(Reverence 6, 59 / 7:55PM)

  Back to the present.

  Both of Alexandra's wrists were wrapped around a nylon rope and a 14-year-old girl clenched the same rope with just her blistered palms. Clenching every muscle within her body to keep the woman at bay, the girl was backed by four men, with three of them drawing iron at her.

  Turning her gaze to the group that was keeping her busy, a low growl crawled from her throat.

  (Spartan Alexandra) Release me now! You won’t like it when I’m angry!

  (Gary) What are you going to do? Touch us angrily?

  Pulling the nylon rope toward her, Alexandra used the heels of her feet to burrow, as she arched her entire body back. Sending Loraine to be pushed forward, her grip remained firm on the rope, but her feet loosened with the ground.

  Having his opportunity, Alexandra twisted her entire body, sending Loraine to fly forward like a pne.

  Landing on the center of the cart, her hands finally loosened on the grip, leading her wrists to be free.

  (Stan) Open fire!

  Stan, Gary, and Diego thundered the air with their bullets.

  Like lighting firecrackers on the 8th of Quintiles, the entirety of the train cart shook by the spray of bullets. Its destination set on the female spartan, Alexandra didn’t widen her eyes nor lunge to the left or right upon instinct.

  Instead, she smirked.

  Pushing the corner of her lip to the bottom of her ear, she had her gazing eyes at the men who sprayed her with lead. As the bullets were halfway on their direct course, the only thing she did…

  She took a step to the right.

  Letting the rest of the bullets graze the left side of her body, some of the metal scraped her tuxedo suit. Showing off small amounts of her pale skin, her cheeks flustered a speck of pink-red, as time flowed normal to her. Halting their fingers, plows of smoke fumed out from their barrels, as they saw her still standing.

  (Spartan Alexandra) Oh my~ Can you boys not get any more forceful~?

  (Loraine) Ew.

  (Spartan Alexandra) I ain’t talking to you, brat.

  (Stan’s group) Reminds me of a pick-me girl who never outgrew that phase.

  Ah, the pick-me girl, a girl who cims they aren’t like any other girl. Love being the center of attention for boys, but hate associating themselves with other girls, they’re the type that will cling to any boy they like. Jocks, nerds, thugs, and bodybuilders; they would cmp down onto a man and spread his hobbies onto herself.

  Women hate them, men don’t mind them.

  All four of the men took a step back once they realized guns wouldn’t work. Looking toward Fred, who gripped his yo-yos, Gary raised his right hand to pat Fred’s back.

  (Gary) She’s all yours, man.

  (Fred) Alright, I’ll try…

  Letting his hands drop, the balls spun down to the surface of the metallic floor, leaving the flexible iron-like string to reverberate. The string being coated with razor bdes, Fred kept the metal ball casings on the floor, once he took a step forward.

  Bringing the yo-yos back up to his palms, he did it rapidly, as he mixed his left yo-yo with his right yo-yo in the blink of an eye.

  Doing a bald with his yo-yos, he began walking forward, his eyes kept firm on the woman who covered her mouth with her hands. Pushing up her eyes, heart-shaped pupils took form within them, leading the rest of the men to take another step back.

  (Spartan Alexandra) Oh! You’re so good!~

  (Stan’s thoughts) Phrasing…

  Spreading both of her hands apart, she pced her right foot back, with the tips of her toes pressing firmly on the floor. Like the speed of a bullet, the air around her bent to her own will and body, with her fingers scraping the air by the tips of her nails.

  Without curling her fingers, without balling her fists, she thrusted her right palm straight to Fred’s face.

  Unable to even pce his yo-yos in front of him, followed by the other men too slow to pull their triggers, her right palm made contact with his cheek. Followed by a herculean sp piercing their ears, Fred’s eyes rolled to the back of his head, while twisting his head 90 degrees to the right.

  Smming chin first on the floor, the three other men pushed their fingers repeatedly, rippling the air with their bullets.

  (Stan’s thoughts) Shit! She spped Fred!

  Gary was next on the chopping block, but he raised both his elbows to block his face, leading Alexandra to lower her palm to his belly.

  Same as Fred, he pushed back several feet from just the sp alone, causing him to tumble down with Diego behind him. Crushing him with his body weight, Gary also spat out long streaks of drool and saliva from the corners of his lips.

  While Alexandra moved and whistled her way through the grazing bullets.

