DISCLAIMER: I do not own Zombie Land Saga or any of its characters. This work is a fan-work offered free of charge, and I make no money from it whatsoever.

A/N: Originally this was only half of a much longer chapter, but I found a perfect point to 'split' that chapter so I can upload this a bit sooner for everyone ;) don't worry, I didn't compromise on the quality to do that - it just worked out kinda miraculously! Expect the next chapter in around 2 weeks, which seems to be how long it takes me to do chapters for ongoing stories.

Chapter 2: No Choice

There was something wrong with Ai. It'd barely been two weeks since she crash-landed into my favourite tree in her birthday suit, but in that time she'd grown thinner and paler every day. At first I didn't notice. When I saw the bags under her eyes, I just assumed she needed more sleep. When she said she felt tired after we'd been out in the forest all day, I took that to mean we'd just walked too far. I mean, it's a big forest, and even I got worn out from time to time. I had no reason to think something was up. After all, we hadn't given the moon any chances to steal away her glow like it did the first time. I kept the curtains closed, and we stayed indoors at night. I thought I had it covered, I figured we were safe, that it was over... but I was wrong.

We were out hunting together when it happened. Ai had good aim and a real killer instinct, despite how innocent she looked, so she had no trouble taking down pests like sabretooth rabbits. She even took out bigger targets like boars and swamp vultures in one shot. I didn't give a fuck about hunting, if I'm honest, but she loved it, and I liked watching her go for it. Seeing her sly grin as she took out some poor animal in one shot... it was a thing of beauty.

It was raining that day. Just spitting, for the most part, but by the time we were heading back to my hut the rain had really started to pour down. Being in the deepest, swampiest part of the woods, you didn't really feel the rain on your skin, but you could hear it. The deep roar of raindrops pummeling the leaves far above drifted down right to the forest floor, so loud that you had to shout if you wanted to be heard over it. Sometimes there'd be a clearing, and then you'd see the rain in thick sheets, a translucent blur pouring down from the heavens.

"Let's wait the storm out," I suggested, climbing onto an enormous root snaking out of the waterlogged mud, "we should be able to stay dry up here."

Ai wrapped her hands around the gnarled bark of the tree root and began to drag herself up it. She tried to dig her boots into the tree but they were so covered in mud she couldn't get a foothold. I leaned over and reached out to help pull her up. She grabbed my hand,

"Thanks, Saki."

That's when I noticed she was shaking.

"You okay?" I asked, as she gingerly got to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm just tired."

She looked exhausted. She'd been looking exhausted for several days now. Today was the first day she hadn't killed a single thing during a hunt.

"You sure you're all right?"

"I'm sure."

The rain continued to pour. We sat down, resting our backs against the tree's bulky trunk. Ai pressed her head into my shoulder, her eyes shut tight. She hated storms. She hated thunder and lightning the most, but even a little rain seemed to bring her mind back to that night she landed burnt and bleeding in the silver tree. 'Maybe that's why she was shaking', I thought, though I only half-believed it.

"Don't worry about not catching anything today, Ai. We've got enough food to last us a week thanks to you taking out that boar the other day."

I watched the swamp waters drift lazily across the forest floor beneath us. The swamp was filling up so fast there were even fish swimming through the mud now.

"You probably just overworked yourself," I continued, "I have that sometimes. Some days you just don't wanna get out of bed, y'know? I mean I had that more when I was alone, but I'm not from the moon, so you know, I can see how things would be different for you."

I closed my eyes as a yawn washed over me, "Man, even I'm pooped now. Maybe we should get an early night tonight, and actually sleep when we get in bed for once."

The roar of rainfall intensified above us. Soon after, a wave of thunder swept through the forest, deep and low, and loud enough that I could feel it in my chest.

"I didn't even see the lightning," I said, trying to ease Ai's mind, "so it must be far away. We'll probably just get the rain."

I turned my head to see how she was doing. Her eyes were closed, her mouth hanging ever so slightly open.

"Asleep, huh?"

But she didn't look asleep. Her face looked completely limp, and white as snow. I gave her a little shake.

"Ai? Aiiii! Wake up sleepy head."

She didn't stir. As I shook her she started to slip off my shoulder into the swirling river below.

"Woah!" I yelled as I grabbed her by the arm, "Ai, wake the fuck up!"

She couldn't hear me; she was out cold. My head fell through my body. I pulled her close, tried to open her eyes, but nothing could wake her up. I could feel the world spinning around me.

"Ai!?"

