Baptism by acid

"What? Xia, what are you talking about?" Ellin stared at Xia in disbelief.

The young woman lowered her eyes and raised a clenched fist to her chest. "Sorry! I didn't know it will turn like that, Lin-Lin… Cole, that dog, had accused me of cheating on him with you!" Xia grit her teeth. "I've overheard him saying that he will get rid of you, one way or another. You are in danger because of me…"

"It's not because of you, Xia. Never because of you! And don't worry about me. Think better about yourself—won't you get in trouble with Deputy Chief if you seek me out like that?"

'Why do I feel like am a part of some cliche melodrama?' The overabundance of love in the air made Eve cough in her fist. The sound spooked the lovebirds, who forgot about Eve's presence again.

Ellin blinked, before turning towards Xia with an embarrassed smile. "Just remember that anything that happened is not your fault. I will leave with Eve now to the outside, but we will return in a week. Just keep safe until then, alright?"

"I will." Xia nodded; her cheeks became dusted with a light pink blush. "I will wait for you."

After that meeting, nobody else tried to stop Eve and Ellin from leaving the base. As usual, Ellin took the seat on the back, while Eve worked on the pedals. Sometimes, they would stop so Ellin could check on the rough paper map he had with him. This map only had the nearest to Chainsaws Base regions noted on it and was very schematic, but was better than nothing.

At day they travelled; at nights Eve would enter the strange state of redacting her core's code. Now that she knew about powerful threats that awaited her upon returning to the base, she concentrated on increasing her personal power as quickly as possible. Each night she would sleep for ten or twelve full hours and awake a little better, faster, and stronger. Still, it wasn't enough, and it definitely wasn't going to magically increase Eve's capabilities to that of a level three.

As the two of them rode through another small town, Ellin looked around for the landmarks. Noticing one of the worn-down, but still readable street signs, he perked up. "We are almost near the place we are looking for. You are great at pedalling, Eve!"

"You should get yourself your own bike, Ellin," Eve said in an icy voice.

Ellin let out a short laugh. "Don't worry, I will look out for it! Bikes sure are convenient, but finding a set of whole tires is a pain nowadays. You must have been quite lucky to get yours, Eve."

She hummed in agreement. Indeed, when she was putting this bike back on track, most of the tires in the store weathered down and didn't hold air. So now Eve drove carefully to avoid bursting ones she found—getting a spare in the post-apocalyptic world wouldn't be a simple thing to do.

A sudden feeling of danger washed over Eve, making her hit the brakes before she realised what she is doing. Ellin, who didn't expect it, bumped his head into hers with an humph. In the next moment, a slim, crooked figure jumped on the road in front of Eve, only a dozen meters away. It looked like just another walking corpse, but its movements were smooth and natural, as if it wasn't weighted down by its stiff muscles and joints.

Ellin looked out from behind Eve's back and his eyes widened in shock. "A roaming zombie. It's level three! Quick, Eve, scare it off!"

Eve shook her head negatively and got down from the bike. 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.' When the two of them rode before, she intentionally didn't release her scary aura all the time, only shooing the zombies away when they were in her way. That was because she wished to meet a higher-levelled zombie and take its core for study. She hoped to find someone with level two, though. Level three was risky.

The zombie slightly turned its head. Remains of long hair on it signalled that once it was a woman, but the rest of its body was unrecognisable under the layers of rags that once were clothes. "Data sources located. Amount—two. Relative power low and… error. Relative power low and less low. Choosing priority target..."

Eve narrowed her eyes at it. "Let's try to kill it. If we start losing, I will scare it away."

Ellin jumped from the bike too. "You don't even have a weapon, Eve, how are you going to fight?"

Instead of replying, Eve darted to his side and took a sword out of a crude sheath on his hip. "Now I have! And you have your water power. Use it if it can help."

Before Ellin could do anything else but gasp in protest and indignation, the zombie focused its dried eyes at Eve. She could swear she saw a slight glimpse of light within. "Priority target is chosen. Relative power is less low. Commencing the attack."

In the next moment, the zombie dashed to Eve with outstretched hands. Its rotten fingers curved like claws that reached towards Eve's head. Without thinking, she jumped back and rose her sword to defend herself, only for the zombie to grip the blade with both hands with no care for the integrity of its fingers.

Now its horrid face was less than a meter away from Eve's. The zombie bared its leftover teeth at her and she saw the glimpse of green light in its pupils again. At the same time, a greenish liquid dripped from its fingers. Whenever it touched the sword in Eve's hands, the steel it was made from corroded and darkened with a sizzling sound.

A whip made from water hit zombie's hands, forcing it to let the sword go in order to avoid getting hit. From where he stood at the side, Ellin lashed out with his strange weapon again, but this time the zombie blocked the attack with its forearm. He knew his whip couldn't deal any actual damage to the zombie, but it could create some distractions at least.

"Be careful!" Ellin shouted. "Do you even know how to fight with a sword?"

Eve swung the blade in her hands at the zombie's hand as hard as she could. It retreated a step and raised its hands again, but this time Eve retracted the sword before the zombie's acid could corrode it further. "This is my first time!"

Ellin was so speechless that he forgot to keep attacking for a second. The zombie used it to claw at Eve; when it swung its hands, small drips of acid fell on her clothes, instantly filling the air with a smell of burning synthetics. She cursed under her nose and jumped away, hoping that the acid wouldn't reach her skin.

"Forget it, Eve! Use your power!" Ellin whipped at the zombie again, but this time the water rope coiled around the zombie's legs, stopping it from launching itself at Eve again.

'And miss this great chance to attack?' A corner of Eve's lips curved slightly. Wasting no more time, she rushed at the zombie, but this time, instead of targeting its head, she went for its legs.

The sword in her hands had black spots in the middle of its length, but only its outward layer was corroded; its core was still strong, and its blade sharp. The zombie tried to evade, but Ellin's whip tied its legs in place. For a fraction of a second, Eve thought that this fight was going to be over after her strike… But in the last moment the zombie suddenly freed its legs with a splash and send a kick at Eve's side.

"Eve!"

It landed straight on its target, sending Eve's flying on the ground with stars exploding in her eyes. Somehow she didn't let go of her sword. The zombie rushed to send a finishing strike at her, and Eve raised the sword to block. At the same time, Ellin reformed his broken whip and swung it towards its neck in a late attempt to stop the zombie.

Eve was lying on the ground, with a pulsing pain in her ribs and a sword that she didn't know how to fight with in her hands; a mad zombie was going to kill her with his bare hands and acid superpower and then dig out the nanite core in her brain. 'I tried to bite more than I can chew… Activate false signals.'

The zombie froze in its spot. The green light blinked sporadically within its murky pupils. "Warning! A threat detected! Calculating threat level… error—contradictory data. Further analysis required—error! Immediate retreat strongly recommended! Threat level… error—contradictory data. Further analysis required…"

Eve watched in stupor how the zombie talked itself into an infinite loop. 'Give more computing power to a smart person and he will become smarter, but give it to an artificial idiot, and it will become more idiotic!'