By the time the birds have finished chirping their morning love songs, I’m exhausted. At some point, I managed to doze off and sleep lightly, but every time Yin breathed loudly or snored gently in my ear, I was soon fully awake again. Eventually, despite the fact that I was getting to sleep with her, even if it was through a blanket, I was getting annoyed enough to fantasize about waking her. If only to get some peace.

However, then she began to whimper quietly. And I don’t mean in a sexy way, though I’ll admit I might have had some thoughts in that direction the first time. But it soon became apparent that she was remembering the sad fate of her teammates. The bed shook sometimes as she panicked until eventually, I turned around and wrapped my arms around her. Whenever she’d cry out their names, or flail about as if trying to escape evil, I’d just hold her tightly and press her head into my chest. Though it meant I got little sleep, I couldn’t find it in myself to let her go.

Every time I tried, she’d grow afraid again and reach out with her small hands, desperately hoping for someone to find her. I could feel tears leaking from her eyes onto my shirt and not for the first time, I wondered if I had made a mistake. Perhaps I should have saved them. I know they were trash, but even still, I wish she didn’t have to go through this.

“Mmm?” Yin’s soft voice wakes me from my stupor. It’s fortunate that I’ve at least become a Lvl. 1 hunter or else I probably would be barely able to keep my eyes open. Soft hands move on the other side of the sheets and I feel her pull away slightly. When she realizes how we’re holding each other, she gasps. “OH!”

“It’s not what you think!” I scramble to get back before she gets the wrong idea. Her surprised face has a tiny bit of drool on it, as well as dried tears, but it’s still insanely cute.

“What…what am I thinking?” She asks. At first, she merely seems confused. But then her voice grows coy and I feel the hairs on the back of my neck rise as if I’ve just encountered a dangerous enemy. “Tell me, what were you thinking, last night while I was sleeping? Are you okay, Hei? Your eyes are really red. It doesn’t look like you slept very well…”

“Nothing! I’m just a light sleeper! And you looked like you needed someone to hold you…” I break off gently and she raises an eyebrow. After several seconds of staring at my earnest expression, she smiles gently. Her eyes are a little wet and she wipes them with the blanket.

“Relax, I’m just messing with you.” Her smile turns into a devilish grin. “Didn’t think you were such a virgin!”

“What did you say!” I react instantly, reaching over to grab her, but she’s already sprinting out of bed.

“I’m going to shower first! Gotta leave early to hunt some zombies, right?” She shouts back before I can catch her. Damnit! If she wasn’t two levels higher than me! Before the door slams shut beside her, I swear I catch sight of something different. A hint of color under her t-shirt.

Pink? She’s that kind of girl? Or am I just imagining it?

All the fight goes out of me as I work to control a different kind of fight downstairs. Shaking my head, I get out of bed and stretch, looking at the sky. Sometime past noon, I guess? It really is time to leave.

As we exit the house, I’m feeling slightly better despite the rough night. Yin seems to walk unusually close to me now and I decide that I like this new development. Strutting down the street, we vacate the town on the opposite side of where we came. Following the path along the winding river, I work to find a stone that’s been well rounded and flattened by the water. Eventually, a few that look suitable come along and I pull them out of the mud.

*Schlurp*

When we break for a little bit, I unsheathe the unsharpened replica sword and get to work grinding an edge onto the blade. Though it definitely would not hold up to the rigour of armored combat against humans, it’s beginning to look like something you could at least chop a few zombies with. The wonderful thing about low level undead is that the high concentration of virus in their bodies rapidly ages the flesh. As such, defensively, their muscle structure and bone is much weaker than regular humans. They’re essentially a completely different organism.

Still, the fact that they appear to growl and moan things that the living person would have said before turning undead tends to creep people out. As the only person in the world who has turned into a zombie and come back, I suppose I have the unfortunate and unique perspective to realize that at least in my special case…the previous owner of the body can experience the pain inflicted on it after turning. However, I don’t think that’s necessarily true for most zombies. There’s something strange about when I died that first time after hitting Lvl. 100. I can’t put my finger on it, but the voice of the Gray speaking in my head just doesn’t seem normal at all.

If I die, even I wasn’t bitten, I still turn into one of them. It doesn’t make any sense. How did I become infected? And when I turned, I wasn’t a mindless automaton seeking flesh, I was…something, thinking, calculating. I could sense it. The Gray wasn’t just trying to eat…it was trying to grow. Damn, gives me the creeps just remembering it.

After a while, I’m satisfied with the new edge on the blade. Now it is no longer a fake, but an actually deadly weapon. Beckoning Yin over who has been looking out at the river with a wistful expression, I begin to school her on anti-zombie swordsmanship 101. She listens attentively, though I can tell she wants to ask how I know all of this.

“Okay, first, hold it like this, with both hands. When you cut, remember that you need to draw the blade along the surface, just like working with a big knife. This isn’t an axe, you’re not trying to hack through anything, you’re pulling the blade and cutting!” By the time the light begins to fade, she understands the basic tenets of fighting to a degree, though obviously it will be years until she truly masters them. Regardless, as the sun goes down…it’s time to be on our way and hunt.

“Am I really ready?” Yin grumbles slightly at my instruction. While I did my best, as a veteran I’m not the most patient teacher in the world. “Well, at least you’re not making me use that butcher’s knife of yours anymore.” She says with a disdainful sniff.

“Apologize to the butchers in the world! And to this cleaver!” I wave the item in question around. “It’s saved both our lives more times than you know!” To which she laughs and gives me a quick hug.

“Okay, okay! It just…doesn’t feel like a real, weapon you know? More like something for chopping vegetables in a restaurant.” Her innocent smile is definitely hiding a smirk, but I let it go. Ruffling her hair in revenge, I glance at the horizon. Seeing where I’m looking, Yin grows still. “What are we hunting tonight?”

“The dead…always the dead in the beginning.” I murmur back, trying to remember what phase of the Calamity we’re in. If I’m not mistaken, there is a higher-level creature which should begin to appear. “Actually I just remember something. Not everything afflicted by the virus truly dies. Some stronger creatures can resist the spread. Ironically…the less virus is present in their tissues, the more deadly they become. You could say…they’re carriers in a way. We’ll be looking for them now.”