- this story is a work of fiction -
The only memory from her childhood outside of her room were...hospitals. Or some other faculties, she didn't bother to remember. The only reason why she remembered her childhood at all was because of the fact that that was the only time her parents were happy with her. She remembered the praise she got whenever she scored high on one of these stupid IQ tests, her parents bragging about her to their neighbours and friends that they have brought a „genius" to the world. She always snickered at that statement. They had no idea what was coming for them. Especially after she found out that life wasn't like these tests at all, leaving her isolated at the top of something others could admire, but never connect with.
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Golden lights blinded her eyes. That wasn't the white light of the cinema...what did she do again? Oh, right, she found a boomerang. She wanted to try out playing like a child for the first time. But this light...it irked her, for some reason. She felt herself squirming, before a painful sting went through her whole body, shaking her to her very core. Her eyes snapped open at that, and when her vision was more clear, the first thing she could see was a thick, irritating rope bound around her thighs. After a close inspection, she noticed that her arms and ankles were bound to the chair as well. She began to panic. This was no work from some brain dead zombie. Only humans would do something so cunning and evil. And that was what scared her, more than a zombie ever could. She looked around, inspecting the room dipped in the golden light of the sunset. And she swore that she almost puked at the realisation in what kind of room, and in association, in what kind of building she was currently situated in, tied up and possibly ready for torture.
She never liked schools. That was probably the reason why she never went there. She only remembered stalking through the halls with her uniform clumsily put on to take only the most necessary exams, the walk to and from the exam a blur. She remembered being short of breath the entire way there, her view blurry. She was doing her best do not let the cold sweat drip a trail on the clean floors, the walls echoing the quiet whispers and loud laughters of students. It was all so loud, and she was almost certain that they were all laughing at her, the loser shut in that never bothered to come to school, ungrateful for the oh so wonderful opportunity to learn at the most prestigious school in the city. She pressed her lips together, afraid that she would need to puke on her lap at that memory.
Who kidnapped her? Was it her little brother? Or her parents, finally getting revenge for all the misery she had caused them for being a dirty shut-in? It had to be one of them. Who else knew of her? She forced herself to calm down, figuring that it couldn't be, since she saw a zombie tear all three of them apart 4 months ago. Maybe it was their ghosts. She didn't believe in these things, but right now, it could be the only explanation. They wanted to drag her into hell with them by placing her on the hell of earth first. Her breathing picked up, and she could feel a cold sweat trickling down her back, the stupid maid costume she picked up being thicker than she thought. As her eyes flitted around, she could basically hear their mocking laughter, ridiculing her for being so goddamn stupid, so weak, thinking that their torment would end with their death. She revised her plan on how to spend this goddamn apocalypse. She would try to survive for as long as possible. Hell, she would even freeze herself into a solid block of ice if needed to, to stay alive for as many years possible, just so she wouldn't need to join her parents in hell.
Just then, she noticed the door clicking open.
Her eyes widened. This was it. She began to tremble, her vision blurring in terror, trying to disassociate from the situation. She found a dry laugh escape her at the fact that she didn't do that in 4 months, the zombies being not even nearly as terrifying like her people. She refused to call them family. Unlike them, she could say that she even grew comfortable in the zombie's presence, especially since they didn't-
„Are you okay?"
A soft voice interrupts her train of thought, a human voice she couldn't recognise as one of her family members. The voice was soft, almost meek, like he was speaking to a wild beast, not a tied up human. She whipped her head towards the voice, and she saw a blurry figure by the door. She blinked, trying to make out the figure, but not being able to look past the dark fog her mind automatically cast over the him. Damn her and her coping mechanism against her Anthropophobia. She instead cast her gaze downwards again, trying to control her breathing. In and out. In and out. In and out. She tried to distract herself. Looking at the floor underneath, at the windows overlooking the school ground. She quickly averted her gaze from that, realising that it resulted in even more stress. She looked around the room, registering what was placed in it, a desperate attempt to calm down.
There were..bloodstains. But there were there even before the outbreak, she was sure. In her mind, at least. There were few empty cardboard boxes. They...would make for a great bed, if assembled well. There were a few desks as well. Her face was pressed against them multiple times, not a good memory, although the small of wood did comfort her at least a bit. Her gaze eventually moved towards the walls, which had a few posters on the wall. It seemed like this classroom was also used as a club room. Her eyes widened as she saw a poster for a chess tournament on one of the walls. She liked chess a lot. It was really simple, and it perfectly combined strategy and logic. That was one of the few games she even lost, always against some random smart humans, never against bots. Humans were dirty with their moves after all. Lurking, luring, and tricking their enemies. When she thought out of it, chess was one of the only games she enjoyed playing with other people, and where she tolerated the twisted mind games and tricks some had up their sleeves. Just two people choosing their moves out of 10^40 possible moves in fifty imaginary slots. Thinking about that made her breathing calm down significantly, and she eventually directed her gaze back to the ground, taking a breath. She didn't dare to clear her throat, afraid of the loud noise. Afraid that it would repulse him, for some reason.
