RUMBLE!
The sky poured down rain as zombies moved about, unbothered by the rain or cold; their tattered clothes swayed in the wind as they let out low growls. Their backs were arched low, hands dangled at their sides.
RUMBLE!
A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the slowly moving zombies below; cars were overturned and the shadows looked deeper than normal.
The silence stretched to infinity as the feeling of dissolution filled the air.
"No, please, stay back! Stay back!" A scream suddenly broke the silence. The scream echoed through the empty streets louder than the thunderclaps.
All at once, the heads of the zombies snapped towards the source of the sound; their slow movements turned into a fast sprint.
'What was that?!' That voice sounded familiar. No, it wasn't the voice; it was what was said. This was the exact word he said before he was turned into one of these monsters.
[PING]
[HUNGER: 43%]
[WARNING: MENTAL DEGRADATION INCREASING]
Vark stood up, the iron shard still in his hands. 'I... I have to save her.'
Ignoring the flashing message in his front, he sprinted towards the source of the voice.
'System, add all stat to speed.'
[PING]
[+10 STAT POINTS ADDED TO SPEED: 3 + 10 = 13]
With the increment, his body shot forward, far faster than the other zombies. It was like his limbs were on fire. The wind howled in his ears as he ran.
'Where are you?'
"Noooo!"
'There.' He turned to the side as he continued running.
At a broken-down house, a group of girls stood there shaking; one of them was on the floor, her body convulsing as black veins slowly crawled up her arms. They were in what looked like uniforms, which told him that they were in high school.
"Nicky! Nicky! Are you okay?!" One of them rushed forward, trying to grab her convulsing friend.
"Stop, Ruby!" A girl with bright red hair shouted.
"What?"
"Are you crazy? She's now a monster; we have to kill her, Ruby!"
"Kill her? She's still our friend! Ember, how can you suggest such a thing?!"
A zombie lunged forward, causing the girls to screech back.
"She will soon turn; you saw what happened to the rest. Use your head!"
"But..."
"Stop it, both of you! Ember is right; she's a monster now. We have to end her and get out of here! This is what she would have wanted" acold voice said.
"But, Crystal, we could..."
Before she could continue talking, she was pushed back as a zombie came crashing to the floor.
Vark studied them as he ran towards them. To him, the girl called Ruby was the dumb one and would hold the others back; it was best for them to get rid of her to avoid further future problems.
[PING]
[QUEST: SAVE THE GIRLS.]
[REWARD: UNKNOWN]
[FAILURE: UNKNOWN]
'What?!' The message shocked him, but he didn't reduce his pace; instead, he increased it. The thought of a reward thrilled him.
Soon the zombies had boxed the girls in; there was no other place to run to.
"GROWL!" Vark leaped up as he let out a loud growling sound, his metal shard crashing hard on the head of a zombie that was about to latch onto one of the girls; blood and brain matter splattered everywhere.
[PING]
[LEVEL 1 ZOMBIE KILLED]
"Ahhh!" The girls let out a collective shriek at the unexpected situation. Blood now stained their uniforms.
Spinning around, Vark swung the metal shard at their friend who was on the floor. Blood shot out like a fountain as her body twitched a bit before coming to a stop; the black veins slowly receded back.
"No! Nicky!" Ruby shouted as she sprinted towards Nicky's collapsed body, only to get blocked by the two girls.
"Wait, Ruby!"
"Crystal, Ember, get out of my way! He killed Nicky!" Her voice trembled as she spoke.
"She was already a lost cause!" Crystal sighed.
'I'm sorry, Nicky, but it was for the best. I'm sure you wouldn't want to be a mindless beast roaming around and killing people,' Vark thought as he rammed into another zombie, the force sending it backwards and crashing into rows of other zombies behind.
"You monster, you killed Nicky! I will kill you for that!" Ruby kept on shouting as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Ruby! Keep quiet, you're attracting more of those things!"
Ruby ignored their warnings as she kept shouting.
Vark looked up; more and more zombies were now coming their way. Those who ignored them before were now coming towards them.
'This bitch, what is wrong with her?!' The frustration was getting to him; he was busy trying to save them, but that banshee was busy screaming her head off. For a short moment, the thought of killing her crossed his mind, but he forcefully pushed it down.
"You kill—"
THUD.
"Crystal! What did you do?!"
"What? She was making a lot of noise, so I knocked her out!" Her voice was cold and strangely calm for this kind of situation.
Only now was Vark able to see that she was holding a pair of daggers with blood covering her body; it was clear that she was the one who helped them survive this long.
'Kudos, kid,' Vark praised her in his mind.
"She will be out for a few hours; no need to worry."
"No need to worry? We are surrounded by zombies and you said no need to worry?"
Crystal just shrugged as she charged towards the incoming zombies. She was fast and light; each slash was well placed to either slow the zombies down or kill them at once.
She was so graceful that Vark was momentarily stunned. In the rain, she was like an icy princess of death, the Grim Reaper.
Ember dragged her unconscious friend deeper into the house. She raised her eyes up as she stared at Crystal and the unknown Samaritan.
'So strong,' Her eyes gleamed as she saw the unknown helper bashing a zombie head in. 'who is he?'
[PING]
[Level 2 Zombie killed]
The pinging of the system was like a melody in his ears. With the banshee taken out, fewer zombies were now coming, but there were still more surrounding them.
