So ti later.
Accompanied by a rough coughing fit, Taylor regained consciousness.
For so inexplicable reason, his surroundings were shrouded in darkness, and a dull ache resonated throughout his entire body.
It was then that he suddenly recalled the preceding situation – the zombie striking the wall and the debris that had buried him.
He was likely still trapped beneath that rubble.
“Damn it...!”
Cursing under his breath, Taylor thrashed about in an attempt to free himself.
But it wasn’t an easy task.
The primary issue was one of his arms that had been outstretched towards the plush doll.
“Ugh...!”
No matter how forcefully Taylor tried to withdraw that arm, the only sensation he felt was agonizing pain.
As if it had beco lodged between the grinding gears of so massive machine, refusing to budge even an inch.
So he decided to prioritize regaining his vision first.
Fortunately, the volu of debris that had cascaded upon him didn’t seem excessive.
Grunting with effort, Taylor desperately maneuvered his legs, managing to dislodge the beams that had been pinning his lower body at an angle.
Then, using his remaining free arm, he lifted away whatever object had been crushing down upon his head.
Thankfully, it wasn’t excessively heavy.
Thump!
A wooden piece of furniture toppled over to his opposite side.
The decorative cabinet that had likely struck his head, rendering him unconscious when it collapsed along with the falling debris.
With that obstruction removed, Taylor’s sight gradually returned.
The sunlight filtering in through the window was blinding at first.
Squinting heavily, he peered out that window to assess the sky’s position.
Strangely, there were no longer any traces of the zombie that had been present earlier.
Based on the sun’s position in the clear heavens, Taylor’s expression contorted with dismay.
“An entire day... has passed?”
He had entered this apartnt during the afternoon hours.
Yet the current ti was already morning.
While the absence of dehydration symptoms suggested it hadn’t been over two days... Taylor had nonetheless been unconscious for an unexpectedly prolonged duration.
His face stiffened with distress at that realization.
Having spent an entire night within this apartnt ant his young daughter had been left alone at their shelter throughout that period.
“...Stay calm.”
Taylor muttered those words through asured breaths.
Losing his composure now would only further delay his return.
Next, he assessed his physical condition.
While exhibiting so mild symptoms of a concussion, he didn’t appear to have sustained any severe injuries.
His limbs remained sensate, with no apparent bone fractures.
However, the primary issue remained his right arm, wedged between the collapsed wall debris.
From just above the elbow downwards, it was pinned tightly between two concrete slabs.
The rubble overhead was too substantial to simply clear away from his prone position.
So Taylor took a deep breath and strained with all his might, attempting to forcibly extract that trapped arm.
“Ggggghaaah...!”
But it was no simple feat.
Despite exerting enough force to tear the flesh from his arm, the elbow joint remained stubbornly lodged in place.
All he achieved was searing agony.
“Huuff... huuff...”
For several hours, Taylor grappled futilely against that immobilized limb.
He tried wrenching it with enough force to snap the bone, even attempting to chip away at the concrete using one of his swords.
But no matter his efforts, all that resulted were lacerations oozing blood and unrelenting pain.
Even as the afternoon hours waned, the situation remained unaltered.
“Damn it...!”
Realizing the futility of his actions thus far, Taylor grit his teeth.
He contemplated one final, extre asure that had occurred to him.
A scenario he had witnessed portrayed in a movie once before.
It involved a man whose arm had beco similarly trapped between boulders in a remote canyon. Unable to free himself, he had ultimately resorted to severing his own limb as a ans of escape.
Taylor’s current predicant mirrored that very situation.
Using the longsword at his disposal, amputating his arm was certainly a viable option.
However, the subsequent implications were far more problematic.
In the movie, severing his arm had allowed the protagonist to eventually reach a city, a ho, and access dical aid to treat his self-inflicted wound.
But in this world, none of those assurances existed.
Even if Taylor managed to sever his arm and return to their shelter, there was nowhere he could seek proper treatnt.
He risked succumbing to blood loss or infection instead.
And if he miraculously survived, he would be forced to engage in combat against the undead with only one arm from the very next day onwards.
“...”
And yet, despite all those grave considerations, Taylor slowly raised his longsword.
Even if every rational perspective discouraged such a desperate act, he couldn’t simply surrender.
Because if he perished here, the consequence wouldn’t be limited to his own demise.
