Be careful of her facade

When I walked further to see who it was, I heard a faint voice saying. "Help... me... Help. Please... Anyone..." Without much thought, I immediately reached my hands out and pulled the person towards me. 'Her hands are so cold.' A small girl came out of the shadow and crashed into me. "Ugh!" I dropped to the ground, and Isaac ran towards me.

"Llyne, you alright? What happened? Why did you suddenly walk deeper in, huh? Do you want to die? Don't do that ever again." Isaac helped me up and looked at the little girl. "Who's that? Where she come from? Do you know her? Why aren't you saying anything? Are you unwell? Where? That's why I tell you to use your brain before doing anything. Now, look at what happened."

I shook my head. "Oui... Stop nagging and ask questions one by one, okay? Sheesh... My ears are going to fall off one day if you continue like this." I picked the little girl and leaned her against the wall. "I don't know her, okay? I heard someone pleading for help, so I dragged her out. Other than that, I know nothing. I'm as confused as you are."

Ronald cautiously walked towards us while holding Rona back. "Is she alright? Or is she dead? Are you sure it's safe to go near her? And look at those scars on her entire hand -"

Isaac interrupted Ronald. "She just fainted. Those are old scars. What I'm curious are those hand prints around her neck." Isaac moved closer to the little girl. "Those are new and judging the size of the handprint. It is a human child's, around our age."

Ronald shook in fear. "Y-You mean... Someone strangled her? Why? Shouldn't we help each other out instead? How could they resort to such violence? Didn't anyone teach them that violence is a no no? Wait! Did they chase her here? What are we going to do? I hate violence."

"Ouish. Chill, bro. Now you sound like Isaac."

Isaac sighed. "Not for some people. Those crazy people would do anything to win a competition, and their first move would be killing off their competitors. Didn't you ever watch movies?"

"I do. I do. But I only watch cartoon types with pretty colours and sprinkles, not blood and dead bodies! Those are yucky! I'll never watch those." Ronald shivered.

My head went blank as I was so amazed when I heard what Ronald said. "Wow... No wonder he's so pure. He only watches cartoons. I never heard anyone around my age who only watches cartoons and nothing else. HE IS SO PURE! HE NEEDS PROTECTION!"

Rona grabbed Ronald's hand. "No worry, Rona will bash anyone who will harm Ronny, TsunTsun, and Lil!"

Ronald felt touched by Rona. Meanwhile, I was on the verge of laughing. "Kehehehehe, TsunTsun. She called you TsunTsun. Bwahahahahaha!" I couldn't take it anymore and rolled on the ground and laughed. Isaac ignored me and continued to examine the handprint on the little girl's neck.

"Kekekeke." I got up and wiped my tears. "Oh. It's been a while since I had a good laugh. Heh!"

"You're welcome." Rona replied proudly.

Crack.

"Hmm? A crack? Did you guys hear something?" Ronald asked. Isaac and Rona shook their head. I pointed towards the girl. "I heard a crack sound close to the little girl. You don't think the walls are going to crumble down, right?"

Ronald's face went pale. "Eh? If this place crumbles down, aren't we going to get buried underneath these rubbles and die?! Oh, no!"

"I never seen someone with such a big built being scared of everything. What a waste of muscles." Isaac said.

Crack.

"Ah! Its that sound again? We're doom!" Ronald fell to the ground and sobbed. I closed my mouth to restrain myself from laughing out loud while Rona sat beside Ronald and patted his back. "Don't cry, Rona is here for you." Ronald looked up at Rona and wiped his tears and snot. "Oh, Rona. You're so brave meanwhile I was acting like a total coward. I'm sorry, Rona. I'll try my best not to cry and face every challenge with my head held high." Rona cheered.

Ronald turned towards the little girl. "First, I'll move closer to the little zombie girl."

Isaac refuted. "She's not a zombie, airhead."

Ronald moved closer, and suddenly, the little girl's fingers moved a bit. "Hmm? Did her finger move? It can't be, right? I must have seen it wrongly. Hahaha. There's no way. There's no way." The little girl moved her fingers again. Ronald saw it again and completely froze. "E-Eh? It wasn't my imagination? EEYYAAAAHHH!" Ronald jumped really high and ran behind Rona and yelled. "She moved! Her fingers moved. She is going to turn into a zombie!"

