"En! Calm down, they're going to die anyway. They've got nothing left," Olive said, taking her hand.
"You know what, I've got an idea," Olive whispered her thoughts into En's ear.
Sometime later, Jade and her partner were tied to chairs. Olivia rummaged through her bag and pulled out a marker.
"So, what should I draw on him?" she asked thoughtfully.
Andy stood leaning her hips against the table, arms crossed over her chest, watching Olive.
Suddenly, the guy began to stir and opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, slowly coming into focus. He saw Olive and didn't react, but he felt Andy's presence and turned to face her.
"En... it's me, Leo... you probably don't recognize us, but... this is Jade — your friend. Please untie us?" the guy pleaded in a pitiful voice. "We've been through so much… so many memories, especially when you saved us, taught us to fight the zombies. You can't just throw all that away..."
Andy was getting more and more irritated, but remained silent, trying to control herself.
"So, you're a suck-up and a traitor. Let's draw something fitting," Olivia said as she began drawing glasses on him.
"And you look so sad, smile a little," Olive added a grin. "And I see deep despair in your eyes," she drew thick eyebrows arched in worry. She giggled wickedly, enjoying the act without fear of consequences. Olive held the marker out to En.
"I think no one needs to vent on them more than you."
"This is childish. Keep it for yourself, suits you better."
At that moment, the guy received a hard punch to the jaw, then to the stomach. He coughed violently, body tensing.
"En… please, forgive us… we're sorry for what we did. But all the evidence pointed to you, we couldn't take the risk… we had to do it," a tear rolled down his cheek. "En, you know I didn't want that… You know I love you. And I know you love me..."
Another punch landed in his gut, making him cough hoarsely. The blow knocked the breath out of him.
"Shut your mouth! You cheated on me the day before they kicked me out into the rain like a stray dog. You stood by like a coward. And you're still a coward… scared of everything," she grabbed an alarm clock and set it. "You've got ten minutes to get out of here — or you're done."
Andy grabbed her bag and opened all the windows so any noise inside the house could be heard outside.
"Let's go, Olive. It's time for us to leave too."
"Yeah, sure," Olive turned around, casting one last look at Andy's former allies.
They walked down the street. Olivia looked at En.
"En, you said you left on your own," she remarked casually. "So… that was your boyfriend?" Olive asked, not waiting for an answer.
Andy clicked her tongue irritably, realizing Olive now knew more than she should, and gripped her backpack strap tightly.
"Ex-boyfriend… though I wouldn't even call him that."
They walked through an alley where a few zombies were distracted by eating some animals, so the girls passed by unnoticed. Andy seemed distant after the encounter, as if she was questioning whether she did the right thing. Whenever Olive glanced at her, Andy's face would quickly return to its usual stoic expression.
Most of the way they walked in silence, houses shifting around them. They reached the edge of the city, where forest surrounded it. On a small rise stood a house, mostly intact.
"Do you think, theoretically, someone could be living there?"
Olive's stomach growled, and she blushed awkwardly.
"I think we need to stop. We haven't eaten all day," Andy looked up and noticed the sun was about to set.
"We don't really have a choice. Let's hope whoever's there won't kick us out."
The girls entered and explored the house. No one seemed to be there — it was unclear whether someone still lived there or if it had been abandoned since the beginning of the apocalypse. They settled in, closed the curtains, and locked two doors: the front one and the one leading to the backyard. While Andy prepared a place to sleep, Olive made food.
Once it was ready, they sat and ate in silence.
"Well, today turned out strange. Just wanted to move quietly, ended up on an adventure," Andy said, placing her empty can on the table and lying on her back.
Olive put away the dishes and lay down next to her. She pulled out her notebook and started writing, then looked over at her companion.
"Why did they kick you out?" Olive asked curiously. "I can't imagine you were guilty. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. It's just... you've looked really down all day. I thought maybe you'd want to get that off your chest," Olive averted her gaze, feeling guilty for prying.
