[Best – Military Camp Quarters]
After the evacuation… they said we were safe.
They lied.
This wasn't a shelter. Not really.
It was a stitched-together corner of canvas and wire mesh, shoved between the ration line and the med tent—the one where people screamed through the night until their voices gave out. Dust clung to everything. Boots. Hair. Skin.
Even the thin blankets they gave us felt like they'd been dragged through dirt before being handed over.
The air reeked—diesel, sweat… and something metallic underneath.
Old blood. The kind that never washes out.
Barbed wire stretched above us, humming softly whenever the wind shifted, like it was alive. Soldiers walked the fence line in slow, rigid patterns—eyes sharp, fingers too close to their triggers.
Not guarding us.
But Watching us.
Like we might turn any second.
We were the lucky ones.
Five of us.
Still breathing.
The rest… scattered. Missing. Dead.
Or worse.
We sat in a loose circle on the ground, backs hunched, bodies aching in ways that hadn't caught up to us yet.
No one spoke.
Outside, the camp buzzed with restless noise—children crying for water, arguments breaking out over food, soldiers shouting orders that sounded more like warnings than help.
Inside, it was just us.
And the silence.
Jack broke it first.
The scrape of metal against stone had been filling the space for minutes now—slow, steady, grating.
Scrape… scrape… scrape…
He didn't stop sharpening when he spoke.
"…You think they made it?"
He didn't have to say their names.
They were already there.
Sitting with us.
Haunting us.
Win.
Palm.
Kao.
Lin.
FahFah shifted against the support pole, her limp leg stretched out in front of her. Her fingers rested on the coiled whip in her lap, but she wasn't really holding it—just touching it, like grounding herself.
"Win and Palm went for supplies," she said quietly. "They've handled worse. Palm…"
A faint, broken breath left her.
"He always joked through everything. Even when it got bad."
Emily hugged her knees tighter. Her taped shoulder trembled slightly as she spoke.
"And Lin…" her voice cracked, soft and fragile, "she ran straight at them. Smiling."
Like it meant something.
Like it mattered.
I swallowed hard.
Lin had been the one treating us.
Planning. Fixing. Fighting.
Never breaking.
Not even when she was already falling apart.
And Kao—
My hand tightened unconsciously against my knee.
The image wouldn't leave.
The helicopter tilting.
The wind roaring in my ears.
Namtan's hands and Kao's body going over the edge.
Twisting.
Falling.
Not screaming.
Not fighting.
Just… watching us.
The soldiers had called it necessary.
I still didn't have a word for it.
Namtan sat apart from us, back pressed to the wall, arms locked tight around herself like if she loosened her grip—even a little—she'd fall apart.
Her voice came sharp. Defensive.
"She was one of them."
The air shifted.
"You all saw it," she continued, jaw clenched. "That black stuff. The way she moved. The way she didn't panic."
Her eyes flicked up, daring anyone to challenge her.
"If I hadn't pushed her… she could've turned on us mid-air. Killed all of us."
Jack stopped sharpening.
The scraping died instantly.
Emily looked away.
FahFah's fingers tightened around her whip.
I kept my voice level.
Careful.
"She saved us," I said. "More times than I can count."
My gaze didn't leave hers.
"She stood between us and those things. Carried supplies when no one else could."
A beat.
"And you dropped her like she was nothing."
Namtan flinched—but anger hit faster than guilt.
"You think I wanted that?" she snapped. "I was trying to keep us alive!"
Her voice cracked at the edges.
"You saw her with Lin! Always watching. Always… too calm. And Lin was turning, okay? She was—"
Her words faltered.
"She was changing. And Kao knew. She didn't stop it."
A whisper now.
"She just let it happen."
The space between us tightened.
Too small.
Too heavy.
I thought about Win.
About Palm.
How they'd looked at Kao.
Not like she was a threat.
Not like she was something to fear.
But like she was still… human.
"They wouldn't have left her," I said quietly.
Namtan didn't respond.
"Win and Palm went out there for all of us."
My voice dropped.
"And Kao… she wasn't turning."
A pause.
"She was just different."
FahFah let out a slow breath, her gaze fixed on the ground.
"Different got her killed."
