Thrown to Zombies as a Lucky Charm

The apocalypse had dawned, and I was the team's sole lucky charm.

As long as I stood there in my pretty dress, no infected creature dared approach within ten miles. Tyler and the others treated me like fragile porcelain, terrified I might stumble or bruise myself.

That was until they rescued Commander Valerie Stone, a woman brimming with fierce conviction. From the moment she arrived, she couldnt stomach the sight of me eating the best canned food and sleeping on the softest bed. Her mouth was full of talk about "equality for all" and "no freeloaders."

When a zombie horde swept in, everyone was busy building defenses. I was sipping my caramel latte, trying to calm my nerves. Valerie stormed over, slapped the cup from my hand, and, grabbing my hair, shoved me towards the advancing tide.

"Everyone else is fighting tooth and nail, why do you get special treatment? If you're an ability user, then get to the front lines and kill!"

I stumbled into the muddy water, tears streaming down my face. "Please, I'm scared of getting hurt, and my ability... it doesn't work that way."

She kicked me out of the safety zone. "Excuses! You're just a cowardly, spoiled brat, a useless burden!"

Before I could react, a hard combat boot slammed into my lower back, sending me sprawling.

"Ah!" I landed in a puddle of mud just outside the fortress perimeter. My lace dress was soaked through, my knees scraping against sharp stones. I cradled the half empty caramel latte still in my hand, but then a heavy military boot came down.

Smash! The cup shattered, splashing latte all over my face.

"Drinking? You're a joke!" Valerie Stone, clad in a combat vest, grabbed my hair, forcing my head back. "See that? That's reality! Not your childish games!"

My gaze was wrenched towards the undulating mass of infected, less than five hundred yards from our defensive line.

Tyler had told me I was a fragment of divine grace, humanity's last pure spot, and my ability was the Sanctuary. As long as I stayed happy and undefiled, I could project a field of absolute safety. But now I was covered in mud, my dress shredded.

The infected, sensing the shift, turned their hollow, grey eyes towards me in unison.

"Hnnnngh" A chorus of guttural growls filled the air.

I started trembling uncontrollably. "Please, I can't... my ability isn't for combat."

"Tyler? Don't you dare try to use the Captain's name against me!" Valerie yanked me to my feet and shoved me again, towards the horde. "Still lying? What do you mean 'can't get dirty'? You're just pampered and terrified! Today, I'm going to make you see some blood! Go! Kill one of them for me!"

I stumbled through the barbed wire gate, my foot slipped, and I fell, landing less than fifty yards from the nearest infected. It was a business-suited zombie, missing half its head, tilting to the side, making a rattling sound in its throat. It shuffled towards me, step by agonizing step. I squeezed my eyes shut, wrapping my arms around my head.

One second, two seconds... The pain I anticipated never came. Instead, an eerie silence settled around me. I tentatively opened my eyes. The suited infected had stopped ten yards away, rigid, paralyzed with fear.

Even though my dress was dirty, the lingering essence of my Sanctuary still held them back. They dared not touch me.

"Ha! Hahahaha! Did everyone see that? These infected are nothing but idiots!" Valerie strode over, grabbed the back of my collar, and dragged me back. "I knew you were faking it! These zombies are pathetically weak, and you were scared senseless?"

I struggled, my fingernails digging into the mud. "No! It's because I'm here! That's why they didn't move! Let me go, I need to wash and change, or the aura will vanish!"

"Wash?" Valerie abruptly released me, sending me sprawling onto the base's concrete plaza.

Survivors gathered, bowls in hand. With Tyler around, no one had dared speak, but now, the suppressed jealousy surged forth.

"Listen, everyone!" Valerie stood on a stone, pointing at my mud streaked form. "This is your so called 'lucky charm'! I just threw her at the infected, and they completely ignored her! It proves that the zombies out there aren't so terrifying! We've all been deceived by her!"

"She's been exploiting your fear, spinning lies to get fed and housed! This kind of parasite deserves to be exterminated by all!"

