Clearly Suspicious

"Hah…hah…"

Ashy ran as much as he could, spending all of his stamina. Fortunately, the undead didn't chase after him, if it did so, he wouldn't know what to do.

"Damn… this doesn't seem like a dream…" murmuring, Ashy carefully entered another abandoned house and sat right at the entrance. His back was drenched in sweat, and blood was dripping from the side of his head.

At first, when he saw the undead, the first thing that came to his mind was that he could kill it if he were to pierce the brain or break the spine. This was always the case for most video games and movies.

'There was no scent of blood or rot… it wasn't a zombie, just a corpse that was moving. Magic?'

The concept of magic was cool and all in his homeworld but it didn't sound cool at the moment.

After all,

"I don't know magic," Ashy spoke to himself as he tore a small part of his shirt, pressing to the wound on his head.

Then he began to search through the house.

…

"What… a sword?"

Ashy muttered as he found a sword under a bed while searching for something useful. A weapon, even a rod to defend himself, and maybe a book to find where he was.

Well, what he found wasn't a book or a rod but a sword.

Inside was dark, but with the sense of touch, he could tell that the sword was beyond deteriorated and dull, yet it was still a weapon made of metal. It was better than a wooden stick.

"Sword and magic? Is this a cliche or a joke?"

Feeling strange, Ashy subconsciously touched his head which was wrapped by a cloth he found just now.

The cloth was dirty, and he feared that he would get infected but he didn't have any choice.

It was better than leaving the wound open.

*Growl*

"Shit… I am both hungry and thirsty…"

It was obvious that this medieval world wouldn't have a fridge or canned food. This place was abandoned for who knows how long, could he have any chance to find food?

"Whatever…"

Ashy put the sword to his side and leaned against the wall. His future was always bleak, uncertain, this time wasn't different.

Closing his eyes, he decided to sleep while darkness was descending enough to cover his vision completely.

…

*Thud!*

Ashy's eyes opened in an instant as he immediately grabbed the sword.

Before he fell into a deep sleep, he woke up because of the noise.

Ashy held his breath and slowly moved towards the noise.

"Hah…hah…"

Deep and irregular breathing was coming right behind the door.

'A person?'

Although the breathing was similar to a person's, Ashy wasn't sure if the presence behind the door was a human. He didn't want to risk it.

"Help…please help…"

Yet, when the pitiful, cracked voice of a girl reached his ears, his hand went to the chair that was blocking the door from opening outside.

'No… let's wait for the morning.'

Retracting his hand, Ashy made himself comfortable and listened to the sounds. In the dead silence of this dark world, listening to the only source of sound wasn't hard.

Both for himself and others.

That is why he deliberately breathed quietly as much as he could.

…

Eventually, the girl stopped pleading and her breathing turned softer. She fell asleep.

'At last…'

However, Ashy himself couldn't, no, he didn't want to sleep. It was dangerous.

With that, hours passed in the maddening darkness and silence. The sun illuminated the world with its weak rays of light, providing slight bits of warmth.

'Agh…'

With bloodshot eyes and an empty stomach, Ashy got up. Pushing the white hair that fell on his eyes, he opened the door and immediately stepped back.

There, a girl in her teens was sleeping in front of the door. Her clothes were dirty, tattered, and torn.

The girl wasn't as skinny as himself, and there was no sign of a wound or scar on her smooth white skin. Her brown hair wasn't as dirty as his, it was rather smooth and well-maintained.

It was suspicious as hell, yet Ashy couldn't help but feel hope.

"Get up," Ashy spoke, his young voice was not loud but it was enough.

The girl's eyelids twitched open and immediately got up.

"Who are you!?" The girl backed away as she asked with a frightened expression.

Ashy pointed the sword to the girl before saying,

"I ask and you will answer, okay?"

The girl nodded immediately, the appearance of the sword and his bloodshot eyes worked better than he expected.

There were many things Ashy wanted to ask but the most important thing he needed was food and water at the moment.

"Do you have food and water?"

The girl shook her head.

"Tsk!" Ashy clicked his tongue and proceeded to ask more.

"What do you call walking corpses in the streets? The ones that are dried like a grandpa's balls."

"..." The girl just lowered her head.

"What? You can't even answer this? Then how did you stay alive in such a perfect condition?"

The girl began to look more suspicious in Ashy's eyes every passing second.

"...ndead…" The girl whispered.

"What?"

"They are undead!"

"Why the hell are you screaming, you fool!"

Ashy brought the sword closer to the girl.

The girl bit her lower lip and her eyes began to moisten.

"Sigh…how can I kill those undead?"

"I– I don't know…"

"Then do you know where I can find any food and clean water?"

"I know a place." The girl nodded frantically.

"Alright. Lead the way."

"but…"

"But?"

The girl fiddled, her hesitation was obvious.

Seeing this, Ashy understood.

"Do you think I will use you as bait? If you are not lying, you don't have to worry. If you are truthful that is."

Ashy didn't like threatening a girl in her teenage years but he didn't want to let his guard down. So, this was the best he could do.

If the girl were telling the truth, he would try to help her, if not, there was no reason to help a liar who could stab him in the back.

"Okay, I trust you." The girl nodded with a small smile and turned her back.

'Suspicious… or not?' Ashy wasn't sure. The smile of the girl seemed so genuine. He just carefully followed after the cute girl.

'Wait, cute? What the fuck? When did I start to feel that a teenage girl is cute?'

Ashy stealthily wandered his gaze to the girl's back.

'I mean, really, what the fuck? I am not a pedophile, how did this come out now?'

Feeling disgusted from his very soul towards himself, Ashy forcefully moved his gaze.

'Oh…'

And, he remembered a fact about his new body.

His hands were smaller, his legs were shorter, and his voice sounded younger. He was maybe in his younger body, around this girl's age.

'Fuck… don't tell me this body influences my mind!?'

Ashy couldn't help but bring the sword to his neck, contemplating about taking the easy way out. As an adult, it was disgusting to see a teenager in this way. However, he immediately lowered the sword back. The sword was dull, he didn't want to die painfully.

'Whatever. This is because of this young body, as long as I don't follow the instincts of this body and do anything weird to a teenage girl, I am still safe. At least, there is no FBI here, right?' Ashy eased his worries as he looked at the girl who was quietly leading him.

'Though I feel like there is something lacking with this girl but I can't put my finger on what it is.'

The ambiance in this world was especially dark. The skies and clouds were hard to discern because of the darkness, and the sun's brightness was low. It is as if the skies were veiled by a thick black cloth.

That was why, darkness was everywhere, but beneath the girl wasn't so dark unlike his.