Azure stared at her with an empty look, trying to comprehend what she just said.
She met his gaze without blinking, tense and swallowing her saliva slowly.
After a heavy silence lingered, Azure burst into laughter, a sharp sound reverberating through the narrow room's walls.
He laughed for several seconds while holding his head, then suddenly stopped laughing and kicked a barrel near him with all his strength; his facial features were Pure Anger.
Clara fell silent, standing on the side, her eyes watching him with caution, her hand touching her arm with tension.
Azure turned to her, anger flaring, his mouth parting to unleash a shout, but the terror in her eyes stopped him, his chest tightening with a sudden ache.
He stopped himself and closed his eyes to calm his nerves. After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes again and looked at Clara.
"I'm sorry I scared you," he whispered, his voice frail and quivering with regret.
Clara nodded slowly, her lips pressed tight in silence, her gaze drifting downward.
He drew a deep breath, his chest rising steadily, and began scanning the room. I need a good weapon…
He glanced at her, his tone softening to ease her fears, "Try to search for any weapon that may help."
Since the entrance is the exit, we will need to storm our way out, tsk...
They began searching, the door's noise swelling like a distant growl, vibrations rattling the floor, the wood creaking under heavy blows.
Clara's body trembled, her hands wrapping around each other in fear from the sounds.
They searched the room quickly, gathered every possible weapon and placed it on a rusty table.
The best they found was: a metal baseball bat, a wooden stick, a tennis racket, a screwdriver.
Azure grabbed the baseball bat, his fingers tightening around its metal grip, ignoring the rest of the tools.
He swung the bat slowly, testing its weight, its faint shine reflecting the dim room light. It is not too heavy and can be used well.
He put it back on the table and looked at Clara, "What will you take first?"
Clara was surprised, and her eyes widened, "Me?"
"No, me", his tone became tense, "You will need a weapon to protect yourself, we might separate, and you will need to rely on yourself."
Clara turned her eyes to the table, with clear hesitation in her movements as she examined the tools carefully.
Suddenly, a loud crashing sound came from the door, the wood groaning under the blows.
Clara trembled a little, while Azure frowned as he looked at the door.
"The door won't hold much longer. Pick the weapon that feels right for you," he said, his focus fixed on their surroundings, voice steady but firm.
She returned her gaze to the table and began to examine each tool carefully, after two seconds, she chose the wooden stick
Azure looked at her in silence and took the bat.
Okay, we have a weapon, a door won't hold long, no exit, and a companion who might have a panic attack at any moment! Life is truly wonderful... Azure was about to scream because of the damned luck!
The door was suddenly smashed, and the zombies began moving inside.
Clara froze, and her breathing became faster as she trembled. Azure pulled her behind him, "Stay behind me."
The first zombie started running towards them, and Azure moved to approach it, holding the bat with both hands.
When the monster was a couple of steps from him, he moved to the side quickly and struck the back of the zombie's head.
The zombie fell to the ground. Azure didn't give it a chance, pinning it down with his foot and hitting its head hard. After eight blows, the body stopped moving.
Azure looked at the door and found that two others were approaching. He took a deep breath as he tightened his grip on the bat.
Clara looked at what had happened as she trembled. Stop trembling! This won't help in escaping from here... I must show that I am someone who can be relied on, at least if I don't want to be left again... She was trying to calm herself and remind herself of what to do.
She began to inspect the room and found a way to help Azure.
Azure was already hitting 2 zombies quickly as he tried to dodge them.
I will not be a burden on anyone again. She spoke to herself as she adjusted her glasses and moved behind one of the huge shelves and shouted to Azure, "Here."
Azure dodged the zombie in front of him and stepped back, and looked at her. Upon seeing her position, he understood what she wanted to do and smiled.
He looked again at the 4 zombies in front of him and started approaching the shelf. The zombies were already closing in on him, but he trusted Clara.
As soon as he passed the shelf, Clara pushed with all her strength on the huge wooden shelves and they began to fall on them.
Azure laughed happily and raised his hand to her, "Well done."
She looked at him with mixed feelings, her eyes on the verge of tears. She raised her hand and gave him a high five.
He approached the zombies and found that two of them were still alive, so he hit their heads until they died.
Clara looked away in disgust. "How can you not be afraid?"
Azure swung the bat a little to shake off the blood and explained with a heavy voice as he sighed, "Who said that I don't feel disgust and fear? It's just that my fear of death is stronger..."
Her expression softened, "I'm sorry."
He looked at her with one eye and approached her slowly, and tapped her forehead lightly with his finger as he chuckled.
She held her forehead and puffed her cheeks with a cute face.
Azure stared at her for moments, then shook his head, not the right time for those thoughts.
A gentle smile appeared on Clara's face as she watched him move toward the door.
She noticed that his facial features had changed, and she approached to see what had happened.
Corpses, all the zombies were killed, and there was no nearby sound... in fact, there was no sound at all, the wind itself was standing and not moving.
She looked at him, confused, "Isn't the death of all the zombies a good thing?"
He spoke to her with a serious voice with a slight tremble, "In your opinion, how were all the zombies killed? If it were from a person who killed them, wouldn't he have saved us? And if it was a monster, then this means that there is a monster more dangerous than the zombies."
He didn't tell her about the third possibility, and that it might be a person who did this and left them to die!
Clara was shocked by this statement and quickly understood the reason for his seriousness and nervousness.
Now it seems that there might be a threat that is bigger than just a group of zombies.