They should be safe outside of the town. At least that was what everyone hoped for. But the way the zombies were behaving and the way they tried to walk outside of their confinement spoke a different story.

One of them even tried to lunge out and grab hold of Keith. But thankfully, Keith was too far away for the Zombie to catch him.

"This is not good. An invincible force is holding behind these things. But we don't know when this force will disappear. What should we do now?"

Keith looked at stranger #2's freaked-out expression. Inside his heart, Keith felt the same fear. But he did not show it in front of anyone.

Instead, he racked his brain to come up with a solution. There had to be something they could do in this situation.

"Hey you all, hurry up and follow me. These creatures will not let you go unless you get out of their sight."

For a second, Keith was not able to place where he had heard that familiar voice from before. But then it clicked in his mind - Sara. The speaker had been Sara.

He looked toward his side, only to see Sara sitting on the hood of their car with the man Keith had met a day before. They even had Lune with them, but Lune seemed incapable of looking Keith in the eye.

"Hey, is there something wrong with your brain? Why are you standing so close to the barrier? Hurry up and hide behind a tree or a bush. Just go someplace these zombies cannot see you from."

Nigel quickly ordered as he looked toward the crowd behind them. There was a sadness in Nigel's eyes that made them look heavier and worried.

Stranger #2 opened his mouth to protest but Keith grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him. Stranger #1 followed them with muted fascination.

The kid watched until the trio was hidden and then observed the zombies.

As expected, the zombies did not stay behind for longer than needed. As soon as their target was gone, the zombies disappeared as well.

"Alright, you all can come out now. Those zombies are gone."

Sara called out as soon as it was clear. Her eyes were still looking for any of the remaining zombies. But there seemed to be none.

Once that was clear, Sara breathed a sigh of relief and let the tension in her body out. Her legs shook and Sara collapsed on the ground. She was only held up by Nigel in this situation.

"Where did you kids come from? I thought all of you were taken out of this town as soon as this epidemic happened. Don't tell me that we missed some of you."

Stranger #1 sounded sorry for Sara and her companions. His compassion was great and his heart was soft when it came to children.

He had always wanted to be a father but nature had denied him of this by taking away his wife quickly.

"Don't be absurd. As if normal children can survive in this zombie-filled place on their own. We cursed ourselves so that the curse of zombification does not affect us. As a result, our bodies are now stuck like this."

Nigel quickly explained what had happened to him. Keith had heard about Sara's curse before. But he had always thought that it was something she could not help. 

After all, all Sara had done was show disguise for her curse and not accept it as a part of herself. Who would blame Keith for thinking like that?

"Oh, so this was voluntary? Seems like a pain to deal with."

Stranger #2 asked with an amused voice. He seemed to be having fun figuring out this curse.

"Well, I won't call it 'voluntary' but it was something we accepted. Lune came up with the instructions and well as magic. She is good at finding out loopholes in the curses and such things.

Nigel pointed toward the place where Lune was sitting. Lune made her doll wave back to them as she continues to be in her world.

The small doll in Lune's arms looked so innocent that no one could even imagine what it could do. But Keith, who had first-hand experience dealing with that doll, could not think innocently of that doll.

"Your friend, Lune, is not very sociable. Is she alright in the head?"

Stranger #2 asked rudely. He tried not to be too loud, but his words were likely heard by Lune at this point.

"Hey, don't be mean to Lune. She had gone through a lot."

Sara defended Lune with a fierce voice. This was the first time Keith had seen Sara worry about someone else than herself. It seemed Sara was not as heartless as Keith had expected her to be.

"It's alright. Their words don't bother me anymore. We should return now and gather supplies in the town."

Lune finally pushed herself away from the car and came closer to their group. Keith tensed up once he watched Lune coming close. He did not want to interact with Lune but the female was forcing him to.

The way Lune looked at Keith, her eyes filled with curiosity and morbid fascination sent shivers down Keith's spine. So, he decided to avoid her eyes.

"Anyway, I am sure this has something to do with the god's curse. Our town cannot take any more of this. I hate gods."

Sara complained suddenly. She seemed surprised that she had even spoken about anything. But once those words were out, Sara suddenly could not stop herself. She had to speak up about the injustice of what was happening.

"The gods took everything away from our town just because we refused to swear our allegiance. And then there is that stupid guild alliance. They won't even help us out because they are 'too busy.' In the end, all the people in power are the same."

Sara's voice was tear-filled but nothing escaped from her eyes. She looked scary and ready to fight anyone calling her out.

"Sara, calm down. I don't think the guild alliance is related to our situation. We also turned in their initial offer so there is no need for them to help us out anymore."

Sara looked pissed off about being reminded of this face. Her teeth made an audible sound as they rubbed against each other.

"I know it is not their fault. Of course, I know this much. But that does not mean I like these facts."

Sara finally calmed down and stopped blaming the guild. Her words and actions meant nothing to Keith. He was not interested in whatever Sara felt for his guild.

The more important thing here was the curse and how Keith could run away from it.

"Look kids, I feel sorry for your situation but I don't think we can help you out with the town's situation. We can take you away to a better and safer place though."

Stranger #1 offered this as he held his hands out. His heart felt sorry for these kids and what they had to go through. He wanted to help them out in any way he could.

But all three of those kids looked at him like he was a fool who did not understand what was going on. Sara even turned her face so she would no longer have to look at the stranger.

"You did not understand what I meant. Anyone who steps into this town gets cursed. The only reason you all are not showing signs is that this is too early. If you go back now then your symptoms would worsen over time."

Sara explained with patience. Her words caused everyone to be shocked. Especially stranger #1 and #2 looked panicked.

"Huh? How is that possible? I have not heard anything about this happening. And we are not the first people to get out of this town. The others…"

Had broken contact with him after a while. But stranger #1 had always thought that it was a 'him' thing rather than the town's curse. 

"It's only a matter of time before you people get consumed by this town as well. It will be better for you to stay under our protection."

Nigel confessed with a straight face. He seemed as uncomfortable as Keith looked right now. But even still, he was willing to put up with these strangers. Mainly because Sara seemed to be worried about them.

Sara was selfish most of the time but Nigel had stayed with her long enough to read her face. That was the only reason he offered these strangers shelter for the night. 

And he did not want to see more people fall victim to this disease. The ones that had fallen ill locally were enough of a problem to deal with. Anymore would only cause him a headache.

"Hmm, fine then. It's not like we even have a choice in wanting to stay behind or not."

Keith was reluctant but he was also cautious.