Chapter 122 Tales of the past III

Chapter 122: Chapter 122 Tales of the past III

Through the sewer, they both walked through the dark, smelly underground until it finally brought them to an opening. The place was deserted. The concrete ground was scattered with different little containers, plastic bags, clothes, empty bottles, and other random belongings. Luna looked around and quickly guessed that most of them probably belonged to Alice. There was no one else around.

Luna leaned against the wall for support, still limping badly because of the injury on her foot. "Are you alone?" she asked.

In a situation like this, being alone wasn’t advised no matter what it looked like. When you were in a team, you could fight real danger quickly and swiftly. You could cover each other’s backs, watch for enemies, and survive situations that would be impossible for one person. Doing everything all by yourself was completely different.

"Yeah. I don’t like the company of people. It makes me feel sick," Alice commented. She walked over and dropped herself onto an empty gallon lying on the floor. It was the same gallon she had apparently been using to carry water, but it was completely empty now. Using it as a stool, Alice looked at Luna. "Oh, you still feel like you need to depend on people."

Luna frowned.

"Let me teach you something, kid," Alice continued, her voice becoming serious. "This world right now isn’t kind to sweet angels like you. The sooner you stop thinking about people and start learning how to sacrifice for yourself, the better it will be for you."

Luna frowned even harder while holding onto the side of the wall for balance so she wouldn’t fall. "You’re just with the wrong set of people. I know that when I’m in danger, I have people who would come and save me," Luna declared confidently.

Alice stared at her for a moment. Then she burst into laughter. Not a small laugh—she laughed loudly and continuously, throwing her head back as if Luna had just told her the funniest joke in the world. "Okay, girl. I will give you one for that. It’s so damn funny." She continued laughing.

Luna, meanwhile, could only stare at her in confusion. What the hell was so funny? She wasn’t joking.

Alice eventually noticed Luna’s increasingly irritated expression and slowly stopped laughing. "Wait." She blinked. "You were serious?"

Luna stared at her.

"I thought we were just pulling each other’s legs right now," Alice said, wiping the corner of her eye from laughing too much. "Because just take a look at you." She pointed at Luna’s injured leg. "You were abandoned right here. You’re limping toward an abandoned supermarket that’s basically the jaws of death, and you’re telling me people are going to come and save you?" Alice’s smile disappeared. "Where are these people, then?"

Luna’s expression slowly changed.

"Why aren’t they here?"

The question hit harder than Luna expected. She opened her mouth but couldn’t immediately find an answer.

Alice leaned forward. "You said they would save you. So where are they?"

Luna looked away. For a moment, she tried to convince herself that Alice was wrong. Maybe they were searching for her. Maybe they were coming. Maybe something had simply happened. But deep down, she knew Alice had a point. Nobody had come. Nobody had even tried.

"So it seems like you’re still in your psychosis," Alice said coldly. "You keep thinking protection is going to come from your loved ones." She shook her head. "Trash that idea." Luna’s heart sank. "And understand that those people are dead to you because love isn’t coming for you."

The words left Luna completely cold. She stood there silently as Alice walked away from her. A few minutes later, Alice returned carrying a first-aid kit. "Come here." Luna looked at her. "Let’s get your wound stitched."

But before Alice could begin, she looked closely at Luna’s foot and immediately grimaced. "Fuck." Her eyes widened. "That’s a goddamn nail!" Alice looked up at her. "Do you want to get your leg amputated? Why the fuck didn’t you treat this earlier?"

"I didn’t have time," Luna muttered.

"You didn’t have time?" Alice looked at her as if she had just heard the stupidest excuse in the world. "You had time to limp all the way here but didn’t have time to treat a nail wound?"

Luna remained silent.

Alice sighed and shook her head. Immediately, she started cleaning the injury with a clean cloth. Luna clenched her teeth as the pain shot through her body.

"Hold still."

"I’m trying!"

"Try harder."

Luna glared at her but didn’t argue. Alice carefully cleaned the wound, applied disinfectant and ointment, then bandaged it properly. Once she was finished, she washed her hands and returned with two hamburgers and drinks. "For both of us." She threw one toward Luna before taking the other.

Luna caught it. She didn’t hesitate. She nearly tore the mouth of the drink open with her teeth before gulping it down, then started eating the hamburger as though she hadn’t seen food in days.

Alice watched her. "You were hungry."

Luna didn’t answer because her mouth was full.

After several minutes of eating in silence, Alice suddenly stood. She picked up a pistol and lightly smacked Luna on the shoulder. Luna almost collapsed because of her weak joints. "Ouch!" She glared at Alice. "What’s that for?!"

"Exercise time is up. Stand up and join me." Alice pointed toward an open area. "It also helps with digesting your food faster."

Luna stared at her. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Stand."

Luna sighed. She didn’t like this—not even a little. But she knew she had caused this herself. She was the one who had begged a mercenary to train her. And this was exactly what she needed. She needed to stop being the pathetic bitch who depended on everyone else. She needed to learn how to stand for herself. She didn’t want to hate her family. She still didn’t understand what she had done to make them hate her so much, and despite everything, she couldn’t bring herself to abandon them. That was how stupidly loyal she was.

