Life After Death

Chapter 4

The screaming doesn't last for very long. Only a minute or two. Everything is quiet now. I sit on the couch, my body unwilling to move. I don't know what has happened, but my mind is freezing and going into a panic. I need to find Hythe and make sure he's okay! Vlad comes running up the stairs, his eyes darting around the room until landing on me. I haven't moved from the couch, not even by an inch. My muscles seem to have stopped working.

"It's okay! It's okay." Vlad says, moving to where I'm sitting. Hythe sure doesn't sound 'okay.'

"I-is he dead?" I ask, pointing at the door the screams had come from, now silent. Vlad smiles warmly at me. I don't know how he can be so calm after that scream.

"No. Cinthia will be fine. In a few minutes, he'll be coming into this room and you'll see he looks fine. Let's go into the basement and wait, okay? I swear to you it'll be alright." He says, his voice quiet and smooth. It's a comforting tone. My heart is still pumping loudly in my chest, but it's slowly getting better. Vlad offers his hand to me.

I take the outstretched hand as Vlad pulls me off the couch and into his arms. He gives me a hug, and I return the gesture. It's comforting. Not only that... but it feels right. It feels familiar. This doesn't feel like a hug given from one stranger to another. 

"Everything will turn out alright," Vlad says before breaking from the embrace. It sounds as if he is trying to assure not just me, but himself. Had he already figured out the reasoning for the immunity? It's clearly bad news. The two of us descend into the basement, and my thoughts are in a thousand different places at once.

"Vlad? Do you remember having a sister?" I ask, finally getting the question off my mind. Vlad looks at me, his once icy demeanor now completely vanished.

"No, but I believe I've always had one. However, I think this conversation is best left for tomorrow." He says, leading me to the table where Clarity already sits. I give a small nod. He knows. I hate to wait, but I'm willing to. It's been a bit of a weird evening.

Hythe returns to the basement, looking a little brighter, though his eyes seem exhausted. He doesn't seem to have any visible injuries other than a thin scar on his neck, though it had been there previously. He gives me a smile before joining us at the table.

"I had hoped not to scare our guest like that." He starts, his voice is as bubbly as it had been before. It's as if he hadn't just screamed bloody murder mere minutes beforehand. "But I guess it couldn't have been helped. Vlad, did you get your answers yet? If not, I think I've got some of my own."

"Yes, we unfortunately got distracted, so please share if you will," Vlad says. I had nearly forgotten all about the immunity issues. What have I gotten myself into? I think. Was this how it was during the apocalypse itself?

"Before that, I think we've been terrible hosts to Erina here. She seems to have joined our little party of three, so we may as well officially introduce ourselves." Hythe says, blowing some hair out of his face. "Erina, care to start? Share as much or as little as you'd like. I think we'll be needing to work together more often, after all."

I nod, thankful for a distraction. All I really know about the others are their names anyway. I want to know more about all of them anyway, if Hythe hadn't suggested it, I would have.

"Sure. I'm Erina, she/her, and I don't know if I can be all that helpful without any memories, but I'll do everything I can to help despite that. I've got a bit of a limp as well, but I think I could still outrun some zombies if I had to!" I say. Vlad looks down at his hands. Perhaps e remembers the same thing I do from our conversation by the wall. I had been quoting myself, after all.