By the next night, Raven’s swollen face had all healed up. His regeneration gobsmacked me.

  The last time Lily hit someone with all her might was out cold for three and a half days!

  I wonder, if he had his arm cut off, would it regenerate eventually?

  But there was something more amazing than him – the number of undead.

  We barely evaded a horde and there was another one in our way! It was slowly coming towards our position.

  We didn’t have time to search for a well-hidden place to take shelter and rest and as it was already getting dark.

  Using trees for the night was too dangerous. If we were found, we were dead.

  Were we to move during the dark night, where we either had to have no lights and risk bumping into the undead by mistake, or use flashlights, but that would give away our position and the Ruler of the horde would go after us.

  The only option left for us was to take shelter in a structure nearby. I didn’t like it. It was on the path of the horde. The building had the space of a big room. The biggest shock was that it was recently built, even if crudely.

  Both the exterior and interior were made of wood of different quality and some of it was already rotting. There were no furniture or windows, only something resembling a door. The floor, ceiling and walls were uneven and parts of the construction had holes.

  I had no idea what sick person would waste time and effort to make it in the middle of hell, but I’d give my thanks to them later.

  We decided to wait out the horde in such a place because Raven told us it was the safest way. Only if none of us snored while sleeping, he added in the end.

  I knew for a fact that Lily didn’t. She occasionally made some quiet, cute sounds when sleeping, but that was it. A beauty like me also shouldn’t. As for the boys…

  Wait, what did snoring have to do with the plan’s success? I asked him about it.

  He said he’d tell us if we followed his plan.

  Everything he did by now was correct in one way or another. He had already proven his worth to me many times. I decided to trust him yet again. If he suggested going to hell, I was certain I’d follow him. This was how much trust I had in him.

  “You really want to wait out the horde? I thought you would be against it,” he said when we all agreed.

  Even my compatriots knew his ideas were always helpful in critical times. Even those who initially found fault with his plans silently agreed.

  When we went inside, he gave the details of his plan.

  “To survive until the horde passes, there are a few things we need to do. The easiest solution is to just go to sleep, with no one staying watch for the night. But you need to be asleep the whole time.”

  We were all gobsmacked. We might die in a bit and he just had to joke with us? Now of all times? Guess what? No one's laughing!

  I had the urge to hug his neck with both my arms very strongly, a.k.a. choke him, but I had to keep my cool. Let’s hear the reasoning.

  “Explain,” I asked for further elaboration.

  “As you know, low-tier zombies’ senses are not that good and often their instincts are the decisive factor in their actions. According to researchers, they can know us by our animosity and fear. We should be fine if we lock or block the door, make no noise and don’t fear. We just had the biggest “luck” ever to find this recently built thing. Any questions?”

  “What if a “smart” undead comes? What if the Ruler search this hut in the middle of nowhere?” Leo asked.

  “Then we will die. Next?”

  He said such a scary thing so flatly.

  “Is that why you asked if any of us snored while sleeping? To see if we could pull it off?” Lily asked.

  “Snoring could lead to our deaths, but being awake while hearing hundreds of zombies walking around you can be quite scary. If anyone here snores, they better say so in advance while we have the time to think up a way to reduce the noise they will make.”

  Leo and, surprisingly, Lily raised their hands.

  I was sleeping in the same room as her for years! How come I had never heard her snoring?

  “Try sleeping on your side while you use your backpack as a pillow. Just in case, undress the upper clothes you are currently wearing and put them on your head. I have no more ideas. If anyone else has, feel free to say so.”

  No one said anything.

  “In that case, you better fall asleep fast. When they get close, you will have a hard time falling asleep. Just in case, stay away from the door. And do a prayer if you are a believer. We will need some luck to pull this off.”

  With lightning speed, we all readied a spot to sleep on.

  The only one being calm was, as usual, Raven. He started a meaningless chatter with Lily.

  “So, Lily dear, you snore?”

  Did he really have to provoke her now of all times?

  “Yes. It’s very light. That was why no one knew of the people present.”

  “Then you are not a problem. Next, Leo.”

