Chapter 26

(This chapter is from Maria's perspective in the first part and then from Talita's, after they went to the little shop at the gas station)

Mary's POV:

It's a little different going into a fight knowing that I'm without Wallace's immediate protection, I know that if we have a problem he'll turn around immediately, but in a few seconds it'll be over.

I think Talita noticed this too because she's almost glued to me, I think I give her confidence even without feeling it.

“I’m going to focus on taking him down, you finish, leave some for me too”

“I understand Maria”

I consent to my bracelet and activate the shield, whenever the semi-transparent shield materializes I am amazed.

I check to see if the door is locked, it looks like there is only a rope holding the door from the outside, the talita cuts it and I step in front of her when she steps back when the door is opened by the two zombies who were agitated by our presence.

I place the shield in front of my body and move one of them to the side, while Talita passes the knife over the head of one of the zombies with familiar ease.

I finish what's fallen, I look inside the store quickly in case anyone else is coming due to the noise we've quieted.

I still don't know how Wallace managed to hear so well, he said it started after he increased his agility, I didn't feel such a big difference, of course I feel stronger but other than that nothing.

I no longer see visible zombies, there must be more among the shelves.

We continue inside checking the aisles of shelves, when passing through the second aisle the talita pulls my sleeve pointing outwards.

I saw a strange zombie that Wallace killed quickly, I think if it was with someone else like I would be screwed, the zombie is fast.

“It’s good to be the protagonist”

“here you come again with this story”

I just smiled at the tall girl, I received an eye roll in return.

We killed another zombie that was stuck on the counter.

Talita: “this place seemed strange, I can’t say what this feeling is that I’m feeling”

“Is this what Wallace feels?, a premonition”

When I was about to suggest that we go back to tell Wallace what Talita is feeling, I saw in my peripheral vision movement near a door at the back of the store that I think would be the storage room.

I only had time to position myself in front of the tallite before I heard a crack, I felt an impact on my shield and a burning sensation on my leg.

Talita: “we have to get out of here and stop this bleeding”

I heard her voice and felt her hand pressing my leg.

I think I was shot and I'm not feeling anything, it must be the adrenaline, that's good because I have to keep my shield up while I look for cover, I'm closer to the counter than the exit.

It seemed like he didn't have much ammunition, he just fired one shot and stopped, now hiding behind a shelf.

Good thing he's focused on us, I almost relax and lower my shield when I see Wallace, he's furious.

I hide with the talita behind the counter, and look at my leg.

“stay awake, don’t give me that fainting shit”

Adrenaline is very powerful because I see so much blood on the floor, I just start to see darkness and nothing.

Talita's POV:

Shit, shit, I've never seen so much blood in my life and that's just from a grazing shot.

I'm trying to stop the bleeding with pressure but I don't know what to do, great now I'm crying.

That's when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I picked up my knife that was next to me on the floor and turned to stab.

Another hand held my arm with the knife and I recognized it was Wallace.

I don't know how to describe it anymore and that moment when it sinks in, you realize that it's only been a day since this madness started and you already know that you can trust a person with your entire being.

He gently removes my hand from the wound on Maria's leg, quickly replacing it with his hand with a gas, damn it, now that it occurs to me that I also had it in my backpack.

I press my face against his back while he is taking care of my friend, I know I was supposed to be helping him but I'm shaking and I'm going to be more of a hindrance than a help at this moment.

A while later, Wallace moves me away a little to get up, I see that the bleeding has stopped and a slightly red gas is tied to Maria's wound.

Wallace: “What do you hear here? ”

“I’m sorry, she got hurt because of me, I was on my back, I didn’t notice”

Wallace: “it could happen to anyone”

“He appeared out of nowhere, I just saw Maria pushing me onto his back and then she was bleeding a lot”

Walace: “I understand, let’s get out of here we have no cover here, look for a shelter until Maria wakes up”

He gently picked up Maria, she's hanging in his arms like dead weight, I'm feeling very guilty, I look away, I can't see her like that.

I looked for the guy who shot Maria and I only saw several body parts close to where I had seen him hiding before.

Wallace: “talita, stay close”

I was a little distracted by this man's brutal death, not that he didn't deserve it.

Wallace: “we’re going to need a car”

I see that he is a little upset about leaving the bike behind, the guilt comes again.

He has three cars parked in the gas station's mini-parking lot, perhaps one of them belongs to the employees who work here. I went back to the shop at the counter and had seen some backpacks under the counter.

Wallace is coming back with me and I'm leaning against the counter with Maria still in my arms.

After searching, I found two keys that appear to be car keys. I went back to the cars, hurrying up because I saw that several zombies were coming towards the gas station, probably due to the sound of the gunshot.

In the second car, a small one that only has two seats with a body in the back, one of the keys worked, I quickly climbed into the driver's seat and Wallace got comfortable with Maria on his lap in the other seat.

I quickly get out of there, at least the fuel tank is almost full, I feel a hand on my knee when I realize I'm crying again.

I stop the car because it would be stupid if we died after all this because I was driving crying.