____'_'
Black Weth launched herself onto Dante's chest, striking him chaotically, as if she were exhaling wounds that had accumulated in her heart for many long years. Her fists trembled, tears pouring down heavily as she screamed in a hoarse voice:
— "I hate you… I hate you! Damn you all! You're the reason for my suffering, the reason my family and friends and everything… everything is lost!"
Dante raised his hand to grasp her wrist, wet with tears, staring at her with widened eyes filled with shock and confusion. His voice came out low, but it was stronger than her screams:
— "And what do I have to do with you?! We only met… yesterday."
His words struck her like a slap that brought her back to awareness for a moment. She froze in place, her wandering eyes shifting between his face and the faces of the others who watched in silent astonishment. She quickly rose from his body, stepping back while panting.
Lily approached in fear, saying:
— "Are… are you alright? Is everything okay?"
Black Weth answered in a hoarse voice:
— "No… I'm not alright. I think I… remembered something… that I shouldn't have remembered."
Lily held her gently by the shoulder, while Camelia came to support her from the arm, and together they guided her to sit on the couch. Everyone gathered around her, their voices filled with caution and curiosity, softly asking what was wrong with her.
Black Weth sighed deeply, staring at the floor before raising her head as if surrendering to an inner decision:
— "I thought this past would die with me… but maybe… maybe I should reveal it now."
Dante watched her in silence, his eyes carrying for the first time a trace of sympathy, as though his expression said he was seeing before him a soul burdened far more than he had imagined.
Black Weth swallowed hard and began to speak, her voice trembling between words:
— "When I was in my first year of high school… I was the most famous girl in the school.
Everyone loved me, respected me, even the teachers held me up as a role model. I was the diligent, outstanding student, I won first place in the math competition for gifted students. Not only that, but I was the most beautiful and the most admired, to the point that I used to receive many confessions in a single day: in my locker, at my desk, even being chased everywhere I went…
I would return home to find my parents waiting proudly for me, filling my heart with love. I was a spoiled daughter… living a perfect life."
"My real name is" power"… the one I buried long ago…"
She closed her eyes, her memory dragging her back to that cursed day:
— "Everything collapsed when they arrived… twins, orphans from one of the orphanages. Their names were Matteo and his sister Sarah. I'll never forget the moment I saw him… Matteo. I fell in love with him at first sight, as if my heart had suddenly found itself. They quickly became my closest friends; we spent long hours together. We'd skip school, laugh, share secrets.
But gradually, my grades started to fall, and the teachers scolded me. Their rude and bad behavior made me imitate them and become like them, a bad girl who skipped her duties… her classes....
But I didn't care. I thought I'd found a more beautiful world."
Her face grew pale as she continued, her tone breaking further:
— "But behind their smiles there was something dark I didn't see.
One night, they convinced me to go to an abandoned house on the edge of town. They said it was just a small adventure. I didn't know it would be the night that destroyed my life. When we went in… there were men waiting.
A gang. It turned out the twins were working with them. They needed information about my parents, about their work, about their wealth. (My parents worked in intelligence.) I was just a tool. They betrayed me, lured me in… and all the while I was blind with trust."
— "And I was used as bait to lure my parents to that place."
Her tears poured down, her trembling voice rising:
— "That night they killed my parents in front of my eyes. They left me screaming among the corpses. They stole everything… even the school was no longer the same. Everyone distanced themselves from me, I became a rejected girl… I had no place… no family… no life… everything was destroyed…"
A heavy silence filled the room, eyes brimming with tears, hearts crushed by grief. Even Dante, who had never once shown her mercy, found himself whispering hesitantly:
— "I know you have a painful past… but what does any of this have to do with us?"
She lifted her gaze toward him, staring as if searching for an answer she had yet to find.
---
The next day, before the weight of the shock could fade from their hearts, the third team — Linda, Vivian, and Elias — stood ready to go fetch food from the village. Dante interrupted them firmly:
— "Herman and I will go with you."
Linda responded with surprise:
— "But today isn't your team's turn."
But Herman was serious:
— "I know, but we want to search more for any possible way out…"
Each of them carried at least one weapon in hand in case of a sudden attack. Jude stood in front of Vivian, tension and worry clear on his face:
— "Vivian, will you be alright!?"
Vivian gently took his hand, speaking softly:
— "Don't worry, Jude. I'll be fine. I'm not alone."
They moved together, their steps heavy on the dirt road leading to the village. No ghouls in sight, only the sound of the cold wind whistling, as if warning them of the fate to come.
When they arrived, they chose a random house among the abandoned homes. Elias suggested:
— "Linda, Vivian, and I will go inside… we'll gather food while you two keep watch outside. Warn us if there's any attack from the ghouls."
The three entered slowly. Vivian began gathering food and clothes into bags, while Elias searched the drawers, collecting some bullets and old weapons. As for Herman and Dante, they stood firmly by the door, guarding the place…
The house had wooden floors, and in the middle of the living room there was something that looked like a small door drawn on the ground. Vivian stared at it in surprise, then lifted it, revealing a darkness below that seemed to lead to another part of the house.
Suddenly, Vivian called out, her voice laced with unease:
— "Linda! Come quickly… there's a cellar here."
Linda looked at the dark stairs with fear:
— "Do we really have to go in!?"
Vivian replied cautiously:
— "I don't know… maybe we should explore it."
Linda approached cautiously, stepping down the stairs one step at a time. She gripped her pistol and aimed it into the darkness. She moved forward, with Vivian following closely behind, also holding her pistol… from below came the scent of old dampness. Vivian searched for a switch to turn on the lights.
The moment she found a switch and pressed it, the cellar lit up, revealing an unexpected sight: walls lined with crates of weapons, bags of food, and ammunition enough for months. And on the table in the center… an old landline phone.
Linda rushed to it, grabbing the receiver frantically, but soon screamed in rage when she discovered the wires had been cut. She threw the phone violently to the ground, shattering it into pieces as she said:
— "Damn it! This is driving me insane."
Vivian stepped closer, her eyes catching something else: photographs of a small family neatly placed on the shelf. A father, a mother, and a boy of about ten years old, wearing blue trousers and a white-and-blue striped shirt… with a large, clear mole on his face.
Vivian muttered:
— "This is strange… why are there photos here? I feel like I've seen these faces before… but where?"
Suddenly, the silence was broken by sounds of crawling and running, savage cries approaching quickly. Vivian's body trembled as she stepped back:
— "L-Linda… it's… the ghouls!"
Outside, Dante and Herman were keeping watch. The moment they spotted those creatures surging toward them in massive numbers, their eyes widened. They exchanged a quick glance, then bolted away, leaving their teammates inside to face the imminent danger alone.
___'_'
♡