When You Are Resurrected

Do you know that if you aim just right for the approximately 1.7 minutes after you shoot where you are still alive, you can disable the blinding pain you'd feel. It doesn't matter much though, cause once the brain heals, and your skull starts stitching itself back together, all there is is white hot pain, more blinding than the sun on a hot July day. What hurts even worse though? The emotional backlash of your brain turning itself back on and you having to process what you just did to yourself on top of all the trauma the military gave you, and the orphanage, and your parents.

Have you ever sat in one place, unmoving and uncaring of your own health and well being, wholly willing to subject yourself to the torture of rats nibling at your skin in an abandoned city district? Probably not, but close,the not moving for a week thing, probably, not the rats. He and the rats became friends, he thinks, a mutual relationship. They nibble on him, he gets to feel a pain that isn't radiating in nauseating waves from his insides, it's great!

Zhong Xinyi doesn't question the healing from a gunshot to the head thing, not for the week they spent with the rats, but once the week was up? They freaked out silently to themself, though even if they screamed at the very top of their lungs no one would have heard them. They do eventually transition to just screaming, for hours at a time. Once they get that out of their system, they just curl back up and close their eyes, and they find that they can sleep for far greater amounts of time than any human. Their 25th, 26th, and 27th, and a far few beyond that all go by without them even making so much as a peep. When they do finally awaken, it is to the same grey underside of a concrete bridge, a deep hunger that rattles even their bones, and the bustling sound of a city rebuilt. They don't move. Zhong Xinyi laments the fact that their peace had been broken in such a way, though that wasn't what woke them, no they woke for an entirely different reason, the hunger. Apparently sleeping didn't stop them needing food, so instead of sleep it was more like hibernation? Good thought to think more on later, when their stomach wasn't, in the most literal sense they could think of, eating itself.

Hauling himself onto his feet, Xinyi started walking towards the city, garnering himself weird looks as his torn and falling apart clothes, disheveled long black hair, dirty tan skin with more scars than any of them would probably like to count, and the coldest silver eyes you ever did see on such a round face full of youth with a nose like a button and brows so perfect one would think they were fake caught all the attention around. First thing he did was check the date, notice it had been about 50 years since he had gone to sleep, and then lament the fact he was now 72-years-old. He had given up a while back at this point,but he wondered if he could do it again, just because this made no sense and he didn't look a day over 22, not even a grey hair in sight.

Fuck it, nothing mattered anymore anyway, might as well do what he wanted! This plan was immediately derailed as he was reminded of why he walked into the city in the first place. He waited for the feeling to subside, not wanting to double over and throw up the nothing he had in his stomach, acid tastes bad.

Once he had gotten his barings, he made his way over to a food stall and started to read the menu, then realized he both didn't have enough money, and that the currency had changed so his money wouldn't be accepted anyway. He backed away slowly, turning and heading into an alleyway, not running or even walking fast as he officially took stock of his current situation, which made him want to scream. Xinyi can't steal, not here. He had already checked all the cameras in the area, and even if he didn't, there were still too many people here for him to swipe anything effectively and not get caught. He had no idea what the law enforcement was like here either. He was completely in the dark, stumbling around without even a flashlight to guide his path. The pain shot through their stomach again, making them double over in pain, and then a smell hit them. It was sweet, and he had always adored what little sugar he could get as a child, even more so after joining the war. It was a balm to his stomach, and a reprieve for his bones, and then it was his target for dinner. He slowly slid to his knees and then on to his feet, making sure to move slowly so as not to attract any attention. They found the nearest fire escape, using it to climb to the rooves where he would have a better vantage point.

They settled into a crouch, both feet flat against the concrete of the roof, arms steadying him as gravel dug into their palms. He sniffed again, the wind blowing in his direction and carrying that oh so sweet smell. His eyes roamed the streets, gazing lazily at all the people around, and then his eyes caught on something.

She wasn't tall by any means, so short she blended in rather well with the rest of the crowd, pink hoodie casual but mini skirt playful as she weaved in between people, racing through the crowd, looking around and then back over her shoulder every ten seconds as if looking for something instead of running away from something. The most damning thing about her though, was her smell. Sweet like sugar and cupcakes, and making him oh so hungry. She moved fast, but not faster than him, getting ahead of her so it was easier to track her movements. She ducked into a dead end alley and looked around, ducking into a low window that indicated a basement, good, no witnesses.

He prowled down to the ground, slipping into the same window smooth as water, not even making a sound when their feet hit the floor. She was gone, but that was good, a hunt was always fun after all. Her scent was clean, meaning there was no one else in the building to worry about. He caught her trail and slinked his way after her. They moved like they were gliding on ice, silent and fluid, no extra movement or excessive noise. They finally caught sight of her, but they caught another voice and realized they had been so focused he didn't notice the new scent. He ascended to the ceiling rafters, still silent as ever, only a few feathers to ever announce his presence in the hall. He cared not to think of what they were discussing, but it was impossible not to hear them as he waited, he couldn't eat both of them after all! He didn't even think he was gonna finish cupcake, she was small but he hadn't had anything to eat in a while.

" The DIU is breathing down our necks on my end, so I can't help your boss just yet, give me a couple days to shake em and then we can talk, alright sweetheart?"

" The DIU are going to be the least of our problems if you don't get your head out of your ass and see that the No'Tergilage are playing us for the fools! We have less than a week Nick, and I am not going down with this fucking ship, you hear me!"

" You know the DIU and the No'Tergilage are always fighting, always trying to serve their own kinds of justice, we'll shake em, send em over to the NT territory and then we'll be free to reign as we please, k?"

She slapped the piss out of him then stomped her way further into the building, the man calling after her but ultimately giving up and leaving, good. He wonders why he didn't just kill them both, no witnesses could tell on him if they were dead. But that would be a waste of meat, and they hated wasting food. More thoughts like that ran through their skull as they followed the woman deeper, up to the second floor and into one of the empty apartments, which is apparently what this building was!

She didn't see him coming, too busy using one of the showers, but that was lucky because now he didn't have to unwrap her from her clothes like an actual cupcake. Her blood washed down the drain, along with thick wads of her hair, all matted and clumped together with blood, only going down because of the missing grate. He was right about not finishing her, but that was more because he couldn't bring himself to finish off her bones, which he stuffed in his backpack, leaving only one when he couldn't fit it in the bag alongside the rest of his stuff. The amazing thing was that she actually did taste rather similar to how he remembered vanilla cupcakes tasting. He continued to use the shower cupcake started.