The Messengers of Sanctuary

11 - Chicory

Chicory ran through the forest, trying to track down once more the place where Loretta lived. Not only did she have several letters for her, but she was beginning to hope that Loretta could come with her to Sanctuary. Perhaps she could claim her as her new route partner? Zombies had good endurance, right?

After not being able to find Zach, and knowing that even with undeveloped heartfire he would be making miles, Chicory had been running options through her head. She was sure that she wouldn't be able to find him until she got back from Sanctuary, and she wasn't even sure if Loretta would want to come, but she was steadily running out of options.

Chicory stopped in her tracks, feeling...something focusing on her. She couldn't see it, but she could tell that something was there. Chicory looked around wildly in the darkness, the heat in her blood flaring higher as she searched for the source of the feeling. Her eyes glowed brighter, piercing the darkness.

She saw a dark shape off to the side. Watching her with folded arms.

It was...River?

Chicory stared at him for a long moment, but he didn't acknowledge her presence, besides the fact that he was clearly staring at her past those...sunglasses.

"Why the sparks are you wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night?"

River frowned, taking a step forward, "and why do your eyes glow like a blue candle?"

Chicory folded her arms contemptuously back at him. "River. Why are you out here in the middle of the night."

"Again, I can ask you the exact same question. You can't be some type of strange sane zombie. There are only four ranks, you clearly aren't any of them, you smell almost completely human, and don't get me started on how you've been acting. But then your eyes are glowing, and that's only something that zombies do. Plus you infected Zach with whatever you have..."

He took off his sunglasses, revealing brightly glowing red irises. He folded his arms again.

Chicory took a moment to stare at him, blinking several times. River was...a zombie? Well, that actually made sense now that she thought about it. "You're a zombie." she still said, not quite sure how else to respond to that.

River shrugged, "I'm a nightstalker."

Chicory nodded slowly, remembering that she'd heard the phrase once before. She wasn't going to admit though that she had no idea what that was. "Huh," she said instead. Very creatively.

"Now's the time you tell me what you are."

Chicory frowned slightly, "why does this always happen in this forest? Last time it was Loretta, and now you. What? Is some other rando going to show up and make me spill my life story? It's getting kind of tiring."

River smirked, "Well I suppose it gives you practice for when you inevitably have to tell Zach, you know, 'cause you didn't tell him anything."

Chicory blinked, "What? I told him the essentials. He's now immune to the zombie virus, and he has to exercise whenever it starts to hurt. Easy. that's all I knew when I got it. Everything else is just scientific mumbo jumbo that Diane dragged out of some lady a long time ago."

River gave her an unimpressed look, "his eyes changed color. Isn't that kind of shocking?"

Chicory sighed, "Alright alright, I'll give you the rundown..." she rolled her eyes extravagantly. "Do you want the summarized version or the entire detailed story? I can do either or."

River paused, giving her a concerned look, "how detailed does it get?"

"I can tell you exactly what kind of plants were around for every single stage of it."