章 60: Promise
Raiden got lost in the memories of his past. The things that he had gone through started appearing in front of his eyes. And, one of his most terrible memory came before his eyes.
It was night and raining. He stood in front of graves. Most likely the graves of his friends.
The guy who was on his knees beside Raiden said, "We lost more of our friends from these humans than those zombies. So, tell me Raiden? Who is the real monster here?"
Raiden clenched his fists and teeth. He was thrown into madness of anger. The things he had to go through because of those humans. He could never forgive them.
He made his resolve deep inside, 'I will kill you, Blake!' He poured every ounce of his anger into that thought.
"Raiden!" Joel startled him. "You okay?"
"Oh, yeah, I'm okay," Raiden tried to shake his head off to stop thinking about all those memories.
"I shouldn't have asked about it, I'm sorry."
"No, no. I'm fine, really."
But, Joel could tell that he was not fine. Joel realized that he just made Raiden relive those terrible memories. He thought about changing the topic and diverting Raiden's attention to those memories.
"So, hey! How did you get the motivation to even stay alive for these past 5 years?"
"Huh? You survived those 5 years too so you should know."
"No no, it was different for me. Like, I didn't know that the world has gone to shit like this. I always hoped there would be people outside of Russia. So I had to get out of there. But, it was different for you, right?"
"Oh, yeah. I really believed no one was alive in this world."
"Yeah, so how did you even stay sane?"
Raiden put on a firm smile on his face, "it's because she was with me."
"She?"
"Sheila….. She was always there. Even after she died, I could still feel her presence. She helped me survive those 5 years. There were a lot of times when I just wanted to stay put and never get up ever. But, at those time, she held my hand and pushed me forward."
'Sheila? Does he think she is still here?' Joel thought.
"I think her soul is still in this world. She didn't pass on to the next world. I think she is tied to this world because of our promise."
"Promise?" Joel asked.
"Yeah, the promise of not dying. She wanted me to survive and even sacrificed herself for my sake. She is here to stay until the very end."
Raiden looked at Joel with that firm smile on his face.
Joel felt good after seeing Raiden a little bit happy again.
"That's good for you," Joel said. "That you have someone like that to take care of you."
"Yeah. She has always been like that, ever since we first met. It was good."
Those words slowly faded along as the train was passing through the city.
---------------------------------------------------------
[5 years ago]
[Night Of The 6th Day]
"My name is Sheila. It is very nice to meet you."
She showed a gentle smile on her face. Raiden stood so close to her that he could not comprehend her smile all alone and had to look away.
"I'm Makie," she said out loud in excitement.
"I'm Toshi."
"And, I'm Raiden," he waved his hand toward the group.
"Now that completes all of our introductions but I wanna ask where did you guys come from this late night?" Jun, Sheila's brother, asked.
"We came from Mashiro Academy," Toshi answered.
"Wait, isn't it way too far from here?"
"It is. That's why we wanted to get in as soon as possible."
"Oh god. I'm again sorry to block your way like that."
"Yeah, never mind that," Raiden said. "But, why were you so afraid of us? We were not one of those monsters, you saw me talking."
"Well, about that, it will be better if we talk about it inside."
"I wanna just drop down. I'm so tired," Makie said. Her face looked like she could fall asleep right off the bat.
Jun laughed, "yeah, that's why let's settle down first and then we will talk."
"Alright," Raiden nodded.
All of them went to the hall room from the corridor. Sofas were lying there and everyone took their seats. Sheila brought them a glass of water.
"Feels good getting served in your own house," Raiden commented as he grabbed the glass. "So, why were you so afraid?"
Sheila settled down beside Jun, "It was because of them."
"Them?" Toshi inquired.
"There was a group of people on that street, today," Jun explained. "They were not many but still looked intimidating. They had some sort of verbal fight with some cops who were passing by at that moment. They were loud that we had to come by the window and look at whatever was happening outside. I could not hear the full conversation but they were fighting over some weapons. And, soon, their fight didn't just stay verbal. That group brutally killed all those cops."
"They killed the cops?" Makie freaked out.
"Yeah," Sheila said. "Their dead bodies are still lying on the streets but you guys couldn't see it because of the dark."
"So, they killed the cops for weapons?" Raiden said.
"It was most likely guns," Toshi said. "It is a fight for survival. People have stopped depending on the cops and are trying to protect themselves on their own."
"Exactly," Jun said. "And, in a city where cops do not have any control over the people. It is gonna become a tough situation for those who are weak."
"We could not trust any other human anymore, that's why we wanted to scare you guys off," Sheila said.
"Don't worry, you can trust us," Raiden said.
"Yeah, we are not some kind of bad people," Makie said.
"Yeah, you guys don't look that much intimidating, except for those swords," Jun sarcastically said.
Sheila clenched her fists and said, "Let's survive this apocalypse together!" Her eyes shone with determination.
Raiden looked inside of them and got a motivation of getting out of all this mess with everyone.
"Yeah, we will not die here," He said.
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