As Dean was backtracking the route that Harris and the rest had made, he started to frown. His painful headache was starting to appear again.
Dean had thought the headache was related to his mutated body. It was a reasonable idea as it appeared while he was mutating and disappeared when his body was enhanced. He couldn't decide if it was a good thing that his body was further being mutated or bad.
'Should I take more pills?'
Dean thought to himself, it would be distracting to endure the pain as well as focus on his surroundings.
'No, I can't have my senses dulled from drugs, I just have to endure until I get somewhere safe'
After Dean made his decision he accelerated at full speed intending to quickly end things.
The building was eerily quiet. Some people were still hiding inside but were too scared to even let out their mournful cries. Most people had finished fighting and left to find a place safer than here. Corpses lay everywhere on the ground. Zombies were stabbed in the head and other humans who were too injured to walk on their own, they were mercy killed. Dean had no time to check if there were survivors hiding beneath their companion's corpses nor did he want to save them, it might have been his fault that the zombies were able to enter but he didn't care that the weak had died.
His desire for power was becoming clearer and clearer in this now lawless world. His thoughts that the strong step over the weak became clear through his actions. He wouldn't kill people just for fun, but he would if it could achieve his goals. This time was just the result of these people being used by him. Dean knew it wasn't fair towards them and he had no intention of avoiding the casualties of his actions. He stood in the silent store remembering and imagining the feeling of vengeful souls surrounding him.
This wouldn't be the last time that his actions will lead to another's death. But since this was his first time seeing the mayhem he had caused, he resolved himself to continue his path for power to not become like them. He would become so strong that people would never dare offend him.
Dean etched this bloody scene in his mind, not forgetting the faces and consequences of his actions. If power meant becoming a demon he would become even worse than a demon.
Blood thickly covered the ground and made a splashing sound whenever Dean stepped. He was walking slowly to remember every detail around him. Every lifeless face that he passed and the feeling of despair in the air.
After walking some distance he came across different corpses of zombies than the rest. He briefly paused looking at the deep fist mark on their heads.
The wound was deep and crushed the skull. Brain matter was splattered around the face and blood and other grow liquids leaking from orifices. It was no feat that a normal person could achieve.
'Someone else has mutated'
Dean frowned at his thoughts. He knew that it was a novel idea to expect only he was mutated but he had hoped that this person wasn't one. It was a strange feeling as if he was instinctually understanding that a predator was near, similar to how animals know dangerous beasts are near. That feeling was also telling him to go kill it, step over its corpse and declare that he was stronger.
As he was walking slowly remembering every detail he was also looking for two people. One was Sang Woo who he wanted to kill and the second was Royce to keep his promise with Kim Hannah.
Dean felt that strong feeling overwhelm him when he thought of Sang Woo. His eyes dimly glowed red and he let out a subconscious growl. It wasn't the same as a zombie and was more malevolent, it was like an ancient beast eager to show its dominance and might to a weaker being. Dean wasn't aware of his new behaviour and started to move following the corpses that were attacked in the same way.
Back at the group, they were resting in an alleyway. For some reason the zombies that approached them were more docile and only charged at them when they were really close. Compared to how they would normally charge as soon as they saw someone, they were now more calmer and acted less beastly.
It was like they were afraid of something. The group had no reason to stop waiting for Dean but took into account the weird behaviour of the zombies. Kim Hannah was monitoring and recording everything that she saw about them. Lucas helped note anything that she might have overlooked. His job involved him being really organised and his perfectionist personality excelled him in managing data and finding important information in a mess. He was a huge help for Kim Hannah who didn't have the eye to notice very faint differences unlike him.
Kim Hannah was the only person who was able to link the actions of the zombies with scientific reasoning and her data would come in handy in the future. They knew too little about the zombies and the "S gene" . Any small information could help them survive right now.
Suddenly Abigail started to shake uncontrollably. The group quickly checked what was wrong with her but didn't find anything strange other than her high fever. She had managed to say something before passing out.
"Something…danger….here"
SLAM
A loud explosion occurred suddenly in the alley way. Smoke and dust scattered everywhere forcing the group to retreat. A figure slowly emerged from the explosion.
The figure was Sang Woo
"WHERE IS HE!"
Sang Woo's voice was loud and overbearing. Harris quickly moved to the front with his shield. While the others silently agreed to flee. They were about to flee in the direction of the exit but Sang Woo slammed his hand on the wall and threw a large chunk of debris the way they were retreating.
Harris couldn't stand guard watching their only escape route be blocked, so he charged at Sang Woo.
Sang Woo haphazardly swung his hand at the shield. Harris felt like he was hit by a truck, he had braced himself for impact but didn't expect to be flung into the wall. He coughed up blood and dazedly looked at Sang Woo's hands.
They were covered in a hardened material and easily left a deep dent on his shield without being broken. It was super hard, it tore through concrete walls and didn't break after being stopped with metal.
'What is happening, did he mutate like what Kim Hannah said'
"ONE LAST TIME, WHERE IS HE"
Sang Woo stared intensely at Harris and the group. He had learnt about this alleyway as Harris had told him places that could be secured easily. He had already gone to two other areas killing the zombies in the way. His bloodlust grew stronger the more he thought about Dean and made the surrounding zombies feel like a calamity was approaching.
Dean had caused his plan to rule the supermarket to go down the drain. His group would've grown stronger and bigger over time.
He stared at Harris who was staring daggers at him and smiled wickedly.
"I'LL MAKE YOU COME TO ME"
Sang Woo picked up more debris and threw it at the group. Harris shouted seeing Sang Woo's actions and tried to rush to block the attack.
"NOO"
Sang Woo's eyes glowed red and he quickly jumped away from his spot. He threw the concrete debris he still had in his other hand at the danger he momentarily sensed.
"I KNEW YOU'D SHOW UP"
Dean had sneak attacked Sang Woo when he was distracted with Harris. He had simultaneously thrown the spear at the debris aiming for the group. It had accurately pierced the center and destroyed the debris into smaller pieces, it would still hurt them but not as much as it would have.
'This is going to be hard'
'Enhanced strength, reflexes and that toughness surrounding his hands'
Dean frowned at Sang Woo's mutation. He himself was mutated to a peak athlete but it seemed that Sang Woo had a more drastic mutation.
'He's probably lost his rationality though, and only wants to kill me'
Dean looked over Sang Woo's body and noticed a wound on his left abdomen. He noticed that it wasn't bandaged and looked to be new. Dean's gaze fixed on that wound making his thoughts go into overdrive even more.
'Was he infected by zombie blood? He doesn't seem to be a zombie though, is it a type of mutation different from mine?'
Dean had to stop his thoughts as Sang Woo swung his arm at him. The other people could only squint and watch the unbelievable fight. Although Dean had no trouble keeping up with Sang Woo's attacks, the others watching could only see a blur before an explosion occurred near the fight.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that they would die being hit with one attack. Alice and Roxas were staring intently at the fight watching Dean battle.
"Hey you two stop watching and go help Harris and retreat"
Lucas told the two off for being in such a daze. They needed to retreat and quickly get out of the danger zone of the fight. They were liabilities that Sang Woo could use to distract Dean.
The siblings got Harris up and started to retreat with the group. Sophia was carrying the unconscious Abigail while Kim Hannah and Lucas were guarding them from any stray debris. The group looked once more at the fight and ran to the exit of the alleyway.
They could only hope that Dean was stronger than Sang Woo.