Isaac shouted back at Ronald. "She is not dead, you meat head!" Isaac looked at the little girl's neck again and found a weird mark. "Huh? What is this?"

I looked at the little girl's face and felt like something was wrong. 'Her pupil... Is there something wrong with it?'

The little girl opened her eyes and suddenly jumped towards Isaac. She stretched her arms and bore her teeth, wanting to bite him. I quickly pulled Isaac's collar, and she narrowly bit Isaac's head off. Isaac grabbed my arms and said. "Thanks." I nodded, and we continued to stare at the little girl as she sluggishly stood up.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

"So that's where the cracklings come from. I'm glad that it's not from the ceiling, but this is equally frightening." Ronald trembled.

We gulped nervously as the little girl cracked her bones as she stood up. "Oui... I can hear every crack on her bones. I don't think she's that old."

Ronald covered his mouth with both hands, not making any sound and sudden movement. Shockingly, Rona went quiet and stared at the little girl from a far.

"Stay behind me. Don't move away, okay?" I stood in front of Isaac, protecting him from the crazy little girl. The little girl stared at us with her drooling mouth.

"Eww... Her drool just dropped to the ground." I made a face of disgust.

"That's not important right now." Isaac whispered.

The little girl rushed towards us with her arms stretched out. She lifted one of the arms and tried to slice me. I swiftly dodged the attack and clenched my fist. I put all my strength into my fist and punched her in the stomach. She flew backwards and slammed into the wall. "Phew... Luckily, she's light." She tried to get up, but I grabbed her by her neck and raised her up in the air. She struggled to break free, but I tightened my grip instead. A few minutes later, she lost consciousness, and I let go of my grip.

Thud.

The little girl fell to the ground. I turned around and looked at Isaac. "You're alright?"

Isaac smiled and said. "Ya. I'm fine." Isaac's hands were shaking as he touched his neck. Rona and Ronald rushed towards us, and Ronald asked. "What happened? Why did she act that way? I thought you said she wasn't a zombie."

I placed my hand on Ronald's shoulder. "Ronald."

"It's fine. I was careless just now. But the first thing we need to do is tie this girl up. We wouldn't want her to cause another ruckus." Isaac said, and we nodded. Rona handed over a rope she found, and I used that to tie the little girl up.

"Okay. Now that that's done, I want to apologize to you all." Isaac bowed and said. "Due to my carelessness, I almost got you all killed. I know just a word of apology isn't enough. That's why I -" I covered Isaac's mouth and shook my head. "It's fine. There is no need to apologize."

Ronald nodded in agreement. "That's right. Everyone makes mistakes. That's what makes us humans. So don't apologize." Rona raised her hand and shouted. "Rona thinks so, too!"

"We know you are very mature for your age, that's why you tend to take care of us like a big brother. However -" I rolled up Isaac's sleeves. "Instead of worrying about us the entire time, you should take care of yourself too."

Isaac looked at his shoulder and arm and was shocked. "What? When did I get bruised?"

Ronald walked towards Isaac and examined his bruised. "When she squeezes your arm and shoulder! You totally didn't even realize you were injured. Luckily, no bones were broken." Ronald raised his head and apologized. "I'm sorry I raised my voice just now. When I panicked, I would accidentally say things that hurt people, but I don't mean it. I swear. I'm sorry for being such a crybaby. Maybe that's why people don't like me." Ronald looked down to the ground.

Isaac looked at Isaac and said. "No. You don't need to apologize. It's natural for people to panic and say those things. Whereas about you being a crybaby, well, that's just who you are and I don't mind it. And Ronald, I'm sorry for all the mean things I said about you before, truthfully I was jealous. Seeing how open you are, reminded me of the time when I was young. I hope you'll forgive me."

Ronald stared at Isaac and teared up. Isaac was startled. "Eh? You're crying?" Ronald wailed and hugged Ronald. "Wah~ Thank you, Isaac. Thank you, everyone! Thank you for being my friends. I will never forget this moment." At the same time, Isaac was screaming in pain. "Let go! It hurts! You are crushing me, you dunce!" Rona and I laughed, and we totally forgot about the retrained little girl.