Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Zane found himself in quite the predicament as he gazed upon the lonesome and eerie streets of Pyongyang from the windows of his hotel room at three in the morning. He was stuck in North Korea, and though he could easily escape from the oppressive regime if he wanted to.

There was the matter of what exactly he would do once he was outside of its borders. I mean, the Korean peninsula was near in between two of the most powerful Horde Kings in the world. Both of which wanted his hide.

Ophelia ruled over Shanghai, which was south of his current location. While Balthazar ruled over Tokyo, which was to the east of his current location. If either of the two powerhouses discovered where he was, then it was as good as game over for Zane.

But then that left the question, how exactly would he escape from Korea without alerting either of them? By sea? Certainly not! If the animals on land were mutating into ferocious monsters of myth and fantasy. Then what about the ocean?

Putting Zane's natural thassalaphobia aside. What kind of Cretaceous era monster had been spawned in the world's oceans considering the major shift it was currently going through? Or god forbid some kind of cryptid like the Bloop appeared.

Even if he took a cruise ship over the Pacific, there was no saving him from such a thing if it really existed in the depths of the Earth's oceans. And that was, of course, assuming Zane knew how to sail, which he did not.

So. What about the air? Well, sure, if the avian lifeforms in the world had not yet evolved into pterosaur like monstrosities, or lightning birds. Then yes, air travel would be his best option. But Zane also didn't know how to fly a plane, let alone land one. And it's not like North Korea would just be willing to give him such a valuable resource.

Hell, did the North Koreans even have any jet fuel? I mean, the last time Zane checked, North Korea was getting its oil from China. And China was now home to the Horde Kings. So, by now they must be exhausting their strategic reserves, right?

With air travel and sea travel out of the question. Zane could really only rely on a teleportation stone to randomly send him some place else on Earth. But again, that cost a fortune in terms of coins. And was primarily used as a lifesaving method in the event that all other options of survival were exhausted.

Where was he going to get the coins to get another teleportation stone? Which btw, it was incredibly unclear whether or not he could be sent into the middle of the ocean. Or if he was randomly transported to only land locations whenever he used the stone.

He supposed he could go into South Korea and begin harvesting the local undead for resources and blood crystals, which he could sell to the store for coins. But if that many undead just suddenly vanished, it would naturally attract attention.

And that was exactly what Zane was currently trying to avoid. So… What exactly were his options right now? Fuck if he knew. Zane honestly could not think of a single way to get back to North America.

Because of this, he chose to simply sip on a cup of coffee which had been provided to his hotel room, and gaze out the window. All the while Gwen was trying to chatter off his ears.

"Big Brother, this place is creepy, and that's coming from a literal walking corpse like myself! When are we leaving?"

Zane did not dignify Gwen with a response as he continued to try to think through his current predicament. In the end, he could not make a move without taking a sufficient risk.

And because of this, he decided that he had no choice but to venture beyond the DMZ, into the ruins of South Korea, where he would slowly but surely grind local undead until he had enough coins to get another teleportation stone.

As Gwen continued to complain, Zane finally put down his cup of coffee and responded.

"Would you shut the fuck up for five god damn minutes? Fucking hell, I'm trying to think about what to do, and your bitching isn't helping!"

Gwen became completely silent after hearing Zane curse her out. Not because she was obliged to by his orders. After all, he did not word his remarks in the form of a command. Rather because she didn't want to upset him any further.

Because of this, she ceased all antics as Zane rubbed his temples, coming to the previous conclusion that he had made before snapping at Gwen.

"We have no choice. We have to go south. It is a huge gamble, but assuming we don't alert Ophelia or Balthazar to our presence, we should be able to get the coins we need to randomly teleport elsewhere within the next month…"

Seeing how Gwen was still choosing not to speak, Zane sighed and rolled his eyes before giving her permission to do so.

"You can talk now…."

Though he didn't apologize for snapping at the girl, she could tell by his tone that he was slightly remorseful for doing so, and because of this her mood lightened as she made a response to the man.

"Alright, you know I am bound to your will. Wherever you go, whatever risks you take, I will follow…. Even if I wasn't compelled to, I would choose the same! My fate is the same as yours!"

Zane may have been touched by this remark, if it weren't for the fact that this as literally the case, and not one of choice no matter how much Gwen might assert otherwise. And because of this, he simply scoffed before giving her a new command.

"Enter stealth mode. I'll send the rest of the Horde Kings back into the void. You and I are going to escape from this place, and make it south to the DMZ…"

Zane snapped his fingers, and the other Horde Kings within his hotel room disappeared in a puff of black smoke. After which he prepared to open the door to his room, which was no doubt under surveillance when Gwen quickly stopped him with an urgent tone.

"Wait!"

Zane's hand quickly stopped on the doorknob. As he turned back to look at Gwen, there was once more an irritated tone in his voice as he asked the girl what was wrong.

"What? Did I forget something?"

Gwen then looked at Zane with a puzzled expression on her face as she asked a needless and stupid question.

"What's the DMZ?"

Zane could only look at Gwen as if she were a simpleton, before sighing and shaking his head. He forgot that her knowledge of this world, or how it was prior to the apocalypse was only as extensive as what she knew before she became a Horde King and considering her background as a cheerleader, Zane couldn't help but make a remark about her intelligence.

"I get the feeling you were quite stupid before you became a Horde King…"

This remark caused Gwen to pout. She wanted to protest, but she had to admit Zane was right. She most definitely was the kind of idiotic youth who browsed the internet looking at brain rot videos rather than educating herself on the world and how it worked.

Because Zane was correct, she couldn't say anything, and instead activated her stealth mode, not willing to make a further fool of herself as Zane slowly and quietly opened the door. As expected, there were two armed guards just outside the door, standing by, making sure Zane stayed put.

And it was because of this that they immediately reacted to the fact that the door had opened, or they would have if not for the fact that Zane and Gwen were quite literally superhuman, where they moved as such exceptional speeds, that the two guards were already unconscious before they even heard the door open.

Once the two North Korean guards were knocked out, Zane motioned silently for Gwen to follow his lead. Here they escaped through the staircase of the Hotel rather than its elevator. After all, the elevator most likely had cameras in it, and it operated entirely by itself. It was bound to attract attention.

Because of this, Zane and Gwen were forced to run down several stories' worth of stairs in order to escape the hotel. Which naturally because of their speed and agility was not the slightest difficulty for them, nor took very long.

Once they had arrived at the bottom floor of the hotel, however. They would have to more cautiously navigate as it seemed to be full of guards. And if they accidentally bumped into one of them, it could alert the local authorities to their presence and their attempt to escape.

Because of this, Zane quietly motioned for Gwen to follow his lead once more. As the two of them made their initial escape from North Korean Captivity. One that would see them trying to flee a country full of hostiles, while trying to leave no trace of their escape.