Chester tore his head from the running water and stared out past the small creek, ears whirling wildly about while anxiously pawing at the earth and snorting.

“What is it, boy?” Olivia asked, pulled from her thoughts and stepping forward to pet the stallion’s shoulder. “You see something?”

Chester usually doesn’t get this spooked, and not even the occasional dog is enough to put him out of sorts. 

Sharp breathing brought Olivia to turn back to Ping, busy clutching his chest with one hand as he too was staring past the water.

“Ping, are you alright?” Olivia placed a hand on the shivering boy’s shoulder.

“There’s…there’s something there,” Ping forced out, white-knuckle grip on Yu’s lead. “I-I… I can… can hear...”

What’s with these kids and their hearing? “What do you - ?”

A snarl, not out-of-place from an animal, tore through the darkness with the sound of what Olivia could only describe as shuffling feet.

“Li?” Ju’s fearful voice called out. “What’s going on?”

“Stay back, Ping,” Olivia stepped in front of the terrified boy, handing Chester's lead to the boy while the brush fell to the earth beside the river. Clasping the skillet’s handle with both hands, tightening if only in response to the sudden itch she was feeling, Olivia stared into the darkness.

Here's hoping it doesn't smile back.

“Something is out there, but I don’t know what.”

“Ghosts,” Min whimpered from her mother’s side. “It has to be ghosts.”

What kind of ghost hangs around a forest that people don’t come through often? Shouldn’t they all be about haunting scary tombs, castles, and hotels?

Of course, folks would claim that ghosts could and would wander. They just liked places with bad energy. Lots of Feng shui talk that most would roll their eyes at.

Got to have a grain of truth somewhere in it. Though it could be one of those thought objects that get powerful the more- wait a minute, is that rattling chains I’m hearing?

It was chains, heavy ones, being dragged through the earth. In the dim light offered by the distant campfire, a form appeared through the brush. Clothes more rags than intact cloth hung off a slumped body, head bowed forward with its black hair hanging freely.

An escaped prisoner? Just our luck. “He-Hello? Are you alright?”

The head snapped up, revealing a pale face slacked in expression, the wrongness of it sending chills up Olivia’s spine. His eyes, Olivia was sure that it was a man, had no pupils as if the eyes had rolled back in their sockets, leaving only a terrifying white.

Cold sweat beaded on Olivia’s brow as what she was seeing finally registered. That is not a ghost.

 Snarling, the not-Ghost dashed toward, chains rattling as hands stretched out to strike.

“Ping, get back,” Olivia bolted across the small creek. She didn’t know if running water deterred the undead, but she wasn’t going to let the Hengs be within arm’s reach of the not-ghost.

"Ah!" 

"Chester!" Olivia tried to grab the flying leading, but the Arabian easily slipped by, plowing toward the approaching form. Stopped mere feet away and sent hooves flying as he tried to strike at the danger.

With swiftness not belonging to anything alive, the revenant easily dodged around to continue its charge with a speed not-human, clawed hands poised to strike.

It didn't account for Olivia dropping to the earth, only to fall across her back before she violently threw it off, tossing it back to the earth like a sack of potatoes.

Oh, I'm going to be sore from that tomorrow -

"Yeek!" Olivia brought up her skillet, shoving cast iron into the maw of the body that had been on the ground moments before. "Oh, come on, I just cleaned that!"

And how, in this wide world, does it still have saliva?! It’s a dead body!

An unearthly scream tore from the form as the corpse backed away, the smell of burning flesh permeating the air.

Huh, guess salt and iron work on nasties here too. Good to know. 

Chester's scream ripped the air as he closed in on the retreating form, throwing his legs out with each step, trying to land a strike on dead flesh. The revenant dodged and weaved around the strikes. A few side steps and the corpse was within reach of Olivia once more, fangs bare and claws at the ready to try again.

Too bad for him, but so was Olivia.

“Get lost, you insult to biologists and paranormal investigators!” Olivia stepped around the outstretched claws, swinging the skillet with all her strength, watching the flat iron contact the pale face –

Only to blanch as the head went flying off its shoulders. The body stumbled like a marionette with its strings cut, landing on its front and not getting back up. Blackness pooled at the stump onto the earth.

Olivia freed a hand to clamp it across her mouth. I think I’m going to be sick.

She was so focused on the once-again dead body that she didn’t notice Ju and Min approaching the opposite creak side. “That…that was amazing, Li. I’ve never heard of anyone who wasn’t a cultivator doing that.”

