Not Unique

No one desires change. Change means constantly acknowledging outside factors influence you innately. If you refute this fact, you try not to bend to the wishes of your surroundings. You stay the same while everything goes into havoc, you casually adapt to your outside world. Change is never sudden and if you don't adapt to your surroundings, is that called change?

How can you constantly evolve into a better version of yourself and say you know yourself? That defies the very call for change.

The world had changed. From high-rise tech buildings that screamed the glory of man's ability to measly Lego bricks that now lay abandoned on the ground, the weather constantly fluctuating between cold and hot, massive moulds and high blades of grass sprouting from the ground and creeping up the lines of buildings. The waters fell from the heavens, free air was now constrained by tension that soaked through the elements. The Earth shook and grumble, no longer a slave to people who would tear down its natural terrains to build ridiculously complicated buildings. Everyone had to adapt to survive. This was their biggest mistake. Oh! Only if they knew...

Only if there was someone who didn't feel the need to change their morals just to fit the deserted world, to see every day as it was and not behind pink-tinted glasses or murky water. Just as it was. To stay the same person as they were before and after, from the beginning to the end. But as we know, humans, as living organisms, react to change from their outside world.

Eight souls stand before each other, suspicion brewing within their depths. Two of them do not belong. Outcasts among outcasts.

"Nice car, ey?" A man dressed in dark clothes and a long red cape taunts the two bewildered outcasts.

"Thanks" One of the outcasts replies curtly. Her gaze stands strong as she stares hard at all five. She is surrounded. She knows this, but you wouldn't give up when you had something at stake, would you?

"You know you need blinds, or those damned things would see you" He gives them a side eye but then returns his hungry eyes to the SUV. Perfect on fields and on roads, quiet tracks that can be easily swept away by the wind, large enough to hold five people but small enough to fit an alleyway. How would the interior be?

"Oh, we already installed that before coming here. That's why the windows are dark" The second unsuspecting soul eagerly explains with a bright smile. Divulging any information on a whim.

"Must have been hard surviving all alone, join us" Another of the five squeezes his eyes as he studies the two of them.

His gaze dips down to the gun the younger one still points at them while the older one hides behind her. Wide Bambi eyes staring back at the five strangers, her lips pushed forward into a pout but they move fast at a rapid pace to answer any of the stranger's questions. The person she hides behind could only shift uncomfortably but she still refused to take her eyes off the strangers even after, they had taken her friends hostage at the beginning. 

For us to understand how this situation came to be, we'll have to backtrack a few seconds after these two had the taste of death which is still lingering on their tongues.

Two zombies coming from both sides of a circular building. One zombie relentlessly smashes its weight into a reinforced glass that slowly but surely cracks under its brutal force. There seemed no way out of this situation until a mysterious figure flew crashing into the zombie that had just been smashing itself into the glass and out of the glass. She seemed to have foreseen foreseen this, she had been telling her partner how more zombies had been coming, but standing in front of this one person felt like she was up against a thousand army of them.

Her body shook in fear, more fear she felt when she heard her friend almost fall into the bushes on the other side of the circle and potentially break her back but it seemed she wasn't the only one who felt it, the zombie now beneath the stranger's weight froze up and made no attempt to move from its awkward position, time seemed to slow down as the person moved to the next zombie that still bellowed for its life. The zombie had felt the exact aura she felt that almost brought her to her knees but it still screamed, not in disrespect for this person or because it didn't know better. No, because it knew this was surely its end. A swift kick to the back of the neck and the zombie's head were already flying high into the sky.

Snapping out of her reverie, she looks up for her partner and just at that moment, yet another dark-clothed person jumps from the sky with one glance at the walking zombie that was sneaking behind her, the zombie falls to the ground, its already pale gray skin turns ashy and it fully becomes bone.

Zylith licks her lips but grips the handle of her pistol, she knows she won't stand a chance so instead, she runs towards where the walking zombie lies, and the second stranger stands beside it.

The painting of this scene is similar to a peasant begging the highest authority for mercy but the authority merely regards the condemned peasant, standing with his shoulders squared, while the peasant grovels in the ground, begging for what he certainly would never get. Zylith races past him, not caring for the consequences of her actions. She runs the circle and finally manages to make it out to the entrance. She had met no one or thing on her way even though she had thought she was sure to meet more.

