Akira backed up, his breath caught in his throat as the shadows twisted ahead of them. From the broken hall emerged a figure—not a grotesque, not a beast, but a girl.
She moved with a strange, fluid grace, her white hair swaying with each step, catching in the faint light that filtered through the broken ceiling above. Her crimson eyes glowed faintly, locking onto each of them in turn with an unease. Around her feet, vines the color of fresh blood slithered across the floor, curling like living serpents seeking prey.
"Fall back! " Rick barked, raising his rifle.
The girl tilted her head. "Oh? Already so rude." Her voice was lilting, playful—but there was an edge to it, something cold and calculated just beneath the surface. "And here I was hoping for a warm welcome."
The vines hissed forward, creeping along the walls and ceiling as if they belonged there as they grew from the very ruin itself. The plant twisted unnaturally, pulsing slightly, as if synced with her breath. Wherever she stepped, crimson leaves sprouted through cracks in the tile.
"Corrupt! " Reina spat, her voice low and venomous. She lifted her rifle.
The girl's eyes gleamed with amusement. "Is that what you call us now? She took another step forward, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear as more vines surged around her like living armor". "I hate it."
Akira's heart pounded. This was no mindless monster. She was aware. More aware than the Leader of the Grotesque he has seen before. And too calm.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the girl said lazily, pointing toward Reina's rifle.
In a heartbeat, crimson vines shot forward like spears.
KRAK!
The gun shattered in Reina's hands, the metal ripped apart with unsettling precision. She stumbled back, cursing under her breath.
Rick fired another round, but it was stopped cold—dense crimson vines burst, shielding the Corrupt. In a blink, the vines lashed out, knocking Rick off his feet.
"Tsk." The girl clicked her tongue. "Always so quick to shoot. Haven't you learned by now? Guns don't solve everything."
Rick gritted his teeth and raised his rifle again—but Akira stepped forward, hand outstretched.
"Wait," he said.
The girl's gaze flicked to him, and her lips curved into a grin. "Now this one has manners."
"Who… are you? " he asked carefully.
She seemed pleased by the question. Her vines coiled gently around her arms and shoulders like a pet snake. "Who? What a delightful question. I wonder that myself sometimes." She paused, playing with vines, letting the tension hang before answering, "Call me whatever you like. But definitely not a 'corrupt.' That label's so... shallow."
Rick growled. "You're one of them. You've lost your mind! You—"
"Lost? Her head tilted again, and her grin grew wider". "Oh, I've found so much more than you can imagine."
She took a slow step forward, and every vine in the hallway tensed like a coiled muscle. Akira moved in front of Reina instinctively, hand gliding toward her sidearm—but the Corrupt didn't attack. Not yet.
"Oh? What's this? A knight in shining armor? " The Corrupt laughed, her voice sharp and mocking. "Hahahaha… how cute."
"Why are you here? " Akira asked. His voice shook slightly, but he kept his gaze on hers.
Her red eyes locked onto his. "You're in no position to ask, just saying. But I like that."
She crouched beside one of the shattered rifles and traced a finger through the dust.
"I go where the vines grow. This place..." She looked around, her tone suddenly distant, thoughtful. "It's old. Forgotten. It remembers things, you know. Things your people pretend never happened."
Akira's brow furrowed. "What things? "
"Don't listen to her, Akira! She's messing with your head! " Rick shouted, pushing himself up, eyes locked on the Corrupt.
But she just smiled, standing again. "You'll see. Maybe. If you survive long enough."
The vines behind her coiled downward and shattered a portion of the hallway, blocking the path they'd entered from. The sudden rumble jolted them all back into alertness.
"You don't have to hurt anyone," Akira said quickly, sensing the tension. "If you're not what the others had described, maybe we can talk."
The girl's expression softened just a bit. Her voice dropped lower, quieter. "If only they all thought like you, maybe we can."
She lingered a moment longer, eyes flicking to Aylin's brother—really seeing him.
Then her playful tone returned. "I'll be watching you, Akira."
And just like that, she turned, vines pulling her backward into the crumbling building. Within moments, the darkness had swallowed her up. The plants receded, the light dimmed, and silence returned.
Reina exhaled shakily. "What the hell was that for? "
Rick lowered his rifle slowly. "Tsk, those corrupt are unpredictable as ever."
Akira turned to him. "She wasn't like the others."
Rick's jaw tightened. "Doesn't matter. Once they turn, they're not human anymore."
Akira frowned. The girl's eyes had held something—awareness, yes, but also pain. He's not mistaken; he experienced that before.
Like there was more to her than Rick and Reina were willing to admit.
"She knew my name," Akira said quietly.
Reina looked sharply at him. "You've seen her before? "
"No," he said. "But I think… she's seen me."
The vines were gone now, but something lingered—like the scent of blood in the air or a whisper carried by the wind.
Akira wasn't sure what she was.
Back at the mall, the survivors gathered as Rick and Reina gave a report. The moment the word "corrupt" was mentioned, the mood shifted. Tension thickened. Eyes darted around the room. Some whispered, others clenched their fists.
"They're getting bolder," someone muttered. "Used to be they stayed away from here."
"I thought the Corrupt were just rumors," another said. "Stories to scare kids wandering around."
"They're real," Rick confirmed, cleaning his rifle. "And if they're this close to base, we've got a bigger problem."
