Ivan caught the look in Rebecca’s eyes and said nothing, only gently placed the gun back into her palm.
Rebecca shook her head, closed her eyes, and buried her face against his chest, nuzzling in again and again.
Then she tucked her small hands behind her back and stepped out of his embrace.
She tilted her head with a smile.
“Ivan, thank you.
And I want to apologize for whatever suspicions I might have had about you before.” Ivan scratched his head, about to say something.
Rebecca suddenly stepped forward, playful, and took the gun from his hand.
When Ivan looked at her, she caught his hand softly in hers.
His face was reflected in her red, tear-swollen eyes.
“Ivan, thank you.
Thank you for doing what I couldn’t.
And thank you…
for sending him off on his final journey.” Her voice was sincere and steady, yet a single hot tear crept quietly from the corner of her eye.
With that, Rebecca let go.
She set her beloved gun back into Ivan’s palm and thoughtfully folded his fingers around it.
She crouched down and gazed at Edward’s face, now at peace.
Fighting back her grief, she reached out and gently closed his unshut eyes.
Looking at the wounds covering his body, remembering the face that had once been so full of life, now dead without answers on this hazy, rainy night.
She clenched her fists, nails biting into her palms, knuckles turning white.
She made no sound, only quietly picked up the firearm that had fallen beside Edward’s hand.
Rising to her feet, Rebecca gathered herself, turned her head, and gave Ivan a smile brimming with youthful spirit.
Ivan smiled first.
Though his mind felt wrapped in a layer of fog, it only made him more attuned to Rebecca’s emotions through her movements.
Those red, tear-swollen eyes and clenched fists stirred in him an urge to do something.
He thought of the way Rebecca had comforted and encouraged him.
So Ivan raised both hands to either side of his head and began flapping them like ears.
Then he narrowed his eyes, stuck out his tongue, and even gave Rebecca a thumbs-up.
This whole string of goofy antics made Rebecca burst out with a “pfft~” of laughter.
“Ivan~ keep this up and I’m going to get mad~” She pouted, feigning anger, but the unconscious affection in her tone and the laughter in her tear-red eyes were like a soft, cheerful breeze drifting through the carriage strewn with bloodstains and corpses.
Ivan covered his face with his hands, begging mercy, putting on a look of terror.
Rebecca couldn’t hold back any longer and stepped up to pat his shoulder.
Then she pointed ahead, motioning for him to follow.
In Ivan’s view, that small figure moving forward carried a lively bounce in her steps.
Ivan shook his head with a smile, fell in behind Rebecca, and pressed on.
But what neither of them noticed was that, just after they left, a leech the size of a palm crawled out from a dark corner.
The two of them explored on, cautious every step, clearing out the zombies whenever gunfire became necessary.
Along the way, under Rebecca’s guidance, Ivan’s aim showed a certain improvement.
With a rhythm growing more and more in sync, their efficiency in searching the entire train kept climbing.
At last, just as they were about to pass through the final carriage and enter the dining car.
“Beep beep!” The radio suddenly crackled with the sound of a connecting signal.
Rebecca shot a glance at Ivan behind her.
Ivan used the gesture he’d just learned from Rebecca to give her an OK.
Rebecca smiled, lifted a fingertip, tapped it at Ivan through the air, then took out the radio and pressed the receive key.
“This is Rebecca, OVER.” Hearing Rebecca’s voice, a man’s voice came from the other end of the radio.
“Rebecca, can you hear me?
This is Richard!
Where are you?” Rebecca’s tone lifted at once.
“Richard, I hear you.
Edward…
he died in the line of duty…” Those last few words came out full of sorrow and reluctance.
Richard, who was investigating another part of the forest, went stiff, his pupils shrinking sharply.
He said hurriedly, “What?
Oh, no, Rebecca, you have to be careful!” “According to the latest intel we just got from the wreckage of the prison transport…” “Billy Coen killed twenty-three people.” Rebecca knew Richard had most likely misunderstood.
She was about to explain the exact cause of Edward’s death, but then…
“Be careful, Rebecca…” “Zzzt zzzt zzzt~” The radio dropped back into static.
Ivan, who had been quietly watching their surroundings the whole time, heard Billy’s name and found it somewhat familiar, yet he just couldn’t place it.
Compared to the mush-brained feeling from the very start, he’d basically recovered most of the way now.
It was only where memory was concerned that things remained a tangled mess.
Still, thankfully, his “innate” “Dullness” kept Ivan from feeling any real anxiety.
Rebecca tucked the radio back behind her and shared the latest news with Ivan.
Ivan nodded.
“The mysteries just keep piling up.” Rebecca copied Ivan’s gesture and spread her hands.
Then the two shared a knowing smile and resumed the operation, still with Rebecca in the lead and Ivan bringing up the rear.
They eased open the door to the dining car and stepped inside on high alert.
But just as they were guarding against the new surroundings and scanning the area, a black muzzle rose quietly from the blind spot on the steps behind them, aimed straight at Rebecca’s head.
Some vague instinct told Rebecca the back of her head felt tight, and she turned reflexively.
Ivan, who was checking the situation off to the side, caught Rebecca’s sudden movement and spun around at once.
Then he saw…
A man with a resolute face and cold, hard features, a set of dog tags around his neck, holding a pistol with an unfriendly look, its aim fixed in Rebecca’s direction.
At the sight, Rebecca and Ivan both trained their guns on him.
“Second Lieutenant Billy…
Coen.” Hearing Rebecca call out his name, the man’s face stayed blank, his tone cold.
“So you know me.
Then what kind of man am I, in your eyes?” At that, Rebecca abruptly lowered her gun, and Ivan lowered his as well.
He trusted Rebecca’s judgment of people.
After all, if not for that, he’d probably have already died in the mouths of those two zombies.
Their unexpected move brought a look to Billy’s once-hardened face that was hard to put into words.
Rebecca, at ease, picked up where she’d left off and gave her read on him.
“You’re a killer being escorted to the execution ground, with twenty-three lives on your hands.” “But you didn’t shoot me the moment you could have.
You had the chance…” “A man who slaughters the innocent wouldn’t give me the opening to point a gun at his forehead.” Billy stared hard at Rebecca for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Ivan.
“And you, kid?
What’s your reason?” Ivan didn’t hesitate at all, his voice carrying undisguised trust.
“Because Rebecca trusts you, so I trust you too.” The corner of Billy’s mouth twitched faintly.
Without letting it show, he glanced at Ivan, then at Rebecca.
After a moment’s silence, he finally lowered the gun in his hand.
As if setting down some kind of burden.