Whispers erupted from the crowd. "She's right, I saw it too. The infected really didn't move."

"Could we have really been fooled all this time? There's no such thing as an aura?"

"Damn it, last time I almost got my leg bitten off trying to find her a bottle of shampoo!"

"No..." I shook my head, trying to explain, but my throat was too dry to make a sound.

"Still making excuses?" Valerie sneered, drawing a combat knife as she advanced. "Since you're so fond of looking pretty, so obsessed with cleanliness, then I'll help you cure that nasty habit!"

"What are you doing..." I shrank back, but Valerie snatched at the hem of my dress.

Rip!

The lace skirt was sliced open by Valerie's knife. "No! Tyler gave me this!" I shrieked, lunging to grab it back. This wasn't just a dress; it was the conduit for my ability, my sole source of security.

Smack! Valerie backhanded me across the face, making my ears ring.

"Tyler, Tyler! Are you utterly helpless without a man to cling to?" Valerie looked at me with disgust. "This is the apocalypse! Only warriors survive! Not women like you!"

Her hand moved swiftly, rip, rip, rip, and in a few swift slashes, the once full and elegant dress was reduced to a pile of shredded fabric. The cold wind bit into my skin; I was left in nothing but a thin camisole. The shame was a sharper sting than the cold.

Catcalls and crude laughter erupted, men's gazes raking over my exposed skin.

"What are you looking at!" Valerie snapped, glaring back at them, then kicked a dark, lumpy object towards me.

It was a set of oil-stained, blood-splattered camouflage fatigues. A patch of rotting flesh clung to the collar, reeking of decay.

"Put it on," she commanded. "It belonged to Old Man Beckett, who died yesterday."

I stared at the clothes, my stomach clenching. I had an inherent fastidiousness, a core component of my power. Donning those clothes, tainted with death, would irrevocably corrupt the Sanctuary.

"I won't wear it... please, find me something clean..." I begged, tears streaming down my face.

"Clean? Where do you think you are?" Valerie grabbed me, roughly forcing the filthy clothes over my head. "You're asking for trouble, aren't you? If you don't want to wear them, then you can just go naked!"

Her rough fingers dug into my skin, leaving raw red marks as the death tainted uniform was brutally forced onto me. In that instant, I distinctly felt the power within me extinguish, and the world grew cold and bleak.

Boom The sky turned an ominous, bruised red. The warning lights on the perimeter fence buzzed faintly. I glanced in that direction, my heart seizing. It was the warning of an ability collapse; the horde was about to retaliate.

"Do you hear that?" I grabbed at Valerie's combat trousers. "Something's wrong out there! Get everyone to the bunkers!"

Valerie merely kicked me aside, glanced at the sky, and snorted. "Don't spread your fear mongering. That's just thunder! What, are you scared of a storm now?"

She turned to the crowd. "See that? This is your so called 'lucky charm'!"

"The slightest disturbance, and she's pissing herself in terror! From today on, you're Survivor 9527! Since you eat our rations, you'll do our work!" Valerie pointed towards the medical tent. "That's the quarantine zone. Hundreds of bloodied uniforms from the front lines are piled in there. You'll wash them. No food until you're done!"

A cheer erupted from the crowd, but only Old Man Silas, his apron stained with grease, pushed his way forward. "Commander Stone, you mustn't..." Old Man Silas fell to his knees, kowtowing. "The girl's skin is too delicate. Those clothes in quarantine are crawling with pathogens! One scratch, and she could turn! If you need help, I'll go wash them!"

Valerie walked up to Old Man Silas, looking down at him. "Old fool, who asked you to speak?"

"Since you're so keen on playing the good samaritan, so concerned for her..."

Crack! Valerie raised her foot and stomped, directly crushing Old Man Silas's shin bone.

"Ah!" Old Man Silas screamed, clutching his leg, rolling on the ground as cold sweat drenched his clothes.