„I.."
She clamps up, cringing slightly at the sound of her own voice. She needed to steady herself for a moment, calm her breathing before speaking again.
„I don't know."
-
When they tied her up to the chair, an uneasy feeling overcame him. He couldn't describe it, he didn't like the sight of it, he guessed. But what the leader orders, the others must follow. It was the easiest way to prevent conflict, and to have conflict was the last thing he wanted. So he swallowed up his humanity for a moment, tying the unconscious body up on the chair, the only noises heard being the fastening of the rope, and the eyes remaining strictly on the body. Not the face. This will only cause one to hesitate. After that, she was transported to another room, their former storage room, or if they wanted to travel even further into the past, the former chess club room.
His leader likes to play chess. Makes sense, since he was cunning and strategic, and could lead an army better than anyone else could. But he was also kind. He was a gentle leader, he was sure of it. He just worried about their safety a lot since the incident. He sighed, stepping out of the room alongside Zion, who carried the body to the storage room. His leader said that despite not seeing any wounds, that they should be careful.
At the arrival of the two survivors and the body, he was more than bewildered at first, not being used to seeing other humans other than the ones currently housed in the school. Of course, a ruckus occurred at the sight of her. Reasonable, since the only thing lower than their rations being their hospitality towards welcoming another human into their already big group. At least he hasn't seen any bigger groups, so he couldn't really say if their group was big or not. Or groups at all. Or even humans, besides her. He could feel his leader being displeased by Zion's decision, his eyes narrowing slightly at the sight. What other expressions he made he couldn't tell. He always averted his eyes during arguments, even if he wasn't part of it.
He honestly admired Zion's and Eugene's ability to speak against him, because after retorting how she didn't have even one wound, he seemed to start thinking. A few others protested, of course, since rations and water were running low,and a few turned to him, angrily demanding his opinion over the matter, making him only make out a small shaky smile at their tone. He laughed it off, saying he was fine with whatever, causing others to say that he was way too indifferent. And maybe he was. But he would much rather be a simple wallflower instead of being a rose surrounded by a thorn bush of conflict.
After a bit of a back and forth, they agreed to not throw the chair alongside her out of the window, and decided to question her after she woke up, deciding collectively as a group what to do with her after speaking to her. At that, he remembered sighing out a sigh of relieve he didn't know he held the entire time. He was relieved that they came to an agreement, the least thing he wanted was for the conflict to escalate. They sat together in a circle, deciding on the person to question her when she was coming to her senses. His leader immediately raised his hand. He said that he would gladly do it on behalf of the group, making many of them agree. Of course, he would be the most reasonable choice after all. He was an excellent talker, had loads of charisma, and he could put his foot down when needed to. He had a way with people like no other, which he envied. But what suprised him was Zion raising his hand in protest shaking his head, and instead pointing at him, Harry, making him widen his eyes slowly.
„I think Harry should do it."
The red haired exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.
„When i tried to talk to her, she immediately fell over, I feel like she is unter a lot of stress. I think having someone more soft spoken is better."
Zion exclaimed, causing his eyes to widen even more. There was a silence after that in the room, the people torn apart by the decision between him and their leader, making him uncomfortably squirm a bit in his seat. The blonde ex of the red haired chimed in, shakily agreeing, and with that, and one stern glare from her towards everyone else, most of the others agreed as well. She was the easiest to irritate, after all, so they all collectively agreed to not deal with a ticking time bomb, leaving only ashes of hatred behind. Harry could make out a slight eye twitch from his leader, before he turned to him, asking him if he could do it. He wasn't even sure if he saw it, or if it was just his imagination. His leader wasn't like that, after all. He just sighed, agreeing to do it, earning an appreciative smile from Zion.
And because of that, he is now at the door, talking to the now conscious girl, that shook a bit in her chair after he had asked her wether she was okay or not.
„I don't know."
She shakily answered, making him smile nervously. She dropped her head again, letting an uncomfortable silence fill the room.
Oh boy.
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