Chapter 15

The zombie lunged at Lina, and Sophia let out a small scream and covered her eyes.

People can unleash their boundless potential in life-or-death moments.

Lena held the knife in front of her, and the lunging zombie collided with her. Lena fell to the side, and the zombie lay on top of her, its hands and mouth baring its teeth and claws. Lena's strength to resist grew weaker and weaker.

I overturned in the gutter, what bad luck.

A doll fell from a tree, and the zombie seemed to be drawn to it. It suddenly raised its head, and in that instant, Lina pulled out the dagger stuck in the zombie's body and plunged it into its head.

The zombie crashed down on Lina, and she passed out completely.

When Lina woke up groggily again, Sophia was struggling to drag her through the woods.

“Oh my God, you should have stayed there,” Lina gasped.

“I thought you were going to die,” Sofia said fearfully. “I wanted to take you back.”

"It's nothing, that thing didn't bite me at all." Lina forced a smile. "Hey, Sophia, can you do me a favor?"

"What?" Sophia stopped and looked at Lina.

"Could you get me two candies from my pocket?" Lina said.

“Okay,” Sofia gently put Lina down, then took two candies from her pocket.

“You’re really lucky, we have two grape flavored ones.” Sophia tore one open and put it in Lina’s mouth, and Lina gestured for her to eat the other one.

The two ate their lollipops in silence. Lina looked around. "Sophia, we can't run around anymore," she said.

Sofia looked at Lina uneasily; she didn't want to stay there, she was too scared.

"Hang in there, just like before. We'll probably have to stay in the tree all night." It's already dark, and if they run into the zombies any further, they're both doomed.

“Okay,” Sophia nodded with difficulty.

Lina crouched down, leaning against the tree. "Step on it. You have to climb up yourself, you know?"

Sofia swallowed nervously, stepped on Lina's back, and climbed the tree. She struggled to climb and successfully reached the branch.

Lina looked up at Sophia and breathed a sigh of relief. Damn it, climbing a tree.

Lina took the knife and made a small cut to give herself some leverage, then slowly climbed up.

After falling three more times, Lina finally climbed up.

As long as they remained quiet and didn't make a sound, they were unlikely to be discovered by the walkers. Lina and Sophia huddled stiffly in the tree, afraid to move. Although the branches were quite thick, falling would be even more fatal.

It's certain that it will result in a fracture.

In a daze, Lina fainted again. Fortunately, she found a good spot and lay on a branch, so she didn't fall but stayed on the tree.

The candy in her mouth fell out, and she would have been heartbroken if she were awake.

The next morning, Lina woke up feeling much better; at least she felt like she could put her strength back into play.

Lina looked at Sophia, who was nestled in a branch, dozing off.

Lina sat up. "Sophia?"

Sofia woke up with a start, "Are you alright?"

"Much better," Lina said with a smile. "Alright, we can go down now."

Lina grabbed the tree and jumped down first, then guided Sophia down slowly.

Was it because the previous tree wasn't tall enough? Sophia ran down on her own. This tree was a bit taller than the previous one, making it harder to get down. Fortunately, Lina had recovered somewhat and caught Sophia.

The two of them then seemed to be going in circles, completely disoriented.

Finally, Lina mustered her courage and focused on one direction, continuing forward relentlessly.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, they came across a road, but it was clearly not the one they were looking for. Lina looked around, feeling somewhat discouraged. But which way should they go?

Lina looked at Sophia, and Sophia looked back at her with a puzzled expression.

Okay, okay, let's figure out how to survive.

Why didn't she see that tent or find that church along the way...?!

“Sophia, earlier in the woods…” Before she could finish speaking, Lina heard the sound of a car. She pushed Sophia down, and the two of them fell to the ground. She saw a car speeding past on the highway, with two other cars chasing after it.

They forced the first car to stop.

"Don't move, don't make a sound," Lina whispered in Sofia's ear.

Two girls and a middle-aged man were pulled off the bus.

A group of men surrounded her, and she heard wails. Lina covered Sofia's eyes.

"What happened?" Sophia asked, trembling.

"No," Lina said through gritted teeth.

"We have to go." Lina felt a lump in her throat, but reason told her she had to leave. These people had guns, and she had Sophia with her. She didn't dare think about what Sophia would go through if they fell into their hands.

She silently apologized to the two girls in her heart, and quietly led Sophia back into the woods.

She felt ashamed; she couldn't save the two girls. She ran away, and a sense of guilt spread through her.

Lina, you are not the savior, you are not the savior... Lina kicked the tree angrily.

Sophia was startled and looked at Lina with unease.

"I'm sorry," Lina said, trying to calm herself down and forcing a smile at Sophia.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, they arrived at a house that Lina recognized; they had searched it before! Sophia seemed to have hidden in a closet downstairs.

Lina checked the surroundings and found it to be relatively safe. She locked the front and back doors, took Sophia upstairs, and found a fairly clean room. Lina brought some canned food from downstairs, and the two of them made do with what they had.

“You can go, if you want to,” Sophia suddenly said.

"What?" Lina stared at Sophia in surprise.

“You wanted to save them by the roadside, but because I was there,” Sophia poked at the can, “I can hide here. You go ahead.”

