"Graaah!"
Michael forcefully swung his claymore upwards with a cry, finally killing the last walker.
Tang!
"Haa! Haa!"
Michael stabbed his sword to the ground and took a knee while gasping for air, his Claymore now reduced to a leaning stick.
Around him are bodies of walkers piled up in several mounds. The sight was like you're in the middle of a garbage dump and surrounded by garbage mounds.
The battle started on the road, and Michael ended it in the middle of a ranch. The area once covered in luscious green of weeds is now covered in a filthy black goo and pieces of flesh that smells horrible.
"Bloody hell. I'm spent." Dripping with sweat, Michael laughed at the situation he had gotten into for meddling.
Though exhausted, Michael couldn't help but smile in satisfaction when he looked at the final notification of his last kill, quietly floating below his sight.
[You terminated a Zombie! Gained +1 EXP and +1 Coin.] x 1579
'Tried, but worth the trouble.' He smiled.
Weary, but also satisfied since not only did he earn a lot, he was also able to gauge his current limit when going against the undead, most especially against a walker herd.
Smiling, Micahel slowly stood up while using his claymore as a crutch since his legs were shaking.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed ahead of him and Michael slowly raised his head and saw Andrea walking over towards him with a worried expression on her face while tightly holding the M4 in her hands.
"Hey babe, are you okay? You're not bitten anywhere, are you?" Andrea softly called out, looking cautious while standing a couple of meters away from Michael.
Michael chuckled as slowly picked himself up and responded. "Yes, and no. Help me back to the car, will ya?"
Andrea scrunched her brows and replied. "No, you're..you're covered in that..in that..I don't even know what to call them except dirty blood and gore?"
Michael cackled at her words. "Come on, it's the smell of victory."
With one hand on her nose, Andrea stretched her other hand towards him, her right palm facing him. "For you, it is. Walk with your sword, I know you can still walk without my help, and you smell so bad, like rotten meat."
"You're not coming inside, you're gonna wash yourself outside.. I'll go on ahead and prepare your bath because you're not coming in looking and smelling like that. I'm not joking babe. You're taking your bath outside." With that said, Andrea immediately turned around and hastily made her way back to the motorhome.
Michael ignored the stench around him and soon followed after her while using his sword as a crutch.
He finally reached the road and was just in time for Andrea to finish setting up his bath.
A large pot filled with clean water, sitting on top of a sturdy foldable table with a plastic bowl floating inside.
"Take off your clothes and throw them aside. You're not using those clothes from now on." Andrea said while placing a bath soap on the table.
"I know." Michael responded and placed his sword by the table before slowly taking off his clothes with no shame at all. After all, in his mind, the only ones who'd probably watch him take a bath are either Andrea or Rosita, and the walkers if you include them too.
Michael slowly unbuttoned his shirt and took it off. Standing in front of him, Andrea watched him with a disgusting expression on her face when she saw the bits of pieces of flesh left stuck on Michael's skin.
She's already used to this kind of thing since it's an occupational hazard, but that does not mean she'd never feel disgusted by it, especially when she remembered the feeling she always had during the days she'd also get pieces of rotten flesh stuck on her.
It's that same feeling you'd have when someone throws poop at you.
"Seriously? Taking a bath out in the open?" Rosita came down the motorhome in a rebuking tone.
Michael poured water on his head multiple times before responding to her. "Try it. It's great actually."
"At least you kept your underwear." Rosita sighed while lightly shaking her head, but then her expression became serious and she stared straight into Michael's eyes.
"Just what are you, man?" With no subtlety at all, she suddenly threw that question to Michael, which raised some eyebrows to the person standing at the side.
'I thought we were already over that subject? The nerve of this b*tch..' Andrea thought while lightly grinding her teeth.
Rosita ignored the hostile gaze coming from the other woman and focused her attention on Michael.
While soaping his body, Michael threw a quick glance at Andrea and saw her expression that looks like she wants to kill someone, and it made him chuckle.
"Hmmp.."
With a playful expression on his face, Michael responded to her. "A human, a very strong human with a hot body. That I am."
Rosita wasn't expecting such a short and simple answer from him and didn't know how to respond to that since she was expecting a speech from him. So, she just shrugged her shoulders, crossed her arms and replied. "Okay," before walking back inside the vehicle.
Michael just smiled while Andrea feels angry for him, but the former does not mind. He actually quite liked it that someone is acting normal and questioning the weirdness surrounding him.
It always weirded him out that Andrea and the others never raised any questions regarding him even when they're already witnessing firsthand, something humanly impossible.
So far, Rosita had been a breath of fresh air for him since it comforted him, knowing that he wasn't living in a world where people seem to act oblivious to things that's not normal.
But Michael had always brushed off their actions as normal since even the dead had risen and were trying to kill the living.
Rosita on the other hand was different; she had always questioned his existence from the time they started travelling together.
This made Michael realize that the people around him were all deliberately ignoring the things he did, like they all came to an agreement to never question everything he did, mostly things not humanly possible.
This disappointed Michael, especially at Daryl since he expected more from him as someone who always spoke his thoughts when it comes to things that are critically important to the survival of the group.
'Did they never once stop to think that I might suddenly go rogue one day and turn my sword towards them?'