Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 272: Viva Las Vegas Part II

Though Zane's appearance was unique as far as humanity went, it was not like the majority of human survivors had come into contact with the terrifying entity that was Horde Kings yet. After all, the majority of them were shadowy figures that ruled their armies and domains from behind the scenes.

Neither Zane nor Gwen were human, and the paleness of their skin would definitely be suspicious to living human beings if they were aware of the highly intelligent and capable undead existence. But the fact remained that the people of Vegas, or at least those who survived thus far had no contact with such entities.

And thus, they welcomed Zane and Gwen into their little settlement, which had been built within the ruins of Las Vegas. As Zane and Gwen marched through what remained of Sin City, whose streets were covered in sand, and whose skies were constantly filled with storms of flying dirt.

The locals who covered their faces with cloth were quick to let Zane and Gwen know about the local politics of the various human settlements that had popped up following the collapse of the old world.

"We are taking you to a location we call the Jungle. It is the largest human settlement on this side of the city. I don't know how things are in Salt Lake, or hell the rest of the world at this point. But the government collapsed fairly quickly here in Vegas after the undead virus broke out.

Survivors were left on their own, and after much chaos and infighting, various groups banded together to create their own settlements. Each faction, as we call it has their own safe area where people can live without worry of the undead outside their gates. And the jungle belongs to the Undaunted. Which is the name of our faction.

Pretty much anyone is welcomed to trade and visit with the Jungle, but the Undaunted don't just let anyone into their ranks. They're crazy superstitious, and deeply paranoid about outsiders. Even still, they try to do good by the people in the Jungle. I wish the same could be said for some of the other factions in the area."

Zane immediately understood what the man in charge of this party of awakened survivors was hinting at. At least one of the factions in the area was openly hostile to everyone and everything not under his control, and he was quick to ask about this.

"Are you saying that there is a lot of infighting between the various factions of survivors?"

The various survivors looked at one another, they were surprised by the tone in Zane's voice as he made it sound like where he was from the survivors had banded together and put aside any sense of competition and rivalry they had towards one another over local resources.

"Of course there is. I mean look around you. This city is basically inhospitable. It's constantly suffering from one giant sandstorm, and nobody knows why. There's no way to grow food except in places like green houses and hydroponic farms. But it's not like a lot of those existed before the apocalypse began.

At least not here, and building them from scratch is easier said than done.

So yeah, including the Undaunted, and the people in the Jungle who rely on their protection, there's a group who call themselves the Raiders. No doubt after the football team, which used to play out of the stadium they have built their settlement in. They live up to their name through and through.

Those guys are vicious cunts. In the early days they established themselves by killing and enslaving anyone they came across. Stealing their supplies from their corpses, and not much has changed sense.

I'm honestly surprised that you seem surprised! Is it not the same way where you guys are from?"

Truth be told, Zane knew nothing about Salt Lake City, or if anyone even survived the apocalypse there. But what he did know was that in New Reno, things were difficult at first, but the various local settlements all seemed to get along to some degree. Working together to survive rather than fight each other over the leftovers of the old world. And Zane was quick to convey this settlement.

"Not at all… Sure, there are different settlements throughout the area, but they all cooperate with one another. Any bad elements were thoroughly wiped out early on. Hell, they even have farms in the area providing enough food for all the human survivors."

There was a hint of pride on Zane's face when he expressed this, no doubt because he was the one who had ensured Gravestone was the anchor which kept the entire northern Nevada survivor community intact.

But the locals of Vegas who were guiding Zane to this jungle, were more surprised that Zane and Gwen would leave such an area when they were all struggling to survive here in Vegas.

"I have to ask, why would you even leave such a place? Why come all the way down here if what you say is really true?"

Zane did not hesitate to answer this question, which he did so with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Why else? To become stronger!"

This was only partially true. The real reason Zane had gone south was because he was on the run, the Horde Kings were after him. But he would never tell anyone that, as they would never let him stay in their sanctuary or trade with them. And though he was alone and had his own camp. There were still benefits to be had by maintaining some degree of friendliness with humans.

Still, though, these Raiders would be a problem. Although lucky for him, if he killed them, he could eat their crystalline hearts and gain all the xp they had gained in their lives. Something he no longer feared, and deeply regretted not taking advantage of earlier when he had the chance.

But again, he would never mention this to anyone who was not 100% loyal to him such as his horde kings. And besides, the locals were more impressed with the strength Gwen had displayed, with one of the women in the party asking Zane, which was stronger of the two.

"By the way, killing a Juggernaut in an instant, that's insane. I can't even imagine what level you guys are? But it looked like you were the one giving her the order to do so. So does that mean you're stronger than this girl?"

Zane chuckled when he heard this and shook his head. Stronger than Gwen? The only reason she was loyal to him was because she had basically volunteered to become his servant. If he went all out with the girl, she would kill him with ease, and he was not afraid to admit that.

"While I could have done the same to the juggernaut, there are levels to this game. And Alice is much more powerful than I am. She follows me around because of her own reasons."

Zane had used the pseudonym Alice for Gwen when he introduced himself and her to the local survivors. They were on the run after all, and he was being careful, real careful. He himself had used the name Garth, which was the name of New Reno's local sheriff.

If the local Horde King received word that two outsiders had come to town, and their names were Zane and Gwen, then Zane would be forced to flee the city like he had done to Gravestone. Because of this, Gwen accepted the fact that she had to refer to herself as Alice while in Vegas.

But she was still pissed at how close these women were getting to Zane, and continued to glare at them because of this. She would remain silently indignant towards the humans until they arrived at "The Jungle" which, much to Zane's surprise was a settlement built around an old skate park….