“That shouldn’t have happened,” Olivia swallowed, hoping it took the feeling of rising bile with it.

“What shouldn’t have happened?” Ping asked.

“That head shouldn’t have come off so easily,” Olivia was shaking; she knew she was and grabbed one wrist in the hope of stopping it. “That zombie didn’t look more than a few days old!”

And thank you, true crime tv, for the knowledge of what stage of decomposition a body is at. This is why I never went into any biology degree. Oh gosh, that smell.

“Zombie?” Min sounded out the word. “What’s that?”

“That.” Olivia pointed at the prone body, panic filling her voice with every word. “I want to know who had the bright idea to call that a ghost. You can't hit ghosts. They like to play pranks and walk up behind people who can’t see them and poke because they're bored to death of being dead! They don’t hunt people, and they don’t look like something out of a B-grade horror movie!”

“Li, breathe. You’re panicking.”

“I just decapitated a walking corpse with a frying pan, Ju! I thought this world had a restless dead spirit problem, but now I find out it’s actually a physical revenant problem. I think I have every right to be panicking right now!”

“Calm down!” Gipp shrieked, taking off from the log and landing on Olivia’s shoulder, delivering a nip on the ear in reach. “Calm down!”

“Ouch! Gipp, knock it off!” Forcing herself to take a deep breath, Olivia pinched the bridge of her nose. “Sorry, sorry. I’m still wound up. If it’s a good idea, I think we should pack up and –”

A chill ran down Olivia’s spine, cutting her off mid-sentence.

“Li?”

Olivia gulped, feeling her nape's hair stand up. “Uh, Ju, question? Do these guys usually travel alone?”

Even in the short distance, Olivia could see Ju pale. “No, no, they don’t. Not if they die together.”

And that one had chains like a prisoner conga-line. Great.

“In that case.” Handing Gipp over to Ping, Olivia turned back to the forest line, already seeing four more silhouettes barreling from the darkness at speeds that weren’t human.

“Things are about to get busy.”

Screaming with equine rage, Chester bolted forward and engaged two with a flurry of kicks and strikes.

“Chester, wait!” Olivia stepped forward, taking a swing at one of the revenants, who barely dodged though its shoulder was clipped by the salted cast iron. These guys can learn? Just great. What else can go-

The ground moved, and Olivia felt a hand grasp her ankle through her boot.

Shut it, Murphy. I can hear you laughing.

“They can dig?!” Olivia shrieked, striking the emerging head with her trapped leg without another thought, the frail bone shattering beneath her heel.

And she would freak out about what exactly was on her boot’s sole after she was no longer in danger of being torn by fast-grown nails.

How do the walking-freaking-dead have better nails than me?!

Not the best thought to have when in a life-or-death battle, Olivia knew, but it was either gripe about the unfairness of nail health or have a complete breakdown and be killed.

And Ju’s family would be next if she stopped for even a moment. Right now, all she could do was swing heavy metal, hoping to land a solid hit and take the target out for good.

A problem since these ones were a lot harder to hit than the last, but she managed to take another out without separating the head from the shoulders.

Over the sounds of her thundering heart, Olivia could barely register Chester’s screams of fury and hooves beating necrosed flesh into compost. Certain to make the bugs happy.

Oh, hello, nightmare fuel. How are you today?

“Li! Behind you!”

“Oh geez!” Olivia stumbled as she turned to get away from snarling fangs, but it was too close, not going to make it -!

A whistle of sliced air, a flash of silver followed by the sound of the earth being struck, and the body suddenly became a head shorter, Olivia grabbing its shoulders to keep it from landing on her.

Oh gosh, why? Why did I do that? Now I'm never going to get rid of that smell.

The two corpses still moving froze at the sudden event, only for both to be taken down, both a head shorter and falling to the earth.

Chester stood for a moment, sides heaving, before reaching out for a tentative sniff –

And promptly buried his hooves in one of the bodies.

“Chester, calm down. They’re dead for sure this time.” Can’t blame him for checking, though. They didn’t stay dead the first time around.

With a final snort, Chester abandoned the corpses and walked over to Olivia, setting his muzzle on her shoulder.

Olivia smiled, stroking the brown fur. “Yeah, happy you’re alive too, buddy.”

“Is everyone alright?”

Olivia looked up at the new voice as five alive bodies came out of the forest. Young, and if the one clearly acting as leader wasn’t past fifteen, Olivia would eat her belt, dressed in elaborate attire of dark cloth, silk probably, each holding a lit paper lantern. They also had scabbards at their sides, but three were strangely empty of blades.

