Chapter Seventeen

D

Kouvr’s laughter was angelic, but I wasn’t the one making her laugh. Fucking Los? He made her laugh? He’s not that fucking funny.

My fist flew into the wall, concrete crumbling against my knuckles.

I hated this.

They punished me in the worst way.

Yes, I could have gotten caught. Yes, I have been stalking Kouvr more than usual. Yes, I wanted to murder, kill anything in my sight or way, including my own brother. They think I’m fucking unstable. Unstable? Unstable? I’ll show them fucking unstable.

I moved to the wall with the security system wired to the mall. I gripped the wires and pulled and pulled until things snapped and the electricity shut off.

It took a moment for the system to rewire and then turned on with a loud alarm that could be heard miles away.

“This is the most stable thing I could have done. Watch, Rus,” I muttered to myself, putting my gun to my head. I didn’t want to be here when the zombies from all over came. Their bites fucking hurt.

Bang!

I woke up in my simulation machine, away from the others. I pushed from it, grabbing my things and moving from the house.

I didn’t want to see or hear those traitorous fuckers when they woke.

Kouvr

Everything shut off. The games, the lights. Everything was pitch black.

“What’s going on?” I muttered, reaching out to touch the table.

Hands touched my hips, making me yelp.

A loud alarm blared, drowning out my scream, and a flashing light blinded me.

Glancing over, I saw it was Zelos that had grabbed me. I cringed against him, holding my ears. Looking up, I saw lips moving between Cyrus and Theon and they were screaming and trying to hear each other. I couldn’t hear anything over the ear-piercing alarm.

My hands reached up for Zelos’s chest.

His eyes moved to me, looking down.

“What’s going on?” I just wanted to see if I could hear him when he spoke, but I couldn’t even hear my own voice.

Flashes of white drew our attention towards the front of the store. Cyrus was the first to move to the door, and we followed. Down the hall, zombies had already burst through the door, eating survivors.

I turned away from all the blood and flesh flying. This was exactly what I didn’t want to happen.

Kyree pulled on Cyrus, pointing to the other way I was now facing. Cyrus nodded and took off in a run. I pulled on Zelos and he pulled on Theon. We ran past a few stores, and Kyree led the way into a huge clothing store. The one we were in before.

I wanted to speak up and say that maybe we shouldn’t be running into a dead end, but I had no choice but to follow. They were the developers, right? They know this map… right?

We made a sharp turn and came to a sliding stop. A group of zombies in the store were right in front of us. I couldn’t even hear them coming.

Drawing our weapons, we opened fire. I hit a few shots, earning some kill points. Headshots were so satisfying in VR. Their heads snapped back, and their bodies followed to the ground.

Hands pulled on me, and we were off again, running back into the hall now. It was now overrun by zombies, and I wasn’t even sure the survivors were alive anymore. Instead of going forward, we moved to the right, straight into the food court. It was pretty empty, given there were no windows for zombies to get into.

I shot one straggler in the head, running through the aisle of food.

Kyree grabbed an egg roll from the Chinese buffet line. I also grabbed one, laughing, though I couldn’t hear it.

I didn’t know how he managed to eat the whole thing and run, but I took a bite, which was enough for me. I needed my energy, and my mouth was feeling dry. I finally swallowed my delicious food, smiling up at Kyree, who led the way down a empty hall. He opened a door, and instantly, zombies were on him.

“Kyree!” I screamed, but it was unheard over the alarm.

Zombies gripped him up, pulling him into them. Teeth chomp down on his beautiful tan skin, blood spraying.

“Kyree!” I tried to rush forward to grab him, but Cyrus picked me up in the air, pulling me through a hall and into a store.

My eyes were wide, unable to unsee him dying.

The next store wasn’t much better, causing Zelos and Theon to run to the other side of the store. We followed, and I kept looking back, waiting for Kyree to say “sike” and to be okay. But just more and more zombies flooded the store we were in.

A door between the stores connected them, and we raced through that threshold.

Dirty, bloody hands instantly grabbed us as we moved into the next store, which was more packed with zombies. I fought back, pushing their hands away from me.

Cyrus used his big ass body to ram a few down, giving me space to move but ended up with a zombie’s teeth on his neck.

I screamed, looking away with wet, hot eyes before I could see him die.

This… this was too much. I wanted to bawl my eyes out. My men were dying.

Theon pushed me ahead of him, away from Cyrus. I wanted to puke. My body felt hot, and the room was spinning.

Zelos grabbed my face, catching on to whatever was happening with me. I couldn’t read his face or understand his words, but I took a moment to read his lips as he said, “this is a game.”

I shook my head.

Cyrus was dead. Kyree was dead. I was numb. I knew… this wasn’t real. But… My feelings were. I wanted them and I wanted them alive.

