You stand and watch at the previous owner’s grave.

It is only a makeshift wooden cross with no name written and a dirt covering the body, if there’s still a body.

You didn’t ask what his name was.

“I don’t think it is worth doing that.”

…

Today is the day you go out there and find the reason.

Riley waits by the protection barrier along with Marisa.

You walk closer to them as they talk to each other.

You can’t hear what they are discussing.

But, everyone is hiding their own secrets.

…

“Oh Hunter, are you ready?” Riley smiles.

You reply, “Yes, let’s go.”

A hole gets created on the barrier for both of you to get in.

Riley goes out first and you follow.

You pass by Marisa looking at you in a demeaning manner.

…

As you step out, you look back and see the house only being found within the hole.

“It’s a really good disguise spell,” You thought.

The hole slowly closes.

Marisa moves her head within the sight of the hole.

“Hey, don’t think too much about it, Hunter,” she says as the hole completely closes, cutting the communication between you and hers.

…

“Oh. Did you know what she meant?” Riley asks.

You hesitantly say, “You heard her, I’m not gonna think too much about it.”

Both of you turn to the forest, preparing to move on.

She then mentions the agreement you and Marisa made,“By the way, should we really be calling the infection ‘Substance C’ now?”

“Well, what did you want to call it?” You quickly say, “I’ve never heard you call it anything.”

Riley steps back and thinks for a bit, “Yeah, fair enough.”

“I just want some consistency here,” you add.

…

Both of you look forward to your path.

“Let’s go,” you declare the start of your adventure.

You walk forward into the darkness.

A world that was formerly full of fantasy and magic…

Now in an odd and unprecedented apocalyptic state.

…

You have been walking for a while.

You didn’t really start a conversation during this.

Marisa said that going through this way will lead you out of the forest.

However, it feels like the forest doesn’t end.

“How does that maid grab supplies in and out of that barrier?” You wonder.

…

The forest hasn’t changed, despite staying inside the house for a single night.

The Substance C spread all around multiple trees.

The only surprising thing is the lack of zombies. You and Riley haven’t encountered any of them.

Only the villagers and that fire zombie were the ones you met since you got here.

This may be good luck, but you are curious to see more of them.

…

“Hmmm, if I remember correctly, the way out of here should be close,” Riley remarks.

The darkness starts to fade as you continue forward.

You begin to notice the end of the forest.

Just a few more steps and the both of you will get out of the forest.

You gather all your expectations as you pass by the last tree.

…

You see a dark yet vast land, but it isn’t full of life.

The green sky has purple clouds spread around, and they don’t seem to be moving.

Some small ruined buildings that somehow fit the apocalyptic state.

You can notice not only people under the effects of the substance, but even animals and monsters.

However, those aren’t the only things you notice, as you see a pile of infected creatures together.

…

A large group of infected, ranging from humans to creatures, all in one spot.

It resembles much like a zombie horde and it looks as if there’s a huge hole on the ground due to the dark color of the substance.

Another thing you notice is that all the infected don’t seem to be eating each other.

They all remained idle in their place and not moving.

…

“Do you think it would be satisfying to kill all of them at once?” You ask Riley.

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Riley only stares, “You should know that I’ve done that multiple times, but it’s not close to satisfying.”

“Oh… uh…” You try to change the topic as you scratch your head, “Well, let’s move on.”

You notice that you are standing on a cliff. You look around as you try to find a way down.

You find a safe pathway for the both of you to use.

…

You walk slowly to avoid falling.

“We need to avoid the horde at all cost,” Riley says as she holds on the cliff side as the pathway becomes narrow.

“And what if we do?” You quickly ask while maintaining your foothold.

Riley stops as pebbles fall off, “I may be strong, but I cannot overpower all of them at once, especially with a group as big as that.”

“There should be a strategy at least, but I don’t think I’m gonna bother her,” You silently thought.

…

Despite that now you are in a lower ground, you are still inside a forest.

Fortunately, this is a good hiding spot as Riley says, “We’re gonna take a little break here.”

Riley hides inside a bush close to the forest’s border and peeks at the horde.

With nothing you can exactly do, you crouch right behind the bush she’s in.

Seems like she’s observing them and thinking of what to do next.

…

You questioned Riley about the horde, “You think they’re blocking our way?”

Riley squinted, “Not really, but their eyes have quite a big range of detection so even being slightly far won’t be enough.”

You try to suggest a way, “So the best course of action here would be to stay away within a long distance?”

“Basically…” She begins turning her head and checking around the horde.

…

She crawls back and looks around to you, “Okay, let’s walk to the far left and start moving forward from there.”

You nod before she adds, “Be sure not to make a fuss, if one of them notices, the rest would follow.”

Quietly, she stands up and goes in the direction she said a while back. As usual, you follow.

Before you take her steps, you notice a flying creature up above the horde. It doesn’t look infected.

“Is it fine if we’re going above it?” You quickly thought. And then…

…

An infected creature jumped and tackled it, quickly bringing it back to the horde.

You only look in concern, as the flying creature’s life is brought to a halt.

“Oh… they even got that,” You thought as you stood motionless.

