"Tysone!" Rei screamed, rushing towards him. Saeko, Takashi, and Saya all turned, the adrenaline of the fight ebbing. They saw Tysone lying on the floor, a pool of blood slowly spreading under him, staining the tile red. His halberd lay beside him, its axe-blade coated in the Zombie Hulk's black ichor.
Saya was the first to reach him, her face pale with shock and worry. "No, no, no…" She murmured, kneeling beside his prone form. The others quickly gathered around.
"Is he…?" Takashi couldn't bring himself to finish the question, his voice trembling.
Saya leaned close, her ears straining. After a tense moment, she sighed in relief. "He's breathing. He's unconscious."
Rei, who was kneeling beside him, gently pulled up his shirt to assess the damage. Her breath hitched at the sight. "It's… not too deep, thank goodness. But he's lost a fair amount of blood."
Saeko handed her a strip of cloth. "Here. Apply pressure to the wound."
Rei nodded, taking the cloth and pressing it firmly against the slash marks. The cloth quickly darkened with blood, and she had to use both hands to keep the pressure steady. "We need to get him back to the base."
Tysone's eyes fluttered open, his gaze unfocused. "What…"
Saya's voice, thick with worry, filled his ears. "Ty! Oh, thank god. Don't move. You're hurt pretty badly." She was leaning over him, her face a mask of concern. Behind her, he could see Saeko, Rei, and Takashi, all looking similarly relieved yet worried.
"What happened?" Tysone murmured, trying to sit up, but the sharp pain in his side made him gasp.
"The big one got you good." Takashi said, his voice tense. "But you finished it off."
Tysone looked past them at the monstrous corpse. "We won, then?"
Rei nodded, her face pale. "Yes, but we almost lost you."
"Stay still, Ty. We'll get you patched up at base." Saya's voice was firm but gentle.
He nodded, too tired and in too much pain to argue.
Saeko, always the practical one, started directing the others. "Let's get him on a stretcher. We need to move him carefully."
The silence in the wake of the Zombie Hulk's demise was thick, broken only by ragged breathing and the distant, persistent drumming of rain against the mall's roof. Tysone's blood was a stark, vivid crimson against the dull, grime-covered tiles.
"We need to move. Now." Saeko's voice, though strained, cut through the shock. Her gaze swept their surroundings, assessing lingering threats. "The noise from that fight… it won't go unnoticed for long." She carefully tucked the now-dim crystal into a secure pouch on her belt, the faint, unhealthy warmth of it pressing against her.
Rei, her face grim, was already working on Tysone. "His pulse is thready but there. The bleeding… I'm applying pressure, but these slashes are nasty. He needs proper medical attention, stitches, and disinfectant." She looked up, her eyes meeting Saeko's. "We need to get him back to Shizuka-sensei."
Saya scrambled to her feet, wincing as pain flared in her ribs where the Hulk had clipped her. "Good." Saeko nodded curtly. "Takashi, you take point. Rei, you and Saya will manage the front of the stretcher. I'll take the rear and watch our backs. We go back the way we came. Quietly. Quickly."
Takashi, his rifle at the ready, nodded. His expression was stoic, but his eyes betrayed his worry for Tysone. He scanned the corridor ahead, then began to move, his steps measured and silent.
Lifting Tysone was a strain, even with Saya's enhanced strength contributing. He was a dead weight. Rei directed Saya, their movements awkward at first, but they soon found a rhythm. Saeko, her injured shoulder aching with every step, moved with her usual lethal grace, her bokken held ready, her gaze constantly sweeping their rear.
The journey back through the mall's corridors was a nerve-wracking ordeal. Every distant scrape, every drip of water, every shadow seemed to be out for them.
Tysone groaned softly a few times, his brow furrowed in pain, each sound sending a fresh jolt of anxiety through the group.
Saya, her own pain a dull throb, focused on Tysone. Guilt gnawed at her. She'd punched the monster, yes, but then she'd been swatted aside like an insect. If she had been faster, stronger, maybe Tysone wouldn't have had to make that final, desperate charge. Maybe he wouldn't be… this.
They reached the central atrium where they'd left Kohta. The makeshift barricade was still there. Behind it, Kohta was instantly on alert as they emerged, his rifle snapping up before he recognized them. His eyes widened in shock when he saw Tysone on the stretcher.
