Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 255: Retracing One's Steps Part I

The first thing Zane did after leaving his old life behind him was retrace his steps just outside of the walls of Gravestone. It had been implied to him by his mother that he was capable of raising the Horde Kings which he had slain previously.

Despite there being some time passing between then and now, and some of their corpses being ash scattered to the wind, Zane did his best to search through his memories for the exact locations in which he had slain his rivals.

It did not take long for Zane to replace where Eliza had been slain. She was the first Horde King he encountered, and in all honesty, as he stood there in front of where she had fallen, he could not help but smirk.

It was not an expression of conceit, or even happiness. Rather bitterness. The very idea that he had come so far from the days when he was all alone in this world, enduring an apocalypse and building an unconventional family to call his own. Yet in the end he had to leave it all behind, replaceing company in the enemies he had once fought so valiantly to destroy.

It was nothing but a bitter pill to swallow.

Yet, it was necessary, and because of this, Zane stood where Eliza had been decapitated. Her body decayed to nothing but bone in the time since he had removed her head from her shoulders.

But there was no mistaking it. This little skeleton once belonged to a Horde King, and because of this Zane raised his hand and issued the command he had used to bring Gwen back to life.

"Rise, Sister… Your work here in this world is not yet completed…"

A black mist appeared from the palm of Zane's hand and quickly enveloped the skeleton whose bones had bleached beneath the scorch of the desert sun. This dark miasma rapidly restored life to the skeleton, flesh appearing on its bone, first in the form of blood, then muscles, then skin itself.

The skull quickly reattached itself to the spine, as it to manifest a perfect figure of a middle school student. The hideously mangled face that Zane was accustomed to was no longer present on Eliza's body.

Nor was her skin decayed in any way. She appeared nearly human. The only defining factor that she was indeed deceased was the unnatural paleness of her skin.

Eliza gazed in bitter hatred at Zane's feet, and Gwen who stood by her side. She wanted more than anything to attack the man. And yet, she could not do so. Her body was forced to kneel before her new king. Her head lowered despite its attempts to stare the man in the eyes.

Even her voice spoke the words which she herself would never otherwise state.

"My Prince… What is your command?"

Zane looked at the girl's stats. They were not nearly as impressive as he first thought they would be. In fact, they were inferior to his own. While still being slightly better than the women who he had previously fought alongside.

---

[Undead Servant]

[Eliza]

[Rank: Horde King Tier I]

[Level: 25]

[HP: 1,000]

[Attributes]

[Strength: 25]

[Dexterity: 20]

[Constitution: 20]

[Intelligence: 20]

[Wisdom: 20]

[Charisma: 20]

---

Eliza was the bottom of the barrel in terms of Tier I Horde Kings, much like several of the others which Zane had fought such as Jett. The only thing she really had going for when she was still sovereign to her was her larger than normal Horde. Even then, it was of abnormally poor quality compared to an actual Mid Ranking Tier I Horde King.

Naturally, Gwen had a smug smile on her face as she made a comment about Eliza's resurrection.

"Well, if it isn't little Eliza? How have you been little sister? Did you enjoy your nap?"

Eliza did not take kindly to this, and quickly snapped at Gwen. There might be an enormous difference in power between the two of them. But Eliza's temper was such that she rather foolishly did not back down from the mighty and their attempts to bully her.

"Oh? Look who it is… The local town whore… You ended up getting your head removed by this fucking bastard as well, huh? Maybe you're not as powerful as you thought you were?"

Despite being insulted by Eliza, Gwen did not take the bait. She showed no signs of anger or retaliation. In fact, her appearance was nothing but conceited. She knew Eliza's words were falsehoods, and only intended to hurt her ego. Unfortunately for Eliza, Gwen was fairly humble when it came to her kind. And she responded with an almost pitiful tone in her voice.

"Oh, my… Always a rapid dog, aren't you, Eliza? Well, you better get used to the new hierarchy. This here is mother's favored son, and she has chosen him to rule us all. You better not be talking such nonsense around him, or he will punish you!"

Zane was, for rather obvious reasons, not in the mood to entertain the pettiness of women and their foolish rivalries. Instead, he just barked a command at the two of them. Demanding they cease their verbal engagement and instead follow him to their next destination.

"Knock it off, the both of you. I am in no mood to listen to your bullshit right now. If I hear either of you chirping on our journey to Fallon, so help me God, I will smack the ever living fuck out of the both of you, understood?"

Gwen was not surprised by Zane's little temper tantrum. He was, after all forced into a rather poor position right now. But Eliza was taken aback by his sudden outburst. She wanted to say something, but the piercing gaze of the man's dark eyes suddenly silenced her.

It was a rather peaceful walk to Fallon. A journey that would normally take over an hour by car from their current location. But was only about a ten minute "walk" due to the superhuman level of speed that Zane now possessed.

And once they were in the small town, Zane quickly located where Zander had fallen. He, too, had been beheaded in his confrontation with Zane and his party. However, unlike Eliza, it was not Zane who had dealt the final blow to Zander, rather it was Elena who had committed the act.

The simple memory of Elena chopping off Zander's head filled Zane with complicated emotions. The sun was not even up yet, and his girls had yet to awaken from their sleep. And yet, he already felt pain over the idea of suddenly abandoning them.

But there was nothing he could really do about that, and because of this Zane did what he did best. He suppressed the hurt he felt deep within the depths of his soul, and locked it away so that it would never see the light of day. Instead, he focused on the here and now, resurrecting Zander from the grave, while masking the pain he endured.

"Rise, brother…"

Just like Eliza's skeleton, so too did Zander's body go through the process of rebirth. Any imperfections his flesh may have had in the past were also recovered in the process. The man knelt before Zane with a look of shock and confusion in his eyes.

His first instinct was to gaze upon his own two hands, whose pure white flesh remained unsullied by death and decay. Yet he could not look up from his position, as his head was bowed by an unknown force. That same force compelling him to voice his submission to Zane.

"My Prince… How may I serve you?"

Zane remained silent as he examined Zander's stats. Which were nearly identical to Eliza's. Albeit with an emphasis on intelligence rather than strength.

---

[Undead Servant]

[Zander]

[Rank: Horde King Tier I]

[Level: 25]

[HP: 1,000]

[Attributes]

[Strength: 20]

[Dexterity: 20]

[Constitution: 20]

[Intelligence: 25]

[Wisdom: 20]

[Charisma: 20]

---

Having confirmed Zander would be an ideal leader of his Archliches and Liches, Zane issued a single command with a callous tone in his voice.

"Follow me lead…"

Zander could not refuse the Order, and quickly followed Zane as he turned his back to him. He silently conveyed his thoughts to Gwen and Eliza, not realizing that Zane could hear them as well.

"What the hell is up with this guy? Why can't I refuse his orders?"

Eliza rolled her eyes. For a guy with unusually high intelligence among the lowest ranking Horde Kings, he had a tendency to be an absolute dolt. But it was ultimately Gwen who responded.

"We are the eternal servants of our benevolent big brother, the true son of Death… I'd show some respect if I were you, after all he is not in the best of moods right now… And for the record, he can hear us…"

This caused Zander's eyes to widen in disbelief. But Zane did not give him the slightest attention. Instead, it was occupied by Gwen who hastened her steps to be closer to the man. All the while Eliza and Zander sat back with looks of disgust at their sister's embarrassing attempt to flirt with their new Liege.

And this was pretty much how the entire journey to Tahoe went. Where Zane would continue to retrace his steps until he had resurrected all the Horde Kings he had slain thus far.