Ray woke up when a drop of rain hit her on the head. Looking up at the sky, blinking a few times when a drop of rain landed near her eyes, she couldn’t make out what time of the day it was, or if it was night either. The sky was covered by light grey yet thick clouds and, with the sky being primarily white even during the night, the fact that Ray could still see didn’t mean the sun was around.
Knowing that she can’t stay here and get soaking wet, Ray stood up, groaning in pain as her body screamed in protest. Luckily, a little pain wasn’t going to stop Ray. She got to her feet and looked around for her bag. Only when she looked around did she realize she was on the roof of an apartment building.
Instantly, the memories of what happened before she lost consciousness hit her. Feeling her breathing go quick and shallow, Ray started checking herself for any bite marks on her body. She didn’t feel strange but she never could tell. She doesn’t know any of the symptoms someone has before they turned except for a slight fear of bright lights. Normally she stays far away or kills anyone who she knows is infected.
Upon seeing no visible bite marks on her body, only a ugly claw wound, Ray let out a sigh. Still, she knew she couldn’t relax. She wasn’t out of it yet. There could be a bite mark in a place she can’t reach. Plus, there are three other problems she is facing.
One is the claw wound she received. Even though there won’t be any bacteria transferred from the corrupted into the wound, it’s been proven, bacteria could have gotten in when Ray was lying on the dirty ground.
The second problem would be the fact that her bag is missing, and that had her supplies and stuff in it. Without it, she would be without a weapon, without food, without water, and without any basic gear for survival, including the two medkits she managed to find. To say it is rare to find two fully-kitted medkits in the middle of the apocalypse without having to pay for them would be the understatement of the year.
Now, Ray’s third problem will probably be the biggest one. Sammy, or her corrupted self, had clearly attacked her and, without a shadow of a doubt, she is still around here. Whatever game Sa-, Corrupted Sammy is playing, Ray knows it can’t be good. A corrupted is a corrupted. They feel no pity or remorse. The only thing they know is to kill, and how to make their victim suffer before doing it.
‘Luckily, it seems that she isn’t around. That means she is giving me a fighting cha-’
Once again, Ray’s thoughts were cut off when she heard something heavy land behind her on the broken AC. Ray knew who, or really what, it was before she spun around and, just like she predicted, she saw two black eyes staring back at her.
Once again, Ray felt her body freeze, and it wasn’t because of the rain that was now picking up. Even if a corrupted is missing its lower half, it’s still a corrupted. It can still kill anyone with ease, and it still has an uncomfortable, eerie, dreadful aura around it.
The sadistic gleam in their black eyes doesn’t help either.
Ray and the Corrupted Sammy stared at each other for a while, neither one moving a muscle. Then, Sammy’s head twitched, causing Ray to jump back in fright with a yelp. Ray’s fearful expression quickly turned into one of rage upon seeing the Corrupted Sammy laughing at her, though her laughs were silent.
“Yeah yeah,” Ray growled, which only caused Sammy to laugh harder, “laugh it up you damn sicko.”
Upon hearing that Sammy stopped laughing and tilted her head, giving Ray a curious yet familiar look. Ray soon realized why.
‘That’s the same look she gave me when I first called her a sicko, back when she was still…alive.’ Ray recalled, a slight frown on her face.
The two picked up their staring contest, only this time Sammy didn’t seem to want to continue staring. With a small cat-like meow, Sammy’s left eye turned pure white in color and she crawled off the AC and started making her way towards the doors leading down into the apartment below. Ray noticed that, even though it looked like Sammy was walking fine, there was a slight drag in her pace, like she was in pain.
‘Do corrupted even feel pain?’ Ray wondered, recalling all the times she has fought or seen others fight a corrupted. She herself has only rarely fought corrupted, and when she does, she uses specialized weapons to make sure she can escape. As far as she is concerned, the weapons never hurt the corrupted, only distract them or trap them for a couple of seconds, in which the latter, they become angry.
She wasn't a hero, or suicidal enough to be one and try to actually fight and 'kill' a corrupted. Going off of some accounts, people have claimed they managed to bring down a corrupted. Of course, one also has to remember the fact that it took a lot of firepower and the corrupted came back twenty minutes or up to two days later, perfectly fine. In other words, there is no point in even trying to kill them as, most likely, they will kill you before you can even do any noticeable damage to them.
She let out a sigh, shaking her head and deciding to think about more useful things, when she heard a plop. She opened her eyes and noticed her bag right in front of her. A quick glance up confirmed that it was indeed Sammy who brought it out. She was waiting, doing some kind of weird sitting pose, though it makes sense that she wouldn't be able to sit down properly with no legs.
Unlike before, her eyes were back to being black, only with two glowing white slits in them, like a very thin diamond. There was also...a 'I-want-to-be-praised' look in her eyes. Not wanting to upset the corrupted, Ray reluctantly petted Sammy's head, praying that she doesn't bite her hand off. Surprisingly, she didn't. Instead, Sammy closed her eyes and gave a beaming smile, showing off the white of her mouth. The more Ray pet, the easier it was to see where Sammy likes to be petted. She made it pretty easy, making bigger cooing noises when Ray pets a spot she likes.
'...What am I doing?' Ray thought, frowning as she realized she is currently petting not only someone who betrayed her, but a corrupted. A traitor corrupted. Why is she petting her?
'Because I don't want her to kill me.' Ray answered her own question.
