"Hey"
"Hey! Wake up Lisha. Class ended."
Opening her eyes, Lisha threw a glance at the girl standing above her.
"Cecile... And why would I not stay here, huh? The club can run without me." Turning her head sideways she looked at the schoolground and the mob of student departing to their house or their club.
So peaceful.
"Come on! You know it's wrong, we need you."
"You need me to joke and do all the work, yes."
"Touché"
Shameless
With an evil cackle, the girl slid to the side and mercilessly poked Lisha to her side.
"Ah ah ah! Cecile!" Proud of her deeds, Cecile continued and game until Lisha stood up in revenge.
Their other friends watched them do one of their usual comic banter and joined the fray by harassing Lisha usual aloofness.
Even if Lisha showed great distress to this abuse she always found their stupid remarks pleasant.
"You can all laugh but hehe just wait I still didn't tell you what I wanted from the bet."
As struck by lightning they all froze. All but Cecile.
"Ahah guys that's true, so my dear dictator what will be their punishment."
All eyes on her, Lisha guffawed and eased up their worry.
"Of course they're gonna pay. They're gonna pay for Moonlight Strawberries."
"Moonlight? As in the menu of the moonlight cafe... on the space station."
"Indeed, indeed. We won the school lottery, It wasn't even a challenge. With my highest stat being luck I got tickets for the space station!"
TADAAA
"Long reign dictator Lisha!" Shouted everyone.
"Stop calling me like this!" How much shame did they want her to have by bringing back that cursed nickname?
"How blessed we are to have her among us!" Added Cecile to the final.
"Tch!"
"Look at her going Tsundere is such a pleasure~"
"Cecile!"
***
With small breathing, Lisha started to wake up from her slumber. When reaching a breaking point it's common to do a burn-out and to start anew.
For Lisha, she felt like it was the same. But would it work for her? She didn't know.
Friends and family were crucial for that. But nevermind that, before even opening her eyes she knew which type of comrades awaited her.
kumbaya
But she wasn't ready to play kumbaya with those folks.
Who could?
Her eyes opened to gaze at a scene none in this world ever witnessed. A dozen of zombies were walking aimlessly all around the room and the corridor.
Too tired to scream and move, Lisha albeit afraid couldn't lift a finger to show her distress.
Inside her head, she cursed at the girl.
'I was trying to help you, you know?!' How sad was she now? She wanted to curse, but couldn't. There were zombies here.
In another verse, they would have jumped at her and started to eat her raw. A verse that wasn't so far from how she died.
Albeit she tried to fend off her fear with jokes in her head, she still some apprehension but not because she felt disgusted as in the corridor back then but the opposite.
She felt a connection with them.
Looking left and right she saw them wander and spotted the new member Josh.
"The motherfucker..." As she looked at Josh, she identified what she believed was handcuffs and many of them. Who was it for? Not for undead for sure.
No remorse.
The dude had to die.
Feeling guilt-free of her frenzy she relaxed a little but apprehended the future.
"Is it what people call bloodlust?"
What was she a warrior in a fantasy setting?
No, she was a fucking zombie!
She wasn't running on the power of friendship to protect her while she was going berserk, no, her supposed ally even flee before attacking her... it's not her fault... but still!
Inside her chest, she felt again the warmth of her core going up, forcing her to calm down a little
'What I can't even be angry?!'
The unfairness!
"Aaah!" She felt it! Her core heating up again.
"Ugh!" She didn't catch it before but now she could guess why she was like that while the others zombies moved freely.
Her proximity with the PAC must have in one way or another hurt her core.
Moreover, it was a core she wasn't even aware of until now despite her attempts...
If Cecile was there, she'd have poked her to death...
She was also tired to generate death pun here and there. It might be her influence that allowed her to be this way even though she was in such a sorry state.
Clenching her teeth she decided that it was an opportunity to face her condition while waiting for her core to heal up.
'I mean, I already woke up from death wold a lowly noise kill her? That'd one pitiful way to die.
Surrounded by grunt noises and the buzz of zombies around, Lisha tries her best to focus on her core. She gave another shot at what hunters related to having felt when they used their powers.
There, in the middle of her chest, was the reason for her rebirth.
A warm current was flowing from it and slowly spreading to every corner of her body.
'It works.' Surprised at her success, she got surprised. In a matter of minutes, she got a better grasp of her core and noticing her progress she got absorbed into this sensation.
She even thought that she wouldn't mind staying here if she were to feel like this forever. But when thinking about the dozens of deads walking around her she winced.
Better not thinking about them again.
From testimonies of hunters, they said that using this flow was quite difficult. But as far as she did, it seemed like a lie.
'Were they trying to inflate their status by saying that it was difficult to be a hunter? It seems unlikely. Then why?'
Without enough information, she couldn't do a damn thing.
Yet another reason to access the library database quickly.
What she knew was that mutant and hunter ranks depended on the colour of their core. From light green to gold hues with grey ones for inactive ones.
Zombies possessed light green cores.
The bottom of the barrel.
The lowest of the low, but still ahead of the majority of humans...
Inactive cores of human couldn't even evolve, they were inactive... humans were just fish on a chopping board. No hunter technics could solve this.
"..." But it wouldn't upset her. Not now. The warmth of her core somehow healed her mind. Was it?
As she played with the flow running in her body she noted that certain zones made her go colder than before going back to her core where it heated again.
Then it dawned on her, she realized that she was leaking!
Not this type of leaking!
The energy flow of her core was seeping out of from her injured body!
Eye, arm, stomach... she was a total sieve!
'Abort! Abort the mission!'
With her concentration in disarray, she opened her eyes in fear and stopped any further action.
Only to be welcomed by a ring of zombie watching over her, with one close enough to kiss her!
"Aaargh!" In fit, Lisha used her flow to move her arm with total disregard of the consequence. Visions of her friends bitten to death and her dying helplessly fueled her determination to live to pass this.
She thought she was acknowledged but deceit was all it was. It's not as she joined them by choice! No remorse!
A punch welcomed the zombie head too close for her comfort and send him flying among his circle of friends.
"Go die!" She didn't know why it was that easy for her to use the flow but it allowed her to move her tired body. As for the why and the how it'd be a concern for later. She needed to go outside this room now!