She expected to his stamina to start waning, for him to slow down, but he never did. He ran with the relentless, machine like pace of a nightmare.
After what felt like an hour of relentless sprinting, the sounds of pursuit were long gone. Damian finally slowed, his footsteps echoing in a different kind of silence. He shouldered his way through the broken door of a large, derelict warehouse, its interior shrouded in shadows and dust.
He gently but quickly set her down on a cleared patch of concrete behind a stack of moldy crates, putting distance between them. Both of them were silent for a moment, listening for any sign of pursuit.
Only the faint drip of water and the whistle of wind through broken windows could be heard.
The adrenaline began to fade, leaving Kite trembling from exhaustion and shock. She stared at the zombie who had just saved her life, her mind becoming chaotic from the confusion of why this zombie is not attacking her.
Damian leaned against a metal pillar, not even breathing heavily. He looked at her, his glowing eyes the only clear thing in the dark.
"See?" he said, his voice already back to its usual dry rasp, though slightly less mocking. "Not all monsters are on the same team.
Kite scrambled back from him, her hands igniting with weak, flickering azure flames.
"Stay back."
Damian didn't move. He held his hands up in a lazy, mock-surrender gesture. "Relax. If I wanted you dead, I would've let that horde have you. It would've been easier would it." He glanced around the dark, dusty warehouse. "You are safe for now. So, you wanna tell me what you were running from that got
an entire horde sent as a follow up gift?"
Kite hesitated, her chest heaving. The hatred in her eyes with crushing grief.
Her flames sputtered and died.
"It... it wiped out my squad," she said, her voice hollow.
Damian playful demeanor faded, replaced by a sharp, focused intensity. "Go on."
"We were on a normal scouting and clearing mission, when we saw it." She hugged herself, a shudder wracking her frame.
"It wasn't like the others. It just... stood there. Watching us like we were something amusing. It was smaller, clothed... its eyes... it looked too intelligent. It didn't even bothered fighting us. It just raised its hand and commanded hordes of zombie."
She described what she encountered with broken words. The hordes of zombies moving as one perfect, coordinated army, how it flanked them, how waves of zombies were sacrificed just to wear them down
Then she continued…. "It was playing with us. They... they died to get me out." Her voice broke, and she fell silent.
Damian listened, not speaking through out. Then something clinked in his head. The description was too familiar. Clothed. Intelligent. Commanding a horde. A memory flashed in his mind, the overwhelming, dreadful aura he'd felt days ago, the one that made every instinct scream to run and hide.
A silent, urgent thought pulsed in his mind: System. Is it the same one?
The response was immediate, yet vague, as always.
"Analysis of subject description, is very close to a abomination with the Lord title."
He remembered the feeling of dread he'd felt then returned just from her description. It was the same one.
He looked back at Kite, his glowing eyes narrowed. "This thing you described... did being near it feel like... a weight on your mind? A pressure that made your instincts scream to run, not fight?"
Kite's head snapped up, her eyes wide with shock. "Y-Yes... How could you possibly know that?" How can you even... talk? What are you?"
Damian previously intense expression melted into a wide, sharp-toothed grin. He placed a dramatic hand on his chest.
"What am I? I'm hurt, Crispy! And here I thought we were bonding over mutual near-death experiences." He winked, a grotesque yet strangely expressive gesture.
"Let's just say I'm a premium model. Top-of-the-line intellect package, voicebox included. The others? They're the budget-friendly, mindless horde editions. You get what you pay for in the apocalypse."
He waved a clawed hand dismissively. "As for the how? Beats me. Woke up like this. Maybe I'm just built different. Maybe I ate a really smart guy first." His grin then turned even sharper. "Tasty and informative."
He let the joke hang in the air, a clear and deliberate action. He was telling her without telling her that he had no intention of giving her a real answer.
"The more important question isn't what I am," he said, " He jerked his thumb vaguely in the direction they had fled from. "but what it wants with you."
Kite hugged her knees to her chest, the flicker of her flames finally dying out completely, leaving her looking small and exhausted in the vast, dark warehouse.
"I don't know what it wants," she admitted, her voice barely a whisper. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just a loose end it's trying to tidy up." She looked up, her eyes meeting his glowing gaze. "You saved me. For whatever your own reasons are."
Then she took a shaky breath, steeling herself. "I propose a truce. A temporary alliance. At least until I'm healed and can... figure out what to do next. You provide the protection I can't right now, and I... I won't try to burn you to ash."
Damian grin returned, a flash of sharp teeth in the gloom. He gave an exaggerated, gracious bow.
"Crispy, I would be delighted. A temporary alliance with a human torch?
Sounds like a fun change of pace."
Satisfied by the fragile accord, the last of Kite's adrenaline seemed to drain away. The sheer physical and emotional toll of the day crashed down on her. Her eyelids grew heavy.
She shuffled back into a corner, as far from him as the small hiding spot allowed, and curled into a ball, using her arms as a pillow. She was asleep in moments, her breathing evening out into the shallow, trusting rhythm of the utterly exhausted. Damian watched her, his head tilted. The warehouse was silent except for the sound of her breathing and the distant, ever-present moan of the wind.
Well, this is new, he thought.
A new prompt appeared in his mind, the System text a soft blue in his vision.
[Main Quest: Turn your first human. Status: Target Acquired. Proximity: Optimal.]
He glanced at the sleeping girl, then dismissed the prompt with a mental grunt. Not yet. A deal's a deal. For now.
he was on guard duty.