Fear now swallowed him whole, as what he saw was nothing short of an army of zombies, ranging from mangled, rotted corpses to ones that were dripped head to toe in blood and gore. Above them soared eyes cutting through the air with profound speed, not blinking so as to not miss their next meal. But upon hearing a small growl, he looked down at his feet and saw a small red bunny with glowing, menacing yellow eyes and fangs covered with blood hanging from the roof of its mouth. The only part that didn't make sense was how adorable it looked.

"...Hi?"

CHOMP

"GGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Since birth, we have all learned through the process of trial and error, no matter how big or small the task may be. However, some tasks are risks that would be too grave to take, as is the case with a certain person running wildly, though not without a crimson red bunny attached to his now profusely bleeding leg.

"GET OFF PLEASE THIS HUR- GRAHH QUIT DIGGING DEEPER DAMMIT!" Duke now had a small bunny latched onto his leg, digging its horrid teeth deeper into his shin, eliciting screams of pain from the poor idiot.

"ANDREW WAKE - up?!" He stopped.

"Oh no. oh nonono." Dukes pleas fell not only on sleeping ears, but starved ones as well, as throughout the land his scream had attracted the attention of haunted and starved predators, all now rushing towards him faster than he thought possible. As well, the bunny began chewing through his pants and flesh excitedly, as its kill would be put down quickly with allies, and it didn't need much to eat anyway.

Facing the horde of endlessly and quickly approaching monsters, Duke ripped the bunny off his leg and stabbed it through the skull, killing it instantly. He didn't know what it was, but something in him had awoken, like a sleeping beast being poked by intrusive visitors.

"Alright then, HEADS OR TAILS!" Screaming this into the crowd, Duke flipped a copper coin recently collected from the bunny into the air, letting fate decide what he'll do. "Heads, I fight and kill you bastards brutally. Tails, I spare you all and leave for shelter, no matter how reluctant I may be." He said with a murderous grin, bloodlust growing inside of him with every aching second that passed. And with this, the horde stopped, and watched with him what would happen. Even the viciously mangled zombies and unblinking eyeballs halted in their tracks, with floating balls of flesh joining along. Everything stopped and watched.

And then it fell.

Heads.

I WANTED TAILS! I PAINTED TAILS ON BOTH SIDES! HOW- Oh, here's the coin. It was in my back pocket, not my front. Haha. Hahaha. HahahaaaAAAAAAAAAA-

And he ran.

The chase with the slime earlier had paled in comparison in terms of speeds he reached now, as the eyes and rotting bodies alike couldn't gain on him, and the rudely awakened Guide couldn't tell if he was seeing things from exhaustion or if he had underestimated the effects of the Blood Moon. So, he did the only thing he could do in this situation. He berated Duke.

"I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO STAY INDOORS?!"

"YOU ONLY SAID IT WAS DANGEROUS! YOU NEVER SAID IT'D BE AN APOCALYPSE!"

"AND YOU STILL OPENED THE DOOR?!"

"SHUT UP AND MOVE, I'VE GOT COMPANY!"

Between their frantic back and forth bickering, Andrew had failed to notice a flying eyeball heading straight towards him from above, charging on hopes of beheading him swiftly.

Duke saw this, however, and pulled out his bow with a final arrow, though the running and threat of being eaten made it difficult to focus. So instead, he screamed "ABOVE YOU!" to the now panicking Guide, successfully throwing his attention towards the eyeball, and allowing it to be shot point blank by Andrews arrow.

"Holy crap! DID YOU SEE TH- OOF!" His victory was cut short by a tackle, powerful enough to send both him and Duke flying into the shelter and slamming into the wood ground. Pained squeals were heard from Andrew, while Duke scrambled to get back up and look out the front door, only to find some mangled corpses about to knock to enter.

"NONONONONONONONO!"

SLAM

plopplopplop

BANGBANGBANGBANGBANGBANG-

Looking at the now barricaded door, Duke took a few slow steps back, shaking from the very close encounter with Death itself. We made it. We actually made it. Haha we made it! Holy crap, but what WAS that?! Why were there so many of them out there?! What if they had got to me? Where did they even come from? I didn't see any holes on the ground, so exhuming is out of the question. Hah, I need to rest…

"Uuuugghhh. What hap-"

"AAAHHHH!"

BAM!

THUNK

"... Oops."

It had been 5 hours since their conquest and the sun had begun to rise, leaving the roaming groaning monsters to shuffle away from the intruding solar rays, seeking shelter until the next Crimson Night. As part of their night, these creatures had taken up to trying to eat some newcomers, though one had built a surprisingly sturdy shelter, and was now snoring off, while the other had nicked one of their allies with a blindingly fast arrow. These two creatures were now snoring away in the discomfort of their dirt beds, though one breathing a bit better than the other.

And so they awoke.

And another day began.

Duke awoke with a yawn, cracking bones, and sore muscles, likely from last nights events. Ugh, I can't believe we survived that. Wait a minute, ANDRE-

"Ooohhhh my head." Hearing this groan, Duke turned to the wall of the hut, finding his Guide stirring awake with a hand over his head. Evidently, pain made itself present when he awoke, and now his stomach decided to join on this.

"Why does everything hurt?" He asked. Duke, unsure if he should answer or not, fetched a mushroom from his poorly organized chest. To him, it helped heal any wounds he'd receive, though he had no idea if the Guide would go sky high from a bite. Still, he handed the small snack over to the aching man.

"Long story short, zombies suck." Duke said, trying to get a laugh out of Andrew.

"I'll agree with you on tha-waitaminute, last night, you burst into the house running from a horde of man easting beasts. Doing so, you managed to crush me under your inexplicable weight. That explains why my stomach hurts so bad!" Now realizing the cause of his pain, though partly, he snatched the mushroom from Dukes hand and gorged it down mercilessly, wanting the pain to subside soon so he could properly berate his attacker.

Ah crap, he remembers.

"But still, why does my head hurt like hell? Did I slam headfirst into the ground or did you knock me out?" Duke froze up. He was hoping to move on after the generous mushroom offer, but luck had already been plenty generous to him last night.

"See about that, you had just awoken when a MEGA ZOMBIE BURST THROUGH THE ROOF! Then, I used my grappling ho-"

"You punched me didn't you."

"..."

"yeah."

BAM

"OW! What was that for?! You sounded like a zombie when you got up! And you looked like one too!"

BAM

"QUIT IT!"

"sigh, at least we're still alive. Oh, here." Andrew handed his bruised companion a small, see through plastic with some blood smothered on it.

"Oooo bloody! What is it?" Though slightly disturbed, his curiosity got the better of him.

"This I got from the Demon Eye I killed last night. It's a lens, and you can use it to craft a bunch of different things, ranging from potions, gear, and I believe some consumables as well. " Andrew began to show why he was called the Guide, as his knowledge began flowing out like an open book meant for children. Knowledge was truly something he held dear to him, though he had no clue why this was so. It puzzled him as to why he knew as much as he did, especially considering he was born just yesterday. Why was he even here? Was this some illusion? In the end, does any of this even matter? These questions ran through his mind rather cumbersomely, worsening his headache. Maybe I can find some answers, but for now survival is key. Last thing I need is this idiot getting himself killed, otherwise everything will get much harder. He thought with a slight chuckle. Maybe it's time for some mining.


A/N: Wow, didn't think I'd actually get reviews barely after the first chapter! Thanks much for the review Corroded Vortex! I couldn't tell if things were rushed or not and had to keep rereading before I felt comfortable publishing this, which was more time consuming than I thought. Thanks as well Nanomemes for your review! Duke is both curious and hard headed to heed Andrews warnings.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!