The bright blue moon shone brightly in the sky as though it were a beam of light shining through the darkness during a dreadful battle between the living and the dead.
In just a few minutes, the ground had already turned into a sea of corpses. Dead bodies are seen everywhere. With a few seconds interval of being bitten and infected, the corpses jerky tweaked their bodies until they began to turn into one of the zombies.
“Go and help the people,” instructed Mira to Mirabella.
Mirabella barked in response and immediately began halting the zombies in order to assist and protect the people. She snatched one of the zombies by the leg and slung him through the air. Before collapsing to the ground, the zombie struck a nearby tree. He had a broken leg and damaged bones due to the impact.
Those nearby could hear a loud crunching sound from the bones of the undead as he forced his body to rise once more.
The zombies were unconcerned about Mirabella. They were more focused on chasing humans, not dogs. After beating a mob of zombies into a bloody pulp, Mirabella turned her attention to the humans who the zombies had bitten.
The curse was spreading at a rapid pace as it kept passing from one person to another. However, no matter how hard Mirabella attempts to beat them into a bloody pulp, the undead won’t seem to be standing on their last legs.
Mirabella manages to slow down the undead she attacks, but they are persistent and keep returning back to their previous state after a minute or two of being slowed down.
Irritably sinking her claws into the ground, Mirabella let out faint growls as she contemplated a strategy on how to dwindle the number of zombies in the area, which was growing at an alarming rate at the time.
Humans who came across Mirabella attempted to safeguard her by luring the undead away from where she was.
At a distance, Mira sprinted when she saw Bella seated on the eve of a roof with her legs crossed and the dorsal side of her palm tucked under her chin. Bella displayed beady eyes that gleamed with avarice, and a huge grin formed on her lips. She was enjoying watching over her zombies done a marvelous job of making her satisfied upon hearing the mortals scream in horror and watching their faces tremble in fear as they refuse to transform into one of the undead.
“BEEELLLLAAAA!!!” Mira yelled at the top of her lungs. She was heavily panting as she caught her breath after running and battling a bunch of the undead along her way.
The bloody gruesome place had turned a little darker when the clouds drifted in with the cold, eerie breeze and partially dressed the dazzling blue moon with a murky cloud.
With each passing second, the grin on Bella’s lips faded away. Her eyes became dimmer and were devoid of any emotion as she exchanged a frigid glance with Mira.
Mira and Bella fought with a menacing look on their faces. Their hair and clothes moved in sync with the wind, as if they were in another dimension, unaffected by the pandemonium that surrounded them.
At a distance, a swarm of zombies descended on a massive hole that Mirabella had been digging for a couple of minutes already. Mirabella growled and barked to call for the attention of the mortals, trying to tell them to lure the undead closer to the deep hole.
The humans were able to comprehend what Mirabella was trying to convey to them since they had figured out what Mirabella was planning in the first place.
A few were terrified as it appeared to be a little risky once the undead cornered them, but others didn’t hesitate and followed what Mirabella wanted. They began yelling to redirect the zombies’ attention away from the hole and drove them closer to it.
After pushing one zombie after another into the enormous hole, Mirabella realized she had a problem— there were just too many of them.
The humans trembled and wore a gloomy expression on their faces as they watched the swamp of zombies wrapped about them at the hole. A group of undead stands in front of them, just a few meters away from where they are. Every move the zombies take closes the distance between them and the massive pit behind, filled with a swamp of the undead waiting for them to tumble into it.
A growl emanated from Mirabella as she moved closer and threatened the undead to back away. The undead fixated their attention on the humans and didn’t even bother to look back at Mirabella when she stood in front of them.
Mirabella howled as soon as the undead stepped on a line drawn on the soil. All of a sudden, the humans who had been trapped in between the pit and a swamp of zombies in front of them collapsed to the ground.
The humans from behind screamed with delight in anticipation of what was to come and quickly assisted those who were trapped to move out of the way before they could get sandwiched.
Mirabella then pulled a vine with the use of her fangs. A massive boulder swung out from under the tree, pinning the zombies in a single line like a bowling pin as they tried to escape. When the zombies fall to their knees like dominoes, humans pull another vine at each end— sweeping a battalion of undead into the large pit.
The pit was half-filled at this point. A few of the undead attempted to climb up, but it was a little difficult for them due to the depth of the hole.
When Mirabella’s plan was effective, the humans who assisted her in putting it into action celebrated. They recognized it was a strange but worthwhile plan and lent a hand to Mirabella as she excavated the big pit.
Meanwhile, Bella’s face is observed to be smirking after she has given Mira a long, serious, frigid stare. Her hair swirled in the breeze when she sprang off the roof and snatched Mira’s neck at an incredible speed.
