REANIMATION

[19]

     "She.......

     ...really did all that?"

     "Hey, you wanted to know," Fanny shuffled slightly in the little room the cage provided, "did you want me to lie? Say she was 'just misunderstood'?"

     "No..." Liy mumbled, wincing from her tone of mockery, "I just.. I never thought she would do something like that."

     Fanny's cold expression lifted to a much more mixed expression Liy couldn't exactly comprehend, a melancholic one she would consider it. Her tone remained devoid of emotion, "Me neither."

     Liy stood there in complete silence, thoughts and memories rushing through her friend. A person she once considered close... did... all that horrible stuff...

     Quietly, Liy turned away and began heading out of the room. That would have been all, but as the story replayed in her head, something clicked, causing her to halt in her steps.

     "Did you kill her?"

     "What?"

     "Did you kill Pencil?"

     "...Do you want the truth?"

     "I'd... appreciate it."

      Silence.

     "It wasn't just her."

     "...Huh?"

     "She wasn't the only one who died."

     "...What do you mean?" Liy turned to face the zombie once again, "Did the others die, too?"

     "...Snowball and Lightning were first. Ruby next, then Pencil."

     "Wh– I–" Liy stilled, frozen in shock, "Why!? Why would you do that?"

     "People driven to revenge can do many impulsive things."

     "'Least you admit it."

     "I don't feel sorry for it."

     She winced.

     Fanny continued, "I don't feel sorry for anything. Not for them, not for you, not for this entire godforsaken island's population."

     "Don't you feel at least a shred of remorse!? Anything??"

     "Nada."

     "Well—," Liy felt a twinge of anger rise deep in her chest, "what can we do? It's not like we can leave this island to get away from the zombies! You feel no sympathy for people just trying to stay alive!"

     "That's not necessarily true."

     "What isn't?"

     "Leaving this island."

     "...There's no way, as I said. All means of transportation to different areas have been blocked off—"

     "And what about the ocean?"

     That left Liy speechless.

     While she had considered escaping the island through a boat for a brief moment, she never dwelled too long on it.

     Is that the key? Is that how we get out of this situation?

     Then, realization struck her.