Chapter 163: If you behave like a lone survivor again, I will tie you to your sleeping mat
Everything around her blurred.
She looked down.
Red.
A thin streak of blood ran along the inside of her thigh.
Swanly stopped breathing.
Kael saw it.
His face changed.
Not fear.
Something beyond fear.
"Swanly?"
She swayed.
Kael reached her before she hit the ground.
The infected beast was forgotten.
Everything was forgotten.
Kael lifted her.
His hands were shaking.
"No."
"I’m fine."
"No."
"Kael..."
"NO!"
His roar cracked across Ironwood.
Soren appeared.
One look at the blood.
He went silent.
Completely silent.
That was worse than screaming.
His silver eyes emptied.
His face became terrifyingly still.
"Nahla."
One word.
Nahla was already running.
...
"Nobody speak."
Nahla’s voice cut through the shelter.
Everyone immediately shut up.
Swanly lay on a thick sleeping hide.
Kael sat beside her.
Too close.
Soren stood at her feet.
Too still.
Three cubs peeked from behind a partition.
Lumi and Tavi peeked beneath them.
Nahla pressed careful fingers against Swanly’s stomach.
Swanly stared at the ceiling.
Her heart would not calm down.
"Babies?"
"Quiet."
"Nahla."
"Quiet."
Swanly wanted to scream.
Finally, Nahla sat back.
"The young are alive."
Air returned to the shelter.
Kael’s head dropped.
His hand covered Swanly’s.
Soren shut his eyes once.
Swanly almost cried.
"Really?"
Nahla frowned.
"Yes."
Swanly exhaled shakily.
"Thank God."
Nahla’s expression did not soften.
"Now I am going to yell at you."
Swanly blinked.
"What?"
"You pulled a defensive beam while heavily pregnant."
"It was stuck."
"There were twenty males below you!"
"They were busy!"
"You have lost your mind."
Swanly’s mouth dropped open.
Soren finally spoke.
"You ran toward an infected."
His voice was quiet.
Cold.
Swanly looked at him.
"I was helping."
"You were bleeding."
"I know that now."
"You should have known before."
Her eyes stung.
"I cannot predict bleeding, Soren."
His jaw tightened.
"You can predict that running toward infected while carrying young is dangerous."
Something in his tone hit wrong.
Swanly’s ears flattened.
"I’m not a child."
"Then stop behaving like one."
Silence.
Her eyes widened.
Kael looked sharply at Soren.
Soren realized it.
Too late.
Swanly’s throat tightened.
Fuck.
She hated this.
She was not crying.
She absolutely was not crying because some stupid snake spoke sternly to her.
Her eyes simply had opinions.
Miko whispered from behind the partition:
"Snake Papa scold Mama."
Kairo whispered back:
"Very bad."
Nilo nodded solemnly.
Swanly slowly turned her head.
Three black heads disappeared.
Lumi giggled.
Tavi whispered:
"Mama in trouble."
Swanly pointed blindly.
"All of you. Gone."
Tiny feet scattered.
Nahla smacked Soren’s arm.
He looked offended.
"She is frightened."
"So am I."
That silenced everyone.
Soren looked toward Swanly.
The coldness in his face cracked.
"I saw blood."
His voice lowered.
"I thought..."
He stopped.
Swanly looked away.
Kael’s fingers tightened around hers.
He looked worse.
Much worse.
His golden eyes were red.
"You cannot keep doing this."
Swanly frowned.
"Kael..."
"No."
His voice broke.
"You cannot keep running first."
"I survived because I ran first."
"That was before."
She went still.
Kael leaned closer.
"You are not alone in that dead world anymore."
That hurt.
"You have warriors."
His hand covered her stomach.
"You have us."
His eyes met hers.
"You do not have to personally kill everything that threatens this place."
Swanly swallowed.
That was the problem.
Some part of her still believed she did.
Zombie world rules.
If danger appeared, move first.
If someone screamed, run toward it.
If something broke, fix it yourself.
Waiting got people killed.
Depending on others got people killed.
But this was not that world anymore.
Nahla crossed her arms.
"If you behave like a lone survivor again, I will tie you to your sleeping mat."
Swanly stared.
"You wouldn’t."
Nahla smiled.
Swanly looked at Kael.
He did not defend her.
Then Soren.
Nothing.
Raku appeared at the entrance.
"I can provide rope."
"GET OUT."
He disappeared.
Swanly closed her eyes.
Everyone was terrible.
...
She hated being restricted.
So Swanly found another way to become unbearable.
"If I cannot run toward danger..."
She stood in front of twenty warriors the next morning.
"...then all of you are going to learn how to deal with it properly."
Raku groaned.
Tovan looked excited.
Kael crossed his arms.
Soren stood nearby looking suspiciously satisfied.
Training began.
Archery first.
"Do not aim at the whole body!"
Swanly slapped a warrior’s bow upward.
"Eyes. Joints. Mouth. Places where rot has already broken the flesh."
THUNK!
Her arrow struck the painted target directly through the eye.
Several males stared.
"Again!"
Then formations.
"When the alarm sounds, nobody runs around screaming like their tail is on fire."
Miko raised his hand.
Swanly stared.
"You are not in this lesson."
"I know alarm."
"Yes. You are usually the alarm."
Miko smiled proudly.
Rot identification came next.
"Black saliva?"
"Danger."
"Clouded eyes?"
"Danger."
"Normal animal biting because you annoyed it?"
Raku answered:
"Probably Miko."
Miko gasped.
The warriors laughed.
Then traps.
Drop beams.
Hidden pits.
Noise lines.
Secondary gates.
Emergency cub routes.
Marked quarantine spaces.
For days, Swanly taught.
And slowly something changed in her.
She stood on the training platform one evening watching warriors perform the emergency formation without her saying a word.
Archers moved high.
Heavy fighters formed the front.
Fast beastmen protected the flanks.
Healers stayed behind cover.
Nobody panicked.
Nobody waited for Swanly.
Her chest warmed.
Leadership was not being the first person to throw herself at every monster.
It was making sure everyone else became harder to kill.
Maybe she could learn that.
Eventually.
Probably.
...
That night Swanly finished bathing and returned to the sleeping hollow.
Her hair was still damp.
Soft white strands stuck lightly to her shoulders.
She wore a clean loose wrap around her body.
Kael sat near the entrance sharpening a blade.
He looked up.
Stopped.
Swanly noticed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
She looked down at herself.
Then back at him.
"Your face says something."
Kael looked away.
Pregnancy had changed her.
Her stomach was round.
Her hips fuller.
Her breasts heavier beneath the soft cloth.
And apparently Kael had forgotten how eyes worked.
Swanly smiled.
"Kael."
His ears turned slightly red.
Cute.
...
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