He had seen the famed no 1 beauty of the university several times. Not sparing her another glance he scanned the others. There was something in the way the handsome archer looked at the ice goddess, recognition, perhaps even history. She turned, her frost-laced gaze softening slightly as she met the archer's eyes. There was no surprise in her expression, only recognition. Whatever history lay between them; it was clear enough in the calm ease of their movements. The ice goddess didn't even spare the muscular man a gaze. Together the three of them made way towards him. He wasn't sure what unnerved him more, their stares… or the fact that the darkness inside him wanted more of it.
A grim smile tugged at his lips. "Not now," he thought. "Control it. This thing really is a double edged sword."
He closed his eyes briefly, forcing his breathing to steady. The shadows retreated, reluctant, fading into the edges of the night. The rush ebbed, leaving behind only exhaustion and the faint ache of something hungry still stirring within. He tightened his grip on his sword.
The air between them was thick with silence, the kind that carried weight. Eira stopped a few paces from Garret, the frost around her boots hissing quietly against the blood-warmed ground. Her expression was unreadable, eyes as pale and distant. The handsome archer stood just behind her, lowering his bow but keeping his stance relaxed, almost too relaxed for the aftermath of such carnage.
Garret watched them, his grip firm around his sword hilt. He said nothing. The silence stretched. Then, the archer smiled. An open, almost boyish smile that didn't belong in a place like this.
"Guess we're on the same side," he said, breaking the tension with a half-laugh. "Name's Kael."
He gestured toward Eira with his thumb. "And you've already met the ice queen."
Eira's cold eyes flicked toward him, unimpressed. "Don't call me that," she said evenly.
Kael grinned wider, unbothered. "Sure, sure. Eira, then."
He looked back at Garret, hand extended as if they were meeting at a friendly tavern instead of a field of corpses. Garret didn't take it. He simply stared, eyes sharp, jaw set, before finally muttering.
"Garret."
Kael's hand dropped awkwardly. "Right… tough crowd," he murmured, scratching the back of his neck.
The silence crept back in, colder this time. Garret turned away first.
"You both fight well," he said without looking at them. "But this isn't over. More will come."
Eira's gaze lingered on him, sharp and measuring. "Then we shouldn't waste time."
Kael looked between them, sighing. "Great. What could possibly go wrong?"
Neither of them answered. As they started toward the gym, Garret's shoulders tensed. He didn't know if the unease clawing at him was from the horde still lurking in the dark, or from the three deadly strangers now walking at his side.
They broke off without a word, each heading back toward their own groups. Survivors waited in the shadows, dirty, shaken, eyes darting at every noise. Each fighter had their own small crowd clinging to them for protection, too afraid to move alone. Garret's group of five stood closest to the gym doors, their faces pale beneath the flickering emergency lights.
Garret walked among them quietly, his boots crunching over shattered glass. Around him, murmurs rose questions, disbelief, fear. They looked at him like he was something else entirely, but he paid them no mind. His focus was on the gym ahead, still standing, almost untouched amid the ruin, its lights faintly flickering through dust-streaked windows.
A few meters away, Eira was already giving calm, clipped instructions to her people. Even in exhaustion, her presence commanded the air around her. She didn't raise her voice; she didn't need to. One glance from her, and the panic dulled. Her words were ice, sharp and steady
"Stay close. Watch your corners. We move fast and quiet."
The handsome archer, Kael, smiled faintly, trying to match her composure. slinging his bow over his shoulder. Behind them, the muscular man, wiped blood from his axe, his tone rough with irritation.
"Tch. You people act like this is normal. How the hell did that guy move so fast out there?"
His gaze landed on Garret, eyes narrowing. "You, what are you?"
Garret didn't answer. His expression was calm, unreadable. The shadows near him seemed to stretch slightly, swallowing the faint light. He looked past the muscular man, past the ruined street, toward the gym.
