17 (6)Survival Test

Alexandre raised his hand in front of his face, intending to block the shuriken, but then he got another surprise: the shuriken wobbled, veering to the right of his face—and with his hand momentarily obscuring his vision, Alexandre didn't see the cold, thin steel net that immediately encircled his throat and arms.

The next moment, Claire slammed into Alexandre with surprising strength which she hadn't revealed a moment ago. Alexandre was caught so off-guard that he fell to the ground.

Claire had grabbed her knife from the ground. She now straddled his chest. With one hand, she had her knife at his throat, and with the other, she pulled the wire net tight around Alexandre's body using several attached metal rings. "It's over!" she said. "Give me your water or die here. Oh, and don't bother trying to break the net. The strands might seem thin, but they're made from a mix of steel and zombie bones."

Despite her words, Alexandre strained briefly against the netting with one finger. Sure enough, it cut easily through his enhanced flesh. He winced at the pain. Yes, this was indeed zombie-bone-reinforced steel, much tougher than ordinary metal. Either Claire had mastered Hunter Crafting herself or she knew someone else who'd done so. Either way, the young blonde woman was much more dangerous than Alexandre had first believed.

Alexandre replied at last, "Sorry to disappoint you, but I've run out of water."

"Stop lying!" Claire snapped. She removed the hand she'd been using to tighten the net around Alexandre's body, reaching to search inside his jacket—

Claire gasped in shock as Alexandre burst free and lunged for her! "Impossible! An ordinary human can't…"

But of course Alexandre wasn't an ordinary human. He'd strained against the netting, letting it cut through his flesh down to the bone. But his skeleton was even stronger than his skin and muscle, and Alexandre had endured immense pain as he snapped the Hunter-Crafted net with his own bones.

Within a few heartbeats after freeing himself, Alexandre had reached out and snapped Claire's wrist like a chicken bone, shattered one of her ribs, thrown her to the ground, and then put his foot on her wounded side.

Claire's voice immediately dropped from a scream to an agonized whimper as the broken rib made it too painful to wail.

Alexandre looked coldly down at her, dripping blood from innumerable deep wounds. Even still, the bleeding began to slow as the wounds started healing. "I suppose that's what I get for assuming everyone here was a complete weakling. Too bad for you that you didn't have the stomach to go further instead of demanding my water."

At this point, it was obvious that Claire was a martial arts professional. Her expertise made one truth apparent: Alexandre had left her no way to escape. Therefore, Claire immediately shifted her strategy and cried a bit louder, despite the pain. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! I was just so thirsty that I knew I was going to die! Let me go, I beg you! I'll do anything you want!"

Alexandre replied, "Shut up, or I'll break another rib."

The young woman stopped talking. Her expression changed to a more neutral one as she studied Alexandre's face, looking for any trace of weakness. She didn't find any.

Alexander gestured into the night. "I'm going to let you up. Give me your bag. If I have the slightest reason to suspect you're trying anything else, I'll break your leg." He lifted his foot from Claire's ribs.

Claire nodded and slowly sat up. She unfastened her bag and held it out with two fingers to Alexandre so it was clear that she wasn't hiding any weapons.

Alexandre snatched the bag away and immediately took a step back to dodge any incoming attacks, but there were none. He kept one eye on his attacker while unzipping her bag and sorting through the contents. Inside, he found a bottle containing about 300 mL of water, $650, and a chunky plexiglass picture frame. The photo inside the frame depicted Claire sitting beside what appeared to be a teenager in a hospital bed, hooked up to several machines and IV lines.

Claire's eyes widened when she saw Alexandre holding the photo. "Give that back, you bastard!"

Alexandre turned to stare at her for a moment. Then he opened the frame, removed the picture, and slipped it into his pocket. "I'll take this photo as payment for you attacking me. Consider yourself lucky that I'm not taking any more revenge. If you attack me again, you won't get off so easily."

Then he turned and walked away, leaving Claire furious on the ground and helpless to do anything about her anger.

Alexander was both angry with himself for falling prey to Claire's attack and also disappointed with the loot he'd retrieved. A little money and water was better than nothing, but not worth the wounds he'd sustained… even if they were already healing.

If even someone as strategically minded as Claire was almost out of water, though, things must be even worse than Alexandre had realized for everyone else.

At long last, a streak of reddish pink blossomed in the sky above the treeline, signifying the end of the second night.