  “Yes?”

  I thought he was being mean, but he was helping us!

  “If we get discovered because of you, you will be used as a decoy. Got it?”

  “Yes!”

  “I could not hear you!”

  “YES, SIR!”

  “Much better. Also, be quiet.”

  Leo was gobsmacked.

  Never mind, he was mean.

  “Also”, he continued with something serious, “remember when waking up to do so as quietly as you can. For all we know, they could be millions!”

  Yes, we needed more stress. Thank you very much.

  “How about we block the door?” Leo asked.

  “It might help. Do so.”

  “By myself?”

  “Take someone to help if you need, but be fast. They will be here any minute now.”

  I laid in my sleeping bag and did a prayer while some tried blocking the door and others tried to fall asleep, but because of my prayer, I couldn’t fall asleep on time.

  The horde was already around us. I could hear the sounds they were making. Their growls, some resembling a screaming banshee, their sluggish movement and the rattle of hundreds of feet, the sickening stench of rot and blood…

  My fear of being discovered, of a Ruler noticing us, of something breaking in…

  My fear of dying, of having my friends die because of my poor leadership, of my unfulfilled wish in which I put all my years into, yet to bear fruit…

  All that combined… I had never before felt so helpless. Was this how Mother felt when she had that thing before her, killing all without remorse or mercy?

  He was right that we’d panic were we to be awake. My heartbeat was rapid I, had sweat on my forehead and felt hot. Even breathing was becoming harder…

  Everything will be fine, calm down… This is NOT the end of my story, it is just the beginning! Everything I had done by now was nothing compared to what I would achieve after succeeding with this mission. How can this be the end? There are many things I want to experience before dying: loving and being loved; having a child; getting the authority to change my country… taking revenge…

  I felt a light touch on my back! My skin crawled!

  Were we… found out?

  I turned my head by reflex, fearing the worst had happened. I was about to scream for my teammates to wake up and prepare for a fight.

  I will fight to the bitter end, regardless of the outcome.

  Soon after I turned, before I screamed, an index finger was put on my nose, stopping all my attempts to alert the others.

  We were in total darkness. I couldn’t recognise who this person or thing was.

  My heart was almost out of my chest! I wanted to cry!

  “Could not fall asleep?”

  It was Raven’s voice!

  I sighed in relief. It was Raven. Thank God it was Raven! I almost went unconscious! All my strength left my body and I leaned on my sleeping bag. I wanted someone, anyone, to comfort me after such an experience…

  I haven’t been this scared since my first lightning storm. My dear mother comforted me back then… Mother…

  I held his firm, steady hand with my trembling, weak arms. I didn’t want to let go. His presence and my hold on him were calming me down. I even wanted him to hug me and stay with me until all this passes.

  I didn’t even feel like scolding him tomorrow about doing things like this.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  I was gently caressing his arm with my right hand, moving it closer to his shoulder with each caress, trying to convey to him that I wanted a hug, that I sought him to comfort me, that he could feel me again…

  “Here,” he put two of his fingers in my mouth.

  It was… not the type of comforting I wanted, but… this kinky play might distract me.

  Just this once, I’d allow him to do whatever he wanted, as long as he comforted me…

  I started licking his fingers, trying to get into the mood to dispel my fears with stronger emotion, but he left something on my tongue and retrieved his fingers.

  Hmm?! What was with you?! How dare you put something in a girl’s mouth, mine at that, out of nowhere when it was this dark?! In such an ambiguous way, at that! After tasting your fingers, I indeed expected to… savour something else, but not what you put in!

  It resembled a pill. It had a bitter taste. Was this a contraceptive? If it was, then… fine…

  I gulped it and started guiding his hand with mine to my groin. Why else would he give me a contraceptive otherwise? I’d also get out of the sleeping bag soon after he gets me into the mood… Just one time, in a moment of weakness, it wouldn’t happen again…

  “Swallow it and you’ll begin to feel drowsy,” he whispered softly in my ear.

  He then pulled his other hand from my tight grip before vanishing into the darkness, leaving me unable to see where he went.

