Chapter 5 – Travelling

Before I start, I would like to thank everyone who's read this story. 590 views (and counting!?)! Wow – now that's impressive! – and I have all of you to thank for that! So thank you, everyone! :')

Anyways, on with the chapter!

Valkyrie hadn't expected them to take public transport.

She had sort of been expecting a car – she'd pegged Zombieman as being a car sort of person – some mode of transport that didn't involve so many other people and one that wasn't so noisy. In other words, she was already missing Skulduggery's Bentley. And she was hating this train.

Zombieman had taken a seat opposite to where Valkyrie and Toph sat.

And speaking of Toph; was that her real name? In that case, why had she told Zombieman and not Valkyrie? They didn't even know his real name! Beside her, Toph was scowling. Her hands gripped the railing by her seat so hard that she had succeeded in leaving various indentations in it. Earlier on, she had muttered something about the vibrations making her feel sick.

Everything about the train made Valkyrie sick.

So she distracted herself by looking at their strange new-found companion and now escort.

He was stoically ignoring the many people who stared at him in rapture and exchanged whispers with another. They even snapped selfies of the hero and some even tried getting him to autograph books they produced seemingly from nowhere. He didn't even react to their questions and eventually, they gave up pestering him.

He looked pretty ordinary – that is, if grey-ish skin and red eyes could be counted as ordinary. He had scruffy black hair and looked like he could have been in his twenties, but Valkyrie knew from experience that you could never be too sure. The prominent dark circles under his eyes made it look like he was tired but his almost stony expression said otherwise. Under his grey trench coat, he wore a close-fitting dark tunic, trousers that had a lot of pockets and what appeared to be combat boots. The left sleeve of his coat stopped short at his elbow, the end was bloodstained, but he didn't seem to mind – or even care.

Valkyrie could see two handguns holstered by his sides. These were nothing like the revolver Skulduggery carried; these were modern firearms, designed to be brutal and efficient. He also carried two axes that were slung over his back when not in use. Besides these weapons, Valkyrie was also certain she could see the handles of what appeared to be swords that were almost completely hidden by the folds of his coat.

He seemed to be the kind of person who liked to be prepared for every eventuality.

"Zombieman?" Valkyrie ventured. "How long is this going to take?"

He turned towards her.

"Not much longer," he said with a glance at a display above the doors. "We're headed to City Y. Right now, we're in City… W."

"'Not much longer'?!" Toph groaned. "You said that earlier!"

"Well, now it isn't much longer," Zombieman insisted.

"How much longer?" Valkyrie asked, aggrieved.

"About an hour or so," he responded, seemingly oblivious to their horror.

Both girls stared at Zombieman, wishing he was just kidding. He wasn't. Zombieman then realised that they weren't all too keen on the journey ahead.

"…I guess we could get off at the next station," he admitted with a shrug. "Are you two okay with – "

"Yes!" Toph and Valkyrie burst.

"Oh. You two must really hate public transport." Zombieman said with a thoughtful frown.

They had booked into a small inn for the night.

Valkyrie was surprised Zombieman had even been able to pay. For some reason, he didn't seem like the kind of person to carry money on him – despite the fact that he wore a trench coat that obviously had many hidden pockets. But he produced a wad of cash from somewhere on his person. Now they sat down at a table for dinner and Valkyrie felt somewhat let down. She'd been expecting food that would be as strange as this dimension she was stranded in, but…

It all seemed very Japanese. There was rice, soup – miso, Zombieman had called it – sushi, noodles and another seafood dish he'd called tempura. There were even chopsticks, Japanese letters and even that paste called wasabi.

The three of them sat in a small booth on the ground floor of the inn, the atmosphere of the place was comfortable, the soft hum of conversation in the air around them. The smell of cooking food wafted over to where they sat at a round table around which curved a single seat.

