Pets

"What did you just do?". Because of what she just did Rose looked a little tired.

I got near her to inspect the bunny, in his forehead the little red imprint started to dissipate. And the bunny was just a shining white furball again

'I'm not sure, but I feel a connection with her now… you can see her now?'. She noticed that I was able to see the little bunny now.

She took the little bunny in her hands and pet it, the little bunny just stayed still while enjoying herself.

"Yeah, I can see her…"

Her? I was curious that if astral bunnies even had a gender, so I tried to look if there was something down there, but I couldn't find anything.

"Did you make a pact?".

'I think so… maybe I'm a beast tamer!!!'.

I don't think we have classes… at least for now I have no idea what will happen when the system upgrades.

"And can she do anything?"

To be honest the little bunny seems pretty much useless to me unless we have to fight a carnivorous plant and she ate it I don't see it helping us.

'I just got her, and she is too young right now, what do you expect?'.

I'm not sure what I expect actually, I thought that because of the pact maybe she can order her, share senses and stuff like that. Now that I see her well it is really tiny.

"How old is she?".

'I'm not sure but I don't think it's older than a month'. The little bunny started to smell her hand.

"how did you manage to do that anyway?".

Rose thought a little before responding, apparently even for her the whole process was weird.

'She was so cute that I thought how great it would be to have a pet to interact with while I'm in astral form. Not being able to interact with most of the things unless I concentrate is tiring so having a pet to play with would be relaxing'.

I was listening to her, I felt a little guilty and sad that I couldn't interact with her like when she is in her body.

'When I thought that, I wanted to pat the bunny …then, I don't know how to put it, she understood me and accepted my feelings? And the pact was made'.

I got near and tried to touch the bunny, but the effect was similar to when I touch Rose. A little warmth on my hand but nothing else. It was just as expected since the bunny made a pact with Rose it was considered a part of her now and because of that, I could see her thanks to astral link.

I left Rose and her new pet to look around the house.

After some considerations, I decided to use this house as a temporal base. It was a little farther than what I wanted but going into the neighborhood there is the possibility of getting too close to Jamie's base.

While Rose was happily playing with her new pet I moved around the first floor blocking the entrances and windows, I just left one window open that goes into the backyard for me to go in and out. It took me about half an hour to finish and I was able to improvise a little alarm on the window using glasses and a wire.

After that, I checked for supplies around the house, but if there was something useful, it was already taken by someone else. Since I was lacking in water and food, I had to at least find some water. I took a little sip from my bottle and left my food ration hidden inside a closet.

In this time Rose was trying to teach the little bunny some tricks but she wasn't successful for the moment, I could see her trying to give orders to the bunny and the bunny completely ignoring them.

'Sit! No, don't come here'.

"…It's not a dog you know". I let out a little laugh and Rose looked back at me.

'I know but I have no idea how to train a bunny!!'.

I thought a little about it and I have never thought about it, I mean Dante besides using his sandbox it's not like we train him to do anything. Can you even train an astral bunny?

"When animals like dogs or hawks are being trained there is usually a reward when they follow the instructions you gave them. Can't you pluck a couple of leaves and when she does as you ask, you feed her?".

'I'll try that, she started following me after I feed her after all'. She nodded and seemed to like the idea.

"I have to go out for a while, there is no water here so I want to inspect a couple of houses near to see if I find any, also I want to check how many beasts are around".

'I'll help you I can try the food training later, let's go, Lucy'.

The little bunny jumped on her arms.

"You named her Lucy?"

'Yep isn't cute?'

"I'm surprised you didn't call her Miss Whiskers, Cottontail, or something like that". She blushed and retorted immediately.

'I just named Mr. Cuddles like that because I was 6 years old!!'

"I'm just joking, let's go, I want to come back soon." I'm sure I heard her whisper to herself later

'Those are good names too though'. I just grinned but didn't say anything.

Like the first time I went to look for supplies on other houses I moved through the backyard. My stats were a lot higher compared to that time, so it was easier to move. I went inside all of the houses, some of them had the horrible smell of rotting corpses, what surprised me the most was that the beasts haven't eaten them yet. Even these ones were already ransacked with no supplies left. Other places where clearly invaded by beasts and the only left was the blood from the people who tried to hold them back.

In all the block I couldn't find water or food left. The only possible source of water was some pots with rainwater but it was too dirty to drink, so I will only use them if I have no other option.

I wanted to move to the block in front of this. So far, I have avoided all the beasts. I left the house through the backyard door. I moved silently and checked outside, Rose already scouted the area but even from underground I can be attacked like last time, so I was extra careful. I crossed the street and went right away into a house that Rose surveyed before.

I started my mission once again, from time to time I could hear different beasts' roars. The place was flooded by beasts, it was thanks to Rose and my stealth ability that I wasn't noticed, so us leaving this place was the best decision at that time.

After knowing this I found that my resolution to take care of Jamie was stronger than before, and the sooner the better. The time limit could mean that after that I may not be able to stop him, and that is a risk I can't take.

There was something bothering me about this situation, even with the beast's invasion Jamie being fine means that his group has a way to easily deal with them. Which was scary, so this was something I need to find out before I got into a fight with them.

I searched the house like I was already getting used to, with the same result than before. This didn't discourage me, I already knew that most of the supplies in the area would be already taken, but there was always the possibility of them forgetting something behind.

I went to the backyard to jump to the next house, at this moment I heard the sound of a battle going not too far from where I am.

Usually, I would avoid all this but the fact that a battle breaks out could mean for me to find Jamie's whereabouts, and this would help me complete the mission sooner.

I didn't rush in that direction, I kept my guard up in every step I made and arrive at a house in front of the street where the battle was going on.

There what seemed to be a horse was fighting against a group of people. I could see the chains binding them, and some of them already corrupted and corroded, the little bunny trembled on Rose arms, and she comforted her.

This was somewhat expected for me when I came here.

But the surprise was that between the group of people, there were two beasts, using their power on the horse.

And those two sheep were bound by a chain like everyone else.