"We should move," he said quietly. "The noise will bring more."
Eira gave a single nod, no hesitation, no wasted motion. "He's right," she said. "Everyone, fall in."
Her voice carried weight not through power, but certainty. And just like that, the scattered groups began to move, drawn more by her presence than her words. Garret walked behind them silent, almost invisible. To the others, he was a mystery. To Eira, perhaps, just another survivor. But in that moment, he was fine with being a forgotten shadow following the frost of a born leader.
The group approached the gym cautiously, the echo of their footsteps swallowed by the vast emptiness around them. Eira took the lead without a word. The others followed instinctively. Even the muscular brute, broad as a wall and twice as stubborn, kept a step behind her. She rapped her knuckles once on the reinforced door.
"We're survivors," she called, her voice clear but calm. "We need shelter."
Silence. From inside came the faint scrape of movement hesitant, afraid. Shadows shifted behind the glass, and then a voice, muffled and uncertain
"W…we can't open it! We don't know if you're infected!"
Eira didn't waver. Her tone stayed level, her gaze fixed forward. "If we were infected, you'd already be dead."
The statement hung in the air like frost. No threats, no pleading. Just fact. Kael stepped up beside her, his smile strained but disarming.
"She's right. We're clean. Just open up before more of those things show up."
From the back, the muscular grumbled under his breath, his patience fading fast. "This is a waste of time. I'll break it down if they…"
Eira shot him a look. A sharp, cold glance that silenced him instantly.
Then, after what felt like forever, the metallic click of a bolt echoed through the air. One lock, then another. The door cracked open, revealing a pale-faced staff clutching a length of pipe. His eyes darted between them nervously.
"Quick," he whispered. "Before they come."
Eira moved first, ushering the survivors inside with crisp precision. Inside, the gym was dimly lit emergency lights humming overhead, casting long shadows across the polished floors. A dozen or more survivors stared at the newcomers, their fear palpable. Eira's presence filled the room almost immediately. Her eyes swept over the space, the trembling crowd, the exhaustion carved into every face.
"You did well to hold out this long," she said quietly, voice steady and cold.
Garret lingered near the back, silent, unnoticed. His eyes scanned everything, the layout, the exits, the frightened eyes that avoided his. He saw the trust already forming around Eira, the way people unconsciously looked to her for guidance.
As Eira with the help of Kael were busy settling the crowd. The muscular man moved towards Garret
"Fast moves you pulled back there," he said, his tone unreadable.
"I didn't even see you move."
Garret didn't answer.
The man's brows drew together, suspicion flickering behind his eyes. "I'm Darrius," he said at last, his words slow, measured.
"And I don't trust things I can't see." He added while wiping his axe with a cloth.
Garret didn't respond, he moved towards the gym cafeteria planning to make it his new residence. Slowly opening the door, he found about six zombies wandering in the cafeteria. He thought carefully on how to dispose them without making his temporary residence nasty. Carefully approaching them he danced through them, hitting them in the joints with his blade, not killing them but immobilizing them.
Using a carpet, he had found, he then pulled the zombies out of his new residence and threw them out. He had frightened a number of poor souls who couldn't believe their eyes when they saw a fellow human being dragging out live zombies.
"This guy," Kael whispered
After disposing the zombies, Garret found the gym had become much quieter. It seemed the Ice queen had successfully quieted down the survivors. Speaking of the Ice queen, she was currently having a meeting with Kael, Darrius, a few of the staff and some seniors
"No. This won't hold. By tomorrow, half of us will be starving." Eira shook her head
From the corner, Darius grunted, wiping his axe blade with a towel. "Then what? You want to send people out there already?"
Eira turned, her eyes steady. "If we don't plan now, there won't be a tomorrow."
She looked around, at the staff, at her friend Kael, at the wounded sitting against the walls, then at Garret who was walking towards them.
"I think for now the food problem is somehow solved," He Garret croaked