  (Stan’s thoughts) And she got Gary and Diego too…

  Ceasing his firing, Stan pced his tailbone onto the cocktail bar behind him. Keeping his lungs ballooned, he took note of Alexandra who remained stationary, her eyes trailing down his toes and head.

  Tilting her head to the left and right, she cracked and relieved stress pent up from her bones.

  (Spartan Alexandra) Now it’s just the two of you. Please be a good boy and just stay there~

  (Stan) You’re a decade older than me.

  (Spartan Alexandra) What’s the difference~?

  (Stan’s thoughts) And worst of all, she has a decade more worth of experience than me in combat…

  His barrel pointed to the floor, Stan rubbed his lower jaw with his upper, whilst staring into Alexandra’s eyes. Noticing her fingers calm as an ocean’s waves on a summer morning, Stan grunted out a huff of air, using his dried windpipe.

  Trailing his eyes in the back of him, he was behind the cocktail bar, allowing his eyes to take in the locked alcohol behind the gss. Pinning his eyes back to Alexandra, he lowered his head and worked his brain.

  (Stan’s thoughts) Those wine and whiskey bottles are locked down tight…

  She began to walk toward him, pcing both her hands on her hips and moving them seductively. Despite wearing professional clothes, her bck scks showcased her well-paired hips and thighs, as Stan let his eyes draw down once until he raised them back up again.

  Standing in front of him, she was a few inches shorter than him, but it felt like he was the prey. Freezing his entire body, she raised her right hand toward his chin, her nail sinking into his pale porcein skin.

  (Spartan Alexandra) If you promise you and your boys to surrender, I’ll just kiss all your boo-boos as a reward~ Would that be better for you and everyone?

  His entire body shivered as if an icicle ran down his spine at a snail’s pace.

  Feeling her breath sm against his face, her wine breath drove into his nostrils and lungs like a jackrabbit. Circuting all around his airways and lungs, Stan’s feet loosened with the ground, as the alcohol began to make his head feel—

  (Pacifica in Stan’s thoughts) Watcha doin leaf-licker~

  He thrusted both his hands onto her wrists, digging his fingers deep into her bones.

  (Spartan Alexandra) Oh…

  He had already dropped his rifle to the ground, letting it sm right onto the tips of his boots. Snting his eyes inward, a gre spewed on his face, leading the female spartan to gradually walk backward.

  As her seductive smirk faded away.

  (Stan) I already have a girl setting eyes on me.

  Pushing away Alexandra with half of his strength, he raised both of his knuckled fists to the height of his shoulders. His hands glowing white, he slid his foot half a foot back.

  Loraine, Gary, Fred, and Diego all looked up from the ground to see Stan’s defensive stance, and all of their eyes scrunched up with … fear.

  (Spartan Alexandra) Aww … that’s too bad …

  She balled her hands into fists.

  Lifting her shoulders up and down, she hunched her head to stare at the floor, whilst letting her eyes and face darken. Letting her lips open, a crazed chuckle began attacking her and arched her head back.

  Continuing along with her insane chuckle, she inhaled one st breath of air into her lungs, before pushing her body forward. Using the tips of her toes, she threw her right fist straight toward Stan’s stomach, but surprisingly to her…

  He lowered his hands at the knick of time.

  (Spartan Alexandra’s thoughts) W-What?

  As if a wooden board snapped in two, everyone turned to the direction of the crack, their eyes turning to none other than—

  (Stan) a-a-a…

  Instead of groveling, he raised his right arm to block another punch, his hand being the punching bag it is. Unable to even move a finger from it, his hand acted like jello, flopping around with the motion of his body.

  Taking another direct punch, he felt no pain toward it, with just another sharp crack ringing in his ears.

  Lowering her body, she used her other first to throw another punch to his body, nding dead center on the left side of his ribcage. Like hearing the crushing of dead leaves, he felt his lungs being stabbed from the inside, his insides feeling frozen and damp at the same time.

  (Stan’s thoughts) I can’t …

  He kept his breath stuck inside of his throat.

  Walking backward, he used his left arm to hold himself up from falling, having it pced on the edge of the cocktail bar. Blood coursing out from the ends of his lips, his eyes widened to another fist flying course straight to his face.

  With no time to spare, he lunged his body back, allowing the broken bones of his ribcage to pierce his lungs even more. Along with his right hand, his shattered knuckles tried to dig its way out from his skin.

  Unable to even draw breath, he jumped onto the cocktail bar to the left of him.

  Rolling across the bar, he nded on the back of his head, snuggling himself in between the bar and the locked whiskey and wine bottles.

