-Careful, watch where you put your leg, don’t immediately put all your weight on the spot and instead test it out a bit to see if it can hold your weight…
-L-Like this ?
-Yeah, exactly ! Now do it step by step like before, get a grip on one spot before going to the next, never immediately put your weight on anything if you don’t know whether or not it can support you.
I said, the smell of rotting flesh all around us as the corpses of the zombies littered this sole tree, it had been already 20 minutes since I had killed all the zombies here, the last few zombies while superior in intellect still stood no chance against me as I poked them to death one by one with the wooden spear taking advantage of their slowness.
Honestly I had a lot to think about after this battle, mainly the zombies and how they weren’t all the same as each other, while finally helping the woman to climb down I started to think about how it was possible for there be so much variety between the zombies and whether or not they were zombies at all.
I even used my identification ability, which I only did after the fight that I realized I could have done that way earlier, but because of my nervousness and general alert mind set it completely escaped my mind.
Unfortunately the result of using my ability was surprisingly mundane as it didn’t help me at all with figuring this out.
[Zombie]
The only thing it told me was something I already knew, but either way I at least confirmed that they were indeed zombies.
Now coupling everything I knew so far, I started to theorize that depending on the quality of the host that would become a zombie, the zombie virus would take on certain stronger aspects of the host when the transformation was complete, as of now I had only seen speed and intellect, if my theory is right then there should exist other zombies with superior, strength, perception and dexterity and more.
And maybe there are even zombies with two or more powerful attributes !
Just imagining a zombie with both speed and intellect made me slightly shudder, the fact that the zombies with intellect could use weapons was already bad, but having them be able to keep up with their thinking process was even more terrifying.
-(Sigh)
I sighed, feeling as if the was future was extremely bleak, with this new found knowledge I started to consider whether or not humanity hadn’t already lost, to top it off the zombies weren’t our only issue, even though I hadn’t seen them yet monsters still existed and what kind of monsters they were I could only imagine.
-W-What are you sighing about ? I-Is there some kind of problem ?
-What ?
Getting a bit startled I turned my attention back to the woman as I hadn’t noticed that she had already come down the tree while I was lost in thought, looking at her I could see that she was extremely exhausted and barely standing on her two shaking legs, she must be freezing too with her lack of clothes coupled with her pale lips which had long since lost their luster.
I didn’t say anything at first, but quickly took off my winter jacket covering her with it to keep her warm.
After taking off my jacket I felt a bit cold, it didn’t help that it was still snowing as well, but it was still very manageable for now.
I also gave her my water bottle plus a energy bar I had on hand.
The entire time the woman looked at me as if I was some strange animal making me feel slightly uncomfortable, but when she got all of this, the woman or rather miss Valery was hesitant at first not knowing what to say her expression changing by the second as if she couldn’t accept this, but the more she looked at what she had on hand the quicker her hunger and thirst took over as she ravenously devoured every ounce of water and swallowed the whole energy bar.
The way she ate didn’t surprise me at all since I didn’t know how long she was up on that tree, it could have a few hours or it could have been a few days.
Coupled with the snow, if I hadn’t shown up when I did, even if the zombies didn’t get her first the weather likely would have taken her out by then.
After finishing her drink and snack, miss Valery turned back to me slightly embarrassed by her lack of manners which shouldn’t really bothered her considering the situation.
Some color and light had clearly returned back to her after getting quick nutrients into her body, but the cold was persistent evident with her stuttering voice.
-Y..You’re name was T-Tommy ? Right ?
-Yeah, and you’re Miss Valery.
-Y-Yes, once again, T-Tommy..Thank you…Thank you for saving me..if you didn’t come..I-I don’t know what would have happened.
-Its okay, it was only natural, I’m sure if you were in my shoes you would have done the same..
I said with a smile not expecting to look gallant or anything with my appearance, but at least reassuring to make her feel calm and safe, at my reply though miss Valery could only muster a self depreciating without saying anything.
I personally didn’t think much of it and simply turned around towards the dead zombies, there was still something I wanted to do.
-W-What are you doing ?
Noticing my actions, with a shiver, miss Valery quickly followed after as she saw me kneeling down next to a zombie I recently killed, watching as I went through the pockets and any crevice that may have something available for me to take.
-Looting obviously.
-I-Isn’t that dangerous though ? There is blood everywhere ! Who knows what you catch if you get in contact with it !
I could hear the fear in her voice as she said that, but I wasn’t disturbed.
-Don’t worry, I am fairly confident in regards to my immunity, furthermore if that was true I think its too late for me since I already did touch them earlier, though I don’t think I am going to turn just by touching these zombies since if they were really that contagious simply being near them would likely spell doom for us, while I don’t know how the virus specifically works, what I do know is that as long as we don’t ingest it or get it into our bloodstream through cuts and bites, it should be safe.
