Chapter 45: Feathers

Crows, they are sometimes called the birds of death by many people. They follow armies who march forward to conquer their enemies, they eat the flesh of those who were killed.

Their black feathers resembles the coat that the god of death, the grim reaper always wear. Their beaks representing the sickle that the grim reaper always uses to harvest souls.

Crows were feared by the people, to the point that if a crow were to enter your house, it would mean that you were about to die.

It was a superstition that the people once had and continued to spread today. No one wanted to pet a crow, or even take it in as a pet. It was as if crows were a contagious disease that they don't want to touch.

So it was normal for people to gossip that the kindergarten was cursed to death and many of the children that were enrolled there were taken back by their parents when they saw countless crows scattered throughout the roofs and poles of the kindergarten.

All of the crows had blood red for eyes so it was even more ominous and terrifying for the common folk. They avoided the kindergarten like it was some kind of disease, and this lead to the woman being left along with the crow masked woman eating infront if her without any worries for anything.

She looked at Cheryl, then turned to look at the children left on the kindergarten before sighing.

"Can't you do anything about these birds?"

To which Cheryl responded by shrugging her shoulders and continued to eat.

Sighing in disbelief, she shook her head and ushered for the children to get inside. She hoped that the reputation of her kindergarten wouldn't be too broken after Cheryl leaves. Because if it did, she doubted that the parents of the kids wouldn't want to send their children to her kindergarten anymore and cut off her income.

She silently prayed that that wouldn't happen.

Holding the hands of the children, she turned towards Cheryl, who now had a little girl sitting on her lap, playing with her mask.

"...Cheryl, can you let go of Xixi?"

Cheryl turned her head and looked at her, then to the child and softly patted her head, "So your name is Xixi?"

The little girl looked at her, then shyly nodded her head.

Cheryl silently smiled and gave her a bite of the food that she was eating.

"Xixi, are you not afraid of this auntie?" After a while, Cheryl stood up and asked her.

To which she responded by softly shaking her tiny head, which earned her a kiss on the cheek.

Xixi giggled cutely and hugged her legs.

***

Rueben looked at the scene infront of him, Gwynne was by his side, holding the torch high up in the air. His red eyes glowing in the dark as they saw countless corpses of beasts lying by the beach.

Gwynne then turned the torch and started burning the corpses to cinders. Then she looked at the other corpses before turning to look at the darkness beyond the beach.

Rueben looked at her, turning his head back, "Let's go back. If we stay here too long, beasts may come here after smelling this intense blood."

Gwynne nodded her head and stood up, then she walked towards him.

Rueben walked towards a cart before grabbing its handle and started toiling away. Gwynne sat on the cart with countless books and notebooks inside a bag.

"Where to next?"

Gwynne took out her notebook, where she drew some of the places and location of the whole space that she was living in. She looked at one of the locations, which was here, conveniently named Corpse Beach.

Then she crossed the map with her pencil before turning to another location, a few grids away.

"Let's go to the Grave Site."

She decided.

To which Rueben nodded and grabbed the cart and toiled away.

"What's on the Grave Site?" He asked, easily pulling the cart with two hands. His physical strength was beyond that of a normal human at this point.

Still drawing on her map, she answered him while scribbling on the map, "Well, a cemetery. A cemetery full of unburied coffins. I haven't searched any of the coffins so we might be able to gain something useful if we search them."

Rueben turned his head to look at her, "So we're gathering supplies?"

To which she responded by nodding her head.

He looked at her for a while, before turning his head to the dagger hanging on his waist.

"Do you think we can find weapons there?"

Gwynne finally looked up and stared at him, then to his waist before shaking her head softly.

"Im not sure if there are any useful weapons in there and even if there are, it might already rust from time. So i cannot guarantee that."

Nodding his head, he turned his head forward.

"But we can go to this place." Knocking on a location with her pencil, "Weapons Cache. A few km to the west in the direction of Grave Site."

He turned to look at her, and nodded his head softly before turning back and picked up the pace.

Gwynne looked at him, and smiled. _Weapon Junky._

Then she turned her attention to the map and studied it, not even minding the movements that the cart was doing.

She looked at the final destination that she had chosen and a chilling light appeared in her eyes.

***

Crows glide along the murky skies, leaving behind feathers that left marks all around the forest.

Currently, Cheryl was sitting on a branch with a Telescope in her hand, she looked through the hole and observed a carriage that passed by.

Then she took out a photo and studied it for a while before turning back to the carriage. Then she gave out a soft sigh, "Target Spotted."

She softly pulled out a rifle and loaded it with a bullet. She took off her mask and tied it on the belt of her waist, before using the scope of the rifle to aim.

Caw. Caw.

A feather fell off from a crow. The feather softly glided through the air. When the feather fell within the bounds of her scope, she took her shot.

BANG

The carriage's window was shattered in an instant, then the bullet landed on the target's head.

Blood splattered inside the carriage, the people guarding the carriage was shocked and immediately turned their heads to the direction opposite to the bullet.

Cheryl smiled and stood up, then she jumped down and started running, leaving behind the rifle that she used. The crowd in the skies gathered around the carriage and tried slowing down the men that wanted to follow after her.

She turned a corner and jumped down a cliff before landing on a deep river.

Just as she was about to swim towards the shore, suddenly, a beast appeared from a cave and crashed down on the river and roared.

Cheryl looked at it before swimming towards the shore while the beasts swam towards her.