"Do you think I can do it with a bad leg?"

Alice didn’t answer. She simply pointed at the open space. "Move."

And Luna did.

The result was terrible. She was knocked down so many times that by the end of the session, her face was covered in bruises and scratches. Her breathing became ragged. She couldn’t even last five minutes without gasping like someone who had carried several bags of rice on her head all day.

Alice stood over her with a disappointed expression. "You’re more pathetic than I thought."

Luna groaned.

"Stop being so useless and focus."

Luna tried to stand. "I am focusing."

"No, you’re not." Alice grabbed her arm and pulled her up. "I don’t know what’s distracting you so much, but look at me." Luna looked into her eyes. "Again."

Luna attacked. She fell. Again. She was knocked down. Again. She couldn’t even properly defend herself.

This continued until Alice finally lost her patience. "I’m done!"

Luna froze.

"So done with you, girl."

And that was a week later. Yet somehow, nothing had changed. If anything, Luna seemed to have gotten worse.

Alice stood in front of her, breathing heavily, her patience almost completely gone. Luna sat on the ground, staring at her injured hands.

"You won’t understand." Alice folded her arms.

"I’m still wondering what I did to them." Luna’s voice cracked. "Why do they hate me so much? What did I do?" She looked up. "I thought I was already the perfect daughter."

Alice sighed. She had heard this before—too many times. "As I said, you’re not ready to break free." Alice’s expression hardened. "And you’re not serious about this."

Luna stared at her.

"Go on, then. Go back to the people who could kill you because that’s what it looks like to me." Alice pointed toward the exit. "Go be their bitch. Go run their errands. You might as well get yourself killed and torn apart." Her voice grew louder with every word. "Because you’re not even trying to save yourself!"

Luna’s eyes widened.

Alice turned away angrily.

"Where are you going?" Luna asked. It was already the middle of the night.

Alice stopped. "Somewhere I can’t see your face." She didn’t turn around. "Because right now, I can’t stand having you close to me for any reason."

Luna’s heart sank.

Alice finally looked back. "I feel sorry for you." Her voice was quieter now. "Because whatever pain you’re feeling, you won’t even be able to avenge it." She shook her head. "You’re nothing but a coward."

Luna became rooted to the spot. She stared at Alice, completely shocked.

Alice walked away.

But neither of them knew that their argument had attracted something far worse. The noise had drawn a horde. A massive horde of zombies had gathered outside the sewer entrance.

Alice had barely stepped away from the cover of the sewer when something grabbed her leg. Her eyes widened. "What the—" A zombie dragged her down.

Alice immediately kicked it away and reached for her weapon. But there were too many. They came from every direction. One grabbed her arm. Another sank its teeth into her shoulder.

"Get off me!"

Alice fought desperately. She stabbed one zombie through the skull. Another climbed over her. She shot it. Then another came. And another.

"Fuck!" Alice screamed as more zombies surrounded her.

Luna heard the commotion. "Alice?" She hurried toward the sewer entrance despite her injured leg. When she opened the sewer lock and looked outside, her entire body froze.

"No..." Her hand immediately covered her mouth.

Alice was on the ground. There were zombies everywhere. They were tearing into her flesh. Alice was still fighting. She kicked. She stabbed. She punched. She screamed. But there were simply too many of them.

Luna watched in horror. "Alice!"

Alice suddenly looked up. Their eyes met. For one brief moment, everything seemed to stop. Alice’s eyes widened when she saw Luna standing there.

Luna’s eyes filled with tears. "No, no, no..." She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t do anything. The woman who had been insulting her, training her, feeding her, stitching her wounds, and telling her to become stronger was now being devoured right in front of her.

Alice tried to reach for her weapon again. A zombie bit into her arm. She screamed. Another tore into her side. Blood covered the ground.

Luna began crying silently. "I’m sorry..." She pressed her hand harder against her mouth to stop herself from screaming. "I’m so sorry..."

Alice’s movements slowly became weaker. She had fought so hard. But she was already bitten. There were too many of them. Eventually, her strength left her completely. Alice’s eyes remained locked with Luna’s. There was no anger in them anymore. Only exhaustion. Then her body went still.

Luna’s tears fell uncontrollably. She wanted to rush outside. She wanted to save Alice. But her legs refused to move. Fear had completely taken control of her. She watched as the zombies continued tearing into the woman who had been trying to turn her into someone capable of surviving this world.

And in that moment, Luna finally understood. Alice had been right. The world wasn’t going to wait for her to become ready. It wasn’t going to give her time to stop being weak. And it certainly wasn’t going to spare the people who tried to help her.

Luna slowly lowered her hand from her mouth. Her entire body trembled. She had lost the only person who had been willing to teach her how to survive. And the worst part? Alice had died believing Luna was nothing but a coward.

Luna closed her eyes as another sob escaped her lips. She had caused her mentor’s death. And she would carry that guilt for the rest of her life.