Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 254: Farewell.... For now

Zane lie naked in his bed, surrounded by the five women who he had grown to accept as his family, and as his lovers. They were all fast asleep, equally as nude as he was. He had just spent the night together with them all for the last time in a very long time.

He had no idea when he would return to these women, or if they would ever forgive him for abandoning them. But it had to be done. Zane had unintentionally called upon him the wrath of all the undead in this world.

And by doing so had made himself, and all of Gravestone the enemies of the Undead. But… That was only the case if Zane chose to remain in this small, and self sufficient community. The reality was that the Horde Kings knew very little about his interpersonal relationships.

None of them knew that Zane was romantically involved with his party members. In fact, none of them even expected it. Had they done so, then, as Death had said, Lilith would have used them as pawns in her game of manipulating Zane.

But she had ignored them entirely, meaning from the perspective of the Horde Kings, Olivia, Elena, Angelica, Madison, and Lily were all just gnats. Not even worthy of their notice. Since this was the case, Zane rose from his bed.

Getting dressed in his clothing. Before equipping all of his armor. After he did this, he pulled out a small notepad and wrote a goodbye message to the sleeping beauties who were clueless about his intentions.

The note was written with all the emotions Zane could convey. But it was the only thing he left behind.

"I'm sorry… I know this is sudden, and will no doubt be painful. But I have endangered you all in ways in which I could never have intended or anticipated. The truth of the matter is, If I stay here with all of you, then only death awaits us all.

I know it is selfish of me to do this, but I couldn't bear to endure such a horrific reality. And it is because of this that I must bid you all farewell… No matter how much it pains me to do so. This is goodbye, at least until a day where I am strong enough to protect you all from the likes of Lilith and her siblings.

I would be lying if I said that this was the best way to say goodbye to you all, but I could not dare to say such words to your face. For I know that I do not possess the strength of heart to resist your attempts to keep me by your side.

So, it is with this that I express my love, and a solemn promise that one day, we will all meet again, but until then you must all survive, no matter what the cost…"

After writing this letter, and putting it on the nightstand next to the sleeping beauties. Zane took one last look at them all before closing the door behind him. Death was standing on the other side. She had an empathetic gaze as she looked at her son.

In the past, she had made it abundantly clear with her choice of words what she thought of the women who clung to her son. But seeing the young man in such pain at saying farewell, she couldn't help but hug him, and assure him that everything would be alright in the end.

"I know this is hard my son, but it is necessary. You and I both know what will happen if Lilith, or god forbid one of her more powerful siblings unleashes their horde upon Gravestone…. You can't keep them safe…

And I…. I can promise you this…. I will stay here to watch over them all while you are gone. Should you need me, I am but a thought away. Good luck my son, this is a path you must walk alone. Grow stronger, and one day when you are ready, you can return to this place…."

Zane was not crying. In fact, after everything he had suffered in life, he had expected his happy and comfortable life in Gravestone to eventually come to a bitter end. At least this way, they were alive and safe.

Because of this, Zane nodded towards his mother, and in doing so said a silent farewell, before walking out of the bunker complex, and by extension the gravestone altogether.

---

When Olivia and the others awoke the next day, they initially thought nothing of it. I mean, It was not unusual for Zane to wake up first and get started on breakfast. But it was after they had all taken a shower and entered the mess hall together did they fully realize that Zane was gone.

Panic set in, as each woman ran to every corner of the Bunker complex, and mansion above looking for the leader of their party, and their lover. In the end, it was Olivia who found the note by the nightstand in Zane's bedroom.

Upon reading its contents, she broke out into tears and stayed sitting on his bed silently until the others found her there weeping. Not a word was spoken between them as the note was passed around until all five of the women came to an understanding of what had happened.

They didn't know precisely why Zane had left. But they could have easily guessed, especially with their increased intelligence, that he had somehow provoked the Horde Kings during his exchange with Lilith.

The emotional states of the five women varied between them. They were all heartbroken by Zane's sudden decision to abandon them, and walk his own path in this world. But this was expressed differently between them.

Elena couldn't help but punch walls to vent her anger at Zane, while Olivia and Angelica couldn't help but cry. Madison returned to her room, holding onto the shock collar on her neck while staring into space for a long time.

Zane had not given her the key to remove it, nor had he given her the button to activate it. From her perspective, after much soul searching, that meant only one thing. He had not abandoned them, at least not truly. One day, like he had said in the note, he would return for them. And this sentiment alone was enough for her to quickly recover from her sense of loss, and depression.

As for Lily, she locked herself up into her room, and would not come out for days. She had just admitted she was in love with Zane, and they had shared their first intimate moments the night before. But by the next morning, he was gone.

She perhaps took this the worst. As she had been with Zane for but a moment before he decided to just walk out on them all. Eventually, however, after enough time had passed, they would all move on, not from Zane, but from their grief and depression towards his disappearance. Time heals all wounds after all…

---

Zane was not alone, at least not truly as he walked this lonesome road. In fact, the moment he left, he had Gwen yelling at him in his head. The man had forgotten to even give her a chance to speak with Death. And since he would rather have the young Horde King yell at him in real life, rather than within his own mind, he ultimately released her after traveling for some time.

Gwen manifested out of thin air. Still dressed like a high school cheerleader, as she stood by Zane's side. Pestering him as she clung to his arm, demanding to know what exactly his plans were.

"Big brother…. Big brother! Big brother god dammit! Come on! Don't be like that!?! You may not have those living women anymore, but you still have me!

Come… Please… Speak to me!"

Zane stopped dead in his tracks and looked over at Gwen. He wasn't necessarily mad at her. No, his anger was directed towards himself. He wanted to yell at Gwen, vent on her all the rage he had in his heart, but he couldn't.

Looking at the young horde king so innocently gaze upon his current state, with a hint of sympathy in her eyes. He couldn't muster himself to blame her for his fault, simply because she was the closest thing with intelligence to him.

Instead, he face-palmed and sighed. There was nothing he could do about his failures but move forward. And it was only now that he was starting to realize that Gwen was in dire need of an upgrade. At least in terms of her equipment.

Because of this, he was quick to ask the question in his mind that replaced his current negative thoughts.

"How attached are you to that outfit, Gwen?"

Gwen looked down at herself, and smiled, before clinging to Zane's wrist. She quickly became at the prospect that Zane might be giving her a gift, and naturally voiced this thought aloud.

"Big brother! Are you going to give me a gift!? Oh thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I promise to treasure it always!"

Zane did not say a word. He would first have to figure out the logistics of how he would be able to forge new equipment for his horde while he was on the run. But considering the system was built by his mother, he had a feeling a new feature would reveal itself before long.

As for Gwen she pouted when Zane remained silent, but quickly scurried off after him as if she were a puppy.