The sun rose behind the purple mountain and spread its golden light over the forest that just woke up. Droplets of mist shone under the light like diamonds and made the whole mountain shine in mystical colours.
Four people sat down and watched the sun rise, while eating near the small fire.
''This is absolutely amazing.'' Jenny was so enthralled by the colours that John laughed.
''This is nothing. There is more.'' He could see their amazed faces since they came and was quite happy about that. He was quite proud of his colourful world. Only people living in it didn't know in what blessing they lived.
Anne wanted to search the world slowly. She was in no rush. After helping those tribes to gather food, she went to different cities and travelled a bit around her world, to help these or those people with their daily lives.
From time to time whole masses of zombies would appear in the cities, so she would check the cities every three days. The more she killed zombies the stronger she became. Now it was easy for her to kill the whole crowd of zombies if they are tightly perched together. Strangely they started perceiving her presence even stronger now and tried to escape as soon as they could smell her even on the other side of the city.
So her choice was to come back every three days and then later once a week. As humanity found their own new pace, she chose to go by her own pace. Living happily in the new world that she never saw before.
''What are you thinking about?'' Fabius Maximus saw her eyes being absent and was curious.
''I actually hate the light, did you know that?'' She looked at the slowly approaching light with a strange expression. ''But lately, I don't mind. Light is fine, as long it doesn't hurt me.''
Because in her own world the climate turned to the worse, as the protective shield around the planet was destroyed and the sun caused many people to fall sicker by the day. Jenny and Anne were just waiting when Mother Earth will fight back and destroy the messy humankind.
"There is so much to see. As long I don't have to be in too crowded spaces, I'll be fine." She glanced at John.
He took a shovel and put the earth on the fire. He loved this shovel. It was one for camping, but was quite useful for many things. While still wondering about such an invention, he looked at her. "There are huge cities with millions of people. They gathered together in fear. But if you want we can just give up going in."
Anne shook her head. "No. Even in big cities, we can avoid the crowd at certain times."
John looked at her in wonder. "What are you talking about?"
"She meant the time before dawn. Most people sleep then." Jenny knew Anne's preference.
But to their wonder, John shook his head. "But that is the time when most people start moving. Except for royals, nobles and rich people, all others have the days starting before dawn. There is no time in big cities when there are no people on the streets. A bit less is maybe around midnight. When the moon is highest in the sky, but only then."
Different world, different rules. In a world where kings and queens still ruled the world, there is no such thing as normal working hours.
"I completely forgot your world has no regulated working hours and any laws to protect workers." Anne sighed. Luckily she won't be working for anyone. Or she just might snap.
"Some country rulers have laws that forbid slavery work. But a regulated working system... never heard of that." John packed his bag and saw they are already ready. "Can you tell me more about it?"
Jenny and Anne started explaining as they walked and made both men listen in wonder. Health system, retirement plan, insurance, working hours, protection at work...
The more they listened, the more they were amazed. John's eyes sparkled in wonder. "But what about now?"
"Now is the apocalypse. Everything stopped. And everything changed. Now people in my world are just trying to survive. Will the rules and regulations be applied again, who knows. But for many years we had such an amazing system. But people were still not satisfied." Anne sneered. "There is always more that people want. More and more."
Greed for more was actually the biggest reason the humanity in her world destroyed the planet. Now they have to survive in the world that changed.
Suddenly she felt a poke on her arm. She looked at long fingers on a big hand and chuckled. "Fabius, seriously?"
He innocently blinked twice at her and acted as if nothing happened. "I have no idea what you are talking about."
He started walking with his long legs like he was trying to escape, Anne just followed. "Wait for me!"
Jenny and John looked at each other and followed. Looking at the two people in front of them poking each other and acting childish, they had to laugh.
Sound of laughter and jokes resounded in the forest and made two red eyes open. "Humans? Food?"
But looking at the four people walking the path the woman pouted. "Not edible. C'mon. I haven't eaten anything for so long. I'm so hungry. Should I follow them?"
She patted her clothes from dust and slowly walked behind. Living for so long, for her, this was still the first time meeting so many different species on the same spot. Together.
Fabius Maximus suddenly stopped. "Someone is following us."
Jenny smiled. "Its a vampire. I could smell her since she woke up." She saw his expression and held his arm. "And no, you can't kill her. I need informations. Maybe we can find a way to retract their curse. Or maybe help them live well without consuming human blood."
Fabius Maximus stilled. "Then why didn't you say that before I killed hundreds of them in our world?"
He saw her face becoming serious. "For one simple reason..."