XG 15 - Finding a zombie

After going through countless snack bags, Nurul Hanani drank two bottles of water to moist her dry throat. She even drank two bottles of milk under Suzie Yap's advice and felt her state was much better than before. Her mind was much clearer and she could finally move, but a little slower.

She finally feels alive.

The disadvantage of her current state was that the bite on her upper arm revealed its presence strongly, working her pain receptor to the max.

Suzie Yap grabbed the bag filled with snacks and brought them out of the convenience store. "Continue eating."

Ignoring her curiosity about what happened to the male worker, Nurul Hanani obeyed, opening a potato chip gingerly to avoid moving her injured arm much. "Mrs. Wong, how much should I eat? Is it better to save some in case there's no more food?"

Like Wong Xue Guo, Nurul Hanani had also watched tons of apocalypse setting movies and had lately been bingeing Netflix movies. She knew food was an important item to get in those situations.

"Eat all if you can. We will not be staying in this mall for that long."

After a long thought over it, Nurul Hanani finally agreed with Mrs. Wong's words. Low Lin Ya's father will be coming for them and luckily, they only need to go one floor up to reach the rooftop. They would not even need to spend one night in this terrifying mall.

"Mrs. Wong, where are we going?" Nurul Hanani noticed they were not going back to the hideout, but going around the floor without any visible direction.

Eyes traveling everywhere they passed, Suzie Yap answered vaguely. "Finding a zombie."

For a second, Nurul Hanani thought her ears were working wrongly. "... Huh?"

Like a devil, Suzie Yap slowly smiled at the bewildered girl. "You don't think you are saved, don't you?"

"I… don't?" Why does Nurul Hanani feel that she will need to face more pain later? "Why do we need a zombie? How is that going to cure me?"

"You need to get bitten again- oh, I spot one." Suzie Yap did not hesitate and ran to the zombie that had also spotted living humans and charged over-enthusiastically.

Luckily, there were few more zombies on their current floor, or they will have to go to the next floor, which will definitely have more zombies. After all, the exit out of the building was at the ground floor or basement, and they had to travel down. In short, the highest floor actually had the lowest number of zombies and the safest.

After hearing that sentence, Nurul Hanani momentarily wanted to run away. But she discarded that idea the next second, knowing that her only chance of survival lies on Mrs. Wong.

Come on, Hani! Aren't you brave?

Her choice of weapon was also a kitchen knife, which was given by Suzie Yap. She had not actively fought with those zombies before, choosing to grab Low Lin Ya to run in that chaotic situation. It was Chen Yibo that secured their back as they hurriedly searched for a safe place to hide after they saw the elevator was packed, with the zombies coming.

After that… she does not remember much. She heard bits of arguments among her classmates, and in the end, only three of them left behind to stay with her. Her mood back then was complicated. She was happy she was not left alone, but also worried they will be in danger because of her.

There were three zombies, two killed by Suzie Yap, one being left alive for a reason. Nurul Hanani does not even have the chance to do anything. The shame of being useless erased half of her fear of being bitten again.

Seeing how easily Suzie Yap manhandled the zombie without fear and even dislocating its jaw, Nurul Hanani was glad Wong Xue Guo did not come along and have a mental breakdown. After all, she knew her friend had viewed her mother as a perfect and noble lady, the beautiful fairy with bodyguards protecting her.

"Choose a spot on your body that you don't mind leaving a scar," Suzie Yap said.

"Can the previous place be used?" Nurul Hanani asked in dismay. No matter how tomboy she was, she was still a female that cared about her looks.

"That works too. You have to keep yourself still, don't pull away no matter how painful it is."

With a nervous gulp, she removed the bandage from her wound, which looked horrifying under the bright light. It was still bleeding, and she could see how deep the zombie had bitten her.

Suzie Yap nodded once she saw the wound. "Good, your shrunken flesh makes things easier."

Nurul Hanani froze upon hearing that. Did she not just need to be bitten? Why does it make things easier whether a person was thin or not?

They chose a good hiding spot, a dressing room, and Nurul Hanani laid on the floor for easy access to be bitten.

"Before we start, I will explain the procedure and I will need your cooperation. If anything goes wrong, you will die and that's not what we want at all. That’s why you need to be honest with me about the changes you feel in your body."

Nurul Hanani nodded and tried to ignore her nervousness. "Got it."

