[BL] NEET life in the Apocalypse

Chapter 78—Roses escapades in the wild

by Bocchan13

(Roses perspective)

The rose nimbly crept through the mountains. Eating when it could, moving when it could, and killing when it could. The past few days, the rose had been trying to find that something. He knew that if he found it, he could level up to heights surpassing its little yellow flower pot.

It was instinctual. It knew that his form right now was not its final one. That if he could find the perfect ‘something’, he would change. Its innocence in believing this was what set its actions apart from other beings. They weren’t as intelligent to listen to the whispers of ‘thought’ and ‘consciousness’, rather succumbing to its basic instinct and feeding.

The leaves had started to change colors; the rose could only continue its searching. The sun had risen eight times already, and the rose still hadn’t found ‘it’. This is the longest it had ever been away from Wang Cheng as was starting to miss him terribly.

The rose didn’t know when it reached ‘consciousnesses’, only which it had stayed with Wang Cheng for a very long time. Its sentience could only be described as miraculous. This only happened when its owner had died, and the things in his space pooled out into the open world.

The rose had sensed the loss of its owner. Greedy people had pilfered the goods, leaving it alone with its little yellow pot in the center of desert. The rose was going to die.

However, the rose had felt an immense power flowing inside him. It felt so familiar to him; as it had the same scent as its owner. No sooner had the rose felt it, the space that it used to live in was now its. The owner was gone, but the rose was still there. The rose stayed inside the space, waiting for its owner.

It tried to leave the space but it couldn’t; so it could only patiently wait. A rose does not have a concept of time. The space was bright with light and it never got dark. It just waited and waited.

Gradually, it had a ‘thought’: Where can I find him? Where can I find Wang Cheng?

The rose wanted to leave and find Wang Cheng. It wanted to move. Wanted to see. Wanted to feel. It spent a long time in the space trying to do things. Eventually, it could. The vines grew to long lengths, its petals could fold, and its leaves waved in excitement.

It wanted to show all of these things to Wang Cheng. Wang Cheng who spoke with vivacity, happiness and sometimes loneliness would be happy if it saw the rose wave at it.

It was one day when the rose felt the space open. Its control over the space had lessened. Not that it didn’t have its power…but was now sharing it. The rose could feel something come inside—trying to find something.

The rose felt that familiar aura. That face. That smile.

Wang Cheng had come back.

The rose had learned quickly what had happened. It’s ‘thought process’ was much faster than it was before. It absorbed the world with Wang Cheng; it never wanted Wang Cheng to leave. So it taught Wang Cheng things by observing the ‘enemies’, helping him when he should. It would slaughter all things that hurt Wang Cheng.

It felt that it had to be hidden, since it knew there wasn’t another plant like it. It remembered the ‘comrades’ of Wang Cheng. It still recalled their introduction from long ago. So it didn’t mind their closeness as long as it was the closest.

Wang Cheng would continue to talk to it, stroking its petals, making it ‘feel’ things. The rose could no longer deny how much Wang Cheng affected it. And when the ugly monster wanted to hurt Wang Cheng, the rose could only destroy it.

Now, it was searching.

Thankfully, after the 12th rising sun, the rose stumbled on something. It had tasted zombie blood; with its putrid green color, rotten flesh and the ‘bad things’ inside it. So this new scent was…fresh. It had never tasted flesh of someone fresh before. The rose used its vines to travel from tree to tree until it reached a small cliff leading to a lazy river.

It could still smell the ‘thing’ so the rose continued to follow the trail. It unexpectedly reached a tree where the blood was thickest. The rose opened its petals and tasted the red liquid on the branches.

Blood. 

Red. Human. Blood.

This is what it was searching for.

The rose followed the trail of blood, reaching a small cave, its only entrance, a crevice you had to be flexible to enter through. Blood had smeared the walls entrance, looking enticing. Inside, it heard the sound of labored breathing, groaning, and the gasp of life being snuffed out.

The rose heard everything and knew that if it didn’t strike soon, the body would turn to the ugly green and rotten base it was familiar with. Not only that, but the zombie animals would feed off of the flesh too.

The rose silently moved into the cave, making no noise as it attached itself to the rocky surface, watching the person. The man inside was quite big with green eyes and dark brown hair. There was a dying fire in the corner, and a small blanket next to it.

The rose could see the gruesome cut on the man’s abdomen, mostly done by a bad fall. It wasn’t done by a zombie so zombification hadn’t occurred, but it wouldn’t be too long. The man was lying back onto the rock, his slow labored breathing going quieter and quieter. The man knew he was dying.

“I don’t want to die here! I’m not finished yet! I haven’t lived yet!”

