The Countess Lives Twice in the Apocalypse-Chapter 28: Twenty-seven

"What are they doing?" She murmured under her breath, lowering the bow and walked closer to the ledge of the tower.

She peered over the edge and watched the zombies scramble around, looking everywhere as if they are being hunted by a predator. Jannah couldn’t understand what is happening except for the fact that all of them have backed away from the gates and scattered.

She could not stop her heart from pounding as she watch them run around outside the town.

At this point, the sun is already setting on her left and the moon is already peeking from the right. Such a beautiful sight would be admired by the nobles if it were not for the start of the outbreak.

A breeze went past her body, whipping the stray strands of her hair to the back of her head. The cold air of the evening are now whistling past of her face to her ears, causing for the hair on the back of her neck to stand up.

She wrapped her arms around her, observing the way the zombies stumbled on their feet, falling down and standing up almost immediately as they all hurriedly vanish from her sight, disappearing into the night.

For some reason, the words of the man from earlier echoed in her mind.

"You don’t understand! They started running away when the sun started setting..!"

She stared into the distance, she could still see some of the silhouettes of the zombies from her spot. It looked like they scrambled in different directions and some of them went to the forest.

She let out a sigh, remembering the terrified look on the man’s face as clear as day when he tried to reason his way out, not wanting to be killed on the spot.

Though, istead of reasoning his way out, his lie have made his impending doom approach quicker than he imagine.

Jannah shook her head, her heart pounding in protest to not remember the unfamiliar and scary look on her little sister’s face.

However, her mind drifted back to the words that the man said.

"They started running away when the moon rose in the skyline." Jannah murmured, putting her forefinger and thumb under her chin as she kept her eyes ahead, staring at the horizon where the zombies blended into the dark and disappeared from her view.

Does it mean that they are scared of the dark? She wondered, eyes squinting in a confused glare with her eyebrows furrowed lightly.

Does it make sense though? A horde of infected whose hunger are insatiable being scared of the dark? An infected group who relentlessly chased the living without break? Them? Scared of the dark?

That doesn’t make sense. Jannah thought, rubbing her temples while gripping the bow tightly. I have been around them for three years straight, and I have never seen them cowering in fear of the dark. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

However, despite her inner turmoil and rumblings, the pointers still ended up with them being scared of the dark— which again, doesn’t make sense to her.

Jannah let out a sigh and mumbled to herself, "There is no use fretting over it now. I need to get out of here and take advantage of the situation if I don’t want to fall behind."

With a clear mind, she slipped the bow over her head and let it rest on her shoulder. She turned around and readied herself to go to the stairs, only to let out a scream as she flinched in her spot.

"Holy mother of— you scared me!" Jannah hissed, glaring menacingly at the man in front of her. She unconsciously gave him a light smack on his arm accompanied by the end of her sentence.

"Oh, shoot, forgive me." She immediately apologized, pulling her hand back and tucking it to her side.

"It’s okay, it didn’t hurt." The corner of his lips twitched slightly and Jannah saw it.

She couldn’t help, but narrow her eyes at him.

"I’ve been standing here since you took the arrows off my hand." Duke Zacharias stated, for a moment, his purple irises glossed with something she could not read as he look down to the floor.

"You’re the one who gave me the extra arrows?" Jannah raised an eyebrow at him, "I appreciate the immediate action. Thank you, you were a big help."

The Duke did not say anything else and just stared at her. She was fine with it until she saw his eyes start to go lower and lower and lower..

Jannah could feel his eyes roaming her entire being, as if he is checking for something— a wound perhaps? Whatever it is, she doesn’t care because his stare made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

She unconsciously shifted her weight to her other foot, her hands raising in the air and touching the bow, fiddling with the string out of habit.

Due to her reaction, it made the the Duke snal out of his inspection and noticed what he was doing which made him let out a cough.

"Please forgive me, I didn’t mean to stare." He grumbled out and looked away from her, "I was merely checking if you were hurt somewhere. I didn’t mean anything bad nor do I have any I’ll intention."

She don’t know how to respond to that so all she could do is nod her head.

"Okay.." Jannah trailed off slowly, eyeing him with clear wariness as she took a step away from him to get to the stairs, "I’m going to go down and leave the town.. Are you going to stay here with your people?"

"What?" Eulicies blinked rapidly, not able to comprehend what she just said into brain.

"Oh, no, no! We actually came here to go after you because of the princess’s order. I bought my men with me and left a small number of them in my mansion in the capital, but as you can see, only a few of us have managed survived from those.. Things."

When he realized what she was implying with her question, he immediately explained why he was running away from the horde and ended up in Kentucky.

By the end of his quick explanation though, the expression on his face looked crestfallen.

However, Jannah only heard one thing from what he said and made her lips form a straight line. The princess ordered the Duke to follow me?

She cannot believe what he is saying, but there is no use for a Duke like himself to lie to her face, right? She decided to think about it another time.

"Did you go through Chivahon?" Jannah decided to divert the topic because of the downcast look on the Duke’s face, "Or did you and your people take a detour?"

"Detour?" The Duke repeated the last word, the crestfallen expression on his face got replaces with a confused one which clashed with her neutral one, "We went through Chivahon."

"You went through?" Jannah’s eyebrows met in an instant as she turned her body to fully face him, "Chivahon was locked when me and my people reached the gates last night. Are you telling me that the gates are open now?"

"That’s exactly what I’m saying." He agreed with a shrug of his shoulders and crossed his arms, wrapping them around himself to make himself appear harmless in her eyes.

"I don’t know if you’re confused or shocked, but what I found the most confusing about the town was the fact that it was empty. There were blood everywhere— on the walls, doors, windows, street, and even the gates, but guess what? There are no people in sight, not a single person."

"Huh.." Jannah stared at him for a little while. So the situation in Kentucky is the same as Chivahon? She wondered if it was really the case before she shook the thought out of her head and turned back to the stairs, descending the flight of stairs in a hurry.

The moment she stepped foot on the ground, the Duke’s people turned their head to look at her, different emotions on clear display in their faces.

She didn’t pay any mind to them and rushed towards the man that her sister killed earlier.

She could feel their eyes on her as she run towards the dead man laying on the ground, a pool of blood beneath his body and has soaked through his clothing.

She crouched down, patting his pants and body, not sure what she is looking for, but she have a feeling in her gut that she need to look for something inside the town.

It was the same feeling she felt when she went with her little sister in Count Nige’s mansion.

There should be something.. Anything. She continued searching until her palm bumped into something behind the man’s pants.

She flipped the dead man on his stomach and slipped her hand into the man’s pocket, making his blood stain her skin.

"A key? What the hell am I supposed to use this key for?" Jannah hissed, her face scrunching at the sight of the rusty and bloody key.