"I was framed," Andy said clearly. "There were seven of us. You saw three. We were a great team, and I had a good relationship with our leader. When people left for scouting missions, zombies would sometimes show up, but we always fought them off. One day, supplies started going missing. Everyone suspected someone in the group was a rat. I was dating Leo at the time. No one suspected me — I helped everyone, went on supply runs. The traitor used that. Our leader found a notebook in my room, supposedly mine, but it was planted. Inside was a plan to get rid of everyone and details about a secret stash — supposedly where the missing supplies were. They all agreed I was guilty and voted me out. So I ended up alone in the rain, in the middle of the night..."
"That must have been so hard. I can only imagine... that's horrible. How did you get through it?" Olive felt a heavy weight in her chest imagining it. She slowly closed her notebook and focused on listening. Moonlight shone through the curtains, softly lighting the room just enough for them to see each other.
"I got over it quickly. And got used to being alone just as fast."
Andy stood and went to the window, staring outside.
"You said you wandered from group to group. And that you kept getting kicked out after a while. Why?"
"I…" Olive started and then suddenly went quiet. It hit her like a jolt — the memory of what happened before she met En, why she took her in. "Well~, it's a long story. I guess I just wasn't useful enough. I acted more for myself than the group… at least, later on," Olive tried to dodge the topic, but it didn't work, so she chose honesty — just not much of it.
While Olive struggled with her explanation, En noticed a strange silhouette three houses away. It stood still, staring — seemingly right at Andy. Olive's voice faded into background noise. Suddenly, a zombie rushed and slammed against the window in front of Andy. She jumped back and quickly regained control. Grabbing her crowbar, she headed outside.
"Stay put and don't come out. If I'm not back in five minutes, lock the door and don't open it for anyone," Andy ordered and ran.
"W–wait! En!" Olive called out in shock.
Her heart pounded. Her legs felt numb, hands trembling. She replayed En's words in her mind: "If I'm not back in five minutes?" What was going on? She began checking what supplies she had in case she needed to help.
Andy could hear the zombie's growls mixing with her own breathing. Adrenaline flooded her system. She shoved the zombie through the window of a nearby building. It tried to dodge, but her strike was too strong — the glass shattered, shards flying everywhere. During the fight, it grabbed her shoulder and threw her to the ground. Glass sliced into her back — the pain was sharp. She clenched her teeth, resisting panic. After about two minutes, the sounds of struggle faded. The air filled with eerie noises — like the zombie trying to fix its broken limbs.
Finally, Andy got up, locked the door behind her. Her body was filthy, clothes torn in places. Her crowbar dripped with dark liquid — likely zombie blood. She leaned against the door, catching her breath, realizing she'd survived — but at a cost.
"En… are you hurt? Are you okay? What happened?" Olive asked, panicking, inspecting her. She grabbed her hand and led her to the living room, pulled out some wipes and started cleaning her hands. Then she hugged Andy. "Don't do that again. Don't say you might not come back," she said, her voice full of sincere worry.
Andy's eyes widened from Olive's closeness and concern. Surprised, she slowly rested her hand on her back.
"I… I'm sorry," Andy said softly. "I just couldn't risk you getting hurt…"
Olive rested her head on Andy's shoulder, trying to calm down. She pulled back slightly to look into her eyes.
"I don't want to be a burden to you. I want you to be able to rely on me too," her eyes shimmered — maybe from tears, maybe from determination.
Andy turned away, not wanting to see her face. She hated seeing weakness — in others, or herself.
"Sorry, but I… I can't trust you…" Andy looked down. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to rely on Olive even a little.
"No, no, I get it. We haven't known each other long. But I'll do my best to earn your trust," the redhead let go and stood up, handing her a pack of wipes.
"Clean yourself up. Then we'll figure out the watch schedule," Olive said, looking away, too embarrassed to meet Andy's eyes.
Andy wiped the dirt from her body, but as soon as she finished, she quickly grabbed a hoodie and put it on, zipping it up fast. Her movements were tense — you could feel the nervousness.
