The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

Miriam stared at the Zombie Queen for a few minutes before turning to Klaus.

Of course, Klaus just smiled at her, making no attempt to make her change her mind or go ahead and answer the question. In the end, Miriam chose to answer.

“I used to have siblings, but not anymore.” She sighed, and they chose to speak more about her past, considering she had made it a point to overcome her trauma.

She had told her sisters, and even Klaus’s mom knew of her tragic past. Thankfully, talking about it was enough to help her free herself from some of the guilt.

So, telling a stranger who seemed to be more nosy about other people’s personal lives wouldn’t hurt.

“My sister died on the first day of the apocalypse, and since then, I have been on my own. The family I came from is a strange one. So I guess I stopped seeing them as a family several years ago.

But I am happy now because I have a new family, one filled with amazing people. I have a loving husband, a lot of sisters, and friends, so I guess I didn’t lose much. Though I still miss my big sister.”

Miriam said with a smile. Klaus held her hand, knowing that talking about her big sister was a sore topic for her. However, he also knew she had to talk about it, and the Zombie Queen made sure of that…

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to…” If not for the mask on her face, Miriam would have seen the guilty smile on the Zombie Queen’s face.

“How did your sister die?”

Miriam smiled slightly before a sigh escaped her lips, “It was a few moments into the apocalypse. We were trying to make our way to our car when, out of nowhere, a car sped toward us.

My sister managed to push me forward, but she couldn’t move fast enough, so she was struck down. I couldn’t do anything to save her.” At first, she would have cried, but now, a smile was on her face, showing how much she had grown.

Her sister is gone, and instead of focusing on the negative, she chooses to focus on the positive. They shared many good memories together, so she was focusing on those.

“She was the most caring person, even doing her best to ensure I survived, disregarding her own life.”

It’s not too much to ask, but discussing the tragic past can sometimes be difficult. Today was one of those times, but because Miriam had done it so many times, she managed to keep her composure this time around.

The Zombie Queen looked at Miriam for a full minute before a sigh escaped her lips. At that moment, Klaus sensed something wasn’t right.

The air around the Zombie Queen changed, and since his connection to reality was rather strong, he sensed it. However, the Zombie Queen made no nefarious moves. Instead, she spoke, a tone that pulled at Miriam’s heartstrings.

“The brain is one funny organ… sometimes, in an attempt to come to terms with a tragedy, we tend to create a vivid imagination of what we wanted, and the brain will take it as if it were real.

What if I were to tell you that day, your sister didn’t die… what if I were to tell you that day, your sister kept her promise and took you home?

It was a Tuesday… the day everything changed. I remember I was getting ready to go on a blind date…” The Zombie Queen laughed, “That bitch, she set up a blind date between me and her hoping to prank me.

So I guess it was a good thing you blackmailed me that day, Miriam. I remember you saying something along the lines of, ‘If you don’t take me to the Sunlight Dojo to join the sword competition, I will tell Father you started to date a commoner.’

I was a little scared back then, but thinking about it now, it was just the young me overreacting. But your blackmail worked, and I took you to the dojo where you lost abysmally. Your loss was the big take of that day.

You couldn’t even win a single match. Afterwards, you were so frustrated that I had to take you to an ice cream shop, where you ate to your heart’s content.

But perhaps if we had gone home right after the competition, things would have been different. But then again, who knew what would have happened to me if I had turned into a zombie surrounded by thousands of guards instead of a few at the gate?

So I guess you saved me then and forever.

It was supposed to be me saving you that day, but you saved me. That day, when we got back, right when we entered the compound, I felt the hunger, the one that made me want to eat you.

However, I couldn’t. I just couldn’t, so I attacked one guard and then the next, and before I knew it, there was blood everywhere. I tried to hold on to my sanity, but I just couldn’t.

“I am sorry, Miriam… I truly tried, but I just couldn’t, so I had to turn to you, where there was no one around. I didn’t save you that day, Miriam. You saved me.

After killing the guards at the gate. I came at you, and because of how scared you were, you couldn’t fight back.

So I bit you, and that was when everything changed for me. That bite changed me, for your blood gave me my sanity back, and it triggered the mutation that gave all the vampire zombies in this city their power.

Without you, we wouldn’t be where we are now… we would have been part of the savage zombies you killed yesterday.”

By the time the Queen ended her words, tears were flowing from Miriam’s eyes uncontrollably.

It was like a lock in her mind had been unlocked, pulling all the buried memories of that fateful event that had left her grieving all these years.

The way she had seen her sister’s death was quite different from what actually happened. But who could blame her?

She was 14 years old back then, so instead of remembering how her sister turned into a zombie and killed humans, even going as far as sinking her teeth into her arm, she had instead fabricated memories and made them her truth.

But now that her sister, whom she had long thought had died, had just revealed the truth, forcing her mind to open, pulling out all those memories.

“I really am sorry, Miriam…” Tears fell from the Zombie Queen’s face as she looked at her sister sobbing in Klaus’s arms.