Alexandra's POV—
I woke up when the sun rays basked my closed eyelids, making me uncomfortable everywhere. Ok, I have made a mistake. 'Sunrays' was the not right term. I groaned and tried to sit up. I felt someone grab me. I tried to remove their hold but I couldn't. It seems that I am still a bit weak. Surprisingly, they helped me to sit up. With some difficulty, I opened my eyes and saw some blurry figures. I rubbed my eyes and tried to focus once again. As my vision cleared, I saw Shuren, Lia, Shimran and Jessie.
Weslie was the one who helped me to sit up. "Thank you," I said to Weslie, with a raspy voice.
Shuren touched my forehead, probably to check my temperature. Sighing with relief, she removed her hand and handed me a glass of water.
I quickly chugged down the water and handed her the glass. Feeling a bit relieved, I asked, "Where are we?"
"No, before that tell me if you are fine or not," asked Lia.
I nodded, "I am feeling a little bit weak. Otherwise, everything is alright." Sitting on a fluffy bed, I analyzed surroundings and found that I was in a clean and pristine room. Just by a look, I could say that we are not in Tom's house.
"We are no longer in Tom's house," said Weslie.
"After you freed me, I found the others and brought them to help you." Did she? Lia is a good woman. Indeed, she has abandoned her family… her husband and children but morally, she is not bad.
Jessie said, "Flames engulfed the whole house. We had no choice but to leave the place."
Shuren snorted, "That fool! He destroyed his house with his own hands!"
"I believe… they are all dead. After we left the house, zombies entered, and that's much before the fire had taken down the entire house. There is no chance that they will be alive after two 'simultaneous' attacks," said Shimran.
"Where did you find me?" I asked.
Shuren sighed, "We found you near Henrich's dead body. Apparently, you didn't need our help. So, we just took you and quickly fled from there."
Dead body… I remember it very well. I killed Henrich… after all this time… the one thing that I hadn't lost in, was securing my humanity. And now, I have strangled it with my very hands. Murderer, I am… a murderer. As I clenched my hands in anger, which directed towards me… tears started streaming down my eyes.
Lia hugged me and rubbed my back. In a helpless tone, she said, "It was an accident. You haven't killed Henrich knowingly. It was just self-defense."
"B-but I-I am a m-murderer…" I sobbed, keeping my head low.
Shimran sneered loudly. She forcefully lifted my head and slapped me. I was so shocked that I ceased my crying and looked at her with a wronged expression.
"Shimran!!"
"What was that!"
"She is not well!!"
Shimran snorted, "I know that she is not well," she turned towards me, "I don't have to slap you once more, right? Seriously, are you crying because you killed that piece of crap? Grow up! It's an apocalyptic world, not a fairy tale one. Do you think anybody will condemn you for your actions?"
"B-but aren't y-you… disgusted?"
"Oh, yeah? For what? You killed that bastard and incapacitated his family. You saved all of us… everyone is grateful to you. If not for you, we would have spent the rest of our lives as his playthings. Do you want that?" I shook my head in denial, "I am glad that you did that. Nobody is disgusted with you. Murderer? No, you are not. Saviour? Yes, you are. Without you, none of us would have any desire to live in this monster-filled world."
Shimran's words pulled me out of my guilt. She was right… I killed him but… in the end, I have saved innocent lives.
Shuren took out a handkerchief and gave it to me. Nodding in thanks, I cleaned the tearstains on my face. She said, "She is right. Each one of us is grateful to you. Without you, we won't have survived. If you still believe that you are a murderer, then we are as well."
"We left them to die. Tom, his children, and his wife… we left them to die because they would have threatened our lives," said Lia.
Why am I sad? The person, who died from my hands was not a good person. The same goes for his family. If someone like that family would be unleashed upon the world, then I don't know what would happen. I shuddered in fear just by thinking it. So, no… I am not a murderer and I don't plan to be. What I did, was to save me and my… friends. That's all I did. Henrich had no chance to be redeemed. I am not going to a cold-blooded murderer but if I encounter people like Henrich, then yes. I will kill. Abandoning humanity is not what I am doing. What I am doing is, kill people like him at the expense of my humanity to preserve the lives of the people, who have still a shred of decency left in them. Does that make me less human? No, because I am killing monsters in the skin of humans.
I nodded, "You are right." I raised my head and took in each of their expressions. Worry, for me, was all I could see in their eyes. My heart warmed at their reactions. My fear was useless.
"Hey! Why are you looking us like that?" glared Shimran.
I laughed, "Nothing… it's good to have friends, I guess. Are we friends?"
"Of course, we are!" exclaimed Shuren. Everyone nodded, expect Shimran. "I don't want to be friends with a cry-baby," grumbled Shimran.
Shuren hit the back of Shimran's head, making her cry out in pain. "Stop being such a brat! Are you a tsundere?" mocked Shuren.
"No! I am not." But everyone ignored Shimran's protest and began laughing. With a chuckle, I shook my head. Well, this is not bad and I am sure of it.