Chapter 16: Before night falls-Sa
I was astonished when I saw Nayuta split a zombie in half with a single swing of her sword. As the blade cut through flesh and bone hideous amounts of blood poured out violently like a fountain. I mean she has always been stronger than most girls and even boys but...isn't this ridiculous?
Normally my tummy would start hurting at the sight of blood but Nayuta looked strangely beautiful when soaked in so much blood, almost like a painting. Her face was stained with blood that shone in contact with the small red bright emanating from her sword and the smile on her face was nothing but captivating.
Most people find her scary or hard to approach but once you become close with her not even the straightest woman alive could resist her captivating charm. Of course, I was not an exception.
"I think the Americans would say I am a simp...and I couldn't deny it"
It is a bit embarrassing to say but thats how I feel, and judging by the faces of the other two they were just the same, well mainly Haruto, Touji is mostly uninterested.
"Why are you guys just looking at me for?"
I blushed when I realized she caught me looking at her lovingly but she only smirked at me, which only caused me to blush even more. However Touji had to break the mood.
"You just sliced a man in half. What do you expect us to do?"
"...Asshole"
I murmured that, thankfully he didn't hear it. I don't want another fight like before. It is fun to tease him at first but he is easily irritated and it just turns into a pain to deal with. Nayuta didn't seem to care about his words though, on the contrary she looked amused. Is not surprising really, she's always like this
"I know you're just jealous~"
They began to banter friendly unlike the kind of fights that happen with me, but for some reason Touji and I simply can't get along that well. I mean I consider him a friend, one of my best friends actually but there are a lot of things and situations in where we simply don't click the right way, we are opposites in many aspects.
Nayuta took a towel out of her bag to clean the blood that got on her face. It would be better to wet the towel with water first but we don't have much to begin with,we barely have enough drinkable water to last us for a few days.
"Let's continue, it's starting to get dark"
The original plan was to get to the other side of the city by night, but it was almost night and we barely got to the center of town. We kept on walking with Nayuta and Haruto on the front and Touji and I on the back. It didnt take long for us to reach what appeared to be the central square but we didnt dared to enter because it was flooded with corpses and zombies.
"It looks like the central square of Madrid"
Haruto who enjoys watching traveling videos quickly associates it with Spain. The whole place looked like the aftermath of a war. There were a lot of zombies roaming the ruined square and an even bigger amount of dead bodies covering the floor, easily enough to make a mountain of corpses. The four three storey buildings that surrounded the square were in ruins, with one of them being completely burned and another one having partially collapsed.
It looks like the place was once a site for commerce and the buildings probably worked as storehouses.
"We definitely can't go there, we will be devoured within seconds"
Touji was pessimistic as always or so i would like to say but is just logic, i dont want to go there either...actually im feeling really bad just by looking at the tragedy in front of me. My tummy hurts...
"We won't go inside, but there appears to be some government building closeby. We could go there for now."
She pointed her sword east where we saw what looked like a mix of a castle and an old city hall. We didn't have much options so we began heading towards it.
The building in question was uh...weird, for not calling it ugly. Even though the roof looked quite fancy with intricate patterns and statues the rest of the building was plain and boring, which in itself wasn't bad. The problem was the walls that surrounded the building.
"It looks like they didn't know what architectural coherence means"
The walls were an eyesore of uneven heights and protruding stones that looked crude and poorly made. Time hadn't been kind to the building either. The walls were covered in moss and moisture marks with some parts of the structure being collapsed. Still even if it was ugly it seemed safer than the other nearby buildings as most of them looked like they would fall at any moment or were flooded with zombies.
"I have a bad feeling about this place..."
Haruto seemed preoccupied. It's not like I don't understand where he is coming from. The building looks somewhat ominous and disturbing but again there wasn't any other option. There may be some building or house that is still safe but night will probably arrive before we can find it if it even exists.
We ventured inside and thankfully the doors weren't locked. The interior was simple but it still looked more elegant than the rest of the city even if the outside of it was ugly as hell. It was still deteriorated though.
As we traveled through the corridors we found multiple blood stains but no corpses or zombies which was weird. There wasn't anything interesting on the first floor either. This place was a government building after all. The only things we found were offices and old documents.
"There are two other floors...should we split and search each floor separately?"
Nayuta's idea was like the trope of a horror movie. Awful. That's the worst thing that we could do in this scenario...but on the other side, spending time alone with her doesn't sound bad.