"I could make sure you only need to get bitten once so that you will only have this one scar, but I would not stop the bite until you feel something different than hunger. While you are bitten, keep your mind away from messy things. Just focus on passing this hurdle, and you can think of a way to protect yourself to keep yourself distracted from your pain. You must tell me if you start feeling something else because I will immediately remove the zombie from you. Too much of the virus will turn you into a zombie immediately."

Nurul Hanani shakily laughed. "Mrs. Wong, how sure are you that this method will work? More importantly, how do you know this?"

"I have my sources. This is your last chance to pull out if you change your mind."

Gazing straight at Suzie Yap's eyes, Nurul Hanani knew she was confident with her words. She had spoken in an upfront manner that this was a 50-50 chance and did not sugarcoat her words. The final decision lies on herself to make.

Nurul Hanani prayed first before nodding, accepting the only chance of survival. She could already sense her hunger growing stronger, and she could not survive by eating non-stop.

Suzie Yap's smile was much more appreciative towards this brave and steady girl. She remembered that this girl had not survived in the past, and died along with her daughter. "Let's hope you have that in your blood, instead of because you are an insanely healthy person."

Without that thing, Nurul Hanani does not have any chance of turning at all.

Dislocating the zombie's jaw was so it would not eat Nurul Hanani's flesh and allowed its bite to be controlled. Suzie Yap chose to grab its head with her hands to control its movement and used her body weight to hold it down to the ground. Her normal practice was grabbing a person's hair, but these failures without enough vitality will have their hair turned white before falling off from its root.

Nurul Hanani stared with wide eyes instead of avoiding the sight when Suzie Yap pressed the zombie's head closer. This was different from having an injection where you can look away without worries.

"We shall start now," was the only warning Suzie Yap gave before piercing the row of upper teeth into the injured spot. "Hold still!"

Gritting her teeth in pain, Nurul Hanani held herself still and tried to ignore the instinct to pull away. Her heart thumped fiercely as she watched the teeth sink deeper into the flesh.

"So deep?" Nurul Hanani gasped, her sight similar to a bad reception TV. She tightened her fist, stopping herself from fainting, and tried her best to remember Suzie Yap's instruction. The only thing she could do to elevate the pain was scratching the tile on the ground and gasping heavily.

Suzie Yap calmly pressed the bite deeper. "The bite needs to reach your bone."

"Why-" Nurul Hanani coughed, and struggled to stop it to avoid her body moving. Her struggles caused cold sweat to emerge, wetting the back of her clothes quickly. Her increasingly dry throat made it harder to endure, including her complaining stomach that demands nutrients.

All the food she ate was gone in her as if she had not eaten anything in the first place.

"Do you feel anything?"

Nurul Hanani struggled to keep her mind straight, shaking her head to push away the fog clouding her thoughts. "Hun...gry…"

"Not yet," Suzie Yap mumbled and watched as Nurul Hanani looked worse with her flesh on her cheeks starting to shrunken even further. With a frown, she said, “I will need to offend you by removing your tudung.”

With quick hands, Suzie Yap unfasten the safety pin and removed the tudung from Nurul Hanani, revealing her hair tied in a low ponytail that was rapidly turning white.

Suzie Yap's eyes flashed, half worried and half joy, before accurately breaking the zombie's spine with her strong knee and paralyzed it. With one of her hands now free to move, she forced Nurul Hanani to continue eating from the snack bag.

"Immediately tell me if you start feeling something else aside from pain, tiredness, and hunger. Then we can finally pull the zombie away."

Suzie Yap's words renewed Nurul Hanani's flickering determination. Her hunger does not abide even after eating plenty of snacks, but she did not stop. Something told her she would be in danger if she stops eating now.

The sudden surge of heat suddenly spreading from her heart had Nurul Hanani choked on the banana she was eating halfway. Her freed hand quickly patted her chest to help move the banana down her throat, her teary eyes urgently sought Suzie Yap’s attention.

"Already? Good." Suzie Yap pulled the zombie away, tossing it at a side uncaringly. "Do not struggle against that feeling. Let it do whatever it wants. Continue eating."

Nurul Hanani gasped uncomfortably from the weird heat spreading from her heart and swam around her body. Only Suzie Yap noticed a small cloud of smoke exhaled out of her mouth.

Till the last second, Nurul Hanani struggled to swallow the last piece of muffin down her throat before she went unconscious, succumbing to the great tide of heat over her consciousness. No matter what, she would not let herself look unsightly with people thinking she died from choking food.

Suzie Yap chuckled at the fainted girl, already pleased that there will be a strong power user entering their ranks.