"It's been two weeks since the world ended. On the second day we lost a family member. I had to stop the transformation because no one else could. We are all afraid of what the next days will bring, no one wants to become food for these beasts, that's why we don't go out. We save as much as we can and live."

  ~ The Kaczmarek Chronicle.

  Day 14.

  Emil rested on the roof of the house, lying down and watching the clear sky. He looked at the clouds trying to forget reality, at least for a moment. He stretched his hand upward, as if he wanted to catch the cloud in his palm. The sun's rays pierced through his fingers, blinding him. He inertly lowered his hand to the roof tile and closed his eyes, recalling past moments of his life. Memories jumbled in his head, many events from his life flashing through his mind in a split moment. He thought of Clara. Although the phase with her in his life had ended long ago, he still had fits of sudden thoughts involving her from time to time. Falling asleep, he saw images in his mind that he didn't want to remember.

  ><

  "Emil! Emil!" in a sunny clearing, Klara ran toward her boyfriend dressed in a straw hat and a flowered dress. Her long blond hair blew in all directions of the world.

  "What's up, baby?" Emil, sitting on the grass, looked at her. The girl sat across from him smiling from ear to ear.

  "Do you know how happy I am to have you?"

  The scenery had changed, the boy was sitting on a bench. In his right hand he held a phone with an open message.

  "I love someone else," he said.

  "I really cared."

  "Stop. Everything you told me was a damn lie. When you had enough of everything, I kept you alive! I gave you everything and this is how you repay me? You hurt me..."

  The downpour continued. Emil soaked stood under the tree, looking at the rope in his hand, remembering Clara's words

  "I will always be beside you, Emil."

  ><

  Banging against the metal fence roused Emil from his sleep. His heart beat harder because of what he dreamed. The sun made it difficult for him to look in the direction of the gate but when his eyes finally adjusted, he saw his nightmare. In the man banging on the gate he recognized Igor Klimczak, Klara's boyfriend. Kaczmarek muttered a few words under his breath, brushing back the hair falling on his face.

  "Why is it coming back? I don't understand."

  The boy felt something running down his cheek. It was a tear.

  ><

  "She's not here?" Igor, a tall brunette with blue eyes asked surprised, sitting on a chair outside the Duckmark house. - This is the only place in the neighborhood where I met someone. She told me she would be waiting.

  "We haven't seen her for a week." David countered, sitting on the concrete sidewalk. With a small knife he was sharpening the axe head. "Ask Emil, I think he was hanging around behind her. "

  The rest of the Kaczmarek family went about their business, most staying inside the house. They weren't too interested in the stranger's presence, knowing it was only temporary.

  "Was he hanging around?" He repeated with a slight nervousness. "Did you let her leave? I guess you know what's going on outside?"

  "We can't keep her here by force. It's none of our business." David continued. "Besides, not many corpses are hanging around the village now. They went in the direction of town following the sounds of gunfire more than a week ago."

  "So this whole Emil thing knows something? I think we need to talk to him a bit."

  David, finishing sharpening his axe, stood up, blocking the passage to Igor, who bounced back. The man looked the stranger deep in the eyes with a furious gaze.

  "Did you come here to cause trouble?" He asked in a cool tone.

  "No." He replied in the negative, standing motionless. The fact that David was still holding the axe was enough to keep him from lashing out. "I only came to get her. Nothing else."

  David took a step back, allowing Igor to pass. He still looked at him from the corner of his eye as he walked deeper into the plot. Igor was confused, he didn't know these people, he was a little afraid. He heard a male voice behind him, when he turned around he saw a short person with blond hair. At first he thought it was his Klara, but no.

  "She waited for two weeks." Emil wielded a long axe, which could already safely be called a real axe. The handle was two-handed. It looked a bit comical considering the blond man's height. He leaned the axe against his shoulder, crisscrossing from foot to foot.

  "Tell me where she is. You're not going to give me morals."

  "How about being more polite? You are not at your place." He slipped past him oleaginously.

  "Where is she?" he threw more aggressively to Emil, standing in his way.

  "Who knows." He bypassed him once again, walking to the back of the lot. He stopped after a moment, remembering something. "She left you a letter. She gave it to me the day before she disappeared."

