Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: I do not want to go back

She stared at him for another breath, then called the system in her mind.

Full body scan.

The system popped back up with a suspiciously pleased expression.

{That will cost you.}

Swanly’s face went flat.

Since when?

{Since host became rich enough to buy a ten-thousand-point weapon on credit.}

I am not rich. I am in debt because my child was bitten.

{Exactly. This system has suffered financial trauma.}

Swanly almost smiled from anger.

How much?

{Five points.}

Five points for what you should already be doing?

{Advanced contamination scan. Full body. White snake male. Deep tissue. Beast core surface. Blood rot markers. Venom channels. Energy residue. Five points is a friendship price.}

This is why I hate doing business with you.

{Host still does business with me.}

Fine.

The system brightened.

{Payment received.}

Golden lines spread across Swanly’s vision and wrapped around Soren’s body.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but he did not move.

He could not see the system.

He could not see the scan.

But maybe he could feel the way Swanly’s gaze was no longer only looking at skin.

The golden light sank through his chest, shoulder, arms, throat and core.

The system’s voice became quieter.

{Scan complete.}

Swanly waited.

{No active infection.}

Her eyes widened.

{No rot conversion. No command thread. No bite-root growth. No infection seed.}

Nothing?

{Nothing.}

Swanly looked at Soren as if he had grown a second head.

He really was not infected.

He had touched infected blood. He had held Veyr. He had been grazed. He had fought inside the Rot Nest with a broken core and black blood spilling from his own mouth, yet no rot was taking him.

”How?” she whispered.

Soren’s expression did not change.

”I told you.”

”No,” Swanly said. ”You said words. They were useless.”

His eyes flicked toward the path ahead.

”Move before we attract more infected.”

He turned away.

Swanly did not move immediately.

In her mind, the system made a small thoughtful sound.

{He is not immune in the normal way.}

What does that mean?

{His body does not accept rot. His venom channels attack it. His broken core appears damaged by something old, but that damage also burns contamination before it can root.}

That sounds bad.

{It is bad. It prevents infection, but it is not free. Think of a body that kills poison by burning its own blood first.}

Swanly looked at the black stain at Soren’s mouth.

So the rot cannot take him, but fighting it hurts him?

{Likely. Also, traces of Cleanbirth Seed residue exist in his body. Very old. Repeated use.}

Swanly’s mind sharpened.

He had been using fragments for Veyr.

Maybe he had also used some on himself.

Maybe his body had become a battlefield long before she met him.

Her gaze stayed on Soren’s back too long.

Kael saw it.

Of course he saw it.

His hand slid from her waist to her hip and pulled her closer with enough strength to make her look up.

His golden eyes were not pleased.

”What?”

”You are staring at him.”

”I just found out he apparently cannot get infected. That is interesting.”

Kael’s expression darkened.

”You do not need to find him interesting.”

”I did not say he is interesting. I said the infection thing is interesting.”

”That is worse.”

Swanly blinked.

”How is that worse?”

Kael looked ahead. ”You like strange things.”

Swanly opened her mouth.

Closed it.

That was rude because it was accurate.

Before she could answer, a branch cracked behind them.

Everyone turned.

The path behind them should have been empty.

It was not.

High on a tree branch, just beyond the last line of normal roots, Thalara crouched like a pale spider with long white hair hanging beneath her. Her dark horns framed her face, growing from the places her eyes should have been, and her single purple eye glowed softly in the dim light.

She smiled.

Slowly.

Too widely.

Swanly’s spine chilled.

”Thalara.”

Kael bared his teeth.

Raku lifted his weapon.

Soren looked at her with the weary hatred of someone who had no strength left for new problems but would still kill one if necessary.

Thalara tilted her head.

”Hello.”

Swanly stared at her.

”Why are you following us?”

Thalara’s smile faltered.

For the first time since Swanly had met her, the strange creator-being looked almost embarrassed.

”I thought about staying.”

”But you had stopped coming with us earlier. ”

”Yes.”

”You made it seem like you could not leave.”

Thalara’s claws curled around the branch.

”I thought I could not.”

The leaves around her trembled.

Then she leaped down.

She landed lightly on the path, her long hair falling around her naked body in pale wet strands. The blackened claws at her hands pressed briefly against her chest.

”But the dead thing died,” she said softly. ”The old hold loosened. I felt the roots open. For the first time in many years, the path did not bite my feet when I stepped beyond it.”

Swanly did not know what to do with that.

Thalara’s purple eye moved to her.

”I did not want to stay alone.”

The words were simple.

Too simple.

That made them hurt more.

Swanly’s guard did not lower.

Lonely monsters were still monsters.

”I understand that,” Swanly said carefully, ”but you cannot just follow us like a nightmare squirrel.”

Thalara looked confused.

Soren closed his eyes like the sentence physically pained him.

Kael said, ”She is not coming.”

Thalara’s expression changed.

It did not become angry.

It became sad.

That was worse.

She looked down at her black hands, then at her pale body, then at the flowers trembling on her face-horns.

”I know what I look like.”

Swanly winced internally.

She had not meant to say it so harshly.

Actually, yes, she had.

But now it felt bad.

Thalara touched one horn where it grew from the side of her face.

”I remember when they were eyes,” she said.

No one spoke.

Even Raku’s grip on his weapon loosened by a fraction.

Thalara’s voice stayed soft.

”I remember my sisters laughing because I hated mud. I remember roots opening when I sang. I remember a sky without the smell of rot.” Her single eye lifted. ”Then I remember water, black teeth, buried days and the dead asking me to dream for them.”

Swanly’s throat tightened despite herself.

Thalara smiled faintly again, but this time it was smaller.

”I know they will be afraid of me. Everyone is afraid of things that come out of dark water.” She looked at Swanly. ”But I do not want to go back.”

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