Sunny acted swiftly. First, she grabbed a tarp to roll the man onto. She didn't need his blood dripping everywhere. She carried the man to the only intact couch in the building.

She risked leaning closer to study the wounds. They bore the distinct marks of a zombie bite. Multiple zombie bites. Fortunately for him, magical beings like elves, dwarves, and the like were immune to the zombie virus. But how had he been caught up in a zombie hoard? The smell of blood became too much and Sunny pulled away.

She stared in contemplation. The man was soon to die if he didn't get help. But she didn't know much about how to heal the living. She didn't even have medical supplies. Or did she?

Sunny rummaged around the circulation desk and the office area. If humans worked here then it stood to reason that something had to be left behind.

She didn't find anything to treat him. But she did find a manual. She now knew that she needed bandages and disinfectant at the minimum. But she didn't have that and it would be two days before the Market was here. He didn't have time. Sunny stared at the man again. He was pale and his long blond hair was disheveled. His face was distorted in a grimace that didn't loosen even in his unconsciousness. It made him look helpless and young.

Technically, if he died, it wouldn't be her fault. She could ease his pain, leave him to die, and dump the body somewhere. That's what her old mentor would tell her to do. Avoid trouble. Avoid temptation.

But something in her twinged at that. She found that she wanted to try. She wanted to give him the time he needed to get proper treatment.

Sunny went to get water and set a pot on the camping stove to boil it. She pulled off the cleric robes he was dressed in. She washed away the blood, setting the cloth aside to burn later. She used more spare cloth to bind the bites along his arms and torso.

Sunny studied her work. The man was more clean now, with no dirt or blood to risk infecting his wounds. He was still tense, but no longer grimacing. Sunny gave his robes a disgusted look. Not only were they gross, but they also signaled that this would be a very troublesome guest. She preferred to stay away from clerics. She shook out the robes but there was nothing in them. Not even a magical conduit.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Sunny stood from where she was kneeling at his side. That treatment would do for the moment, but she would need to do something more substantial if she wanted him to last through these next two days.

After skimming through more books, Sunny discovered that there were herbs that she could use that grew in the area. She could grind them to use as a poultice or use them in a tea. She would also need to get him something to eat while she was out.

Sunny strapped her machete to her belt and stepped outside. It was raining again. Not a hard rain, but enough to deter the living from wandering around. It was too dangerous. Zombies weren't bothered at all by rain but for the living, it muffled sound, obscured vision, and even smothered smells.

Sunny walked out the entrance and down the street to the outskirts of the city. For all that the wild had taken back the land, the city was still mostly concrete. If she wanted plants, she would need to go further out.

She checked the pictures that she had ripped out of the book. The plants she needed were lizard's tail and sassafras. Both were good for treating wounds. Sassafras would be good for any potential fevers and lizard's tail could reduce inflammation.

The closer Sunny got to the outskirts, the more she could hear the shambling of zombies as they shuffled in search of more prey. She kept to her path, knowing from experience that the zombies would avoid her as soon as they smelled her.

Sunny exited the city and pulled out her machete. She made her way through the forest, cutting an easier path as she went. She didn't need it but she wasn't the only resident of the city and it could help someone else. Sunny easily found the sassafras and referenced the page to see how to harvest it. She carefully took several, unsure of how long the man would need it. Tucking them away in her satchel, she next searched for the nearest pond and found the lizard's tail on the edge of the water.

Finally, she found some berry bushes and harvested them. She made her way back to the library. The sun was going down and zombie activity would be on the rise. No need to seek trouble.

Sunny walked in and stopped in surprise when cautious eyes, blue as the Arctic oceans she had only seen in books, met hers.

"You're awake," Sunny said in surprise.