After tamping down their joy for their survival, they searched for the walking dead. They soon saw him hanging from the edge of the roof of the half-collapsed house. It appeared that the zombie understood the mercenary's intention and tried to move backward at the last moment. Unfortunately for him, he hadn't managed to fully stop his momentum, as his current predicament hinted. Come on! Fall, you shithead! The sword fighter thought angrily. However, the undead didn't share the same idea: he clutched at the roof's surface, trying to get back up. That action spoke of a sense of self-preservation that didn't go unnoticed by the human. They hastily grabbed the brick they had stored in their pouch earlier and aimed. They couldn't afford to miss the zombie; this brick was the only one they had. Fortunately, he was an easy target. The sellsword finally threw the brick. It hit the creature's head hard enough to disorient him and make one of his hands lose grip on the roof's surface. The arm still clinging to the edge couldn't bear the weight of all his body. It ripped off from its socket with a loud snap, sending the undead flying to the ground. The private contractor saw or rather heard the bones of the man's legs break on impact with the street floor. The zombie stayed there for a while, making the soldier think that he was dead at last. That hypothesis was soon shattered by a few grunts that escaped from the carcass's mouth. How can he still be alive? The mercenary was deeply shocked by the revelation. Even if the creature couldn't feel pain, they felt a pang of pity for him. They couldn't imagine what it was like to keep living in such a condition; death was much better than this. In the meantime, the undead began crawling on the ground, with what remained of his body, in the direction of the merc. Once he reached the building wall, he started scratching it with the yellowed nails of his only hand, probably trying to climb up to the top. When his nails broke too, the zombie didn't relent but instead started hitting his open head on the wall, splattering his grey matter everywhere around him.

While the pounding kept going, the hireling sat cross-legged at the top of the building, using this moment of respite to rest and regenerate their mana. Then, they began wiping blood from their sword with a cloth they kept in the pocket of their trousers. Now that the blade was clean and the adrenaline was leaving their body, they had much to think about. It was clear that Soldra wasn't the same city they once knew. They couldn't fathom how things changed so quickly in half a day. Wait...what if the premise is wrong, to begin with? The mercenary had assumed that the time gap between the earthquake and their awakening was short based on the weather. But if they had been unconscious for a longer period, like a week, then that might explain the child's phrasing about the current state of the capital. What caused the appearance of the strange creatures they had met was still a mystery though. The merc sighed and raised their eyes to the sky. They held their breath for what they saw. Miasma. The polluted air that had come out of the cracks in the ground during the earthquake had completely enveloped Soldra. The visibility was still good, but anyone could see the particles of black miasma dancing in the air under sunlight. Strangely, they breathed normally instead of coughing, as it happened during the miasma outbreak. Maybe it was due to the minor amount of the poisonous gas in the area after its dispersion in the atmosphere. As the relentless pounding of the zombie dropped slightly, the private contractor looked down from the rooftop and saw the creature slacken his pace. Perhaps he was understanding that what he was doing was pointless, even though this was unlikely to happen, considering the low level of intelligence he exhibited in these past minutes. In any case, the sellsword decided to update their diary. Instead of getting lost in fruitless speculations, it was better to jot down their meeting with the undead, plus his behaviour and characteristics. More undead might be roaming free in this district and knowing their weaknesses would be extremely helpful, even if the data of one specimen was insufficient for a complete overview of the creature. After all, they could only count on themselves. If the mage's words were all true, then the city guards would not come to their aid. They should be wary of every person they could come across in this lawless city in that case.

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As soon as the unhired blade finished writing in detail about their encounter with the undead and their assumptions about the city and the creature, silence descended over the neighbourhood. The zombie, now called Joseph by the mercenary, finally gave up. His carcass was crawling away somewhere else, probably seeking out easy prey. Not that he could harm someone in his condition. Anybody could easily outpace him now that he moved at a snail’s pace. The sword fighter saw Joseph's departure as a sign of resuming their journey through the first district. This time their destination was the main exit of the city; only a fool would stay in Soldra under the current circumstances.

They immediately departed in the direction of the gate, jumping from a building to another like a seasoned assassin. Their trip across the district was uneventful, except for the sightings of two undead in the streets below. One was hidden inside a barrel in a narrow alley. The soldier could tell that it was an excellent way to ambush whoever walked through the alleyway, considering that only one person at a time could pass beside the barrel because of the street width. They wondered if the zombie had accidentally fallen in the cask or it had planned that. Thinking about the IQ Joseph had displayed, the former was more likely. The other undead was sitting under a tree in a wide green area. Since there was a swing tied to the tree branch and a deflated soccer ball in its vicinity, the hireling could only assume that this space was once a playground. Other than these two, they didn't spot any more walking dead. Fortunately, they didn't have to face a horde of smelly zombies while going to the main gate.