The cold wind bit at Lexus's face as he navigated the ruins of the city.
He turned a sharp corner, his breath hitching, and stopped. There, tucked inside a rusted delivery crate, was a bundle of cloth. A small, rhythmic cry broke the silence. Lexus knelt, peeling back the fabric to find a baby, its eyes wide and miraculously clear of the milky film that signaled infection.
"Great," Lexus whispered, his voice raspy. "Just what I needed. More baggage."
He tucked the child against his chest.
Miles away, Sophia was backed into a dead-end alley. Three parasites, their jaws unhinged and dripping with black bile, lunged toward her. She raised a lead pipe, knowing it wouldn't be enough.
A silver flash cut through the air. A blade severed the neck of the lead parasite before it could touch her. Yori stepped into the light, flicking blood from a combat knife.
"Move," Yori said shortly.
Yori replied, eyeing the horizon. "We need to find the source. The one who started this infection."
Sophia wiped sweat from her brow, her gaze hardening. "You think we can actually find them?"
"Eventually," Yori said. "But we both know it's going to take a long time. The trail is cold and the world is rotting."
Sophia nodded slowly. "Then let's start walking. I'm not stopping until I find the person who did this."
Lexus finally reached the perimeter of the base, the baby tucked securely in his jacket. As he crossed the threshold, a shadow moved above him.
Thwip.
An arrow buried itself inches from his boot. Lexus looked up. Perched on a shipping container was Kaori. She held a sleek recurve bow, her posture effortlessly elegant despite the grime of the apocalypse.
"You're late, Lexus," Kaori said. Her voice was cool and refined, matching the sharp, fancy cut of her tactical gear.
"I found something," Lexus replied, gesturing to the bundle.
Kaori leaped down, landing with the silent grace of a predator. She was fast unnervingly so, and she moved with a self-aware confidence that made most survivors flinch. She peered at the baby, her expression unreadable.
"A child? In this mess?" She adjusted her glove, her eyes flicking to Lexus's face, searching for any sign of his parasitic side taking over. "Noble of you. But remember, in this world, even the smallest things have a way of dragging you down."
Lexus tightened his grip on the child. "I'll manage."
"I know you will," Kaori said, a faint, cold smirk touching her lips. "That's why you're still alive.
The air inside the abandoned cathedral was thick with the smell of damp stone and old incense. Sunlight filtered through shattered stained glass, casting jagged patches of color over the pews.
"I still don't see why we're looking for these," Sophia whispered, her boots crunching on glass. "Holy water isn't going to kill a parasite, Yori. It's biology, not a movie."
Yori didn't answer immediately. He moved with a predatory stillness, his eyes scanning the shadows. Inside him, the parasite coiled, a cold weight in his chest that sharpened his senses. He reached into a smashed wooden cabinet near the altar and pulled out two items: a small, sealed vial of holy water and a heavy silver priest's necklace.
"It's not about the blessing," Yori said, his voice low and steady. "It's about what these represent to the people who still believe. Sometimes, a symbol is as sharp as a blade." He tucked the items into his jacket, his hand lingering near his heart where the infection lived.
They slipped out of the church, the hunger of the road driving them toward a nearby convenience store. The neon signs were long dead, but the shelves through the cracked windows looked miraculously full.
Before they could reach the door, a low, gravelly voice echoed from the shadows of the storefront.
"You should both go," the voice commanded.
A man stepped out, the leader of the scavengers. He didn't even bother looking at them, leaning casually against the doorframe while sharpening a hunting knife. His clothes were ragged but his posture was dominant. "Go now, or else you'll suffer the consequences."
Yori stopped, his expression unreadable. "And what if we don't?"
The leader finally looked up, a condescending smirk playing on his lips as he sized them up. "You're just teenagers. This isn't a game, kids. It's better for you to go find your own convenience store before things get messy."
Yori stepped forward, his eyes darkening as the parasite within him hummed in anticipation of a fight. The air around him seemed to grow cold.
"You think you can beat me?" Yori asked, his voice dropping an octave.
The scavenger leader stopped sharpening his knife, his smirk fading as he felt the sudden change in the boy's presence. He realized too late that he wasn't looking at a normal teenager.