Even after seeing the harsh reality outside—the broken city, the corpses—Meenda still clung to hope. She still wanted to see her mother.
The woman who raised her.
The one who taught her how to sing, who played piano just so Meenda could learn to follow the melody. Her mother had signed her up for dance lessons, taught her everything a mother possibly could for her only daughter.
And now... there she was. A silhouette behind the curtains in the living room window.
Meenda flung the car door open and ran.
The Keenamoon family had only one child. They'd protected Meenda like she was made of glass—never to crack, never to chip.But once the family business started falling apart, her father had made a decision.
He'd let her go out with the billionaire's son—Dandelai—hoping the relationship would lead to marriage, and the marriage would save the family.Meenda never knew. She thought everything at home was fine.
"Mom! Are you okay?!"
She sprinted toward the figure kneeling by a pool of blood.At first, she didn't understand what she was seeing—why her mother's body was trembling like that, arms dangling lifelessly, twitching.
Then her heart dropped.
"Mom…" her voice cracked—raspy, shaking, on the verge of collapse.
Reality didn't sneak up on her. It lunged.Her mother wasn't her mother anymore.
"No... no, no, this can't be real…"
She took a step back, but her legs refused to move.Her eyes locked on the slow movement of her mother's hand, rising from the floor.
Then the woman turned and looked at her.
"Graaaah…"
Bloodied teeth. Foaming spit. A twisted grin.She stood—jerky, unnatural—and began shuffling toward Meenda.
"No…"
Meenda wanted to scream, but the sound lodged in her throat.The face she once loved was now streaked with blood, dripping down over the pearl necklace she used to admire.
The eyes were empty. Lifeless. Hungry.
"Don't—ugh—Mom, no!"
The zombie slammed into her, knocking her flat to the floor.Her head hit hard. Her hope shattered.
This world was too cruel. And she didn't want to live in it anymore.
She could feel her mother's breath—a wet, guttural rasp—by her ear.The thing whispered hunger between its teeth.
Meenda turned her face away, letting the mouth draw closer to her throat.
Let her eat me, she thought. If that's what Mom wants…
But then she saw it—the photo on the wall.
Her mother. Smiling.Captured in a moment Meenda herself had taken, when Mom was looking proudly at one of her singing trophies.
"You are the best thing that ever happened to me."
That's what she'd said.
Not this thing. Not this monster.
"You bitch…" Gantsuke whispered, defeated, as he peered down the red dot of his scope.He could end it. One perfect shot.
But if he fired now, the bullet would go clean through the zombie's skull—and tear out Meenda's neck too.
He was just about to shout to distract it—when Meenda screamed first.
"NO! You're NOT my mother!"
She pushed with everything she had, throwing the thing off.
CRACK!
A single shot from the SIG MCX tore through the undead woman's skull, scattering brain and bone across the marble floor.
Meenda lay there, covered in blood and gray matter, staring at what was left of the woman she used to call Mom.
...Mom...
She closed her eyes—and sobbed.
Gantsuke stepped in, kicking the corpse aside and sweeping the room.Two more figures stood frozen in the shadows.
In broad daylight, zombies slowed down—less hunger, less aggression.If they didn't hear or feel a human close by, they just stood there like broken statues.
CRACK. CRACK.
He put rounds through both their heads.
Satisfied the place was clear, he turned back to Meenda.Her face was smeared with blood and pieces of brain.
He scanned her neck—no bite marks.
"You okay?" he asked, voice low, full of concern.
Meenda nodded, dazed.
"Dad…"
She said it like it had just hit her.
Another zombie was rising—slowly—behind the sofa.
Dragging its leg. Lurching toward Gantsuke.
CRACK.
The man's head exploded.
Her father was gone.
The man who once called her "princess" had just been blown apart.And somehow… she accepted it.
"Dad…"
She closed her eyes and wept.The grief poured out like a flood. Ugly, loud, endless.
"I'm here. You're safe. I got you," Gantsuke whispered.
He pulled her close, letting her cry into his shoulder.Her hands gripped his arms like they were the only thing tethering her to the world.
Her knees buckled—but he held her up.
Then he lifted her into his arms.
Blood. Dust. All over her.Light as she was, the pain in his shoulder flared.
He glanced around.
The house was wrecked—blood on the floors, furniture overturned.
And now the others were waking up.
Zombies stirred in the shadows. They'd heard her scream.
Time to move.
"Shit…" he muttered, gritting his teeth as he ran.
Even small girls get heavy when they go limp.
But he wasn't letting her fall.
"In you go," he grunted, throwing the car door open and setting her gently on the backseat.