  Igor looked at him interested. Before he mentioned the letter, he thought that the girl had left it and simply ran away. As you can see, he was wrong, although there was no certainty yet.

  "Did you read it?"

  The brunet followed Emil, who had already started leading him back in front of the house.

  "Why should I? I don't care." answered him, leaving his tool at the door.

  The boy told Igor to wait outside while he went to get the letter. At the entrance, Emil was greeted by Kaja, extending her hands in his direction.

  "Guess in which hand." She smiled for the first time since the outbreak began. She noticed her brother's sphincter and laughed quietly.

  "In the left."

  She opened her hands, a bracelet began to dangle from her right hand, which she held with her index finger. This bracelet was apparently homemade. It consisted of white beads, every four of which were separated by a smaller, green bead from which yellow, gold stylized fragments connecting the green and white were detached on the sides.

  "You haven't guessed, silly."

  "Wow!" The bracelet made him curious. "Did you make it yourself?"

  "Yes. Do you like it?"

  "It's pretty." He stroked the girl's hair and then wanted to move on, but she stopped him.

  "I would like you to take it."

  "Yes? Well." hugged his little sister tightly, as if he was afraid that now every hug could be the last. - Thank you.

  Igor looked around the plot, observing his surroundings. He took advantage of the moment when no one was paying much attention to him. David and Miko?aj were working at the fence, every now and then glancing at what the visitor was doing. He seemed to be checking how sturdy the fences were. It was also possible that he was looking for weak points. Walking around the plot, he saw parts of old furniture scattered on the ground, which at the time were used as materials for barricades. He strolled this way for a while, his attention was caught by a wooden cross made of two planks driven into the ground, underneath which was freshly buried soil. He walked up to the grave, thinking.

  "This is my brother's grave." Dawid said, overlapping him from behind. He took a break from his work. "They bit him."

  He was a little frightened. He was very glad that he had not been caught with anything suspicious.

  "Isn't there a cure for this?" he asked.

  "Even if there could be, who will make one now? People are dying like flies, the government probably doesn't give a damn about us."

  Igor fell silent. Standing in silence, Dawid noticed the changing weather. The sun hid behind thick clouds, the wind became stronger. The storm season was effectively making its presence known. The man returned to work after a while. Emil left the house with a letter in his hand. The sight of Dawid at his brother's grave moved him, but he restrained his emotions. He felt there was no time for that at a time when they had to watch out for their lives every day.

  "Here." The boy handed Igor a letter written on a small piece of paper.

  As Igor read through the contents it was clear to him that he was not entirely satisfied, perhaps even confused. He looked at the piece of paper, then at Emil and back again. He cursed quietly under his breath, standing like a peg. Emil looked at him puzzled, asking what he meant.

  "The ruins of the mansion?" he repeated probably what was written in the letter.

  "What about them?" He asked, correcting in his hand the axe he had taken from under the house again before.

  "Why exactly would she go there?"

  "Well, why do I know?"

  "Maybe you know something. You know her."

  "I knew her. I knew the kind of person she wanted me to know. I don't know how true that was." He turned on his heel, wanting to finally start working.

  "Don't make a monster out of her." he growled aggressively at Emil reducing the distance. "Clearly you were an asshole since she left you."

  Emil stopped. His blood was bubbling with anger. Igor's insolence played on his nerves, as did the feeling of incomprehension and injustice.

  "She was making it out of me." squeezed the axe handle in his hand while clenching his teeth with anger. "What can you know?"

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  "Will you help me find her or not?" he replied unconcerned with the answer.

  Emil felt like turning around and slashing Igor about the head in one move, but he didn't. Fury was pouring out of him, he felt he might do something stupid. Only the sight of Kaja in the window, who was watching what was happening, brought him back to reality.

  "Get out." He choked out quietly, but loud enough for him to hear. "And if you find her, don't come back."

  Igor did not respond. He moved away silently towards the gate, by means of which he went outside and immediately disappeared from Emil's sight. He heard the sound of a door slamming in the distance, but did not react. His blood pressure was elevated which, combined with his illness, could end badly. He took deep breaths to calm himself down.

