Shane's POV
'I'm so tired of this. Why did everything have to change so quickly?' Walking around the woods for the nth time, trying to find some food for the camp, Shane hadn't been having the best of luck. Actually, he was having the worst luck. It was almost dark, and he would have to start making it back to the quarry soon. and before that, hopefully with some fresh squirrel, he was worried he would bump into one of the mindless ones going around the woods; although they were away from the city, they were still too close for his liking. Too close to those things.
After one last look for some food before the end of another unsuccessful day, Shane was about to make his way back to the quarry. He saw some legs poking out from behind a Bush. Lowering his body to get in a defensive stance. He made his way towards the legs. After getting close enough, he realised that it was a living person. Lying down. In the middle of the forest, with their eyes closed. As if they were asleep.
Baffled at the possibility, he looked the person up and down. Trying to gauge if he could take them in a fight. He got closer to check how much of a threat they would be to him. They were slim. With a small waist but there was a clear definition of muscle all over his body. It was a boy. Must be no older than 20 He had the darkest hair Shane had ever seen. Which was wavy around his head. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. They were the deepest ocean blue eyes he had ever seen with a slight bronze halo around the iris.
His upper body shot up, making him sit up straight. He looked around, confused. He starts breathing heavily. Staying guarded and ready to attack I make a noise to alert him my position. He turns to me, confusion evident in his gaze. "Where am I? And how the hell did I get into the woods?"
I wasn't sure who he was asking. Whether it was me or himself. Then he grabbed his head, screaming. He sounded almost inhuman, It was hurting him, a lot. After a couple of moments, he stopped screaming but continued to breathe heavily. I tried to get him to focus on me by getting down to his level. And put my hands on his shoulders. "Hey? You okay?" He doesn't seem to respond, so I shake him a bit. "it's ok. You're gonna be ok." I pull him into my chest to try and get his breathing to a steady pace. I don't know why I'm acting so familiar with him. I don't even know this person's name. After a couple of moments, I push him away. Looking back into his eyes, I feel this deep connection with the boy spark. And it had no business being there.
The boy stood up. Faster than anything I'd seen before. I joined him almost at the same speed but a moment too late. He started pacing back and forth, asking himself questions. And answering most at the same time. It seemed the confusion from before was gone after his massive headache. He was answering all his questions with absolute certainty. Some of it didn't make sense. Mentioning New World. Soul mates. And a Fucking Rob. What's a Rob?
After a couple of moments of his rambling, I interrupt. Make a noise to get him to realise that I am still standing next to him. His focus come back on me again. I felt something, I wasn't sure whether I like it or not. I don't know why, but I liked it when his eyes were on me. Staring at me, it made me feel seen. Like I was the only one those eyes would look at.
"Excuse me? Care to explain who you are, and why the hell you're lying around in the middle of the woods? It's dangerous from these parts. Hell, it's dangerous everywhere nowadays."
He stopped his pacing. After a moment of still. He made his way towards me. I kept my guard up to make sure he wouldn't try anything funny. After getting to a couple of paces away from me, he held up his arm. As if to take my hand. He put his crooked smile on his face that showed some of his white teeth. They look perfect against his pale skin. And thin pink lips. "Sorry about that. First time for me doing this. A bit disorientated. You don't die every day. And hell, I don't think most people come back after dying that much either." I tensed when he said the last part. The only people he knew that would come back after dying were those mindless things that walked around 24/7 trying to kill people.
"Are you like those things out there? The ones that eat us. The ones that are trying to kill us." He looked at me with confusion. As if he doesn't know what's been happening the past couple of months in the world. He gave me an 'are you crazy?' look. I look at him shocked and start throwing more questions at him.
"What's with that look? If anybody is crazy here, it's you. Laying out in the woods in times like these. You could have been killed at any moment. And you're too close to our camp. We can't have you dying out here and then making trouble for us." Once again, he looks at me with the crazy look. I'm starting to get fed up with his attitude. I decide to start walking away. But he shouts after me. Curious about what he's going to say, I turned back.
"Hey! What do you mean, 'I could be killed at any moment'?. What do you mean eating people? Are there cannibals around here? No, that can't be right. Otherwise, you would have left with your 'camp'." He stilled for a moment. "Zombies? Well, that's bloody brilliant. The first world I go to overrun by zombies. That's just helpful. Well, I guess the level cap on this world isn't too high then. If there's just some mindless zombies walking around. They'd make some good training practise for the other upcoming worlds."
OK, This dudes batshit crazy. I lift my gun, and aim it towards him "Give me one reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now. The way I see it. You could go round these parts and end up attracting those things to us. So, like I said, One reason. Give me why I shouldn't shoot you."
End of chapter.