DS Chapter 23

Logan looked at his father with a face full of fear—then ran.

Like a broken machine stuck on the words “Let’s meet at home”, he drove mindlessly.

He couldn’t fully grasp what had just happened. It didn’t feel real that his father had turned into a monster.

There hadn’t been enough time to process it all.

By the time he came to his senses, he was in the garage at home. As if he had forgotten how to breathe, Logan gasped for air.

How did I get home? What about Dad?

The seat next to him was empty. The blood-soaked leather reminded him of the brutal truth he had tried to ignore. Dad had been bitten. Dad had become a monster too.

The horrific scenes he passed on his way home flickered before his eyes. It wasn’t just one or two people—there were plenty who had turned into zombies.

“Mom…?”

Logan stumbled out of the car. His knees buckled under him, making every step a struggle.

The moment he stepped into the house, the scene that unfolded before him was—

“Mom!!”

A woman was strangling his mother. In Logan’s eyes, it looked like a zombie was attacking her.

Without hesitation, he pulled out the gun from his back pocket and fired at the woman attacking his mom.

Bang—!

The woman was shot in the chest and collapsed to the side. Logan rushed to his mom to check on her—

“Gaaah—!”

Pressed beneath the woman, his mom suddenly sat up like a monster and bit into Logan’s shoulder.

It was his mom who had been the monster. Logan realized it too late. But he couldn’t bring himself to shoot her. With her teeth sunk into his shoulder, he fell backward.

“M-Mom…”

He muttered weakly—

Bang—!

But not too guilty. His parents had died in a single day, and now he was probably going to die too—turn into a monster. There was no room left in him to grieve over killing someone.

First, he washed up. The stench of blood on his body was unbearable.

He changed clothes and sat numbly in a chair for about an hour.

‘…’

He cleared his mind. Since he was going to die soon, there was no point being overwhelmed by grief, pain, or shock.

But time passed, and he still felt fine. The man… his father… hadn’t it only taken a short while for them to turn?

Logan looked down at his shoulder. The skin was torn and the bite marks were still fresh. And yet… he was still okay. Something wasn’t right.

So, he decided to follow the woman’s last request.

“I’ll get Kylie to safety first… and then I’ll see what happens.”

He was going to find out whether or not he would turn into a zombie.

* * *

He had planned to deliver the woman’s message to Kylie and then leave.
But she was so clueless and all over the place—he just couldn’t bring himself to leave her alone.

So he decided to get her to a safe place first, and only then would he part ways. With that in mind, he took her out of the city.

Logan drove with every muscle in his body tense.

Just like his father had muttered before turning into a zombie—if he felt anything strange, he was ready to jump out of the car on the spot.

It wasn’t until he heard a radio broadcast saying people turned within 1 to 24 hours that he finally understood why he still felt fine.

It must be the incubation period.

Before tomorrow evening came, he’d become a zombie.
That morning, he handed Kylie the gun.

“You have to shoot zombies in the head. Got it? Only a headshot kills them.”

“I know that much. Back at the gas station, you shot them in the head and they dropped just like that.”

Kylie acted like she knew what she was talking about—even though she didn’t.
But that was just how she was, so he let it slide.

“There’s only two bullets left. So make them count.”

“With two bullets, I can take down two zombies, easy.”

Logan was deeply concerned by her bravado.

“You hold onto it.”

“Me?! I’ve never even fired a gun before.”

“…Just keep it with you. If zombies come, you’re more at risk than I am.”

Kylie didn’t argue and quickly tucked the gun away.

Logan said he was going to scout the area and stepped out of the car. He told her to stay put, since anything could appear at any time.

“I won’t leave the car, I promise.”

Kylie nodded right away again.

Without saying goodbye, he turned his back on her.

He headed down toward the lakeside and found a spot to settle. He kept a fair distance, but still close enough that she could see him from the passenger seat.

So that if he turned into a zombie—Kylie could shoot him immediately.

