Panting and out of breath, William overcame the shock and didn't mind Celeste being here in the slightest. She helped them greatly, which was why he sighed in relief and scrubbed his slightly wet hair.
Ellie was puzzled and more curious about this poor soul. As for how or why Celeste had followed them, it was of no importance. It was already obvious; she was so good at her tracking that nobody noticed her.
Celeste stood close to everyone, sizing the bare body of a man in his prime. Then, they turned the body and revealed the face, which shocked almost everyone on the deck.
Apart from the speedos covering his lower parts, the man was naked and sculpted out of the finest and tiny muscles they had ever seen. It also looked smooth, strangely organic, and upon a close look, a portion of the muscles popped off, looking as if they were new shapes and layers of muscles that weren't seen anywhere else.
They were just dense, looking wet, yet burly in a way, while retaining their qualities and substance. It was a weird look, yet not ugly. It was almost perfect, powerful, pleasing, and... well, naked and pure was fair, second to the overall impression that this man wightned a shit ton for his size.
Calling him chiseled with bulging yet lean muscles wasn't wrong. He lay on the floor, looking fresh as if he had gone for a nap, a swim, and had forgotten to breathe. He didn't appear dead in the slightest, but that's not how this goes.
Neither of them found his pulse, breath, or moving lungs. His lips were motionless, and no one dared to open his eyes because of something that shocked all four of them.
His blond hair wasn't it. A slight brown shade made his face even more beautiful, and his lack of beard made him younger. William and Ellie grasped their courage and looked at this person even closer, just in case, to see if their eyes weren't deceiving them.
What if a star fell from the sky?!
William noticed it was undeniable. A pink, nail-sized pearl rested in the middle of this man's forehead. It almost looked as if a bullet shot into his forehead at the perfect middle point and scattered, but the target was too thick, and the bullet was unable to penetrate. Instead, it changed the 'bullet' and resembled a weird petal or a cross on his forehead.
Only a small part of it was correct. Just a strange pearl in the middle of this cross showed interesting sides and part of the skin, shaping and giving the pearl an ethereal flow and vision. Or it might be because of the stars and the moon overhead. Its flow and glow were unnoticeable from a short distance. That's how outlandish this Emblem was.
Both William and Ellie realized it at the same time, but Haggard did so long beforehand.
“A Walker?”
“Must be a Walker. Look at that Emblem. It is still beaming with life. He must be alive!” William guessed.
Celeste kicked the man's face and crouched down when he didn't move or open his eyes. Both of her friends judged her for it, and after noticing her failure, she looked at them.
“Don't kick people...” Ellie suggested.
“Waking,” Celeste said simply, and Ellie ignored her strange manners. She didn't teach her this, nor did Dreadus.
Poking this man didn't give Celeste anything proper either. She smelled him and figured he was sturdy and weird—too weird.
“Weirdo...”
William was unsure how to proceed, and Haggard was even less sure. A dead Walker was a problem for his business and a very bad look, so at least he was glad he was alive.
“What are we supposed to do with him? Resuscitate?” Ellie blurted out with a bit of panic in her voice because she had never done it before.
“Second kick?” Celeste suggested, putting a palm on her chin like a philosopher. She saw a picture; it was something that clever people often did.
Ellie's mouth quivered, and she felt an immense sense of defeat. Hoping to send her away was no longer possible. Then, an idea came to mind. “Where is Hound?”
“Left on shore. Didn't follow me.” Celeste sadly said and implied nothing more.
“Oh.”
Ellie guessed the reason.
***
Far away on the shore, in the closest distance to the Assembly Island, Hound found a great spot to watch that dark mountain, where Celeste disappeared into. It was a couple of miles away from that thing, so that wasn't a lot, but...
The freaking water!
Hound was afraid that someone would hunt it and kill it, and everything would fail and crumble afterward. So he got small and sat on the ground beside a beach tree, pretending to be a small, stray dog, looking in the distance and waiting for its owner.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Even when people or families approached, or a small kid waved at him or patted the little beast without parents knowing, Hound could only swallow his pride, cry dark tears, and hope the collar didn't put a curse on him.
Hound stayed on the spot, waiting for Celeste to return from her self-entitled mission. Unfortunately, he couldn't swim in the slightest, so he figured it either needed to change or it might lose her sooner or later. For a long time, he thought and ignored touching hands and people, but they came instead.
In his mouth remained clothes that Celeste tossed behind because they would get in the way. They were the original ones, the kind that she would never want to be dirty or bloody. Hound had to give that to her, and he could sniff her out, find her any time, and see her at any... sniffed moment.
She was close—very close. At worst, he would make a move. Then, at best, the position would restart, and nothing of significance would happen whatsoever.
Alas, he sniffed out something extremely dangerous, and it pushed Hound's boundaries and eyes into the crackling light of darkness and silvery hues.
He growled, got up, and swore the flow was changing and that something hideous was about to happen.
Yet, he couldn't, for the lord of mercy and time, go to that water, forfeit his position, growl, grow, and fuck this up. He swore and projected the chances of nothing worse while the little kids kept harassing him. It was just a bad time.
