"Wake up, you goof!"
Liy groaned, eyes just barely opening. Her eyelids were heavy, and she somehow felt even worse than yesterday. She felt both overheated and chilly simultaneously, it felt like total shit.
"What...?"
"Tree wants me to get you. We're having a super important meeting!" Remote said.
"Can't it wait?" She grumbled, gripping the blanket and throwing it over her head.
"I don't think so. He says he has a plan that he's discussed with some of the others and wants to—"
C o u g h, c o u g h.
Remote paused her sentence when Liy coughed, then continued when she was done, "—share it with us. By the looks of it Pie isn't happy about the idea."
"What's the idea?"
"I don't know yet," She shrugged, "that's why we gotta find out! Now come on!"
She yanked the blankets off Liy and held out her hand.
Liy sighed, giving her tired eyes a few quick rubs before taking Remote's hand and getting out of bed.
"Oh jeez, you don't look too good, did you sleep at all last night?" She asked, concern lining the edge of her voice.
"I don't know, kinda."
Her wounded side had certainly kept her awake for a majority of the night. She tossed and turned, constantly having to itch the wound. It was absolute torture. Eventually she got to sleep, but it took an hour or two.
Remote sighed, her expression softened. She motioned her hand as she stepped out the door. The moment Liy stepped into the hallway, she heard the muffled shouting of her friends from upstairs. She halted in place, Remote doing the same.
"Dammit! I feel like I live with a bunch of lunatics!"
That was Pie, Liy recognized the deep yet strained yelling voice. It was a huge contrast from her resting voice. She had barely even heard her yell before this whole zombie scenario went down, but after it started it seemed like she was yelling every other sentence. She felt awful, knowing she had contributed to the immense amounts of stress piling onto her friend who was just trying her best to lead them.
"You insulting me isn't gonna change the fact the vote tied. We have to wait for Liy and Remote to vote until we decide for sure." Tree came in next.
"This is such a bad idea!" Pie shouted in response, "You want to bring one of those.. 'creatures' into our home!?"
Liy and Remote shared glances, eyes filled with shock. That's all they needed to hear to get an idea of what the plan was.
"I'm with Pie," Bottle stammered, "I- I don't want a zombie in our home. Who knows what w-would happen if it broke free while we weren't watching?"
Remote sighed, nodded to Liy then began to walk up the stairs. Liy followed right behind, all the while scratching her side.
C O U G H
"Finally, you guys are here." Black Hole greeted them, "How'd you sleep, Liy?"
"Bad," Liy replied quickly before turning her head to Tree, "but it's fine. What's going on?"
"Tree wants to let a zombie run loose in our house," Pie snapped from behind her.
"I never said that," Tree scoffed, "we are gonna lock it up, obviously."
"Woahoh, slow DOWN." Remote cut in, "Someone please start from the beginning."
Tree was the one to step forward and explain, "So me and Pen were talking last night,— and the night before that but mostly last night. We kinda realized especially after the fight yesterday—" He shot a glance at Liy, "—that zombies are a lot more vicious than we originally thought. They don't fight like humans, they fight like they're some sort of monstrous wild animal."
"Uh-huh..." Remote nodded, "and this has what exactly to do with letting a zombie into the house?"
"—So I'm thinking... if we could train a zombie to fight its own kind, we could be a lot more efficient."
"By 'train' you make it sound like they're some sort of dog." Black Hole mumbled.
"Well, these things aren't particularily human either." Tree said.
"Besides that, we have no idea if this could even be close to successful. This could backfire on us terribly," He reasoned.
"Well, he's better at talking calmly I'll give him that," Liy whispered to Remote, who responded with a small chuckle.
"But if it worked," Pen entered the conversation, "we'd be at a huge advantage! Plus, we'll take extra measures to make sure the zombie doesn't harm anyone!"
"...It's worth a shot," Liy shrugged, "I'm with Tree."
Liy glanced back at Remote, who nodded in agreement, "...If we're careful..."
"That's five to three," Pillow smirked smugly, "we win!"
Pie's eyes were lit with irritation, but died down quickly, "...If you guys take extra precautions, then I suppose it shouldn't be too much of an issue."