  So, it was a sleeping pill or a relaxant, not a contraceptive… I thought he wanted to “break the bed” with me…

  What a sinful and lustful woman I was to think he wanted my body and I was ready to give it to him on such a whim… Such a close call!

  I rested my dizzy head on the sleeping bag and closed my tired eyes. I tried to clear my mind and calm down the little excitement he forced me to feel.

  The noise the undead were making was continuous.

  The fear I had in the case we were discovered was still present.

  At some point, I began to count sheep. It wasn’t effective.

  Yet as time passed, I was feeling calmer. I didn’t realise when I was asleep.

  I had a dream about my mother… My dear mother… I could barely remember her. She had died when I was three. She was assassinated. By that damned monster…

  Why and how, I didn’t know exactly to this day. Father never allowed me to see her corpse. From rumours, I understood she was dismembered and her face was hard to recognise…

  I’m glad Father didn’t allow me. It would have broken me more than it already did.

  The rare times I dream about her were the happiest and saddest moments of my life at the same time. It makes me merry because I miss her so much. It depresses me because I know I’ll only see her in my dreams or photos.

  I rarely could remember what the dream was about. I often woke up to realise I had cried.

  I was feeling a constant, gentle pricking on my cheeks.

  Was it time to wake up? I didn’t want to. This one was a “happy” dream. I think it was.

  “Five more minutes, please…”

  I attempted to turn the other way in my half-asleep state, trying to resume my dream, but got my cheeks mercilessly pinched.

  The pain immediately awoke me.

  “Ow, ow, ow! What was that for?” I looked through teary eyes to see Lily’s flat stare.

  “It’s morning already, Sleeping Beauty. The horde passed by us. We somehow survived. However, Raven is urging us to leave as fast as possible.”

  She stopped pinching me and I stroked my violently flushed cheeks.

  Still sleepy, I tried to remember the hell we were in a while ago.

  What did he give me to have a continuous effect even now?

  “Why are you rushing us to go?” I asked Raven as I was getting up.

  I would do my best to prevent the misunderstanding between us from being found out…

  “The shelter we took is too strange. Last night we had no choice but to use it. If a human made all this, they must be monstrous themselves and we just trespassed on their territory. But I am yet to hear about such a mad lad.”

  Yes, this place wasn’t ordinary.

  “I think even the zombies didn’t come too close to it,” he continued.

  That would make me wary.

  “Have any of you heard of the urban legend about the human-zombies or zombie-humans?” he asked.

  It was a pretty interesting story – an undead that retained all the skills it possessed in life while being a human. If they were cooks, they would cook well. If they were dancers, they would move and dance with grace. If they were martial artists, they would fight using the art.

  There were legends about people seeing them, fighting them, enslaving them.

  But for most people I knew, they were just a myth.

  I wouldn’t deny their existence. The world is big. There are many places I have yet to visit.

  It’s believed that the Zombie Shogunate had a number of martial arts practitioners who were turned undead and retained part of their memories and skills from their human lives. However, the information I had for that place was scarce. Even so, I was sceptical.

  “Are you implying that we just stayed in a house built by those creatures?” Rich asked.

  “I cannot say with certainty. The only thing I really hope is that we do not get to meet the owner of this place. You know what they say? ‘Where there is smoke, there is fire’ or something similar.”

  After he gave us a scare, we packed and prepared to leave faster than ever.

  When we were done and about to leave, a conversation occurred.

  “You see… I… I’m sorry for hitting you the other day! I also want to thank you for your brilliant idea. I’d never have even thought about it. Someone as experienced as you must have done this type of thing lots of times,” Leo apologised and thanked Raven.

  “Do not worry. As for how I knew this would work… It was actually my first time sleeping in the middle of a horde. I just tried to look confident so as not to scare you all. In fact, I could barely sleep from anxiety.”

  We were all shocked. He basically told us he just gambled with our lives?!

  “Forget what I said,” Leo said with a cold voice, slightly disappointed.

  I was also curious about what he gave to make me sleep like a baby, but asking him when all could hear us… Yeah, not happening.

