They spent the night in one of the town's many abandoned shops, huddled around a fire -- Stu had no desire to go hunting the Cannibal in the middle of the night, and the weather was too wild, anyway, for him to try to make the attempt. Tremlo and the other townspeople reluctantly allowed this, but warned that they would be keeping a close eye on them.

  Millie, who didn't seem to need as much sleep as the rest of them, volunteered to stay up and keep watch, in case the townspeople tried to attack them again. Stu wasn't terribly worried about this possibility -- Tremlo, Davis, and the others were obviously a little wary of Stu, and of Millie, too, whose red eye and strange artificial parts frightened them.

  "I'm different," Millie told Stu the next morning. "Of course they're going to stare."

  The two of them were sitting by themselves, before a large window that looked out into Silent's main street. It was still snowing, but it was beginning to taper off now, and the wind had calmed down quite a bit. The sky was still slate-gray, however, and it was still cold.

  "I wish they wouldn't," Stu said.

  "Wish all you want," she said, her face expressionless. "It won't change anything."

  "That's cynical."

  "It's realistic. You won't get anywhere by wishing. I learned that a long time ago."

  Stu frowned. Her attitude wasn't surprising, he supposed, considering what had happened to her back in Heart's Glow, and of course she was right that wishing, by itself, couldn't solve a person's problems. Reality didn't work that way.

  Reality, however, seemed to be rather more flexible in this zombie-world than in the world he had come from. The ICON system, after all, was seemingly capable of rewriting reality's rules.

  "What are you two talking about?" Luna asked. She had been examining her brother's knee, which, although badly swollen, did not appear to be broken. Stu wished he could give the kid his Regeneration skill. He had, in fact, checked the skills menu earlier, to see if there were any skills that would give him the ability to heal another person's injuries, but no such skill existed. It occurred to him, as he scrolled through the skill list, that most of the skills the system offered him either provided him with a new talent, such as Dead Aim, or enhanced his physiology in some way, as with Strong Arm and Speed Freak. He could use the system to make changes to himself and his own body, in other words, but that was about it.

  The Don Juan skill, which made women fall in love (or lust) with him, was something of an exception, but whether the system was altering the women's minds, or simply altering him in some unknown way, was an open question.

  "Stu thinks I'm a cynic," Millie was saying to Luna.

  "Are you?"

  "I'm a realist." She paused. "And I think it was pretty dumb, volunteering to hunt down this Cannibal creature. The weather's already starting to improve. We could be out of these mountains by the end of the day."

  "We still could be," Luna said. "There's nothing stopping us from getting in the glider and taking off right now."

  "I told these people I'd kill the Cannibal," Stu said stubbornly, "and I intend to do that."

  "I'm going with you," Lucky said, limping over to them. He could walk, but it was obviously painful for him.

  "I don't think so," Stu said, giving his bad leg a doubtful look. "I don't think you're up for it. I was actually planning on going alone."

  "Alone? Are you crazy?"

  "Someone has to stay here and watch the glider," he said. "And someone has to look after Lucky."

  "You're not going alone," Luna said firmly. "I'm going with you."

  He frowned. "Are you sure? I don't think--"

  "Millie can take care of Lucky," she said. "I'm not letting you fight this thing by yourself."

  "I thought you were against this whole thing."

  "I am against it. But someone has to look out for you, when you do stupid things like this."

  He didn't really want her along -- he was afraid she might get hurt -- but he appreciated the sentiment, so reluctantly nodded. "If that's what you want."

  "I want to go, too," Lucky muttered.

  "Too bad," his sister told him. "Stay here with the glider. Don't let them touch it. And if these people try anything funny, don't be afraid to use that new machine gun of yours."

  "You worry about Stu," Millie told her confidently. "I'll worry about Lucky."

  "Fair," Luna responded. And the conversation ended there. Stu and Luna gathered up what supplies they could, and a few minutes later, they were on their way, headed up into the mountains.

  * * *

  Tremlo had drawn a sort of crude map for them, showing them how to get to the Cannibal's cave. It was approximately halfway up Tower Mountain, the largest of the peaks which overlooked the town of Silent. The cave was well below the tree line, apparently, but it was too steep, and the terrain too rugged, for them to get there on the glider, which meant they would have to walk there, through the snow. Fortunately there was a visible trail leading up to the mountain, and according to Tremlo, there was a small log cabin situated along the path, which they might use to take shelter if the weather took another turn for the worse.

