Call of Duty

“Perci!”

Perci was on the ground with his face planted on the floor. He’s unresponsive.

“Your new boyfriend is down, what are you going to do now, Ori?” Damien said.

“He’s not my boyfriend!” I said.

“Oh, you’re still in that stage, huh. I’m jealous.”

“There is no stage!" I said. "What are you waiting for? Just kill me already!”

“Eh? But I want to have another moment with you. I want to cry on your back again.”

“Still using me as an emotional crutch? You haven’t changed, Damien.”

“It’s your fault for leaving me in the first place.”

“Hey, Damien! What are you doing? Get her out of here, now!” Bryce said.

“Can’t we just keep her here and let the boy out instead? I’d hate to see her go. It would completely break my heart.”

“Aw, not you too! You haven’t gotten over her yet? You stupid emo. I’d forgotten that she replaced me with you. Now, I’m starting to remember that grudge I have against you.”

“That’s your own fault Bryce for being a womanizer.”

“Asshole!”

“You’re distracted,” another voice said.

“Huh?” Damien tilted his head.

Suddenly, a fedora flew towards Damien’s face, causing him to stagger and let go of me for a second. He tries to take me back, but Perci pushes him away and grabs his fedora from the ground.

Damien tries to throw his knife towards Perci, but he dodges just in time to get himself grazed on the cheek.

“Tsk!” Damien glared at him.

“That isn’t safe, you know,” Perci said.

He rushed over and carried me in his arms.

“Wha?! You’re carrying me again!” I said.

“Of course I am, I need to get you to safety.”

“Hey, Damien! You let her get away!” Bryce said.

“Stop!”

A girl’s voice echoed throughout the gymnasium.

“There’s no point in fighting!”

The girl who screamed had blonde hair and wore glasses over her emerald eyes.

It was my former best friend.

“Agnes…..”

“Please, just leave. We don’t want you here.”

“Can’t we just start over? I’m sorry!” I said.

“No matter how many times you apologize, I won’t forgive you, but I can’t watch you die!” Agnes said. “So please, go away. The backdoor is safer.”

“I didn’t mean to do it…..” I said.

“Just shut up and go!”

“It seems like they all want you to go,” Perci said.

I clenched my fist, then sighed.

“I’ll go. Drop me, Perci.”

“I won’t. I’m coming with you.”

“Why?! It’s much safer here! How could you do so much just for me? Because you love me? Because you would die for me? Because you want to be with me?” I said. “Sorry, but I’m not going to deal with that sort of cheesy bullshit anymore! Just leave me alone!”

I vented out my feelings in front of everyone.

Perci fell silent as he heard these words.

“See, she doesn’t want you!” Bryce said. “Stop being a faithful dog and let her go!”

“You can cry with me if you’d like. Knowing that girl is going to leave us again, even if we tried our best to care for her. We can share our tears and hatred towards her too,” Damien said.

Perci sighed.

“I already mentioned it before. I’m not doing it for anything, I’m doing it because I’m a gentleman,” Perci said.

“Huh?” I was confused.

“There’s no way a true gentleman would leave an injured girl to survive on her own. If you really care for her, then you would be joining me at this moment, Damien,” Perci pointed at him.

“You……are you really saying I don’t care about her??!!” Damien clenched his teeth.

Perci turned away and carried me to the backdoor.

“H….hey! Answer me!” Damien said. “Are you really going to leave me again, Oriane?”

I don’t think I’m leaving you, it’s you that’s abandoning me. Perci’s right. If he really cared, he would have tried to chase after me instead. But he’s just the same as before. The person who loved to beg for emotional support and attention. The one who had forgotten that his girl had feelings too. A selfish sad boy.

I would have told him that, but I lost the energy to raise my voice.

“Don’t go!!!”

Me and Perci left the gymnasium and closed the door.

“Are you really serious about this? Is there really any point in helping a girl like me? There are other women in the gymnasium, why not just help them?” I asked.

“They aren’t alone, they have more than enough to protect each other. You, on the other hand, have no one by your side. That’s why I must help you get to safety. That is my duty as a gentleman.”

