After an unknown amount of time, a wave of soreness and a strong smell of blood jolted Merle awake from his coma.
He snapped his eyes open. His vision was still a bit blurry, and he only felt something cold and heavy pressing down on him.
He opened his eyes—
A face so decayed it was almost nothing but a skull, with two maggots crawling out of the eye sockets, was pressed right against his! Those black, hollow sockets seemed to be staring into his very soul!
"Shit!"
Merle's soul nearly leaped out of his body! He spoke elegantly as he subconsciously used all his strength to violently shove the cold corpse off him!
Then, he scrambled back against the wall, panting heavily, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would jump out of his throat.
Immediately after, he discovered that on his left and right sides, there were two more rotting, stinking Walker corpses lying there!
"Goddammit!"
Merle jumped up almost by reflex, kicking those eyesores away one by one with refined gentleness.
What the hell was this?!
Was he surrounded by Walkers?!
But soon, Merle realized these things were already dead as could be, and only then did he start huffing and puffing with lingering fear.
As his brain gradually cleared, memories from before he passed out flooded back like a tide.
That mysterious child, those few lethal glints of cold light, and the wound on his wrist that had been carefully bandaged... He looked down at himself, then at the blond boy curled up on the ground in a deep sleep, his face displaying an extremely complex expression.
"I... I was actually saved by a brat whose hair hasn't even grown in yet?"
"Tsk, is a kid this small already killing Walkers?" Merle looked at Louis with some irritation. "The world really is getting weirder and weirder..."
He didn't dwell on it too much. He pushed open the door leading to the rooftop and checked the sky outside.
At this moment, an orange-red sunset was staining the horizon, and the sun was slowly sinking behind the skyline of distant high-rises.
He walked out a few steps, using the building's height to overlook the streets below.
The Walkers that had originally gathered around this building seemed to have dispersed, but the overall number of Walkers on the distant streets had increased. Moreover, as the light dimmed, their movements were clearly becoming more active.
Nightfall would arrive very soon.
He couldn't leave rashly now. Merle made an immediate judgment.
He returned inside the building and began to re-examine his surroundings, trying to figure out what that mysterious brat had done while he was unconscious.
First was his wound.
He cautiously tried to move his fingers and found that the situation was much better than he had imagined.
"Huh?"
Merle had originally prepared himself for the possibility that even if this hand could be saved, it would be left with permanent damage.
"He actually knows some medical skills... Hmph, no wonder he dared to run out here alone and seek death."
His gaze fell once more on the Walker corpses that had been dragged over, then looked at Louis's face, which was pale without a hint of blood. After thinking for a moment, he roughly guessed Louis's idea.
The kid must have seen he was unconscious and that his own strength wasn't enough to deal with more Walkers. So, he had the sudden inspiration to drag these disgusting things over and cover Merle with them, wanting to use the stench of the corpses to mask the scent of a living person.
"Hmph, as expected, a kid is just a kid."
The corner of Merle's mouth curled into a self-satisfied arc. "No matter how smart the brain is, the physical fitness is still lacking."
"In critical moments, you still have to rely on a powerful man like me!"
Just as he was about to wake Louis up, he heard a faint, rhythmic "beep-beep" sound coming from downstairs.
This instantly put Merle on high alert.
He first piled the Walker corpses back around Louis to hide him completely, then picked up the fire axe Louis had tossed aside and cautiously crept downstairs.
Following the direction of the sound, Merle soon arrived at a window downstairs.
When he saw the scene outside the window, his eyes widened instantly.
Outside a large gap in a floor-to-ceiling window downstairs, an alarm clock hung, continuously emitting noise.
Under the "temptation" of that alarm clock, one Walker after another was scrambling to "jump" out of the gap like moths to a flame, crashing onto the concrete ground below and turning into piles of immobile rotten meat.
Given that there weren't many living people in this building currently, it was obvious who had made this device based on the current situation.
"Holy shit!"
Merle lowered the axe, wiped his face, and muttered in a voice only he could hear, "This brat's crooked ideas... actually have some damn merit."
He leaned against the wall, watching the "Walker Base Jumping Show" still playing out below, his heart filled with complexity.
He had just been feeling smug, thinking the child was just a child after all—no matter how smart, he'd still need an adult like him to clean up the mess at the critical moment.
But looking at it now, he was the "mess" that needed cleaning up.
Not only had the kid saved his life with those darts, but while he was unconscious, the kid had even resolved the crisis downstairs.
Although this method wasn't very sophisticated, for a child, it could already be considered excellent.
"Fuck..."
Merle irritably scratched his short buzz cut. "Are the brats these days all fucking monsters?"
The kids at the camp aren't like this!?
Forget it. Merle didn't bother to think more about it. Either way, this kid had saved his life; they were on the same side now.
At worst, he'd just look out for him more in the future, treating it like he'd adopted a son... The next day.
Louis felt his head was groggy, and he slowly woke up amidst a series of violent jolts.
He opened his eyes and found himself lying on a broad back, with the surrounding scenery rapidly receding.
"Where... where is this?" His voice was still a bit hoarse.
"Oh? Sleeping Beauty is finally awake?"
Merle's raspy, slightly teasing voice came from above. "You sure can sleep, kid. You slept from yesterday afternoon all the way until this morning."
Louis subconsciously felt behind him. When he felt that familiar hiking backpack was still there, he finally felt at ease.
He then realized he was currently being carried on Merle's back like a large accessory.
"Put me down, I can walk myself."
"Don't be a pain, kid," Merle said without looking back. "Just stay put."
"But, I really want to throw up right now..." Louis said weakly.
The aftereffects of excessive physical and mental exhaustion hadn't completely passed; his stomach was indeed turning over right now.
"Shit! Then why the fuck didn't you say so earlier!"
Hearing this, Merle immediately grumbled and put him down.
Louis leaned against the wall and dry-heaved a few times, but nothing came out.
He took this opportunity to quickly rummage through his backpack. After confirming the Magic Book, wand, and other items were intact, he finally let out a complete sigh of relief.
Seeing his protective behavior over his belongings, Merle couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Fine, stop looking."
He had already gone through the bag once yesterday while the kid was sleeping and hadn't found anything useful at all, just some food and medicine.
"In this world today, no one is going to be interested in those crappy fairy tale books of yours."
"Open your eyes and look at the world, kid. This stuff works much better." As he spoke, he patted an unloaded handgun tucked into his waist.
"But these books are mementos from my parents," Louis said softly.
Merle's smile froze on his face, and the words he was about to say got stuck in his throat.
Taking advantage of the other's silence, Louis pulled a box of fever medicine and a bottle of water from his bag.
He knew his current condition was likely physical weakness and a low-grade fever caused by overdrawing his stamina to cast spells.
He unscrewed the cap, took a sip of water, and was about to take the medicine when that churning feeling in his stomach surged up again, making him dry-heave uncontrollably once more.
"Hey! What's wrong? Are you sick?" Seeing this, Merle immediately got agitated. "Dammit! Don't you dare die on me here!"
Louis managed to suppress the nausea with difficulty, stuffed the pill into his mouth, and took another large gulp of water.
But the nausea hit again. Just as he was about to spit the medicine out, a rough hand suddenly covered his mouth and forcefully tilted his chin upward.
"Don't you dare spit it out! This stuff is precious! You better swallow!" Merle said fiercely.
Just then, a cold voice filled with anger came from the street corner behind them.
"Hey! You bastard! Let go of that child!"