Chapter 24: Chapter 24: Guilt

"...You again?"

"...Eh?"

Rhys and the girl stared at each other for a few seconds, both seemingly confused but for different reasons—Rhys thought the girl would have been out of the building by now, as for the girl, she definitely thought she would be dying here today.

"Have you seen Dr. Lopez?"

"Huh?"

"Dr. Lopez, have you seen her?"

"..."

She still seemed visibly stunned, unable to really say anything as she just stared at the dead arachne in front of her.

"..." Rhys could really only wait for her to recover from the stupor she found herself in. He started looking around to see if there was anyone else there, but the only thing he could see were 3 other arachne blocking the way down to the ground floor—all dead.

And judging by the dozens of familiar-looking knives pierced through each of them which made them look like a group of porcupines, they were killed by none other than the shriveling girl with her butt on the floor.

They did say these arachnes were of the lowest threat, but still, Rhys could not help but be momentarily impressed. She already had one of her Hearts filled for some reason… maybe it was possible to get her abilities?

"..." Rhys then turned to look at the arachne he just killed, only to notice several blades stuck to its breast and stomach—but sadly not deep enough to cause actual damage. Did she get exhausted?

But she was already able to kill 3 on her own at the same time… she shouldn't have had any problems dealing with this last one.

"..." Rhys then started looking at the girl from head to toe. She was small—no, perhaps petite would be the best way to describe her. Since she was on the same floor as Rhys, she should be a senior. But her stature, partnered with her colorful orange hair made her look like she just passed the school's entrance exam.

And as Rhys's eyes reached her legs, he finally noticed her swollen ankle.

"...Can you stand?" Rhys then finally broke the silence as he offered the girl a hand.

"I…I don't know?" The girl looked back and forth between the arachne and Rhys, before hesitantly reaching for his hand. She was able to stand up but found herself hopping on one foot as her injured ankle was too painful to put pressure on.

"Kh…" The girl sucked in a deep breath as she tried standing on both feet; before she could do so, however, Rhys pulled her closer to him, "...Eh?"

"It's fractured," Rhys said, "Putting pressure on it will only make it worse."

"I… I think it's just a spra—"

"It's broken," Rhys did not let the girl finish her words as he suddenly lifted her up, easily carrying her like a baby, "We need to get you out of here."

"Wh—put… put me down!"

"I can do that," Rhys sighed as he very slowly loosened his arms, "But you'll probably die."

"W…wait, don't!" And as soon as the girl felt Rhys putting her down, she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him like a koala, "Are… are you sure? Isn't your arm… bleeding?"

"It's fine," Rhys said as he started carefully going down the stairs, stepping over the dead arachnes while still very gently carrying the girl, "What's your name?"

"...Chloe," the girl breathed out as she made sure to hold on tight.

"Chloe—my sister had the same name," Rhys lightly grunted as he carefully leaned to look at the hallway, making sure there weren't any monsters there.

"...Had?"

"Hm. My name is Rh—"

"Rhys Wilder, I know," Chloe shook her head.

"...You know me?" Rhys sighed as he started running across the hallway as soon as he was sure there weren't any monsters…alive, that is—like the floors above, there were a lot of corpses littered on the floor, "Everyone knows the resident Lowborn, I guess?"

"That's…" Chloe couldn't really say anything. After all, it was true—Rhys was the only Lowborn in the school, and since he was easily noticeable because of his height and weird hairstyle, it was easy to identify him.

"I don't care if you're a Lowborn," Chloe then shook her head as she looked at Rhys's covered face, "You… you saved my life twice now, that matters more."

"Hm…" Rhys grunted as he continued to carefully make his way down the hallway. Rhys initially thought there would be more people and arachnes fighting, but all he saw were corpses, "I'm… sorry I wasn't able to save your friend."

"She…" Chloe slightly flinched as she tightened her embrace; her breaths, slightly becoming high-pitched, "She wasn't… just my friend."

"..." Rhys could really only blink a couple of times as Chloe's tears started damping his shirt. He then once again turned to look at the 5 Hearts above her head to make sure he wasn't hallucinating one of the hearts being filled… but it was still there, as red as it could be.

"The… two of you were together?"

"Hm."

"I'm… sorry," Rhys shook his head before focusing on the path ahead of him, "We're nearly outside. I don't know how safe it will be since I saw a lot of them, so make sure to grab tight because I'll be running as fast as I can."

"...Thank you, Rhys," Chloe rested her head on Rhys's chest as she continued to cry, "Really… thank you."

"Thank me when—"

And all of a sudden, as the two neared the last turn for them to reach the building's main exit—every hair on his body stood up.

"..." His legs quickly stopped moving as he just stared at the bloody hallway in front of him. He could hear voices coming from the main exit, but they were completely clouded by the sound of his own breaths as everything around him seemed to slow down.

"...Rhys? What's wrong?" Chloe whispered, "Did you see some—"

"!!!"

And before Chloe could finish her words, a group of a dozen students suddenly emerged from the hall—their faces, filled with dread, frenzy, and desperation as they all ran in panic toward Rhys's direction.

"I told you not to open the fucking door!"

"Fuck, just run!"

Rhys quickly recognized three of the men in the group—It was Lex's friends, Rob and the two others. Rhys and Chloe didn't really even have to wonder why they were running, however, as the reason for it quickly showed itself.

A cluster of arachne—too many to count as they almost filled the entire hallway, violently stepping on each other just to chase the humans in front of them.

"W… wait, what are you doi—!!!"

"!!!"

Rhys was about to turn around and run, but he saw as Rob and his group suddenly started tripping the others behind them, deliberately pushing them toward the wave of death that violently chased them.

"H… help m—"

The students that were left behind weren't even able to fight, they were just instantly swallowed by the onslaught of arachnes. And with the wave slowed down, Rob and his friends ran as fast as they could.

Chloe, and even Rhys were both stunned by what they have witnessed—but once again for two different reasons.

Chloe was shocked, refusing to believe that there would be someone that would push someone else to death just to survive. As for Rhys, he was thinking that if he didn't ask Katarina to save Rob and his friends back on the construction site…

…then people they just watched die wouldn't have had to die in the first place.

CREATORS' THOUGHTS
Romeru

If you hadn't noticed yet, Rhys has an extreme case of survivor's guilt T_T. Also, I'm going to ask again, how is the story so far? I know it's kinda going slow. But I wanted to show Rhys's personality more before we move on.

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