Zhenlan didn’t like the sound of that scream.

There was too much awareness behind it, but also something else. Like someone knew exactly what was going on and was screaming in pain and frustration. Only the sound wasn’t coming from any human around them.

The zombies they had dealt with until now were quiet, violent, and predictable in the same way wild animals were predictable. They chased movement, sound, blood, and occasionally each other. There had never been intelligence behind it before. Not real intelligence.

But this? This was completely different.

Every zombie on the highway had stopped moving randomly the second the scream rang out.

Then all of them turned toward the same target.

Rouxi.

"Well," Lingyun muttered as flames curled lazily around one of his blades. "That feels mildly concerning."

"That’s because you are finally developing some survival instincts," Rouxi replied casually.

She sounded entirely too pleased about this, even given the fact that the zombies were looking at her like she was their last meal.

The vines crawling along her arms thickened slightly as more zombies stumbled out from between the abandoned vehicles crowding the highway. Some dropped from the tops of transport trucks while others crawled through shattered windows with jerking movements that were just a little too fast to be comfortable.

The screamer stood further back from the others.

It was female, he guessed.

The body was thin enough that most of its flesh had already rotted away from the bones, leaving patches of gray skin stretched tightly across the body. Its jaw hung too wide open to still be attached to the skull, and the thing’s throat pulsed unnaturally every time another sharp cry echoed across the road.

More movement answered immediately in the distance and Zhenlan’s expression darkened. "They’re calling each other."

"Mm," Rouxi agreed. "Rude, honestly. This one is demanding everyone’s attention like she hates the fact that she isn’t the center of everyone’s world."

The baby vine hissed loudly around her shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah. I see it," Rouxi purred, stroking the leaf that made up the vine’s head. Then she started walking forward.

Not carefully.

Not cautiously.

Just casually strolling toward the growing horde while the vines around her arms slid over her skin like living things desperate to be unleashed.

Zhenlan immediately moved after her, trying to stop her. "Rouxi."

"What?"

"That thing is coordinating them."

"Yup," she agreed with a nod.

"Yup?"

She glanced back at him like he was the unreasonable one here. "Do you want me to say no? Because I can if it makes you feel better."

That was not the point.

Before he could answer, three zombies lunged toward them at once.

Air exploded outward from Zhenlan instinctively, sharp enough to tear through two skulls immediately while the third body got wrapped up in one of Rouxi’s vines and slammed hard enough into the side of a truck that the metal caved inward.

The corpse slid downward slowly.

Then started twitching again.

"Between the eyes," Rouxi reminded him absently while another vine pierced directly through the zombie’s forehead and extracted a glowing white crystal. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Right.

The cores.

Zhenlan still wasn’t sure how he felt about that information. The idea that they had spent way too long killing zombies wrong was irritating enough on its own, but the existence of the crystals changed things in ways he didn’t fully understand yet.

Especially when Rouxi clearly did.

"Left!"

Chenghai’s warning came just before a zombie slammed into Zhenlan from the side hard enough to shove him backward a full step. Fingers clawed toward his throat while the thing snapped its teeth inches from his face.

A blade made of compressed air ripped upward automatically and sliced the zombie cleanly in half.

The top half kept moving.

"...Fucking Christ," he muttered.

Rouxi snorted nearby. "You’ll get used to it. Just think, it can always be worse."

"That doesn’t sound reassuring."

"It wasn’t supposed to."

Another scream split across the highway.

Closer this time.

The zombies surged harder immediately afterward, bodies throwing themselves forward recklessly enough that several tripped over each other in the rush. Lingyun swore as fire exploded outward around him in a massive wave, burning through half a dozen zombies at once while Yuche manipulated shards of twisted metal through skulls with increasingly terrifying precision.

At some point, they had stopped fighting like humans.

Zhenlan wasn’t sure when exactly that happened.

Maybe it was when Chenghai punched through a zombie hard enough to shatter the concrete barrier behind it. Maybe it was when Lingyun started laughing while setting bodies on fire. Or maybe it was watching Yuche calmly rip glowing crystals from skulls without even touching them anymore.

Or maybe it was Rouxi.

Standing in the middle of all of it like this was where she belonged.

The thought settled heavily in Zhenlan’s chest.

Because the terrifying part wasn’t her power anymore.... It was how natural all of this looked on her.

"Found it," Rouxi announced suddenly.

The screamer had started backing away.

Smart.

Unfortunately for it, Rouxi was faster.

Vines erupted from the pavement beneath the zombie’s feet and wrapped around its legs instantly. The creature shrieked violently as it tried to tear itself free, its mouth opening wider and wider until the jaw cracked loudly down the middle.

More zombies started rushing toward Rouxi immediately trying to break her concentration, trying to free their queen.

Zhenlan moved without thinking.

Wind roared outward around him hard enough to send several vehicles skidding sideways across the highway while Lingyun’s flames exploded through the gaps. Chenghai caught one zombie by the throat and used it to smash two others aside while Yuche’s metal spikes tore through anything still standing afterward.

The teamwork happened naturally.

There was no discussion or planning. They had only done it once before for a short time, but this... this was different.

It was like they were completely of one mind.

Rouxi glanced back at them briefly before looking toward the trapped screamer again.

Then she smiled.

Not sweetly.

Hungrily.

"Ohh," she purred softly. "You’re definitely worth more than a gold star."

The screamer suddenly stopped struggling.

Its milky eyes locked directly onto Rouxi.

Then its mouth stretched wider.

Wider.

And wider still, until the skin around its jaw started tearing open.

Zhenlan felt something cold crawl down his spine.

"Rouxi," he said sharply.

For the first time since the fight started, Rouxi’s smile slipped slightly.

"...Well," she muttered. "That’s new. She must be one of the Banshees."