Oh, don’t tell me. Glancing around Chester, Olivia could easily see what had dealt the final blows. Piercing the earth, tassels of dark cord hanging from pommels, thrown in a way that no normal person could.

Which meant.

Yep. Those are swords. Actual, believe-it-or-not, flying swords.

Olivia buried her face in Chester’s shoulder. Just when I think this world has finished throwing stuff at me for the day...

“Um, Miss, is everything alright?”

“I’m…I’ll be fine in a minute,” Olivia waved the speaker off. “Just give me a minute to collect myself.”

“…Alright. Um, do you know who took out the other ghosts by chance?”

Guess they missed the action. Turning her head so that she could see the youth out of her eye’s corner, young and definitely good-looking enough to star in a C-drama, Olivia sighed. “You’re looking at her.”

Chester snorted.

"Okay, us. Happy?"

Chester whickered, nudging Olivia's back with his muzzle.

"Yeah yeah, you're welcome."

The young man blinked, clearly surprised. “You? B-but, Miss, how did you even?”

“Ask me after I have time to process it, okay?” Don’t snap. He's just a kid, and boy, do I feel old saying that. I don’t even know how I survived. If that sword had been a moment too slow, yeah.

“Aunt Li, your hat.”

Whoops, it must have come off in the struggle. “Thank you, Min,” Removing herself from Chester’s side, Olivia accepted the offered article and placed it back on her head. Strange, but they aren't staring at my hair. Is brown hair more common than Ju was suggesting, or –? Oh, wait, it’s nighttime. Even if they had good night vision, it doesn’t help much in way of color. For all they know, it could be black.

And unlike the powerful flashlights that Olivia was used to, those paper lanterns didn’t offer much light, and the flickering of flames could easily be blamed for anything strange as far as appearances went.

“So,” Olivia pointed at the body that had nearly been her demise. “Who is responsible for this?”

As one, the four older teens turned to look at their youngest member, who gulped before raising a nervous hand.

A hand that started flailing when Olivia wrapped him up in a near bone-crushing hug, erupting in a flurry of “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you I thought I was going to die!”

Beneath her ramble, Olivia could make out the sound of soft laughter, or at the very least chuckling, from the older four at their youngest member’s distress.

“Ah, you’re welcome?” The boy choked out. “Um, if it’s not too much trouble, could you-?”

“Oops, sorry,” Olivia pulled back, scratching the back of her head. “I was just so happy to be alive that I guess I went overboard.”

“Li, are you alright?” Ju reached out and placed a hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “You’re shaking.”

“I’ll be fine. Just some post-fight jitters, that’s all. I’m going to need to sit down for a bit afterward.” Ah, hello adrenaline crash. How nice for you to visit.

“Should I put some water on the fire?”

“Yes, please.”

“Um, if it’s not too much trouble,” Another one, one of the pair that look too identical, piped up. “Could we have a drink too?”

The leader turned to his member. “Xue Xiawen. We shouldn’t impose-”

“But we need to find out what happened here, right?” The other half of the pair came in defense of his brother. “We can’t report unless we do, and, Jielan, we’ve been going all day. It can’t hurt to stop and wait for tea before then, right?”

The newly named Jielan sighed. “I hate it when you use logic, Yixan.”

Turing to Ju, Jielan clasped his hands. “Madam, would it be too much to impose on you?”

Ju smiled. “Of course not. If anything, consider it thanks for saving Olivia and my son.”

“Not even a month here, and I nearly get my face chewed off by a horde of zombies,” Olivia muttered, reburying her face in Chester's hide. "No one back home is going to believe this."

“I see,” Jielan said, casting an oblivious Olivia a concerned look before turning back to Ju. “Thank you, Madam.”

“Looks like you get off this time, Shun,” the last, unnamed member of the quintet lamented dramatically. “It’s not every day we get thanked, after all. Though I say, you got thanked a lot more than we did.”

Seeing an opportunity, Olivia pulled back from Chester to smirk playfully at the boys, whose backs went ramrod. “Aw, are you saying you want hugs too? I got enough for all of you if you want one.”

The four youths started, with the speaker swallowing a squeak, sharing identical looks of terror. Behind her, Olivia could make out the youngest’s quiet snickers.

The leader started back away with hands held up in surrender, clearly out of his element. “A-ah, it wouldn’t be proper…”

“Too late. I made up my mind. Come here!”