"I'm sick of seeing these ugly faces, when will this damn challenge end!!..." Leslie grumbled as she glared at the male zombie that ignored them and walked into the left corridor.
"I can't believe there are children here..." said Richard, one of the group members. Richard was an overweight man in his early fifties. He wiped the sweat off his round face and looked at the crying child, who seemed to be around five to seven years old.
"Damn it! Stop crying or you'll get us in trouble…" Leslie said in an impatient tone. She turned to Nicholas, who was kneeling on one knee, trying to comfort the child who had just lost his mother.
"Nik, do something…"
"Liz, you're making it worse, he's just a kid…" Nicholas said angrily, then patted the boy's back. "Hey little one, stop crying, those things that took your mother are still nearby…"
"What am I even supposed to say to this poor kid…" he thought bitterly, then glanced at the remaining time.
[ 15 : 49 ... ]
"Just fifteen minutes and we'll be out of this hell…" he muttered under his breath as he stood up. He couldn't help but recall the terrifying scenes of zombies tearing apart innocent people. He had tried to help them, but that part of him that wanted to survive had won.
He gently patted the child's hair as the boy wiped his tears and the mucus running from his nose after crying so hard.
Nicholas felt a deep ache in his chest; a child like this had just witnessed his mother being ripped apart by monsters.
"Stop! Who are you!?"
Suddenly, he heard Leslie talking to someone. Nicholas lifted his head curiously to see what was going on, but as soon as he recognized the person she was speaking to, his eyes widened.
"Gomez…" he shouted in disbelief at what he was seeing. Just a while ago, he had thought about him and prayed he wasn't here.
Leslie shifted her gaze from the tall young man who had just come out of the corridor, the same one she'd seen a zombie enter moments earlier. She turned to Nicholas, who had a strange expression on his face. "Nick, do you know this man!?"
Nicholas laughed softly as he stepped forward. "Yeah, I know him. This kid here is my son…"
Gomez smiled with relief at finally seeing a familiar face. He put his knife away in his pocket, stepped forward, and hugged the middle-aged man who had been like a father to him.
"Uncle, I'm glad to see you're safe…" Gomez said while patting his uncle's back.
Nicholas laughed from the heart, broke the hug, grabbed his nephew's arms, and looked him up and down, hardly believing that Gomez had also ended up in this place.
"Are you okay!? I... I have so many questions..."
"How did you get here!?"
Gomez shrugged, sighed, and said, "You know I'm here in Barcelona on a security assignment…"
Nicholas released his grip and nodded, remembering the last call he'd had with his nephew, who worked as a bodyguard.
That call had been just two days ago , Gomez had told him he'd be traveling to Spain for work, and by coincidence, Nicholas himself was also heading to Barcelona to attend the World Cup. He never imagined they would both end up in this nightmare.
Nicholas sighed in disappointment. "So you don't know how you got here either…"
"Yeah, the last thing I remember was someone knocking on the door. I thought someone knocked me out and that this place was some kind of virtual reality… but this…"
"Is real!?" Leslie, who had been listening to the conversation between uncle and nephew, interjected.
"I'm Leslie…" she introduced herself, extending her hand toward Gomez.
He shook her hand, which was surprisingly rough for a woman.
"Gomez…" he introduced himself, then withdrew his hand. He looked over at his uncle's group, which consisted of five people in total. His gaze settled on the child, and he frowned.
"There are even kids here!!" he muttered bitterly.
Leslie approached Nicholas and placed her arm on his shoulder.
Pointing at Gomez, she said, "I'm a little confused! Nick, is this handsome guy really your son!?"
Nicholas chuckled lightly. "Why? Don't you see? He took the better genes…"
Leslie gave him a sarcastic look. "I guess his mother must be beautiful…"
"What!? Am I not handsome too? But honestly, Gomez is my brother's son. Due to some problems, I ended up raising him as one of my own…"
Lisa, who had been watching the exchange from afar, walked up beside Gomez and pinched his arm. "Gael…"
"What!? What was that for!?" he asked, confused, unable to understand why Lisa had just pinched him.
"Who is this man…" she pointed toward Nicholas, who was still talking with Leslie.
"Oh, this is my uncle."
"Your uncle ! hmm ... I just heard him calling you gomez !! So your name isn't Gael, is it!?"
"Wow, how did you figure that out, Sherlock Holmes…" Gomez teased, then added,
"I didn't know where I was or if I'd been kidnapped, so I gave you a fake name…"
"Tch! Liar…" Lisa glared at him in annoyance and turned her head away.
Ignoring her childish behavior, Gomez interrupted the conversation between his uncle and Leslie.
"You're the first group of living people I've seen. I thought everyone had turned into zombies…"
"Really!! , We've actually met dozens of people, thanks to someone…" Leslie looked at Nicholas, who scratched the back of his head and avoided her gaze.
Leslie sighed helplessly. "This idiot kept helping everyone he found without caring about his own life, but… I owe him mine. If it weren't for him, I would've chosen the golden cup…"
"I owe this idiot my life too…" Lisa muttered under her breath while glancing at Gomez, unable to help but feel lucky to have been with him.
"Um, guys, I hate to interrupt, but we need to keep moving, those things are coming…"
said Richard, who had been silent until now, causing everyone to turn around and see a small horde of zombies heading toward them.
Gomez's eyes narrowed as he stared at the approaching horde. He frowned and muttered, "Is it my imagination, or are they faster than before!?"
He glanced at the remaining time and sighed in relief.
[ 09 : 17 ]
"Just nine minutes…"
Far from them, amidst the zombie crowd, Margaret , one of the people who had turned into a zombie after being bitten , stared in shock at the notification that suddenly appeared before her.
[ Do you wish to sacrifice 5 points to evolve!? ]
She had been bitten while protecting her son. If not for the intervention of a few strangers, she would've witnessed her poor boy turning into something like her.
Despite the quest to turn twenty people into zombies, she had lost all hope of ever returning to normal.
She had no control over her body, and her movements were painfully slow. It was already hopeless.
She stared at the number of points representing how many people she had successfully turned into zombies.
[ 20 / 11 ]
Without hesitation, she agreed to sacrifice the points.
[-5 Points]
[ +1 Level ]
Suddenly, Margaret felt as if something that had been restraining her was now gone. She wanted to cry as she stared at her hand, which could finally move again according to her will.
[ Do you wish to sacrifice 5 points to evolve!? ]