Beyond the Walls

The Woman in his Head

‘MOVE IT! MOVE IT!’ Despite all the injuries and terrible feeling in his body, his mind is shouting one thing to him.

‘MOVE!!! STAND UP!!!” Shakily he pushed his body up and in defiance of his body screams his eyes are determined to move.

“Move it! You have to move!” A woman’s voice is pushing him to move in his head.

*Groan

Lucas’ eyes opened and just when an undead descended down to him, his adrenaline kicked in. He kicked away the undead and rolled to his side. He crawled away and got back to his feet. He limped away.

He dragged himself with heavy breathing as he brushed off violently the arms of undead trying to reach him.

He hopped in the staircase eyeing at his destination to his right. His companions reached successfully inside the VIP Room.

“Kwuarrrr!” The undead on top of the stairs in front of Lucas raised it’s arm ready to hold him down.

Unlike earlier Lucas has dead set eyes as he grip his bat and tightened his stance.

‘Remember, Hit them in the head.’ There it is, the woman’s voice in his head.

*BAM

Lucas successfully bashed the undead’s head but behind it is more lined up undead. He exhaled and moved forward with determination.

“My sister still needs me!” He charged ahead and grabbed the undead’s clothes and trip over. He did it repeatedly too, instead of bashing each undead which will consume more time he tosses over the undeads to the side where other undead approach. It was clumsy but effective. It stops from the undead cornering him.

It was an intelligent choice but what can one man do in this situation?

“MOVE!” On top of the stairs stood the girl with many piercings. She is holding a cart. Lucas pushed one of the undeads from the seat and squeezed himself in.

*Thud thud thud thud

The girl let go of the cart and it ran over lots of undead by the stairs. Lucas has no time to watch it happen as he is busy fencing for himself on the remaining undeads. Just when he is about to smash the undead to his side. It dropped dead.

“C’mon!” The girl offered her hand. Lucas didn’t think twice and grabbed it as the strong girl grabbed him and lifted him to the flight of stairs.

“Ughh!” Lucas felt the churning in his body, his adrenaline wearing off.

“Go ahead.” The girl said as she protected him.

Nearing the outer door of the VIP box room, the door opened. Aaron and Elijah helped to fend off the undead Brandy and Hiraya supported Lucas.

The door closes as Aaron, the last one to get inside, kicks one last undead away from the door.

[…]

Minutes later, there is only a minimal scratching and low growls by the door.

Hiraya brought out the first aid and checked on Lucas. She put a cotton on his bleeding nose and some patches to his sides and arms,

“It will bruise but I don’t think anything is broken. You have a sturdy body.” Hiraya commented as she pulled down Lucas' shirt.

“Man, do you work out?” Elijah asked and Lucas shook his head as he groaned.

“Are you sure? … That’s not believable. . .” Elijah muttered as he kept staring at Lucas' shirt.

*Thud

The door is thumping but not as hard as earlier, maybe because the undead on the other side can no longer see them. The VIP box room tends to be moved forward and has the best view in the stadium.

Hiraya helped Lucas to stand up. There Lucas faced the girl that saved him. He looked at her from above since the girl is sitting on the couch cleaning her new bat weapon.

“T,Thank you.” Lucas gathered his courage and said it in a small voice.

The girl stopped wiping her bat and looked up which made Lucas swallow his dry saliva. She only nodded to her.

‘Ah. She still scares me.’ Lucas thought.

“Come and take a look here.” Brandy said as he offered the binoculars to Aaron. Others have gathered around the viewing.

“What is he doing?” Aaron said and gave the binoculars to Hiraya.

Lucas, who is next to Hiraya, doesn't need binoculars to see what is happening. A live person is in the field running around in circles.

Using the binoculars instead of looking at a running man in the field, he looks over the sides and there he finds multiple players stealthily climbing down to the field.

“They must’ve seen it.” The girl with a piercing pushed her head in the mirror as she watched.

“Seen what?” Brandy asked.

She looked at Brandy with a stoic expression and got back to watching the field. The group that tries to get down stopped midway as they caught the attention of the undead. The players that have been already in the field try to get back up but their teammates abandon them as the undead from the audience seat approach them.

There are now three alive among the undead in the field. They sprint in opposite directions.

The other person who was first to get down the field stumbled down and soon was torn from all directions.

