Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 271: Viva Las Vegas Part I

Las Vegas, Nevada. The fabled sin city. A land of vice and hedonism. Now turned to waste by the apocalypse. It had only been six months since the outbreak of the undead virus, an event that would forever change the world and the fate of humanity.

But shockingly, when Zane gazed upon the ruins of the legendary city, he found that the sands of the desert had already begun to reclaim it. In fact, the moment he entered the outskirts, he found that there was a sandstorm in place. Something that would not normally happen in this part of the world.

The storm was violent, and the particles of sand contained within it were violently whipping by Zane's face. Were a normal man, no doubt he would be lightly cut by it. And yet, because he was more than just a man, the storm inflicted no hurt upon him.

Gwen had finally been able to cope with Zane's shift in appearance after several hours of walking. And was quick to comment on the state of Las Vegas.

"It's funny. In life, I was born and raised in Nevada. Yet I've never actually been to Vegas before, despite it being what our state is most known for. Is it really as fun as they say?"

Zane looked at Gwen as if she were naïve, and foolish. Before responding to her question with a stern and curt tone in his voice.

"How the hell would I know? I'm eighteen."

Gwen was astonished by this. She had never actually known Zane's age, and quickly clung to his side, while excitedly chirping her thoughts away without any filter.

"Really? So big brother is only two years older than I was before my death? We really could be siblings, after all!"

Zane simply rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away from the girl's grasp, which she had attempted to latch onto. While Gwen was better company than nothing, there was no way he'd respond to the undead cheerleader's many attempts to flirt with him.

Instead, he continued to walk forward. That is until Zane came to a sudden stop. Not far away, in the distance, there were flashes of light followed by shouts. Clearly, there was a battle of some kind going on, and Zane suspected it was the local survivor population fighting against the undead.

"Hurry, this way!"

The flashes were coming from the skills of the awakened survivors. No doubt being cast at whatever was pursuing them to such an extent that they felt the need to run for fear of their lives. Eventually, the small party of six survivors ran right to where Zane and Gwen were standing. Which was the road leading into town.

They were surprised to see two people standing there. As normal, those who came and went from the ruins of Las Vegas travelled via car. But from the looks of it, these two individuals had walked from the North.

How far, nobody knew, nor did they really have time to contemplate is as they were being chased by a juggernaut.

"Run! It's a fucking juggernaut! If you value your lives run!"

Zane took one look at the rampaging beast that shook the earth with each step before flashing a glance towards Gwen, which was accompanied by an almost exhausted voice.

"Do you want to take care of it, or do you want me to do so?"

By now, the party of survivors had fled past Zane and Gwen entirely, not giving the suicidal outsiders a second glance. As for Gwen's response, she flashed a smug smile at Zane before vanishing on the spot.

When she emerged, there was a giant hole in the juggernaut's chest. And Gwen had emerged on the other side, completely unscathed, and untainted from the creature's blood and bile, even after she had burst through its chest like a cannonball.

The juggernaut fell towards Zane, but he just stood there, because he could practically see it falling in slow motion, and he would go right through the hole that Gwen had made. Which happened not long after.

He then equipped one of his sickles and cut the undead monstrosity's massive skull open, digging out its silver Tier V blood crystal, before plopping it in his mouth to gain the XP from the beast which Gwen had effortlessly slain.

Apparently, as he did so, the other survivors stood in disbelief at Zane. No doubt his unique appearance was an oddity to them. But it was the girl by his side that had thoroughly made them shit their pants.

Gwen was a teenage girl with no equipment whatsoever, quite literally dressed in a high school cheerleader uniform. And yet in a single instant she had taken out a Juggernaut. In the entirety of the Las Vegas area, there were a handful of parties that could take out a Juggernaut on their own. And that was generally a team effort of level 15-20 awakened survivors, one that was a costly battle to wage.

Yet Gwen had single-handedly, and instantaneously caused the damn thing's chest to explode. Just who the hell was this adolescent girl? And who was the weird-looking kid next to her? As for Gwen, she paid no heed to the mere mortals gazing upon her pristine figure. Instead, she clung to Zane, flaunting her greatness.

"Aren't you amazed at how great your little sister is? Who else but me could take out a Juggernaut so quickly?"

Zane looked at the woman as if she were daft. He could have easily done the same thing, hell any one of the Horde Kings beneath his command could take out a juggernaut with ease. And he was quick to point this out.

"What are you bragging about? It was just a juggernaut."

Just a juggernaut? Were they hearing correctly? Just a juggernaut? What kind of powerful abilities did these two people have in order to consider juggernauts a mere nuisance? Whoever these outsiders were, would they not be rewarded handsomely if they brought them back to their factions' settlement?

After all, there were multiple survivor communities all vying for power and influence in the region, and if these two outsiders joined them and their cause, then they would not have to fear anything! It was with this in mind that one of the women in the group, who appeared to be in her mid twenties quickly approached Zane.

Her figure was modest, but she was dressed in hyper revealing equipment. This may not necessarily be a choice on her part, as the system was known to make armor revealing for the opposite sex in many cases.

"Hello strangers, are you perhaps from the nor---"

The look Gwen was giving this woman was one filled with murderous intent. She was even hissing like a cat that was prepared to pounce. Which was definitely abnormal behavior for a human being. Zane, of course sighed, he knew exactly the reason Gwen was acting this way, and flicked her on the nose, before giving her an order to cease her possessive behavior.

"Knock it off. You can't just get hostile to every woman who approaches me."

Gwen pouted after being lectured by her big brother, but ultimately did as she was told. Zane obviously could tell that these people had hidden intentions towards him, he just did not know what they were. Still, Zane was confident that there was no human on this earth who could currently challenge him. Let alone Gwen, and because of this he played towards their aims.

"You lot. Is there a place we can rest, and maybe trade for supplies? It's been a long journey from Salt Lake City, and I feel like taking a break for a while…."

Gwen looked at Zane with curiosity. Salt Lake City? That's not where they came from? But she could tell by the look on Zane's face that he didn't trust these people. And it was best to assume a false identity for the time being. Especially since Zane no longer looked like his past self, making it easier to hide among the living without being found out by the other Horde Kings.

Because of this, she was quick to introduce herself to these strangers as well.

"That's right, my brother and I are deeply tired from our journey. And we haven't had anything to eat in days. You wouldn't mind showing us to somewhere that's safe and civilized now would you?"

The survivors were as wary as Zane and Gwen, as Zane was wary of them. These two outsiders were clearly very powerful. And yet they were behaving with a certain degree of trust towards them that few had for strangers after the world came to an end.

If they turned out to be hostile, it could spell the end of their community. But if Zane and Gwen could be made into friends, then it was a powerful boost to their faction's prowess. And because of this, the leader stepped forward and introduced himself.

"I'm Jack, Jack Reeves. We owe the two of you our lives after you took down that juggernaut by yourselves. The least we can do is take you to our camp. Please, follow me if you will!"

Zane silently nodded to Gwen and followed the group of human survivors. Whether they had hostile intentions towards him or not, it didn't really matter. Either way, there was nothing they could do to harm him. And there was only one way to find out about the situation in Las Vegas.