Ascended

We made it to the orchard at dusk.

It was starting to concern me that we hadn’t seen a zombie yet. While traveling with Master Bran, we rarely saw a zombie on the road, but we had been taught that there were hundreds of zombies roaming the wastes. Each was hungry for an unprepared traveler.

The orchard was a grove of orange trees around a small pond. The water there was fresh and it kept the trees alive. I picked an orange and started peeling it as I looked around. It wasn’t the best meal, but it would give us something to put on our stomachs until we could reach Pline.

Pline was the closest city to the island. Despite being so close, I’d only been inside its walls once. Master Bran didn’t care for cities and since zombies rarely attacked him while outside, he usually set up camp well away from the cities.

My fellow potential and I didn’t have that type of luxury. Zombies wouldn’t see us as potential Bokor. Instead, they would just see two humans out in the open. While I was confident that we could kill a couple zombies, it wasn’t worth risking a fight that we might lose. We had the time, so there was no reason not to be careful.

“You ready?” Max asked.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, “You want to travel at night?”

The look on his face told me that he didn’t. “No, but we can’t stay here.”

I pulled the rope off of my shoulder, “You’ve never slept in a tree before?”

Max shook his head, “Master only stopped at towns.”

That explained why Max was able to travel as well as he did. Most towns were multiple days apart. To think that he would march for a few days with little to no sleep was slightly impressive.

“I think we’ve gone far enough for today,” I said. “Plus, there isn’t a moon out tonight.” I pointed up at the sky, “We wouldn’t be able to see the zombies until they were on top of us.”

Max still looked uneasy, but he saw the truth in what I was saying.

I pointed at a limb about halfway up the closest tree, “Climb up to there and I’ll tie you in.”

“Won’t I fall?” Max’s face was full of the thought of being eaten in his sleep.

“Not after I’m done.”

Max looked like he was going to protest, but he turned and began climbing. Once he was up on the branch I had pointed out, I climbed up after him.

“How am I going to get loose?” Max asked as I took his rope from him.

“I’m not tying your hands,” I answered as I wrapped the rope around his waist and the tree.

“I don’t know about this…” Max began.

I looped the end of the rope around his legs and tied them to the branch he was sitting on. I pulled the rope tight, “You aren’t going to fall as long as you don’t mess with the knot.” I glared at him, “Don’t mess with the knot.”

He nodded, “Where are you going to sleep?”

I pointed to a nearby tree. Before he could ask me anything else, I hopped down to the ground. It was dark enough that by the time I had secured myself, I could barely see Max in the other tree.

“Byler?” Max called out.

“Yes?” I regretted letting him know I was still awake.

“How do you go to the bathroom?”