  "Emil! Mom asks if you took your medicine today." Kaja walked up to her brother. When he turned around she asked. "Why are you crying?"

  Surprised Emil the moment his sister mentioned it only felt a tear running down his cheek. He wiped it quickly.

  "Never mind. Yes, I took." He walked closer to Kaja. "And did she say maybe what we will do when they are gone? I have medicines for less than a month.. Good thing I bought more last time."

  Kaja visibly grieved. She didn't want anything to happen to her brother. She lowered her head, not knowing what to say.

  "Hey, little one. What's wrong?" he asked.

  "Just..." she interrupted, turning her gaze to Emil.

  "Don't worry about me." He hugged her tenderly. "I'll be fine."

  "And shall we play something together?" she changed the subject to a more cheerful one.

  "Sure. I'll come right away. Go."

  The girl ran home trotting delightedly. Emil, meanwhile, sighed protractedly worried about his mental state. He himself did not know what to think. Despite the fact that he and Klara had been out of contact for a good year and a half, he was still plagued by the past. Despite his cold demeanor, Emil was experiencing everything two, maybe three times more strongly than the average person. The emotions bubbling up inside him were overpowering. As he wandered in his mind, Isabella's voice snapped him out of his amok.

  "You are cruel."

  "Hm, what?" he noticed his aunt nearby, who had heard the entire conversation with both Igor and Kaja. The woman was sitting in a chair, watching the flowers in the garden right next door.

  "You know what I'm talking about." She looked at him with pity. Emil knew there was nothing to hide from her, she was too perceptive. "It still hurts you, doesn't it? I can see it."

  Her penetrating gaze made Emil uncomfortable, and he just wanted to have peace and quiet. He was fed up with the topic, but he didn't want to be unkind so he simply confirmed her assumption.

  "Well, I guess it's like this."

  "People appear and disappear. You can't change that, no matter how hard you try." She got up from her chair then headed toward the garden. She knelt by the flowers, watching them grow.

  "Why are you telling me this?" he asked irritably.

  "To make you forget. Don't make enemies, it will only get you lost. No one should have enemies."

  The words made Emil think. He has always been an aggressive, explosive person. His aunt's words were utter nonsense to him. He looked at the bracelet he got from his younger sister and clenched his fist. He dismissed the words, answering Isabella in a sad tone.

  "The world has changed, Aunt Isabella. And so must we."

  "It does not change the fact that we should help each other. Even she deserves it."

  After a short while he went without a word to the house where Kaja was waiting for him. He thought about Isabella's words, which again brought back a wave of intrusive memories. More moments passed as he played cards with his sister to free himself from the subject of Clara, at least for a while.

  "Maybe she's right?" he thought.

  ><

  It was after 2 pm when Igor arrived at a small grove just outside the forest. He crouched under a tree, taking his bag off his back and placing it on the ground. He opened it to pull out a bottle of water, which he then sipped from. He was exhausted after a long trip from the other end of the country, his car having had to leave many kilometers away due to lack of fuel. He felt sorry for his only transportation but it was out of his control. A short rest regenerated his strength and he was ready to continue his journey. He stood up, propping himself against a tree trunk. He heard a cringing behind him, one zombie appeared. Seeing Igor he accelerated slightly, but the brunet did not seem to care. He left him alone walking on and ignoring his presence completely. He walked along the sandy road on a cloudy day. Being closer to the village one could still smell the scent of rotting flesh wafting through the air and here, in nature, one could breathe. Igor finally lost the corpse among the trees and once again stopped under a tree to think. He pulled a letter from Klara from his pocket and read it.

  Igor, if you want to look for me, I will be in the ruins of the old mansion. Before the apocalypse I often went here, we can live here.

  He continued wandering in search of his destination. He wandered through the dense forest. After a few minutes, he heard a rustling in the bushes. He instinctively pulled out the knife attached to his belt. He was ready to attack when an elderly woman suddenly ran out of those bushes.

  "Help!" she bumped into Igor, almost knocking him over. "They coming!"

