"Come on," Lune said, lightly this time. "Unless the demon is found, there will only be more."
He gave a reassuring smile, but Channing noticed quickly that it was forced and visibly...weaker.
He watched restlessly, crestfallen as Lune turned to face the east direction of the intersection as if the open wounds on his shoulder were nothing but decoration, his lone back faced towards him and his men.
Once again, Lune saved them from certain death, and immediately after, Channing was rejected and cast aside just like last time. For him, it felt like another stab in the chest.
Didn't Lune promise that he would be himself around him? That he wouldn't have to keep secrets from him now that Channing knew of his otherworldly origin? Why was he still distancing himself from him?
Even if Lune wouldn't allow the slightest physical contact from him, Channing could not stand leaving his blood-coated injury as it is. Even if Lune was an 'immortal' being, he knew the difference between 'invincible' and 'immortal'. Of course, it would make complete sense for an immortal to get hurt just as any being would, and once hurt, one would need treatment.
But Lune seemed to turn a blind eye to it, and it nearly drove Channing mad as he could clearly see him struggling.
Why? Why was he so stubborn?
Was the demon that he was after so important that he was going to ignore his own well-being?
Or was it something else that Lune worried about that he didn't know?
Channing did, in fact, recall the last undead Lune had taken down. It was the one that wounded him and drew blood. He couldn't remember exactly how, but that undead blew up and died just as his body seemed to be morphing. It was as if something was done internally.
It was different from how he took care of the ones before with the use of external force.
"President?"
Channing's thoughts were cut short, and he looked up to see Fenn staring back at him with uncertainty. He was surprised, suddenly remembering that he and Lune were not alone, and that they had four of his bodyguards tagging along.
He turned to face in the direction Lune left, seeing that he was already meters away and wasn't waiting for them to catch up.
He lightened up just a bit.
It didn't occur to him earlier that maybe it was because they were in the presence of others that Lune didn't want to say any more than he had already did. And now, Channing figured it must be it, and felt just a bit more assured.
"Follow," he briefly said, reminding himself that he too must be careful of how much he exposed to his guards about Lune and his world. That was his part of the agreement that he had to keep.
Channing ran to catch up to Lune, his bodyguards still shaken from having been introduced to the existence of the 'undead' for the very first time. He was a bit worried that they may already know a bit too much for Lune's liking, and he wasn't sure if he could find a way to keep them from finding out anything since his guards were almost always with him.
Perhaps Lune would understand, and he would do his part to make sure they would keep their mouths shut. From now on, anything that happened on the job would stay between them, and only them.
.
.
Channing was quite dissatisfied with the worn-down condition of the streets they had explored, wondering why the government wasn't doing anything for this near slum-like community. Though the four guards that tagged along didn't say much, the look on their faces was already enough to tell him that they were disappointed.
Channing noticed Florence, his one foreign employee, whisper to partner Fenn in his broken speech, his expression conflicted.
The school may have seemed at least a decent place for children to attend, but the neighborhood had yet to catch up.
Indeed, if Lune didn't push to come here today, Channing would have never known there was a place like such in the capital.
...should he do something about it? Investing in another project to improve the conditions of the outskirts of the capital...didn't sound too bad...
He scratched his head, letting out a sigh as he found his mind wandering back towards work instead of focusing what they came here to do. He couldn't help it. It was as if his mind was the real office he was stuck in, and not the office that he spent most of his time in at headquarters.
"Lune," he started, breaking the silence. "Are we- ...Lune?"
Channing stopped in his tracks, blinking at the empty street that stretched before him. In front where he thought he had been following the blind man the entire time, only the road was visible...there was no one there.
He was gone...
Again.
Channing grew anxious. He didn't just get ditched again...did he?
He whirled around to his guards still there, and it wasn't until they noticed that their president has stopped that they too, realized that Lune had gone missing.
Channing cursed under his breath, restlessly turning left and right, searching for a possible direction that Lune could've gone, but he was no where to be seen. It was as if he was swept away by the wind and disappeared into thin air.
"President, what do we do?" Fenn asked, gun drawn. "Sir Lune couldn't have gone far, could he? Do you think the undeads we were fighting earlier has anything to do with this?" It was clear on the guard's face that the fear that Lune had turned into a 'zombie' had returned after the worry was put down earlier.
The president gnashed his teeth in distress, running his hands through his hair as he calculated the likeliness of such a possibility. He trusted Lune that he could take care of himself...was he wrong to think so?
Without wasting more time, Channing beckoned at his men to move. "Spread out!" he ordered. "Contact the rest that are waiting at the school to join the search. We're not leaving here until we find him!"
"Yes, sir!" Fenn and the others echoed, their expressions firm. Even if they were afraid that Lune had really turned into a zombie like in the fictional films, they were determined to find the man that saved them from that exact fate moments earlier. Though they didn't know where such a capable, mysterious blind man came from, he didn't seem a bad person.
They would find him, even if they would have to shoot him dead in case he had turned.
Channing waved off his men as they did as they were told. "Be careful!" he shouted one last time before they disappeared from sight.
Once he was alone, he started in the eastern direction, through a smaller street that led into another intersection that split off towards more shabby homes. From there on, he took turns going left and right, right then left, in hopes to cover as much ground as possible alone.
Faint clatters of pots inside homes and the rustle of hanging clothes made him flinch, thinking there was another undead on his tail. It was only minutes later that he remembered that he didn't have a gun and was completely defenseless aside from his fists. He cursed himself for the second time, but there was no going back now.
Where could he have gone?
Where...where...where...
As he turned another corner, a flash of blue caught his attention, the same navy blue of the coat Lune wore. His heart leaped knowing so, and he immediately rushed in the direction he'd gone, relieved yet frustrated that he was still running off on his own.
Without paying attention to where he was going, he stepped towards the thin entrance to what he thought would be an alleyway, but instead found himself at the edge of someone's yard.
To his surprise, a young child that looked about in her early teens stared up at him as if she expected his arrival, her shirt and skirt covered with dust as if she had been running around in them all day.
Channing opened his mouth to speak his apologies for intruding the girl's home, but the girl spoke up first, her round eyes so eerily dark and still that he didn't recognize her face from the picture of the one Lune had been searching for at first glance.
"Is he the one?" she asked, yet to break eye contact with Channing.
Channing frowned and pointed to himself in confusion. "You are talking to me-?"
"...yes, he's the one," a ragged voice suddenly answered beside him.
Channing turned his head in surprise to see Lune slumped on the ground with his back against the stone wall beside him, blood seeping through the gaps between his fingers as he clutched his wounded shoulder. His apologetic smile was strained against his exhausted expression, but he still had the energy to send a message directly to Channing's mind.
[Forgive me, for I must do this... I vow to return you this favor.]
That was the last thing Channing heard, for he barely had enough time to even react before he was enveloped by the dark void of unconsciousness.