Glen and Ezekiel were having dinner but the air between them was a little awkward.
"Are you sure you don't want to pray?" Glen asked once again.
It had been more than two years since they started their journey. Now, Ezekiel was already 16 while Glen had finally breached the lucky number 30.
"I told you before old man. I have no intention to pray at some god" Ezekiel refused again.
The reason for the awkwardness between them was the issue of faith. Glen wanted Ezekiel to be a believer but due to his bad experiences with the Church of Night, Ezekiel refused to worship such a being.
He even questioned why Glen would believe someone who didn't even show up despite the suffering of his supposed 'children'. Glen wanted to say it was some sort of trial but stopped. Because this was exactly the thought process behind those zealots.
The problem was, thanks to his unique identity, Glen was one hundred per cent sure that a god existed somewhere in this world. So he wholeheartedly wanted Ezekiel to go to heaven once he was inevitably dead.
However, this was not something that he could force. He could only remind the kid from time to time. If he were to have a change of heart thanks to his nagging, Glen couldn't be any happier.
There was also another problem with this issue. Ezekiel was a pretty smart kid, so he could somewhat understand Glen's feelings.
Now, normally this was not a problem, heck it was even a boon, but the problem arose because Glen himself was not a true believer of any god.
Even in his first life, he only went to the church on sundays because his parents forced him to. Now that he knew that he would never have to deal with the concept of heaven and hell, he was even more unwilling to give his faith to some sort of omnipotent being who didn't even help her believers.
But Ezekiel was not the same. Since he wasn't a believer, once he died, he would just reincarnate in his next life or his soul would disperse. He didn't want that. He wanted Ezekiel to enjoy himself up in heaven.
So how could a non-believer convert someone to religion? Well, the ones that called themselves priests could do that so why couldn't Glen do the same?
Ugh, this was a big headache.
***
Glen and Ezekiel had already passed through the Accurti defence line a week ago. From this point forward their journey was going to be smooth sailing without any big hiccups. At least, that was the plan.
As they rode on their horses, Glen slowly repositioned himself on the saddle. Riding for hours on end was really damaging for his thighs. Was there even a way to make a fluffy saddle that didn't hurt your manhood?
He was not knowledgeable about the subject since he wasn't into horse riding in his past life but maybe he should look into this.
He needed an absorbent material that would absorb the impact whenever his horse moved. Animal fur was certainly a no go, he needed something like a gel. You know, that weird substance that acted like a solid matter once it was impacted but would act as a liquid if you just put your hand in it.
He didn't even know what it was called but he remembered watching a video of a kid walking on it with fast steps. It looked funny and that was why he could remember it decades later.
If he could find a way to make it and fill some animal skin like a balloon, it might make a weirdly comfortable saddle.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
Glen was pulled away from his thoughts with the sound of gunfire.
"Wait-" before Glen could even finish his words, Ezekiel had already galloped away.
Glen could only sigh to himself. Ezekiel was certainly a good kid. Too good in fact. During their journey, if they were to come across anyone that needed help, he would go out of his way to do everything he could to help them.
This was a good thing but it was still annoying that he jumped to danger headfirst without checking the situation beforehand. According to Glen, this was a fatal flaw. No matter the circumstances, a gunslinger always had to be cold-blooded. They couldn't rush into things, otherwise, they might get ambushed. He even had a couple of bullet wounds to prove that.
He had asked Ezekiel at one point why was he so willing to help people. Logically, they had nothing to do with him, so no one would blame him if he chose to ignore their cries for help and went on his way.
Ezekiel had answered with the same question. Why did Glen help him? It wasn't just once or twice. He had saved him from the zombies, liberated his town and even lost his eye and arm in the process. Afterwards, Glen had even taken him under his wings.
He had no words to say to that. He had told him time and time again it was because he felt lonely and wanted a human connection but Ezekiel didn't buy that. When he said it like that, Ezekiel would just say he was only helping the strangers due to the same reason. He had gotten bored of only looking at Glen's goat-like face.
Of course, another quarrel would ensue that statement since Glen was sure that he was a handsome man unlike Ezekiel who could not even grow a proper beard but that was beside the point.
As Glen and Gisebelle continued on their journey leisurely, the gunshots were getting louder and louder.
Glen had complete faith in Ezekiel. Even if the kid was dumb in some aspects, he should still be able to handle himself well in a gunfight. Especially against zombies. Against humans, well it would be difficult since the kid didn't have any experience yet.
Of course, if you asked Ezekiel, he would say he would be completely fine. In fact, he might even be bloodthirsty for some proper duel. But that was just the boy in him talking. Glen knew that taking human life was never an easy choice. Once he took his first life, that would be when Ezekiel finally notice that it wasn't something to be glorified.
When he arrived at the scene Glen saw a caravan of three wagons surrounded by zombie corpses. Ezekiel and the people there had already taken care of them all. These people should be a survivor group moving to another settlement or they might even be a merchant caravan.
After all, they had already passed the Accurti line. The civilization here was already getting revitalized.
The folk there were thanking Ezekiel for his help and the boy was just saying it was nothing and it was his duty.
Glen just rolled his eyes. Who did this boy think he was? Your friendly neighbourhood Sp*derman?
As Glen got off Gisebelle to go and talk to them, one of the women in the group looked at him with wide eyes.
It was understandable. After all, he was missing an arm and there was a big black eye patch over his right eye. If she wasn't interested in those there was still his handsome face.
"...Mayor Rhodes? I can't believe you are still alive!" said the woman who was looking at him.
She looked to be in her mid-twenties. She had hair as red as rubies and eyes as green as emeralds. It was like she was a work of art. She was holding a rifle in her hands which created a sense of dissonance.
As Glen was trying to recognize her she threw away her rifle and rushed to give Glen a giant bear hug.
WHAT!!!!?!??