  Lily tried to open the door, but it didn't budge.

  “We broke the door’s handle to barricade us in from the danger outside,” Rich said.

  “Then break it,” Raven proposed.

  “Such a wimpy barricade is nothing,” Lily agreed and kicked open the door with two kicks.

  During the day, I somehow managed to ask him about what he had given me secretly during one of our breaks.

  “Last night, what did you give me?”

  “A pill that makes women very drunk. It has the side effect of a hangover. I had it from some merchant. He told me to put it in a woman’s drink or mouth if she did not want to sleep in the same place as me.”

  Oh, I see. You gave me a drug with which girls could be raped. No wonder it had such a lingering effect. What other wonders did you have hidden in you? Maybe a serum that swaps genders? One that grows two heads?

  “How long would I feel like this?” I asked.

  “Tell me how you feel.”

  Hot, sleepy and a bit wet down there, but there was no way I was saying all that.

  “Secret.”

  “The pill should be affecting you for a while longer. The side effects should be getting lesser.”

  During the night watch, he told me something he forgot about the pill.

  “I remember what the pill was! You want to hear it?”

  “Yes!”

  “It was a painkiller from the first aid kit.”

  “Are you telling me you lied to me? Then why did I manage to fall asleep so easily?”

  “The belief I gave you something was enough to make you sleep. The exhausting journey took a toll on your body. Your mentality was also exhausted. That was why you had no problems sleeping so soundly. As for any side effects you experienced, they were the feelings or desires you had.”

  Were you implying I was a pervert unconsciously? It was just a moment of weakness! Nothing more!

  “Would it have worked with something else?” I probed deeper, remembering my initial anticipation.

  “As long as it could be put into your mouth, it should have worked.”

  “Everything?” I asked as my sight was going to his lower part.

  “Yes. But not where you are looking. What would I have done were you to bite?”

  He saw where my stare was and retorted.

  From embarrassment, I couldn’t talk back.

  I wasn’t usually such a girl! What has been with me for the past month or so?!

  “I’ll take your shift,” he proposed.

  “Hmm? Why?”

  “Last night, I got the feeling you were tired and couldn’t rest enough. Your unstable hand lost its strength and was falling slowly to the floor. I made sure to guide it to your legs.”

  “Ah, that. Yes, I was tired. Haha…”

  If that was what you thought, then think as such. It would have been better if you didn’t know what I wanted you to do with that arm and after …

  “That said, I got the feeling the arm was slightly pushing me to your groin.”

  “You must have imagined it.”

  “I see. That leaves only one question. Why did you try to seduce me in such a situation?”

  “I have no idea what you are talking about!”

  “Hmm… You didn’t? I thought you did…”

  “Well… I did want someone to comfort me… I was scared… You just happened to be the one this time.”

  “How exactly would you have wanted me to “comfort” you?”

  “Holding your arm helped. Maybe a hug would have calmed me completely.”

  “I see. Will keep it in mind.”

  “Also, next time, warn me before putting something in my mouth. It’s… scary to have a man putting things in my mouth.”

  “Yes, yes, will ask for your permission.”

  “Good if you know. Now, I’ll take your offer. Wake me up when the sun rises.”

  I hugged his arm and rested my head on his shoulder. He didn’t object.

  Another day, another hide and seek we had to play with hordes!

  Raven wasn’t kidding at the beginning when he warned us about having no time to look for food. Heck, we were travelling at a snail’s pace at times.

  Two weeks went by in a flash.

  We more or less got used to being constantly around hordes. Every few miles, there was one wandering around.

  They were, most of the time, numbering thousands.

  He said they were “patrolling” and were going back and forth in a prearranged path. They would keep walking until further orders were given unless they detected something unusual.

  Not much of a threat, given that they didn’t manage to spot us.

  Sadly, we had to move slowly. Rather safe than sorry.

  It became common to camp with the stars as our only light source. I wasn’t feeling that scared when a horde was passing by us, a couple of 100s feet from our spot.

  As the nights without a fire were cold, our sleeping bags were becoming our best tool.