I put my hand to her neck to check for a pulse, but I didn't know where to look. Holding her in my arms, I brought my cheek close to her lips to see if I could feel her breath on my skin... and I could.

"Oh my god. Thank fuck," I cried, sighing in relief, "you had me worried for a second there."

I still needed to check her pulse. I tried her wrists. It took me forever but eventually I found the right spot. Her pulse was fine, as far as I could tell anyway. All that mattered was that she was alive. She was unconscious, but she was alive.

My palms were drenched in sweat.

"Fuck..."

I had to get her back to the hut. Whatever help she needed, I wasn't gonna be able to give it to her in the middle of a goddamn swamp. There was no time to waste; I crouched down and lifted her so that she was resting on my back with her arms flopped over my shoulders. It wasn't exactly the most secure position but it'd have to do.

"Right, here we go!"

I jumped off of the gigantic root and into the murky stream. Clouds of muck billowed around me as I splash landed in the water. Going fast wasn't an option, cos every step I took ended with my feet swallowed up by sticky mud. I was up to my knees in it.

"I'm sorry, Ai. I should've known better than to bring you to this shithole on a rainy day."

The vultures screamed at me from the tree branches, following me as I trudged through the gloop.

"You can fuck off too, you ugly bastards. She ain't dead yet."

In the end it took over an hour to get home in that shitty weather. My arms were numb long before we actually reached my hut. When we finally got inside I dropped Ai onto the bed and let myself drop face-down to the floor.

"Never again... I'm never going into that goddamn swamp again..."

The rain kept on coming, battering every inch of the glorified shed I called home. 'I wonder how much mud I've smeared onto the floor' I thought to myself, knowing that I should get up and check on Ai, but also knowing that I had no strength left in my body.

"Saki...?"

"Ai? You're awake?"

I pushed myself up onto my knees. Even that was a struggle, "You had me worried for a second there."

"Where are we?"

I crawled over to the bed, "We're back home. You blacked out in the swamp."

"I don't remember that."

"I mean yeah, that's kinda how blacking out works."

She stared at me silently, sometimes looking directly at me, other times just beyond me. She looked like she was still half asleep. Her face was almost grey, like ash chipped off a stone block, and there were deep craters under her eyes.

"We need to get you to a doctor," I said, "I know one in town that's not a total shitbag."

"I'm fine."

"You keep saying that, but you know it's not true."

"You can't go back into town."

"It's not a big deal."

"You said they threw a brick through your window!"

"Don't worry about it."

"I'll stop worrying about you when you stop worrying about me."

She had a point. "All right," I said, smirking, "so maybe it's kind of a big deal, but it's nothing I can't handle."

"We don't need to go. It's not like I've blacked out before."

I took her hand in mine, "Ai, we're going."

"No," she said, pulling her hand away, "we're not. What's the doctor even gonna do?"

"I dunno. But it's better than nothing!"

She turned her gaze to the shadowy ceiling, "There's nothing anyone can do, Saki."

Her voice was low, serious. I kept my mouth shut. I didn't wanna ask her why there's nothing anyone can do. I didn't wanna know.

"It's the moon," she continued, "I remembered it a while ago now, but I tried to forget..."

"But we've got the moon figured out! As long as we can't see it, it can't see us. No problem!"

"It doesn't work that way. You see... people like me, people from the moon... if we're away from the moon for too long, we start to, well..."

"Don't say it."

"I'm sorry, Saki."

"You were fine a few days ago!"

"You're right. I felt great. I was starting to think that maybe I could survive down here on Earth forever."

"You can."

"I can't."

"Stop saying that! I refuse to believe it."

"Nothing can change it Saki."

"Bullshit!" I got to my feet, "We're gonna change it!"

"But Saki-"

"No!" I yelled, "I'm gonna get you to the doctor even if I have to carry you the whole way, and if that doesn't work, I dunno, I'll punch the moon in the fucking face."

"You can't solve everything with your fists, stupid."

"Ain't gonna stop me trying."

"Saki, seriously."

"We'll head out first thing tomorrow. For now, let's have just eat and forget about it."

She didn't seem impressed, but she wasn't complaining. I didn't actually mind her complaints. Her complaints didn't scare me. What scared me was that part of me knew she was right, that there was fuck all I could do.

How was I supposed to deal with that? Accept it? No, never.

'No way am I letting the moon take her from me,' I thought, 'I'm gonna find a cure for whatever she's got going on, or I'm gonna die trying, just you fucking see.'