No one said anything, for a moment.

Shane didn’t have anything to say that wasn’t snarky and rude – because obviously the situation was bad. He didn’t know why Zac felt the need to state something so immediately evident to anyone with a fully-functioning brain. He could feel the frustration in his throat like a pill that refused to go down; if he opened his mouth now, he was going to end up saying something incredibly unpleasant.

Niko, on the other hand, truly didn’t know what to say. Of course he knew that the situation was bad, but he didn’t know what kind of reaction the situation entailed. Shock, maybe? Maybe despair? He was only feeling one of those things, and he didn’t have it in him to put into words what exactly he was going through.

“Zac!”

Before any of them could even think about saying anything else, someone came running into the room from the hallway. They were harried and breathless, still wearing a dark green traveling cloak as if they had run there right after coming back from an out-of-town journey.

“Gray?” Shane paled.

He hadn’t expected Gray Zamora to show up… He thought he at least had a day before he had to face any family or friends.

“Oh! You made it.” Zac smirked.

“You… bastard. You could have told me sooner,” Gray struggled to say between gasps for breath.

“How? I was only informed of the incident last night. And as far as I knew, you were in Nethervane. Out of the coverage area.”

“You could have at least told me.”

As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, a third person strolled in through the privacy ward, an annoyed look on his face as he pushed his large round glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

Shane could feel the life draining from his body. One person was one thing. Two people was a whole other thing entirely.

“E-Etch…” He stammered.

Fletcher Cale turned to him, his expression softening somewhat. “Hey, Shane. How are you feeling?”

“I’m… okay. Ish.”

“No pain or anything?”

“Not much.”

“Oh, I didn’t expect you, Mr. Cale.” Zac remarked.

“Agila had me pick Gray up from the station. I wasn’t going to take them here, but they insisted. So hi.” Fletcher deadpanned.

“I’m wounded by your callousness.”

“Good.”

Shane and Niko glanced at each other. The tension in the room was even worse than it had been when they were alone with Zac. Neither of them really knew how to move forward.

“Um… So, what happens now?” Shane spoke up after a short bit of awkward silence.

“Ah, right.” Zac clapped his hands. “The debriefing.”

Fletcher walked over to sit by Shane’s bedside, while Gray situated himself right beside Zac like a watchful teacher trying to make sure their most mischievous student wasn’t causing trouble at the back of the class. (It likely would have been funny in a different scenario. But Shane couldn’t find it in him to be anything but tense, seeing just how leery Gray was in Zac’s presence.)

“Please clarify something for me first and foremost.” 

“Sure. What?”

“What exactly was it that attacked you, last night? Can you please describe it for me?”

Shane glanced at Niko. He knew the answer, he just didn’t have the words.

“... It was something tall, taller than a regular person. All black, coated in something thick, like tar.” Niko explained for him.

“Did you try defending yourself against it?”

“We did.” Shane nodded. “Niko used an arrow, but it didn’t do much.”

Zac stood up and reached into the inner pocket of his trench coat. He walked over to Niko’s bedside and held it out, urging him to take it.

“Terribly sorry that we couldn’t recover the entire thing,” he said, “but this was all that was left in its eye when we contained it.”

Niko took the remnants of his arrow and turned it over in his hands. The shaft had splintered off halfway through, and the iron tip was caked in something black and foul-smelling. The sygil emblazoned on it was flickering with a weak, blue light. The wood, which had been carved from white birch, was stained an eye-popping shade of bright red.

“... you caught it, then.” Niko mumbled.

“It was a bit troublesome, but yes. There was a hunter on patrol near south Indie Lane when reports of an attack came in. They caught it just in time before it disappeared into the woods.”

“Did you…” Niko stopped mid-sentence.

“Kill it?” Zac arched an eyebrow. “Do you think it’s an entity that can be killed?”

“I don’t even know what it is,” Niko replied shakily.

“What do you think it is?”

Niko took a deep, shaky breath. His heart was pounding so loud in his ears that it was almost deafening. He put his shaky hands palms-down on the sheets in front of him, trying to resist the urge to start grabbing and tugging.

Relax.

It was very painful to watch.

‘I –”

Very painful.

“Deadwalker.”

Shane couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t care if Niko would be mad at him for speaking up on his behalf; he just wanted to be rid of the whole exhausting production that was Niko Griffin being attacked by anxiety in front of him.

“Mm?” Zac turned to him.

“That thing… it’s a deadwalker, isn’t it?”

Shane wasn’t all that sure about his answer, but it was the only one that made sense. He thought about it for a long time – all night, in fact, and it was the only thing that his mind kept coming back to whenever the question of what that thing was came up in his head.

Deadwalker.

Shane didn’t know what deadwalkers looked like. 

For a long time, he didn’t even know that they existed. But Gray being in the Hunters’ Guild meant that certain secrets could not be kept, especially not when news of their disappearance spread from Mikael’s family to Shane’s.

“The Hunters’ Guild… They said Gray was injured on-duty.”

Shane could remember the way he and Mikael pressed their ears against his bedroom door that fateful day nine years ago; the children had all been sent to their rooms, and since Shane was staying the night, of course that included him. Eleven-year-old Shane had been a nosey little rat, and once she caught wind of the situation, she refused to stop at just being told that ‘Kuya Agila is upset because Gray is sick’.

“It was… They said it was a deadwalker.”