His young daughter, obliviously awaiting his return at their shelter, would share the sa fate.
So he had to return to her, no matter what – even if it ant sacrificing one of his own limbs.
It was at that pivotal mont when:
“...Ah... hello?”
An indistinct voice suddenly reached Taylor’s ears, startling him.
Was it rely an auditory hallucination brought about by his precarious state?
However, that voice soon beca more distinct.
“Here on the third floor. I’m certain of it.”
It was unmistakably a woman’s voice.
Taylor’s heart pounded rapidly in his chest.
Ordinarily, the sound of human voices would have been a signal for extre caution.
These regions harbored not just marauders but cannibalistic tribes that preyed upon other survivors.
Which was why, for his own safety and especially his daughter’s, Taylor had assiduously avoided any contact with such individuals.
But in his current, desperate circumstances, he had no choice but to take that risk.
Even if they turned out to be cannibals, his fate would be no different if he remained trapped here.
Acutely aware of the gamble he was taking, Taylor raised his voice to announce his presence loudly.
He could sense soone approaching from outside after hearing his call.
Soon, visible through the shattered window, appeared...
“Look, there he is.”
A man with his head concealed by a helt, accompanied by a young girl whose beauty was tinged with an unsettling aura.
* * *
So ti later.
With Aiden and Arian’s assistance, Taylor had been extricated from the rubble and was now coughing heavily as he steadied himself on the floor.
“Are you alright?”
In response to Aiden’s inquiry, Taylor nodded sowhat awkwardly.
“Thank you. I an it.”
He then turned his gaze towards Aiden and Arian, addressing them directly.
From Taylor’s perspective, this was an unexpected turn of events.
Of course, he had requested their aid, but he hadn’t anticipated they would so readily agree and help free him from that predicant.
Above all else, the supernatural strength Arian had displayed by effortlessly lifting those concrete slabs with one hand was enough to leave Taylor awestruck.
However...
“...Why?”
When Arian fixated him with a scrutinizing gaze, as if demanding an explanation, Taylor simply shook his head dismissively.
That wasn’t his primary concern at the mont.
Taylor turned his attention towards Aiden instead.
“You said you were a junk dealer?”
“That’s correct.”
“What kind of compensation do you want?”
Taylor posed that inquiry.
He recognized Aiden’s voice – the man who had discovered his hideout in this sparsely populated Santa Rosa not long ago.
Additionally, Taylor was well-acquainted with the characteristics of junk dealers:
Individuals who fulfilled requests from survivors in exchange for compensation, particularly sensitive about the latter aspect.
So Taylor had been expecting Aiden to prioritize discussing paynt first and foremost.
However, Aiden’s response deviated from his expectations.
“We can discuss that later.”
“What?”
“There’s a more pressing matter at hand.”
Of course, Aiden’s words rang true.
Taylor himself was equally eager to return to his shelter where his daughter awaited, if not more so.
Yet the way Aiden spoke, as if fully aware of Taylor’s circumstances, filled him with a peculiar sense of unease.
“What do you an by that...”
“Isn’t your daughter waiting for you?”
At those following words, Taylor’s expression froze.
He hadn’t ntioned anything about having a daughter, so how could these individuals possibly know of her existence?
“Just who are you people-?”
Naturally, Taylor’s imagination began drifting towards unfavorable speculations.
But as if cutting off that train of thought, Aiden addressed Taylor by na.
“Taylor Evans.”
Taylor was certain he hadn’t revealed his na to them either.
In the brief mont his words failed him, Aiden continued speaking.
“The request we received from Luna yesterday was to find you.”
Rendered speechless by that completely unanticipated statent, Taylor could only gape wordlessly.
It was to him that Aiden recounted the events that had transpired while he had been unconscious.
* * *
The previous day, while searching for Taylor, Aiden’s group had coincidentally discovered his daughter Luna’s hiding place first.
It was a comrcial building near the lake on the town’s eastern side. A location Aiden would have been unable to detect on his own, made possible only through Arian’s presence.
But Arian’s abilities didn’t end there.
Upon approaching that shelter, she had discerned that its occupant wasn’t an adult male, but rather so kind of child.
With that crucial information, Aiden could swiftly deduce that the survivors concealed within this town were a father-daughter pair.
Instead of further pursuit, Aiden had judged it wiser to await Taylor’s return in that vicinity.
There was no need to risk their paths diverging needlessly.
