan as Sinamoi closed the door behind her.
"We need to get to Bungalow 11 to get an access card to the Lifeguard Station and clear every zombie there so that it will be safe for them."
Logan stared at her. She agreed to do such a task without his consent. It wasn't just any task. It was a task that meant going through a whole hord of zombies that are going to try to rip their flesh all because they had to find one measly card for these people. Xian was a good person. She unconsciously agreed to help people when she had faith. Logan felt as if he had to force himself to defend people because he knew this was the right thing to do. Logan wanted to yell to the sky from how ridiculous everything was right now. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
Xian noticed how much in shock Logan was and placed her hand on Logan's shoulder, causing him to stir out of his thoughts.
"Logan, it's alright. I'll be there with you. These people need our help."
Oh God. So mushy. That's not surprising coming from Xian though. She wasn't too bad at giving pep talks, and the dreadful truth was that he agreed with her. He knew from the very beginning that they were going to be the ones to defend these people. He knew that the whole lot couldn't survive in such an awful reality like this. He would have agreed to Sinamoi's request if Xian didn't beat him to it. He just didn't want to admit any of this.
He noticed her hand was shaking slightly. He looked at her face, but did not see a hint of fear or doubt. Well, she was a girl. She has the heart of strong and shiny gold, but her body seemed to be as frail as a twig. She must actually be scared, or tremendously tired from the stress. He wanted to place his hand over hers to calm her down, but he felt that it wasn't the right thing to do. He didn't like how unconfident he suddenly became. Xian drew her hand away and brought up the other. She was holding beer in that hand. She must have asked Sinamoi for one before leaving.
There she goes again. Always thinking about others.
"Eh…take it. You'll need something to calm your nerves." Logan gently pushed the beer away towards her.
"I don't drink beer." Xian replied. "I gave it up for a couple of years and now my stomach rebels at any form of alcoholic beverage."
Logan looked at her in disbelief. What a sad life it is to live day after day without a drop of beer! He couldn't let this baby go to waste! He took the beer from her hand and snapped it open. He lifted the can over his lips and drank the liquid that was flooding through his throat. It was deliciously refreshing. He threw the can to the sand and looked up at Xian.
"Thanks. Let's go." He started to walk into a direction with Xian following him from behind. He didn't know where this blast of sudden confidence came from. It was either the beer, Xian's presence, or both. Either way, he felt like he could defeat anything now. Yes, he was still nervous about marching towards an area that screamed out death, but he knew he had the skills to do it. He didn't need to think twice about diving into such a dangerous battlefield such as this while depending his life on a wrench. He had people depending on him, and he had the power to help them. That was enough for him.
He glanced over at Xian.
Together they will reconstruct this shattered world and wake everyone up from this wretched nightmare.