  Before he had time to ask what was going on, two zombies came out of the bushes. The woman begged for help, noticing the knife in his hand. Igor unconcernedly looked at the woman, then noticed that the woman was carrying a bag with various supplies. He pulled the puzzled woman's bag off her back and threw it a piece further to the ground after which, without hesitation, he grabbed her by the hair and pushed her against the corpse, which began to devour her alive.

  "Gosh. Shut up." He said in a departing tone, taking the bag in his hand and walking on, quickly disappearing from the corpses' eyes.

  He wiped his knife of blood on the grass, looking back. The corpses did not follow him. However, he heard another rustling, he waited for a moment, the sound of footsteps became clearer, there were more of them. Igor already knew that something was going on. A group of several corpses suddenly came out of the bushes. He wanted to run away, but when he turned around, he saw that several of them had also appeared from the opposite side.

  "Damn."

  He cursed his fate. He was cut off, surrounded. He didn't have much of a choice, he had to flee in any direction, and so he did.

  ><

  Emil followed Clara's footsteps as Igor did. He thought over Isabella's words, which finally made him leave a dozen minutes later. He picked up his axe, which was his weapon. He had never been to the mansion, but he knew more or less where it was located. It was the remains of the 18th century when the estate was ruled by the unnamed Porebski family. For many years, little remained of it. At least that was until Klara started wandering around the mansion, making it her "asylum" away from home. Emil associated the place from stories either from his family or Klara's own during the days when things were still going well between them. Along the way he tried to eliminate individual corpses. Although they still frightened him, he managed. It was worse with individuals in groups, he had to dodge them for safety.

  "We could search the wreckage now that the deads are gone." whispered to himself, seeing the aforementioned crashed plane in the distance. They hadn't made any move in that direction since the crash because of Dariusz' death. Perhaps they did the right thing because the population of stiffs had increased dramatically since there were about 250 people on the plane who had changed, or at least those with anything left. However, now that the zombies had spread out, they could make a move.

  Emil moved on for the time being, leaving the safe haven for another purpose. It was still necessary to find Klara, although he was reluctant to do so. After all, they had once been close to each other and Emil is not a person without empathy. He had a feeling that because of the death of her parents she might have broken down and wanted to do something to herself. Sam still didn't know what to feel, what to do. He felt that he was only relying on the advice of others, himself without having the faintest idea what he should do.

  Some time later, he arrived near the forest, passing three zombies, including the woman indirectly killed by Igor. Despite his poor knowledge in this area, he could tell that the blood on the woman was fresh. He wondered if it might have some connection to what he had come here for. He didn't ponder it any longer and moved on. When he first saw the mansion, he was surprised. Although there were only remnants, the core of the architecture had survived for more than 300 years. The whole area was covered with bushes, trees, the place had not been taken care of for years as far as the exterior was concerned. Emil felt a slight fear at the thought of having to go inside. It wasn't just about Klara but also about the other monstrosities that could be hiding there.

  - Here we go.

  He took three deep breaths and walked confidently to the front door. The lock was broken, but something was blocking their opening. He was able to swing them open just a little and when he did, he saw a rope tied to the handle. He made a little noise, but not enough for anyone to hear it. So he started listening to find out if anyone was inside. Silence. So he changed his aim from the door to another entrance, and to that end began to overlap the house from all sides. The windows on the first floor were covered with some kind of material, behind which no one knew what was behind. Emil didn't want to fall into any traps. Once he got around the building, he slowly and gently uncovered one of the curtains blocking the window. This particular one led to some small room, years ago it might have been a toilet and now it only served as an empty room. He stepped inside, unfortunately causing another noise as he landed on some trash and pieces of crushed glass. He prayed in his spirit that the noise would escape anyone inside, but suddenly he heard a sound from the floor. The creaking of the floor. "Klara?" he thought, looking up at the ceiling with strained hearing. He opened the door to the corridor, the main mini-hall was all barricaded with furniture that prevented entry through the front door. He squeezed the axe tightly in his hand, being at the ready. He was sure there was someone on the first floor; he went under the stairs creeping. He saw Klara's bag on the floor under the table, on which lay the remains of dinner. And to the right stood a double bed, soaked in the antiquity of the mansion, on which lay scattered clothes.

