CHAPTER 6

Darwin Kim leads Psyche Flint to the temporary refuge for the survivors, the underground mall.

"No wonder he found me there" Psyche Flint thought and frowned as she looked around and saw many exhausted and dispirited survivors inside. They are slouching on the wall, hugging their family, sleeping for a short time than a human usually does, and wary of each other's greediness.

The area's population was reduced to one-fourth of the area's total population from before the apocalypse.

"What is your survival plan?" Psyche Flint asked Darwin Flint but saw his hesitated eyes. Darwin Kim couldn't look straight at her while contemplating on what to say as an excuse.

Psyche Flint sighed as she felt Darwin Kim's reaction and guessed their plan. Everything that happened inside this refuge, is just a temporary comfort for the shocking people who couldn't accept that the world change.

"In this way, you didn't help them to survive at all but you help them to become dependent. What will happen if you shelter each person you saw? Are you certain that you can keep them safe and filled their minds with hope? This is not helping at all but slowly breaking them" Psyche Flint said seriously and her eyes gazed around. It looks like her eyes are looking for something.

Darwin Kim stayed silent and didn't know what to say to her as he felt powerless, too. He was about to say a word but noticed Psyche Flint's eyes gazing around as if looking for someone or something.

"What's wrong?" Darwin Kim asked when Psyche Flint moved and walked towards the back of the crowd. Psyche Flint didn't answer him either but her eyes landed on the unconscious woman. Her face looks uncomfortable while a young boy keeps on wiping her sweats with clean clothes.

Darwin Kim also looked at the unconscious woman. She looks like on her 30s and obviously, the young boy is her son. Her hands clutched on her son's shirt as her face filled with worries and sadness.

Psyche Flint sighed and immediately knew the reason of the unconscious woman's condition.

Even though, she acted like an idiot outside this refuge camp, it is because the zombies are ignoring her like she doesn't exist at all.

She felt uncomfortable inside her heart because the situation is likely the common treatment between a rich and poor. The rich stays in a luxurious house and being treated like a god everywhere he/she goes while the poor struggles on the slum just to survive. However, this is the worst case scenario because it directly involves life.

She's energetic and can loosen her vigilance because she's invisible for the zombies while these people here inside the refugee's camp are scared of those man-eater monsters outside and cannot fight without hiding.

Darwin Kim also saw the condition of the unconscious woman but he couldn't help at all. He's helpless and powerless. He's just slightly stronger than average human. It is enough to defend himself from limited number of zombies but he cannot defend all of the people inside this refugee's camp.

Suddenly, the unconscious woman's finger twitched once. No one saw it, even Psyche Flint. Her skin slowly change into grayish brown, the common color for rotten corpse while the young boy is still wiping sweats on the unconscious woman's forehead.

"Mom?" The young boy was stunned when the unconscious woman turned her head and looked at him. Her upper body was lifted up slowly until her limbs supported it. She moved sluggishly like a snail. She smiled and reached out her hand on the young boy's cheeks while her eyes teared.

However, her hands stop moving when her eyes immediately turned white. The young boy sniffed. He already have an idea why her mother is acting like a stiff puppet with a string. Her mother turned into a zombie. His heart ached and wanted to hug her but a hand pulled him from behind to stop him.

"Its dangerous" Psyche Flint whispered. Fortunately, no one discovered the situation yet and the refugees are quiet because of those patrolmen roaming around the camp to check.

Psyche Flint covered the young boy's eyes with her left hand and her right hand gripped on a sword nearby. She struck on the woman's neck and a head fell down.

Psyche Flint whispered again. "I'm sorry. She's no longer your mother" while her voice is trembling and her eyes are shaking. It is the first time she killed a human but she has no other choice, just to do so for everyone here.

The young boy heard her and tried to smile as he noticed her trembling voice. He held the hand that covered his eyes and said, "I don't want to see her suffering from being a zombie".

Psyche Flint's heart softened and hugged the young boy from behind. The young boy could not hold her tears anymore and cried loudly which attracted everyone's attention. They were shocked to see a rotten corpse beside the young boy and immediately know the reason of his heartache.