He Was a Friend

/42/ She's not a princess. /

"You guys, let's enjoy this game. I didn't come here to get protected. Protect me and I won't talk to you later."

It was Louise who said it, as she crunched over to prepare for the gunstart. She wasn't looking at either of them, but they know she said it to warn them.

Should've known. Got all pumped up forgetting we're all knights here, including her, Art thought.

He chuckled and placed his hands on his waist. He looked at Eric when he heard him laughed out loud and relaxed like him.

I'll just enjoy this race then. I've got no exercise this week with all the recording sessions.

"FIRE!" cried the announcer.

He sprinted almost immediately. He glanced a bit at Lou, and saw that she was in her own world – not noticing them. He can't see Eric anymore, either.

Deafening screams can be heard at their back as the three of them took off.

He looked in front of him, and saw five zombies, with the middle one having a fake long scythe. He can't help but feel amazed with the zombies' surreal make-up, as he got past them like nothing.

His eyes darted again on finding Louise, who was also able to get past them easily. It was easier for her than for him and Eric, given her small limbs, though zombie men tend to get challenged with men targets than female ones.

He faced forward again, and noticed three zombies in front.

Left one's holding something, blocking the middle one to move properly. I'll go left, then.

The left zombie almost reached his right flag, but he whirled around in instinct as he saw the zombie's hand in his peripheral vision.

He looked at his right when he saw Eric smartly going through the right part, because both the middle and the left one got hooked with him.

This race is both brains and brawn. You can't just run without thinking, at all.

He looked again at Louise, who was even laughing as she challenged the white lady zombie, changing from back and forth, left and right, until she got past her.

He chuckled in disbelief.

She's enjoying this too much.

The race went like that for a while, and after a few minutes, he can hear a lot of screams already. The batches go every one minute, so there are a lot of people in the race by now. He also lost a flag now, somewhere in the middle of the race route.

It's been twenty-five minutes now. The finish line should be about 300m at most given that map, maybe I can see the finish line after that right turn, he thought, while looking at the poster plastered everywhere within the running area.

Looking around at the back, he slowed down after seeing the next hoard of zombies are still meters away.

Where's Lou?

He can't see her, but after walking a bit forward, he saw the neon yellow jacket in front of him, just after the next batch of zombies.

She's already there? God, she's so nimble.

His eyes darted to her survivor belt, which had only one flag left.