'Things are never that simple huh?' Thought Benji as he washed the blood away from his hands.
He had tried various things out in the last hour.
The first thing he did was inflict wounds to the zombie. He had been wondering why they never had any visible wounds on their bodies despite the fact how most of them were violently turned into zombies....
The answer was simple, they regenerated and rather quickly at that. It took the zombie only some minutes to heal the cuts Benji did to its body.
That made Benji wonder if his body could do the same, so he cut himself. Only a little cut on his arm but it was enough for the test. The conclusion was yes, his body healed itself, even a bit faster than the zombie.
The next thing was about his control ability over the zombie. It followed his mental orders as long they weren't complex. Orders like 'Say Benji is the best' or 'Cook me food' didn't work at all.
What he also found out was that his head began to hurt after some time, there was a limit how long he could control it and every order drained his mind faster.
"And I gained another one..." Said Benji to himself while glancing at the little red crystal he extracted from the zombies brain.
'This is my fifth crystal if I consume it...'
Benji took a deep breath before grabbing the little red crystal.
A minute passed without nothing happening...
'It doesn't react...' Benji stared strangely at the little red crystal on his palm.
He hesitated here, he knew where the crystal came from and it disgusted him deeply.
'No pain, no gain!' Benji closed his eyes, he forced himself to eat the crystal, putting it directly inside his mouth.
The crystal turned into liquid the moment it made contact with his tongue.
Benji couldn't help but moan in bliss when he gulped it down.
"Oh my god it's so delicious!" Exclaimed Benji who kept licking his lips.
It didn't take long for him to notice the changes inside his body, his mind felt like a dry plant that finally was given some water. A warm feeling spread slowly through his body.
Benji wanted nothing more then take care of the other zombies in the building and eat their crystals but...
'I need to check on Miriam first.'
He checked his watch, it was already over 8 am.
Benji returned back to the apartment, closing the door carefully behind him. He sensed the presence of the other zombies a bit better now.
Benji froze when he entered the living room...
His expression turned ugly...
'Where is she?'
He saw that the window that lead to the fire escape was left open.
"She wouldn't..." Benji cursed loud taking large strides towards the fire escape...
His eyes widened when he looked outside.
Miriam couldn't be seen anywhere, even the 4 corpses from the zombies he killed yesterday weren't there anymore.
"What the!" Benji panicked, jumping out. He ran down and jumped over the fence.
He didn't care about meeting other zombies, he only wanted to find Miriam.
Benji ran out of the alley, looking around the street....
Nothing!
His heart sank to the bottom "F*CK!!!"
'She is only 9 years old damnit! Why would she run away?' Benji couldn't understand why she would run away like that...
'And when did the corpses disappear? She couldn't do it she is too small maybe...' A thought crossed his mind...
Benji checked the street again, everything was silent there was no soul out there.
He had an idea and began to walk down the street.
It took him a few minutes till he arrived at the street he lived in.
He didn't met any zombies, Benji went to the red car, searching for the zombie he killed with his combat knife....
He frowned deeply when he noticed that the corpse wasn't there anymore. The only thing left was some blood and his combat knife on the ground beside the car. Benji picked it slowly up...
'Something isn't right... why and who took the corpses? Did they also take Miriam away? Even if, I should be able to at least hear them if they took her away with force...' Benji's eyes wandered through the street, he had a bad feeling about the whole situation, it was just too much for him.
There were no trails to follow so had to give up, no matter how bad he felt about Miriam...
He returned to the apartment building to pick up his stuff and finish off the remaining zombies.
He walked down to the first floor, 'Here are 3 of them in the stairway.'
The 3 zombies heard his steps and roared out before pouncing at him.
Benji was ready, he faced them with his combat knife.
They attacked him without plan, making it easy for him to dodge them. They were still faster than regular humans but Benji was also fast himself. He used them to train his body, quickly improving his control over his new powerful body. Benji sensed how the other 3 zombies in the higher floors began to rush downwards.
'They got attracted by the noise these 3 here are causing...'
Benji focused, sensing the weak minds of the 3 zombies in front of him.
'STOP!' Ordered Benji mentally. There three mad zombies froze on the spot, not moving anymore.
"Urgh!" Benji gasped in pain, his mind felt like it was about to split.
"I have no time!" He gritted his teeth, suppressing the pain coming from his brain.
The combat knife in his right hand moved fast, stabbing into the heads of the 3 frozen zombies!
He felt the connection between him and the zombies vanish, letting him know they died for good.
It was right on time because the other three zombies came storming down the stairs. They pounced violently at Benji.
He avoided two of them and kicked the third hard in the stomach, sending it flying.
It smashed hard against the wall, leaving cracks behind.
"Jesus!" Benji couldn't help it. His new powers intoxicated him.
He smiled faintly, but Miriam's disappearance crossed his mind, making him feel frustrated, "Come at me!" Shouted Benji angry and irritated as he put away his combat knife.
He faced them with his hand-to-hand combat style that he learnt in the German Force.
Benji blocked the first zombie fast, moving his body quickly sideways to not let the second zombied get a hold of him. His fist connected cleanly with the head of the first zombie, sending it stumbling backwards. Benji never stopped moving, he swirled around sending the second zombie flying against the wall with a powerful kick to the chest.
"You know...kickboxing has always been my strongest point..." Spoke Benji with an empty grin on his face.
The three zombies roared out in anger, pouncing at him again without caring that they were inferior.
'KILL, HUNGER, EAT!' Those thoughts made their way into Benji's mind. He shook his head in pity.
"Just shut p and become my source of power!" Shouted Benji as he rushed towards the three zombies for the first time.
He felt his blood run wild, becoming hotter. His red eyes shone brightly for a second.
A horrific cracking sound echoed through the stairway....
Benji looked around him, looking somewhat helpless, 'I guess I overdid it...'
Large parts of the walls and floor of the stairwell were destroyed, tainted with blood.
Six corpses lied around him, three of them looked alright, with only a stabbing wound in their foreheads. The other three didn't look that good, broken limbs, open cracked skulls and a twisted neck....the way Benji toyed with them was brutal.
He sighed, collecting the little red crystals from their brains.
Benji put one after another inside his mouth after cleaning them, enjoying the delicious flavor.
"It's so good, I might get addicted to this..."
He felt his a hot wave of energy flooding his body and mind.
'I can feel myself improving, becoming stronger...' He punched out against the wall creating cracks on it.
'Not bad, It didn't hurt at all!'