Standing still. Her shoulders tighten and her confident brows crumble when in her sight, she doesn't find the SUV. In the earth are 5 meters-deep footprints leading to where she had just met those two. Her brows crease into more confusion but she races around to where she had just been but on the opposite side of the fence. The shrubs don't hold back her foot, and she doesn't waste much energy in running around at full speed for 10 minutes now, it seems all the running she had down for the past two months with her life on stake finally paid their worth.

"Give her to me" Zylith stops at the clearing of shrubs, two more cloaked people stand before her, and the earlier two idly stand to the side, her partner is in the arms of a blonde boy with gray eyes, a handsome fellow that would be a good model, scientifically for experiments or to walk on the runway.

"Give her" Zylith repeats and wastes no time to point her gun at the mysterious figure that had sent the zombie crashing through the mall's glass. A dangerous bet because he had severed the head of a zombie with a single kick or perhaps she should aim it at the other guy who made a zombie a husk of it's self in mere seconds. The other two people in the group were as ordinary compared to the three. I could discern from her thoughts. So she had her bet on the person she had always picked from the beginning.

"Why so serious, lah?" A certain boy mocks, shrugging his shoulders but Zylith gives him no answer, her eyes set on that one guy.

"Um, Zee, I'm fine." Bliss calls out with her ever-welcoming presence. "They just startled me is all" She fiddles with the hem of her clothes as she uncomfortably sits in the lap of the boy who saved her. "Hic-The-they- even gave me juice..." Bliss continues fiddling with the hem of her ragged pants, picking out debris that has clung to her pants. She looks up at Zylith but Zylith pays her no attention, seemingly stuck in a world of her own

"So this is how humans repay us now?" Even with a gun pointed at him, already set to be released at the slightest tug of the trigger, he talks nonchalantly. "What has this world come to?" He questions but with a melodic chuckle that has no warmth.

"You stole our vehicle, captured my friend" Zylith holds the gun between her two palms. There was something wrong. She needed to get far away from them but she felt powerless. Never had she ever felt this inability to do something. She has always instilled in her head that as long as one is alive, one can still do something. What did she think life was a game? Oooh~ No matter what as long as the volleyball hasn't hit the court, the game goes on. Aiyaa~ I'll make sure to block every spike until you no longer call for a set.

But here she stands, her biggest weakness in the hands of the enemy, the only way to escape has mysteriously disappeared, she is surrounded by five people and there probably being more lurking around. 'The footprints' Aha! I finally got something out of her. Yes, where was the car? What were the footprints? You're finally asking the right things Zylith.

"I saved you too" He states from behind his hood, dark red eyes meet blue ones and I don't know what goes through her. The hooded figure breathes out in exasperation, tired of going through the same treatment after saving people. He had learnt it was best to hide one's ability because humans would condemn anything they didn't understand or have control over.

"Thank you" Zylith states after 3 beats, her eyes however don't falter for one second. Was this sincere or not? What was it she felt from those three? She possibly couldn't tell...

"...You're welcome" His eyes harden and turns around not bothering to give her another second of his attention.

"Are you scared? Sorry. You can go now," The blonde boy soothes Bliss and helps her to her feet to escort her back, but he is stopped by one of them wearing a red cloak. "What are you doing?" the blonde asks, but he receives no reply as the third boy eyes Bliss.

"I feel like I've seen you from somewhere" The boy licks his lips and eyes her once more, he gets I not her face and focuses his gaze more on her. His eyes flickers between her hair and her eyes.

"Uh...maybe you're mistaken? Bliss shrugs in fear of the boy. Her body reaction to him is very similar to when she was sitting in the lap of a blonde stranger.

Bliss moves away from him and continues her walk to meet Zylith.

"Zylith, we should get going" Bliss mutters into the silence with a slight cough at the end.

"Thank you for rescuing us, we'll forever be in debt" Bliss bows her body into a 90-degree angle, her hands clenched at the sides. When she raises her head back up, a bright smile is plastered on her lips, "I thought I would truly die there" She nervously rubs the back of her head, acting all demure and cutesy. Being not very mindful of the palpable tension

"Where's our car?" she asked, not addressing anyone in particular, now completely ignoring the man in the red cloak who was staring at them. Almost as if on cue, a beep came from the shrubs beside them. The sound, unmistakably a car horn from a bygone era, shattered the calm.

A 6'7" muscular man emerges from the bushes, the thorns tearing at his arms, but his skin seemed as tough as steel. He went to the other side of the bushes from where he had appeared and grabbed a handful of grass. When he pulled it back, a translucent covering fell to the ground, revealing their brand-new SUV.

