As the sun began to fall, the soft clip-clop of a horse's steps could be heard on the outskirts of the city. Arthur looked up at the towering buildings ahead. "We already arrived, eh," he murmured. He dismounted Ravenna, unstrapped his bow and rifle, and grabbed the small duffel bag from her back, slinging everything onto himself; his quiver was already set. Arthur then turned to Ravenna. "Hope you won't make too much noise, girl." Understanding that even an intelligent animal could be unpredictable, he received a soft huff from Ravenna. Arthur smiled. "Good girl," and began walking. Ravenna followed closely. Up ahead, he spotted a fenced-in area with a small parking space and a gate.
"Looks like we found our spot for today, Ravenna," he said, pulling her rein. He led her inside, slowly closed the gate, and tied her in a grassy spot that offered good cover. Arthur then peered inside what appeared to be an old firm office, seeing several walkers standing within. Noticing a door left ajar, he decided on a silent sneak. He went around the building in a light jog, his steps so light he felt like air. He quietly and discreetly opened the door and slipped inside. Turning to his right, he opened both palms, and the hidden blades shot out. His left arm went to the temple of the nearest walker—thwack—as the blade slid inside. Simultaneously, he silently lunged at a second walker that was turning in his direction, thrusting the right hidden blade upward into its chin—stab.
Without pausing, he shook both gloved hands to fling the blood away from the blades before retracting them. Arthur unsheathed his dirk with astonishing speed. He lunged at the walkers who had heard the bodies drop. The dirk went into a walker's eye socket with a sickening thwack, followed by a wet rip of flesh and a faint splatter of blood against the wall. He instantly lifted his leg and kicked another approaching walker, smashing its head in the process. Pulling the dirk out, he agilely threw it at the last remaining walker—'And that's a headshot'—ending the threat.
Arthur smirked at his work. 'Not even considered light work,' he thought, still astonished by the abilities granted by his new body and its boon. He began pulling the bodies outside and piling them up. After cleaning the office for a bit, he noticed it was already dark outside. "I guess it's time to head out and look around, maybe find a map in the process," he mumbled. He went outside the office and gave some reassuring pats to the lying Ravenna. "Stay here, girl, I'm just gonna look for something." Ravenna responded with a trusting nicker. Arthur smiled, knowing the sound meant affection.
After petting her one more time, he went out through the fence and began silently trekking in the dark. He attempted to use Cognition, which surprisingly worked on his first try. 'I thought Hunter's Cognition couldn't be achieved on their first try?' He quickly realized the similarity between Spirit Vision and the Assassin's Eagle Vision, meaning the skill was already partially internalized. 'So that's why I can activate it on my first try.' Arthur turned it off, then agilely and effortlessly scaled a three-story building like a cat. 'I'd like to repeat it one last time: Edward Kenway's body with his experience and a Sequence 9 Hunter enhancing my body complement each other and are quite overkill,' he thought with a smirk. Scaling three stories without tiring was certainly impossible for a normal man.
Arthur crouched at the corner of the building, closed his eyes, and then reopened them as the world turned to a grey filter. Scanning the area, he saw quite a lot of red, which signified the walkers.
As he continued looking around, he spotted a colorful silhouette crossing the street. 'I guess that means they're people, and not bitten, since there's no red among those colors.' His gaze turned serious, as this would be his first encounter with other humans. Arthur turned off his Spirit Vision and agilely descended the building like a phantom. "Whether they're hostile or innocent, let me find out," he told himself, his expression hardening. He took the bow off his back, leaving the rifle in the office for this stealth mission. With his heightened senses, his hand instinctively grabbed an arrow from the quiver, pulled the bowstring, and released it toward a walker who had no idea he was there—plop.
Arthur began discreetly moving toward the area where he had seen the person, killing walkers along the way. He didn't forget to retrieve the arrows after each kill. If someone had witnessed this scene, they would have shuddered, unable to determine where the arrows were coming from. Sadly, no one was there to witness the silent massacre. Arthur arrived at the spot where he last saw the person and immediately began looking for tracks on the ground. He sniffed the air: 'Rotten, rotten, rotten, sweet...' He smiled as he sniffed again, following an invisible footprint. Soon, he encountered fresh blood smeared on a wall. He inspected it. 'It's not from that person, but it has that person's scent. Perhaps he or she killed a walker earlier? Touched the wall with a bloodied hand.'
He looked around for additional clues. He closed his eyes and listened, unconsciously filtering out the groaning and erratic movements of the walkers. Then, he heard a muffled voice—a woman's. He turned toward the sound and began free-running toward the direction of the muffled voice. He sniffed the air again; this time, he smelled a much stronger scent originating from the two-story building in front of him. Arthur frowned and focused his hearing. Soon, he heard the distinct sounds of men's laughter, flesh smacking, and a voice choking. His face twisted in disgust as the word 'rape' flashed through his mind. "Fucking hell, it's already too late. I'll kill them for you. It's up to you if you want to live or not," Arthur said to himself, making a solemn promise to the woman he was too late to save.