"Old Man Silas!" I rushed forward to help him, but Valerie seized my hair, pulling me up.

"That's the consequence of defying me. Does anyone else want to plead for her?"

The entire plaza fell silent. No one dared move. Valerie leaned close to my face, whispering, "See? You caused this. You caused him to break his leg. This is the original sin of the weak."

It was psychological warfare.

"I hate you..." I bit out, glaring at her. "You'll regret this... you'll pay for it!"

Smack! Another slap, making my ears ring even louder.

"Get him out of here," Valerie ordered, pointing at the groaning Old Man Silas. "This base doesn't shelter freeloaders."

"No!" I clung to Old Man Silas, desperate. "He's our cook! He can still make meals! You can't do this!"

"Cook? Anyone with hands can cook!"

Valerie waved her hand, and two burly men, their faces expressionless, hoisted Old Man Silas and dragged him towards the main gate.

"My girl... survive... you must survive..." Old Man Silas looked back at me, tears streaming down his face.

In that moment, a vital thread inside me snapped. I felt no pain, no fear. Only a cold, searing hatred spread through my body.

If they didn't need a Sanctuary, then let this entire goddamn world descend into hell.

One kilometer outside the base, a colossal, black scaled monstrosity burst from the earth. It sniffed the air, detecting the fading sacred aura, and a raw, hateful stench of blood filled the air. The quarantine zone's washroom reeked of disinfectant and blood. In the tin basin before me, dozens of bloodied clothes soaked. The water had turned blackish red, greasy scum floating on its surface.

My hands were numb, high concentration disinfectant combined with zombie pathogens had left them covered in red rashes and blisters. But I scrubbed mechanically, my mind replaying only Old Man Silas's desperate gaze before he was dragged out of the base.

"9527! Hurry up!" The guard at the door hammered on the metal door with his rifle butt. This same guard had once brought me wildflowers, but now, his eyes held only disgust.

Valerie had told everyone that if I didn't finish washing the clothes, everyone's dinner would be halved. She knew how to exploit human nature, turning me into the common enemy.

"Just two more..." I mumbled, lowering my head to continue scrubbing, when suddenly the ground violently shook. The box of washing powder on the shelf toppled and shattered.

"An earthquake?" The guard looked out, puzzled.

Boom Another deafening roar, and I could hear the walls cracking. Immediately, the piercing wail of a Level One Combat Alert ripped through the air. I stumbled, fell, and landed back in the filthy water.

I knew it had come. The Zombie King, suppressed by the Sanctuary for three long years.

I pushed myself up against the wall, reaching the window. Through the grimy glass, I saw a massive breach in the base's perimeter wall. Tens of thousands of infected were clambering over the corpses of their own, pouring through the gap. At the very forefront was a three meter tall Brute. With every strike, it took a life. Screams, gunfire, and desperate cries exploded into chaos.

The very people who had mocked me moments ago were now scrambling in terror.

"Help! The infected are inside!"

"How can this be? How did they get so strong, so fast? We can't hold them! Run!"

I couldn't help but laugh at the scene, tears streaming down my face. This was what they wanted.

Bang! The washroom door was kicked open. Valerie burst in, her left arm bleeding, her eyes wild. She lunged at me, grabbing my throat and lifting me off my feet.

"You did this, didn't you?!"

"You led them here! How could the infected suddenly become so strong? You must have tampered with something!"

Choking, my face turning crimson, my legs flailing, I managed to gasp out, "I... told you... I was... a good omen..."

"To hell with your good omens!" Valerie threw me to the ground and dragged me towards the exit. "Since you brought them here, you'll be responsible for leading them away!"

"What are you doing?!"

I desperately clawed at the ground, my fingernails tearing.

"What am I doing?" Valerie looked back, a twisted smile on her face. "I'm going to hang you on the flagpole. The infected love eating flesh, don't they? If they're busy devouring you, we'll have time to retreat! This is the most valuable thing you'll ever do C a sacrifice for the collective!"