Chapter 8 Santi; Friends not Enemies

Rianita rushed out of the public transportation to catch the red car. I pulled her hand, but the narrow-eyed girl refused fiercely. She ran while saying curse words to the car, which was already driving away, in a loud voice. I glared after her because I was afraid that her loud voice would invite the undead.

Luckily, Rianita's body was a little shorter when I covered her mouth and took her to hide in an empty house. Her ear-splitting voice apparently succeeded in attracting a horde of undead from behind us. I closed the door and then covered the window with the torn curtains for protection.

Rianita widened her eyes as she peered at a group of living corpses with broken faces and scary growling sounds behind the curtains as if they were looking for the source of the sound that invited them. She moved back, but I prevented her from making even the slightest sound. I put my index finger to his lips and motioned for her to remain silent.

One of the undead turned around for a while with a blank stare toward this house. Rianita covered her mouth while taking a breath, and I prepared with an arrow behind my back. The undead staggered, forcing us to move back very slowly. The undead's two peeled hands tried to knock on the window glass.

Reflexively, we both ducked to protect ourselves. My heart was about to burst out when a face riddled with rotten, gaping wounds peeked out, looking for prey. His shapeless nose sniffed. A moment later, he left with his gang.

We both breathed a sigh of relief when the undead no longer crossed the road ahead. But I'm not sure if they're still roaming around this area. I looked around and then said,

"You wait here," I said, looking at Rianita.

"What do you want to do?" Rianita whispered, lowering her voice. "The undead are still outside, aren't you afraid? Let's stay here."

I shook my head. "We need to get out quickly; I'll go out to make sure they're really gone."

"You're crazy, aren't you," mocked Rianita.

"What's crazier when you do something without thinking about it," I quipped back and then left the girl.

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In the end, the two of us sneaked out holding a kitchen knife that we found in the house. Both my eyes and ears became so sharp while scouting outside the house that I didn't know where the undead had gone. It could be that they are walking following another sound source or waiting for prey to come towards them.

Rianita walked in front of me now and then, her face so worried. I'm sure this incident made her think a little better, not to be careless. No words came out unless we gave each other signs to continue walking towards the main road.

Rianita raised her right hand in the air at me when we were at a crossroads. She peeked and then looked at me anxiously. I followed her movements, glancing at what she had just seen.

My eyes widened. Four undead were devouring a bloodhound in the middle of the road. Seeing them actually makes me nauseous. However, besides the dog, there was another victim who could no longer be recognized. Maybe he is a dog owner. Unfortunately, his life had to end in the hungry stomach of the undead.

"We have to go," asked Rianita in fear.

I shook my head. "There's a big road there. We won't be able to turn back."

"But, there is that creature there. Do you want to die here?" he said with a little emotion, looking at me sharply.

"You have to learn to survive, Ta," I said, then left her and chose to face the four corpses.

I slipped the knife in the left pocket of my bag and chose to use arrows to kill them from a distance. The undead turned their heads, and then they came at me like a runner's speed. With a quick movement, I shot their heads with arrows.

One of them collapsed when the sharp iron-tipped bow penetrated the head. Then I shot another arrow.

Damn!

The arrow missed and only hit another undead's chest. Their eyes glared at me, making me impatient and grabbing a knife.

I ducked when one of the corpses wanted to grab my shoulder, and then I pushed his body and put him on top. I stuck a sharp knife right in his right eyeball.

Another undead attacked me, but I managed to dodge it. His body collapsed on top of the corpse. With a quick movement, I stabbed him in the back of the head.

"Watch out!" Rianita exclaimed, making me look back.

Another shirtless living corpse almost bit my right shoulder. I rolled away, but the corpse attacked me again. I held his hands back so his damaged face wouldn't bite me. I kicked him until his rotten body rolled to the left side.

In the next second, Rianita stuck the knife right in the undead's temple before I attacked her. We both stare for a moment. Our breaths collided. The fight with four corpses was really tense; even a small mistake might not have saved our lives.

"Thank you," I said as I got up and cleaned the pebbles stuck to the back of my trousers.

"You're crazy, San. Your life is more valuable than killing them," said Rianita, looking disgusted at the dead living corpse.

"If we don't do it, do we have to wait for them to leave? This is the only way, kill or be killed."

The shoulder-length-haired girl was silent, looking at me, who was stained with the blood of some undead. I stepped ahead of him towards the main road, which was not far from our position.

"After this, we will look for a shop to stock up on food. A pharmacy or health facility. I need some medicine. Tonight, we will look for a high place or a house that is safe to sleep in."

"Why don't we just use a car?" asked the girl.

"It's not safe yet. I'm afraid if we use a car, we'll find a dead end or a road blocked by other cars."

We fell silent again when we reached the main road leading to Bekasi city center. As far as the eye could see, there were rows of scattered vehicles, damaged stalls, walls with protest signs written on them, and even corpses lying on the road.

Rianita shuddered in horror when she saw a man's stomach whose intestines had been exposed. I saw that I could only hold back my nausea. I really have to go on a meat diet if I keep seeing that corpse.

"They are undead victims?" Rianita asked.

I nodded. "Yes, maybe."

Rianita approached the corpse, which was infested with flies and maggots gnawing at its stomach. The girl thrust the knife straight into the man's forehead.

She turned to me and said. "Kill or be killed."

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