Another day passed like that.

On the seventh day by the lake, he was still human.

* * *

After that, things flowed like water.

Logan carried on day by day, holding onto a single question—why hadn’t he turned into a zombie?
He had lost his parents right before his eyes, and the world had fallen to ruin, but still… he didn’t want to die.

The memory of losing his parents was painful and heartbreaking, yet even so, Logan wanted to survive to the very end.

He made up his mind to wipe out every last zombie and survive—together with Kylie.

Until she was bitten.

“It’s thanks to you that I lived, so I have no regrets. I had fun being with you. So don’t feel guilty about anything, okay? And if you happen to meet my parents… tell them I died peacefully. That I went out as a human, not a zombie.”

Unlike him, Kylie turned into a zombie just over an hour after she was bitten.
But Logan couldn’t bring himself to kill her.

Every time he aimed the gun at the zombified Kylie, it felt like his chest was being ripped apart. It hurt so much he could barely breathe.

Why? Was it because he had killed her mother—how could he kill the daughter too?

Or was it because he still hadn’t come to terms with losing the people he cared about all at once, and just couldn’t bring himself to let Kylie go?

Whatever the reason, he couldn’t kill her.

He muzzled her mouth and wrapped her hands in bandages so she couldn’t claw at anything.

Later, worried that her curled-up fingers might be uncomfortable, he swapped the wrappings for boxing gloves.
Once she had the soft gloves on, it didn’t hurt as much when she flailed her fists at him.

Someday, I’ll let her go.
When I’m ready to say goodbye, I’ll do it peacefully.

With that thought in mind, he left his hometown, planning to move to another region.
He didn’t have a destination in mind.

Just an endless stretch of road, driving and driving—an aimless, lonely journey.

Rain or shine, or even when he got unlucky and ran into a hurricane, he kept going.
And beside him on that dangerous, desolate road… sat zombie Kylie.

She constantly struggled to devour him. But the growling, the tantrums, the flailing—he got used to the noise after a while.

Eventually, even her zombie appearance stopped bothering him.

No—only Kylie’s.
Kylie had no torn limbs, no visible wounds, no festering sores. From a glance, she still looked like a person.

“Why are you so quiet today? Tired already?”

“Ughh… grrr…”

“Don’t just stare at me—look at the sky too. The weather’s amazing.”

“Grrh… grr.”

“You really love me, huh.”

When he got bored, he talked to her.
I’m definitely losing it, he told himself.

But maybe it was better that way. Because this wasn’t a world anyone could survive with a clear mind.

Logan had been alone for a long time.

Because he couldn’t bring himself to abandon Kylie, he couldn’t join any group.
Who would accept a lunatic traveling around with a zombie?

Not that he really wanted to join anyone.
He didn’t feel lonely—Kylie was there.

At some point, like clouds quietly drifting by, a calm began to settle over him.
But that peace only lasted four months.

“…Kylie? Say something.”

“…”

“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable? I even unwrapped your hands.”

“…”

“What is it…”

Her life signs had started to fade. Her pupils didn’t move. Her breathing grew faint. Her body sagged with no strength.
She hadn’t eaten anything in a long time.

Even with the zombie virus, she still needed energy to stay ‘alive.’

Logan had to decide: should he finally let her go, or keep her alive out of selfishness?

When Kylie closed her eyes and slumped over…
When her skin began to lose heat like a pale, lifeless doll…

“I’m sorry, Kylie… I can’t kill you. I can’t let you go. Don’t leave me. Why does everyone leave me behind…”

Logan let a drop of his own blood fall onto Kylie’s lips.

He didn’t believe he could survive this world alone.
After losing his parents in an instant, Kylie was all he had left.

It didn’t matter that she had become a zombie. Zombies weren’t a threat to him.
Even when bitten, he didn’t get infected.

Even as a zombie—he just wanted Kylie to stay by his side in this lonely, broken world.

“…Don’t leave me alone.”