As the horde moved away, they waited in silence.
Suddenly, something caught his attention. He didn't remember ever wearing a ring on his finger. Yet there it was—perfectly fitted, like it had always belonged there. The shape felt strangely familiar. After staring at it for a moment, a memory flashed in his mind.
It was the same ring the Doc used to wear.
"How the hell is this ring on my hand?" he muttered under his breath.
He tried pulling it off his finger, twisting and tugging at it, but the ring refused to budge.
"Why the fuck is this thing stuck to my finger?"
Hearing the noise, John turned around and looked at him with a confused expression.
"Bro… what the hell are you doing back there?"
"This damn ring is stuck. I'm trying to take it off, but it won't move."
John walked over and grabbed his hand.
"Move over. Let me help you."
They both pulled the ring in opposite directions.
Suddenly—
A sharp jolt of pain shot through his finger as the ring tightened even more.
"AHHH—! Stop! Stop it!" he shouted in agony. "Don't pull it anymore! I swear this thing just tightened itself!"
The pain was excruciating, but he forced himself to stay quiet. Zombies were still roaming somewhere nearby.
After taking a few shaky breaths, he spoke again.
"John… take the car keys. We're leaving. Now."
John frowned.
"Leaving? Where the hell are we going?"
He pressed a hand against his chest, wincing.
"The medical room… the pain in my chest is getting unbearable."
Without wasting another second, John unlocked the car doors and they stepped out.
As they walked toward the building, John asked,
"Leon, you used to study here, right? Do you actually know where the medical room is?"
Leon nodded while scanning the surroundings.
"Yeah, I know where it is. But first we need to figure out how the hell we're getting inside the building."
He paused and glanced toward the back entrance.
"We can't use the back door. That noise earlier came from there. Our only option is the front gate."
John hesitated.
"You sure that's safe?"
Leon shrugged.
"No idea. But since that noise happened, we haven't seen a single zombie around here."
They reached the front gate.
Luckily, the area was clear.
No zombies.
They quickly moved inside and reached the reception area. After searching around, they managed to find a building map showing every floor.
While walking through the hallway, John suddenly asked,
"Leon… if we run into zombies upstairs… do you actually have a way to kill one?"
Leon let out a small chuckle.
"Have you killed one before?"
John scratched the back of his head.
"No… never really got the chance."
Leon smirked.
"Then how the fuck do you expect me to know how to kill one?"
John sighed.
"Look, we both know martial arts… but I honestly don't know if that shit works against zombies."
"In movies they always aim for the head," John added.
Leon raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah? And do you have the guts to get that close and try?"
Before John could answer—
A shadow suddenly loomed over them.
Both of them slowly turned their heads.
Standing there was a zombie.
Its jaw hung unnaturally open, revealing jagged teeth. Its foggy eyes stared straight at them. In its hand was the half-eaten body of a girl, her arm dangling lifelessly.
Leon's voice dropped to a whisper.
"John… that's the girl who ran into me this morning."
The zombie began chewing on the corpse with wet, disgusting sounds.
Leon whispered again.
"John… John!"
John instantly snapped back.
"You motherfucker, shut your mouth. He'll hear us."
Leon slowly started walking backward.
"Move quietly… we can hide inside that classroom."
They carefully slipped into the room and shut the door behind them, locking it from the inside.
Both of them held their breath.
The monster was standing right in front of the medical room.
So they decided to wait until it moved away.
A few minutes later, Leon checked his pockets.
His face suddenly went pale.
"Wait… where's the map?"
John looked around.
"Map? … Map?"
Leon spoke.
Then suddenly—
The ring on Leon's finger released a strange metalloid-colored liquid. The liquid flowed out like mercury, forming a small floating surface.
A second later, the missing map emerged from inside the liquid.
The liquid quickly reabsorbed itself back into the ring.
Both of them froze.
John blinked slowly.
"So… let me get this straight."
He pointed at the ring.
"You're telling me this thing is made of some nano-particle bullshit… and it can store objects inside it?"
Leon stared at the ring in disbelief.
John scoffed and shook his head.
"Man… this world is seriously biased toward the already biased."