“Pssst!” Riley called you without trying to grab the attention of the horde.

You try to put the concern away, and do what she instructed.

…

“Okay, we’re halfway through,” Riley states as the both of you were relatively farther from the horde, “We can just walk normally now, but do it quietly! They may notice us if we move too much.”

The both of you slowly stand up and tip-toe your way forward.

Avoiding rustling the bushes and just calmly pressing on the trees instead of hitting them.

The horde doesn't seem to pay attention, so it looks like you were both safe.

…

Suddenly, you hear loud clopping and it wasn’t just one but rather multiple clopping sounds happening at once.

It shakens Riley thinking the both of you were in danger.

You hastingly look at the horde assuming they were charging, but they aren’t moving at all.

Then you realize that those aren’t the sounds of a huge group of infected creatures.

“Hunter!” Riley grabs your shoulder and points to the outside of the forest, “Look!”

…

A small group of men on horses are running to the horde.

Riley gets concerned, “What the hell are they doing?! They’re gonna die!”

You look closer to the men and see that they’re armed.

As they get nearer to the horde, they begin to split into two and run to each side.

One of each side raises a bottle with a burning tip, much like a molotov, and throws them at the edges of the horde, which starts to burn the zombies.

…

The burning zombies try to catch them, but the horses are too fast and they only fall to the ground as their bodies turn into crisp.

It seems that what they are doing is effectively reducing the number of the horde.

“Remember, just stay outside of the horde and keep throwing outside of them!” One of the men shouts.

Then, right at the end, they turn around and go back to where they split up while continuing what they are doing.

…

As they try to go back, one of the burning zombies fumbles and falls down in front of them, scaring the horses and causing a rider to accidentally get off their horse.

“Agh!” As he hits the ground, zombies that still haven’t burned down start nearing him.

The fallen rider who is wearing a scarf quickly picks himself up and attempts to get back on the horse, while the others who were still on their horses try to defend him.

However, it is too late, as his horse is being attacked by the zombies and to make matters worse, the zombies slowly overwhelm them.

…

“Oh man!” One of the men shortly began panicking.

They bring out their swords in order to fight back the zombies while they wait for the others to come and help them.

But as more zombies corner them, the less chance some hope may help them.

“We can get out of this, just don’t let them get ya!” The fallen rider said in an attempt at motivating.

It is their final battle…

…

Fwooosh! A fireball passes in between them, burning and stopping them from moving.

Riley steps out of the forest and stands in front of the men, shooting down any nearby zombies.

One of the zombies tries to grab one of the men, but you punch its head into bits.

You point and shout, “Come on! Grab him and get out of here!”

“Hunter, you should also ride along with them! They may be a help for us,” Riley suggests.

You hesitate and quickly ask, “How about you? Do you also need a ride?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Riley is still shooting the zombies down.

A little confused, you try to convince her, “Really, but I feel like one of these horses can take 2 men and 1 of you.”

“HEY! Just because I’m small doesn’t mean I’m not capable!” She angrily replies as she creates a pathway for you and the men to use, “Get out of here already!”

…

You get on one of the men’s horses and tell the rider, “Don’t mind if I take a ride.”

“Uh… okay,” the rider nervously remarks, “Hiya!”

The horses began running, leaving Riley behind.

The fallen rider on the other horse lights up a molotov and throws it at the zombies blocking their way.

As you notice that, you politely beg, “Can I have some of those?”

The rider stutters, “Y-yes, they’re in the saddle bags.”

…

You open the bags and pick one.

And then you realize, “Wait! How do I light this up!?”

The rider slightly stumbles as the shock comes to him, “Ah, it’s in my pocket!” He inserts his hand and gives a lighter to you.

You try to use the lighter, but you struggle as you focus on holding on the horse.

A zombie is getting close to you as you fail to burn the tip of the bottle.

…

“Ah screw it!” You put away the lighter, and aim the unlit molotov to the zombie.

You throw it to the zombie, hitting the head and stunning the zombie for a bit.

As you get closer, you lower yourself to the side and slamming your first into the zombie.

“I guess this will do,” You say as you prepare yourself for another one.

“Uh… I have a sword and I know how to use it,” The rider uses his sword and decapitates the next one.

“Oh…” You sigh in disappointment. “No need to point it out.”

…

After a few more swings and molotovs, you finally get out of the horde.

“They’re not here, they must’ve left,” the fallen rider said. “C’mon, you know the plan, we’ll have to be far away regardless without waiting for anyone else.

Worried, you ask, “You’ll leave them behind!?”

“T-that was the plan. W-we don’t want the infected to catch up!” The rider explains, while the other rider didn’t say anything.

You see that the horde seems smaller than what it was a while ago, but there’s still a number of them.

…

“Wait! Where’s Riley?” You try to find where she was, as you stopped hearing the sounds of boom from her.

“I’m right here.” All of you get scared as she randomly appears between the two horses.

“Huh? How?” You confusingly and fearfully ask.

“I just bounced out of there,” She responds as she rides on the other horse, “Alright, let’s go!”

You and the rest continue the run.

You relay a message to Riley, “See, I told you the horses can carry three people.”

“Oh, shut up!”