[Recommended Song]: Madness by Ruelle
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"Get ready...." Zack alerted, grabbing a chair. He slid it out of the table and lifted it above his head, ready for the attack.

Kai scoffed. "A chair, you aren't serious about that, are you?"

Zack was questioning the younger's will. Chairs were also effective, weren't they? Well, they don't have knives with them-- not a bat, not any sharp objects. (Except for a ballpen, if you want to count it in, they have a lot in the room.)

"Chairs are effective unless you have any other objects in mi--"

Zack's words were cut mid-sentence as soon as the door opened.

"GET O-- Tris?! Elijah?!" Kai was glad and struck at the same time. He couldn't be happier! At least he knows two people were alive.

Tris shut the door close after they went in. "Zack-ge! Thank goodness you both are safe!" Glad, Tris dropped his weapon and went to his brother.

"Why is there only the two of you? Where are the rest?" Kai pulled out of the hug, looking carefully at the two pairs of siblings.

"Seb and Nathan, they're nowhere to be found, the Kiara and Callista-jie are both safe, and so are we..."

"My gege?"

"He isn't well...." Elijah paused for a short moment. How was he going to tell Kai that his brother was bitten? That Jace himself begged the group to kill the corpse they saw after he turned? Would it be too much to handle?

Zack examined his younger brother. The young latter was hesitant to speak. "Elijah, we're asking, what happened to Jace?"

"Jace was bitten, gege. When we entered a room where we hid, we scanned each other and Jace... he had a bite mark." Elijah continued, Kai's mouth was hung open, surprised by the news.

"Is he turned now? Where is he?" Kai asked in a concerned voice. "I need to see him, where is he?"

Tris picked up his bat. "Kai, he's in a room with three people. He tied himself, restraining him from fleeing and biting living humans. We didn't kill him."

"Are there any symptoms?" Zack questioned, "Did he transform suddenly?"

Tris shook his head. "No, the colour of his eyes changed to bloody red, he had purple veins creeping all over his body, and he coughed out blood too."

Someone called Hao Xuan's phone, it was Callista. He picked up, bringing the phone close to his ear.

"Shijie--"

"Tris, hurry up! Jace's becoming more and more violent, we're trying all we can to stop him from moving."

"We're coming, try to hold him for five minutes or so," Tris says before ending the call. "Alright, everybody grab a sharp thing you have."

Everyone geared themselves up. Kai pulled Mia to come with them.
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"He might bite me anytime now, shit." Callista cursed as she held the rope tight.

Just in time, Elijah and Tris stepped in, they were a mess, covered in blood.

Mia trembled when he saw Jace. The latter was twitching and growling, acting like a mad dog.

"Where the fuck is the antidote?!" Tris asked desperately. He didn't expect that a zombie is so strong... or is it only Jace?

Mia's eyes widened. "Antidote? There is a cure?!" Her eyes seem to be filled with joy. "So we can cure everyone!?"

The young girl unexpectedly laughed to death like a psycho, her eyes were watering.

"There is an antidote, Mia. How come you don't know?" Kiara crossed her arms, suspecting the weird behaviour.

"D-Don't know...??" Mia stuttered while looking at Kiara. "I... I do remember! I was just shocked, Kiara."

The other female nodded.

Eventually, the group managed to tie Jace down.

Elijah looked at Jace in worry. "The cure should be here by now, principal Lixin promised us it was exactly after sunrise."

Callista sat on the ground. "Maybe--"

The door opened with a loud creak. Two males followed after and shut the door behind them. "Oh my god... Jace-gege!"

"Seb!" Callista stood up as she watched the young boy put on a shocked expression, standing frozen to where the latter remained.

"He was bitten?!" Seb queried, he was in disbelief. He slowly bent down to examine the zombie.

Behind him, was Nathan- who stood to guard. He saw flesh on the side of the floor.

"Did you let gege eat flesh?" He pointed at the red organ near the shelf.

Everyone instantly shook their heads in denial. They've kept Jace tied and guarded the whole time.

"One of you is exposed to the virus," Nathan said in a serious voice. He took a glance at Mia. "Her! Isn't it her?!"

"Her?? Mia, are you... infected?" Tris slowly asked. The girl stopped rolling on the ground. "No, I was laughing because I'd forgotten about the antidote. I miss Diana, I just- miss my friend!" She reasoned with such horror and checked up on herself. She even willingly stretched out her arms.

"Continue to inject the antidote, Seb. We'll find out later, if it's not Mia then it might be one of you..." Jonathan picked up the bat and smashed the flesh.

"Help me hold gege back, or else I might turn into a zombie as well." Seb let out jokingly. Elijah knelt to hold the zombie's shoulder slowly.

The mouth had a piece of white cloth inserted inside, preventing Jace from causing harm.

"OUT!" Mia yelled as she pushed Sebastian away. The latter fully injected the cure into Jace, but he was harshly pushed to the ground.

"Hey!" Nathan helped his lover up. "What was that for?!" He followed after Seb stood up to his feet.

Mia pointed at Kai. "Don't you see? He was about to bite you, I did you a favour!"

Callista stood in front of her brother. "Kai? Bite Seb?!" She scoffed. "Had you become a lunatic? Kai isn't infected, you lost it!"

"Shijie..." Elijah stopped the argument further. "Mia's on our side now, please don't drive her away."

"I'm not driving her away, however, did you not witness how she accused Kai of being the infected one? My brother doesn't have any bites, see?!" Callista was outraged after the unconfirmed accusation.

