Ascended

We walked until it started getting dark.

One thing I hadn't realized the night before, probably because of all of the lights, was that I was able to still see fairly well in the dark. It was a very weird sensation because the colors faded into shades of gray and purple.

We reached the foot of the mountains when it was what I considered too dangerous to continue. Years of training about when to stop were giving me orders, while Val seemed perfectly content to keep going.

“We should look for a place to bed down.” I started looking around at trees. I had a feeling I was going to have to show her how to tie herself into a tree so she wouldn’t fall out while she was asleep.

“Why?”

I could see the confused expression on her face. “Because it’s dangerous to travel and we should rest.”

“Are you tired?” She stopped and leaned her back against a tree.

I realized that I wasn’t. A little weary, but I should have been tired and a little sore. We’d been walking all day and even though I was used to it, I should still at least be sleepy. But I felt rested.

“No.”

“Then why should we stop?” Val looked around, “Where would we camp anyway?”

I pointed to a tree with two branches close enough that I could help her tie herself off, “That one would hold both of us.”

“Hold?” She eyed me, “What?”

“We’d tie ourselves in the tree so the Zombies couldn’t get to us.”

Val shook her head. “Not happening. No way I’m letting you tie me up in a tree.” She pushed herself off the tree, “Especially not while I’m still feeling fine.”

I started to argue with her, but there really wasn’t much of a point. Neither of us were tired. There was only one thing I was concerned about.

“Can you still see?” I motioned around, “What if a Zombie rushes us?”

“Ha! A Zombie?” She laughed again, “You think even if it surprised us one Zombie would be a threat?”

I mean. They had teeth. A single Zombe could crush our throats or… I pushed the dozens of ways a Zombie could kill us out of my head.

“Just because you’re Bokor doesn’t mean that you’re invincible.”

“But it does mean that I’m harder to kill.” She turned a half circle with the arms out. “And we haven’t seen a single sign of a Zombie so far.” She stopped turning once she faced me, “Is it usually like this?”

With Master Bran, we rarely ran into Zombies, except outside towns that had requested our help. Traveling with Max had been a different story.

I shrugged, “Zombies tend to avoid the Bokor, so unless we come across a nest or…”

“See, so we’re good.” She started walking into the valley.

I thought about trying to argue with her, but there really wasn’t a point. We could keep going and I was pretty sure I'd be able to see a Zombie unless it attacked us from a ledge.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched though. I didn’t see anyone or anything, but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t there. I shook away the feeling as I followed after Val. Hopefully it was just nerves.