***
Back on the boat, William tried resuscitation and failed successfully. The man's chest didn't even bend, nor did his skin or face change. Defeat lingered around them, and Celeste didn't have a chance to kick or slap this person again—a true shame indeed.
Ellie was conscious of many ways to save a person, but only through books. In actual practice, she was no better than anyone else, let alone someone fit to speak up like one. In a way, she was afraid and unwilling to realize she was shaking in gladness that this wasn't a cold corpse.
William was calm and accepted that there was no point in anything. Same as looking at a severed head, he thought, and looked at it as if it were a painting. It worked better that way. It couldn't be helped after such a trippy week.
Looking at their expression, Celeste figured this must be a very sensitive situation, so she got up and offered them her words. “Want to save him?”
“What? What do you mean?” William asked her, unsure if saving was even a point because... hell, maybe this person was just sleeping and looking like this because Walkers were a bunch of weirdos.
Celeste's face was calm, and her emotions lacked their usual charm. She was often like this when certain situations arose, and she figured out William was exactly the same. In other situations, she was clearer to read and speak to, almost like a child, and William wasn't like that, which she noted. Overall, it was still part of faces, and Celeste was still in a stage of self-discovery.
It was how William sometimes felt and stood, and how certain situations could change a person in a heartbeat. Whether in voice or face, it made total sense to her, so she offered a way out.
Celeste shifted her towel and revealed her bottom. It was a mix of skirt, underwear, and belt, which hid a series of strips that hid little vials. She took one out and wondered whether it was fine to bring it out. Dreadus repeatedly pointed out how to be careful about her vials, but hey, he never forbade her anything further, so that counted for something.
He still argued about stashing most of them aside.
Celeste appreciated that because they were her treasure, yet even then, she offered one forward, and the situation changed once more. She knew it would happen, somewhat, but when or how, not so much.
William shuddered and gazed at that approaching little bliss, a blinking look, and a smile that seemed way too weird on Celeste.
“What is that?” He suddenly shouted, grasping his hand that jolted up in a red, quivering storm that looked like tiny veins all over his right arm. Most of it was hidden behind the fabric until even that sizzled to dust and revealed his skin.
His whole right hand snapped at Celeste, but his body fell backward in shock and attempted to stop this shitty feeling. Like this, William failed to get close to her or that vial, but it didn't halt what was happening and what he was feeling.
Noise. It felt as if his whole head was pounding from the inside out, and heat and inescapable tense pressure rose from his heart. It was utter panic, and cold sweat washed over his back and head, while Celeste did nothing but nod and smile.
She looked at him as if he were funny, playing with the vial before him, and looked at how his struggling hand jerked and crimson shifted in silly attempts.
William wrestled with his own right hand until the blood dropped, his skin showed little cracks, and his face dropped a little bit too. William was unable to go back further; Celeste pressed him all the way to the wall in the middle of the deck, which wasn't far. The pressure was too much, and the enticing vial before him pulled the strings that better remain untouched.
“Celeste!” Ellie slapped the deck and wished to get closer but couldn't. She wanted to help William, but... this was not it. She saw him like this for a little while, but it wasn't like this with Kaufman. This was different, and William was the catalyst for change, while Celeste was the culprit.
Hearing Ellie changed one thing. Celeste snapped her arm and clutched the vial in her fist. “Oh, sorry. Sorry. Got ahead. Sorry.” Celeste said, bowing her head as if she were truly sorry. Ellie figured she was. She almost never bowed her head like a sorry puppy or something similar.
Standing right beside the drowned man, she glanced down in excuse and felt she shouldn't have done that to William. It wasn't correct. She should be sorry and make amends because of friends. Buddies, or so Dreadus often said. Again, that silly witch was also a buddy, but not that sort of buddy, since Celeste got that part right.
In this deck, someone would disregard that, and her vial was an innocent yet curious little treasure. Celeste wondered what it was about and why that crimson looked so pretty and enticing.
Too late.
The man below shook up a little, and his lungs and eyes quivered. For the first time, his closed eyes and deadly calm face changed.
By now, William had begun to crawl away from them, still terrified out of his mind and his feelings. It felt as if he had been possessed, and any feeling of moving without thinking or awareness was dreadful.
Ellie felt sorry for him and wished she could console him.
The moment the man moved, everyone tensed and changed again. The mesmerizing pearl glinted in a delightful flash that enveloped the whole boat and hundreds of feet around it in golden hues that came out of nowhere. Be it the wind, water, or light, everything altered and turned sharper, more alive, and brighter.
No one knew what was happening around the man. They could only watch and lean forward or away. No one was sure if he was awake.
But one of them was much more brazen and unafraid than the others. Celeste went forward and poked the man's face for no reason other than to see if he was napping.
And he did, in fact, react.
The man's eyes shot open, revealing a silver sea that had changed from that depth into blazing gold. Watching the starry sky was different, yet these eyes were calmer than anything up there, and Celeste was a handful away from them, shaking in anticipation and curiosity.
