Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

By the time Olivia and the others had woken up the next day, and discovered the note which Zane had left them. He had already retraced his steps and resurrected his siblings. Hell, the man was long gone and had even progressed quite far on his journey southward. But they didn't know this. How could they?

There were any number of directions which Zane could have taken, and with his speed, there was no way they could ever catch up to him. Because of this, the girls took most of the day off from pretty much everything.

And while Olivia was sobbing alone in her bed, she saw a peculiar message appear within her sight. A message from the system.

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[Congratulations! You are the new owner of Gravestone!]

[Settlement Management Unlocked!]

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Along with this notification that ownership of Gravestone and its surrounding areas had been transferred to Olivia, there was a brief note along with it. Which appeared to be written from Zane in addition to the one he left behind in a physical form.

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[Dear Olivia,

There's not much I can say that I haven't already expressed via the note I left behind. But… I wanted you to know that our time together has meant more to me than you can possibly imagine. You were once little more in my eyes than a pain in the ass. You were my homeroom teacher, and yet, despite leaving me to my sleep like I desired, you constantly meddled in my affairs.

I can honestly say that before this all began, you were the only person in my life who remotely gave a shit about me. And for that, I will be eternally thankful.

I know this apocalypse has skewed so many things about life, and our perspectives on it. Hell, I would have never thought until that fateful day that I would fall in love with my teacher. Nor would the old world ever accept such a relationship.

But I'm glad things turned out the way they did. For a time, no matter how short it was. I had an actual family with you and the others. And to show my appreciation, I am transferring ownership of Gravestone and the surrounding areas to you. As I believe, you alone are capable of running it in my absence.

Don't get me wrong though… I fully plan to take back command when I return. So please, do me a favor and make sure things are maintained in my absence…. Hell, knowing you and your organizational skills, I bet things will be more prosperous than ever when I finally return.

I don't know when I will be back, and I have no idea if I will ever be able to earn all of your forgiveness when I do so. Nor can I imagine what difficulties you may face without me. But I want you to know that I did this because I had no other choice. So this is goodbye for now.

-Love, Zane.]

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Olivia wiped the tears from her eyes when she saw this message. Her heart may be broken at the moment, but Zane had entrusted her with the future of their unorthodox family, and by extension the settlement which they lived in.

As the oldest among them, it was her responsibility to bring them altogether, and to help them get through this time. And because of this, she quickly climbed out of bed and took a shower. Before entering the Mess Hall where she prepared breakfast.

Zane may be gone, at least for the time being. But that didn't give her the right to idle about. Zane had left them, and from the sound of it, he had done so to protect them. If he was going to go out and risk his life alone on the road to get stronger, then what right did they all have to sit by and cry as they waited for his return?

With a silent sigh, and a painful whisper, Olivia thanked the man for leaving her this personal note. As it gave her the strength to get out of bed and face life without him.

"Thank you, Zane…"

And just like that, Olivia had taken charge in Zane's absence. After cooking breakfast, even though it was well past the time of lunch. The mature silver haired beauty would force her companions out of their beds, and compel them to continue where Zane had left off.

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Elena was dragged out of her bed by Olivia, and she was not the only one. Everyone, except for Maya that is, had red circles beneath their eyes. They had cried as much as they physically could. And Olivia was no exception.

Except, while Elena and the others were all slumped over at the table, barely picking at their food. Olivia had a stern and serious expression on her face. Which was matched by her tone as she spoke to the others.

"I think we have all cried enough… It might hurt like hell to be left behind like this, but Zane had a reason to do so. I can't be the only one who thinks that when we went to Elysium, he may have accidentally provoked the other Horde Kings when he was captured by Lilith.

If I was in his shoes, I would have done the same… Now Zane has promised he will return to us one day. So, I don't think he would want us to sit around and crying until he does. We owe it to Zane to pick up where he left off!

And I'm not simply talking about maintaining Gravestone. We owe it to Zane to get stronger. So that when he does finally return we have not fallen too far behind! So, we will take today off to grieve…

And then tomorrow I want each and every one of you out of bed at an appropriate time. Do you hear me?"

Elena clenched her teeth upon hearing this. It wasn't necessary that she was angry at Olivia, or even Zane himself. She was smart enough to understand why he had left, and she couldn't blame him either.

She was really angry at herself for being so weak that she couldn't follow him. But she had a hard time blaming herself for Zane's disappearance. And instead shifted it towards Olivia and Angelica, who she consciously held responsible for this state of affairs.

"I warned you didn't I? Before we walked right into a trap! I warned you that if we all went to that wretched place something bad was going to happen to us! And look at us now! Zane is gone! He has left because he now has a target on his back!

And it wouldn't be there if it weren't for the two of you!"

Olivia narrowed her eyes with fury in them towards Elena. Meanwhile, Angelica bowed her head and began to sob once more. It was obvious that she had blamed herself for Zane's disappearance.

If she had not convinced the man to walk into this trap out of a need to establish economic ties to Elysium. Then none of this would not have happened.

Elena wasn't saying anything that she had not already told herself a thousand times. But Olivia was not going to let this outburst go without a proper response and because of this she made a retort.

"I understand your anger, Elena. Hindsight is 20/20. But none of us knew what we were walking into. Not even Zane! To lay that blame on the two of us is incredibly unfair!"

Elena was so outraged by this comment that she instantly stood up and kicked down the stool she was sitting on. The woman quickly equipped her Katana and held it in a manner that suggest she was about to unleash Temporal Blade on Olivia.

If she chose to do so, she could have easily cut the woman in half, and with the furious look in her eyes, she may very well have done it. If not for the words that were spoken before, she could do so.

"Actually, he did…."

Three simple words were spoken. And were done so by an unknown voice that was so youthful, and innocent they no doubt belonged to a child. They were, of course followed by the audible crisp of a cheese puff being bitten into.

Nobody had even noticed that Maya was seated behind them all, watching the show while snacking on a bag of cheese puffs that had been stored in the bunker before the apocalypse broke out. But when she spoke all the women shifted their focus to her with astonished gazes.

They did not even register the words she had spoken, instead they were shocked that Maya could even talk. Causing Elena's sword to drop from her hand and clang onto the floor, as she, like the others turned around to look at the girl.

Where she continued to speak in a tone that was far too mature for a girl her age.

"Zane knew the risks involved when visiting Elysium. I did warn him after all that bitch was in cahoots with Lilith. But he still took the risk. Probably because he didn't expect Lilith to actually be bold enough to visit Elysium herself.

It was a fair assumption on his part. I mean… I may have purposely withheld the fact that Lilith was using Elysium to farm humans for their blood and meat. But even though he was ignorant of this fact, he still knew the risks, and he decided to go, anyway.

If you want to blame somebody for Zane abandoning you all, then you have nobody to blame but the man himself. He gambled with his life, and all of your lives, but in the end he lost…."

The only sound that could be heard following this statement was that of Maya eating her cheese puffs. As for the other women, it took them some time to understand that they weren't hallucinating, and that Maya was actually speaking to them. This revelation naturally opened up a treasure trove of questions, which they all had for her.