Veiled Horizons

Chapter Ten: Zane

“Let's take this path,” Zane said to Sia.

“Why?” she asked.

“I don't know, but I feel like taking this one. We can change if you want to,” he said, looking at the small, bright path inside the grass before them.

“Whatever, let's go. It's not like this is a game, right?” Sia said as she started walking through the path. Zane followed.

Several moments and meters passed. It had almost been thirty minutes, so they decided to return.

“Let's go back. We should be back in one hour, and it looks like it's about to rain,” Zane said while turning back, but then he heard something. Sia was before him, walking, but she, too, stood still because Zane did. He stood there looking over his shoulder, but he didn't hear it again.

“What is it, babe?” Sia asked, turning back.

“Nothing, I think I heard somethi-” Zane started, but was cut off by a sudden scream.

“Aaahh!” a voice cried out, cutting off Zane and making him stand still.

Suddenly, someone came rushing from behind, and Zane caught him by the neck with a quick movement of his hand. When he turned, he saw it was Steve. He loosened his grip and dropped him to his feet. Steve looked worried, like he was about to die. He was trying to say something and bent down, drawing hard breaths.

Zane gave him some water and asked, “Was it your voice just now?”

Steve drank the water hurriedly, spilling most of it on the ground. “Y-Yes, please help me,” he said, almost crying.

Zane looked confused. “Help from what?” he asked.

“Zombies!” Steve said out loud.

Zane had to keep himself from laughing and glanced at Sia, who turned her face away, hiding her laugh.

“You must be delusional,” Zane said. But then he could hear footsteps approaching, too slowly.

“You guys, I'm not joking,” Steve said and turned to the sound, “See for yourself, if you don't believe me.”

From where Steve came, a group of figures seemed to be approaching. They looked like humans, but on closer inspection, Zane noticed they didn't have skin on their bodies. Instead, they had a metallic sheen. They were walking really slowly. Zane understood why Steve called them 'zombies.'

“Let's go!” Zane called, pushing Steve to the front and running with Sia. “These things are slow; we can lose them in the woods,” Zane said while running behind Steve.

But once Zane looked back, he saw the zombies weren't slow anymore. They were faster. Only then did he notice their legs; they weren't human legs, but those of animals. Some had cheetah legs while others had panther legs.

The cheetah-legged zombies were faster and caught up to Zane. He decided to stop.

“Just keep running. I'll buy you some time,” Zane said, stopping and turning toward the zombies. The cheetah-legged zombie was closer. It jumped and attacked with its leg, but Zane ducked and punched it in the face. But it was steel, and his punch had no effect, and his knuckle reddened.

Zane could hear Sia saying to Steve, “Keep to that little path, and you'll get to the meeting point. Go and don't look back.”

“No!” Zane screamed at Sia. But she ignored him.

“How will I know which is the meeting point?” Steve asked.

Sia took a piece of black  cloth from her bag and started tying it on her forehead. “You'll know,” she said while tightening the cloth with her hands at the back of her head.