[ Chapter 9 - Escape ]

Cole and Denma approached the prison's glass exit door.

Upon reaching the door, Cole rushed forward with his hands outstretched, ready to push it open.

[ Cole ] Ouch!

Cole fell on his back as he grabbed his nose, massaging it slowly to relieve the pain of collision.

[ Denma ] Are the doors not unlocked?

He shouted, his mind racing to understand what was happening.

Denma sat down on the floor, accepting his fate.

[ Denma ] "This didn't happen in my previous life, so why has it changed?"

[ Giant ghoul ] Gur!

The zomboid was in front of the giant ghoul, and they both ran toward their meal.

[ Denma ] "Who locked the doors, and if so, why?"

[ Zomboid ] Fauud!

The zomboid was two meters away from Denma and Cole.

[ Cole ] *Huff*

[ Cole ] "This... this is it, Dad. I'm sorry."

Cole closed his eyes and laid down.

[ Denma ] "Wait, I got here way sooner than I did in the past, who got trough the door-"

The zomboid that was very close to Denma let out a scream.

[ Zomboid ] Foud!

Denma, snapping back into reality, was angry. In his previous life, when he stood still and murmured to himself, no one dared to bother him because he would get really angry afterward. But it seems the zomboid was the first to do it in this life.

[ Denma ] Fuck off!

Denma turned around in a heartbeat and screamed into the zomboid's face.

The zomboid stopped in its tracks and stood there, staring at Denma.

[ Denma ] "Wait, I'm not in the goddamn lab!"

Denma, realizing the situation he was in, started sweating after comprehending what he had done and how close the zomboid was.

Denma felt his heart's beating rhythm and felt how his heart started burning up.

[ Denma ] Gah!

Denma grabbed his chest with both arms, but kept staring at the zomboid, feeling something.

[ Denma ] "This is!"

Denma realized he had somehow formed a connection with that zomboid.

[ Giant ghoul ] Guu!

The giant ghoul neared and made the ground tremble.

Denma looked towards the giant ghoul making the zomboid turn its head towards there too.

Without realizing it, Denma had somehow shared his wish with the zomboid on the situation before them.

[ Denma ] "Die."

The zomboid screamed as it jumped onto the giant ghoul with all four limbs, like a beast would when hunting.

[ Zomboid ] Dye!

The zomboid screamed as it jumped on to the giant ghouls face, scratching it like a feral cat.

The giant ghoul leaned back and fell on its back, the zomboid continued scratching its face.

The giant ghoul raised both its arms up, trying to reach for its face, but because of all its accumulated muscle, it cannot bend much.

The giant ghoul started thrashing around on its side, attempting to crush the zomboid.

[ Cole ] Uh, Denma?

Cole stared at the scene as if he were daydreaming, letting saliva slip out of his mouth with his eyes wide open.

[ Denma ] Regardless of who wins, we will still die, I don't think I can maintain my connection with the zomboid any longer.

Denma put his head down to the ground while grasping his chest and started to breathe heavily.

[ Cole ] What's wrong?

Cole hurriedly stood up and ran to Denma who was suffering on the floor.

[ Denma ] *huff* *huff*.

Denma suddenly felt relief wash over him as he calmed his breathing.

Denma pushed himself off the ground to watch the giant ghoul in front.

[ Giant ghoul ] Grrr.

The giant growled while having its face shoved into the concrete floor.

[ Giant ghoul ] Graah!

It screamed with all its force to celebrate an enemy perishing.

[ ??? ] Hey!

A voice came from behind Denma and Cole accompanied with a knocking on the glass doors.

Denma and Cole both turned around.

[ Denma ] Gerald!

Denma smiled as he pronounced his brothers name.

[ Gerald ] Hold on, I'll get you out of there!

Gerald screamed from the other side of the glass doors while pulling out a crowbar from his waist that was tucked into his pants.

Gerald shoved the crowbar into the wedge between the glass doors and started to tear the door away with his brute strength.

[ Giant ghoul ] Goooh.

The giant ghoul stared at Denma and Cole, they both noticed that the giant ghoul stared at them.

[ Giant ghoul ] Gaa!

The giant ghoul hurriedly tried standing up to rush at them, but it did not have much success as it was very heavy and needed time to stabilize its weight.

[ Cole ] Go to the door, quickly!

Cole shouted as he grabbed Denma by the arm, dragging him towards the doors.

