I Haven't Felt Like This For Ages!

Although eager to get the hunt underway, Grant instead slowly backed up towards the doorway to the staircase and opened the door.

Although it had only been a few moments, Leonard and Morgan nonetheless looked at Grant eagerly hoping that he already had good news for them.

Unfortunately, they were quickly disappointed.

"Leonard, I need you to take your sister and go find Ethan right away. Tell him that in my pack their is a Minor Recovery Potion and you need him to give it to you. I have a feeling we're going to need it.

When you return, do NOT leave the stairwell. Do you understand?"

Although reluctant to leave, knew that Grant would not send him on a wild goose chase for no reason so he finally agreed after a few moments of hesitation. Leonard then grabbed his sister's hand before quickly descending the stairs.

[Alright, back to work.]

Grant once again slowly walked back through the door and into the hallway.

Although he could sense the approximate location of the monster, he had learned after repeated fights with random monsters that he should not take any unnecessary risks so he slowly creeped down the hallway.

As he slowly progressed forward, Grant would make sure to glance into each room that he passed. After passing the fourth room and still not seeing anyone, Grant was beginning to grow nervous.

He had thought that with the lights on, it meant that someone would be in the room, but that turned out not to be the case.

As Grant approached the sixth door however, he finally heard the sounds of movement.

He slowly reached back over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of his sword, ready to attack at a moments notice.

With his back against the wall, he slowly shuffled up to the window in the door and peaked his head around the corner.

Inside the room, was a middle aged woman who appeared as if she hadn't eaten in weeks. She was nothing but skin clinging desperately to the bones beneath.

Grants chest tightened at the sight of the woman's suffering.

[What could this woman possibly have done to deserve treatment such as this?]

Since he didn't have his pack with him, he knew that he wouldn't be able to assist the woman at the moment, but he decided to slip into the room anyways.

Grant slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door just enough to allow him to slide into the room before he quietly shut the door behind him.

Realizing that someone had just entered the room, the woman let out a scream. Or what Grant assumed would have been a scream if she wasn't so dehydrated that the scream sounded more like a cough than a scream.

Grant quickly turned around and placed his pointer finger in front of his lips in an effort to keep the woman quiet.

Since Grant just stood near the door and made no movement to threaten or assault the woman, eventually she calmed down and sat down on the cot in the room.

Quietly Grant explained his presence, "I'm sorry if I scared you. Are you perchance Lauren Rhodes?"

The woman quickly shook her head side to side to indicate she was not Lauren.

Grant let out a deep sigh of disappointment. Although he was happy to find another person alive, each room he passed that was either empty or occupied by someone other Lauren, meant one less opportunity for him to find her.

However, Grant quickly shook off the disappointment and continued his questioning, "Do you know where she might be?"

In a raspy and barely audible voice, the woman did her best to answer, "I know she was here at one point. I saw her being lead down the hall a couple weeks ago. Whether she is still here or not, I am not quite sure."

Grant just shook his head up and down to express his understanding.

"Thank you for the information. Now, I am going to tell you something, but I need you to remain calm. Your body is in no condition to handle any excitement. Do you understand?"

Reluctantly, the woman shook her head up and down. Clearly she had become accustomed to nothing but bad news and was expecting the same from Grant.

"Alright good, quick introduction, my name is Grant. I came to liberate this camp and that includes you and the rest of the people here.

Andrew is dead already and the rest of the guards and leadership have either joined Andrew in the afterlife or are currently in custody.

I cannot lead you away from here just yet, but I promise that I will be back shortly to get you. Can you wait just a little longer until I resolve a few issues?"

When Grant had first walked in, the woman had a look in her eyes that said she was someone who wanted nothing more than to die but didn't have the courage to commit too it. That however, changed drastically, the longer that Grant talked.

To answer the question at the end of his small speech, the woman shook her head up and down as well as gave him a thumbs up. Clearly the good news had revitalized her to no small degree.

"That's good. Now, I will have to leave you here but again, I promise I will be back. You just need to wait.

Oh, and if you hear the sound of fighting, please don't come out. Someone from my group or even I will come get you when everything is over. Sound good?"

As the woman answered, her voice cracked and tears began to flow out of sheer happiness.

"Sounds good. Thank you."

Grant gave her one last curt nod before he slowly opened the door and slid back into the hallway.

He once again began to slowly progress down the hallway, glancing into each room to see if their was an occupant. If their was, he would compare them to the descriptions that Leonard had given of his mother.

Every room after the one he had slipped into, had an occupant, but rather than talk to each person individually and delay the killing of the monster on the floor, Grant simply slid past and continued on to the next room.

After passing the 20th room, Grant realized that no one on this side of the building matched the description of Lauren.

Since the building was designed with 40 rooms on both the north and south side as well as 2 rooms on both the east and west ends, he forced himself to stay positive rather than let the failure of the initial search bring him down.

As Grant slowly approached the corner at the end of the hallway that led to the other side of the building, he finally heard the sound that was both unnatural and out of place.

Which meant that he had finally found where the monster was loitering.

When Grant reached the corner, he slowly peaked his head around the corner and tried to get a better look at the monster.

As Grant scanned the monster, or more accurately zombie, that was in front of him, he realized that he couldn't see any difference between it and the weak low level zombies he had killed in abundance.

[Sherlock, that's clearly an Enlightened Tier zombie, yeah? I'm not crazy am I?]

{Well we've clearly established you are in fact crazy, but that is neither here nor there.

To answer your question, yes, that is an Enlightened Tier zombie.}

[Why the heck does it look so normal? Shouldn't it be some mutated abomination?]

{What makes you think that all monsters or zombies have to be mutated abominations? You still look the exact same as you did before The Path's emergence, don't you? By your logic, you should be some grotesque deformation of what you used to be, yes?}

[Huh... for once, what you say makes sense. Okay, my bad. Can you tell me what kind of Path that zombie is on?]

{How am I supposed to know that? Like you said, it has no defining features, at least not from what we can see. I'm not omniscient you know? I told you already, just because I'm a guide doesn't mean your Path will be any easier? No free passes here bud.}

[I take back the feelings of respect I just had for you.]

{Same bud. Same.}

Since Grant had no way of knowing what the zombie was capable of unless he engaged it in combat, Grant withdrew his sword from his back and prepared to attack.

Trying to end the fight in an instant, Grant charged towards the zombie at top speed.

Surprisingly, the zombie noticed Grant's presence mere moments after he rounded the corner and turned around to face him.

As he did, the zombies jaw opened so wide you could fit a dozen basketballs inside. The zombie looked like the leader of the zombies in the I Am Legend movie when he screamed at W Smith's character.

Not knowing what was going to happen, Grant threw on the breaks and braced for impact.

A microsecond later, Grant heard the sound of what seemed like a million wailing souls before he was assaulted by a pain that seemed to pierce through to the deepest levels of his own soul.

[AGHHHH I HAVEN'T FELT PAIN LIKE THIS FOR AGES!!!! FUCK IT HURTS!!!]