A Night to Remember

Lucio and his men had surrounded Perci and I in the middle of the resort.

“Lucio, explain what’s going on,” Alex said.

“You see, Perci had invaded my room, violating me and Ori’s privacy. He even went as far as trying to kill me,” Lucio said.

Lucio pointed at the wound on his cheek.

“Look, he even sliced my cheek with his sword!” he said.

Tsk, that guy’s too good.

“That’s horrible,” a person said.

I sensed the people’s distrust towards Perci as they stepped away from him and whispered amongst themselves.

“What the hell are you doing, Perci?”

“How can you hurt such a sweet innocent boy?!”

“Were you jealous when he took your crush away from you?”

I feel absolutely annoyed how they can view Lucio in such a good light…..

“Shut up! Lucio is lying!” I said. “It was him who was trying to kill us! Can’t you see why all his men are chasing us down with weapons?”

The people fell silent after saying my piece.

But a few still protested.

“Lucio? A liar? No way! He’s the purest boy ever! How could you say such a thing?” a girl said.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on his side, Ori?”

“Could it be that you’re cheating on him with Perci? You sleazy fox!”

These people piss me off….

I can’t blame most of them for taking Lucio’s side. He’s pretty much an angel to everyone on the outside. Even when we were together in public, no one batted an eye towards our awful date.

“Wait, she does have a point,” Alex said. “Lucio, isn’t this a little too extreme for a punishment? It isn’t like you to send armed men to take down 1 guy.”

“Well, you do know Perci…he’s quite strong!” Lucio said. “I almost died because of him!”

“Booooo!”

The crowd expressed their distaste for Perci and booed him. Someone even threw his drink towards Perci.

“Hey! That’s just going too far!” I said. “Knock it off!”

“Shut up, bitch!”

“You asshole!”

“Ori.”

Perci held my shoulder and shook his head.

“Tsk. Fine…jeez,” I muttered.

“Well, I’d say the rational option would be to believe Lucio,” Alex said. “He’s the person who has offered us a safe haven here since day 1 of the apocalypse. Ever since then, we’ve been living a good life despite all the tragedies in the world. Why wouldn’t I take his side?”

Agnes pulled on Alex’s shirt with a perplexed look on her face.

“What is it?”

“Perci isn’t a bad guy either! He’s the kindest person I’ve ever met! Definitely not the type who would hurt an innocent person! Even Ori is defending him! Explain that!”

Alex scratched his head.

“Ah…what a pain. As much as I’d like to help both sides, you seem to be completely against each other. It’s hard to believe Perci’s a bad guy, but it’s just as equally hard to say the same thing for Lucio. What to do…..”

“You’re the oldest here! You should know best!” Agnes said.

“Hey! You’re making me feel bad about my age!” Alex said.

“Don’t worry about that, Agnes,” Lucio said. “I’m the owner of the resort, so I’m pretty much the leader around here. Can’t we just say it’s better if I’m the person who should be trusted the most?”

Most of the people agreed and nodded.

“So what? Are you just going to kill him, Lucio?” Alex said. “Wouldn’t it be better to just exile him instead?”

Lucio held his head.

“Sadly, exile won’t be enough to stop Perci. As long as Ori’s here, he won’t let go of this place. The only solution would be to kill him!” Lucio smiled.

“No…..” Agnes said.

“I won’t allow it! Perci’s an innocent man and I won’t change my stance!” I said, hugging Perci.

“Ah, Ori….”

“What are you going to do now, Lucio? Ori isn’t willing to let go of Perci,” Alex said. “I’m starting to question this whole scenario. Why would he try to kill you when Ori’s already by his side? I don’t see any other reason. It would make more sense if he was trying to protect Ori from you, don’t you think?”

“Alex!” Agnes cheered.

“Are you seriously questioning me, Alex? That’s not something you should do to the person who saved you from the apocalypse!” Despite feeling threatened, Lucio continued to smile nevertheless.

“I’m only thinking objectively. It could be that he has some sort of personal grudge against you, but Perci treats everyone with courtesy. He even held back in the fight against Bryce and Damien.” Alex said.

Suddenly he gasped as if he had realized something.

“Speaking of those two….I haven’t seen them in a while. I know Bryce died, but where is Damien? There’s also a bunch of other people who’ve suddenly gone missing....”