The man was cursing the small cave as each word spurt out more blood from his abdomen. Tears escaped the man’s eyes, its emerald hue so beautifully sad. “I have to find them!  I have to see them again.”

Gradually, night fell. The man stopped speaking a while ago…and the breathing ultimately stopped. The rose’s vines gently got down from the ceiling and touched the man. There was still a bit of warmth in the body. But it would soon zombify.

The rose opened its petals, gradually getting bigger and bigger, the vines thickening, the petals expanding until it engulfed the entire cave. The rose instinctually moved the dead man into its petals, making sure to retract its sharp teeth.

Instead of chopping it to pieces, the rose secreted a liquid from its petals, wringing its perfume into the center, enveloping the body inside. Since the body had just died, it needed to be healed. The rose understood that it would take a lot of ‘time’.

The rose blocked the entrance to the cave with more rocks, secretly licking the blood on the walls. It sloshed the body inside it until it curled up comfortable in its center. The rose gradually fell asleep, lulling the body inside like a tender child before succumbing itself to the depth of unconsciousness.

…

The rose felt like it had been asleep for a while. When it awoke, the rose felt that the body had already started merging with its own. He could feel the vines penetrate the man’s limbs, integrating with the nerves, veins and muscles. It was as if it was slowly being absorbed. The rose gingerly felt the arms, trying to control the fingers.

It took time and effort, but he could put his hands into fists. Ultimately, the rose had to go back to sleep, and did so.

This time, the rose ‘opened its eyes’. Feeling the fluttering of the eyelashes touch his face, the rose shakily moves his hands. He could no longer be considered an ‘it’ but a ‘he’. He checked the body, seeing that the wound on his stomach had disappeared while he was in stasis and left no marks. The clothes the man had worn were completely gone.

The rose exercised his fists again, but noticed dark red strands coming from his head. He remembered that humans had something called ‘hair’. He touched his wet strands and liked them, since they were the color of his petals.

It took a while to move. Feeling things by hands and feet rather than vine and petal. The rose could sense that his vines were still inside him. Instantly, as he willed it; vines jutted from his hands, similar in color and shape when he was in rose form.

This made the rose want to jerk his lips. This subconscious feeling was something called a ‘smile’. The rose used his vines to unblock the cave, letting sunlight reach him. Unlike humans, the rose was still able to get energy from the sun.

It walked instead of crawled, bared its teeth at predators, and tried its best to find words to introduce himself to Wang Cheng. Excitement tore through him. Would Wang Cheng be happy?

Since he was human now, Wang Cheng must be happy!

It took rose a few days to find familiar surroundings. At long last, when it reached nighttime, the rose saw the familiar gates. Unexpectedly, the rose saw the familiar people coming to the gate. The rose waited patiently for them to come.

He was being greeted!

The rose searched for that familiar face and finally saw Wang Cheng. Too excited, the rose flew through the gates, just stopping in front of them. In his excitement, he didn’t see the blood thirsty looks from the members.

He saw a flash of blue, as the human ‘Song Yu’ tried to slash his throat. Immediately, the rose opened his palms and vines flew behind Song Yu jerking him back. While his vines were doing this, the man next to Song Yu was ‘Lan Zhou’ whose bright blue flames parried, causing a cut to appear on the rose’s cheek.

The rose felt pain. He stared stupidly as the mark healed itself. But the rose’s enthusiasm was extinguished.

Instead, the rose felt sadness.

Why are they trying to hurt me?           

The safest place was indeed next to Wang Cheng! The rose moved to Wang Cheng, gently holding him in his embrace. It always used to curve its leaves to hold a single finger, but now he was able to envelop Wang Cheng in a humans embrace.

“Uwaaaaahhh!!”

The rose sensed the space distort and disallowed it to move any further. He knew that Wang Cheng was trying to leave. But why???

The rose didn’t listen to anyone but Wang Cheng. His eyes looked at every aspect of Wang Cheng, seeing his every emotion. All of a sudden, he saw the barrel of a gun as it touched his forehead. Eyes widening, the rose’s heart was shattered just as much as his head was when the gun’s trigger was pulled.

The rose didn’t let go though. It wasn’t like a human or a zombie who would die like that. The head was just another body part. The rose’s eyes were regenerated, but the tongue and mouth connected to the brain was still out of tune.

The rose opened its mouth but no words could escape him. He could only spread his pheromones in hopes that Wang Cheng could at least understand who he was.

The rose saw the familiar eyes staring at him, two hands clutching his face as Wang Cheng fixated on his appearance.

“Rose?”

The rose’s emotions fell forth, no longer hiding how much hurt Wang Cheng caused him. Something called ‘tears’ escaped his eyes. The first words he ever spoke,

“Wang Cheng!”

Bocchan13