[Win – Rooftop – 7:00 a.m.]
The sun hasn't warmed us.
It just burns shadows across faces I don't recognize anymore.
Kao's words still echo.
Simple. Cold. Final.
"I'm a Naïve."
The silence afterward is worse than screams.
[7:05 a.m.]
Best is the first to break. His voice cuts like glass.
"Explain. Now. Or you're off this rooftop."
Namtan flinches, but her eyes dart toward Kao like knives.
"You knew about Lin, didn't you? That's why she…" Her voice cracks. "That's why she's gone."
Kao doesn't move. Doesn't flinch. She just watches.
That's scarier than any zombie.
[7:08 a.m.]
I try to speak. My throat is raw.
"Everyone, calm down—"
Best slams a fist into the railing.
"Calm down? Lin's dead. And this—" he jabs a finger at Kao, "—this girl admits she's something we don't even understand!"
Palm steps closer to me. His shoulder brushes mine.
"You're scaring them, Best. That won't help."
But his voice is weak. He's scared too.
[7:12 a.m.]
Kao finally moves. Slowly.
She kneels, pressing her palm flat to the rooftop floor like she's grounding herself.
"I'll explain,"
she says. Her voice is steady, almost too steady.
"I'm not like you. I was made… to survive. To be stronger. Faster. To walk among the dead and not be torn apart."
Kao nods once.
"I'm an intelligent Zombie with thinking capacity. They called us Naïve. We were supposed to live without human emotions and eternal ."
[7:16 a.m.]
"Suppress it?"
Palm whispers.
Kao looks up, her eyes meeting mine for a second too long.
"Yes. Emotions make you hesitate. Make you weak. Fear. Grief. Love. They wanted us to cut it all away."
Best spits on the floor.
"Then what the hell are you? Human? Zombie? Or just a liar hiding behind Lin until she—"
"Stop!"
I shout. Louder than I expect. My chest feels like it'll split.
I can't take hearing Lin's name like that. Not yet.
But Namtan steps forward, arms trembling.
"If she's one of them, how do we know she won't turn on us next? What if she's already leading more here?"
[7:20 a.m.]
The rooftop air is too thin.
I don't know what scares me more—Kao's confession, or the way everyone's staring at her like she's already a monster.
She speaks again. Softer this time.
"I didn't lie to Lin. She knew. She saw me for what I am."
My chest twists. That last kiss. Lin's last words.
Was this what she meant?
[7:30 a.m.]
The sun rises higher, but it doesn't bring light.
Just the shadow of something I can't name yet.
We survived the night.
But this morning feels like the beginning of the end.
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