Dr. Yuna pulled Akira aside afterward, leading him to a quieter spot near the back of the camp.
"I heard what happened," she said softly. "Don't let the others rattle you too much. There's more to the Corrupt than they know."
Akira glanced at her, surprised. "You don't think she's just a monster? "
Yuna hesitated. "I think… once, they were people. Maybe some part of them still is. That girl you saw—she's not the first. We've seen others. And sometimes…" She trailed off, expression unreadable.
"Sometimes? " Akira pressed.
"Sometimes, I think they remember things. Who they were. What they lost."
He thought of the girl's eyes—not hollow, not crazed. Just… watching. Almost like she recognized something in them. Like she was waiting for something.
"She didn't try to kill us," he repeated. "She could have, and she didn't."
Yuna met his gaze, then nodded faintly. "Don't share that with the others. Not yet. They won't understand."
Akira didn't need to be told twice. The tension in the camp had already spiked just from the mention of the Corrupt. If anyone suspected he didn't see her as a threat… he might not be welcomed back next time.
...
The morning after their escape from the building was gray and cold. Thick fog clung to the streets like a shroud, hiding the ruined cityscape beyond the mall's barricades. Inside the camp, the survivors moved quietly. Sleep hadn't come easily for anyone—not with the knowledge that a Corrupt was nearby.
Akira stood near a cracked window, staring at the vine-covered building in the distance. The crimson petals had closed in the night like the building itself had fallen asleep.
He couldn't stop thinking about her.
The girl's white hair, the unnatural calm in her crimson gaze… the vines had moved like extensions of her body.
She was, like, still a human...
"You're thinking about her again."
Akira turned to find Reina leaning against the wall behind him, arms crossed.
"You've got that same stupid look on your face," she added. "The one that says 'maybe she's not all bad.'"
"I never said that," Akira replied, defensive.
"You didn't have to." Reina stepped closer, her tone unusually soft. "Look. I get it. When you're out there, and something doesn't kill you on sight, it's easy to start wondering. But don't forget what she is."
"What if what she is... isn't what we think? " Akira asked.
Reina raised an eyebrow. "You're saying Rick and the others are wrong? "
"I'm saying we might not know the whole story."
Reina didn't respond immediately. She glanced out the window too, toward the vine-covered building. "The Corrupt are… strange. I've seen them tear through survivors without blinking. But I've also seen one just sit and hum to herself in a broken-down school. No threat, no violence. Just… existing."
Akira looked at her, surprised. "You never told anyone? "
"Would you? " she replied, with a bitter smile.
Before he could answer, Rick's voice rang out from the center of the camp.
"Everyone up! We're sending out another scavenging run. We need batteries, canned food, and any working radios you can find. Priority is the maintenance depot four blocks out."
"Another run? " Reina muttered. "Too soon."
"Are you volunteering or complaining? " Rick called, spotting her and Akira.
She sighed and grabbed her machete. "Both."
Akira followed her toward the exit, pulling his jacket tight around him. As they left the mall's safety, the city swallowed them in silence again.
The deeper they moved, the older the buildings seemed to get. Ivy—deep crimson, just like the girl's vines—crept over rusted metal and cracked stone. Akira found himself pausing often, listening for movement. Watching the walls, as though expecting them to breathe.
At the depot, they found signs of recent activity—doors hanging open, supplies picked through. Another group must've been here before.
"Damn," Reina muttered, checking a broken crate. "Someone beat us to it."
"Spread out," Rick ordered. "Look for anything they missed. But don't go far."
Akira ducked into a side room with peeling wallpaper and a long-dead ceiling fan. As he rummaged through shelves of old wiring and dead batteries, something caught his eye—a journal, weathered and stained with moisture, tucked under a broken chair leg.
He hesitated, then opened it.
"The cities don't move—they're taken. It's like the world just… swallows them. One minute you're in a hospital or a shopping plaza, the next, you're here. Same place, but broken. Older. Like it's been dead for decades.
And the people… the ones who survive long enough, they change. Some vanish. Some become something else.
I don't think the Corrupt are from here either. I think they were taken too."
Akira's breath hitched.
Taken?
He turned the page.
"The Corrupt are still human—but they gained something. The people from the camp lied. I should've seen it sooner. They fear what the Corrupt are capable of, so they brand them as monsters.
Red eyes. Their leader had red eyes. They said the corrupt have no reasoning... Then why is one leading us?
There's more to this—something they're hiding."
Akira's heart pounded.
The others called her a Corrupt. But what if she was something more like what this journal had said?
Before he could think more about it, a loud crash echoed from the main room.
Akira rushed back to find Rick standing over a collapsed shelf, a crushed radio beneath it.
"Nothing good left," Rick growled. "This place is dead. Let's move."
But Akira held onto the journal. He tucked it into his jacket, silent.
As they headed back toward the mall, crimson ivy trailed along the buildings like veins. The petals trembled faintly, though there was no wind.
When they reached the barricades, Aylin was sitting up for the first time since they'd arrived. Her color was returning, and her eyes lit up when she saw her brother.
"You're back! " she whispered.
Akira smiled and knelt beside her. "I told you I'd be. How do you feel? "
"Tired… but better. This place is weird, though. I had a dream…"
Aylin tilted her head, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "I saw something… it was offering a gift."
Akira raised an eyebrow, then chuckled dryly. "Hahaha… A gift? From something? " He smiled, gently patting her hair.