"Tysone-san!" Kohta rushed forward, his usual jovial demeanor gone, replaced by stark concern. "What happened?!"
Officer Nakaoka Asami and the small group of survivors peered out from behind their flimsy cover, their faces etched with fear and a dawning horror as they saw the state of the group's leader. Asami took a hesitant step forward, her blue eyes wide. "Is he…?"
"He's alive." Saeko stated, her voice flat with exhaustion. "But badly injured. We dealt with the large one. Kohta, any activity here?"
Kohta shook his head, his gaze fixed on Tysone. "Quiet. Too quiet. After you left, the… the screaming stopped. We heard the fight, though. Sounded like the whole mall was coming down." He looked at the blood staining Tysone's clothes and Rei's makeshift bandage. "We need to get him out of here. Shizuka-sensei…"
"Exactly." Saeko agreed. "The Hum-Vee is still dead. We're on foot."
Asami Nakaoka finally found her voice, though it was shaky. "The… the creature you fought… is it… gone?"
"Yes." Takashi confirmed, his gaze sweeping the atrium. "But this place isn't safe. We need to leave. All of us."
Saeko was about to reply when Tysone suddenly jerked forward and spat out a mouthful of blood. When his eyes fluttered open again, they were cloudy. Tears of blood streamed down his cheeks.
The air grew colder. Rei frowned. Around the deep cuts from the monster, dark purple lines, like tiny angry snakes, were crawling under his skin.
They spread outwards, a spiderweb of infection.
Right...
Infection.
Realization dawned on everyone's faces. "No..." Rei whispered. "It can't be."
Tysone was turning.
Tysone coughed up more blood, his breath coming in ragged, wet gasps. He tried to speak, but the words were lost in a gurgle of blood and phlegm.
They immediately set him down.
The lanky survivor from earlier, perhaps to incit even more unrest, yelled. "He's turning into one of 'Them'!! He has to be killed—!" His eyes turned into wide, terrified plates when Kotha pointed the barrel of his rifle at him. The man shut his mouth and backed away slowly, his face paling.
"..."
"No!" Saya cried out. "I won't allow that!"
The look that she gave to each one of the survivors was unlike the Saya the group knew. She looked downright murderous; whether Tysone became a zombie or not, she knew who she'd rather get rid of in that moment. Saeko's grip on her wooden sword became bone-white. Her face was a mixture of terrible sadness and the cold steel of duty. Despite the pain the thought brought her, she knew that if Tysone became one of them, there was only one option.
In that moment of hesitancy, the group merely watched as Tysone began to undergo a grotesque transformation. His eyes turned milky white. The dark purple lines under his skin grew and expanded, spreading like venom. His skin started to darken, turning into a sickly ashy color.
Saya was frozen, horrified, as she witnessed the grotesque transformation of her friend. 'What to do?! What to do?! WHAT TO DO?!'
Wasn't she a goddamn genius?
Was there really nothing she could do?!
Tysone, the man who had led them, who had kept them together, who had made sure that they'd all survived the apocalypse, was turning into a zombie right in front of their very eyes. And there was nothing that any of them could do about it.
Saya gritted her teeth so hard that it hurt.
Tysone's body twitched and spasmed. His mouth opened, but what came out was a guttural, inhuman growl. He immediately clammed his mouth shut, as if rejecting the transformation. Despite the cloudiness in his eyes, there was still a glint of unwillingness deep within them.
A glimmer of resistance.
A glimmer…
Saya's eyes lit up with desperate hope. 'Please!'
"The crystal!"
"What?" Rei asked.
"The crystal!" Saya repeated harshly, turning to Saeko. "Where's the crystal?! We can use it to save him!"
There was a hint of doubt and uncertainty in the group's eyes. They exchanged wary glances, unsure if Saya was proposing a viable solution or grasping at straws in her desperation to save Tysone. Saeko, however, wasn't one to dismiss an idea without consideration. She swiftly reached into her pocket and pulled out the crystal.
Saya urgently took it from her and, without a moment's hesitation, pressed it firmly against Tysone's chest, where the gashes ran deep across his muscular frame. The crystal began to emit a soft, pulsating light before seemingly dissolving into tiny sparkling dust that disappeared into the cuts on his chest.
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at [email protected]/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.