100 Systems Invasion

15. Feeding Zombie-likes

Amy was back to driving her second-hand car, leaving Seth slumped on his passenger seat, looking out the window where green trees passed by.

After hours of driving, they finally arrived at Cold Spring. They just have to find someplace to stay. It would be better if they found an empty building for themselves.

“What was that?”

He knew what the blonde meant, but nothing came to mind, so he merely shrugged his shoulders in answer.

“She called you Jet Lynx,” she said again, repeating in case he needed clearance.

“I know. I heard her.” Seth exhaled noisily, tapping the window glass with the back of his forefinger. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Why don’t you ask your dear System?”

Huffing again, Seth picked up his phone. It was uncharacteristically silent. However, given their remote location from the big cities, he figured this piece was only because there was no infectore in sight. Well, except for the one locked inside the trunk.

Upon touching the white donut icon of the User Interface, the System displayed the familiar futuristic blue theme. It felt a little silly when he said, “Who the fuck is Izuka?”

It took a moment, but his phone screen popped up with an answer.

[Show 4.863 records for ‘Izuka.’]

Many names appeared, but there were too many. Besides, what was her full name again?

“It’s a waste of time,” he said instead, pocketing his phone again. He didn’t need a constant update on how the world was being destroyed currently. He had seen a very small show of how an infectore munched on someone; he didn’t need a reminder for it.

“But you said it yourself, it’s strange. Her entire self is strange, now that I think about it.”

Amy was right. Aside from her generosity, the whiteboard where she plotted, and her urgency to fly for a holiday, the fact that how she offered her store for them was fishy. As if she was stocking up the store for them in this kind of situation.

“She knows something.”

“Look for Himeyaka Izuka.”

Seth did as told, not even grumbling as he would usually do. Amy should have told him her full name in the first place. This time, however, the System displayed fewer results.

[Show 301 records for Himeyaka Izuka.]

Seth was about to get down to it, but Marnie woke up with a start. Her bleary eyes teared up all around, accompanied by her wobbling lips. “Please don’t cry, I can’t handle another scream right in my ears.”

Marnie stared at him, and she started to sob. This was not good.

“Can you not make her cry? Gosh!” Amy turned to face Marnie and smiled at her. “Are you scared? Did you have a nightmare?”

The six-year-old in the back seat shook her head but looked a little fearfully in Seth’s direction.

“Oh, don’t mind him. He’s not the best brother in the world, but I’m sure he’ll adore you in no time. Just give him a chance, okay?”

Marnie nodded, despite Seth’s scowl. She smiled at him, showing some missing teeth. She looked cute, but he wouldn’t tell her that. The kid would be glued to him, which was the worst thing that could happen.

Thankfully, after that, Amy went back to look at the road. It wouldn’t be funny if they avoided infectores attack, only to be found dead from crashing the car against a tree.

“Seth?” came the kid’s voice.

“What?”

“I want my mommy.”

Seth silently grumbled in irritation, but he tried to placate her nonetheless. “Don’t worry, I won’t steal her from you.”

“I want mommy now.”

“She’s not here. She has things to do, remember?”

“You said she’s dead?”

He sighed in exasperation. “Then why are you asking about her?”

Amy glared dagger at him, “Can you not talk to her like that? Geez!”

It was a wonder that Marnie didn’t wail again. Instead, she was chewing on her bottom lip, sulking with a massive scowl on her face. On a second look, she definitely mirrored what Seth was currently doing.

However, that moment didn’t last long because a hand suddenly shot through the backseat, reaching for Marnie’s own hand.

A high-pitched shriek was heard, Amy stepped on the brake and sent both her and Seth to bumping the dashboard. Seth recovered first, getting out, and then wrenched the back door open. He tried to release the ashen hand from Marnie without success.

“Seth! Seth!” the six-year-old cried out, clutching her half-brother’s hand in return. She didn’t let go, too afraid that the hand would pull her back to the trunk.

It seemed that Wade the infectore had lost his patience.

“Oh my God! What should I do? Oh God, oh God!” Amy harshly pulled at her hair, looking back and forth at Wade’s hand and the road ahead. She already stopped the car, Seth didn’t see why she even looked at the front. Her cousin freaking tried to eat his half-sibling, for God’s sake.