"Why would you accuse me, Mia?!" Kai looked at her with a confused expression. "Do you expect me..." He pursued with a temporary pause. He stared at the red organ and pointed at it. "To chew on a person's flesh in this condition?!"

The latter felt his wrist tied behind his back, someone was restraining him from fighting Mia.

Suddenly, Kai's vision started spinning as if he'd been on a crazy ride. He felt a painful, sharp object stab his shoulder.

He looked behind him. His eyes were giving up, they were about to close. The last thing he'd seen before closing them was someone mouthing "I'm sorry" as he fell.

Callista was shocked as he looked at Zack, then back to Jace.

The cure had a fast effect, Jace went back to his normal state in just five minutes. He was the one who injected the drug into his brother.

"He was bitten, not Mia..." Said the male with a deep sigh. "He was the one who ate the flesh out of hunger, not her." Jace pointed at Kai's wrist. "Look under his sleeves, trust me."

Elijah bent down and rolled Kai's sleeves up, just like what his lover said. Zack bent down as well to take a closer look.

"Gege, look..." Elijah blinked a few times. Zack looked away. He stood up unable to digest everything.

He looked at Jace. "B-But, how come?" He asked in his usual, calm voice. The younger could hear the soft stutters in between each word. "Whose flesh is that, then? Is it Elijah's?!"

Nathan glanced at Elijah, "Did he hug you? Any of you?"

"Us," Tris went closer to his brother. "He hugged the both of us before we came here."

"Check yourself if you guys have any bites," Seb murmured softly skipping next to Jace. "We need to make sure, so... gege?"

"Why are you asking me?!"

"You might murder me if I didn't!" Seb reasoned truthfully. "We know how you love to keep Elijah-gege to yourself." He ended with a murmur.

"Don't worry... here." Elijah giggled showing himself from head to toe. He lowered the shoulder part of his clothes. "No bites,"

"Mhm," Dominic hummed swiftly shifting gazes. "And you, Tris?"

"I'm okay,"

"We need to go through isolation," Said Elijah cross-armed. "Don't misunderstand me, but, it's for the other's safety."

Zack scoffed, "How? We're in one room, moving you both to another room will surely be dangerous, you do know zombies are still lurking, don't you?"

"Right..." Kiara and Dominic both uttered at the same time. Their minds were blank and black.

"No problem," Elijah hummed. "Can you hand me the rope over there, Mia?" He questioned softly.

Mia grabbed the rope near Seb and Nathan's backpack. "What are you planning to do?"

"We tied Jace as a zombie, if I and Tris turn into one, you'll be able to restrain us and run."

"What about Kai?" Kiara glanced at the unconscious other, laying on the floor."

"We'll guard him,"

Tris walked to the side, uttering no words as he watched his wrist being tied while his whole body was being restrained by a chair. (He was tied there as well.)

"Jace..."

The other turned to his lover, Jace was quite shocked by the sudden change in Elijah's tone.

"Hm?"

"What did you feel? That time when you were transforming into a zombie?"

"It felt like hell, purple veins were creeping around my body, I started to crave for human flesh, and thirst blood- the beat of my heart became abnormally rapid, I coughed blood, and...."

Elijah looked at him waiting for the last part. "And what?"

"My head was spinning, it was like I was hallucinating and my memories faded, I passed after that."

"Oh..."

Jace tilted his head. "Why, baby? Is there something wrong that I should know about?"

"No, I need to be aware of what I'm feeling." Elijah held his hands out. "I need my quarantine now."

"I'll bring you food if your hungry, hm?"

"I'm thirsty, I still don't have the appetite." The younger says. Jace gave him a bottle, "Drink this, I have an extra."

Elijah nodded. He sat behaved on a school chair and drank the water his lover gave him.

Kiara and Mia glanced at Dom and Zack who were staring at the sight.

"Clap clap, ehem!" The two females interacted their two palms together two times, earning two small claps.

"Keep staring and they'll melt." Mia frowned looking at the two lovers.

"They have such a healthy relationship, I'm just jealous." Dominic cackled.

"HAHAHAHA, healthy?!" Callista laughed, "Oh Gods just prevent them for arguing, I can already imagine it." She continued, wiping her tears.

"I'm sure they won't kill each other when they're in an argument." Zack cut short, "When we started the squad, Jace was a cold guy. Elijah was like a lost pup following him and made him interact with us."

"Don't deny, Jace almost hit him too. I'm not getting over how he almost hit my child-" Kiara says but discontinued and changed. "But, felt guilty afterward and after some scolding."

"Who scolded Jace after that?" Dominic was surprised. He'd forgotten about the details a long time ago.

"Dad did, he explained how Elijah was the only one who went with Jace's unpleasant attitude and so on." Callista replied with a soft smile.

"But see Jace's development after that," Mia hummed.

"Jace-gege's possessive, see how he treats Elijah-gege as a baby- he treats us like we're a prey." Nathan pouted, staring at the couple.

"Stop talking about-"

"KAI-" Zack let out, he almost had a mini heart attack.

"Who stabbed me with an-"

Jace waved. "Hello little brother, I stabbed you because you ate that." He pointed at the bloody flesh on the floor.

"Shit... I turned into a zombie?!"
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Long time no update- I'm so busy with academics these days. But~ I'm going through a short break soon, I'm currently writing the 22nd chapter ♡.

-Ms. Khi 🦊🖤