After he heard that word, he and Mikael immediately started scouring the internet for any sort of explanation. (He would have gone to the library, but it was nine in the evening and the library closed at seven. He couldn’t go even if he managed to sneak out of the house.)

‘Just a scary story to scare kids into sleeping early and coming home on time,’

Although neither of them could find any reputable resources about it, he did see a good number of forum posts and public discussion threads about the subject.

‘Necromancy gone wrong?’

Every single thread had a different thing to say about what deadwalkers looked like, but there was nothing else in Shane’s head that could cause wounds that never healed, wounds that festered and rotted until the entire body was consumed with decay before death.

“Wow.” Zac sounded genuinely impressed. He walked back over to his chair and took his seat, staring curiously at Shane. “You really are an honor society student, aren’t you?”

“So I’m right?”

Shane resisted the urge to glance at Gray. It was one of the most difficult things he’s had to do in recent memory. He didn’t want to get caught staring at their eyepatch.

“Yes. That was indeed a deadwalker that you encountered.”

Niko caught his lip ring between his teeth and started biting down. He didn’t know what a deadwalker was, but it didn’t sound good.

“So our wounds…”

“I’m afraid if left untreated, they will continue to fester until you’re completely consumed by decay.”

Everyone  went deathly quiet.

“... But!”

Zac spoke up so loud that it startled even Fletcher, who had gone just as still and quiet as Shane. He flinched so violently that he knocked into the nearby IV stand and almost toppled it completely.

“Gods on earth,” he held a hand to his chest.

Gray kicked at one of the rear legs of Zac’s chair, earning a tiny laugh from the man.

“Sorry. But you were all being so dour!” He waved a hand. “We haven’t even gotten to the good news yet!”

“... There’s good news?” Niko frowned.

“Well sure. Don’t you want to know about the cure?”

“There’s a cure?” Shane blurted out.

“Absolutely. Gray knows about it very well.”

“I do.” Gray nodded. Their expression was grim despite the claim that this part of the conversation was supposed to be good. “But I’ll have to take it up with the higher-ups. Procuring it is a little complicated.”

“Do we have time to wait?”

“Your wounds are external and they aren’t deep, so the decay will progress at a slower rate than it usually would. But we’ll get a medic in to assess your wounds. Just to be safe.” Zac smiled.

Niko wanted to say he was relieved, but he hardly ever was when it came to hearing about medical news. For as long as he could remember, if it required a formal diagnosis or prognosis, it was almost always terrible news. Even if it concerned a supposed “cure”.

He glanced at the bandages around his arm. Come to think of it… His infected arm was also the one that he had broken when he was a child. It seemed like his right arm just couldn’t catch a break.

Cursed.

“All right, that’s all that really needs saying – unless you have questions?”

Shane tightened his hands into fists. He had a lot of questions, but he didn’t know if they were worth saying. Most of them had already been indirectly answered by what Zac had said, but he could still feel them lingering in his head demanding to be said.

How long is this going to take?

How long do I have to wait?

Is this going to interfere with my final exams?

“Shane?”

He looked up.

Fletcher was staring at him, a knowing frown on his face. He looked like he had heard every single question that was bouncing around aimlessly in Shane’s head.

“I’m fine.” He replied quickly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

Fine.

As long as the whole debacle didn’t interfere with his schoolwork, then it was fine. He would be fine. It would all be fine.

Maybe.

Probably.

“Okay!” Zac nodded. “Well if there’s no more questions,”

He stood up and muttered another invocation under his breath. The green sheen that had fallen across the walls retreated in an instant, and the sticky note sygil on the wall curled up and fell to the floor, its enchantment all used up.

“Oop, can’t be littering on the premises.” Zac added, swiping the paper from the floor and shoving it back into his pocket.

“... So can we go?” Shane finally asked. He couldn’t take it anymore. He had to say something.

“We’ll try to get the medic in before the day ends so you don’t have to stay another night.” Gray promised.

Shane sighed heavily.

Thank gods.

Niko didn’t really know how to take the news well. He didn’t have any plans (and he likely wouldn’t be making plans, now that this was an issue), so he didn’t really care either way. But he supposed that being let out of the hospital soon was a good thing. He thought for a moment that they were going to stay there for a bit longer.

Ugh, he thought with a scowl.

On second thought, he was extremely glad that he wouldn’t have to spend one more night in the hospital. He’s had enough of that kind of experience to last an entire lifetime.

“Alright! Sit tight, I’ll stop by the office to get everything ready.” Zac waved.

Gray said their goodbyes before following Zac out of the ward. Fletcher watched them go, remaining in his seat as they left.

“Not going?” Shane asked.

“Not right now. I don’t have work today.”

“So… What are you doing, then?”

Fletcher smiled. “What, you don’t want company?”

Shane glanced at Niko. He didn’t know if they were on speaking terms. He didn’t want to make Niko feel out of place.

“I don’t mind.” Niko shrugged.

“What, you’re acting like I won’t keep you company too. You’re involved in this, you know.” Fletcher joked.

“... I’d rather be left out, if that’s alright by you.” Niko laughed lightly.

Shane managed a smile. It was always nice to hear Niko laugh. (Even though it seemed like an ill-advised action, as he winced right after and held a hand up against his chest. It seemed like it hurt to laugh – which must have sucked.)

“Nah my dude, you’re included by default.”

“Please exclude me.”

“I refuse.”

“I am begging."