—
As Reya and the others walked into the apartment, it became obvious what conditions the former residents used to live in. Shattered glass, food containers scattered around, and dust collecting in almost every area.
It was obvious that whoever lived here had not cleaned for a very long time.
Reya could still get a slight whiff of the air in the space through her mask. It felt and smelled quite stuffy. She felt a… strange sense of unease all of a sudden, like her instincts were telling her that something was up.
"Hey… check this out," Jun-liang had called out, crouching down at a table a bit further away.
As the group came over, Evonie quickly peered over Jun-liang's shoulder to see what he was looking at. "What's up?" she asked.
On the table was a small, rather old-looking picture of a little girl and an older woman, presumably the mother. After distinguishing the familiar face, they confirmed something vital.
"Fiora and her mom… Who would've known they lived like this?" Thalia pointed out, her eyes sweeping over the old picture and the surroundings. She eventually straightened up, slowly starting to recall what she heard from Fiora before.
"Fiora mentioned that her mom started acting weird quite some time ago. It was likely that her mother became infected, thus causing the change in behavior. Perhaps the mother is still nearby," Thalia explained.
Reya glanced at the doors up ahead. Many of the doors were left open, but only one remained closed. She slowly walked towards it, but her gut feeling only intensified. Something was very off, she thought. She instead decided to remain rooted in place.
The other members accompanied her, noticing the door as well. After exchanging a few looks, Jun-liang stepped forward to try and open the door. When he realized it was locked, he quickly rotated his body and slammed at the door using his shoulder and upper body. After a few more attempts, they had opened a bedroom, one that seemed quite neat, actually.
They first saw a woman lying motionlessly on the ground. She was undeniably infected, judging by the pale discoloration of her skin and a festering open wound on her arm, which likely was the cause of her infection in the first place.
She also had a few other wounds, ones that probably formed while her body deteriorated. What stood out, however, was the fact that one of her wrists was bound tightly by a rope to the leg of the bed.
Reya, with some confusion, noticed the woman was completely motionless.
"… Is she dead?" she thought to herself.
She approached the body, stepping closer to confirm its state.
A few other members chose to do their own thing. Thalia stood near the door, head turned to the living room outside. She could probably imagine Fiora's small body walking around and having to take care of herself alone.
Jun-liang was in the bedroom checking drawers and closets, deciding to take some of Fiora's clothing and belongings to bring it back for her. He'd seen her dressed in Thalia's smaller clothes, and he couldn't help but feel bad for the child when he saw her constantly getting her shirt stuck onto various corners and edges.
Evonie, on the other hand, was focused on the bed. A few steps away from the body of the woman, on the mattress, was a pen and a small notebook. When she opened the book to see its contents, she saw a bunch of messy but readable daily entries. One read:
It's been so long since ferals started appearing, and I always had to remind Fiora how she should be careful. I've sheltered her from them for months, but who would've known that I'd be attacked by one during an attempt to restock resources? I can't tell anyone else about this, but I needed to get this off my chest.
Another entry, probably a few days after the first one:
I've been infected. I don't know why, but there are voices… nightmares… every second. And they're driving me crazy. I'm sorry Fiora, I can't control myself sometimes when I hurt you.
Finally, there came a last entry. There weren't many entries at all, probably due to the fact that the infection took over too fast.
I can't control it anymore. The days are getting longer. I haven't gotten much sleep… not when I can't tell between my nightmares and reality with all these voices. I know I've lost control, so I'll be locking myself up and tying myself here. I mustn't hurt Fiora anymore.
With the last sentence, Evonie's eyes locked onto the ink on the paper. So that was how it was?
Suddenly, everyone was alarmed when they heard a loud thud and sounds of struggling.
—
Reya felt stunned when the originally motionless woman suddenly raised her head, bloodshot eyes and a stiff hand yanking her by a leg. She felt her back slam against the floor, stifling a yelp when she felt nails dig into the skin of her legs. She forced herself to pull out the knife she had stored in a knife sheath on her belt, quickly aiming a stab at the feral's head.
I got slammed… again!? Seriously, what do these creatures have against me…
But her stab had been a tad bit too late. It was only after trying to pull away from its body that she saw the bite wound on her thigh. The creature was alarmingly fast, and she hadn't even registered that she was bitten until she felt the sharp pain afterward.
Did I… just get bitten?
Regardless, she got back up to her feet despite the pain. She limped while stepping backward, creating space between her and the Feral.
The feral, now with renewed strength and vigor, broke free of its bind due to having been agitated. The other members had walked over by now, Thalia and Jun-liang pulling out their respective weapons.
Reya didn't hesitate to stab a hole into the feral's eyes when it lunged, the force of the creature's struggles making her stagger backwards a bit. Jun-liang and Thalia approached the feral, grabbing one arm each.
'Kick it down, we'll help you!" Jun-liang exclaimed.
