It would appear that Elie's cries attracted prowlers in their direction.
She reacted strangely when she saw a prowler, as if she had never seen one in her entire life, which further aroused Kodji's suspicions.
"Get your ass back here, we need to get out of here before others show up"
She turned to him in tears, ready to collapse
"What the hell is going on, Kodji? Explain it to me!".
He took her hand and headed towards the back exit
"I'll explain everything once we're safe."
They headed towards the back exit as fast as possible. But when he opened it, a prowler jumped on him.
However, her reflexes were quick enough to avoid being bitten, and she threw the prowler against the counter.
The next moment he pulled out his knife to defend himself against any attack
It was a thin blade with a deadly edge; it wasn't a kitchen knife but a military knife of very high quality.
Even with that, he wasn't sure he could manage while protecting Elie. But he had no other choice; his instinct told him that this girl was very important.
But he didn't have time to hesitate because behind him the prowlers were on the verge of breaking down the door and windows, while in front of him they were only gradually accumulating. And if he didn't react quickly, he would soon find himself surrounded and would be devoured.
"I don't want to serve you breakfast, why not at dinner?"
He approached Elie and gestured for him to stay close. He turned his bag towards his stomach and hid his arms inside.
"Listen carefully if you don't want to die, stay behind me, stick close to me if you have to, because we're going to charge into the fray."
"You can't be serious, can you?"
He didn't say a word, then took a deep breath.
"On the count of three, let's go!"
Elie gripped Kodji's sweater tightly without really having the choice
"One!..."
He took his leg for support; Elie's heart was beating so fast that Kodji could feel it.
"Two !!..."
The prowlers at the front of the restaurant had already broken the windows and were heading towards them.
But at the critical moment
"Three !!!..."
In a surge of adrenaline, Elie shouted at the same time as Kodji, and they launched themselves at full speed towards the crowd of prowlers in front of them.
They pushed on and on, feeling the stalkers' fingers touch their heads, but they didn't weaken; on the contrary, it was a valid reason to keep running.
Fortunately for them, there weren't many of them in the back and they managed to clear the way.
"We did it!"
But it wasn't over yet; now they had to run as fast as they could towards the forest, and they couldn't tell Kodji that twice.
"Let's get out of here."
He slung his bag back over his shoulder and took Elie's hand before vanishing into the forest, dodging the two or three prowlers that crossed his path.
After running for hundreds of meters they finally escaped the danger, at least partially.
That's when something started to move in the bushes. Without hesitation, Kodji pulled out his knife and quietly approached the bush, while Elie watched the scene in silence.Looking around her
What emerged from the bush was just a cat.
KODJI said, letting out a sigh of relief
"Oooorgh!! Manhattan, you scared me!"
"Manhattan?! Is that your cat?"
It was a black and white cat with emerald green eyes,
He shook his head in response
"Yes, well, almost, it belongs to my sister "
Suddenly Elie's expression turned dark
"I suppose something happened to him."
Kodji looked at her with utter incomprehension; one would almost have thought the cat had the same expression.
"My sister isn't dead, you know."
She opened her eyes wide in shame before blushing and losing all composure due to the embarrassment.
"But I thought... Because that's... In movies, that's often how it happens."
"Hmm! You're right, but we're not in a movie, are we, Manhattan?"
The cat meowed before licking its paw and cleaning its ear.
Manhattan was very intelligent, and thanks to his agility, he could attract walkers while easily dodging them. This helped Kodji a lot more than once, and just yesterday...
Kodji didn't have much time; every second brought him closer to death.
The next moment he set off towards his camp.
"Anyway, we have to leave here; I'll have to take you to my camp."
"A camp? But tell me what happened at least!"
He sighed, then picked up his bag and put his knife in its sheath.
"I'll explain as we walk, we need to get out of here"
He helped him to his feet and now he was on his way to the survivors' camp.
He moved as slowly as possible to avoid attracting as few bites as possible, and even though he was occasionally spotted by one or two, Kodji managed to eliminate them in a flash.
"Very well, you wanted to know what happened? Miss Amnesiac"
She glared at him; it seemed she didn't like that nickname very much.
Without warning, Manhattan jumped onto Kodji's shoulder and landed on his head, which he used as a pillow.
"You're incorrigible"
He looked at Elie seriously, and she did the same.
"March 23, 2018..."
"Is this the date when it all began?"
He simply nodded his head.
"I remember it very well, it started when I was in 11th grade, I've been through a lot since then."
"What exactly happened? Was it an illness or something else?"
He continued walking until the sun reached its zenith; it was starting to get hot.
He handed Elie a bottle of water before drinking one himself.
"We don't know what it is, but one thing is for sure: it shook the world. They attacked us violently; one bite and you were done for, so we were forced to flee.Large cities are a place to survive, where people loot houses and even abandon those in need."
He took another sip of water before continuing his remarks
"Despite everything, we're still here, but you, I must say, are a unique phenomenon. When I found you, you were completely listless, unresponsive, lifeless."
"What do you mean by that?"
He began to explain how things had gone from the store to the restaurant, omitting a few unnecessary details.
"So that's what happened... I'm sorry I yelled, it wasn't my intention, but you do look like a pervert."
His words enraged Kodji silently; he didn't want to cause a scene in his current situation, his priority was simply to reach the camp.
"Pervert!? Me? You must be dreaming, who would want to touch such a flat chest?"
It was Elie's turn to get angry
"It's not flat, it's just growing."
"And how old are you exactly?"
"16 years old..."
KODJI was about to burst out laughing, which made Manhattan fall off his head, but he stopped him at the last minute
"16?!... But you've finished growing up, it's over for you"
Elie was about to turn red with anger when he stopped and turned towards her
He took her head in his hands and brought his face close to hers; if before she had been red with anger, now she was completely tense.
"What are you doing?!...huh!?"
"I'm checking something"
He stared intently into her eyes
"Tell me! What color are your eyes?"
She was a little surprised by the question, which lowered her adrenaline.
"Brown...yes, my eyes are brown, why?"
He thought for a second before rummaging through his bag.
"I'm sure I took a mirror, but I don't remember where I put it."
After rummaging through his bag, he took out a small mirror for Elie.
"look for yourself"
"eh !!"
She was about to knock the mirror over just before Kodji stopped her.
"How is that possible?"
It turned out that her eyes had become a mesmerizing emerald green, very different from the brown she was used to.
"Ah! I understand, I must have used a contact lens before."
But KODJI contradicted her
"When I first saw your eyes, more precisely your irises were a milky white, like those of the biters, at first I mistook you for one of them.But you were docile, and even stranger, you had no bite marks; it's too strange."
"But what explains the change in color?"
He shrugged indifferently.
"I'm not a scientist, but there's one at the camp."
They resumed their journey and approached the survivors' camp, while Elie reflected on what was happening to him.
She had lost her memory, but the only things she still remembered were being in the car with her father on the way to the hospital; after that, her mind went completely black.
In any case, he had finally arrived at the Kodji survivors' camp, the only thing that still brought comfort to the humans there