Home; I Found With You // Ryeji FF

red.

Amidst the chaos, Ryujin couldn't help but feel a pair of lingering eyes fixed upon her from behind. She turned her gaze toward the window, her heart pounding in her chest. There, she saw the solemn figure, bearing witness to the gruesome spectacle with an intensity that sent a chill through Ryujin's veins. It was as if Yeji's sharp, feline eyes held fear, emotions and judgements that she couldn't quite decipher.

"Help!!"

Ryujin broke eye contact with her as she heard Ellie's scream pierce through the mayhem of the horde surrounding them. Without hesitation, she sprinted toward the source of her cry, her instincts kicking into gear.

The zombies that had been closing in on her were momentarily forgotten as she made her way to Ellie's side. Panic and urgency fueled her movements, fighting her way through the undead with her bat with deadly efficiency to clear a path.

"Ryujin!" Ellie cried out with relief, after pushing away one of the revenants.

The dark-haired woman's heart dropped, the dire situation took a sudden turn for the worse. Ellie had dropped her guard for a moment, and in that brief lapse, a zombie had managed to sink its teeth into her. The horrifying reality hit Ryujin like a ton of bricks.

Red.

Her favourite colour was red. It used to be the hue of blooming roses in an enchanting garden, the alluring shade of ripe apples, and her favourite tone of lipstick that her mother used to wear. Instead, now it was the angry, searing red of rage and the dark, foreboding red of bloodshed.

Frozen, her world narrowed down to Ellie's agonising screams as she was taken by the ravenous horde. It was a nightmarish scene that played out before her eyes, a brutal punch to the face to remind her how fragile life was.

Every fibre of her being screamed for her to act, to save Ellie, but she knew it was too late. The virus had taken hold, and there was no coming back from that.

The world slowed down as the horde continued to close in on her. To her right, she witnessed the gruesome demise of Chris and Mike, the undead ripping them limb from limb, blood spilled all over the luscious green grass. The relentless horde showed no signs of relenting, pieces of their flesh hanging from their rotting mouth as their screams echoed in her ears.

She stood there, surrounded by the chaos and carnage of the zombie attack, memories of her past experiences with groups flooded her mind. Her jaw clenched painfully as she remembered the reasons she had chosen to avoid getting close to people, the pain of attachment and the loss fresh in her heart.

The fragility of human connections; only to be shattered, the pieces wedged within her as everyone around her succumbed to death.

There was only so much a person could handle.

Yet, here she was, witnessing another group's dissolution, forcing the memories of her past failures and heartbreaks to resurface. As she froze, with no willpower to tear her eyes away from the lifeless, mutilated bodies of her fallen group members, Ryujin made a silent vow to herself.

One she would honour with no exceptions.

"Ryujin!"

She snapped back to the present, her instincts kicking in as she heard Martin's voice struggling against the zombies near the door.

But if I could save one person.

With her bat in hand, she rushed toward the commotion. The bat clashed with the railing near the porch, drawing the undead away from the older man.

"Here!" Ryujin yelled out, hoping to divert their attention to her.

In an almost instantaneous reaction, the living corpses set their greyed eyes on their target. The familiar weight of the weapon in her hand gave her much-needed confidence to execute her plan.