  (Stan’s thoughts) Think Stan … think!

  Without thinking, he opened the cupboard right next to him, seeing many leftover bottles of whiskey still containing small amounts of liquid. Grabbing a beer bottle with his left hand, he hovered the top of the bottle to his nose, smelling the fumes of remaining ethanol inside the gss.

  Just as she was about to peek her head into the hole Stan crawled into…

  She couldn’t move.

  (Spartan Alexandra) What—

  Her chin dented the metal floor below. Red beginning to parch her skin, she wrinkled her eyes once she looked at the distress of her feet. Noticing a nylon rope wrapped around both of her ankles, she led her eyes to the origin of the user.

  Who was Loraine, her hands clenching the rope with her calloused palms.

  Seeing the teenage girl disable her mobility, her white scleras began to shade a straining red, leading her throat to freeze from within her windpipe. No breath drawing in or out, she let her lips patch from the dry air circuting the train cart.

  (Loraine) Get her guys!

  Fred, Gary, and Diego sprinted to the fallen female spartan, all of them wielding their weapons at her. The heels of their feet loosened from her attacks, Fred saw two bodies of Alexandra, but with a shake of his head, he returned his vision to its originality.

  Gary and Diego cracked their necks, seething out stress from their young bones. Finally having the upper advantage, they didn’t trace a step forward, as Alexandra squiggled like a worm traveling underneath dirt.

  (Gary) Just stay there!

  (Spartan Alexandra) I don’t take orders from you guys! You're supposed to take orders from me!

  (Diego) I wish, but we all just want to get out of here.

  (Fred’s thoughts) What do we do with her?

  Blood started to drip down from her palms.

  Noticing a faint trickle of red liquid littering the floor, Fred looked toward Loraine, whose face grew paler by the second. Her entire body was on the verge of colpsing onto itself, Fred started to trail his feet to the steaming Loraine, her face wrinkled and cmmed with sweat.

  Standing in front of her, Loraine opened her mouth to release excess air from her hard-working lungs.

  (Fred) Don’t push yourself, Loraine.

  (Loraine) I-I got her…

  (Spartan Alexandra) Don’t make me tie you up with your rope brat! Release me now!

  She began parting her legs, creaking the nylon rope which bound against her ankles. Upon just hearing and even seeing the dispy of her abnormal strength, all four of them widened their eyes, as the rest of them continued to pin their barrels on the woman.

  Their fingers were dead on the triggers, the tips of them kissing amongst the metal mechanism. Gary had his right hand wielding his pistol while pcing his left hand in his pocket. And Diego squinted one of his eyes, having both his hands gripping the gun.

  (Gary) If you break that rope, we have no choice but to shoot you.

  (Spartan Alexandra) I like to see you try, boy.

  The rope halfway from breaking, everyone glued their feet deep into the metallic floor. Watching the female spartan try to pry her way free from the bind, Loraine smmed her butt down, balling herself so her body weight could hold Alexandra. Veins sprouted out from her forehead and cheeks, her neck, and even her knuckles and hands, some of her teeth chipped off from the stress alone.

  Yet still, the rope snapped.

  And gunshots bzed.

  Sending the bullets straight to the id-down spartan, she pressed the butt of her palms on the floor, springing her body up like a feather. Arching her back the most she could, she used her knees to jump—yes, jump her body to nd on her feet. The tips of her toes, the first to kiss the ground, raised both her hands…

  She couldn’t feel her left hand.

  Lunging to the left, she took a gnce at her left hand, noticing an open gunshot wound pouring out her blood. Clenching every enamel within her mouth, she buried herself onto a small couch to take cover, balling herself like an armadillo from the grazing bullets.

  (Spartan Alexandra’s thoughts) Those damn boys! I’m going to … I’m going to…

  Their bullets ceased and lowered their barrels down to the ground. Their shoulders bulging up and down, they let their attention draw to the door right in front of where Alexandra curled up.

  On the other side of the train cart, there were two doors. Both doors led to the front train carts, but what they didn’t know was that one of them would be a dead end. Since half of the strike force fled through the correct one, just what was inside that dead-end door?

  The other door opened up, exiting out a simple guard holding a chain with two hands.

  (Zirardge Guard #1) You ok Alexandra?

  Looking to be close to the spartan, he let both of his knees nestle on the floor, leaving the spiked chain to scrap the metal. Still gripping it with his palms, the spartan opened her eyes to the sight of the guard, who looked to be several years younger than her.

