"Mr… Barry?" He called out
The man lunged at him with his mouth wide open, but he tripped and fell to the ground.
Lucas could immediately tell that something was wrong with the man, panic flashed across his face as he tried to rush back to the building.
As he attempted to move Mr. Barry grabbed his leg and caused him to fall to the ground.
His hand was firm on his ankle, with a grip so powerful it was almost crushing.
Lucas tried to break free but to no avail,
'How is he doing this?!' he wondered as he kicked the man's hand over and over.
Mr. Barry didn't even flinch.
His fingers only dug in deeper, nails pressing through the fabric of Lucas's trousers and into his skin like iron clamps.
"Let go!" Lucas shouted, his voice cracking with fear.
He twisted around and slammed both hands against the ground, trying to drag himself forward, but the man's strength was inhuman. It felt like being pinned by a machine.
Mr. Barry slowly lifted his head.
There was blood smeared around his mouth.
His eyes—Lucas froze.
They were dull, cloudy, and unfocused, yet somehow locked directly onto him.
"Mr… Barry?" he whispered again, desperately hoping there was still a person in there.
The man answered with a low, guttural growl. Lucas's stomach dropped.
Just when the panic was about to set in, a foot came from nowhere and smashed into the man's head, crushing it and splattering the particles everywhere.
Only after that did Lucas feel his grip loosen from his leg.
Standing above him was Carol.
"Tsk. It got all over my shoe," she said with a sigh.
Lucas stared at her in complete shock, still lying on the ground with one leg half twisted beneath him.
Blood—and far worse—was splattered across the pavement, some of it staining the edge of pants and the tip of her shoe.
His mouth opened, but no words came out.
Carol glanced down at him with mild annoyance, as if she had merely stepped on gum.
"What?" she asked. "Were you planning to keep screaming until it ate your face?"
"I—I…" Lucas pointed shakily at what remained of Mr. Barry. "You just—his head—you—"
"Yes, I noticed," she replied dryly. "Try to keep up."
She crouched slightly and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to his feet with surprising ease.
Lucas nearly stumbled into her.
"That thing wasn't Mr. Barry anymore," she said, her voice calm but sharp. "If you hesitate like that again out here, you'll die."
He stared at her, breathing hard.
"But… he was alive. He—"
"HE was trying to bite your throat out," Carol cut in. "You're lucky I was here to save your ass, why did you even come out here in the first place?"
It took Lucas a few extra seconds to process everything she had said.
"I actually came out here to thank you… for saving me the other time at the convenience store."
The words felt awkward the moment they left his mouth, especially since she had just saved him again.
"You're welcome." She paused, as if studying his face. "You should head back inside before more of those dead creatures show up. You'll be safer in there."
"What are they?"
"What do you think? They are the people that have been killed by that monster, if they bite you, you'll turn into one of them,"
"So they are zombies?"
"The system calls them 'Dead-walkers'. They are pretty easy to kill if you level up your stats a bit,"
She gave him another look with a frown.
"You do know how to do that at least right?"
"Yes, of course," he blurted out
Now that she had saved his life again, Lucas considered apologizing for not handing over his Karma points earlier, but he knew he had no intention of changing his decision, so he shut the thought down.
"Before you go… why did you keep all your points?"
"Because they're mine?" Lucas answered, as if it were obvious.
"And what do you plan on doing with them?"
"Why do you want to know?" he shot back.
"No reason in particular…" she said, then paused. "It's just that times have changed. In the last five days, more humans have died than in all of history. I heard there are cities where monsters appeared and reduced everything to dust."
She folded her arms and continued.
"We believe more than ninety percent of humanity has already been wiped out, and everyone is on edge right now. I understand that you want to keep your points, but you also need to understand that doing something like that might not be in your best interest."
Lucas frowned. "What are you trying to say?"
She exhaled softly. "Nothing. Just be more careful. I won't be there to save you next time."
He turned and headed back inside, gritting his teeth as he climbed the stairs. Even if she hadn't said anything, the fact that he had been there to hear everything Saito and Arnold said was enough to get the message across.
As he passed Stacy's apartment, her door opened.
"Lucas—"
His own door slammed shut before she could finish.
A rush of emotions swirled inside him, but two stood above the rest.
The first was fear, laced with anxiety. After what he had just heard downstairs, he was certain it was only a matter of time before the so-called Heroes came for his Karma points by force.
The second was anger.
Anger at his own inability to protect himself.
Just then, there was a soft knock on the door.
Lucas took a moment to force a smile onto his face before opening it.
"Hey…" Stacy paused, immediately noticing his mood. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered.
"What happened down there?" she pressed.
"It's nothing," he replied.
"Okay…" she said slowly. "I was about to make dinner and was wondering if you'd like some."
"I'm fine—"
"Come on, you can't expect to eat noodles every night. There's even some meat."
Lucas was in no mood for this and was about to shut her down again when something flashed through his mind.
"Okay,"