One to Won

Chapter 5: Alive

Mei drops all her weapons behind her, slowly walking forward with hands up in the air, head facing down. "We're friendly, and we are not looking for trouble. If this is your territory, you may send us on our way. Our curiosity got the better of us." The person in front of her slowly emerges from the vehicle. It was a person in a female figure, around the height of an adult, covered in black clothes. Her face is hidden under a hood, and she seems to be the person leading the army in front of Mei. Mei slowly looks up at the person who is now standing in front of her in a small distance. "I'm Mei of Bailed City Base, captain of the blue team. We found traces of you in an area, and we wanted to look for more survivors." The person in front of her walked towards her very slowly, as if being cautious of any sudden move. A minute of silence fills the air, but it felt like an eternity with how much tension there was. After the silence, a familiar voice speaks up. "It's been a while... Mei." The person slowly uncovers her face, and it was none other than the person Mei was hoping to find. "Lynara..? Is that... Really you..?" "You've changed so much, Mei..." "Lynara!" Mei didn't even think twice as she immediately recognized the familiar face. She couldn't bring herself to call her long-lost friend by her old code name. Mei sprints toward Lynara, grabbing and hugging her tightly. Both start crying, kneeling on the ground, filled with happiness. While this happens, both sides of the army lay off their weapons and cheer for them. After another minute of them crying while people cheer, they finally wipe their tears to finally talk, and everybody is calm and quiet. "It's been way too long, Lynara..." "I've missed you way too much, Mei..." "I thought you were dead! I saw you in your dying moments!" "You know, I was sure I was dying too. Though, the people behind me found my dying body and took me in. Thankfully, I haven't turned into an infected Zombie. In fact, I might have some resistance, but I still need to do some testing on that." "You dummy, you agreed to no experimenting stuff like that! You even promised my brother!" "Correction, I said 'I will try my best', so I'm technically not breaking any promises." "Well, try harder! Before long, you'll try to fly off a building!" "Speaking of your brother, where is everyone? I'd love to see them." Mei's face turned from joy to one of sadness.

"Mei..? Is something the matter? Don't tell me we lost a few..." "All of them. All gone..." Lynara's face is filled with shock, hoping that Mei is joking around, but she can sense that this is not a joke Mei would be playing around with. "There's... No way..." "Kinlin is to blame. It's all her fault." "Kinlin..? I thought she wouldn't hurt a soul..." Slowly getting up, they both sit under a nearby tree while the two teams acquaint themselves with one another. "Mei, please tell me how it happened. I deserve to know." "Well... After you were shot and we thought you were going to die, Kinlin hasn't been the same. She tried killing brother, but accidentally killed Rylen. We didn't know this since she was sneaky." "You're saying... She was killing on purpose..?" "As we got to a balloon to escape, I watched her kill brother right in front of me. After that, Blion confronted her. Unfortunately, I was too scared to do anything, so I watched her kill him too..." "You have got to be kidding me... What did you do..?" "I took matters into my own hands and killed her myself. I made sure I made her give me answers and treat her like a traitor." Lynara is very surprised, but she doesn't like it. Though, she does see a lot of changes in Mei. Lynara understands that Mei has lost several people and had to harden herself so she can survive. "Mei... You've changed so much..." "I had to change. I just must fight back to survive." "Mei, please remember not to push yourself." "But I fight back not to lose!" "And the more you fight, the more you lose." "I know... You took those words from him..." "Your brother made a good point saying that. Promise me you won't go overboard, alright?" "With you to keep me company? I think I'll be just fine." They smile at each other softly and warmly, then looking at the two teams already opening cans of beers with one another. "Oh no, not on my watch!" Mei gets up and storms towards them. "Listen here! What did I say about drinking while outside?!" "Gah! Captain, you startled me!" "I don't care what startled you, imagine if I was an infected! Why are you all drinking now?!" "S-sorry captain! We got carried away!" "Finish your drinks, and that'll be your last one! The last thing I want to see is a drunk person carrying a gun around!" Everybody, including Lynara's team, quickly finishes their last can of drinks and checks each other to see if anybody isn't sober. Lynara just watches in amusement, admiring the new changes in Mei. She's happy that Mei is now more independent than ever before.