Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

When Zane entered the human settlement which the young woman by the name of Allie led him to. He was truly surprised by what he saw. A city had been built within the trees. No less than fifty feet above the ground, a small city, which housed tens of thousands of humans, or at least from what Zane could tell by a cursory glance was built within the tree line.

To Zane it looked like something straight out of fantasy. But then again, so did the jungle itself that had sprouted throughout what used to be the city of Tucson. The trees themselves were hundreds of feet tall. With their trunks being thicker than anything Zane could reasonably describe.

Built fifty feet above the ground were wooden platforms which held buildings upon them, and were connected by suspended bridges constructed of wood and rope. Rope fashioned from tree bark from the looks of it.

The buildings spiraled higher and higher into the sky. With platforms elevated well over a hundred feet in the air. There were guard towers built within several of the platforms, which housed guards. Many of which were sporting long-range rifles.

While others were wielding weapons crafted from the grim forge such as long bows, and crossbows. It was truly a bizarre environment, one which the humans of the area, or at least those who survived seemed to have adapted to.

The gates which led into the city were opened upon the guards seeing Allie return. She was after all a rather unique looking woman, with short green hair, cut in a tomboyish style, and matching green eyes. Her body was muscular, abnormally so for a woman, but not in a grotesque way.

She herself had a bolt action scout rifle tied to her back. No doubt chambered in a hefty cartridge one that was capable of taking down higher ranking undead. The guards let her pass through, but immediately came down to investigate the odd-looking fellow she had come back with. Questioning the young woman, albeit not aggressively so.

"Whose this young man? When you left, you were all alone. Don't tell me there are still survivors down there on the surface?"

Allie seemed unusually friendly with Zane as she wrapped her arm around him and introduced the man by the alias he had given her.

"This guy's name is Dave. He's from Phoenix, and from the sound of it, one of the last few survivors. He is ridiculously strong! He will be a huge help around the city!"

Zane honestly did not agree to stay in the city. But, if he was being honest he was intrigued by the local environment. He had only seen such things in fantasy before, and wanted to explore the city in the trees himself.

More than that, he wanted to learn about the area, and what had caused this sudden growth of foliage, let alone why the surviving humans had decided to rebuild up in the trees or how they had managed to do so.

The guards, however, appeared genuinely surprised that there were humans other than themselves still alive in the outside world, and were quick to welcome Zane inside, who himself appeared unarmed. Then again, with the system, it was impossible to know.

"Are there really people out there other than us? We lost contact with the outside world when this fucking rainforest appeared. In fact, we thought the whole world had become like this!"

Zane shook his head. He did not want to go too much into detail about what was going on in the world, but he was quick to alert them to the reality of the situation.

"Most of humanity was wiped out during the past year. What remains…. Well, it's difficult to say. It's different in every city I have been to. I went north for a while, and Vegas was covered in a perpetual sandstorm. If you even want to enter, you have to cover your skin or risk getting cut.

There are a few survivors there, but their numbers are dwindling, especially with the two largest settlements recently being wiped out. As for Phoenix, well… You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. Hell, I don't even believe it, and I saw it with my own two eyes… But you guys, strangely enough appear to be doing alright…"

Allie quickly responded to Zane's statement. She seemed rather positive that there were still humans in the world other than themselves, even if Zane's message was one filled with a tone of despair.

"The city below is impossible to survive in. But the undead mostly leave us alone up here. Especially now that we have discovered how to repel the stalkers from the city. But still, it is good to know that there are other humans out there even if they are struggling.

You must be starving after such a journey. Come with me. I'll make sure you're well fed!"

Allie's words only made Zane more curious. They had found a way to repel the Stalkers? And how exactly were they sustaining themselves so high in the air? Surely they weren't subsisting of scavenging were they?

It was with this curiosity that he followed the woman. She led him to a rather large hut that was established on one of the platforms. Well, hut wasn't the correct word. It was more like a bungalow. Once inside, she pulled out a jar, which appeared to be crudely made from pottery. Inside of it were can of roasted and salted nuts.

Which he did not recognize.

"Here, try these! They taste pretty good after being roasted and salted. But more importantly, a handful of these, and you have all the nutrients you need for a day! It's some kind of miracle fruit that began sprouting in the jungle after it appeared.

We grow them here in the village and harvest them for consumption. A handful may not look like much, but trust me, not only will you have all the nutrients you need, but they're quite filling too!"

Honestly, Zane did not need food to survive. But he was quick to examine the nut with his system to see if there was anything wrong with it.

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[Everblossom Nut]

[Item Type: Food]

[Description: A nut derived from the Everblossom tree. Of which the Rainforest of Tucson is filled with. This nut is packed full of nutrients, and more filling than a simple glance would lead one to believe. Perfect for human consumption, and an excellent staple crop!]

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The system did not detect anything wrong with the nuts, and thus he was quick to grab a handful and toss them in his mouth. They tasted good enough, with an almost mixed flavor between a cashew and a peanut. But Allie was right. Zane felt unusually satisfied with such a small amount of food after having a simple handful of them.

He was more curious now than ever about what else had sprouted in this forest, and how it could be used in the future. Something he would plan to investigate once he was free to do so. For the time being, he was a guest of the local human settlement, and he was still cautious of their intentions.

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