  Stu carried most of their supplies in a rucksack which he had slung over his back. They traveled light -- Stu hoped to kill this monster and make it back to Silent by the evening, at least -- but just in case, they took with them a firestarter and a couple cans of food, along with their weapons. Luna had her shotgun; Stu had Excalibur, his machete, and his Hughes & Samson Midnighter pistol. He wasn't sure which one of these would be most effective against the Cannibal, but if the monster really could "soak up rifle rounds," as Tremlo had said, then it would probably come down to melee combat.

  Was he really strong enough to kill this thing? Stu was much stronger and much more durable than an ordinary person, but as Luna had pointed out earlier, he wasn't invincible. His fight with the Lab Rat had demonstrated that pretty clearly. If this Cannibal was a Level 41 or higher, as the Lab Rat had been...

  He shook his head, and focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

  Stu, with his increased stamina, had little difficulty making it up the mountain. Luna, on the other hand, trudging through the snow, was starting to slow down. "Aren't you tired?" she asked him, almost incredulous.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Not really," he answered. "You want me to carry you?"

  To his surprise, she actually paused for a moment to consider it. "No," she said. "I'll manage."

  Not long after that, however, the wind picked up, freezing their faces, and the snow -- which had never completely stopped, but only tapered off a little -- began coming down harder. Unable to keep up with Stu, Luna fell further and further behind. The danger of the situation becoming apparent -- this kind of weather could kill -- Stu told Luna to climb on his back, and, overriding her objections, he carried her, piggyback-style, for the next twenty minutes.

  The blizzard increased in strength, whipping up the snow until they could only see a few feet ahead of them. Grimly, Stu marched on, until at last, he spotted the log cabin in the distance. It was barely visible in the wintry glare.

  The cabin, which was situated amidst a grove of pine trees, was practically buried in snow. With some effort, he managed to get the front door open, and then they were inside, kicking the snow off their boots. Stu looked around.

  The cabin's interior was rather nicer than he had expected. There wasn't much furniture -- just a couple of rocking chairs and a big bed full of furs and blankets -- but there was a huge fireplace with a massive chimney in the center of the room, and a bit of firewood stacked up beside it. The cabin appeared to have some kind of basement or storm cellar as well; there was a trapdoor built into the floor on the side of the building opposite the bed.

  "Out...out of the wind, at least," Luna said, hugging herself. Her teeth were chattering.

  Stu threw some wood into the fireplace and tried using his sparker to get a fire going. Having never actually started a fire before -- Stu had never been an outdoorsy type -- he had little success. Luna finally had to take over. Rolling her eyes, she said, "You have to kindle it first. Here, let me."

  And a few minutes later she had a pleasant little fire crackling in the fireplace. They sat together, side by side, warming their hands.

  "How long do you think this blizzard will last?" Stu asked.

  "Beats me."

  "I didn't think it would start up again like this. What are we going to do? If the weather doesn't improve soon..."

  "Hey, it was your idea to come up here."

  Annoyed, he quieted down, and for several minutes they simply sat there, saying nothing, but merely watching the fire. After a moment Luna said quietly, "I think you're a good person."

  This caught him off guard. "What?"

  "I think you're a good person," she said, her eyes still fixed on the fire. "I don't always agree with the things you do, but I understand why you do them."

  "I...see."

  "You helped Lucky after he got lost in the subway. You saved us both when you ran us out of that burning school, and then you saved us again when you came after us in Heart's Glow. I know I complain about it, when you do these crazy things, but I'd probably be dead, or zombified, if you didn't do these kinds of crazy things."

  "They didn't seem crazy at the time," he said. "Helping your brother, breaking you out of the hospital...they just seemed like the right thing to do."

  "That's what I mean. You're a good person. You try to do the right thing, even when it might get you killed. There aren't many people like that in this world. Not anymore, anyway. I told you this before, but it's been dog-eat-dog since the outbreak. I'm always suspicious whenever anyone tries to do anything nice for me. What do they want in return? Are they trying to trick me? Trying to rip me off? Trying to get me to drop my guard? That's the way I think. I've been trained to think that way. In a place like Meku City, even in a place like Harbor, if you're not suspicious of everyone you meet, you're not going to last long."

  "I can believe it."

  "You, though...you're different. Maybe it's because you come from this different world or whatever, or maybe you're just naive. I don't know. But you're the first person I've met in a very long time who actually seemed...trustworthy." She gave him a strange sideways glance. "It surprises me."

  He wasn't sure what she was talking about here. "Surprises you?"

  "I'm cold," she said. She moved a little closer to him.

  "Ah."

