There was a zombie roaming in a corridor.
Dandy and rotting in peace, without bothering anyone with its flower shirt, he wandered while scaring three-eyed rats and meter-long night butterflies.
It was in this way that it saw its chest ripped in half by a pair of hands.
From it, a green light emerged before vanishing between two rows of teeth. Lisha was going on a hunting spree.
Although they were reluctant to sell, the buyer was able to convince them to forfeit their core, voluntarily.
It was a high that Lisha had trouble stopping and had no wish to stop.
Her dried core was gaining strength at an insane speed. Fissures that she did not know existed were healing and more than anything she was feeling...
Euphoria
That bloodlust was like a drug.
'I-I need to stop... but!' Yet as she bit into another core, the rush of energy and memory made her will waver.
'Hell!' She felt her right arm trying to heal but the reckless slaughter was further damaging it. At this rate, there would be no more arm to take care of. She went through the smallest cracks to follow the energy leaks of other beings.
Losing herself in the maze called Pantheon.
"Aaaahhh!" Even rats, butterflies and the like were not spared off. Anything on sight got their core taken care of.
Swiftly and bloody.
It was luck that allowed her to not meet a Nyx on her killing spree. But it was only a matter of time before she got mauled.
She needed to stop and only something big would do it.
It was with slight dread that an idea sprang up in her mind. The sole she was able to come up in her current state.
She acted when her bloodlust was at his lowest and went for it.
Grabbing the core of a zombie to which she did her utmost not to crush, she decided to pour her flow inside and to throw caution to the wind.
She felt drained and wondered if it was this feeling people have when bitten by vampires.
"Nghhhh!"
Albeit still thirsty, her core was not able to maintain dominance in this tug of war with Lisha. It was never able to but the pleasure gained when stealing energy out of a core had taken Lisha by surprise and disabled her.
Lisha was like a drunkard at their rare moment of lucidity deciding to smash the bottle of liquor in her hand to stop drinking.
Short of breath, Lisha sprawled on the floor while holding a shiny green core.
Smile hanging on er face.
"I succeeded..." That was what she said before falling asleep.
***
Silence ruled the place where Lisha dropped dead before a grunt disturbed it followed by many others.
It was a particular sound recognizable by any proper drunkard
It was a sound that if any drunkards caught on they would recognize it as definitive of their species.
The one of a hangover.
As if she went through a washing machine, Lisha felt like doing nothing at all. Lacking the energy to move, she put a frown o her face when she looked at her right arm.
"Ugh."
As any member of her species, she said the word "Never again." although she would do it once more if the situation needed it to be.
She circulated her energy and got rid of this feeling of grogginess her was in.
Did she really go mad?
Again?
If she were to die because of an addiction she'd prefer it to be of sugar overdose. As a diabetic, she never enjoyed sweet and the like in her life.
Shaking her head to scatter these useless thoughts she went back on topic.
Her bloodlust.
Will this become a common trope? She hoped not. As far as she knew, she fell asleep maybe for months or even years before waking up in this wreckage. What if she were to go back to her previous self? A mindless zombie.
Maybe this time she wouldn't be as lucky as before and wouldn't wake up.
'I was also nearly crushed to death...' It was a miracle to be where she was but she also knew that her life was hanging on a thread.
Zombies were at the bottom of the food chain... locked in a bitter fight with human for the title of the most useless. What was the rate of the apparition of hunter among human? She didn't know it because the information network was broken in her zone.
Zombies were too numerous.
Their power of friendship was strong enough to deter the most amazing villain.
Kill one then ten would rise.
Kill ten and one hundred would rise.
Kill one hundred and... you know the drill.
They couldn't take the L.
Having cursed enough in her mind she felt like tackling the next topic on her mind.
While gazing at the core she filled to the brim with energy. Lisha pondered the following question.
'Is it definitive that I can't eat?' Throwing away the useless question she continued.
'What do I do with this?' Indeed, as the result of an unknown number of stolen energy, it was a wonder as to how it didn't break. Would she be able to get the energy back if she ate it now?
However, one thing was certain it was a treasure. The root of her madness resulted in technic hunters did to become stronger: absorbing cores.
In powder or soup, it didn't matter the way.
But it was a slow process and a dangerous one at that. A crippled body was the best outcome while the other was to become an aberration. Something more disgusting than a zombie for any human and a calamity when random animals failed this processus. She still remembered this sight on forums.
'The possibilities are infinite.' If what she thought was true then it'd be a game-changer, a glitch in the matrix.
As someone dead, she didn't need to be mindful of her body. She didn't need to mindful of her veins rupturing because of the energy flow.
'The reason why I'm able to wield my flow so efficiently might be it. No, it definitely is!' A dead body cannot suffer further harms.
Zombies could only be defeated by destroying their core. She didn't know for other monsters and mutants but she was not aware of such requirements for the few she knew of.
It was normal to think that they existed thanks solely to their core.
It was a free road for evolution!