After a long night of a battle between the living and the dead, sunrise finally came.
Bella is deeply asleep, and Mira is sound asleep on a chair directly next to the bed. Mirabella was lying down on Bella’s feet, with its tummy exposed as it rested on the edge.
Mira brought Bella home following the gruesome scenes last night, which lasted from twilight to daylight. After exerting a great deal of energy, Bella passed out, which depleted all of her vitality.
Sundown came, and a new sunrise appeared. On the other hand, Bella is still not awake, although she is breathing normally.
Mira waited with bated breath for Bella to awaken. Bella may not be able to move a muscle, but Mira is confident that Bella will regain her strength and return to her so long as she continues to breathe.
Over time, Bella remained in a deep sleep for another week.
Right after Bella fainted, the undead disappeared into nowhere. Nobody knows what happened to them after that exhausting night, but the devastation they caused in this small town was significant.
People who had lost their loved ones had barely time to grieve properly. They spent every second working together to build shelters and gather food to be distributed to the people in town.
Mira attempted to wake Bella up every single day but was unsuccessful. Bella won’t budge. Mira makes for herself and Mirabella’s meals and has purposely prepared more than enough for them both, anticipating that Bella would awaken at any moment and that she would be hungry after skipping meals for the past few days.
Mira also provides food for both of their mothers, where she buries their bodies in the backyard. She was sitting on the ground with her back supported by a giant tree and her knees drawn closer to her chest as she sobs softly.
Another week had passed, yet still the same. Mira isn’t used to being alone, but she has to.
While Mira was preparing her meals in the kitchen, she reminisced about the times when they were all still complete. It was torture for her to feel all those sorrows by herself. She dreads the day of finding out what will happen to her when Bella fails to wake up.
Mira gently shook her head to brush off all the negative thoughts she had been having for a couple of days. “I can do this.” Mira lightly slapped her cheeks with both hands, a mild slap.
Nothing changed over time until Mira awoke to the sound of chaos emanating from the outside. It was the wee hours of the morning when a bustle among the citizens occurred. Mira was startled by the scream and hurriedly ran to the balcony to see what was happening.
A zombie was wandering around in the middle of the street, and Mira could hear a group of people yelling in panic. She could see something strange inside the cemetery from where she was standing. Her eyes widened when a hundred claws protruded from beneath the surface.

The townspeople began to panic and fled for their lives before the situation worsened.
Without second thoughts, Mira hastily snatched her sword and cast a glance towards Bella. “I’ll be back,” she uttered to Bella. “Protect her,” she stated as she turned to face Mirabella before leaving the door.
Mirabella responded by barking twice and positioned herself next to Bella. She was flashing a gaze that had the potential to bite and rip an arm at any moment.
“Run in this direction!” Mira pointed to the other side of the street from where the people were running away.
A large number of zombies have already made it to the gate leading out of the cemetery, going in a variety of directions.
“M—mommy...” whimpered a youngster, who had fallen to her knees.
The child pushed herself by kicking her feet on the ground, dragging her bottom as she attempted to distance herself from the zombie approaching her.
When the child’s back collided with the wall, she sobbed. She closed her eyes, hoping for something magical, while the zombie closed the distance between them both.
The zombie stopped and locked his gaze on the child. The child could hear a loud crunching sound when the undead slowly tilted its head. When the zombie opened its jaw, the child shuddered in fear at the sight of the undead.
Splash!
A gush of blood rained down on the ground came from the zombie’s torn neck.
Mira slashed the zombie’s neck with her sword.
“Z--zombies!!!” screamed one woman across the road as she ran away from the cemetery.
“Go,” Mira said to the child and made her way to where the zombies were coming out.
“Hey! There are zombies out there,” a man who happens to know Bella and Mira stated emphatically.
“I know,” Mira replied with a warm smile. “Hey... could you please bring Bella with you?” Mira favored the man.
The man smiled and nodded. “Be careful,” he advised and went to where Bella was.
Mira ran to the cemetery, where she attempted to close the gates in order to keep the remaining zombies within the grounds of the cemetery.
It wasn’t easy. It took Mira some time to shut the gates as she struggled with several zombies on her way and the ones near the entrance. She charged from one zombie to another, many of whom had already escaped through the gate.
A few zombies were making their way to the location where the people were fleeing. Mira was well aware that if even a single zombie made it to the haven where the townspeople were hiding, the entire area would be rendered unsafe.
