#henathan

I'll go with you... Even after I'm gone

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Prologue

His heavy eyelids fluttered open revealing large bright sable eyes His hazy consciousness gradually cleared The first thing he perceived was a pungent foul smell followed by the chilling cold of the surrounding air He pushed himself up from the wet cold clothes and looked around He found himself sitting in a room The dim light from a candle lit on a table in the corner was enough to illuminate the blood-stained walls the scattered belongings, and the dirty tiled floor

The young man groaned softly as he felt a sprain in his back He twisted slightly to loosen his muscles glancing around the center of the room where a dilapidated metal bed stood broken in two Beside it lay scattered pieces of damaged and unusable medical equipment The writing at the top of a patient's examination sheet he picked up indicated that this was a hospital

By now, the dilapidated state of the place is no less surprising than how he even ended up here

His slender fingers massaged the back of his neck as he recalled the events that had just transpired... He remembered that he and his friend were trying to escape the city but were attacked by a group of people

The sound of gunfire still echoed in his ears. Numerous walking corpses appeared amidst the chaotic battle causing them to become separated Just as he was about to be shot someone saved him—a handsome man with sharp features but scarred his eyes red and filled with bloodshot capillaries it was a zombie who pulled him out of the precarious situation

"Are you awake?"

A deep, cold voice jolted him back to the present Turning he saw the person he had just been thinking about opening the door and entering His eyes widened as the other person stepped closer and instinctively he took a step back

"Don't come any closer!" His face was panicked

"I told you to stay away!" He tried to look for a way to escape

Suddenly, his dark brown eyes spotted a knife lying under the bed He hurriedly grabbed it gripping it tightly unable to control his trembling The figure moved closer and closer and fear drove the young man to plunge the knife into the zombie's chest

Stab!

Cloudy red eyes stared at the terrified face, devoid of any pain The young man cried out as his wrists were seized the twisting force forcing him to release his weapon A strong, foul smell made him nauseous yet he could only turn his face away

"Next time you kill someone, stab them in the head" he said, touching the young man's forehead

The young man frowned at the suggestion, watching the broad back as he walked to lock the door The other man didn't resemble the zombies he'd encountered in the city Although their appearance was similar reaction to humans was completely different showed no signs of hunger or aggression and could speak coherently seemed harmless He continued to watch the young zombie until he settled down against the door closing the exit behind him

"Don't go yet If you leave now, you won't survive Don't forget besides those dead men, there are assassins..."

The way the question was phrased made the listener stand there with their lips pressed together in a straight line hesitating for a moment

Finally, he moved to sit in another corner of the room as far away from the zombies as possible Even though a zombie had saved his life he was still wary

Hours passed in silence neither spoke a word Only the young man huddled with his knees hugged to his chest occasionally glanced at the other figure He saw the zombie staring intently at the wound on its left arm for a while noticing it was a bite mark and the zombie seemed particularly interested in it

What has this person been through?

It was the young man himself who couldn't bear the eerie atmosphere anymore At this point the zombie probably didn't intend to harm him if it wanted to it would have done so while he was unconscious After observing the situation for another ten minutes the other party still showed no sign of taking its eyes off the wound

"Uh..."

The red eyes turned towards the sound, eyebrows raised in suspicion

"Hey... um..." He waved, offering what he thought was his most natural smile but it looked too contorted for a zombie to believe He knew how repulsive he looked and he understood if the young man was scared

"What's up"

"Thank you so much for saving my life"

The cold, emotionless young zombie stared at the young man who kept his head down avoiding eye contact He murmured softly to himself yet one thing was clear in his ears gratitude Seeing the pale face flush and the cold air escaping his lips he felt an inexplicable strangeness The lump in his left chest which he thought was completely dead began to beat slowly yet annoyingly loudly He suspected the cold air was causing his body to be behaving abnormally

The smell of fresh meat was so tempting and made me hungry but my brain told me not to eat this man

"um"

The response made the young man look up, his smile widening with joy only to blink in surprise when the dazed zombie averted its gaze He had hoped to have someone to talk to but the atmosphere had become even more gloomy than before

He then glanced at the profile of the zombie sitting by the doorway a sharp prominent nose breathing slowly... blond hair covered its face its skin was pale and haggard with long scratches around its neck its tall large body looked withered and pitiful

Strangely enough, I don't feel scared anymore...

"We should try exploring the hospital"

“Why are you exploring? Aren’t you afraid of encountering them again?” the zombie retorted, its gaze still fixed on the candlelight on the table

The young man saw the wounds on the other's body and couldn't help but worry he wanted to be of some use

"That's because I thought you should get your wound treated This hospital should have something that can help."

The empty red eyes glanced at the young man again He didn't know why but the warm smile made him want to smile too though he only shrugged at the young man's words

"Those medicines didn't help my wounds heal"

The young man stared at the cold, emotionless zombie for a moment, before sighing in defeat

Okay, I shouldn't pester you, so let's change the subject to introducing a representative instead

“I’m Byers—uh… Jonathan Byers, Nice to meet you.”

"...ONE"

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Hi! I'm waiting for AO3 to approve my new account