Satan Hired Me To Kill God

8. For Survival

Czar's breath ceased, covering Aliyah's mouth. They hid behind a large rock. Hearts raced. Muscles tensed.

Amidst the fog, they watched a lonesome Undead march forward, its eyes scanning the surrounding.

It reached a meter and a half. Thin like desert thorns, and a barbed tail that dragged on the ground.

The Undead occasionally turned and looked in their direction making Czar's legs trembled, holding Aliyah tighter.

After moving a few yards, the Undead changed direction. Its tail screeched as it coiled on the ground. He looked exactly at the rock hiding Czar and Aliyah, and he approached it with a blank face.

'No, please just go, you didn't see us.' Czar's chest rose and fell. His face ashen. The grip on Aliyah tightened. She wanted to wince, but his mouth force any sound back to her throat.

When the Undead got to the rock he scanned it and dug his claws at the base of the boulder. Something struggled and rattled for a few seconds then it stopped — dead.

The Undead brought it out. It was a black snake. It didn't spare it a second glance before swallowing the reptile.

Gulping, he turned and left, ignoring the monolith.

Czar watched the Undead walk away into the distance until its figure vanished. He slumped on the ground panting, while Aliyah just clutched to him, her face white with red fingerprints around her mouth.

"He left." Czar exhaled. His body shuddered, clothes drenched in sweats.

Catching his breath, he glanced at Aliyah, biting his lips.

"I'm sorry, uncle didn't mean to hurt you."

Aliyah nodded, hugging him. Her tiny fingers shivered as they held on to him, refusing to let go.

"We'll survive, we will." He kissed her forehead.

It had been four hours since they woke up from the terrible fall. The direction was North, but the director never mentioned it being a walk in the park. This was their second encounter with an Undead already.

"Twenty hours more."

"What are you counting down to?"

"Um you won't under-" Czar paused midway.

That voice. It wasn't Aliyah's. He wanted to grab Aliyah and run but a hand press on him, a cold blade on his neck.

He looked down. It was a man's hand. Disfigured and bandaged in rags. The hand held a knife and that knife was grazing his throat. It was no Undead, he realized.

"W-who are you?"

"Who cares?"

"Food, drop all the food on you or that one dies first."

Czar raised his hands, his thoughts crashing with different options.

"Don't do anything funny, boy." The man said as he began to ransack Czar's tattered clothes.

He took out some nuts and dried fruits. His eyes lit up when he saw water from a small gourd. He parked everything stuffing them into his torn bag.

With his Knife still on Czar's neck he went for Aliyah to search her as well.

"S-she's not with anything, please don't touch her." Czar managed to say.

"No one gives an actual fuck," the man said, his tone flat. His fingers grazed through Aliyah's clothing, but he soon lost interest, seeing that Czar wasn't lying.

"Good."

"Do not turn until you can no longer hear my footsteps, my aim is not what you want to test." The man took a few steps back, his eyes scanning his surroundings.

After a long wait, when Czar could no longer hear his footsteps, he turned. The man was gone.

"That bastard." He gritted his teeth.

"I kept that for us in case we ran into inescapable hunger, now it's gone." His cheek reddened, fists clenched.

"Aliyah we need to leave this place." He stood up, picking Aliyah.

"Okay uncle," she mumbled, voice tensed.

His eyes thinned, observing his surroundings. They were in a mangrove forest. He chose walking through the woods rather than the open shoreline with nothing to hide.

Even at that, the mangroves still shrouded danger and the uncanny. His best bet was to move through the boundaries until they reached a better spot or better what lay in the North.

"Whoever you are, you could've just made things easier by waiting a few hours till we woke up." Czar frowned, pushing a shrub away from his vision.

In his line of sight, he saw a figure, which made him squat immediately. His eyes peered from the back of a tree, shielding Aliyah's vision.

"Don't look." He whispered.

"A human?" He breathed in relief.

"Um?" His eyes narrowed, crawling forward. He looked left and right, up and even the ground. But nothing caught his attention till he got closer to the woman.

She looked like a poor fellow in her early forties. Her left leg had been eaten away, and her hands clasped to a baby who twitched with every breath.

Hearing the leaves rustle, the woman turned, frantic. Her hands not letting go off her baby. Her eyes widened then relaxed, sighting another human.

"Please, my baby, save him, please save my baby." She stretched her arms, her body paralysed on the ground.

Czar halted in his tracks. He looked at the woman, he looked at the baby, then Aliyah, and then back to the woman. No one saw his trembling fingers. Clenching his fits, he approached the woman with a steel resolve.

He searched her body. Saw a gourd filled with water, a few nuts, and even some old coins. He parked everything, leaving nothing behind. He rose, picked Aliyah and took the opposite direction.

"W-what — what are you doing, my baby, please just my baby you can take anything else you want."

"Boy, have you wondered what the body of an old woman would taste like?"

"You can try it, now, please just promise to take my baby with you, I beg of you."

Czar turned his head, meeting her gaze. He felt Aliyah pinched him. But nothing felt worse than the way his heart throbbed.

"I."

"I'm sorry I can't," he said, averting his gaze. Increasing his pace, he left the woman who pleased and cursed, her voice echoing from the distance.

When he could no longer hear her voice, he succumbed. Falling on his knees. He vomited brownish green fluid. He retched, then retched. His eyes ladened with tears.

"Th-this."

"This is not life."

He hit the ground. Tears streamed out. He could no longer hold it. That woman and her child — they would die. And there was nothing he could do about it. Life would move on regardless.