He was a beast amongst beasts, blessed with extraordinary features every bodybuilder would wish to acquire. Actually, no, his features weren't in the realm of extraordinary. His biceps rippled with every motion, veins snaked and warped around his humongous frame, and the ground made a thud in his very wake.

"Holy...shit" Bliss whimpered behind Zylith. All five of the spectators eagerly waited to see Zylith's reaction to the absolute monster and admittedly I wanted to know too. So~ So~ Zylith what would it be?

She gave us none, a bored expression plastered on her face as usual, no shake in her heartbeat, no fright in the eye's dilation. Was she not impressed? Scared? Happy?Nothing?! She had to be faking it. But the question was why? Why she never gave me an entertainment, why she always acted the opposite of what she said, why she defied the odds even when she had nothing above ordinary working for her. Why? Why? Why I was so hung up on a disposable character! I have tried to kill her so many times, I made her family the first to ever be infected!

The apocalypse did not start on thanksgiving day, sure for the world. It started the night before that for Zylith. No matter what I did as FATE or as LIFE. Nothing ever worked!

"Um...I think I might faint" Bliss' legs give out and she falls to the ground, hyperventilating as the man walks back into the tress he had just come out from, concealing his self in the tall blades of green, completely out of sight of the naked eye, but the lingering feeling that dark eyes was watching you remained. Nothing ever worked, until Bliss.

"Who...No. What are you guys ?" Zylith let out a small breath as she posed the question to all five and possibly the last man in the bushes.

"Us? What do you think we are?" The man who rescued her finally spoke up. His lean posture stretches the fabric of his clothes, his brown eyes slight at the question he has posed to an unsuspecting victim.

"..."

"We are..." The blonde man goes back to sitting on the floor, he fiddles with the machinery on his arm, "We can't tell. It's a secret" He chuckles to himself, pokes his tongue out and gives a meek smile. Zylith eyes, the weird technology imbedded in his arms

"They are not human though" The red cloaked member puts in. Her gaze snaps to the annoying fool.

"Neither fully zombies" Zylith murmurs under her breath as she looks down for a brief second, pulled into the deepest corners of her mind.

"Why would you that word 'fully'?" The hooded guy who was the leader spoke up.

"..." Zylith's posture changes, her eyes harden and her heart picks up for just a second, then goes still like water in the next. Her mouth caves in on themselves but she doesn't answer. Don't take the bait.

The hooded man lets out what could be between a cough and a hearty chuckle, now finding her reactions interesting "You can tell? You are more observant than others"

Zylith peeks up from her lashes, her fine-toned body used as a shield for any possible attacks but, still not trusting these strangers. The usual paranoid teen. "Whatever do you mean?" She shrugs and nudges Bliss with her shoes, "Let's go to our car now"

Bliss slowly stands up from her crouch, sucking the saliva that was stuck in her throat. "Um...once...again Th-thanks you for saving us. I mean thank you" She blushes but then recalling the eyes in the bushes still linger, she tenses.

"Are you with the key Zylith?" Bliss asks them as the strangers let them walk amongst their midst, letting the two lonely survivors go after the encounter.

More spice?

"Ahh" The guy in a red cloak hits his hands against his head. "Ahhhhhaha Yes, now I know" He rubs his chin and walks towards the two unsuspecting girls. Perhaps one of them already knows.

"You're Bliss, and this is the weirdo, Zylith!" His laughter echoes without a care of attracting attention. "You remember me, right I'm Max! Max-ee-muss" He cheerily hops towards them, stopping just a few feet from them.

"How do you two girls survive in the zombie apocalypse all by yourselves? You should have called me to help you, like good ol' times, right Bliss?" He pouts and looks down at his feet like a puppy. Bliss's heart shudders and all three of the strangers hear her increased pace of breath.

"Bliss who is-" Zylith stops in her tracks to gauge Bliss's reactions. Sweat pours down like water from Bliss' pores as she stands there truly petrified for her life. Her hands tremble and she can only stand up because she is desperately clinging to the back of Zylith's clothes.

"Bliss doesn't appreciate your presence. Stand back," Zylith commanded him with a slight smile, not bothering to understand what could have possibly gone up with these two or why Max knew her name.

"Max, oi! Leave the two girls alone" The only member that had not said anything finally speaks up, moving from his earlier position.

"Oi Oi, let me introduce her. Bliss, this is Xander. Xander, this is Bliss, my personal plaything"