Lián Xīng knew her family was safe, at least for now.

  But what would stop these men from returning and holding her family hostage?

  Her family hadn’t gotten weapons, she wondered if that was smart.

  Just because they wouldn’t harm others didn’t mean others wouldn’t try to hurt them.

  But when she thought that each hunter might have a family waiting for them at home, scared about their safety, she didn’t like the idea of meeting violence with violence. There had to be another way.

  The group she was in had at least a dozen men and women.

  The leaders were a man and a woman. They didn’t look like a couple, perhaps siblings. They had a natural camaraderie that stretched to include the whole team.

  Lián Xīng was content to view the group’s dynamics from an outsider’s viewpoint. They didn’t seem like ‘bad guys’. At least not amongst themselves. They didn’t know better, came to her mind. They were just doing what they thought they needed to do to survive the new world they’d been thrust into. She knew as soon as the word ‘zombie’ made it around, as soon as the violent frenzies occurred, people assumed the worst. They believed the infected loved ones they had before were gone, they couldn’t come back. But they were wrong.

  Lián Xīng had tried convincing others before, but she was only laughed at; she would have to be better this time. There were bigger stakes this time.

  “Yo! Healer! What’s your name?” One of the soldiers spoke up from beside her, breaking through her thoughts.

  She looked at the man. Medium height, small goatee, and a big grin.

  “Lián Xīng.”

  “Zhōu Míng Yù.” He offered his hand for a shake.

  Lián Xīng hesitated only briefly before shaking his hand, she wasn’t expecting such a nice reception from the base’s soldiers.

  “Hey, stop fraternizing with the enemy Zhōu!” It was said with a laugh instead of a snarl, like one would expect.

  Zhōu Míng Yù rolled his eyes toward her. “Don’t mind them. I think it’s best to be friendly with the one who’s going to be healing you on bad days.”

  A woman walking in front of them snorted, “We don’t know if she can heal normal injuries.”

  “Right, you are the zombie healer!” Zhōu Míng Yù laughed, elbowing Lián Xīng in the side.

  She pursed her lips, trying her best not to start correcting him, and she couldn’t stop herself.

  “If they can be healed, are they zombies?”

  Sometimes a question was more powerful than a statement.

  Zhōu Míng Yù rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, when you put it that way…”

  The woman who had spoken earlier spoke roughly, “It doesn’t matter, does it. They are killing people.”

  “They are reactive. Moved by base instincts. I’ve survived many a would-be attack by merely not acting out. They don’t hurt those that don’t first fight back, make loud sounds or…”

  “What a nerd!” One of the men who’d called out, naming her the ‘enemy’, laughed.

  Lián Xīng sighed. It was the same cycle. They would all keep reacting to each other. Infected and the non-infected, in an endless circle.

  The base was built around a shopping plaza, its entrance and exits blocked by large towering fences that kept the great area of the plaza closed off from the rest of the world. At each entrance and exit, there was a gate with soldiers guarding it.

  After entering the main gate, she was ushered into a room with the other women from the team who stripped and were checked by another woman guard, no doubt to check for signs of infection.

  After everyone was deemed safe, they were given fresh clothes, Lián Xīng included. She was given what looked like hospital scrubs and a doctor’s coat.

  One of the women, the one who had spoken out to her and Zhōu Míng Yù earlier, directed her to another section of the building they were in. It looked like it was an old gym that had been converted into barracks. In the back was what could only be described as a clinic, and to the far right was a converted, almost jail-looking cell.

  “The quarantine, newly added, ever since we heard of you.”

  Lián Xīng was scared to ask what happened to base members who were infected before they knew about her.

  Looking back into the cell, there were three men and one woman, all in very low stages of infection.

  Some had it spreading from claw-like marks on their arms or legs, another from a bite on a shoulder, and one with it spreading inky black from their hands. But they all had one defining characteristic: their glowing eyes.

  It had been nearly two days since she’d healed Yang Hǎi Lán and Wu Anming, and her strength had felt replenished after soaking in starlight each night and then from the Tellus’s sun on her walk to the base. She should be able to heal at least half of them before she needs rest.

  She was nearly pushed inside the ‘quarantine’ cell.

  “Hello, my name is Lián Xīng.” She spoke to the four infected.

  “That’s useless. They don’t talk back.”

  Lián Xīng ignored the comment and focused on the four in front of her.

  “May I come closer?” She asked the infected man closest to her. He had long scar-like scratches along his arms. “Those must hurt.”

  Glowing yellow eyes stared at her before the infected man made a slow nod. Lián Xīng heard a gasp behind her.

  Holding her hand out, she slowly inched closer to the infected. “Can you show me where it hurts most?”

  Neon yellow eyes blinked, the infected man’s head tilted to the side as if trying to comprehend.

  With her hand, she gradually went to hold on to his arm, her fingertips running over the scratches, when she saw the man wasn’t scared.

  “Can I heal these?”

  For a moment, it looked like the infected wasn’t going to respond, only staring for a long time before a slow nod.

  “Thank you.” She smiled at him before bowing her head over his scratches and absorbing Tellus's energy so that she could redirect it to the wounds. They healed beneath her fingertips.

  The infected man stared down at his uninjured arm with a look close to awe and confusion.

  “Can I heal you, now?”

  Another staring contest before a nod. She placed her hands on both of his and closed her eyes focusing on finding his light glowing neon yellow in the distance of her mind’s eye. Embracing it with her white gold light, she felt the connection snap into place just as she heard the woman behind the cell gate exclaim.

  “You really can heal them!”

  The other infected jumped at the loud sound, and Lián Xīng looked at them. “It’s ok. You are safe.”

  They still looked tense, but they turned their attention towards her and stared, instead of looking like they were going to attack the woman guard from within the cell.

  Lián Xīng looked at her newly healed man, “No sudden movements.” She whispered before smiling, “What’s your name?”

  “Zhōu Zǐ Xīn.”

  The man was young, perhaps only eighteen.

  “Welcome back Zhōu Zǐ Xīn. Are you related to Zhōu Míng Yù?”

  The boy nodded, “He’s my older brother.”

  Lián Xīng looked at the woman guard, “Could we get him out of here now?”

  The woman nodded, her features that had been so tough before looked in shock. Still, she was attentive to her duties and carefully helped the healed young man out while keeping Lián Xīng inside with the other infected.

  Lián Xīng turned to the other infected one done, another three to do.