“I don’t understand. I can’t process it!”

“You don’t have to.”

Isn’t this guy just a nice guy? Yet, why does he seem so different?

Is what I would have thought.

In all my experiences with boys, they all seemed different in some way. But ultimately ended up with the same results.

RAAAAAAAAAH!

Perci started to run again. One of the best things about him was that he’s a really good runner.

“We have to get to Llamrei. It’s our only ticket out of here.”

“Llamrei? What’s that?”

“Huff, huff, huff.”

Perci seemed like was about to run out of breath. I can’t blame him. He hasn’t been able to rest properly ever since he caught me from the sky. It must have been physically exhausting to run while carrying me in that state.

A zombie appeared out of nowhere and tried to attack both of us. Perci barely evaded the zombie by stepping away at the last second, but it looked like he didn’t land his foot correctly and stumbled a little. But he didn’t let go of me and kept himself standing.

“Argh!”

“Perci! Are you ok?”

“Yeah.”

He’s reaching his limit…..

“The garden’s closeby…we can rest by the greenhouse!”

“Yeah.”

Perci continued to run, but this time at a faster pace. He was really eager to get rid of the zombies behind his back.

He decided to hide behind the bushes of the garden to confuse the zombies. They were all still actively searching for us. Slowly sneaking away from them without making a single sound, we had finally made our way inside the greenhouse.

“Haaaaaaaah……”

“You can let go of me now,” I said.

“Oh, right.”

Perci placed me down and sat down next to me, but at a good distance. There was no sign of him trying to get close with me. If he did, I would be on my guard.

“What’s Llamrei? You said it was our only way out of here.”

“Llamrei is my horse,” Perci said.

Um, what?

“You have a horse???”

Since when did people bring horses to school?

“I just call it my precious steed. I bought it last month with the money I saved up.”

He saved money just to buy a horse? There truly are weirdos in this world.

I chuckled a bit.

“Won’t Llamrei get attacked by the zombies?”

“Don’t worry, Llamrei is pretty tough. I don’t think the zombies would even try to harm him.”

“How long are we going to stay here?”

“Give me an hour. I’ll just search the place while we’re at it.”

Perci walked away to look around.

Perci…..seems like a good guy. But….

I remembered the time I was locked in a place with a boy. It was with my teacher on the rooftop.

My teacher also seemed like a good guy….

Locked in place with a boy……again.

I panickedly stood up and tried to run despite the pain in my thigh. I grabbed a small garden cutter near some of the plants and hurried to sit back down. I hid the garden cutter in my pocket just right before Perci came back.

I don't trust him. I can’t trust any boy!

“Ori, right?” Perci said.

“Y-yeah. I’m Oriane. But, just call me Ori.”

“I brought you something.”

He dragged his hand in front of me and I shuddered in response.

“Huh? Is there anything wrong?” Perci tilted his head.

“Nothing.”

I tightly held on to the garden cutter in my pocket.

“I brought you some flowers, I thought you’d like it.”

I inhaled the scent of sweet pink roses on his hands.

“T-that’s sweet. I-I mean, why are you giving me flowers now?! It’s not like I can bring them anyway!”

“I just thought it was a gesture to cheer a woman up.”

I refused to believe it was an innocent gesture. He’s trying to charm me again! I’m not falling for it. Never ever ever ever!

“If you don’t want it, then you can take this water can instead.”

“Ha? What do you expect me to do with it?”

“Drink water, of course. You might be feeling thirsty.”

“You expect me to drink from that? No thanks.”

There’s no way I’m accepting a drink from a boy I barely know. There might be something mixed inside the water.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m very sure!”

“Very well then.”

Perci lifted the can and started to pour water on his mouth. As I watched him drink, I immediately gulped and swallowed my saliva deeply.

He continued to do this in front of me, savoring his drink slowly. This caused me to grit my teeth and squish my face.

“Aw jeez, fine! I’ll drink! I’ll drink!”

“Oh. Here you go then," Perci smiled.

“Idiot,” I muttered.