Her voice cracked this time.
"Or whatever happened when she hit the ground."
Silence swallowed the words.
"I keep seeing it," she whispered. "The way she looked up at us while the chopper rose…"
Her grip tightened.
"Not angry."
A beat.
"Just empty."
Emily wiped at her eyes quickly, like she didn't want anyone to notice.
"Lin would've hated this," she murmured.
"She always said… we stick together."
Her voice broke.
"No one gets left behind."
Jack tapped the metal shard against his knee now—nervous, uneven.
"And now we're stuck here," he muttered. "Rations cut in half. Soldiers staring at us like we're already infected."
A hollow laugh.
"Feels like the rooftop all over again."
He glanced at the wire above us.
"…Except there's no way down this time."
The flap of the quarter shifted.
All of us looked up instantly.
Major Rattanakorn stepped inside.
Dust clung to his uniform, lines carved deep into his face. He looked like a man who hadn't slept—and didn't expect to.
Two soldiers lingered just outside the entrance, rifles loose in their hands but ready.
Always ready.
He'd been here before.
Twice.
Asking the same questions.
Different words.
Same answers.
"Kids," he said, voice low but steady. "Mind if I sit?"
No one said no.
No one ever did.
He lowered himself onto a crate with a quiet exhale, pulling out a small notebook. His pen tapped against it in a slow rhythm—controlled.
Too controlled.
"Camp's rough," he said. "I know."
His eyes moved over each of us, calculating.
"But I need details."
A pause.
"The school. Before evacuation."
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"Anything unusual. Anyone… unusual."
His eyes lingered on Namtan.
Just a second too long.
I spoke first.
Kept it simple.
"We were on the rooftop. Win and Palm went for supplies. Didn't come back."
My throat tightened, but I didn't stop.
"Lin drew a horde away so we could climb the ladder."
A breath.
"Kao was with us until…"
I glanced at Namtan.
"…until she wasn't."
The pen scratched against paper.
"Girl with the axe," Rattanakorn said. "You mentioned… she had irregular behavior."
Namtan didn't hesitate this time.
"She wasn't normal."
Her voice was firm—too firm.
"Black fluid instead of blood. No fear. No hesitation."
A beat.
"I did what I had to."
The Major didn't react.
Didn't question.
Just wrote.
"And the other two?" he asked. "Win and Palm?"
"Human," I said immediately.
The word felt heavier than it should.
"Real. They trusted people. Trusted each other."
I exhaled slowly.
"Palm joked through everything."
A faint, almost bitter smile.
"Win… made us keep going when we wanted to give up."
Jack added quietly, "Lin was the one holding us together."
Emily swallowed.
"She was… close to Kao."
Her voice softened.
"Really close."
FahFah didn't speak.
But the way her fingers traced her whip—
I knew what she was remembering.
Every time Kao had stepped forward.
Every time she'd taken the hit instead of one of us.
Rattanakorn closed the notebook.
The sound was soft.
Final.
"We're still searching," he said. "If they're out there—"
The speaker cut him off.
A sharp crackle overhead.
Then—
A voice.
Flat.
Controlled.
Wrong.
"Attention. Camp has been attacked by zombies."
Everything inside me went still.
"Repeat—camp has been attacked. All personnel to defensive positions."
Outside, shouting erupted.
Boots slammed against dirt.
Metal clanged.
"Civilians remain in quarters. Lockdown in effect."
A scream—real, raw—cut through the air.
Too close.
"This is not a drill."
Rattanakorn was already on his feet, hand snapping to his radio.
Orders barked into static.
Sharp. Urgent.
We didn't move.
Not at first.
Then the sound came.
Low.
Wet.
Hungry.
A moan.
Right outside the fence.
Namtan's face drained of color.
Jack tightened his grip on the shard until his knuckles went white.
Emily scrambled backward, pressing into the canvas wall like she could disappear into it.
FahFah stood in one smooth motion—
Her whip uncoiling with a soft, deadly hiss.
I pushed myself to my feet.
Heart hammering.
Breath sharp.
Safe.
They said we were safe.
The camp wasn't a refuge.
It was just another place waiting to fall.
And the dead—
They weren't outside anymore.
They were already inside.
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