Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 111: Introductions

After shocking Madison in to a temporarily paralyzed state, Zane left her quarters and instead visited the mess hall where the other three women in his party were located. None of them had an expression that could be considered joyful on their otherwise pretty faces.

In fact, they were in a foul mood. While Madison slept, they had cleaned out the bunker of the corpses, blood, and other bodily fluids that had splattered all over the place during their assault. Burying the bodies in the governor's ample back yard.

After doing this, they returned to the bunker and sealed it off from the outside world, awaiting for their newest party member to awake. Out of the six or so who survived the attack, only Madison awakened an ability.

Of course, none of them knew what the ability was, nor did they really care about that right now. After all, Zane had strapped the shock collar to the girl's neck, and the rest of the women were having concerns about what he planned to do with her. Especially Olivia, who had grown exceptionally close to Zane since the first night they spent together.

There was a rather anxious tone in the woman's voice as she dared to ask Zane the question that all the women had on their minds.

"Zane… What exactly is the plan here? Are we really going to keep that girl as a slave? Isn't that… Wrong?"

Though Olivia understood that conventional morality flew out the window the moment human civilization collapsed, she was still someone who had reservations when it came to enslaving people.

After all, such a practice was deeply associated with racism. Even though slavery had been extinct in the west for centuries, most people had it beaten into them from a young age that slavery was objectively and morally abominable.

And because of this, Olivia was still having difficulty accepting the idea of enslaving a captive. Luckily for her, even Zane did not seem to intend to keep the girl as a slave for eternity as he quickly announced his plan to them all.

"We don't have the luxury to think about what is right or wrong. It's the end of the world. For now… Until a time where the girl proves herself trustworthy, we will keep a tight leash on her. I will be confining her to her room from here on out during the nights, and during the day she will be under my observation.

Once she has proven trustworthy, I will release her from her bondage and welcome her to the group as one of us. My job will be as an overseer. She will need to learn to fear me if she wishes to properly integrate into our party.

But… Your job will be to comfort her. The girl's world had been turned upside down in a matter of hours. You all need to let her know what the world is like out there, and that you are here to support her.

If she comes to think of you as her friends, and family, then sooner or later she will come to trust my judgement as you all have. Do any of you have any qualms about this?"

Despite Elena and Angelica seeming uncertain with Zane's plan to properly domesticate their newly acquired slave, Olivia seemed to understand perfectly what Zane's goals were. And the reasons behind them.

Because of that, she walked over and placed a kiss on Zane's lips, an open display of affection he was not expecting, nor were the other girls who looked away and blushed when Olivia spoke her thoughts aloud.

"Even if you didn't ask, I would have supported the girl… It's nice to see you are growing a sense of concern for the wellbeing of others."

Zane was stunned by this comment. Even he did not realize he was growing a sense of empathy, and compassion towards others, and the idea horrified him. Was this really the case? Though nobody else saw it, Olivia noticed that the man's cheeks reddened ever so slightly and only for the briefest of seconds as Zane shifted his gaze away from the woman.

This caused Olivia to smile brightly and pinch the young man's cheek while complimenting him for showing more emotion than usual, even if it was a slight sense of embarrassment. You're so cute when you show emotion. Come here Zane!"

Olivia then hugged Zane tightly and clutched his head to her ample bosom, an act that he tried to fight out of, but was interrupted when the door to the room opened to reveal Madison. Her makeup had run from her eyes, which were now red and puffy from all the crying she had done.

Evidently she had showered and changed her clothes after soiling herself because her pink hair was glistening with water droplets. At the same time she had not styled it into the hairstyle which she was wearing when she first encountered Zane and the others.

Normally the girl had long hair, with a set of double buns tied up at the top, but now it was simply long, longer than normal, almost a like a river of pepto. She looked at the group who now owned her, a group that seemed to be in a variety of moods.

Elena was visibly upset at Olivia's shameless actions, while Angelica was trying to ignore the fight, which was just about to break out between the two women. Zane had forced himself out of Oliva's embrace and was trying to recompose himself, while Olivia herself was pouting at Zane's actions.

When they all noticed Madison, the reactions were different, with Olivia rushing towards the girl and hugging her tightly, gently petting her hair while trying to assure her that everything would be alright.

"I'm so sorry about all of this… It's just… Things are really bad out there… And we needed a place to stay. You won't understand until you go out there yourself, but it is quite literally a Darwinian experiment… I promise you, I will make sure we all get through this together!"

It was a surreal feeling for a complete and total stranger, one who had been a part of the group responsible for the death of her family, to suddenly hug Madison and assure her everything would be alright, while also justifying the heinous things she had done.

But in that moment, Madison accepted the friendly gesture and broke out into tears again. At least until Zane barked an order at Olivia.

"Olivia, get away from the girl. We need to have a word with her…"

Olivia reluctantly did as she was told. After all, she would never refuse an order from Zane. Meanwhile, Zane approached the newest member of their group and stood before her with his usual cold expression. All while asking the first of his questions.

"I suppose some introductions are in order. I'm Zane, that's Olivia, and over there are Elena and Angelica. We're a group of survivors, and believe me when I say we're not the worst you could have come across… So tell me, girl, what is your name?"