  The fire soon began to die down, but there was no firewood left in the cabin. Luna retrieved a heavy blanket from the bed and threw it over both of their shoulders, and they sat there, together, looking at the dying embers, for quite a long time. Neither of them spoke, but Luna was snuggling closer to him all the time. He couldn't tell whether she was interested in his body heat or interested in...something else, but he was pretty sure now that it was the latter.

  She finally clarified it for him a moment later. Side by side, huddled under the blanket, their faces only inches apart, she turned to face him, looking up at him with dark, imploring eyes. And then, leaning closer, she gave him a sort of experimental kiss.

  It was a strange, almost nonchalant sort of kiss, soft and gentle, and she looked at him very carefully afterwards, as though she were trying to read his thoughts.

  Stu wasn't exactly surprised -- he couldn't have failed to pick up some of these signals she was sending his way -- but he was conflicted. He liked Luna -- she was smart and brave and pretty -- and if circumstances had been different he might have welcomed this attention. But he hadn't known her that long, and he was planning on returning to his own world, anyway, in a few weeks. He didn't want to get into a serious relationship here.

  That was the forward-thinking, intellectual part of his brain, though. The other part of his brain was telling him that there was a lovely girl snuggled up next to him, who had just kissed him, and who seemed to be willing to take it further, if he wanted.

  An ICON system message suddenly appeared in his vision -- the same message he had seen back at the Dealership, after he had killed the Living Hell.

  Quest Available: Looking for Love: Luna

  Accept quest? Yes/No

  He had turned down this quest the first time it had been offered to him. This time, he let it sit there, leaving the message in place. He frowned at it.

  Luna mistook his frown for disapproval. "Sorry," she said, turning her face away. "I guess I shouldn't have done that."

  "No, no," Stu said quickly. "It's not that. You just...caught me a little off guard."

  "Do you like me?" she asked pointedly.

  He realized that he did. He had been attracted to her almost from the start, but the craziness of the situation he had found himself in, and maybe some residual feelings for Berly, had prevented him from admitting it to himself, from sorting out his feelings as he ought to have. "Yes."

  "I like you, too. So what's the problem?"

  "If all goes well, I'll be returning to my world in a little while. I...I don't want to hurt you."

  She snorted. "Is that all?" She kissed him again, much more forcefully this time, only pulling away long enough to say, "Less thinking. More doing."

  Stu, swept up in the moment, kissed her back. If she was okay with it, he decided, he could be okay with it too. Almost without thinking, he nodded at the "Yes" button on the quest message.

  The kissing turned into a full-blown make out session. Stu was just considering getting off the floor and carrying her over to the bed when they suddenly heard a noise -- a sort of low, rumbling noise -- coming from somewhere beneath them. They stopped what they were doing, pulling away from each other. "What the hell was that?" Luna asked, breathless.

  Stu pulled the blanket down. "Sounded like it came from the cellar," he said cautiously. He got up and walked over to the trapdoor on the other side of the room. It was secured with a gate and a padlock, but when he gave it an experimental turn, the padlock came loose. He gave Luna a questioning look. She shrugged.

  They heard the noise again. It was more of a rattle than a rumble this time; it sounded like someone moving around in the cellar. This, obviously, didn't bode well. Using his Sniffer ability, he tried to determine if there really was someone down there, but though his sense of smell had been greatly enhanced, it was also somewhat imprecise, and was easily overwhelmed by other, more powerful odors, such as the wood smoke coming from the fireplace.

  But then his Zombie Radar started buzzing. Alarmed, he was just about to slam the padlock back into place when the cellar door suddenly exploded open and a badly-rotted zombie burst out of it. It was the most decayed zombie he had ever seen, its face a disgusting, ulcerated mess. Its nose had long since rotted off, and it was dripping silver-stained blood out of the nasal passages in its skull. A great deal of its skin had sloughed off, and it had no hair left; Stu wasn't even sure whether it had been a man or a woman.

  Though badly decayed, it was very fast -- indeed, it was a Level 2 Speedy, according to its ICON designation. It flung itself at Stu, who backed away from it until he hit the wall; then, ducking beneath its outstretched arms, he somersaulted over to his backpack, picked up his baseball bat, and slammed it into the zombie's head just as it was coming at him again. The blow shattered its skull, spattering one wall with silvery blood. It fell over, one leg twitching.

  Level 2 Speedy defeated!

  Stu glanced at Luna, who was still on the floor, staring at the zombie. "Is it dead?" she asked.

  "Pretty sure," he replied.

  She let out a deep breath, a sort of long sigh. "Well," she muttered, "that kind of killed the mood."