"I'll take the first watch. You can go to sleep," Andy said as she cleaned her crowbar and boots from the black substance.
"Are you sure? You must be exhausted…" Olive said, placing her notebook in her bag, eyeing Andy, who was clearly avoiding her gaze. "Is something wrong?"
"No, it's fine… go to sleep. You haven't slept in almost a day. You need to recover," Andy's voice carried a hint of worry.
She scratched her forearm nervously and returned to the window.
Olive watched her for a moment, but didn't argue.
"Alright, I'll go to sleep then."
She lay down but stayed alert, waiting for Andy to drop her guard, thinking Olive was asleep.
About thirty minutes passed. Andy checked and saw Olive seemingly asleep. She moved to another window and slowly took off her hoodie to examine her wound. Blood trickled from her shoulder — glass shards embedded both big and small. She started pulling out the large ones, but couldn't get the tiny ones.
"Ah… fuck…" she hissed quietly in pain.
The skin there was torn. Dirty. Still bleeding. Andy tried to clean it with wipes and hoped Olive wouldn't notice. She didn't want her to see weakness or think she needed help. Olive, wrapped in a warm blanket, struggled to stay awake. Seeing Andy's behavior, she tensed. Her roommate was mumbling, lifting her hoodie. Olive set aside the blanket and crept closer. Andy was busy tending the wound when Olive placed her hands on her shoulders.
" En, what are you hiding from me? I can see something's wrong. You know you can't handle it like this..." Olive whispered.
Andy put on her hoodie, covering the wound. She gathered her thoughts and emotions and said:
"What I'm hiding shouldn't concern you," Andy said and zipped up her hoodie. In her hand, she clutched blood-soaked wipes.
"Huh?! Well, I think it does concern me! How am I supposed to know you're not infected or seriously hurt? You're not alone anymore. If I can't fight, I should at least…" Olivia fell silent, as if unsure how to finish her sentence. She took a breath to calm down.
"You're being stupid. You're putting both of us at risk… Show me."
Andy knew she was right. With a sigh, she took off her hoodie and revealed the wound. Blood still oozed from it. Olivia saw not only the fresh injury but also the many scars on Andy's body. A patchwork of old wounds and crude stitches, clearly done by hand. It was obvious she had sewn herself up more than once.
"Come on. It needs to be treated properly."
Olivia sat Andy down on the couch. She dug through her bag and pulled out sterile wipes and a bandage. Her brown eyes noticed the glass shards still embedded in the skin and began removing them, though not very successfully. Once she had taken care of the most obvious pieces, she grabbed some disinfectant.For a few minutes, Olivia carefully cleaned the wound, then wrapped it in a bandage.
"We'll need to change it later… Good thing it wasn't a bite. I know you trust me, but let's try not to endanger each other like that," Olivia said."Go get some rest. You need your strength. It's been a hard day, and you haven't slept since yesterday..."
Andy thanked Olivia for taking care of her and, with some resistance, lay down on the bed.Still unable to fully trust her, Andy fell asleep with a knife in her hand.
The night passed without incident.Morning came, and Andy was still asleep — which was unusual for her. Olivia was already preparing breakfast from the dwindling food supplies. She looked over at Andy, who was still sleeping soundly, clearly exhausted.The brown-eyed girl walked up to her.
"En, time to wake up. It's morning," Olivia whispered gently, shaking her slightly.
Andy woke up and got out of bed. After freshening up, she felt the wound still aching but said nothing.
"Good morning. That smells really good."
They had breakfast together; Olivia washed the dishes and began digging through her bag again, searching for more bandages. The girls sat on the couch as Olivia began removing the old dressings.When she took off the bandage, she saw some pus leaking from the wound.It meant shards were still trapped under the skin. And Olivia hadn't even sanitized her hands before treating it — she may have caused an infection. The sight made her tense up, guilt settling in.
"I think we need to find a doctor. Someone who actually knows what they're doing. I can't give you proper help… and we're almost out of supplies," Olivia said quietly, cleaning the wound again and re-bandaging it.