And here came the twist.
Digging his way up, Randi managed to get out of a shallow hole. His loud breath was now nowhere to hear and the moon shined above him. His friends were long gone and the humidity of the dirt told him he missed a heavy rain.
The natural light was enough to see the path but fireflies lit along the way, guiding the lost man as if he was dreaming.
He followed the thing that appeared on the ground.
In front of him, a line. A silvery one that shone bright. He approached to put his head on the ground, he could hear a humming, the puddles around him vibrated.
He had no idea of what happened, but his thoughts were locked and no sound came out of his mouth anymore. He walked. Tirelessly in the forest, he went through thick forests where no one could be spotted. Climbing uphill with ease and not caring about anything else than the line.
It was such a perfect line. Its shine rose up Randi's spirit from time to time. Its medley resonated in the explanation along Randi's trip.
The villages were so scattered it became hard to even find a dug path or anything where grass had been killed by repeated footsteps.
On his way to the unknown destination, he made new friends. No, not the vultures flying in circles, high above, waiting for his agony to end. Those who walked along him. The smell didn't seem to bother the couple of rodents and they had a comfy, warm house where the female could lay its only litter of rats.
Alas, most of the ratons died at an early stage. Four survived left with their parents, cohabiting with maggots and bathing in filth. Their survivability let the small family carry the monstrous amount of diseases contained in the walker's organs.
Neither Keith nor Show were sure of how much time had passed since he got out of dirt. But the mind clock ticked when they recognised the tall ramparts. Varanasi's.
Four moons of insatiable walk ended near south entrance.
Once on the track, his smell made people avoid even his sight. His clothes were his last change and the hood he wore was supposed to unsure him rest in his grave, instead it allowed him to keep his appearance unnoticed until...
"Hey buddy, where did you get those clothes?" Was said. A silhouette that stomped on the precious line and walked toward him.
The humming was now difficult to hear, he needed to go forward. Randi's first thoughts materialised for the first time.
'Where's the line? No, don't go... People aren't bad... People get in our way in daily life. Yesterday they stole my fingers. Today they stole my little friends. Tomorrow they'll all be long dead.'
Under a noise pike of which he could not understand a word, he jumped forward to bite the first person next to him with the remaining teeth hanging on his gums. His head flew a few seconds later. In the commotion he still not understood.
Once more he was standing up, but this time without his body. He could see the latter leaning, and his friends next to it, bipedal ones, not the rats.
Finally he reached the city with them! But what was that? The line! It's still here! Oh joy oh happiness! The remnant of Randi continued his walk, completely obnubilated by the silver line.
He arrived in a palace, where the line continued. He found Keith, as per usual on his bed was scratching his wrist, where the line went.
The ghost ran toward it, he saw his curio. The thing that once kept his hair altogether was on this kid's wrist, entangled with the line.
'THIEF!' He tried to say while doing his best to tear off the bracelet. He was interacting with Keith in the explanation, but nothing happened. The kid barely moved, just feeling an intense discomfort yet no human contact.
Randi felt as if his hands were weak. Pressing, pushing, hitting, nothing worked, as if the surface he hit was made out of rock. As a last resort, Randi headbutted Keith with all his might, and Keith woke up to the outside world with a gasp.
By reflex, his eyes opened. without the mask, Keith chocked first on the memory of Randi's head. Seeing his meal was no pleasant feat. But nothing came out of his throat.
An intense headache rose as he blinked a few times, he felt the unpleasant itchiness under his eyeballs before realizing he could see anew. His sense unbalanced him, he was able to stand when he was blind indeed but the feeling lacked texture and he had difficulties to walk.
Looking around was painful when he kept his head steady. Keith chose to close them back out of discomfort and keep the newly gifted sight.
'Colors. What a relief. Ain't the world a beautiful place?' He asked Show, he was teary. Keith had a deep fear of resembling Mister Show more and more. His undistinguishable visage coupled with his hoarse voice, his diet, and no more home were similarities he denied.
'Taking into account we're surrounded by a bunch of dead walkers plus the fact we've been sitting in latrines for an hour at most, no.' The shadow replied.
Keith scratched his head, as if it could help him sprout ideas, he said. 'Do you have any idea of how we're going to deal with this situation? Can the rats be used as ingredients?'
'Maybe, but we're going to look for a needle in a haystack. It won't be an easy task.'
The six mature rats carried by Randi spread most of the disease, they were as dangerous as contaminated humans because of their natural stealth and quickness. The small family led the city to chaos before anyone could notice.
In Varanasi, with the increasing number of low class trained people becoming soldiers, not much peasants were left to clean the city. Food scraps were scattered all around the place. Public bathes were overwhelmed and the water used stagnated as small lumps of moist floated on its surface.
Fleas and flies copulated day and night, their population rose so much that two third of the citizens had at least five of each under its household. Cleanliness was not the priority of the city, it was money and food, making it the main reason why people would enrol in the army of the eye.
The new soldiers lacked experience and courage. Yet because of the money and the fear of being killed due to deserting their service pushed them forward.
There was this squad, determined to escape their fate going to the north.
Picco did his best to keep up the pace among the troop. Jaggar confronted most enemies himself. He used Picco's sword and gave the little man a thick kitchen knife they found on their way.
On their way, about twenty lunatics came toward them, of course they tried to bite the soldiers. But one or two slash killed them easily. Some of the soldiers knew the victims, and they heart shook every time a head fell.
Yotoh came toward them too. Picco had a countdown of the meters separating them. He knew his friend's fate.
"Fifty.... Forty... Thirty... Twenty..." He roared his best warcry while he dashed forward before Jaggar moved. He was sad and wondered. 'Is Ned alive? I don't want to be left here alone.'
Thud. One one more head down.
---
"When will the sun go down?" asked Keith to Prem.
"I am afraid we won't live until then but I'd say in five more hours."
"Then we shall wait. You can go in the room I came from, I'll, huh, curse the door so nothing comes in." Keith said. He planned beforehand to let Show protect him once he darkened the entrance room, making the house a death trap. The discomfort in his eyes was the sole reason Prem was still alive, to be a guide.
The servant feared the boy, so being kept away, even being separated by a wall helped him cooling down a little.
One full hour went by. The door weakened but not its assailants. Its wood broke apart after fifteen more minutes. Two lunatics fell down and three stomped them to reach the kid waiting in the corner of the room.
Keith curled up and hid his eyes, Prem did the same, because he thought he would be their second victim. But black slashes cut the so called monsters in neat chunks. Silence fell on the room.
Knock knock knock. "Prem, let's go find another house." Said Keith. The kid used the hour to meditate on their next destination. The special ritual, blood compass, he used to locate his father marked his brain and the explanation helped his memory develop until he could retrace the map anew.
The city had multiple shiny spots, were more influential people lived, mandir were erected, and soldiers had quarters, they had to avoid those places and go to the darker spots instead.
It meant less population, and probably the rats. He did his best to memorize three specific locations before heading out, holding Prem's hand tight. "Lift me up if we need to run, I'm not heavy."
Prem had to wait where Keith had his last meal, the putrefied smell of Randi's brain soup still roamed around the place. When the kid put his mask back on, Prem's attention switched from the kid's damaged face to the slaughter in the living room. The servant squeezed his sleeve against his nose when a new smell hit him.
His doubts faded the same instant. 'I'm not on the safest spot, but I'm not in danger either, this fellow needs me to see and I'll make it out alive.'
Show was thinking. 'This kid is fascinating' But he wouldn't share the bottom of his thoughts with the boy, compliments were too expensive, everyone knows how are kids, too much confidence and they'll abandon their tutors to do things by themselves.