I shook my head, blinking.

This… was just a game. A zombie game.

The last door we went out was to a hall that led to the main lobby. I raised my gun, shooting down countless zombies in the hall.

I forgot that this was a game for a second. That them dying wasn’t actually real, no matter how it felt.

Theon was beside me, his back to mine. Zelos joined in, and together, we created space for us to run.

Once the path was opened, we rushed to the front door. But the red-haired lady, Angelica, popped out, sinking her teeth into Theon’s arm. He aimed the gun, blowing her head off.

I cringed, looking at him.

Theon shrugged as if it was okay.

I waved to him as Zelos dragged me to the mall’s entrance. At least I didn’t have to see him die or leave the game before it.

We rushed outside, but the outside was just as full of zombies as the inside. Zombies rushed at us, and Zelos pulled me to the left before we got bitten.

What was his plans?

He opened a car door, and the headlights went off, but the alarm couldn’t be heard over the mall’s. Quickly, I climbed in and moved to the passenger seat. He got into the driver’s seat. Instantly, his hands moved under the dashboard, pulling on wires.

The car began to rumble and shake from the zombies pushing on it. Either way we were trapped. There were hundreds, more on their way. The parking lot was cluttered with them.

This car was our last hope.

My heart slowed down as I watched this hot man hotwire the car. Heat rushed to between my thighs, and I ached to taste him. My eyes dropped to his lips.

He hit the steering wheel, and I had to glance over to see. No gas. He glanced at me, pissed.

I was going to die by zombies, and all I wanted was to taste his lips. I let out an unheard giggle and leaned in, grabbing his head.

His mouth fell open, not expecting this. But he didn’t move, letting me capture his lips. His breath sharpened, and heat rushed to my thighs. His hand grabbed my hips, and his mouth devoured mine.

My eyes rolled to a close.

With a final jerk, glass was broken, and zombies covered us. Their bites were sharp and had me in a high-pitched scream. But everything shifted, pain leaving my body.

I let out a sigh, and I could finally hear it.

When my eyes opened, I was in the ParaDise lobby, and the guys were all in one piece.

“Holy fuck!” I let out, moving to them. “That was intense!”

“Told you! I hate it.” Theon laughed.

I wanted to hug one of them, which happened to be Kyree first. He wasn’t really expecting it, and I guess I should have asked for permission. “Never die like that again. Fuck! That felt so real.”

He laughed, but his body was still kind of stiff. He held my head with one hand and rubbed my back with the other. “The bites are a bitch, aren’t they?”

I pulled back, nodding. I could still feel their bites all over my skin. I shuddered at the thought and feeling.

“Can we know your thoughts about the game?” Cyrus asked, sitting on a table.

I nodded. “Heart pounding. Realistically scary. I enjoyed the game and actually can’t wait to play and beat it.”

“We’ve worked really hard on these games, and to have an amazing streamer like yourself enjoy our games is amazing,” Cyrus said with a smile.

“Thank you for having me, and I can’t see what we play tomorrow. About dinner,” I said, looking at Theon. “Give it to someone who would love a warm meal tonight.”

Theon thought for a moment, then nodded.

Each of the men got a hug, but sadly, I couldn't stay. I needed to make sure the new vlog was going to be posted.

I left ParaDise, instantly missing the guys. My mind replayed the kiss Zelos and I shared, but neither of us had brought it up.

I woke up in the simulation machine, stretching. I could still feel the bites of the zombies along my skin. I shuddered, instantly feeling the need to go to the bathroom. I moved from my office and rushed across my apartment before I pissed myself.

My notifications were climbing, despite the sound being off. The first ParaDise vlog has just finished being edited by my team and was live. Nerves rushed through me as I felt nervous. This was my first vlog in months, and I would have plenty of more coming.

I opened my channel and looked at the comments. They were flooding in, along with likes on my videos.

There were a few comments like “first!” and stuff, but most were on the game’s hot developers. I smirked, sitting back.

Gamergirl555 said, “Glad to have you back, Kouvr. Hope you’re doing well.”

Pixelmaster said, “the graphics are mind-blowing. I can’t wait for the game to be released.”

Quantumxp commented, “kicking and screaming over these hot developers.”

I smiled, closing my channel, though the notifications still flooded in. I was grateful they weren’t bad or negative right now.

I moved from my bathroom to my bed to pull out my computer. I had this next zombie game vlog, The City of the Dead, to edit. In my editing app, I fast forwarded it a bit, seeing at the end that the vlog caught Zelos and I kissing inside the car.

Heat rushed through me.

Much like the flirting and sex with Cyrus, I would have to edit that out… sadly.

But I was going to keep it for myself for… research purposes…