Valkyrie wasn't too sure what to make of it, but Toph seemed comfortable enough with her surroundings despite the fact that she was blind. She still hadn't actually gotten down to asking the younger girl how could navigate so well. Valkyrie struggled to hold her chopsticks the right way – and when she thought she had gotten the hang of it, she found she couldn't pick up any food. Great.

"Nice ring." Zombieman suddenly said.

"Huh?" Valkyrie looked up distractedly.

She still found his red eyes oddly unnerving. He had been eating slowly, deliberately. But now he was looking at her rather intently.

"Your ring," he gestured at it with his free hand.

"Oh. Thanks."

A moment of silence passed before Zombieman spoke up again.

"You struck me as the kind of person who likes to talk," he said to Toph. "Nothing to say?"

"Nah – don't take it the wrong way – but I'm not really interested in you guys' conversations." She shrugged nonchalantly, "All my friends are either younger than you two or way older."

"Hm," Zombieman said thoughtfully. "So you two are form the same place?"

"No." Valkyrie said with a shake of her heads.

"Absolutely not!" Laughed Toph, "She doesn't even who the Avatar is!"

"Avatar?" Zombieman arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah – you know – master of all four elements, bridge between both worlds, supposed to end the war," she shrugged.

"There's a war going on in your dimension?" Valkyrie asked in surprise.

"Uh-huh," she said sounding like she couldn't care less.

Zombieman looked mildly surprised by this statement. So Toph was living through a war? Well, he had to admit, she certainly didn't look it. Avatar… the only 'avatar' he had ever heard of would have to be a game character. Both girls sat on one side of their seat while he had opted to sit opposite to them. His grey trench coat he had removed and draped beside him.

"So," Valkyrie found herself asking, "why do they call you Zombieman?"

She couldn't help but think back to the two most memorable zombies she had met. Neither Scapegrace nor Thrasher had been particularly threatening – certainly the complete opposite of the man who was seated on the other side of the table. At least Zombieman wasn't rotting or even falling to pieces; no – he was completely intact.

The Class-S hero (what did that even mean, anyway?) shrugged.

"Probably 'cause I can't die," he said.

"Seriously?" Asked Toph, leaning forward with interest.

"Does it have anything to do with the fact that you can regrow your arm?" Valkyrie quizzed.

He half-laughed, leaning back to fold his arms – one of which still had smears of blood on it.

"Yeah," he admitted, "it's not just my arms I can regrow – I can regenerate any part of myself without a problem. I could be torn to shreds, take a bullet through my brain…" He shrugged again. "But like I said; I'll still regenerate."

"Even broken bones?" Valkyrie's eyes were wide in surprise.

"Even broken bones," he said with the merest inclination of his head.

"Now that is cool." Toph grinned. "How do you do it, anyway?"

That question made him hesitate. He knew the answer to it, but didn't seem to want to answer it. He looked like he was going to say something, but decided against it and clammed up.

"It's complicated," was his simple reply.

Saying so, he stood up and picked up his trench coat. He reached into a pocket to fish out two keys that he placed on the table. There were numbers attached to the keys – 14 and 15 – while Zombieman's was 13.

"Your room keys," he gestured. "I'm going to turn in; see you two tomorrow."

And then he turned and, a moment later, was gone.

"Well that was abrupt." Toph stated flatly.

"It sure was," Valkyrie agreed with a frown.

"… So are you done eating?"

And that's the end of Chapter 5! Thanks for reading!

So regarding the train ride at the start – let's just say I can sympathize with both Toph and Valkyrie – one time I was stuck in a similar position (minus the Class-S hero and being lost in another dimension, of course). It was not a fun experience. And then later I was drenched when the rain made an unexpected entrance. But that's in the past.

Huh, so with "present" news, it's Friday the 13th… Well, so far, so good, I guess.

Anyways, to any Star Wars fans who might be reading this story, just a heads up to let you know I'm in the process of writing a story! Try to guess what it's about (it's set in the Clone Wars, by the way)!

Paladin Stormwind out!