"What? Thats stu-"
"I'm all for it, let's do it!"
I interrupted Touji who glared at me with killing intent. I can feel cold sweat falling down my neck but I'll just ignore it, yep.
"Great, then Haruto and I will check the third floor. You two can check the second floor."
"Eh? Wait, I want to go with you!"
I want to spend time with her but more than that I don't want to be with Touji, not right now!
"I think you two should spend some time together, you'll been too aggressive to each other lately"
She wasn't smirking or anything like that so she obviously was saying that as some form of concern rather that for her own amusement, I couldn't get angry because of that but I still don't want to go with Touji!
"Pretty boy, with me!"
"Eh? Oh I'm pretty boy..."
Nayuta took Haruto and went upstairs before I could further object, leaving me alone with Touji who just glared daggers at me without saying a word...wait why is he grabbing his sword with two hands?
"Fuck this!"
I ran to the second floor before Touji could swing that thing at me, I don't think he was trying to kill me or anything but giving how angry he looked I bet he sees nothing wrong with breaking a bone or two and I'm not staying there to discover it.
"Come back here you little shit!"
As soon as I heard him say that I dashed to the closest room and closed the door. Luckily for me the door has a simple slide lock made of metal and wood so I'm safe. He tried to open it but he isn't particularly strong so he couldn't open it.
The room I entered was really big and full of bookshelves, like a small library. The library is not the best condition but still looked good.
"I'm not a fan of books but this place looks interesting."
I checked the bookshelves but many of the books were in terrible conditions. The room is one thing but the books were in an awful state with only some of them being legible.
"Legal documents, law books, accounting books and...is this a fairytale?"
Among the boring books there was one that appeared to be a fairytale. The name of the book was [The rabbitman Chapter I] and the cover depicted a tall man dressed elegantly with the head of a white rabbit surrounded by children. The eyes of the rabbitman were bright red and it was looking directly at me so it was kind of disturbing. Still I opened the book and started reading it.
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[Once upon a time, in a quaint village nestled between ancient woods, there lived a mysterious being known as the Rabbitman. Tall and elegantly dressed, the Rabbitman roamed the moonlit paths with the head of a white rabbit, its bright red eye piercing the darkness. Unbeknownst to the villagers, he was a sinister servant of the Moon God Dreth.
Little Tom, a curious and innocent child, often wandered near the woods, where the Rabbitman lurked in the shadows. One fateful night, as the silver moon hung low in the sky, Tom encountered the Rabbitman by a twisted oak tree.
"Hello, little one," the Rabbitman spoke in a gentle voice, his red eye gleaming. "Would you like to see wonders beyond your wildest dreams?"
Intrigued, Tom nodded, unaware of the malevolence behind the Rabbitman's charming facade. The creature led him deeper into the woods, where the moon's glow cast an eerie light on the twisted branches.
As they reached a clearing, the Rabbitman revealed his true intentions. With a wicked cackle, he declared, "You are now mine, dear child, bound to serve the Moon God Dreth forever."
Tom trembled in fear, realizing the friendly guise was a deceptive trap. The Rabbitman's red eye glowed brighter, casting an ominous glow on the helpless child. In a twisted ritual, the Rabbitman offered Tom to Dreth, sealing the child's fate in darkness.
The village awoke the next morning to find Tom missing. Whispers of the Rabbitman's malevolence spread, but no one dared venture into the woods. The moonlit paths remained haunted, and the villagers lived in fear, their once-tranquil nights forever tainted.]
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The book was really small and had many pictures so there wasn't much to read. The rabbitman seemed like nothing more than an old fairytale meant to scare children and it was probably about kidnapping. It wasn't interesting but it was making me uncomfortable, still I decided to keep it.
The only thing that really catched my attention was the mention of a god which was weird to see in a fairytale like this. Moon God Dreth...just the name makes me feel weird for some reason.
After putting the book in my bag I kept searching for other books in the library. I found a book named [Alchemara Volume I] which seemed to be some weird medical recipe book and a scroll that's apparently the blueprint of this building.
"So there is a basement?"
According to the blueprints there is an entrance to a basement somewhere in the first floor but I don't know how to read this thing so I'm not sure where it is.
"I've been here for a while so I don't think Touji is still mad at me...atleast not as much as before."
I packed the Alchemara and the blueprint and went to open the door. I just hope I'm right and don't end up with a broken kneecap...
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