The zombies finally stopped trying to create a pile on the ground and a lot of them entered the building we were in.
The rest of them entered the two buildings next to ours. If they all tried to make a pile on one of the roofs then they may have had a chance. Sadly their intelligence still needs to grow. That is good for us.
We looked down at the buildings next to us and saw them make a pile again. But their numbers were halved on each side now.
It was like a child wanted to surround us from all sides.
Then we started to hear the thumping. The zombies were trying to break down the door.
Arun had now recovered. We waited for a bit longer. The thumping grew louder.
Then we started to see a bulge on the door.
*Thump*
It grew bigger.
*Thump*
Again
*Thump*
*Thump*
*Thump*
Slowly but surely they were breaking down the door.
I saw the zombies who were starting to change their strategy. They were trying to go back so they can all come from the stairs or form a bigger group on one side.
As soon as I saw that I gave Arun the signal.
*Thump*
He took a few deep breaths. Then he stood near me, facing our destination.
"I offer both my ears, my left eye, my toes and both my pinkies."
*Thump*
Energy surged from within his body.
*Thump*
The door was standing on its last leg. The walls around it were completely cracked and would surely crumble in the next collision.
Arun picked me up then squatted down.
The zombies rushed towards the door for the last time. As the door broke down, so did the floor.
All the zombies fell down as they saw the figure of me and Arun in the air.
Arun released so much energy in his leap that the floor below us broke down.
We surged into the air while the zombies could do nothing except stare at us.
While we were in midair I expected the air drag to make my face become funny, but Arun shared some of his energy with me and I didn't feel a thing.
The only thing I felt now was the fear of falling down. We were more than 100 meters above the ground.
I looked down and almost pissed myself. My heart was beating at an exceptionally fast pace.
We didn't ascend for much longer and started to fall down.
As we kept descending and getting closer to the colourful district, my screams kept getting louder.
We had covered about 1 km of distance from where we were initially.
Just as we were about to crash land about half a kilometer away from the coloured city, Arun shouted once again.
"I offer my sense of taste and left thumb."
As he said that, another burst of energy erupted from within his body and covered us both.
I fell unconscious just before we crashed.
—x—
When I woke up I was being carried by Arun on a cart. There were some stone-like vegetables around me.
When he saw me come, he let go of the cart. I got up and saw him a little battered and really tired and sweaty.
"How long did I sleep?"
"Hour?"
He guessed while panting.
I checked my body and found a few minor bruises. They didn't hurt much.
I looked around and saw the colourful district not too far from where we were.
We walked the rest of the way while also watching out for zombies. Surprisingly we found people instead.
They were interacting with each other normally and their bodies were not stone like. The only problem was that they weren't able to see us.
We walked around a bit to find Yuan but he wasn't on the streets.
Arun picked up a pot filled with water and drank half of it while forgetting to breathe. He then went to a coughing fit before taking deep breaths to fix his state.
I took the pot from it and drank a lot, though not as much as him. He was way more tired compared to me who fell asleep inside a dream.
We sat down on the empty stairs of a building to rest.
"This place is definitely where Yuan is. This is also, most likely the place where the nightmare is hiding."
"This is how the statues are supposed to be?"
"Yes, the ones too far from the person dreaming usually don't move. The nightmare has probably started to parasitize Yuan and take control of the dream a little."
Then we needed to hurry. I made a suggestion.
"I think we should look inside all the buildings, Yuan might be in one of these. Since the nightmare is parasitizing him, should it also be near Yuan?"
"Yes, but we have to be careful. The nightmare was probably keeping watch of us through the statues."
"Since there aren't any statues here, it might not be able to find us. In desperation it might attack Yuan to take up complete control. We have to find it before it finds us."
He started explaining another part of the deals to me.
"The more deals I make in succession, the less effective they will become. If I am forced to make a lot more deals, then eventually I'll be a bigger deadweight than you."
I wanted to take offence to that statement but it was the truth. I was being carried by him the entire time I was here.
"I can't give it too much control either, I need to make sure of that. You need to learn how to make a deal right now."
"But I don't…"
"No buts or ifs. You need to learn it right now or we will fail. You might also fail to learn it later, you need to learn it for your own survival too."
He looked me in the eyes.
"I believe I have a method to connect you two."
Suddenly he gave me hope.
"How?"
Arun was about to say something when he suddenly fell silent.
He pointed to his ears and I didn't see anything wrong with them. Then I realised that our surroundings were completely silent.
When we entered this place, it was very lively. But now it has also turned silent.
We cautiously stood up. Then we started looking around us.
We saw the villagers turn into stone statues. I looked towards the edge of this area and saw the colours retreat towards the center.
Then the stone zombies turned their heads in search of something, when they noticed us they went on guard and started approaching us.
*Crack*
*Crack*
We made a run towards the coloured area. We noticed the zombies staying away from the colours. Then we both came to the same conclusion and started running.
Our destination was wherever the center of this place was, that was probably where Yuan was.
But funnily, the discoloration of this world was faster than our speed.
As we tried to trace the location where the colour was retracting to, we were surrounded by zombies once again.
"Dam*it, don't fu*k with me."
Arun took off his glasses and threw them away in a fit of anger. He then made another deal.
"Both ears and toes. I offer them."
Surge of energy burst forth from his body as his muscles expanded.
He punched a zombie in the face, breaking its skull and turning it into dust immediately.
He picked me up in one hand and jumped in the direction where he thought Yuan was.
We ascended 5 meters above the zombies and used the rooftops of the building to keep moving.
This time, instead of one explosive use of his energy to go far, we just wanted to be faster than the zombies. Thus he used his energy conservatively.
Arun kept leaping from one roof to another like a monkey. He was moving faster than a normal person. But the zombies were also getting faster. This meant we didn't have much time.
Eventually he started growing tired. He had already expended much of his energy.
But apparently our bad luck hadn't run out yet.
Arun stopped in his tracks suddenly and dropped me. He then dropped to his knees and held his throat in pain.
I didn't understand what was going on until it happened to me too.
I suddenly felt suffocated and the need to puke surfaced.
My throat was burning as if it was lit on fire and a powder was present in my throat, trying to asphyxiate me.
I coughed and it also went to my nose. Eventually something came out of my mouth but I couldn't see it clearly from my teary eyes.
I assume the same happened to Arun.
As we both kept coughing and puking, white ash came out of our mouths. It was the water we had drank, it had turned to ash when we left the coloured area.