Sammy was completely oblivious to Ray's conundrum, thoroughly enjoying the headpats she is getting. She knew getting the bag was the right thing to do. As many have found out, corrupted are perfectly able of thinking for themselves. They do things that they want to do, and don't just act out of animal instinct most of the time. There is more information on them but Sammy, before she was a corrupted, never got to tell Ray all of the interesting things she knows. Ray was only interested in learning how to survive, and not what corrupted are like besides from the whole 'they're gonna kill you on sight' thing.
Now, seeing how things are now, Ray is regretting not listening to her. If she did, she may have been able to understand Sammy better.
"Well, no use thinking over spilt milk," Ray sighed, causing Sammy's head to cock and she titled it back to look up at her. Seeing the expression on her face, Ray narrowed her eyes, a small blush forming on her cheeks.
Quickly looking away, Ray reached down, picking up her bag, stopping her pets in the process. As she made sure there was no tear or damage done to her bag, which, thankfully, there didn't seem to be any, she noticed a cold chill in the air. Her danger senses going off, she looked away from her bag and noticed Sammy, her eyes back to being entirely black, giving her an emotionless stare, her mouth no longer on her face.
Without wasting a moment, Ray petted Sammy behind her right ear, giving her a little scratched. Though she'll never admit it, she has managed to pet Sammy to sleep before, and petting her behind her ears, or gently scratching her, was one of the ways she did it.
Just like before, it worked like a charm. Sammy let out a purring sound and leaned into her hand, her eyes slowly closing. Soon, in no time, Sammy was on Ray's lap, snuggling into the crevice, while Ray focused on gently petting her.
It seems that the moment she took a step forward, Sammy brought her a step back. If she stopped petting Sammy, she may wake up and kill her faster than she could react...most likely. But, if she stays like this for too long, she may overheat in the sun....if it decides to show its face, which it occasionally does once per two or three for four or eight hours at the most random of times. That's not even mentioning the fact that a corrupted patrol could stumble upon her. They do take to the high ground and she wasn't exactly in any cover.
Ray didn't know how long she was here for but, suddenly, she was aware of a slight buzzing in her bag. Carefully reaching into it, still keeping an eye on Sammy, Ray managed to open her bag with one hand and fish out her phone, a small and black yet still useful thing. Even with most of the world gone, cellphone service still remains up in most part of the cities. Surprisingly enough, most people didn't make their last stand at any places that would damage the infostructure of a city and, as such, those places weren't destroyed by corrupted. That's why, after how many years it's been since this whole mess started, cellular data was still around.
It also helped that people are actively trying to keep it up too. Surprisingly, even more so than the luck with the cell towers and whatnot, is that cellphones still have use and are, in fact, more useful than they were in the past. They have so many uses and tricks.
Ray took one look at the caller and let out a sigh, freezing a bit when the corrupted in her lap shifted a bit. After making sure Sammy wasn't stirring anymore, Ray answered the call.
"Hey, Sigmas," Ray greeted, waiting for the woman to respond. It took a couple of seconds before she did and, when she did respond, she did it with a big sigh of relief.
"Oh, thank the White Sky! I honestly thought you were dead!" Sigmas exclaimed, her Irishness showing in full force, "I mean, ya two are never late of ye' calls! Sammy always made sure of that."
Even if she had the phone off speaker phone, Sammy's head stirred at the mention of her name, her left pigtail, or twintail, twitching every so slightly, like it itself was an ear.
"Sigmas, calm down," Ray said quickly before her Irish friend could continue, "Your getting too worked up again."
"Ah! Sorry 'bout that," Sigmas apologized, making Ray let out a sigh of relief, "You know how it is. If people don't check in, that means most likely that they're dead."
"Yeah, well...I can see what you were getting at," Ray said, frowning as she tried to remember how long she has been overdue on their call. Normally, people have to check into the Guild every two days, especially if they are out on a mission. Yet, though it was nothing but a gut feeling, she had a feeling it has been more than two days.
"I assume the mission ya two are on is having some delays?" Sigmas asked, causing Ray to stiffen a bit.
"You could say that, but that would be an understatement." Ray explained, knowing that she has to make something up. No one, not even Sigmas, is going to believe what is happening to her, "Things got more complicated, and me and Sammy are going to have to go into Karlos Park."
"Karlos Park? That's almost on the other side of they city!" Sigmas noted, surprise heavy in her voice, "Well, if ya insist, I'm not going to stop you two."
Before Ray could respond, she heard someone in the background speak.
"Karlos Park? Are you sure those two are okay?"
Ray recognized the voice. It belonged to Rebecca, someone who, apparently, is one of the bigshots of the Guild's information group, or administration. Ray has met her a couple of times before and, to be honest, she seemed like a stuck-up bit-
"Yeah, I'm sure they are," Sigmas responded, "After all, nothing can keep those two down. Not for long, at least."
Upon hearing those words, Ray's mind froze and she looked at Sammy, who slowly started to raise her head, perhaps sensing Ray's discomfort.
"...Yeah," Ray said, her voice unusually shaky, "nothing can keep us down."
"Um, doesn't Sammy normally say that? In fact, are you sure you guys are okay? You don't sound too goo-"
Ray never finished listening to Sigmas, instead hanging up on her and throwing her phone away. Sammy watched the phone before turning to look at Ray, who had a weird expression on her face. Then, she looked back at the phone.
Then, she smiled, showing off the whiteness of her mouth. The next moment, Ray's phone was impaled by a black tentacle that shot out of the ground, destroying it. Ray, alerted to the noise, stared at the tiny remains as the tentacle went back into the ground, then turned to look at Sammy, who was nuzzling her.
"I guess I deserved that one, huh?" Ray asked herself, letting out a dry chuckle.
Thank you for the Chapter.
Yer welcome!