n

n

nKairos looked at Sydney who was on the verge of losing it.

n“Calm down.”

nThis might’ve been a bad thing to say to an immature teenager, but Sydney was an adult woman. As such, she listened and took a few deep breaths.

n“O-Ok.”

nKairos spoke very slowly, enunciating each word clearly.

n“From what I have seen, that patch on your arm right now is the same skin that those monsters have.”

nSydney’s eyes widened. Her breaths got a little heavy.

n“Am I going to become a monster?”

nKairos sighed.

n“I am not sure. However, you seem to be relatively sane for now.”

nSydney looked quite depressed. She began taking deep breaths once more.

n“Maybe I should not go with you.”

nShe closed her eyes.

n“Perhaps I should be killed.”

nKairos fell silent. In all honesty, he did somewhat agree with her logic. It was a big risk. However, Kairos was always one to understand things as best he could, down to their basic components.

nAnd it seemed that Sydney was his best opportunity to do so.

n“Saying that you should be killed is an overstatement. Now, if you showed signs of freaking out unnaturally or losing your sanity, that is different. However, you are not much different from me or Nicole.”

nSydney slowly looked up to Kairos.

n“R-Really?”

nHe sighed.

n“I’m just saying it is too fast to conclude that you are done for.”

nSydney slowly nodded.

n“I see.”

nKairos looked at the red patch intently.

n“May I know what you believed to have caused this?”

nSydney held onto the side of her head and rubbed with a bit of frustration.

n“I remember Nicole anxiously telling me to follow her and get away from the windows. Though I didn’t really understand why, I complied. As I went past, however, I remember the side of my arm feeling uncomfortably hot for some reason.”

nShe narrowed her eyes.

n“Thinking back to the emergency alert from our phones, I think the curtains to my windows were just slightly open and a bit of sunlight landed on my arm.”

nSydney furrowed her brows.

n“…If this was only the effect of a tiny bit of light for a short duration, then-”

n“You can probably imagine how bad it was for anyone that just so happened to be wandering outside. Now they are mindless monsters.”

nKairos adjusted his glasses.

nAs for Sydney, she simply sighed sympathetically.

n“It is simply too unfortunate.”

nKairos paused.

n“Are you going to share this fact with the others?”

nThe corner of Sydney’s lip twitched.

n“I don’t want to worry them. There are already so many things to worry about. Even more might hurt them too much.”

nKairos took a deep breath.

n“However, transforming into a monster next to them can also lead to them hurting too much.”

nSydney pressed her eyelids tightly together.

n“Oh dear…”

nKairos made a decision. He would do his best to keep Nicole’s mother as one of their companions. This was for several reasons.

nShe didn’t really think about things. Although this could be considered a demerit, to Kairos, it was the opposite. People that didn’t think too much tended to be bad at lying or didn’t even try in the first place.

nIn other words, they were rather trustworthy.

nOn the other hand, this partial transformation was beginning to intrigue Kairos. The entire time, Sydney had been subconsciously scratching that same patch on her arm. The sounds were very loud and even her fingernails were being ground up.

nHowever, the skin was fine.

nIt appeared that the red sun increased one’s physical capabilities at the expense of their intelligence and rationality.

nAs for the limitations and caveats, he now had someone as an example to find out, like a test dummy.

nSydney swallowed uncomfortably.

n“I… I will tell them about it.”

nKairos nodded.

n“Well first, get to cooking. As for me, I need to get this blood off.”

nSydney let out a soft breath.

n“Alright.”

n…

nKairos came down the steps and into the dining room with his hair still slightly wet. Nicole was holding onto a white medical kit with a green cross on top. As for Harold, he handed Kairos a pack of disinfectant wipes as he came down.

nKairos took it casually.

n“Thanks.”

nHarold nodded.

n“No problem. I couldn’t help but think of these considering our next shower is probably going to be far away… Not to mention all the other hygiene issues.”

nThere was a faint smell of roasted vegetables in the air, courtesy of Sydney.

nShe eventually set the plates down to reveal many greens, along with fruits, especially so for oranges. After setting them down, she sat with a slightly solemn expression.

nNicole pouted slightly.

n“Aw… so many vegetables.”

nKairos rolled his eyes.

n“You should eat as much as you can. At some point you may miss them dearly.”

nOnce we all got seated, Sydney cleared her throat.

n“Sorry, but before we begin, I want to tell you something.”

nHarold had picked up a set of chopsticks, but put it back down.

n“Ah, what is it, honey?”

nSydney smiled bitterly.

n“I… seem to have been infected.”

nShe slowly lifted up her arm and pulled back the sleeve. Kairos raised both eyebrows, surprised at how fast she got to the point.

nHe began to think that Sydney might be even nicer to have given her decisiveness. Though, she still closed her eyes and faintly trembled.

nHarold immediately spoke up.

n“Oh, no!”

nSydney tensed up, but he quickly continued.

n“Are you ok? Maybe we can use something from the medical kit?”

nNicole got up out of her seat and rushed over to her mother.

n“Wah! Does it hurt? I can rub it if it hurts!”

nSydney seemed a little shocked.

n“Y-You guys aren’t afraid?”

nHarold seemed surprised.

n“Of course we’re afraid! What if this infection gets worse?”

nNicole raised both hands in the air.

n“You have to be careful!”

nSydney looked down.

n“But… I might be becoming a monster.”

