Surviving Zombies Was Easier Than Raising Beast Cubs

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: System’s Tasks

Swanly froze.

Kael froze.

Very slowly, Swanly turned her head.

All three cubs stood at the entrance.

Three tiny black-haired boys.

Three golden-eyed judges.

Three faces full of terrible curiosity.

The smallest blinked.

”Mama sit Papa.”

The eldest frowned with great seriousness.

”Mama fight Papa?”

The second tilted his head.

”Papa making mama red.”

Swanly’s face caught fire.

She scrambled off Kael so quickly she nearly fell sideways.

”Why are you not playing?”

The three cubs looked at one another.

It was a suspicious look.

A knowing look.

A look that said they did not know exactly what they had seen, but they knew it was powerful enough to embarrass their mother.

The smallest grinned.

”Mama naughty?”

Swanly gasped.

”Come here.”

The cubs screamed with laughter and ran.

Swanly chased them out of the sleeping area.

”Come back here, you little traitors.”

”No catch!” the eldest shouted.

”Fast cub!” the second yelled.

”Mama tomato!” the smallest shrieked.

They ran around the cave, out toward the entrance, around Tilla, around Raku’s legs, then back again. Swanly chased them just enough to make them scream, not enough to catch them, because their laughter was too sweet and her heart was still too raw from the day before.

Kael watched from the fur bedding.

For the first time since the stream, he smiled.

A real one.

Small, quiet, helpless.

He ran one hand through his damp black hair and looked at Swanly chasing their sons.

She was alive.

Their cubs were alive.

She had chosen to come back to him even after monsters, snakes, and death kept reaching for her.

His female was ridiculous.

His female was brave.

His female was his.

Then Soren returned.

He slid into the cave with his color somewhat restored, though his face was still pale and tired. His wet white hair had been pushed back from his face, and the black blood at his mouth was gone.

He looked at Kael smiling.

His expression became immediately disgusted.

Kael noticed him.

His own smile died.

He returned the look with equal disgust.

No words.

Just two males silently agreeing that the other one was the worst thing the world had produced.

Soren moved to his shadowed place and rested without speaking.

Kael looked away first, only because the cubs were still laughing and Swanly was threatening to eat their cheeks.

Later, when the cave finally quieted, Swanly forced the second cub to wash.

He protested with the dignity of a returning warrior.

”I clean.”

”You smell like swamp, fruit, smoke, fear, and bad decisions.”

”Brave smell.”

”No. Bath smell.”

The smallest tried to help by pouring too much water over his brother’s head.

The eldest tried to supervise and got splashed.

Tilla’s little mink cub laughed until he hiccuped.

By the time Swanly finished washing all three cubs, herself again, and half the surrounding fur bedding by accident, everyone was sleepy.

That night, Swanly curled against Kael’s warmth.

He was warm.

Too warm.

Ridiculously warm in a way that made cold nights feel like a personal gift. She pressed closer with a sigh, and his arm wrapped around her at once.

The cubs were piled against them in a small warm heap.

The second slept between Swanly and Kael, one hand on Swanly’s sleeve and one foot on his brother’s stomach. The smallest had managed to tuck his face under Swanly’s chin. The eldest slept like he was guarding all of them.

Across the cave, Soren rested in silence.

For once, he did not speak.

For once, Swanly did not care.

She slept.

Morning came too fast.

Swanly woke to warmth, cub hair in her mouth, and a tiny golden system hovering above her face like a debt collector from hell.

{Good morning, host.}

Swanly’s eyes opened halfway.

No.

{You still owe me points.}

She closed her eyes again.

Absolutely no.

{Current debt: one thousand nine hundred and eighty-six points.}

Swanly wanted to sink into the ground.

Kael stirred behind her.

The smallest cub mumbled in his sleep and kicked her stomach.

The system floated closer.

{System has prepared a repayment opportunity list.}

Swanly opened one eye.

I hate you.

{Host says that often, yet survives because of me.}

What do you want?

The system brightened.

{Task one: Clear infected horde blocking Riverbone’s front entrance. Estimated infected count: three hundred and fifty. Reward: three points per infected. Total possible reward: one thousand and fifty points.}

Swanly stared.

Three hundred and fifty?

{Yes.}

Outside?

{Yes.}

Before breakfast?

{Host may eat first. System is generous.}

Swanly considered throwing a pillow through the system even though it would do nothing.

The list continued.

{Task two: Build a safe water-fire area for Riverbone. Teach the tribe to boil all drinking water before use. Reward: three hundred points.}

{Task three: Plant a protected food and healing garden inside tribe’s next settlement using seeds from the system space. Reward: four hundred and fifty points.}

{Task four: Create simple warning traps around the side paths. Reward: five hundred points.}

{Task five: Set up a rot-burn disposal pit for infected remains. Reward: four hundred points.}

{Task six: Teach Riverbone basic infection safety rules. No biting infected. No scratching without washing. No touching rot blood with open wounds. Reward: three hundred points.}

Swanly’s gaze slid toward Raku, who was sleeping near the entrance.

