◆ Chapter 4: Coming From There is Unfair
WE grasped the general direction of the commotion from the screams and the steady stream of fleeing people. After running through several streets, we finally come out on a tiny back road where it is.
“BWAAHH!”
“Of course it’s a zombie…”
How did it get inside the walls? Questions can come later though, because I have to do something about the small boy who is scooting away from a zombie on his butt first. The zombie slowly ambles toward him.
“Lex!”
“URAAAAAAAAH!”
Lex springs into action faster than I call on him. He deflects the zombie with his shield and stands between it and the boy. I rush in behind him and help the child up.
“It’s going to be all right,” I say.
“Miss Priestess! Mommy…Mommy is…!”
It appears the zombie is this boy’s mother. If I look past the grotesque rot and decay, the long hair and figure does appear to belong to a woman. I’d better save his mother soon before this image gets burned into his mind and becomes a permanent trauma.
“Cia, Nady, take care of him for me!”
“You can entrust him to us!”
“O-Okay!”
I leave the boy to them and assist Lex. He takes the initiative by knocking the zombie back and pinning it to the ground, careful not to cause too much harm in the process. I slip in and touch her leg before she can break free.
“Another excellent rescue, Lady Mizuha.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you, Lex.”
We have dealt with countless zombies before—we’re used to it by now. The zombie reverts back to human while we’re catching our breath.
The young woman definitely resembles the boy who called her mommy. Still in a confused daze, she confirms her body is completely unzombified before running over to her son and hugging him. They revel in each other’s safety for a minute, then look up at me with teary smiles.
“Thank you! Thank you!”
“Thank you for saving Mommy, Miss Priestess!”
I don’t do it for the thanks, but seeing their smiles fills me with joy. It acts as a reminder about why I chose to stay in this world.
“Mizuha! Get away from there! Quick!” Nady cries out in panicked warning.
“…Huh?”
Unsure of what I’m supposed to be getting away from, I stand there dumbfounded. I just finished purifying the only zombie—the threat should be gone. Where am I supposed to be running to?
“SKRIEEEEE!”
An unsettling screech comes from the sky behind me. I whirl around and look up. My view is blotted out by a black bird. It looks like a crow, but…one eye is missing, its wings are tattered, and it’s covered in rot—a zombie bird, no doubt about it. But there’s something I need to be more concerned with than its ghastly appearance.
The zombie bird is diving right for my face!
“Uwah!”
I quickly move to the side, barely escaping the bird’s trajectory by the skin of my teeth. The flying zombie whizzes by me at a tremendous speed. I would’ve had a hole ripped out of me right about now if it had hit me. I swallow my sigh of relief and shudder when I see what it’s doing. The zombie bird has ascended high into the sky and is circling back to dive bomb me again.
Its descent is even faster and sharper than before. It’s right on me. I might be worse off than I thought.
All I can see is the zombie bird’s gnarly wingspan. A fraction of a second before its beak tears into my nose, I’m slammed from the side. The world spins from the impact and I hit the ground on my back. Luckily, I didn’t whack my head. What happened?
✦ ✦ ✦
The face I open my eyes to says it all. Lex. He must’ve taken me into his arms and dove out of the bird’s way. I wish I could relax thinking I’m safe now, but the zombie bird is still gunning for me. I have to keep moving.
Or that’s what I thought until I spot the zombie bird where I had just been standing. It’s a splattered mess on the ground. It probably swept down too fast—it couldn’t pull up in time.
“Urgh…” I squeak, my stomach twisting just looking at it.
“Are you uninjured, m’lady?” Lex asks.
“I-I’m okay…” I sputter. My thoughts instantly shift from the zombie splatter to something entirely unrelated—my current position.
Lex is straddling me. His face is so close that if I just lift my head slightly, our foreheads will collide. Frankly, this is too close for comfort.
“I’m so glad to hear that…” Lex sounds relieved from the bottom of his heart.
I can’t help being conscious of his tranquil face when I know it’s an expression meant solely for me. It’s really unfair that his face is so ridiculously handsome. But any more of this and my face is a goner—it’s so hot, it feels like it’s going to erupt.
“Uhh, Lex? Thank you for saving me, but…um, I would appreciate it if you got off me now…”
I beat around the bush too much—Lex doesn’t get it right away. But when he does, he leaps off me like a cat frightened by a sudden noise.
“M-My humblest apologies!” he stammers.
“It’s okay. You were only helping me. Yeah. It doesn’t bother me one bit! Thanks.” I accept his proffered hand and stand.
Seeing as Lex won’t look at me, I think it’s safe to say he’s just as conscious of what happened. I’m not sure if that makes me happy or just plain embarrassed.
Cia and Nady run over while we’re still being awkward with each other.
“Are you all right, Big Sister?”
“Yeah. I made it out without a scratch thanks to Lex. Thank you for the warning, Nady.”
“I didn’t do anything much. I only called out to you.”
“It is thanks to your word of warning that I acted as fast as I did. You have my gratitude, Lady Nady.” Lex bows to her.
“Please don’t thank me!” Nady shrinks away. She’s too modest. If not for her warning, I’m not sure what would have happened to me. That goes to show just how unexpected and unusual this zombie encounter was.
I shift my gaze back to the zombie bird smear. “Well, this was a new one…”
“It was likely a bird, m’lady. Or to be precise, a zombie that used to be a bird.”
“I thought so…”
It has wings, a long beak, and talons. As for the torso, it’s too contorted and gross to make out, but it’s totally rotten. Interestingly enough, it’s about the same size as the crows in Japan.
“That’s the monster that turned Mommy into a zombie!” the boy shouts, pointing at the deformed bird.
Lex and I share a worried look.
“I thought it strange for zombies to appear within the castle walls during the day without the gate falling…” Lex says.
“Now they can come from the sky? Ugh...another pest to add to the list.”
Zombie birds can fly over the walls, infect people inside, and potentially do lethal damage with those dive bombs. Judging by what I’ve seen of their movement, zombie birds and animals are unaffected by sunlight.
“I guess we can’t claim it’s safe during the day or within the walls anymore,” I sigh.
“So it seems. This requires immediate countermeasures to be put in place,” Lex concludes.