[ Gerald ] Help me pry the doors open!

Gerald screamed as he had his fingers in the open space made by the crowbar, pulling the doors towards himself.

Denma and Cole both ran at their fastest speed towards the door and rammed it.

The door budged, but did not open.

The tremor then came from behind them, Denma and Cole both glanced behind them, noticing that the giant ghoul had risen.

[ Denma ] Push!

Denma turned his attention back to the door, pushing with all his strength while Gerald pulled the doors towards himself.

[ Cole ] Grr!

Cole struggled as he was not fit as Gerald or Denma.

Suddenly, the doors burst open with a loud sound, cracking the glass in the process.

[ Gerald ] It's open!

Denma and Cole did not waste any time as they began to run towards the city along the road, although there were cars parked near, the cars were most probably locked.

Denma looks up.

[ Denma ] The key, it's starting to form!

Dark clouds slowly gathered around the purple orb in the sky, covering any sunlight while swirling in a counter clockwise manner.

Screams echoed throughout the empty streets, houses full of people, spying through their window, trying to figure out what is happening.

[ Cole ] Hey, what's your name big guy?

A question, seemingly out of nowhere arrived.

[ Gerald ] I'm Gerald, you?

Gerald and Cole formed a relationship while on the run.

[ Cole ] Name's Cole, nice to meet you!

He smiled without looking ahead.

Denma and Gerald both slowed down their speed, but Cole continued at the same speed as earlier.

Denma grabbed Cole by the collar, chocking him in the process.

[ Cole ] Hey, what's-

Denma quickly covered Cole's mouth as they had encounter a horde of zombies passing by the street from the alleys.

[ Gerald ] Psst!

Gerald tried getting their attention.

Once Denma and Cole both turned to the right to check on Gerald, they noticed that they stopped by a narrow alley.

Denma and Cole both sneakily slithered into the alley and stood there, with their backs against the wall of an apartment building.

Denma was in the middle of Cole and Gerald, Cole watching the street, Gerald in the back, because he would be easily noticed and Denma in the middle, with nothing to do, but then a rain droplet fell on Denma's head.

Denma looked up.

[ Denma ] "The sky's getting darker, the time of night is soon gonna befall us."

Denma kept staring at the sky, when the rain started to lightly pour on his face.

[ Denma ] "Had the undead not existed, we could have had ventured at night."

The undead are less sensitive during the day due to the sun's UV light. But at night, the lack of UV light keeps the mana in the air still, as if the world isn't moving.

Cole tugged on Denma's shirt.

Denma looked towards Cole.

[ Cole ] They're gone, I think!

Cole whispered to Denma, the group got out of the alley and examined the place where the undead were previously sighted at.

Denma got closer to the tracks of blood, rotting flesh and mud on the street that passed from one alley to another.

Denma crouched down and touched the rotting flesh.

[ Denma ] "It feels, warm, it must be a new horde that got out of the ground not too long ago."

Denma looked back at Cole and Gerald while being crouched.

[ Denma ] Bad news, the undead that passed by may turn back through this path they walked.

Cole and Gerald seemed surprised upon hearing the news.

[ Gerald ] Um, can I ask how you know?

Gerald started scratching the back of his head while staring at Denma.

[ Cole ] Yeah, instead of that, what did you do to the zombie back then, why did it attack the big guy that chased us?

Cole had both of his hands out while explaining, then tucking those hands back into his pants after finishing.

[ Denma ] *sigh*, I'll explain later, we got to move.

Denma got up and looked towards the area where the undead had wondered off to.

[ Cole ] Fine, but where do we go?

Cole frowned with his eyes closed, trying to figure out their next course of action.

Gerald looked behind them and up at the apartments, noticing that most of the windows were not covered in sheets.

[ Gerald ] How about we got into an apartment complex and find a room there?

Gerald pointed at the apartment complex he was eyeing earlier.

Denma examined the windows and noticed that there were a lot of clear windows, that must've meant that there were barely any people.

[ Denma ] Great idea!

Denma smiled and went first towards the door to enter the complex.

Once he neared the door, he spotted a number pad, the door was protected with a security code.

[ Cole ] How do we get in-

Gerald broke down the door with his shoulder and looked at Cole while Denma laughed.

[ Gerald ] What was it?

[ Denma ] Hahaha!

Cole frowned like a little kid and kicked rocks on the ground while shrugging.

[ Cole ] Nothing.

The three of them entered the complex.