Leaving the apartment, the three turned towards Marks'. "Should we knock? They're probably still sleeping."
Ivan thought about what Danny said, but still knocked on the door.
*creek*
The door opened shortly after Ivan knocked and Mark, who had shaved his beard, walked out.
"What's up?" The man asked the three.
"Sorry for waking you up. But can you give us four knives?"
Hearing Johnathan ask for knives made the man sigh. 'They're going out again huh', he thought before walking to the side and gesturing for them to go in.
The boys gladly accepted his offer and walked into the apartment. Once they stepped inside, they saw how nicely furnished the living room was.
The three also saw Sophia sitting on one sofa reading a book.
"Good morning." The woman greeted.
"Good morning," the three greeted back.
Once that was over, the woman looked back down at her book. There was an awkward silence between them, most likely due to how the three rejected her plead for help. But that was in the past and luckily it was over quickly when Mark showed up with four knives.
The four had plastic covers over their blades so Johnathan and Ivan didn't need to be careful when reaching for them.
"Thanks for everything," Johnathan said with a small smile. Mark really had done so much for the three of them. Giving them weapons, clothes, and shelter.
"Don't mind it, kid. Just make sure you three get back safe."
"We will. Also, can we talk to you outside for a sec?"
Mark showed a confused expression but complied with Johnathan's request. With that said, after walking out of the apartment and closing the door, the three looked at Mark. They had already discussed this before they left and after everything Mark had done for them; he deserved to know.
"Mark, zombies have evolved. Without eating a certain amount of crystals, killing them would be almost impossible."
"I know Danny. I heard the trumpets. Trust me, I won't be leaving the building soon."
"No, you don't understand. These zombies are a lot smarter than the previous ones. Plus, we aren't done yet. After eating a couple more crystals, you'll develop superpowers. It can be anything from something elemental to a physical buff. Mine is short-ranged teleportation."
Mark, hearing Johnathan say he has a teleportation ability, almost laughed, but he nodded after remembering how much crazy shit happened.
The other two, however, looked at Johnathan and understood he hid his actual power. The question was, why did he do it?
"You guys have superpowers too?"
"Ya, I can transform my right arm into something... demonic"
"I can shoot a couple of bolts of lightning"
Sighing, Mark rubbed his temples. 'First zombies, now superpowers. What next, fucking gods coming down to earth?' Thought Mark.
"I'll be careful. Can't say I'm not interested in superpowers, but I'll have to leave that for later. Anyway, gotta get the rest of my beauty sleep."
After closing the door, the three made sure to be pretty far away before talking.
"Why'd you lie about your power?" Danny asked.
"It's not that I don't like him, it's just we haven't known him for too long. I know he's done so much for us, but it's still only the beginning stages of the apocalypse. Who knows how he'll turn out."
He wasn't wrong. With anyone being able to get superpowers, many groups would form trying to take over the world. It sounds funny, but having a power would make anyone feel like a god. Some would play hero, some would play the villain and some would do nothing.
Johnathan understood zombies would be the least of their worries when psycho's with superpowers and god complex's out there. Who knew what would happen to Mark if he got an OP power.
"Plus, didn't you guys downplay your abilities? Right now, we don't know who could be potential enemies. I may be paranoid, but I'm the walking dead. Humans are most of the time the bad guys. With resources becoming less and less, I doubt anyone would have time to worry about others."
"Ya, but you're too paranoid. But what's done, is done." Ivan said as he continued to walk down the stairs.
The other two followed closely behind and within a minute, they were in front of the door that led to the outside.
Once outside, the three carefully and silently walked back towards the school. Safely getting to the shortcut they took to get to the school, they continued their walk.
Turning a corner, they hid behind a car. It's been a day already, so the zombies that were locked in houses and cars were already out.
"Shh. How are we going to get past all those?" Asked Ivan, who had his finger near his lips, signaling to be quiet.
"One, two, three… seven. I think we can handle them if we increase our strength with mana."
After counting, Johnathan said. He believed they were plenty strong to take care of seven zombies.
"Hmm, fine. Get the enhancements ready though." Ivan hesitantly agreed, making Danny and Johnathan draw mana to their hands. However, Johnathan stopped and thought of something.
"Wait, let me try something." Johnathan quickly took out a knife from his backpack and started focusing mana into the knife. But after drawing the 25% and putting it into the knife, it cracked. It wasn't loud, so the zombies didn't notice them. It did, however, show them using too much mana can break something.
"Let's use 10%."
Taking out another knife, he focused only 10% of his mana on it. Once he did, the blade glowed in a blue hue.
Looking at the knife in amazement, Johnathan stood up. The zombies heard him and looked his way with crazed expressions. The other two shook their heads and sighed. Not long after, they got up as well and started to charging their abilities.
"Time to fuck shit up!"
Getting riled up by Danny's words, the three charged forwards. The zombies didn't stand still either, leaping at the three teens.