Reya decided to end the fight as quickly as possible. She kicked the feral's legs with her uninjured leg. When it fell over with the help of the two, she persistently stomped on its head to try and incapacitate it.
Evonie came from behind and pulled Reya away, firmly holding one of her arms.
"That's enough. Let Jun and Lia fight it," Evonie ordered, her tone uncharacteristically severe.
The adrenaline faded from Reya, and she began feeling the injuries she had sustained. The partly healed bruises on her back were sure to return worse due to her fall, and she felt the stabbing pain of the bite mark on her thigh.
A strange sensation clouded her mind. The sound of Evonie calling her name sounded distant, and she could've sworn she felt something invade her mind.
What's going on? My head's… so foggy…
Reya felt Evonie change her grip to hold her by the waist, and her legs slowly began giving out underneath her. She didn't sustain injuries that would've normally affected her this way, so why was she…
However, she noticed Evonie held her up with surprising strength. Was Ev always this strong?
"Ev—what…" Reya mumbled. When she felt her vision darken however, all she could hear was distant yet incessant sounds of Evonie calling her name.
—
Evonie stared at the unconscious Reya, unsure of what to do. The friend she had always watched over… had gotten injured during the few minutes she looked away?
I was focused on something else for one minute. One minute!
She could feel Reya's heart still beating steadily, but her own heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest. She suddenly felt a chilling sensation join her stress.
Evonie abruptly stumbled, her mind plagued by a sudden migraine paired with uncontrollable thoughts. A sensation she was all too familiar with, if anything.
Seriously, out of all times?!
Her mind was consumed by voices, but not ones that she could control, and she grew lost in those thoughts again...
She's injured again. Do you understand? She. is. hurt. again. Weren't YOU supposed to watch over her?! SHE ONLY GOT HURT AGAIN. That only goes to show how damn WEAK you are. SHE NEEEDS SOMEONE BETTER. When have you EVER been of help to her—
Evonie forced herself to shut off those thoughts, stumbling as she dragged Reya to the side and reached into her bag. She pulled out a pill, swallowing it while Jun-liang and Lia were preoccupied.
As her headache faded away along with those voices, her thoughts began spiraling a little.
Reya got bitten? Does that mean she'll be infected… too? Wait…
But the feral only bit her, and a typical case of infection came when an open wound was introduced to feral blood. She hadn't experimented or seen any studies about what would happen when someone was only bitten by a feral.
Her fading headache was replaced with a sensation of anxiety, her eyes glued onto Reya's face.
You keep getting injured. Why did you have to get so close to the feral? Why won't you worry about your health?
…
And why do Ikeep worrying about your health?
Evonie was brought back to the present when Thalia shook her shoulder. It seemed the two had taken down the creature, its tied-up body struggling in the rope that they had brought along for emergencies.
Jun-liang had been looking at Evonie's strange expression for a while, frowning as he questioned her slightly.
"What's… with that expression?"
Evonie internally scoffed, opting not to explain whatever just happened.
"What's with your face?"
Evonie gave no further response, instead slipping her hands under Reya's back and knees to pick her up. She'd been quietly working out in her spare time to help more during missions, and she didn't think she'd have to use her strength this way anytime soon.
Jun-liang huffed softly, muttering under his breath.
"The both of you are weird. Arguing one moment and this the next… and also—I was just asking a question—why are you such a prick?"
Thalia elbowed Jun-liang, signaling for him to shut up. When he did, she started to walk out of the room, calling the rest of them to follow suit.
"Let's get back to the base. Reya can get some first aid when we're there." she explained, her pace slightly more urgent as they left the building.
—
Evonie was rushing. The moment they entered the base, she threw off her shoes and went straight to the infirmary. She could hear Warner's confused voice as he questioned the other members, obviously clueless about the situation.
However… she couldn't care less. The other two could explain the situation theirselves.
She entered the small room and set Reya down on the bed. The current space was also used as an infirmary back when her father was still around, and she'd lost count of the number of times she'd seen Reya in this very room.
She pulled out some wipes, cotton pads, and antiseptic solution. She started with wiping down all the wounds, cleaning them up before applying anything else. There were a few wounds from the nails of the Feral and a deep bite mark on Reya's thigh. The bite was the worst, with the surrounding skin inflamed and blood dripping from the wound.
Afterwards, she dabbed the antiseptic solution on the wound. She set aside everything else and went to get some gauze and wrapping. When she began to wrap the wound, she started to feel more and more troubled.
Why did Reya pass out? She wasn't exhausted at any point, and she knew Reya wouldn't go down from a simple fall and a bite. What if…
Evonie's thoughts went blank for a second, a possibility coming to mind.
Evonie accidentally came into contact with Feral blood during one of her experiments a long time ago, which caused her to experience… symptoms, ever since. She passed out immediately after the first contact, and only woke up after a few hours.
... Would it be the same for Reya?
—