"Great!" Pen smiled, "Should we go now?"
"How about four of you go and four of us stay?" Bottle chimed in, "That way we won't have to go if we don't want to..." She sounded borderline terrified, not that Liy blamed her.
"Well there are five of us who are down with this plan so wouldn't it be better if...—"
"I can stay," Remote offered, "you four can go."
"You wanna stay?" Liy asked, sneering, "But that's so much woorrk... I'd never force you to go through all of thaaat!"
Remote snickered, giving Liy a kiss on the cheek, "Don't die out there."
"I have no plans to!" Liy hopped away, heading to the door.
"We better go then," Tree nodded to the others.
"So, where are we looking exactly? The hotspot again? Because last time we went there–..."
"It ended horribly." Tree finished.
"Well not horribly, it could've gone worse," Pen remarked, "none of us got hurt, that's good."
Liy flinched, but didn't say anything.
"Well, however we do this, we have to make sure the zombie stays in good condition if we are to use it against others," Tree said. His head cocked around to face Pillow sharply, "understood?"
Pillow, who was previously fondling her knife in her hands, pouted, "Understood."
"The hardest obstacle is probably gonna be wrapping this over its mouth," Pen dangled the piece of clothing he had been previously holding out for everyone to see, "do I really have to be the one to do this?"
"Unless someone else wants to take your job, then you're on your own."
Pen gave a sideways glance to Liy and Pillow, expression glinting with the slightest sliver of hope, only to be immediately destroyed when they shook their heads at him.
"Liy, aren't you supposed to be scouting?" Tree commented.
"Right, sorry." Liy took the lead, running ahead of the others until she was a fair distance away from them.
Then, the coughs started up again.
She held her sleeve up to her mouth and continuously coughed hoarsely. It took her nearly a solid minute for her to stop coughing. She pulled her sleeve away, only to freeze in horror.
It was dotted in blood.
Wh..what...?
"Hey, Liy! You see anything? Specifically any zombies?" Pen called from a good distance behind her. She blocked it out.
I didn't just hack up blood... right?
Th-This must've been a stain I missed..! I did wash my jacket after all instead of... throwing it away.
I can't...
This...
"Liy?"
This isn't right.
This can't be happening.
"Liy! Are you okay?" Pen appeared at her side, causing her to yelp and flinch in shock.
"Y-Yeah! I'm fine!"
"Are you sure...?" He murmured, "You froze up back there... and you wouldn't respond to any of us."
"I just zoned out, I'm fine."
Pen opened his mouth, but was cut off from an ear-splitting noise.
A scream.
It came from the forest.
The four's attention snapped to the direction the scream was heard from, eyes wide in terror.
"What was that...?" Pen stammered, voice weak.
"It sounded like they were screaming for their life–," Pillow responded.
"...We shouldn't stay here, who knows what could happen—"
Another scream.
And what had followed this time was the frantic brushing of bushes and grass.
Something was coming their direction, and fast.
"Let's get out of here!" Tree shouted to the others.
"Agreed!"
They all rushed away from the edge of the forest, running faster than they ever had before. It was different this time. Their life could've been on the line.
"WAIT!"
Liy halted, looking back at who had called out to them.
Three girls roughly around her age, gasping for breath.
"HELP US, PLEASE!!"
Liy took a few steps backward.
"OUR FRIEND IS IN THE FOREST!"
She turned around.
"HER LIFE IS IN DANGER! PLEASE!!"
"I-I'm sorry!" Liy shouted back.
Then she dashed to catch up with her friends.
Even with the pleas of the three behind her and how desperate they sounded.
She made a promise to not throw herself into unnecessary danger. She had to keep it.
...But is that really a concern now?
Now that I could be...
Even when Liy caught up to her friends and they slowed down into a walk, she couldn't stop looking at her sleeve. The blood had remained where it was.
No. I can't be.
Her arm lowered to her side.
But... there isn't any other excuse for there to be...
She felt tears beginning to dot her eyes.
I... I...
She sighed to herself, eyes dim with sorrow and regret.
Goddammit.