“It was Lucio’s doing! He’s using people as test subjects and turning them into zombies in a secret dungeon! I’ve seen it for myself!” I said. “I can even show you the proof right now!”

“Test subjects? Secret dungeon? Are you being serious, Ori?” Perci said.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What you’re saying is ridiculous, Ori!” Lucio said, maintaining his smile. “Stuff like that only comes from fictional movies. Can’t you see how crazy she is?!”

Lucio laughed and lifted his hands up, urging everyone to follow along and laugh with him.

“Hahaha! If you’re going to craft a lie, at least make it believable, dumb bitch!” a girl yelled.

How am I supposed to convince them anyway?

“AAAAAAH! Z-zombie!” a person screamed from a distance.

“H-huh?” Lucio muttered as his smile started to waver.

“Wow, everybody’s having such a fun party tonight! Let me join in on the fun!” A voice I didn’t expect came out.

It felt quite disturbing hearing such a confident tone from that voice…..

“Impossible! You’re not supposed to be up here yet!” Lucio said.

“Yet?” Alex said.

Dustin had entered the scene, with pale skin, black zombie eyes and fiery orange irises.

No wonder everyone would be so afraid.

They all stepped away once Dustin tried to get closer to them.

“What’s wrong, guys? It’s just me, Dustin!”

“Z-zombie!” a guy panicked.

“Dustin, what are you doing out here? Didn’t I tell you to stay in your cell?” Lucio said.

“Lucio…what the hell are you talking about...” Alex muttered.

“Everyone…I can explain,” Lucio said.

“I got tired of staying down there. It’s so dark and lonely. And I’m hearing voices in my head telling me to get out and have some fun!” Dustin opened his arms.

A person tried to attack him with a chair, but it only broke and left Dustin unfazed.

“E-Eeeeek!”

“Hey…what’s the big idea?!”

Dustin punched the boy with a powerful uppercut, causing him to fly up in the air and fall into the swimming pool.

“S-So strong…” Perci said.

Lucio’s staff surrounded Dustin and pointed their weapons at him.

“D-Don’t move!”

“H-Huh? Lucio, what’s going on?” Dustin tilted his head, bending it a little too much.

“Please go back to your cell, you’re disturbing everyone.”

“Why? Didn’t you say I could become a superhuman? I’m not a human, nor a zombie. I’m something else that’s become better than everyone! I can finally become a hero!” Dustin said. “But, why is everyone looking at me like I’m some sort of monster?”

Dustin looked around everyone’s frightened faces.

Someone pulled out a phone and showed him his appearance.

“Wait….that’s me…..”

Dustin held his face….

“No. No, no, no, no! I-I’ve become a monster…….What the fuck happened to my eyes?!”

“Isn’t this what you wanted? To have power?” Lucio showed a wide open smile like he was fascinated by something beautiful.

“Everyone’s afraid of me! It doesn’t matter if I can’t be admired by others! I’m still going to be lonely…no, I’ll be even lonelier because of it!”

"Of course people are going to be scared. Humans have always been afraid of something they don't understand. But that's okay. Soon, people will realize your greatness!" Lucio said.

"Wait…you're right," Dustin knocked on his head. "If everyone's afraid of me…that means I'll never be bullied again. Because I am the strongest. That means I can do whatever I want!"

Dustin tried to walk towards Lucio, but the staff tried to stop him.

"Dustin….calm down. We still don't know what you're capable of, so please go back."

Dustin tilted his head and twitched.

"Why should I? Why are you telling me what to do?"

"You said you would do anything for me right? I gave you that power, so you should follow what I say," Lucio said.

"Me? Be ordered around? No way. I've changed my mind. You're just like those gangsters. Always forcing me to do things. Always trying to take control of my life. Always looking down on me!"

Dustin laughed hysterically.

"What if I want to live however I want? Wait…I don't even need to ask anybody for permission. I'm free to do whatever I please! With this power, I can become the king of this world! Nobody gets to tell me what to do anymore!"

What the hell happened to you, Dustin?

The once weak cowardly boy had turned into an arrogant egotistical rebel..

"You’ve made the wrong choice! Everyone, stop him!” Lucio said.

Three people tried to charge at Dustin and attack him at the same time.

Dustin rapidly looked at all of them and evaded every attack with abnormal bending movements, maneuvering his body way beyond a normal human's range of motion like he had elastic bones.

