Requiem

Chapter Five:

Chapter Five:

A shard of something cold starts to form in my stomach. I glance down, grimacing. 

The zombie hasn’t noticed me yet. It doesn’t move though, as if it knows it should’ve made that sound. It sounded wrong against the still silent night, and it must know that the others are only so far away and able to hear. 

I grit my teeth. I didn’t mean it literally, when I’d said I’d rather face a zombie than an angry Sebastian.

Carefully, I twist my head back around to look at Sebastian. He still stares my way with an intense expression on his face. I can just barely see his fingers twitching towards his side –towards his weapon. 

I scowl. He must not think I’m capable of taking care of myself. 

Well, I’ll show him. 

I hesitantly unsheathe my sword. For a brief moment, I wonder where I got it. Where did I get this sword and even these clothes? But there is no answer to that question right now, like the question of our whereabouts, and I realize I’m just stalling. The more I try to think about things the higher the chance of the creature disappearing on me rises. 

So I swing my legs over the side of the branch, letting them dangle, and pause briefly, angling my sword right. 

The zombie looks up. 

I am already flying towards the ground. The wind presses against my skin, against my hair. Dead leaves and grass crunch as my shoes slam into the ground and the zombie lets out a strange, feral sound. It charges forward. 

“I thought zombies were supposed to be slow!” I growl grumpily, sidestepping its sharp yellow claw-like nails and bringing my blade back sharply. The sword somewhat easily slices through its neck. My muscles clench, straining against the bone and sinew that lie beneath the deteriorating skin. 

Nonetheless, the head comes off and thumps loudly against the earth. 

It is probably overkill, but I can’t help but make sure it is dead. I drive my sword into the top of its spine and then wrench it down, splitting the nerve center in half. The head bounces once more against the ground, threatening to disappear behind a bush, but I stop it by driving the blade into its skull. 

Panting, I take a step back. 

My hands shake horribly and I can hardly see straight, my vision so blurry that it has reduced everything around me into mindless shapes and shades. I have never killed anything before, not with my own two hands like that. And I really don’t want to do it again.

Hands touch my shoulders. 

I go to scream, but one of the hands clamp over my mouth. “Shh, stop crying.” It’s Sebastian. 

I sink into him, trembling. His arms wind around my shoulders and hug me tight. I breathe in the smell of spicy soap and slowly start to calm down. “It was already dead.” He says softly, patting my shoulder awkwardly. 

I step back, rubbing wildly at my eyes. I can’t believe I’m crying! “I’m sorry.” 

“Why didn’t you wake one of us?” He bends down and picks up my sword. I don’t remember dropping it.

Because I wanted to prove that I wasn’t squeamish like Monique, who screams like a banshee whenever she sees a bug. But it’s not like I can admit that to him. And now I’ve only made it worse, by flinging myself at the nearest boy and crying my eyes out because I killed something that was already dead. 

His hand on my shoulder stops my mental scolding. 

I look up. Sebastian stares down at me evenly, dark eyes patient. “I wish I could say it gets easier, Scar, but it doesn’t.” He says softly, sternly. “Just remember that they’re already dead.”