Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: No, You are not going in there with him

Soren wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

”It is nothing.”

Swanly stared at the black blood.

”Nothing does not usually crawl out of someone’s mouth looking like bad ink.”

Soren looked at her.

His eyes were cold again, but his skin had gone paler.

Thalara watched him with her purple eye.

”The broken serpent is breaking faster.”

Soren’s gaze cut to her.

”Speak less.”

Thalara tilted her head.

”I have spoken little for many years. It did not help.”

Swanly did not like the way Soren’s hand stayed near his chest.

She did not like that he refused to look weak even after black blood had come out of him.

She did not like that she cared enough to notice.

Kael saw her noticing.

His jaw tightened.

Swanly looked away first.

”We keep moving,” she said. ”Before the swamp decides to grow another emotional disaster.”

No one argued.

Thalara guided them through a tunnel of roots so thick Swanly had to duck.

The air inside was colder.

Bones hung from the roots above like old offerings.

Some were beast bones.

Some were not.

The cub stared at them until Swanly turned his face into her neck.

”No looking.”

”Bones.”

”Yes, thank you baby, Mama saw.”

The path opened suddenly.

Swanly stepped out and forgot how to breathe.

The old place waited ahead.

It was not a clearing.

It was a grave.

A giant serpent skeleton lay half buried in the black water, its ribs rising from the flood like pale arches. Roots had grown through the bones and wrapped around them until it looked like the forest had been holding the dead serpent down for centuries.

The skull rested at the far end, enormous and cracked.

Black water poured slowly from its mouth.

Inside the rib cage, the mud glowed faintly.

Not bright.

Not clean.

Just enough to make Swanly’s skin prickle.

Thalara stopped at the edge.

”This is where the Root-Eyed waters remember birth.”

Swanly glanced at her.

”Can you say that in a less terrifying way?”

”No.”

Soren moved forward, but the moment his tail touched the mud beyond the first rib, the whole skeleton shuddered.

Roots snapped up from the water. (Check comment for photo)

They struck his chest and threw him back.

Raku caught him before he hit the ground.

Soren snarled and pushed himself upright.

Black blood stained his lips again.

Kael stepped in front of Swanly at once.

”No.”

Swanly looked at him.

He was not looking at Soren now.

He was looking at her.

”No,” he said again, voice rougher. ”You are not going in there with him.”

Soren’s eyes lifted.

”The legend says a broken serpent must be led by a living female.”

Kael’s claws slid out.

”I do not care what the legend says.”

Thalara’s purple eye moved to Swanly.

”The broken one cannot take the Seed alone. The nest attacks his crack. Your life scent calms the roots, and the death scent on you wakes what is sleeping.”

Swanly’s stomach dropped.

Kael turned on Thalara.

”She is not going.”

The second cub clutched Swanly harder.

”Mama no go.”

Swanly felt both of them like hands around her heart.

She wanted to say no.

She wanted to throw the Seed, the legend, Soren’s core and the whole rotten forest into the black water and walk away.

Then the water behind them shifted.

A distant scream echoed through the roots.

Not close.

But coming closer.

Thalara’s head snapped toward the darkness.

”Night is touching the outer water.”

Raku’s face hardened.

”We cannot stay here.”

Kael looked at Swanly.

His eyes were furious and afraid.

That hurt more than anger.

Swanly reached up and touched his cheek.

”I will come out.”

His jaw clenched under her palm.

”You do not know that.”

”No,” she said. ”But I know I am not sleeping here.”

A broken sound left him.

Not quite a growl.

Not quite a plea.

Swanly looked at the cub.

He was staring at her like she had already left.

Her throat tightened.

She kissed his forehead.

”Stay with Papa.”

”No.”

”Baby.”

”No.”

Kael took him gently despite his protests.

The cub cried at once.

”Mama no leave.”

Swanly almost broke.

Soren watched her face.

For once, he did not speak.

Maybe he knew that if he forced her now, Kael would forget the Seed and attack him.

Maybe he knew this choice had to come from her.

Maybe he was only too weak to argue.

Swanly stepped toward the rib cage.

Kael caught her wrist.

His fingers shook.

She looked back.

His eyes were burning.

”If he lets anything touch you, I will kill him even if I die.”

Soren’s mouth tightened.

Swanly squeezed Kael’s hand.

”I know.”

Then she pulled free.

Soren came to her side.

They entered together.

The roots shifted the moment Swanly stepped into the mud.

They moved around her ankles like snakes tasting skin.

She froze.

Soren’s hand closed around her arm.

”Do not pull away.”

”Do not command me when roots are touching my legs.”

The roots stopped climbing.

The bones overhead groaned.

The infected hidden in the water went still.

Swanly felt it happen.

Every rotten thing in the old place turned its attention toward her.

Not attacking.

Listening.

Her heartbeat became too loud.

The mud beneath her feet warmed.

Soren’s breathing turned harsh beside her.

His broken core was reacting too.

Pain crossed his face, but he kept walking.

The glow inside the rib cage brightened with every step Swanly took.

It did not brighten for Soren.

Only for her.

Swanly noticed.

So did everyone outside.

Kael’s face became even darker.

Raku whispered something under his breath.

Thalara smiled faintly.

”The Seed heard her first.”

Soren’s fingers tightened on Swanly’s arm.

Swanly looked at him.

”That bothers you.”

”No.”

”Liar.”

His eyes flicked to her.

Then he coughed again.

Black blood touched his lip.

Swanly’s anger faltered.

The rib bones shifted above them.

A thin root snapped across Swanly’s palm.

She hissed and pulled her hand back.

Blood welled from the cut.

One drop fell.

It hit the black mud.

The whole Rot Nest stopped breathing.

Swanly’s eyes widened.

The mud under her blood split open.

A pale green light rose from beneath the rot.

Roots peeled away from a round pod the size of Swanly’s fist.

It was white and green, smooth as bone and leaf together, with tiny veins of gold pulsing under the surface.

The Cleanbirth Seed.

It woke for her.

Not for Soren.

Soren stared at it.

His face was unreadable, but his eyes were not.

Need.

Pain.

Victory.

Fear.

All of it flashed there at once.

Swanly reached toward the Seed.

The moment her bloody hand came close, the pod opened slightly.

A warm scent rose from it.

Clean water.

New leaves.

Milk.

Sunlight after rain.

Swanly’s eyes burned because the smell did not belong in that rotten place.

Then something below the Seed answered.

A second pulse moved under the mud.

Darker.

Deeper.

Not clean.

Thalara’s smile vanished.

Her head turned sharply toward the black water beyond the old serpent skull.

Her purple eye widened.

For the first time since she rose from the flood, she looked afraid.

Swanly’s hand closed around the Cleanbirth Seed and she took it.

The roots screamed.

Soren grabbed Swanly and pulled her back as the rib cage began to shake.

Outside, Kael roared her name.

Swanly stumbled out of the inner nest with the Seed clutched against her chest.

Kael caught her the moment she crossed the ribs and dragged her into his arms.

The second cub sobbed against her side.

Raku lifted his weapon.

Soren came out after her with black blood running from his mouth.

Thalara was staring at the water behind the skull.

The black surface had gone flat.

Too flat.

Like an eye opening under the flood.

Swanly’s breath caught.

”What is that?”

Thalara whispered.

”I forgot it could hear blood.”

The water sank inward.

The old serpent skull cracked.

Thalara turned to them so fast her long white hair whipped across her face.

”Run.”

No one asked why.

They ran.