"What insane flexibility…" Perci said.

He leaned his upper body all the way back to dodge a swing to the head, then twirled himself around to evade another attack and jumped upward from a slanted position.

"Impossible!" the attackers said.

Dustin landed on top of a guy by grabbing his face, then slamming him hard to the ground.

He immediately went after the other two, sending one flying towards the bar with a single punch and hitting the other with a lightning-speed kick powerful enough to make him flip twice before falling to the ground with his head.

The other men, despite being afraid, continued to attack Dustin, but they were all taken down before they could even manage to get a single kick.

Dustin grabbed a guy by the neck and sniffed it.

"Hmm, you smell good.."

"No…please don't-"

He bit the guy on the shoulder and threw him away.

Dustin started chewing on the flesh and licked his lips.

"I don't get it. This is disgusting. But I want to keep chewing!"

He smiled sinisterly with blood leaking from his mouth.

"Hey…what if I turn these guys into zombies instead? That way, I would feel less lonely…"

"Stop this, Dustin!" Lucio's smile had finally faded.

"Heh, the chances of another superhuman like me being born are low anyway, so I might as well do it!"

He started biting more staff members, which caused everyone to run away in a panic.

"AAAAAAAGH!"

The dead bodies started to rise up from the ground and started roaring.

"P-Perci….we can't stay here…." I said.

"Let's go!" Perci said.

"Wait! Alex is still confronting Lucio!" Agnes said.

Alex approached Lucio and frowned at him.

"Lucio, you were the one who turned him into a zombie?" Alex grasped his fist and spoke with a booming tone. "I didn't think you could be such a devil!"

"Can you please shut up, Alex?" Lucio said unfazed. "I'll just finish him myself…I'm a genius after all."

Lucio pulled out his saber and ran to attack Dustin from behind, aiming at his neck.

He's going to do it!

But…

Somehow, Dustin was able to twist his entire upper body backwards and break Lucio's sword with his hand.

"But that was your blind spot…." Lucio muttered.

"You're too arrogant to think you can kill me, Lucio.."

"Hehe, I guess so…"

Dustin grabbed Lucio's neck and stabbed him in the chest with his arm..

"Guh….why? I'm the one who created you…."

"Thanks….I guess!" Dustin smiled.

"Sigh…I’m no genius. I should have known. Just because you give someone a favor doesn't mean they'll give you one in return…"

Lucio fell to the ground…but he turned himself around to face me and smiled.

"Love you…..Ori…."

He winked at me before finally closing his eyes.

Lucio….that's what you get.

My seventh boyfriend. When I first met him, he was the nicest guy in the world. He was the one who swore to protect me and love me forever. He was dedicated to me, giving me plenty of gifts and taking me on extravagant dates.

He was the perfect guy.

Unfortunately, that's only a part of his angelic half.

Behind the scenes, he had a dark side, the devilish half of him.

Every good thing he did, it was all for the sake of gaining everyone's favor and taking control of them from the shadows. It was only a means to get whatever he wanted.

He forced me to do things I never wanted to do…and became his little plaything.

When I tried to run away from him, he posted all of my embarrassing cosplay photos anonymously to the public which cemented my status as a slut in the school. Then he used his status as student council president to spread other false rumors about me.

I never even had sex with him….

He absolutely deserves it for ruining my life.

However, he's lucky since Dustin decided to throw him at the roof of the bar, keeping his body from being eaten by the zombies.

The zombies were increasing in number, people were dropping like flies.

This is truly a night to remember…

"Ori!" Dustin said. "Why don't you come to me?"

He decided to run over to my direction, but Perci moved in front of me.

"I'm not letting you get close to Ori," Perci said.

Alex went beside him with a machete in his hand.

"Sigh, looks like we have no choice but to stop him."

"If we can't do it, then who will?" Agnes said.

"Do you think the four of you can stop me?" Dustin said. "I'm a superhuman!"

"Don't forget us."

Robin arrived with the rest of the Hunters and killed the zombies standing in their way.

Even the panda mascot joined in on the fight.

"Panda!" I said.

The panda nodded at me as he held a guitar as a weapon.

Together, we had all surrounded Dustin in a circle.

"As the person who took away my girlfriend, we still have a score to settle," Robin said.

Seriously…..

"Bring it on!" Dustin screamed.

The final showdown begins now.