  Covering her right hand with her left, she raised her right eyebrow.

  (Spartan Alexandra) What are you doing here? I thought you stayed at Ridgemente?

  (Zirardge Guard #1) I tried, but I want to be with—

  (Gary) Hey lovebirds.

  The guard raised his head to see two barrels pointed at him, their fingers on the side of their sidearms. Raising his body off the floor, he took a step back, as his grip on the chain blistered his palms.

  So much so, that it stained the metal red.

  Gncing down at Alexandra, he noticed her hand covering her other, seeing a hint of blood gushing and ruminating on the floor below. Red taking over his eyes, the only thing he crawled from out his throat was a husked growl.

  (Zirardge Guard #1) Did you do this …

  (Gary) And if we did?

  (Zirardge Guard #1) How dare… how dare you …

  (Gary) Hey, she started it.

  (Zirardge Guard #1) God … God damn you!

  Hunching his back forward, the entirety of his right and left arms bulged tenfold, gleaming every muscle from his biceps to his shoulder bdes. With just a simple pull, he yanked the metal chain to him, the chain originated from the door he came out of. Tumbling out of the door, a pale-faced man crumbled ft on his face, his long pitch-bck hair covering his forehead and neck.

  Yanking the chain hard again, the man brought himself up to his bare feet, his toe and fingernails encased in a yellowish gold color. Along with his skin being ghostly pale, it looked like the man wasn’t—

  Gary, Fred, and Diego all dropped their weapons, and the three of them including Loraine widened their eyes in complete horror. Alexandra did too.

  Everyone’s breath froze solid inside their lungs or throats, not a trace of it swept out from their nostrils nor their mouths.

  The man—no … it was a zompire. A zompire that had its neck colred by a piece of iron, with the chain being the only thing to prevent it from going on a rampage. Bck tar gooping from its missing eyes, its ears and nose missing, its shriveled bones spiked through its ghostly pale skin like a skeleton.

  Its arms dangling to its sides, the guard yanked the zompire toward him yet again, with the creature standing right behind him.

  (Zirardge Guard #1) I’ll get rid of these bastards for you Alexandra…

  (Spartan Alexandra) N-No! Don’t!

  Extending out her open wound hand, air flew out between both her palm and knuckles as tears swelled up in her eyes. Leaving the rest of the men and Loraine to pce their backs against the cocktail bar, they had no choice but to … look.

  As the zompire bit down onto the guard’s neck, the guard pced his death-gring eyes onto them, causing them to trail out beads of sweat from their necks.

  Stan barely got himself up with his left arm, joining the group of spectators who were witnessing the extent of a guard’s love.

  (Stan) W-Where’s the spartan… holy …

  He dropped the beer bottle.

  His eyes widened, and he smmed his back onto the wine and whiskey bottles behind gss bars. Seeing a zompire, biting and chewing into the man’s neck like a snack, tar dug deep into the man’s body like a disease.

  The man then dropped to all fours.

  Clutching his stomach, the zompire continued to munch and chew on his legs and feet, biting out flesh by flesh of his skin and clothing. Muscles and skin being consumed into the zompire’s stomach, his bones were shown clear as day, its shiny white look noticeable to everyone else present.

  (Stan’s thoughts) What the hell is going on…?

  A death-thrilling scream roared out from his throat.

  Shaking and trembling every ounce of metal within the metal cart, all of them pced their palms against their ears. Their eyes on the verge of closing shut, they barely watched as the guard who continued to be munched by the zompire slowly…

  Bulge abnormally.

  As if he was transforming, all of his muscles, bones, blood, skin; everything changed within his own body.

  From his lower body, all of his legs surged and grew, leading his pants and shoes to atomize to the growth of his muscles. Followed by his upper body, his shirt and jacket tore to shreds from his chest and back growing exponentially, the same as what his lower body was doing.

  Even his head wasn’t safe, with his nose turning into a snout, and his head being pushed out away from his skull. His fingernails growing half a foot long, they took on the appearance of obsidian, with the color and sharpness of them taking form.

  His hair missing, his ears and eyes were missing as well; the final result of the transformation was none other than…

  A charger.

  Its entire body was shaded bck, and drool began to leak out from the corners of its lips, leading it to sptter on the ground. Seeing the dispy of true horror with their own eyes, all five of them…

  Watch the charger pounce onto the zompire who changed him, spttering its tar all across the train cart.