Mira gagged. “B—Bella... I—It’s me… Mira,” she uttered. The words came out of her mouth as she struggled to take a breath. She wrapped her arm around Bella’s wrist and attempted to loosen the grip she had on her neck.
“Oh, shut up!” sneered Bella. “She’s not coming back.” Bella had a triumphant expression on her face.
“W—what have you done to her?” asked Mira, struggling in between her words.
“Ugh! You have no idea.” Bella sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’ve been through the wringer. Your dearest Bella is such a pain in the ass,” she muttered.
In the distance, Mirabella was busy plummeting zombies with the use of her fangs and claws. The moment she saw Mira getting choked by Bella, she let out the loudest howl. However, Mira and Bella seemed like they were in another dimension and had their own world. Mirabella didn’t stop and continued howling at the top of her lungs until she was able to divert Bella’s attention to hers.
The humans noticed how desperate Mirabella was. Despite being risky, they yelled altogether and joined Mirabella before continuing to fight for their life against the undead that had gathered around them.
Mira resisted and found the chance to escape when Bella loosened her grip upon hearing Mirabella’s howl. She coughed as she grabbed her neck in her hands.
When Mirabella finally managed to get Bella’s attention, she whined and snorted her snot.
Upon seeing Mirabella, everything flashed back to Bella. However, Bella was determined to make Mira punish her for what she had done.
Bella charged once again while Mira kept evading her attacks, using the back of her blade to deflect all of Bella’s blows away from her.
Mira got wounded in the middle of their combat, but the wound was not as severe as it appeared because Bella acted reluctant to inflict pain on her.
“Why hesitate? C’mon, use the blade, you coward!” Bella hissed after wounding Mira and took another storm at her.
There was a part of Bella who secretly wished Mira to hurt her or kill her in order to avenge the death of her mother. Their mothers.
“I won’t hurt you even if it kills me. I told you, I’ll protect you,” Mira replied with soft grunts. “Always!”
Bella was taken aback by Mira’s words. Her enraged eyes widened with desperation, sorrow, and fear, but she refused to show it to Mira.
“I know you’re in there, Bella.”
“S—SHUT UP!” yelled Bella as she charged to Mira with full speed and determination.
“FIGHT BACK!” Bella argued as Mira kept using the back of her blade while evading all her attacks.
Mira continued to struggle against Bella’s attacks. This time, Bella went a little serious. Mira was well aware that it’d be the end of her if she made a tiny mistake.
Mira sustained another injury while avoiding a zombie who attempted to take a bite of her. She tripped herself and fell over, landing on the wrong foot and spraining her dominant leg.
Bella hissed at the zombie. His physical appearance appears more terrific than the rest. He was one of the zombies who was directly affected by Alicia’s curse— the scientist, who happened to be Alicia’s lover. When Alicia wounded him in the face back in the laboratory, he began to deteriorate and eventually became one of the zombies himself.
“I command you to stay away! This is my fight!” Bella yelled at the zombie who tried hurting Mira. Her rage could be seen in her eyes.
The zombie scowled when he was eager to get a taste of Mira’s flesh. He was confident as he felt stronger and a little faster than the rest who didn’t acquire the curse directly from Alicia.
“How dare you disobey me,” Bella gritted, pronouncing every word vividly. Her eyes glowed in a fury, together with the marks etched on her skin.
The zombies in the area must know their limits, knowing what would happen to them once they disobeyed their Queen— the one who possesses the bead.
Bella began emanating a dark heavy aura that made the undead display an expression of grave fear while trying to keep their distance away from their Queen.
“This is what happens to those who disobey me,” Bella uttered, reminding all the other undead to know their limits.
Knowing he’d be punished severely, the zombie who attempted to harm Mira displayed a grim on his face. He trembled as he begged and tried his best to flee by deceiving their Queen, Bella.
Everyone was looking and listening intently. The rest of the undead became a little excited about what was to come when they heard quick broken chuckles coming from the zombie, who managed to maintain a safe gap between himself and their Queen. He was frantic to flee for his life, and the incredible speed he possessed allowed him to do it.
“Watch,” Bella demanded with her jaw clenched in a fury. Her rage was clearly seen in her eyes.
Bella’s eyes darkened, adding to the ethereal tone of her ruby red eyes.
Suddenly, the wind picked up speed. The bright blue moon fully coated itself with a dim cloud as the bloody red baybayin marks slowly crawled on Bella’s skin.
The baybayin script inside Bella’s eyes orbited around her pupil as she began to open her mouth and recite the word, “Magdusa,” uttered Bella, vividly. (Magdusa means “suffer”)

The zombie who was trying to run away gasped for air while all the other zombies were watching in amusement.

“Bumalik sa impyerno!” Bella uttered slowly.
(“Bumalik sa impyerno” – return to hell).
In a blink of an eye, the zombie then vanished into thin air, leaving small flares out of his ashes.