  Too bad someone was against us even getting them on the journey.

  He had no right to ask to sleep in them. It looks like even he could make mistakes!

  “Aren’t you cold sleeping without anything to warm you up?” I whispered to him during our night watch.

  It might as well be ours by now.

  We were in the open and he was in a tree until it was time for my shift. Then he got down and sat near me.

  We weren’t cuddling often. Such moments of embracement were rare. It wasn’t like we weren’t close to one another, but I rarely tried to hug his arm. He wasn’t making any moves on me, even when I signalled him I was fine with them.

  “I am not cold nor warm either.”

  “If you plead with someone, they might give you their sleeping bag. I might even help you warm up~”

  “If you want to, you might sleep on top of me or hug me all night long. I could not care less,” he rejected my teasing harshly with his usual indifference.

  “Anyway,” I tried to change the theme while closing the distance between us, “where are you from?”

  “I cannot tell you. I could give you an approximative location if that would please you.”

  I thought he’d flatly reject me, but he agreed?!

  “Continue.”

  “I usually am on the road, so I hardly could call a place “home”. If I remember correctly, you know The Old Continent. The one that 50 or so years ago was called Europe. I was born… more than 25 years ago somewhere in the East parts of said Continent.”

  “I know it! After all, I myself come from the same Continent. I live in the place known as…”

  I was saying, but he interrupted me by putting his index finger in front of my mouth.

  “No need to give our full information. Just give a vague destination. It is safer that way.”

  Safer? What did he mean by that? I know my country’s way of doing things wasn’t kind or taken well, but even if so, I was me, not my country.

  After some thinking, I reconstructed my sentence to follow his structure.

  “I live somewhere in the North-West part of the same Continent.”

  “Do you believe in God?” he asked me out of nowhere, but I felt that question was significant.

  “The place I come from had religion. Do you know of the Christian religion? I am baptised in the Protestant part of Christianity. What about you?”

  “I was baptised when I was a baby in the… If I am not mistaken, in English should be called Eastern Orthodox Christianity. But that had nothing to do with believing in God. All it meant was I was forced to do something I knew nothing about. Heck, I barely remember my childhood. If I were asked right now whether I was a believer or not, I would say no. I do know the basics of the Christian religion, but I never really cared about it. How about you?”

  “I pray from time to time. I cannot say I’m a strong believer, but something in me tells me to pray. To pray for a bright future, for my friends’ well-being and so on.”

  And for revenge for my mother.

  “What is the benefit of praying to a being that may or may not exist? I find no meaning in that. There was also a saying… What was it now? I don’t know the English equivalent, but in my language, translated to English, it sounds like this: Protect yourself so that God may protect you.”

  “How should I put it into words? Let’s just say that when I pray, I feel calmer, my mood improves and the hope lights in me once again when the times are hard.”

  “You must be praying all day long then,” he said in a way to mock me.

  True, I often felt like doing so.

  I was silent and he continued.

  “Let’s just theoretically say that there, in fact, is some kind of higher being. What of it? Does that mean it made humanity be in the state it is in right now? Does it mean said being is punishing us for our crimes? Or it just got bored and decided to watch how humans die and struggle to survive, just for them to die the next day? What is the benefit of such a God? I refuse to believe God is so evil. And…”

  He stopped for a while, clenching his fist.

  “And if such a God did exist… Then I will kill it myself!” he said with a cold voice.

  “I’m the one who decides what to do. I’m my own “God”! Humans shouldn’t rely on imaginable bullshit to save them. They have to do so alone. The weak became a stepping stone, while the strong stomp the weak… The world before and after the infection hasn’t changed much – same situation, but with fewer, for now, technologies and more beasts wanting to kill. Humanity keeps disappointing me…”

  I couldn’t find any words. It was hard to assimilate. How did he come to this conclusion? How did he know what the time was before the infection? Did I even want to know?

  All I could do was keep him company and embrace him. I hope my warmth relights the hope in him. Humans aren’t good, but no one is born evil. I let go of him when the sun rose.