  Suddenly Emil heard the unlocking of a gun, characteristic of a revolver. He froze for a moment, thinking it was over. He raised his hands up, still holding the axe. He keeps it in plain sight so that the attacker doesn't shoot.

  "Why did you come here? You have nothing to look for here!" he heard a familiar voice. It was Klara. Her tone of voice indicated that she was shaken.

  "Lower your gun. I came to help you." He stood motionless, turning only slightly his head toward her.

  "I don't need help..." she took a step toward Emil, staring at him with a near-crying gaze. "Why don't you all leave me alone!"

  He felt the bullet approaching at an alarming rate so he pulled the final card.

  "Your boyfriend is here!"

  "Igor?" she looked shocked, losing her vigilance. "He came ba-"

  Emil instantly turned around, at the same time taking an axe swing at Klara. The girl miraculously avoided decapitation, losing her balance nearly toppling over. The boy took advantage of it and immediately made a charge at Klara pushing her directly into the wall, putting the axe blade to her throat. On impact the revolver went off, fortunately into the floor. Immediately after, Emil twisted Klara's arm, who released the weapon from her hand and moaned in pain.

  "Don't ever do that again!" he growled at her, kicking the revolver in the side to keep her from grabbing it.

  The girl began to cry, cuddling her head into Emil's chest. The boy was shocked, he had no idea why she was doing this. The feeling of compassion was eclipsed by the inner fury that lingered in Emil's head. No one could describe what was going on in his mind at the time.

  "I want to disappear..." Klara's words snapped Emil out of his madness. "I can't handle it anymore..."

  The death of her parents had strongly affected her, she could not cope with this trauma. Emil dreaded to think what she must have felt alone.

  "Klara, I-"

  The creak of the floor tore Emil's gaze away from Klara. When he looked toward the stairs, he noticed a puzzled and upset Igor. Emil knew what this looked like, and he wouldn't explain himself, although he didn't even care too much.

  - I know what it looks like, but it's not like that. - He gave it a try after all.

  - This one? And how? - moved aggressively towards him with a knife in hand.

  Emil was already preparing the axe to defend himself when suddenly, during the attack, Klara grabbed him by the right hand preventing him from attacking her boyfriend. Igor, taking advantage of the girl's help, ran up to Emil and delivered a blow to his chest. Emil blocked his blow with his left hand, holding his arm. It didn't take long for Klara's next move, who immediately kicked Emil in the knee. He felt the cooing of bones and a moment after that the steel slammed under his ribs. He thought he would die instantly. He violently hit Igor head-on stunning both himself and him. He barely ran away, falling to the floor next to Klara's revolver, which had been dropped earlier. Behind his back he heard the clatter of the axe head against the floor, he knew he was about to be attacked. He turned abruptly, grabbing the revolver and fired without thinking, hitting Igor in the shoulder. He squeezed the trigger a few more times, but ran out of bullets. So he threw the gun away and took his axe from under the feet of Igor, who stopped for a moment in pain. He got up quickly, heading for the exit, but Igor grabbed his knife from behind and dragged him, opening a bigger wound. After pulling out the axe, Emil screamed and turned, hitting Igor in the eye with the shaft of the axe, knocking it out. Klara didn't know what to do, and ran up to Igor pulling him away from Emil. The boy had a clear escape route and took advantage of it to break free. With his axe, he cut the rope blocking the door and ran out, barely able to move at all. He was losing a lot of blood, on top of which his knee is also not in the best condition. He didn't know if he would even make it home alive. He turned his head checking to see if anyone was chasing him and saw a cloud of corpses bursting into the mansion from every possible direction. The only thing left for him was to run away.

  With each passing moment, Emil felt more and more pain. He had dark circles in front of his eyes and felt himself slowly losing consciousness. A lot of blood was pouring out of him, he put as much pressure on the wound as he could. Once he was out of the forest, on a sandy road, he saw two figures in the distance. He was afraid for a moment that they might be hallucinations and he was actually seeing a walking corpse, but it was reality. He saw Dawid and his father running towards him, who, alarmed by the gunshots, went looking for Emil.

  Delighted that they found him, he unfortunately fell to the ground losing consciousness.