Hearing me say this, miss Valery momentarily went quiet before answering again as she seemed to have remembered something.
-Actually, you may be right, before I came here a few people I knew made some research on these zombies and they also said something similar, they said that it works on corpses meaning you don’t necessarily have to be alive for you to turn.
-Wait really ? That’s interesting..
I pondered for a second, feeling as if there was a very important point within this sentence of hers, but no matter how much I thought, I couldn’t figure it out which is why I gave up and simply focused on looting again.
Miss Valery didn’t stop me this time and even offered to help, but I declined seeing that she was beyond exhausted and barely standing, instead I told her to sit down and rest for a bit until I was finished, miss Valery looked unwilling at first, but ended up yielding after she suddenly sneezed forcing her to sit down while being covered by my jacket.
It would take a bit of time to return back to my shack anyways, even though I had come here quick it was only through non-stop running and going over obstacles that I was able to come here so fast, how long it would take to get back to the shack was something I didn’t know especially since miss Valery was in no condition to quicken her pace.
Having her rest now while I was looting was ideal and even though I did want to talk to her to get information, bothering her right now when she was weak seemed unwise considering the situation.
Going back to looting, it was better then nothing.
Out of over 50 people here only 5 had backpacks, and by gathering together everything I could get this was what I found.
14 lighters, some books with writing utensils, 7 knives ranging from ordinary cooking knives to combat knives, a hatchet, a compass, a few medical supplies, 3 flashlights, a few watches and a small amount of water and food.
There were many more items that I got as well, but the things I listed where the most crucial which is why I didn’t mention the other things like phones or wallets.
Obviously the best things I found were the knives, since I used my survival knife for combat already it was covered in zombie blood which is why I wasn’t going to use it for cooking in the future, getting new sets of knives which weren’t tainted with anything was truly god send.
And in regards to everything else, they were pretty good to have but not something I absolutely needed right now, though I won’t complain.
Looking at everything and looking at the people who carried these things I was quickly able to discern that most of the people that were here were one of the first victims of the cataclysm and therefore people who couldn’t react quickly enough or were simply unlucky, since half of them were wearing work clothing or formal wear it was easy to guess where they might have been when the cataclysm struck.
Either way I made a light prayer for all of these people wishing them luck in the afterlife before turning back around towards miss Valery with the backpacks on hand.
-Miss Valery ! I’m done, lets go !
-Ugh ?..What ?
Hearing me shout, miss Valery seemed to wake up from a brief slumber as she stood up in a slightly disarrayed state, seeing me in front of her eyes she briefly became calm as she looked relieved by my presence, soon after her eyes focused on what I was holding and wearing on my back which were the backpacks.
Seeing her poor state I momentarily shuffled through a pocket within one of the backpacks before pulling out a water bottle and some dried meat I had found sealed in a plastic bag.
Having found more food I wanted her to eat some more, but before I could even give her the stuff, miss Valery pushed away my hand with the goods while giving me a sad smile.
-I am thankful of you’re consideration Tommy, but I don’t wanna be someone who constantly relies on someone else to live…I may look like this but I still have some pride in me…
Her words were a bit surprising and honestly quite respectable, but at the same time I also insisted as I believed that this was no time for pride to get in the way.
-But you need to eat ! Look at yourself even though you haven’t turned into a skeleton yet you aren’t very far off either !
-Ugh…
Having suddenly pointed out her weak state, miss Valery seemed to at loss of words, I wasn’t sure what was going on inside her head but from her eyes I could see that she was in some form of conflict, we didn’t know each other that well, we had only just met each other which is why it was difficult to talk without feeling awkward, it didn’t help that I wasn’t quite the prettiest of faces around either which is why maybe she was a bit apprehensive around me in the back of her head.
I knew I would be.
-Okay..how about this Tommy, let me carry 2 of your backpacks until we get to your shack, in return I take the food and water, is that okay with you ?
-Well..if you insist, but if it starts getting difficult don’t push yourself and give me the bags alright ?
-Alright ?
Coming to a sort of strange agreement both me and miss Valery shook hands, doing so I also gave her 2 of the backpacks I had making sure I gave her lighter of the two while keeping the heavier ones.
Miss Valery seemed to notice that immediately but didn’t voice it and took the bags gracefully, our voices coming to a completely silence we made our way back to my shack, on the way we didn’t really know what to talk about and since I never made a conversation with another human other then miss Valery before it was especially hard.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to start conversation as miss Valery seemed to be good at it herself.
-So, where did you come from ?
-…
But unfortunately for me, it seemed as if truth teller would make my conversations even harder from now on.
A Place Of Legends 