And initiating dialogue from the other party’s base location would be more conducive for establishing trade negotiations.
However, Taylor hadn’t returned that day.
There was no reason for him to spend a night away from his young daughter within the confines of this small town.
So Aiden had sensed that so mishap must have befallen Taylor.
anwhile, the prolonged absence had caused Luna, still inside the shelter, to begin crying late into the night.
Even as a child, she seed to comprehend the implications of her father’s failure to return on schedule in this unforgiving world.
Unable to witness that pitiful sight any longer, Arian had entered the shelter despite Aiden’s protests, accompanied by Sadie.
It was then that they had learned the full circumstances from Luna herself.
“Could that story... actually be true?”
As they made their way towards Taylor’s shelter, guided by the details Aiden had recounted...
...Taylor posed that question, an underlying tone of skepticism evident in his voice.
Aiden had omitted any ntion of Arian’s abilities, resulting in a narrative that lacked coherence in certain aspects.
However, he didn’t attempt to fabricate additional falsehoods to bridge those gaps.
Doing so might have only invited further misunderstandings.
“You’ll see for yourself, won’t you?”
After all, Taylor could confirm Luna’s safety with his own eyes soon enough.
So Aiden simply urged him onwards.
And shortly after returning to the shelter:
“Dad!”
Taylor was reunited with his daughter Luna, embracing her tightly while seemingly forgetting about Aiden’s group standing right beside them.
* * *
That evening.
Aiden’s group was still residing at the shelter occupied by Taylor and Luna.
“...Is this really enough?”
Taylor spoke those words with a sheepish gaze, eyeing the vial of blood he had provided.
The compensation Aiden had requested was a blood donation, which Taylor had readily agreed to without hesitation.
However, even Taylor himself acknowledged that this paynt seed inadequate compared to the deed Aiden’s group had perford for him.
Aiden didn’t deny that assessnt.
“It is a bit lacking, I suppose.”
“Then...”
“But you don’t seem to have much else to offer as compensation.”
At Aiden’s words, Taylor let out an awkward cough.
It was an admission that Taylor simply didn’t possess anything else of value to provide.
As much as the statent stung, it was the truth.
Aside from a couple days’ worth of food rations and so pistol ammunition, Taylor had nothing else to offer.
“I really am sorry about this.”
A look of embarrassnt clouded Taylor’s expression as he spoke those words.
However, Aiden shook his head dismissively.
“We’ll simply put the remaining balance on credit.”
It was a statent Aiden would never ordinarily make.
But he had his reasons for saying so, despite not having received any material compensation.
Because their endeavors hadn’t been entirely fruitless.
“Kehahahaha! Really?”
From one corner of the shelter, peals of laughter rang out.
It was Luna’s voice.
And the one conversing animatedly with her was none other than Sadie.
“Yep. I can even use a slingshot now.”
Sadie spoke those words with a hint of pride, as if boasting to Luna.
The expressions and tones Sadie was exhibiting were ones that even Aiden and Arian had never witnessed before.
So much so that Arian herself was regarding the scene with widened eyes filled with wonder.
Perhaps it was because they so rarely encountered children, let alone had opportunities to interact with them.
Yet despite having only t the previous day, Luna and Sadie had already beco remarkably close friends. That was the unexpected reward Aiden’s group had gained.
Within their company, Sadie had always been a mature child, never throwing tantrums or voicing complaints.
While admirable, it also ant she had seldom let her guard down completely.
So Aiden found satisfaction in witnessing Sadie acquire a comfortable presence with whom she could converse freely – a friend, in essence.
Even if their ti together would be fleeting, it allowed Sadie a montary reprieve to unburden herself, if only briefly.
And Taylor seed to share a similar sentint.
“...”
Having fretted deeply over his daughter’s inability to smile freely, he now gazed upon her cheerful, animated laughter with a warm, eager expression.
As if she had finally regained the joyous deanor from three years prior, a profound smile unconsciously graced Taylor’s features.
After observing the two girls for an extended period, Taylor eventually lowered his gaze, seeming to ponder sothing deeply.
Then, he turned his attention towards Aiden.
“Let’s talk for a bit.”
Taylor gestured towards the staircase leading up to the second floor of the comrcial building they were occupying.
Apparently, he had sothing he wished to discuss privately.
Aiden gave a nod of acknowledgnt.
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