Wade the infectore’s grip on Marnie was too tight. He couldn’t even move a finger off. Just when he thought he was pretty strong after an upgrade through the System and easily killed an infectore with his kick, he couldn’t even release a newly-turned one’s grip.

“Get my knife!”

“You’re not chopping Marnie’s arm off!” Amy stared in horror, frantically shaking her head no.

“Of course, I’m not! Are you crazy?!”

The realization set in. “You’re not cutting Wade’s arm off either!”

“He’s not letting her go!”

Marnie’s terrified screech didn’t make it better. Between Wade the infectore’s guttural sound and the sales girl’s rant, Seth wanted to free his half-sister and set his head on fire.

“Just get me my fucking knife!”

Finally, Amy moved to help. She rummaged around the back they filled with the freebies from Izuka and pulled out the Hot Spray.

Seth almost jaw-dropped at her stupidity. “Do you really think spraying his hand will work?!”

“You don’t know before you try it!”

“You–“

“Fine! I’ll do it myself!” Amy directed the spray to Wade, the infectore’s hand, after telling Marnie to shut her eyes.

And true to her belief. Wade, the infectore, groaned loudly before he released Marnie. The ashen hand relaxed, laying like a listless robot cut free from its power source.

“See?”

He was annoyed at her proud face and the confidence overflowing from her, but he had to give her applause. Even if it was in his head.

However, unlike earlier, Wade the infectore didn’t fall asleep like Amy guessed. That side effect probably only affected him when the Hot Spray hit him in the face. In turn, Wade the infectore’s hand struggled like crazy, treating the backseat apart as he emitted more guttural sounds.

Seth quickly got his half-sister out of the car, hugging her like it was the end of time. That analogy probably fits more with this current state of the world. Probably, he had to repeat.

The blonde salesgirl followed suit, running away from the car before she caught the infection. Thankfully, she had turned off the engine, so the car would be fine later. Except for the big hole her infectore cousin caused anyway.

“What do we do now?” Amy asked in a ragged breath, her bangs disarrayed in front of her face.

“Let’s run first.”

However, even if Seth said so, he didn’t run along the asphalt road. Once he deemed it far enough but still within sight of the abandoned car, he led Amy to hide behind some trees and bushes on the roadside.

The blonde sales girl asked, raising an eyebrow at the way he planted his ass on the dirty ground. “What are we doing here?”

“Waiting,” he said without giving any emotion.

So they waited.

Amy checked on Marnie, making sure there was no scratch or visible wound. Thankfully, there were none, but it didn’t excuse her from being traumatized. Well, she was already traumatized, to begin with, but she wasn’t the only one.

From a distance, they couldn’t see how Wade the infectore fared. But if he succeeded in getting himself out of the trunk, they would immediately see him out of the car.

They continued to wait, and Amy almost decked Seth in the face for how bored she was. “Shit. The infectore number keeps on growing.”

“As expected.”

“And we’re doing nothing here.”

“Doing nothing is better than getting infected and eat brains for breakfast,” Seth commented, then felt a small hand tug at his shirt. He only realized now that he was still holding Marnie to his chest. Awkwardly, he put her down on the ground. “What?”

“I’m hungry, Seth.”

“Is that news?”

Amy really decked the back of his head now. “That’s not how you respond to a hungry kid.”

Seth scoffed, “Like you can do any better? All foods in the car. You get it, you become that infectore’s food.”

“’That infectore’ is my cousin, Wade.”

“Same difference. The case still stands.”

Amy huffed, but only after she promised the six years old that they would get the food soon. “Although, what are we waiting here for, anyway?”

They heard heavy metal music traveling in the air as if on cue. Not long after, they saw a modified van coming from the other side of the road at a slow pace.

“That,” Seth grinned, eyes lit up like Christmas light, “Is what we are waiting for.”

The modified van passed them. Then it stopped just a few feet after it passed Amy’s second-hand car. Soon, six people got out of the van, mostly dressed in leather or black and bright pink. They surrounded the car, peering down through the window and opening doors.

Nothing prepared them for what had to come from the torn backseat.

It’s feeding time.