"Hey, you're not done yet ?" The middle-aged man grumbled in irritation.
His brother-in-law had been living with them for over a year, and he was growing increasingly frustrated with the situation.
He resented having a houseguest who didn't contribute to their finances after all.
In an attempt to address the issue, he decided to hire him as a helper to earn his keep. However, his laziness was so extreme that he occasionally wished he could resort to more drastic measures, if not for his wife constantly reminding him to be patient and gentle with her brother.
"Where is that kid?" He grumbled again, annoyed by the mess in the tomb and the absence of his unreliable brother-in-law.
He walked closer inside, flashlight in hand, but after a few steps, he noticed something was odd.
"Where is the corpse?" he asked himself, suspecting that his brother-in-law might have removed it, and took it outside.
But as he started turning the flashlight away, a chilling voice came from behind him, "He's in hell."
He was shocked and couldn't react, so he was bitten without even being able to turn his head.
*CRUNCH!
As Reign tightened his bite around the middle-aged man's neck, he could savor the metallic taste of blood.
But the middle-aged man proved to be tougher than he had expected; he managed to push Reign away to the ground.
Reign might have possessed more strength, but his sense of balance was so fragile that a simple shove was all it took to send him tumbling to the ground.
'Damn, it's a good thing I didn't try to confront this man head-on,' Reign muttered to himself, relieved that his decision to launch a surprise attack had worked.
He could see that the middle-aged man was already bleeding a lot. Even if he didn't do anything, it was clear that the the poor guy would eventually succumb to blood loss and die.
"What the hell are you?" the man asked, his voice strained and breathless, clutching his neck with his left hand while gripping the axe with his right.
He maintained his distance even though Reign was on the ground. It wasn't that he didn't want to attack, but he simply couldn't.
He was already felling lightheaded from the blood loss in his neck. In fact, he was so frightened at that moment, and only the rush of adrenaline was keeping him on his feet.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand humans language . I'm a zombie," Reign said with a creepy grin, so unsettling that it resembled something out of a top-rated horror movie with exceptional CGI effects.
"You just replied right now, you fucker," the middle-aged man spat in frustration. It was dark, and he couldn't see Reign's face clearly.
He began to think that he might be dealing with a deranged psycho or perhaps a drug addict.
'Damn it, I'm losing too much blood,' the middle-aged man panicked. He realized he had to end this quickly or he'd bleed to death. With out any option left, he decided to go all in with one decisive move.
He rushed toward Reign, raising his axe for a deadly strike against his assailant.
Reign, on the other hand, panicked when he saw the man's move. Lacking real combat experience, his initial instinct was to shield his head with his hand.
SLASH!
Reign felt the impact of the axe on his arm, but it wasn't as painful as he had anticipated, and the cut wasn't too deep.
Seeing Reign still moving, the middle-aged man continued to swing his axe repeatedly .
Unfortunately, he had lost too much blood already. On the fourth strike, he collapsed to the ground, and died.
"Oh, are you dead already?" Reign rose to his feet slowly and tapped the face of the middle-aged man, but there was no response.
"Time to eat then! ,"
[You've earned XP]
"Music to my ears," Reign chuckled while munching on his victim's neck. Strangely, the taste was oddly satisfying even though the meat was raw. Perhaps it was because he was a zombie, and to him, human flesh tasted this good.
After satisfying his hunger, he was left very content.
Logically, as a corpse, his stomach shouldn't be functioning, but he had devoured two adult-sized individuals with ease.
He even checked his stomach, half expecting the meat to burst out, but to his astonishment, it remained intact. It was as if there was a black hole in his abdomen that absorbed everything he consumed.
'I didn't level up after consuming another human, but I can sense that my stats have improved a bit,' he muttered to himself after pondering the situation.
Right now he wanted to familiarize himself with the this new world.
'I wonder what is outside this place ? ' He thought to himself as he started walking awkwardly, the moment he set foot outside, what greeted him was a dark and lonely graveyard.
"This place is so peaceful," he smiled, taking in the calm surroundings. He was accustomed to the bright lights and constant noise of doctors, machines, and his own cries of pain in the laboratory. Compared to that, this place felt just right.
Here, there were no cruel people around who would hurt him.
"Mother, I'm finally free," he spoke aloud, his heart heavy with emotion. He wished he could cry, but the tears wouldn't come.
Deep down, he longed to convey to his mother that she didn't need to worry about him any longer.
Despite all the suffering he had endured in his past, he had never held his mother responsible.
After paying his respects to her, he sat on a protruding gravestone, pondering his next steps.
He was now a zombie so leaving this place would be extremely dangerous; if anyone spotted him, he'd be shot dead without a second thought. .
In the worst-case scenario, he could be captured again and be subjected to more laboratory experiments.
It wasn't that he was a coward, but the trauma of being captured and experimented was something that wouldn't easily fade away.
'I'll stay in this place for now and hope that other people visit me, so I can feed on them and level up,' he muttered to himself.
At the moment, his only choice was to wait until he became strong enough to defend himself beyond the confines of the cemetery.
With his decision made, he walked back to his tomb to rest again. Strangely, he felt drowsy after having a meal.
***
Authors Note: Warning
The story is filled with blood and violence.
Our main character isn't your typical protagonist—he's a monster from the get-go.
Unlike other leads who cling to their humanity, he embraces his monstrous nature, feasting on humans without hesitation.
My aim in writing this novel was to deliver a good and engaging take on a monster novel .