nHarold smiled.

n“So what? It’s rude not to include monsters. That’s discriminatory!”

nNicole giggled.

n“Plus, mom is too strong! She will never become a monster.”

nA soft smile formed on Sydney’s face.

n“T-Thank you.”

nKairos rested his elbows on the table with his hands in front of his face. He was a little perplexed as to how these people were taking the apocalypse so easily.

nPerhaps it may have been the power of a cohesive family that would never abandon each other.

nKairos shut his eyes and began thinking about his own parents.

nAs though reading his mind, Nicole gasped.

n“Ah, what about your parents, Kairos?”

nSydney and Harold also gave concerned glances.

nKairos took a deep breath.

n“I’ve tried to call and text them, but they didn’t pick up.”

nSydney smiled reassuringly.

n“We can go to their workplace to see if they are still alive!”

nKairos shook his head.

n“No.”

nThe expressions of the other three seemed confused and a little scared. Nicole pouted slightly.

n“But… they are your family.”

nKairos rolled his eyes.

n“I plan on seeing them, alright? However, you also have to think about this logically. If my parents survived, then they have very likely escaped the high population density of the city and made it to the wilderness.”

nHe pushed up the glasses on his face.

n“In other words, we have to make it to the closest place in the wilderness to find them, which will be our target destination if we want to live anyway.”

nNicole gasped.

n“Wow, you’re so smart!”

nKairos scoffed.

n“It’s called common sense.”

nSydney laughed.

n“Anyways, we should eat.”

nWith that, they began having their meal. They were a little louder than they should’ve been, but they didn’t seem to care too much about that now. Kairos couldn’t help but think that this was probably the last nice meal he was going to have for a long time.

nThough it didn’t taste the best as it mostly contained various vegetables, it was still quite nice.

nIt did not take too long for them to finish.

nKairos sighed.

n“Alright. I will use this lamp as my weapon for anything we come across, and you all should divide the bats between yourselves. I recommend the one wooden bat goes to Sydney.”

nSydney didn’t seem that against it, but was still curious.

n“Why is that?”

nKairos rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

n“It is considered the most fragile weapon we have. Considering that you are partially infected, I believe your strength is the highest, thus you are also the least likely to need a better weapon in a pinch.”

nHarold seemed slightly against it, but nodded anyway.

n“I suppose that will be best.”

nSydney sighed.

n“Alright, now let me take care of the dishes.”

nShe picked them up and turned on the sink, prompting Kairos to furrow his brows.

n“There’s no need to wash them. We won’t be coming back here, after all.”

nSydney visibly shook.

n“Ah… right.”

nKairos massaged his temple with the tip of his index finger.

nIt appeared that they still hadn’t fully accepted the situation…

nThat might be bad.

nKairos sighed and walked towards the front door, but that was when several loud roars echoed on the streets. He slowly and calmly backed up, but could still discern the fact that there were footsteps coming along his way.

nThe inner corner of Kairos’ eyebrows dug down deep.

n“Quickly! Get to the backdoor!”

nHarold clenched his fist anxiously.

n“That thing is jammed! We won’t be able to get it open!”

nKairos cursed under his breath.

n“Then upstairs!”

nThe three of them hurriedly rushed up the steps while Kairos followed close behind. Suddenly, a thundering bang resounded within the house. The door directly burst off, the hinges completely broken.

nKairos furrowed his brows, realizing that they should’ve kept their voices down.

nHowever, it was too late now.

nFear was readily apparent on Nicole and her parent’s faces, but they did not pause and kept running. The monster heard them rush up the steps, thus did the same.

nUpon reaching the top, Nicole panicked.

n“W-What do we do now?”

nKairos frowned.

n“Either fight it or jump out a window.”

nNicole didn’t even hesitate to answer back.

n“My room has a big openable window!”

nShe rushed over to it, leading the group there. Nicole hurriedly pushed aside the curtains, then began spinning this small handle that very slowly opened the window.

nSydney panicked.

n“There’s no time!”

nKairos clicked his tongue.

nHonestly, with his previous experience fighting them, he was also fairly confident in taking on just one of these monsters. However, he didn’t want to show that capability straight away.

nUnfortunately, Nicole’s lack of judgment meant that wasn’t going to happen. The monster rushed over to the doorway, its footsteps both heavy and intimidating.

nKairos got next to the side of the door and raised his lamp, holding the base up high.

nThe door was only halfway closed, so the monster directly slammed against the door and appeared. Screams immediately came from Nicole and her parents, while Harold’s was somehow the most high-pitched.

nBut that was when Kairos acted, knowing the exact position of the monster’s head before it even burst in because of his future vision.

nThe lamp whipped through the air.

nA dull, but loud bang resounded along with frightening cracks.

nKairos put some good strength behind that swing, directly denting the creature’s head. It slammed into the nearby wall, before falling to one knee. However, it was still alive.

nKairos wanted to quickly follow up, but found that he just didn’t have that kind of flexibility, probably because of his low agility stat.

nAt that moment, Sydney let out a loud scream, raising her wooden bat in the air before slamming it down.

nThe creature’s head collapsed in on itself, before falling to the ground lifeless.

nSydney was breathing very heavily, still getting used to the sudden rush of adrenaline.

nHowever, while the immediate threat was over, Kairos furrowed his brows.

n“Don’t stop, we have to run.”

n