Entry 3 - Restless

Entry 3 - "Restless"

The footsteps on the hardwood floor of the auditorium stage garnered everyone’s attention to a man, in his senior years, shuffling to the center.

“Good to see all of you here well and alive. As you all know, we are faced with a dire crisis on a scale never seen before. I have gathered you all here to share the minimal info I, and my many other confidants have managed to collect, in hopes many of you will share your findings as well.”

The man speaking now was the mayor of the city‒who simply was called “Burns” by the locals. He was built surprisingly well for someone pushing their sixties.

“Now then. I’m sure we all are anxious to hear information that will aid in our survival against these unforeseen horrors. First and foremost, in every instance of battle with these creatures, we have located a weak point in their stomach. Their stomach holds a red core-however it is hard to hit and shatter with ranged weapons without pinpoint accuracy.”

This wasn’t new information. Considering the situation, I prayed we would get new info, lest we come here for nothing. While we didn’t have better options, I pondered for a moment on the fact a large gathering of people had to be a death trap as is. There’s no way at least some Turned wouldn’t be alerted to the large human presence here.

“Next, we found through usage of the elements that they are notably susceptible to being paralyzed from electric shocks, and they panic when exposed to fire and extreme heat as well. Explosives are devastating to them.”

He sighed deeply.

“Lastly, we discovered contact with any form of blood allows them to harden their flesh to a steel-like consistency. This is strengthened when they absorb more blood. While this is their current deadliest type of attack we know, it is not their only kind of offense. Please watch out for their fangs and do not get bound in their flesh by any means… I have seen only a few who managed to escape from being trapped.”

That was all he had.

Hm. What did I expect from this? A weapon we could use to kill them on a massive scale? I guess we really are limited to close combat, which puts us at risk all the time.

I was whining internally over how much I still didn’t know about all this bullcrap.

“These things multiply after consuming a human, living or dead. I was watching from a closet as one of my classmates was eaten. It ate him, and I saw him crawl out of the thing‒I was relieved until I saw his face distorted, before he shortly became one of them in a way I can only describe as if he turned inside out.”

A woman of about nineteen had spoken up before everyone could start conversing over Burns’ words. It confirmed the fact these things infected humans and turned them into Turned, much like the humans that were in the moonlight when the moon went red. This resolved the mystery of the thing in the chess room, at least.

...Wait, why was the thing in the chess room only half complete? The core was incomplete, and the splitting process didn’t finish because the human bodies were still… human-ish.

An answer that only raises more questions.

What a headache.

I did what I came here to do; see who was gathered, and pray for more info. I don’t think staying here is going to get me anywhere.

“Screw it. I’m leaving.”

I simply took off for the doors. Mai and Izz, seeing me resign, tried to get the other club members together. Most of them had grown bored now of this commotion, since everything important had been said already. Lila was reluctant to say goodbye to her parents, but she was confident they’d be fine. The rest of us were pretty set on keeping our group small to avoid dealing with the problems of staying in a crowd and regulations that came with it.

Mathieu walked alongside me as we walked through an opening in the crowd. We reclined on the wall next to the door to wait for the others.

“Feels bad just leaving now, but this place is a death trap as it is.”

“No, I get it. The Turned likely will sense the large human presence sooner or later. It likely is going to get ugly with all these people fighting for their lives. Honestly, I don’t want that to jeopardize our survival.”

“...Yeah. I think I’ve decided to lend a hand when I can, but… There’s no way I’m going to throw my life away to save people that might just die a day later, and hell, it might not even succeed.”

We both said whatever had gone through our heads then. Messy, cluttered thoughts telling us to preserve ourselves.

“You’re the only people that have shown me kindness. I don’t owe anything to anyone else, Shin. I know it’s selfish, but people have never passed on an opportunity to kick me in the mud. ...My sister? She’d turn her back on me in a second. You know how she plays that fake responsible older sister act around others, when she always kicks me around when I’m home and forces me to do all the stupid crap she can’t be bothered to do, telling me she would kick my ass otherwise, or burn everything in my room.”

We reflected on our past. Junior high and the first year of high school were awful for the both of us, until we formed the club. We had mellowed from the following years but the scars never healed, and frankly, we had our grievances with going out of our way for people. We just did what made sense from there, I suppose.

Izz and Mai led the others to the exit, where we were waiting. I was tired as all hell, and wanted to find a place far from here to sleep. I explained that and the bad premonition I had and more or less, the others caught on to me quickly. Lena and Mai really had no reservations in the end, either.

There was still hesitation, but Lena and Mathieu made it clear we were all leaving now with or without anyone else.

“Shin, where are you going?”

Aki.

“I’m not staying here. Staying around all these people is going to get on my nerves.”

“But… it’s dangerous out there, you don’t know what else is out there.”

“I’ll manage. I’m not dying for sure. You should follow us, this place really isn’t as safe as you think.”

“I have friends who are staying here, and their parents said we’d be fine with them protecting us. I don’t… want to leave them.”

“Aki, this place will probably be a target for those creatures soon enough, trust me. We’re better off laying low.”

“Why do you have to go out on your own? ...Are you looking for mom..?”

I didn’t have an answer for him.

“Shin, I don’t want to abandon my other friends here. Even if you’re looking for mom, I-”

“I’m not looking for her.”

“...What?”

My cold response left Aki shocked.

“Just leave me alone. You can stay here if you think that’s best, I won’t stop you.”

“Shin…”

“I’m going.”

“Wait, don’t go- I don’t want to have to worry about you!”

Aki was getting teary-eyed.

“You don’t need to. If you’re alive, you’ll see me again in due time.”

“Shin, I… Alright, I trust you.”

“Thanks, stay strong. See you soon.”

Aki was conflicted, but my mind was made up. He bit his lip and smiled at me.

I’m not going to forgive you if you die on me, either.

…

The night was still in full swing, the moon showed no signs of moving any time soon.

We went back to pacing through the streets. Lena was leading the advance, already set on our destination.

“We should seek high ground.”

She pointed to an office building, deserted as all the others seemed to be in the current state of things.

The doors of the building weren't locked, so we just went right in. Lukas tried the elevator immediately, but it was seemingly busted now. The lights inside worked, so this wasn’t a power problem. Not an issue though. We all took the stairs to the top floor.

The building was surprisingly completely devoid of the Turned. Perfect.

“Let’s set up a barrier. Grab some desks.” Mathieu took command. “We can worry about long term arrangements later, we only need to guarantee our safety for now.”

Mathieu sent Lukas and Lena to ransack some vending machines and grocery stores for food.

“Are we really stealing food?”

Izz was concerned, Lila was also hesitant. Mathieu was visibly irritated at their attempt to be concerned over things that were meaningless, all things considered.

“...Not our problem.”

I listened to them argue over morality in the apocalypse. Mai was checking the electrical equipment and control room that were on the top floor.

I was at my limit for the day.

I set my sword and gear against a couch.

“Finally, some rest.”

The others were seemingly alert enough to argue and grab supplies, so I just sighed and got on the couch. My vision faded from the weight the last twenty-ish hours put on me. I was able to see the city square from here.

It was flooded with Turned.

I passed out.