The Touch of Infection

Chapter 32: A Guest

Carisa and Ezhno where pleasantly talking. Even the usual giggle from Carisa to a certain point.

"Why do you call the infected 'zombies'?" Ezhno asked bringing up the word he heard from her repeatedly.

"It's what they are. It's the term we give to something that is dead but has been reanimated." She explained, wondering how the aliens knew so much but hadn't heard the term 'zombie'.

He leaned sideways, "Wait, so this has happened before?"

"No, it's just..." she wondered what to say now, "People wrote books, movies, and everything-"

He cut her off, he was so confused yet intrigued, "Let me process all this... alright so these things running around are zombies to you. And people used to write about them.... humans can predict the FUTURE!"

She shook her head, "No, no, it's just we've got a wide imagination."

He didn't listen to her and kept on, "If you can't predict the future, how come humans wrote about it? See, that doesn't make sense. So you must be able to predict the future."

Carisa smiled mischievous, thinking she could play along and tease him, "Fine, you got me. Humans have always been able to predict the future. We've also been studying the aliens."

He stood up and pointed fingers, "I knew it!"

Seeing how he was overly excited about it she thought it was maybe going a bit far, "I'm joking... I swear I'm joking."

Ezhno was too caught up in his own thoughts to hear her. Neither of them noticing as Amite and Marnik walked inside. Not until he wrapped his arms around Carisa did she notice he was back.

She patted his arm, "Where were you?"

"At HQ... they've given me permission to take you there. We leave in the next hour." He spoke to her happily, not paying attention to Ezhno and his incoherent words.

The thought of knowing she'd be in a place filled with aliens sent a shiver down her spine. She trusted Marnik, she really did, but it didn't mean it didn't put her on edge.

"Are you sure?... can't we just spend the night here... go there another time." She now dreaded the thought of going to a place filled with only aliens or Alaois as they called themselves.

Marnik shook his head, "No, it's best if we leave now." He looked for Amite, spotting her talking with Ezhno, "Amite let's-"

She shushed him and flipped her hand in the air, "Why is Ezhno saying humans know and see all?"

She looked at Carisa for an explanation, making her laugh awkwardly and hide behind Marnik, "I might have made a joke, but I didn't think he'd take it so far."

Amite clicked her tongue at the response, "Let's just leave this place, it's not doing Ezhno any good." She dragged Ezhno behind her as Marnik and Carisa walked slower behind.

She looked down at the ground stopping in place, "Didn't they ask why you're bringing a human? Aren't they suspecting bad things?"

Marnik smiled taking her hand, "It'll be alright, I've got you."

She tried calming her nerves but nothing seemed to work. Her foot tapped against the floor almost rhythmically, she knew she'd be surrounded by creatures that could bite her in half if they wanted and that terrified her. A small dread of hope in her eyes at the thought that they could all be like Amite and Ezhno, but there was doubt in her.