Good.

Someone needed that lesson carved into stone.

{Task seven: Recruit at least ten trustworthy survivors into Riverbone. The tribe has too few healthy hunters, guards, healers, and builders to protect its cubs and complete a safe migration. Reward: six hundred points.}

Swanly’s eyes narrowed.

Recruit people too?

The system lifted one tiny finger.

{A larger tribe has a better chance of surviving travel, defending a new settlement, gathering food, and caring for the wounded. Host is not expected to recruit infected lunatics. Please use judgment.}

The system lifted both little hands dramatically.

{Optional major task: Convince Riverbone to migrate from current location. System does not approve of this place as permanent habitat. It is repeatedly targeted by infected and positioned too close to Rot Nest spill paths. Reward: five hundred points.}

Swanly’s sleepiness died.

Convince an entire tribe to move?

{Total available rewards from the current task list: four thousand one hundred points. If host completes every task, the debt will be cleared and host will retain two thousand one hundred and fourteen points before future spending.}

Swanly sat up slowly.

Her hair fell around her face like a white disaster.

The cubs stirred.

Kael opened his eyes and looked at her with sleepy concern that immediately softened into something warmer.

She looked, in his opinion, painfully cute.

Messy hair.

Angry eyes.

Sleep-warm cheeks.

A tiny cub hand still clinging to her sleeve.

His female looked like she had woken up ready to fight the morning itself.

”What happened?” Kael asked.

Swanly looked at the system.

Then at the cave.

Then at the entrance.

”I have work.”

Kael sat up fully.

Soren was already awake in the shadows, looking far better than the night before but still not well enough to pretend the problem was solved. He watched Swanly with narrowed eyes.

Raku stirred.

The cubs blinked up at her one by one.

Outside, the tribe had begun moving.

Swanly smelled roasted meat.

Kael had prepared it earlier, apparently, because beside the fire sat meat rubbed with the spices she had given him, smoking gently over the heat. Even annoyed, exhausted, and system-haunted, Swanly’s stomach betrayed her immediately.

She sat down and took a piece.

Then another.

Kael watched her eat with that soft proud look again, as if feeding her personally healed something inside him.

Swanly pointed the meat at him.

”Do not look at me like that. I am angry.”

”At who?”

”My magic.”

Kael accepted that far too easily.

”What does it want?”

Swanly swallowed.

”There is a horde of infected outside the front entrance.”

Raku sat up at once.

Soren’s eyes sharpened.

Kael’s expression hardened.

”I know,” Kael said. ”The barrier have been holding them back.”

”I need to kill them.”

Everyone looked at her.

The smallest cub, still half-asleep, lifted his head.

”Mama kill?”

”No,” Kael said immediately.

Swanly looked at him.

”I will stay far away.”

”No.”

”I have a bow.”

”No.”

Soren’s voice came from the shadows.

”I will kill them.”

Swanly turned to him.

”If I needed you to do it, I would tell you.”

His eyes narrowed.

She pointed at him with the meat.

”Also, you could have done it all along, but no. You waited until I was given the task.”

Kael frowned.

”What task?”

Swanly froze.

Soren stared.

Raku stared.

The cubs stared because everyone else was staring.

Swanly took a calm bite of meat.

”Nothing.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

”That was not nothing.”

”It was a figure of speech.”

”What is figure of speech?”

”Something I just invented. Very useful. Do not question it.”

Soren looked deeply unconvinced.

Swanly stood and brushed crumbs from her fingers.

”It will not take long. I will kill them from a distance. Bow and arrows. No touching. No biting. No heroic stupidity.”

Raku looked away.

Swanly pointed at him.

”That includes you.”

Raku’s mouth opened.

Closed.

”Fine.”

The cubs jumped up immediately.

”We come,” the eldest said.

”No.”

”We protect Mama.”

”No.”

The second hugged her leg.

”Cub brave.”

”Cub almost died yesterday.”

He lifted his chin.

”More brave now.”

Swanly pinched his cheek.

”You are staying inside.”

The smallest’s mouth opened.

Swanly pointed at him.

”If you lick me, argue with me, follow me, hide in my things, or breathe in the direction of danger, I will eat your cheeks.”

The smallest covered both cheeks with his hands.

”No eat.”

”Good.”

Kael stood.

”I am coming.”

Swanly looked at him.

This time, she did not argue.

She had enough points, debt, zombies, an ancient creature, sick snake and dramatic children to deal with.

A hot possessive panther with claws could come along.

She picked up her bow.

Outside the front entrance, three hundred and fifty infected waited.

Swanly looked at her system.

The system smiled.

{Debt repayment begins now.}