Vark leaped up; thunder rumbled in the sky, lighting his face for a second. That few seconds was what it took for Crystal to see his face.
Her face twisted; she wasn't sure of what she saw, but she kept an eye on Vark as she fought.
The zombies, seeing that Vark was attacking them, began to attack him back.
He suffered a blow to his ribs but barely felt it.
[-5 HP]
[PING]
[HUNGER: 38%]
[WARNING: MENTAL DEGRADATION INCREASING]
'Damnit! He could feel his body slowing down! I have to be fast with this!'
He kicked a running zombie back, the force causing it to shoot back, crashing into a wave of zombies behind it and causing them to fall. Not wasting time, Vark ran to the fallen zombies as he struck them on the head.
RUMBLE
The thunder brightened the area again. This time, Crystal was ready; her eyes glanced over at Vark's face. He had bite marks all over his body, with black veins running through his body.
'I was right, he's one of them, but why is he helping us? Is he immune to the zombie bite?' Her head was in chaos, but outside she showed no emotion whatsoever.
The thunder flashed again, this time allowing her to see more of Vark's body. His arms and other parts of his body were decaying.
'This doesn't make sense; if he is immune, he wouldn't be like this.' Her brows furrowed lightly as she made several calculations in her head. 'It doesn't matter; I will let it help us for now, and when we are done, I will kill it.'
Vark fought oblivious of the thoughts going through Crystal's head.
Finally, they were done. Zombie bodies littered the area, their bodies piling up on each other.
[PING]
[LEVEL 3 ZOMBIE KILLED]
[PING]
[HUNGER: 25%]
[WARNING: MENTAL DEGRADATION INCREASING]
'Finally done.' Vark stood there as rain dropped on his body. It was strange; he was now a zombie and by all accounts should not be feeling tired, but here he was, exhausted, his head ringing loud.
Thunder flashed again and from the side of his eyes he saw the reflection of a metallic thing going towards his head.
He leaned back a bit as the twin daggers lodged into his chest, where his heart should be.
[PING]
[-35 HP]
[HUNGER: 15%]
[WARNING: MENTAL DEGRADATION INCREASING]
"I missed," a barely perceivable whisper escaped Crystal's lips, her eyes staring at Vark.
"Crystal, what the hell are you doing?!" Ember shouted.
"Stay back, Ember. That's not human," Crystal warned.
"Not human? Are you crazy? Is he then a zombie?!" Ember asked with anger in her voice. She took a step forward.
"I said stay back!" Crystal screamed.
Vark just stood there staring at Crystal. He was afraid of turning his back to her; he had seen firsthand what she had done to the other zombies.
'How pathetic of you. Weren't you the one contemplating ending your life? So why are you backing out now?' Vark berated himself.
RUMBLE!
A huge bolt of lightning rumbled, the brightness illuminating Vark's slowly decaying flesh.
"Ahhh! What's that?" Ember stumbled back in shock.
"Growl," Vark tried explaining himself; he tried telling them that he was of no threat, but all that came from his mouth was a sickening, wet, animalistic growl.
"Crystal! What do we do?"
Crystal furrowed her brows and then lunged at Vark, but before she could reach him, a body was sent flying towards her and collided with her.
Hurriedly she stood up. As she looked around her, she couldn't find Vark again.
"It's gone, Crystal. Let's pursue it and kill it!"
"No."
"No?"
"Yes, no!"
"What do you mean no? It's still out there and might come after us, we have to kill it!."
Crystal turned back as she walked towards the ruined house.
"We need to go. We don't know what that is..." She paused. "Whatever it was, it was far stronger than the other zombies. I'm exhausted now; fighting it would be a stupid idea."
"But..."
"Pick up Ruby; we are getting out of here." Not waiting to hear any response from her friend, she began walking.
"Where are you even going?" Ember groaned as she picked up Ruby's body.
"I don't know."
"At least help me carry Ruby."
"No."
"But you were the one who knocked her down."
"I don't care."
"What about Nicky's body?"
"Leave it; she's already dead. Taking her along would be dead weight."
Ember glanced back as she let out a sigh. "Farewell, Nicky."
Vark was crouched in another building as he stared at the retreating figures of the girls. He waited until he couldn't see them anymore before coming out.
'I was lucky.' If she had decided to pursue him, he would have been dead.
Slowly he walked towards the building, his legs stepping on the piles of bodies around him.
[PING]
[HUNGER: 6%]
[WARNING: MENTAL DEGRADATION INCREASING]
SKin fell down and walking became hard.
Suddenly his nose caught a sweet smell. It was like he was in a trance as his legs took him to the source of the smell.
Looking down, he saw a body; it was the body of the girl that was about to transform into a zombie.
He crouched down beside the body, his eyes transfixed on it. Slowly he stretched out his hands, then his hands paused. 'Am I really going to do this? Eat a human?' He hesitated, but the system screen showed no mercy; he could feel himself falling apart. 'I'm sorry.' He shut his eyes tight as he scooped a piece of brain matter.
Immediately it entered his mouth, the taste immediately hit him; it was like the best dish served by a master chef.
His slow eating slowly turned into a fast one as he shoved brain and flesh into his mouth.
[PING]
[MENTAL DEGRADATION STOPPED]
His hunger bar shot up.
Soon the sound of slurping and chewing filled the surroundings.