Chapter 11

‘What in the creator’s name happened to this child for him to express such emotions in his eyes?’ Tsuki thought with surprise.

For a moment he could just continue to stare into the child’s eyes before Alphonse grunted at him. He came to his senses and moved his gaze to observe the rest of the child. His face was pale and waxy, his black hair was matted to his head and he looked like he had been through hell. Tsuki could clearly see that the child’s fingers were bloody. Some nails were missing too. This must have happened when he clawed his way up the tree or tried to defend himself.

The child stared at Tsuki’s red eyes while gripping the branch he was sitting on like a lifeline. He could clearly see that both of them were not human from their eyes, nails and teeth. The fact that they did not look like regular zombies and could command the zombies that were trying to eat him indicated that they were more dangerous.

Tsuki cautiously tried to move closer to the tree and stopped when he noticed the child tightening his grip on the branch.

Tsuki put his hands behind his back to make the child feel safer, “Hey there. Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you. My name is Tsuki. What is yours?”

The child did not answer and continued to stare at him. He looked totally exhausted and was clearly suffering from his injuries and zombie bites.

Tsuki: “You don’t look too good. You were bitten by zombies, right? I can help you. Will you allow me to come nearer?”

The child stared into Tsuki’s eyes as if to determine his sincerity. He then moved his gaze from Tsuki to quickly glance at Alphonse. Tsuki understood the flickering of his eyes and talked to reassure him.

“This is Alphonse. Don’t worry about him, he is my friend. He won’t hurt you.” Tsuki said then turned to his silent companion, “right Alphonse?”

Alphonse glanced at Tsuki before looking the child straight in the eyes and saying, “I won’t.”

The child opened his mouth and a sweet,soft voice asked, “Are you going to eat me?”

Before Tsuki could open his mouth, Alphonse quickly replied, “What is there to eat? You don’t even have much meat on you and you don’t look that appetising. Only those lowly zombies would be desperate enough to eat you. Don’t put us in the same basket as them. It is insulting.”

Tsuki sweatdropped at Alphonse’s response, ‘so that’s the only reason you agreed not to hurt him?!’

Tsuki said innocently, “Uh yeah. I have never even tasted human meat! So you can rest assured!”

If Tsuki had seen Alphonse’s shifty face when he said that, he would have instantly become suspicious of all the food he ate before. As for the small child, he clearly saw Alphonse’ face when Tsuki said that he never ate human meat, so he got a look from the intimidating zombie saying: ‘you talk and not even your bones will remain.’

The child was so scared that he nearly fell off the branch he was clinging to. Fortunately, he righted himself in time with a grimace of pain.

Tsuki concernedly walked closer, “careful! Allow me to come fetch you. You don’t look like you can hold on any longer. The longer we wait the worse your condition will become!” He turned his head towards Alphonse and whispered, “and you stop glaring at him! You are scaring him!”

Alphonse moodily turned his head away and continued to look at Tsuki from the corners of his eyes. Tsuki just rolled his eyes at him then turned to address the child, “earlier I heard you asking for help. We are willing to help. Will you allow us to?”

The child saw Alphonse mouth the word ‘we’ to himself with a blank face. The taller zombie looked reluctant to be associated with wanting to help.

Tsuki followed the child’s line of sight and happened to see that spectacle too. He walked to Alphonse, grabbed his hand and dragged him closer to the tree, “yes we. Isn’t that right Alphonse?” Tsuki asked while stomping on Alphonse’s feet.

Alphonse kept a blank face, “yes WE want to help.”

Tsuki directed his shining eyes, brimming with with sincerity towards the child, “see, we do want to help.”

The child knew that he was going to turn into a zombie anyway, so he nodded his assent. Tsuki breathed a sigh of relief and walked a fair distance away from the tree. He took a breath then ran quickly towards the tree.

Tsuki : ‘I am going to run up the tree like a ninja!’

Alphonse and the child watched as he ran to tree, then promptly fall on his face as he slipped. Both of the spectators wore blank expressions on their face as they saw this.

Alphonse, who was already used to the small zombie’s antics, calmly picked him up and put him to the side. He then jumped up the tree and brought down the child himself. Tsuki pouted as he said, “I wanted to run up the tree like a ninja.”

Alphonse: “You are a zombie, not a ninja. And you are too clumsy. You should have known better.” He then presented the child to Tsuki, “here take this.”

Tsuki: “yes, yes. And don’t address him as ‘this’, it’s rude.”

Alphonse clearly wore an expression that said ‘I don’t care.’ Tsuki sweatdropped at him then went to take the child, only to see that he had fainted.

“He finally fainted. I am honestly surprised that he could stay conscious in that state. Let’s go to the trailer. I have to clean him up.” Tsuki said to Alphonse before turning to make his way back to the trailer. “I am thinking of feeding him a bit of my blood… Even though I don’t quite understand how my blood works… Maybe it’ll make him like us? What do you think?”

Alphonse calmly grabbed hold of him and turned him in the correct direction, “that is the wrong direction. And wait for him to wake up to interrogate him first. You can’t go and give your blood to just anybody. It is dangerous for you, so any person who wishes to have even a drop of your blood has to be worthy. Also don’t go advertising the uniqueness of your blood. You have to keep it top secret.”

“I clearly don’t remember you asking for permission before chomping on me.” Tsuki hummed then softly said, “But you are right. It is a great burden, isn’t it?”

Alphonse grabbed his waist and dragged him closer to him while looking straight ahead, “ I am here.”

Tsuki laughed softly, “yes, you are. My zombie-knight in shining armour. Albeit an arrogant and wilful one… Anyway I wonder what happened to him. Are his parents dead?”

Alphonse hummed and thought about one of the man that he killed earlier. There was a slight resemblance between the man and the child. When he stalking the humans, he remembered hearing the man say that they were lucky that they had the brat as an escape goat.

Alphonse said mysteriously, “humans are one of the cruellest creatures in the world. It is only in desperate situations that you can see their true face. Sometimes their true face makes you doubt whether they really were humans in the first place or just demons wearing people’s skin. ” He then smiled cruelly, “they amuse me.”