They are too far to hear the scream but it doesn’t lessen the terror.

The other one was cornered, she was crying as she swung the half torn bench and back to the wall but even before any undead from the field came close to her, undead from the audience surprised her from above. She vanished from view as she became the feast. Not long after, the remaining alive person tried to climb up but was dragged down by the undead.

“They are looking for a key.” The girl with piercings answered after she walked out from the glass window and went back to the couch.

“Key? Have you found the exit door?” Hiraya asked.

“The other side of the hall.”

“If they are getting a key from the field then the Key must be a key there.” Aaron said, frowning because who will be stupid enough to get inside the field full of those things.

*Cough cough

Penelope, who is lying on the other couch, coughs and groans in pain. Her bite wound seemed severe, as it was still bleeding and fully wetting the bandage.

“Her fever is rising. She needs to get medicine.” Unica dries Penelope’s forehead.

‘Liability…’ The woman in Lucas' head speaks again like a devil whispering him.

He shook his head to dismiss inhumane thoughts.

“We need to see what kind of key we are looking for.” Lucas said.

They all agree and split into two groups. Lucas, Elijah, Hiraya and the Girl with piercings the group that will check the exit gate the other will stay in the VIP Box.

They manage to sneak back to the halls where they first started. There is only one way through the halls so nobody could get lost.

At the end of the hall is a heavy door without a handle. Beside it is a key card reader with a red light on.All of them are familiar with this kind of gate. These are identical to the walls’ gates, where their ID is the Key Card.

Lucas caresses the door. It is something that won’t budge by sheer force. The only thing that could open is an access card.

“Told ya.” The girl shrugged her shoulders.

Lucas turned around and said “Let’s go ba---ck.” He noticed a slight movement of shadow down the food near the room by the door.

“Let’s search for the key.” out of his character he spoke fairly loudly.

They all looked at him.

“Man, you sure hype about this. Okay let’s go.” Elijah agreed enthusiastically and they went back.

Elijah is snickering on the side which had been bothering Lucas for a while now. It wouldn’t have bothered him if only Elijah was not giving him this weird look.

“I,is t,there a problem?” He finally couldn’t take it.

“I know what you are doing?”

“W,what am–”

“You are trying to impress the girl… right, right? Man, don’t need to try to hide. It was obvious. I can help you if you want.”

Lucas doesn't know what to think first. Elijah kept talking about earlier when Hiraya had decided to stick with him in the duration of the rest period.

“...” Lucas started to feel flustered at Elijah’s scenarios.

“Don’t worry, because you saved my life, I’ll help you save the girl. Fair trade?”

Everything is confusing as it is, why is Elijah’s words needed to weigh in too?

Lucas wanted to ask ‘What is he talking about?’ or ‘How in the world can he think like that in the midst of everything.’

****

The afternoon sun was going down in a few hours when they reached the VIP Box Room.

Lucas borrowed the binoculars again and watched the field, some undead are still eating but their clustering number thinned out.

“Ah…h,have you found the others?” Lucas reluctantly asked after confirming nobody had tried the field again.

“There are some movements in other rooms like you predicted.” Aaron said and pointed to some VIP areas, the announcer area and some box type rooms scattered all over the audience area.

“Test of Stamina…” Lucas mumbled. The realization really hit him as he still watched the fields. It now really feels like a game, where you have to figure out things after being given limited knowledge about the situation.

Level 1: Test of Endurance

[Rule: Players have two hours to exit the building and Survive]

Level 2: Test of Stamina

[Rule: Exit the Stadium]

Lucas slid his body to the corner and thought it through. With just Penelope’s coughing, the room remained quiet until dark.

Some of the rooms lit up with light inside but Lucas stopped Hiraya from lighting a candle.

“Why?” Hiraya asked.

“It will attract them”

Just after Lucas has said it, there is a faint banging sound from a distance. They looked over the window except for Lucas.

Horde of undead gathered around the box until the glass and door of the room broke. Screams follow thereafter.

One by one the lights on the rooms were unlit.

“I’ll take the first watch.” Aaron offered the first watch with Hiraya to let others get some rest. Lucas takes a position near the window facing the door diagonally. He sleeps while sitting.

He drifts towards the dreamland.

A vivid image of a woman appeared…