In the event that another zombie attack comes, the humans have devised a sanctuary in the form of the mountains. They weren’t prepared the last time it happened and have lost most of their loved ones as a result.
Mira grabbed anything loud she could use to draw all of the zombies’ attention to her.
A loud siren alarmed.
All zombies faced the direction where the noise was coming and began scurrying towards Mira.
A swarm of undead attempted to scale the massive gate but were unsuccessful. Some of the zombies had lost their footing and fell midway. Others tried their hardest to squeeze through the gate but couldn’t.
The zombies outside the cemetery’s gate surged towards Mira, and she began slicing them one at a time.
Mira became fatigued a few minutes later. She had already chopped through a horde of undead.
There were only a handful of them left, probably 8 of them.
Mira was trying to catch her breath until she heard a squeaky sound coming from the gate.
The undead was forcing their way out. Any moment now, the gate will collapse, allowing the zombies who have been imprisoned inside the exit to escape.
Mira knew it was no longer safe for her to stay in that area. She surveyed the surroundings to see whether there were any people left.
The area was clear.
Dust swirled up from the ground when an unsettling breeze blew through.
As Mira began racing away from the location while slicing the eight remaining zombies in her path, she heard a loud bang behind her.
The gate has fallen.
The undead set their rotten eyes at Mira’s trembling eyes. Their hungry groans made Mira run as fast as possible, but the zombies could see where she was going and were trailing after her. They weren’t that quick, but Mira was unwilling to take the risk and put everyone in danger. She was concerned that she might accidentally lead all of the zombies to the location where the people were sheltering, so she chose to head in the opposite direction.
Mira lured the undead to the park, where it is far and opposite to the direction of the mountains.
It was already afternoon when Mira finally reached the park. Within a few hours, the zombies were able to completely disperse from the entire city after losing sight of their prey. Mira took a deep breath and felt completely exhausted after racing and cutting zombies all day long.
“I’ll rest for a bit, then move along,” Mira said in between breaths.
A swampy area devoid of trees, where cloudberries are harvested during the season, can be observed from the park, while a forest can be seen next to the swampy area.
Mira decided to hide and rest in the forest before finding her way out to the mountains. She climbed a tree and sat in the shade for a while.
It was getting dark when Mira heard the growling and moaning of zombies. She was startled out of her sleep when she heard the noise, scanned the surrounding area for the zombie, and then prepared her sword.
When a zombie heard the snap of Mira’s sword, it entered the course where Mira was resting.
Mira noticed the zombie under the tree coming from behind. It was on the prowl for something. As she tried to shuffle her feet carefully in order to prepare her stance, one of the branches came crashing down from where she was standing.
The zombie beneath the tree slowly tilts its head, facing Mira. But Mira charged in and sliced the zombie’s neck before it had a chance to do so.
The sound was picked up by a bunch of zombies in the distance. The forest was utterly deafeningly quiet. There were no signs of human or animal life insight. The wind was infused with a faint death-scent breeze of air, and the growls of the ravenous zombies were the only sound to be heard.
Upon hearing the noise, the undead rushed their way to where the sound came from and gathered around. Mira got startled, having no idea that a large number of zombies were lurking within the area.
In her haste, she avoided and sliced through a few zombies along the way.
Mira proceeded deeper into the forest as the sun began to set, knowing that leaving the trees, where all zombies were strewn about, would definitely not be a good idea.
After a few minutes of running and dodging zombies to lure them deeper into the woods, Mira has reached the end of the forest.
A cliff is her only way.
Behind her, the zombies had already dispersed around the field, obstructing her path.
After Mira successfully climbed a tree, the zombies tried to reach for her. Mira was exhaling heavily, wishing she had the ability to teleport or make the undead disappear.
The zombies were foolish enough until one zombie forced his way and has managed to climb up by using his co-zombies as a makeshift ladder. Mira had already gotten within striking distance of him when she kicked his head and fell. The tree began to swell a few seconds later.
Mira was struggling.
A horde of zombies was waiting for her to fall and feast on her flesh.
“Oh, no. I’m too smart for you guys.” Mira manages to make light of the circumstance she finds herself in with a faint smile on her face.
It was just before sunset when the undead came to a halt and stared at the sun, waiting for it to sink below the horizon.
Their eyes began to glow as they were engaged in the sun’s splendor, which was casting an orange light across the sky.
When the zombies didn’t move an inch for a couple of seconds already, Mira realized she had a window of opportunity to flee.