"VIC—" Bennett gagged as he tried to pry the chain from his neck. I didn't relent. I only added more pressure as he continued to struggle.

While holding onto the chain, Bennett slowly rose to his feet, dragging me along with him. With one quick shove, I was knocked into the wall and fell to the ground.

As Bennett removed the chain from his neck, he reached for the taser once more as he tried to catch his breathing. "Don't... play games with me... Vicky."

As Bennett switched the taser on, Luka came dashing through the door and rammed into Bennett. As the two struggled on the floor, I watched as Luka sank his teeth into Bennett, ripping out his jugular.

As Luka leaned over Bennett's corpse panting heavily, I slowly approached him with a cautious hand. "Luka?"

Luka's eyes went wide as he snapped his head around to face me. Like a tiger, he quickly pounced on me as he kissed me deeply on the lips.

I reacted instantly as I pushed Luka off of me. "BLU—" I gagged while covering my mouth before vomiting onto the floor.

Sure, my weak constitution is partially to blame. But in what world would I ever be receptive to a revolting kiss like that??? At least wash your mouth after you kill someone!

Once I was done wiping my mouth, I reached underneath the mattress to retrieve the revolver. As I went to grab my green jacket to dress myself, I almost fell backwards. Ah, I forgot about the chain.

I didn't really feel like touching Bennett so soon, so I shifted my gaze to Luka instead. "Check him for a key," I ordered.

Luka searched Bennett's body wordlessly but to no avail... "there's no key."

Seriously? I guess Bennett hid it... As I hung my shoulders in defeat, I felt myself being suddenly reeled in.

"WAH!" I yelped. As Luka held the chain firmly in his hands, he used all of his strength to snap it in half.

"I guess that works too..." I mumbled absentmindedly. Geez, special rank zombies sure are strong!

As I went to dress myself in the other room, I felt happy to be properly clothed once more. However, my boots were nowhere to be seen. As I went back into the other room to look for them, I saw Luka staring at—

"The key! You found the key!" I cheered in delight while clapping my hands together. "Alright, toss it here!"

Luka eyed me momentarily before redirecting his gaze back to the key. "No."

I felt my eyebrow twitch as I tried to keep smiling. "C'mon, stop messing around. I really need that key."

Luka's face hardened. With the flick of his wrist, he proceeded to swallow the key whole.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed as I went to choke Luka. "YOU BETTER SPIT THAT KEY OUT RIGHT NOW OR SO HELP ME!"

Luka pried my hands from his throat with ease. "I'm not letting you out of my sights ever again," Luka said as he went to brush my messy hair out of my face. "I went mad trying to find you. It's not easy as it looks to track someone."

I know I should feel touched that he's been worried sick and has been looking for me this entire time. But right now, my anger was the only thing I could focus on.

Luka twisted the chain tightly around his hands as he set off. "Let's go."

"I... I am not a dog!" I protested as I dug my heels into the ground.

Luka sighed in annoyance before slinging me over his shoulder. Ugh, not this again! I tried to struggle by violently hitting Luka on the back, but he wasn't phased in the slightest.

Once we were outside, Luka planted me back on my feet. But that didn't stop me from hitting him angrily on the chest. "Stop treating me like your pet! I'm a living breathing human for crying out loud!"

As my tearful punches slowly died down, Luka took a hold of my hands as he stared intently at something behind me. "This isn't good..."

As I went to slowly turn around, I saw a zombie standing before us. However, something about this zombie felt different. There was a dark murky green liquid drooling from its mouth for starters. I swore I saw steam emitting from the liquid too.

"Is this another high-ranking zombie?" I asked Luka in a shaky voice.

Luka shook his head. "D-Rank to be precise."

"H-How about we try communicating with it then?"

As the zombie stepped back to heave, Luka quickly pushed me out of the way. I guess I should consider myself lucky because I just dodged the acid attack in the Nick of time.

"We call these zombies . They don't really talk, only spit."

Oh, joy. Well, I don't plan on testing my luck any more than this then. So, with that being said, I quickly took cover behind a nearby tree.

A few seconds late I heard the sound of sizzling above me. Looking up, I saw the tree slowly start to dissolve as it leaned forwards.

"FUCK!" I yelled as I quickly moved to the side as the tree came crashing down. Goddammit, these types of zombies could take down a whole forest if they wanted to!

As Luka wrestled with the zombie, I knew I had to intervene in whatever way I could. As I looked around an idea came to my head as I stared at a sturdy tree branch. I doubt it would do much, but it might help to temporarily incapacitate the zombie for a couple of seconds.

As I ran towards the zombie, I violently plunged the branch into its wide-open mouth. Ha, choke on that! Hopefully, that should slow down the acid attacks.

Seeing as the zombie was now far too preoccupied with trying to cough out the branch, Luka took the initiative. With one swift push, he violently slammed the zombie's head into the tree repeatedly until he cracked his skull open.

"Uuuu... that's really graphic," I said quickly looking away as I covered my mouth. "Just tell me if there's another crystal or not."

As Luka feasted on the zombie's brains, I felt squeamish by how loud he was being. "Yeah," Luka answered.

Once he was done, I turned to look at Luka. "Feeling any different now?" I asked cautiously.

Luka yanked my chain closer to him. And with just one arm, he was able to lift me up with ease. "Definitely stronger." He replied.