“Sophia, I can’t leave you,” Lina said, then silently stared at the can.

“I will hide in the closet, motionless, just like we are in the tree, and wait for you to come back,” Sophia said earnestly.

“But…” Lina hesitated. She had already checked and the place was safe for the time being. However, Rick had also checked it. If something happened to her after she left, she would never forgive herself.

She made her choice; she would give up the lives of those two innocent girls for Sofia, she would.

*

“They hid in the tree,” Daryl kicked the walker. “That was her knife. They’re fine.”

However, the marks left afterward were not good.

Carol picked up the doll Sophia had dropped, fighting back tears.

“She’s not doing well,” Daryl said to Rick in a low voice. “I don’t know…” Daryl choked up. Sophia had dragged her away. Had she been bitten? Was she injured?

Rick didn't know what to say, so he looked at Carol and Daryl and silently lowered his head.

“She probably had heatstroke. She looked really bad, and her forehead was burning hot,” Carroll said, her voice choked with emotion.

Daryl thought of Lina's flushed face and neck, something he should have noticed—to hell with UV allergy.

“Let’s keep looking,” Rick said to Daryl, who nodded and continued the search.

The further they went, the more chaotic the traces became, until finally they completely disappeared.

Daryl looked at the woods with some annoyance. How could they run so fast?

He hadn't walked far when he saw a lollipop under a tree.

Lollipop?

Daryl picked up the candy, and Rick was pleasantly surprised. "She's alright, this must be Lina's."

There was also a candy stick. Daryl looked up at the tree. "They climbed up the tree and spent the night there." Daryl was relieved. This meant that Lina and Sophia were alright; they were just lost.

Carol burst into tears of joy.

“We’ll leave some markers everywhere; they don’t know the way back.” Daryl pulled out his dagger and carved on the tree.

“We should split up,” Moore said impatiently. “This forest is so big, what are we searching if we all stay together?”

"Daryl, you take your men that way, I'll go this way, we'll meet up ahead." Moore gestured the secret hand signals between the two, and Daryl nodded.

Sean and Rick separated and followed Daryl and Moore. Daryl took Carol, Sean, and Andrea, while Moore took Rick, Amy, and Lowry.

However, when they arrived at the church, they found no other traces.

“Maybe they didn’t even come this way,” Moore said to Daryl, who sat absentmindedly on the steps.

Moore knew he was anxious.

The people inside were still talking to JC (Jesus), no wonder it was useless. Praying to Jesus was less helpful than relying on yourself. Moore scoffed inwardly.

“She’ll be fine,” Moore said. “Think about it, she has incredible strength.”

Daryl rubbed his hair in frustration. "I'll go take a look around."

“I’ll go with you,” Moore said.

“No, you stay. They need you to lead the way.” Daryl left without looking back, carrying his crossbow.

Damn it. Moir stabbed at the wooden railing with his short sword in frustration.

*

Lina dragged her injured leg and ran through the woods. She nimbly climbed a tree and used the branches to conceal herself.

“Damn, see that bitch?” a curly-haired man asked another Black man.

“No, she couldn’t have gone far after being shot,” the Black man said.

"Be careful, James." Curly looked around, gun in hand.

Lena descended from the sky, stabbing him through the head with a knife. She quickly rolled over, using Curly's body as cover to block James's gun. The long knife pierced through the corpse, going straight through the chest of the black man, James.

Lina drew her longsword, severed his head, sheathed the sword, and quickly left.

There was a gunshot. Daryl listened with a puzzled look; it wasn't very clear, and it sounded far away.

He thought about it for a moment and then ran in that direction.

*

"Damn it, why are James and Ryan so slow? They can't even handle one woman," Dave spat and complained.

"Is something wrong with them?" Randall asked anxiously.

“Go take a look,” Tony said, pointing at Randall.

"Me?" Randall was a little scared. "Let's go."

“Coward,” Tony shoved Randall aside and shoved him toward the side of the road.

"Aaaaaah—" A scream came from behind.

"F*%k! What's going on?" The middle-aged man they killed had turned into a zombie, as had their teammates, John and Michael, who had just been stabbed to death by that bitch!

Gene, who was pulling up his pants, was bitten right in front of them!

Tony fired at the walker, and out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to see that bitch again.

"Get in the car! Get in the car! Quick!" Tony shouted frantically. Randall and Dave rushed into the car, and the three of them escaped.

Lena ran onto the road and took down three zombies. The two poor girls huddled together in terror, trembling.

One of them got bitten.

"You..." It's the neck, hopeless.

Lina didn't know what to say and looked at them helplessly.

"Thank you." The bitten girl looked at Lina with tears in her eyes, picked up a dropped gun, and shot herself.

Her sister broke down in tears. Lina picked up a piece of clothing from the ground and covered her with it. "We have to go."

“No, thank you.” She glanced at Lina, resolutely picked up the gun, and followed her sister away.

Lina looked at everything in front of her with a blank expression.

In the end, she couldn't save anything.

Lina was having trouble breathing. She thought of Sophia. Was Sophia alright? She was a little scared. What if Sophia got bitten when she got back?

That must be her fault.

Lina ran back in a panic, her anxiety growing.