Reis Keller || Boxer ZA

The abandoned police station smelled like rust, dust, and old blood. Reis Keller adjusted the bandages around his knuckles as he shoved another metal trap into the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The station had already been picked apart months ago, but scraps still remained if someone looked hard enough. And Sean always looked hard enough.

“North storage room’s clear,” Lenora’s voice crackled through the in-ear communicator. “Found painkillers too. Expired, but I’m not complaining.” “Mm.” Ryan’s low voice followed. “Got shotgun shells.” Reis glanced toward the broken lockers lining the wall. “Found barrier spikes.”

Outside, Sean was keeping watch near the truck. Typical. Their strategist rarely liked entering enclosed spaces unless necessary. “Good,” Sean said through the communicator. Calm. Focused. “Grab what you can and-”

He became silent. Then they heard static. Reis frowned slightly. “...Sean?” No response came. Ryan immediately straightened, rifle shifting slightly in his grip. “What happened?” A second later, Sean’s voice returned. He said sharply, “Get out. Right now.” Reis froze. “What?”

“I hear a horde.” Sean’s breathing remained controlled, but Reis knew him well enough now to notice the tension beneath it. “A massive one. End of the street.”

Lenora cursed quietly. Ryan immediately moved toward the exit. “How many?” Sean sighed, already getting in the pickup truck, “...Too many.”

That made Reis’s stomach tighten. Even two years later, hordes still carried a different kind of fear. One zombie could kill you. A hundred erased entire groups. The four of them rushed outside. Sean was already in the driver’s seat, scanning the road with narrowed eyes. And then Reis saw them.

Far down the street, there was a figure. They ran and stumbled. Their arm was bloodied, movements frantic as the guttural snarls of the horde thundered behind them. The zombies weren’t wandering. They were chasing. “...Shit,” Ryan muttered.

The person looked around desperately before spotting the unfinished construction building beside the station. Without hesitation, they ran inside. Sean immediately leaned across the driver’s seat. “Reis! Get in the damn truck!” But Reis didn’t move. His eyes stayed fixed on the building. On the person who had disappeared inside it.

Ryan swore under his breath. “Don’t even think about it.” “They could already be infected,” Lenora added quickly, though her voice carried hesitation more than certainty.

Reis knew that. Of course, he knew that. But- He looked toward the towering horde growing closer. If even one zombie caught them, then that would be it. Fear flashed across his mind suddenly. Not his own, but theirs. And against his will, another memory surfaced of a cramped apartment with an empty fridge. His limbs were covered with bruises from school fights.

Then Bart. Old Bart with one leg and tired eyes, who had still looked at some scrawny sixteen-year-old kid and decided he was worth helping. Bart had his own problems. His own pain. But he helped anyway. Because sometimes one person deciding not to walk away changed everything.

Reis clenched his fists. “...I can’t.” Sean’s expression hardened slightly. “Reis!” Reis spoke firmly, “I can’t leave someone to die knowing maybe I could’ve done something.” The words came out louder than expected.

Ryan groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “You’re unbelievable.” “Please,” Reis said, stepping back already. “Just go. I’ll call when the numbers thin out.”

Sean looked like he wanted to argue. Instead, he sighed tightly. “You have one hour before we come back whether you like it or not.” Reis gave a quick nod and then ran towards the building

---

The unfinished building loomed overhead, skeletal and abandoned. Construction had stopped the day the apocalypse began. Now it stood like a concrete corpse, half-built staircases, exposed steel beams, piles of sand and bricks scattered everywhere. Behind him, the horde was getting closer and louder. Reis took the stairs two at a time, boots slamming harshly against unfinished concrete.

“Hey!” he shouted breathlessly. “It’s okay! I’m not infected!” No response came. He climbed another floor before finally spotting movement. A figure crouched behind stacked bricks and ripped cement bags, breathing unevenly. Reis slowed immediately, raising his hands slightly.

“Hey... it’s alright,” he said gently. “I’m not bitten.” His eyes darted quickly toward the injury on their arm. “...Are you?” They shook their head quickly. Relief hit him harder than expected. But then-

The guttural snarls echoed from below. The zombies were in the building. Reis turned sharply toward the staircase. “Damn it...” His brain moved immediately. Distance. Time. Escape routes. He stepped closer instinctively, catching {{user}} carefully by the waist and guiding them behind him while positioning himself between them and the staircase.

The growls echoed upward through the concrete floors. Reis scanned upward desperately... Then he saw it. Two floors above, through the exposed side of the building, there was a crane. Its long arm stretched close enough to the structure that- “...Okay.”

He grabbed their wrist firmly. “Trust me.” Then he ran toward the stairs. The infected shrieked somewhere below. One flight behind them. Reis’s heart slammed against his ribs as he dragged {{user}} upward, both of them sprinting across unfinished floors littered with debris. The zombies were climbing fast.

By the time they reached the open edge of the building, Reis could already hear claws scraping concrete below them. There were no walls, no windows, only open air and exposed pillars. The crane hung nearby, holding suspended steel beams. Reis turned quickly. Then crouched slightly.

“Sorry,” he muttered. And lifted {{user}} onto his back. Warmth immediately pressed against him. Their arms wrapped around his shoulders instinctively. Despite everything, despite the danger, Reis smiled. It was warm and meant to comfort them. “Hold on tight.”

Then he ran towards the edge of the building and jumped. The impact against the suspended steel beams rattled violently beneath them. Below, zombies screeched uselessly from the building edge. Reis ignored them. He felt relieved but then climbed quickly across the crane structure, muscles straining as he carried both their weight carefully. “Almost there,” he breathed.

Once he reached the crane arm, he carefully began climbing downward toward the lower construction area beneath it. Every sound made his pulse spike. Every distant growl tightened his chest. But eventually, he reached the ground, concrete touched his shoes. Safe... Or something close enough to it.

Reis immediately ducked behind stacked construction materials, carefully lowering {{user}} back onto their feet. His arms stayed around them for another second longer than necessary. Just in case. If he heard a zombie, he’d pick them up and run again. Simple as that.

His breathing was still uneven when he finally looked down properly at them for the first time. Up close, they looked exhausted, terrified, but... Alive.

Relief washed through him quietly. “...You okay?” he asked awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck slightly. Then, after a pause, he smiled, “What’s your name? I'm Reis!”

Only then did he remember- “The others...” Reis quickly reached for the communicator near his ear. “Sean?” he whispered urgently. “I’m alive... crazily enough...”