The group travelled East, simply because West was towards the village that attacked them. They knew this because Atlas could calculate shadows.
They traversed the forests, with weapons out in case they encountered mobs. As they traveled, they saw that the plants had begun to gain vitality. If they stayed in a place to rest, they could even see the change with their bare eyes.
It was fascinating.
When they found Gouji fruits that had started to fruit, they immediately took a few, even if they weren’t ripe yet. Who knew how many more hours or days that’d take! They were starving!
They gobbled up whatever food they could. Atlas would advise them not to eat some unfamiliar plants, but fortunately, they weren’t too picky. They could eat leaves now. They even found it luscious because it wasn’t dried up for a change.
However, the surroundings were still recovering in the end, but they had to continue traveling. They also had to fight the mobs that had also appeared, so they really couldn’t let down their guard at all.
The next few hours were no less perilous than before, and they could only say they were lucky enough to have things to eat otherwise they would be eaten by monsters with fair ease.
"Are you okay?" Tim asked, lips parched and his cheek hollow. Hana found it a bit unsightly, but she knew she probably looked the same.
Thank goodness there were no mirrors.
At the same time, because she couldn’t see herself, she still had the image of her beautiful self.
Inevitably, her memory would almost always go back to the peaceful time in Terran.
She would even remember Ansel, the love of her life. They unfortunately had to break up when she went back to her country after the exchange program was over, but she still believed he was her soul mate.
They remained friends though and occasionally chatted online.
She really, really, missed him—and that life—so, so much.
In fact, before people become zombies, she was supposed to go back to Eden to do a surprise visit. She had dreamed of a grand reunion then, where Ansel would be touched with her gesture.
Maybe they would even do the deed.
She was still guarding her virginity, in fact, and not even her new boyfriend had a glimpse of intimacy from her. They had not even kissed.
Anyway, Tim, unaware of the comparison, religiously wiped her sweat with his hand. They didn’t have clean cloth left, but he made sure to clean his hands on the few relatively-clean patches of clothing he had on before doing so.
Hana smiled—she admitted she was a little touched—though internally she would compare his every movement to her handsome first boyfriend.
He was such a gentleman—Ansel was. He was so dreamy and treated women with so much charm. Her heart beat in excitement whenever she thought of it.
She felt a bit dazed like this, while another woman looked jealously at the care she was getting.
"Shame. It’s hard enough to survive on your own, brother, but you had to drag along another burden."
Tim sighed, rubbing his forehead. "You’re no different, sis."
"You!"
The others easily ignored the arguments. It wasn’t the first time. Besides, if they stopped it now, chances were: Tilda would zone in on them as the next target.
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