Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Zane and the girls searched throughout most of the day for an ideal location to spend the night. After all, they had essentially become nomads after abandoning Elena's childhood home. And it was during these travels that the trio came across several encounters with the survivors of the safe zone.

After blood crystals became evenly distributed among survivors, there were many who had taken the risk associated with them in order to gain more power, power they hoped would help them survive in this chaotic new world they found themselves in.

Others, of course, refused to take the risk, which was understandable as there was a 80% chance that one would become infected, something for which there was currently no cure for, nor was there any hope that there would ever be one.

Thus, the Awakened quickly became the protectors of humanity, and the stigma previously associated with them as "corrupted" quickly faded into history. But Zane had no idea about any of this, as he and the girls had been isolated from these fundamental changes to society.

They were like rabid wolves, coming across another pack of wolves who were encroaching on their territory. They were extremely cautious around these survivors, avoiding making contact with all of them.

But there was only so long they could avoid these awakened parties who set out to advance their levels. And in the end, Zane and the girls were forced into a situation to act with them. This group was not what Zane expected they would be.

The group could be mistaken for military, but they also could be mistaken for civilians. After all, they were armed with a mixture of guns and blunt weapons, and had also dressed in a mixture of camouflage and civilian clothing.

They appeared to be using their firearms secondary to their abilities. A philosophy that Zane and the girls practiced the exact opposite of. When Zane and the girls came face to face with this group, they immediately raised their firearms at them. Unlike in the past, these survivors were not hostile and immediately tried to defuse the situation, much to the surprise of Zane.

"Woah, hold on! We're survivors just like you! You guys aren't marauders, are you?"

Zane was tempted to pull the trigger and end the lives of these strangers, rather than risk trusting them. But Elena quickly spoke up confirming they were not marauders, and instead were simply survivors who had bad luck with other people.

"You think we're like those assholes? What are you blind? We're clearly just survivors, but you lot, I can't say the same! The last time I ran into someone wearing camouflage, they tried to kill us!"

After the safe zone underwent a revolution, camouflage uniforms, and body armor were distributed to the awakened, and because of that, some of these guys looked like soldiers, while others had camo mixed into their attire.

This wasn't exactly abnormal to Zane and the girls, as they previously came across a unit from the safe zone who sported a mix of uniforms and civilian attire as well. But that was back when the mayor was running things.

Because of this, the survivors immediately understood the source of the confusion and tried to inform Zane and the others about the recent change in management within the safe zone.

"Wait, hold on! We're not like that! Things are different now. The old city government was overthrown. The safe zone has no leaders anymore. We all work together to help one another survive.

Those goons you ran into in the past no longer exist. We just inherited their equipment, that's all."

Judging by the way these people spoke, they definitely were not military. There was also no real structure to their organization as a squad. Because of this, Zane was curious. After all, this would explain the existence of a slave trade, which the girls had previously run into.

After all, the safe zone was a commune without any real leadership, which meant that there were probably few rules, if any, to follow. The idea that people could openly sell slaves for blood crystals was not entirely unreasonable if there was no real force to prevent the re-emergence of the ancient practice.

Thus, Zane was quick to ask about just this.

"If what you say is true, then what exactly are the rules of the safe zone? Is Slavery permitted? Because we just ran across some marauders who were carrying live cargo, trying to pawn them off at the Safe Zone..."

There was a guilty look on one of the survivors' faces as he confirmed this was true. Trying to justify it.

"All are welcome in the safe zone, and it is protected by groups like ours. There aren't really many rules to follow, but the ones that exist are basic things like a prohibition on theft and murder. If you do either of those things, groups like ours will make sure you pay the price.

As for slavery…. That's a grey issue. Anything that happens beyond the boundaries of the safe zone is not our concern. There might be some people selling slaves, but if they are, they are doing it underground.

Anything and everything is for sale within the safe zone, and naturally, blood crystals are the price. Honestly, I'm surprised there are still people like you out here who have survived for so long without the security provided by the safe zone…

You should all come back with us. We were just about to head that way. Even if you don't want to stay, there are some useful things you can purchase there with blood crystals, and if you have some nice loot, you can also sell it there for a fair price."

Zane had to admit, they had some items that could be sold off for blood crystals. But more importantly, he was actually interested in this slave trade. He had a hard time trusting anyone other than Elena and Olivia. But from what he had seen, the Undead were evolving alongside humanity.

And though he and the girls had been able to avoid more powerful creatures like abominations so far, it was really only a matter of time before they ended up fighting more than one of those things. At their current rate, such a thing would most certainly result in their deaths.

Thus, Zane was actually interested in acquiring a slave. After all, if he could control them, and force them to awaken an ability, then that would be another number added to their group. With this in mind, he lowered his rifle and silently ordered his girls to do the same with a slight nod of his head.

Once Zane and the others were no longer outwardly hostile, the other group of survivors introduced themselves, with the leader of them appearing to be a young and friendly man in his twenties.

"I'm Garth, by the way. I know things have become strange, but I think you will find that the safe zone in its current state is a place where you can find refuge! Well, you guys get in that Humvee of yours and follow us back. It's not that far away from where we currently are.'

And just like that, Zane and the girls had decided to enter the safe zone, something they never would have considered if it was still under the control of the government. But in its current anarchist style of governance, they figured that at the very least they should check it out.

Elena suspected that Zane was going there for reasons she could not understand, and thus while she sat behind him in their vehicle, she was quick to ask about what his plan was.

"It's not like you to play well with others Zane. Don't tell me we are actually going to stay in the safe zone…"

Zane shook his head before raising three fingers. Where he then expressed the reasons why they were going to visit the safe zone.

"First and foremost, we need to find a place to lie low for several hours. One where we can easily protect Olivia as she consumed the blood crystals we currently have. Second, we have some supplies that are unnecessary, but might be worth something to someone else.

These can be exchanged for blood crystals, which we can either use to buy some much needed ammunition, or perhaps something else. Three, I'm interested in these alleged underground slave markets. We might be able to find a new helper, one that we can count on not to cut our throats when we sleep.

After all, things are getting more dangerous, and in case you haven't noticed, there is a significantly higher amount of howlers among the undead population than there were when we were hunting them for the achievements just a few days ago.

If my theory is correct, then the dead are evolving at a higher rate… After all there are more awakened going out and risking their lives, and their hearts might be the key for an undead to evolve, in the same way that the Undead's blood crystals help us level up.

This was a harrowing thought, one that caused Olivia and Elena to remain entirely silent throughout the rest of their journey to the safe zone.