At the same time, someplace else...
"Two grade-1 zombies on the left!" Anya yelled.
Min rushed towards the left corridor at full speed. It almost felt like the winds were pushing him. With one kick, he decapitated the undead, before running back to rejoin the formation.
All of it took less than ten seconds.
It wasn’t just Min. Anya, who was standing in the center of the group along with Alaric, had awakened an ability. The ability to sense the zombies. If any undead stepped in a ten-yard radius around her, she’d immediately know about it.
She could also sense the strength of those around her. With Neha’s help, they came up with a grade system to classify the strange creatures around them.
A walker was grade-1, while Min, who became a speedster over the day, became a grade-2 being. As for those mutants with weird heads, they were grade-4 beings.
Those grade-4’s were the reason the small scouting group was moving slowly. They were on their way to the pantry to move the entire thing upstairs.
Thankfully, redhead Jenna had awakened a storage ability, which was perfect for the task.
Then there was the bulky dude, Zaid. He had an ability similar to a repulsion field, which can be used every ten minutes. That’s why he was leading the group. As soon as his ability triggered, everyone would run upstairs to safety.
However, not everyone awakened an ability.
Alaric was one of them.
But he had something to compensate for it.
Upon learning Alaric was selected to join the scouting team, their class’s loner, Brad, offered him the weapon. He casually pulled out the semi-automatic Glock-19 from his backpack like he was handing in his homework.
Perhaps if it hadn’t been for the apocalypse, their class wouldn’t be a haven. Though the gun was only to be used in dire circumstances. As the noise could attract the grade-4s.
"Four more Grade-1s in front!"
The fight continued as they ventured out at the worst possible time. Zombies were coming at them from all directions. Hence, they were stuck on the floor above the pantry.
A lot of them have awakened strange powers.
Alaric thought, while his students fended off the attack. Even Neha had a strange power. She said it was a simple mind-reading ability, but Alaric was skeptical of her claim because of her abrupt change in demeanor.
She had always been a timid kid. But suddenly, she was domineering and strong-willed.
He sighed, focusing on the ongoing fight, but he couldn’t do it for long. His thoughts drifted again, this time to his son. He wondered what abilities Blaze would have awoken if he had been alive.
An ability to lead others would suit him.
Alaric smiled wanly, remembering Blaze was no more with him. There hadn’t been a single moment in which he hadn’t cursed himself for letting Blaze leave last night.
If he had been selfish and not cared about leading the students with example, Blaze would still be alive. He would have broken down if not for the responsibility of the other kids on his shoulders.
However, there was one more thing that kept him going.
I haven’t seen his corpse yet.
Everyone told him Blaze was gone, but where was his corpse? That was the primary reason he joined the scouting group. He wanted to see Blaze again. Even if he was a corpse... or a zombie.
No... he could have survived too! He’s my son. He’s no weakling...
At the end of the day, it was all wishful thinking. Alaric knew it as well.
Back at the strange apartment...
After a short struggle, Blaze pushed the crawler’s corpse off him and got back to his feet.
As long as these creatures keep following their animalistic instincts, defeating them would be easy. Who am I kidding?
Blaze shook his head, remembering how the crawler, as he called the evolved zombie, had stopped mid-air after getting hit once. Real-time strategizing was a sign of developing intelligence.
The zombies were not only evolving physically but also regaining their lost intelligence, as they did. That, coupled with their evolving speed, made Blaze realize his intelligence wouldn’t protect him for long.
He had to get stronger, physically. That’s when his eyes landed on the thing in his hand.
Fester had been unwilling to part with it, probably because it was more valuable than a normal nucleus. Only after being whacked twice did it let go of it.
With the thing in hand, Blaze could feel a strange energy emanating from it.
The black nuclei he found before didn’t have it. Even if they did, it was too faint for him to notice.
Not only that, the emerald nucleus was about thrice the size of the regular one.
Also, the creature it came from was the strongest one he had seen till now. Other than those headless creatures that started the apocalypse.
Nucleus from an evolved zombie. It must be the thing I need to reanimate that girl.
Blaze was stuck in another dilemma.
He didn’t know how common evolved zombies were. If he used it on himself, then who knows when he’d get his hand on another such nucleus and reanimate the girl?
It’s not like I have a choice.
Even if decided to keep it, he had no place to store it.
The vault he had only allowed him to store corpses, nothing else.
Besides, keeping it on him wasn’t a choice either.
Fester was his horde’s member. Still, it defied him, refusing to give up the nucleus, and was drooling over it.
Blaze could only imagine what would happen to him if the other undead felt its presence. The nucleus would attract unwanted attention.
With his current abilities, he couldn’t take on more than two walkers at once. But the nucleus would bring a constant flux of enemies towards him.
Yeah, that’s not an option. Even if I used it to reanimate the girl, she would be stronger than me. I won’t be able to tame her.
That solved all his dilemmas.
Blaze popped the nucleus into his mouth, expecting the sweet taste. Instead, it felt like he swallowed a fireball. His mouth felt like it was fire before the feeling spread and soon, his entire body was on fire.
He dropped to his knees, gripping his chest.
Blaze couldn’t hold back anymore and screamed, but not from pain, because there was none. Sure, his bones cracked and shifted, but all of it made him feel strangely good.
Slowly, the heat dissipated from his body, concentrating on his fingertips. Blaze stared at his hands as something broke out of his skin, covering the fingers. The same happened with his legs.
To some extent, they resembled the crawler’s black claws, only Blaze’s were made entirely of calcium, an extension of his finger’s bones.
[Mutation Unlocked: Onyx]