Free The Guardian (Coranite Chronicles) by Egan Yip Page B

You should’ve said something.”
    The figure was silent.
    Kite grabbed the person by the shoulder. “Hey! I’m talking to you!”
    The person dropped to the floor. Kite nearly jumped in shock, and then stooped down to see what was wrong. There was a large open wound on the back of the body. He briefly checked for a pulse and found none.
    “Creepy…” Berik shined his flashlight at the spot where the body had stood. Right at that spot, the wall had been formed into a protruding spike. It looked like the wall had pierced the man’s back. “What do you think happened?”
    Kite inspected the spike closely and shook his head, looking absolutely baffled.
    “A freak accident,” he said. “Somehow, the wall melted and molded into a spike. During the confusion of the battle, the guy lost his footing and fell into it.”
    Berik laughed.
    “What’s so funny?” Kite glared at him.
    “Nothing. Your explanation was…quite something.”
    Kite scoffed, “Well, what’s your rational explanation for this?”
    Berik shrugged. “The wall became alive and attacked him.”
    Kite grunted, “No wonder my head always feels lighter when you’re in the same room.”
    Clang!
    Berik and Kite straightened up and stood back-to-back. They raised their rifles, aiming toward the opposite ends of the hall.
    “W-what was that?” Berik stammered, his hands trembling. He gazed fearfully into the darkness, searching for the cause of the noise.
    “Don’t panic,” said Kite coolly. “It’s probably just a crew member.”
    “ Oooo…Uhhhh…Aaaahh… ” Many eerie groans and grunts filled the air. They started softly, and then grew louder, as if the sounds were getting closer.
    “And what’s that?” said Berik. “They’re rehearsing for a moaning choir?”
    Then came the shuffling and scuffling noises. It sounded like something heavy was being dragged across the floor. Shadows flickered on the wall. Several silhouettes came into view from both sides of the hall. Kite stared for a moment. Then he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they were just Federation soldiers.
    Kite lowered his gun. “See? It’s only the crew.”
    Berik was unconvinced and kept his gun aimed at the oncoming soldiers. “No, no, no! Captain, don’t you know anything about these situations? It always happens this way! You think they’re human…but they’re not!”
    Kite raised a brow. “What?”
    “Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of zombies? Zombies are—”
    “Shut up about zombies!” growled Kite. “There’s no such thing!”
    “Take a look for yourself!” shouted Berik. “Just take one good look at them!”
    Kite sighed and raised his sights back to the soldiers. He watched the soldiers carefully and noticed that they did exhibit some characteristics of zombies: they staggered with each step, moaned unintelligible words, and moved sluggishly. Some of them were even quite injured, a few missing limbs here and there. Was that all the evidence he needed before he declared them to be zombies? Maybe they were recently injured and were suffering in a lot of pain. If that were the case, it would be extremely rude of him to just stand around and stare while they gasped for help.
    “Permission to open fire, sir!” said Berik.
    “Denied.”
    “But, sir!”
    “I refuse to be a part of your overly imaginative fantasies, Berik.”
    Kite headed over to help out the nearest injured soldier. However, after his initial step, he felt a strong grip clinging to his ankle. He was about to turn back and yell at Berik—but then he realized it wasn’t him. Berik had not moved an inch. He looked below and saw that the person, whom he had confirmed to be dead, was holding onto his ankle. An injured soldier was one thing—but a soldier coming back to life was something else entirely.
    Kite gasped, “ Holy —FIRE!”
    With the barrel of his rifle centered on the body on the ground, Berik held down the trigger and let the bullets fly. The shooting sounded