The night started to end and morning began.
The screams of fear and pain were no longer heard from the building.
Corpses were stacked untidily in the street.
Dean was standing patiently in the air. He had taken out all the zombies that had surrounded the building. It was close to 150 zombies that he had to kill. He was reflecting on his fight and how he could improve. It was easy for him to kill and train against these zombies and get a rough idea on what he was capable of but it wouldn't let him become good in battles against smart opponents. That was the key point he was reflecting on, and how his battle style would fare against someone who could learn as well.
'The unpredictability is a huge advantage of my portals. I can easily attack in all directions and make them have to focus all around themself. It's a huge advantage'
Dean planned to learn how to attack randomly in a chaotic manner. He would use his portals to force his opponent to split their attention all around them as if facing multiple people who can perfectly execute well timed sneak attacks.
Kim Hannah walked out the building and slightly went wide eyed at the scene. She had tortured Royce for the same amount of time Dean had killed all the zombies. She felt content at having revenge for her mothers death but felt a sense of inferiority that her anger was nothing towards someone like Dean. She had needed his help to exact revenge and couldn't use her own strength to avenge her mother.
Kim Hannah looked at the man standing in the air and the corpses littered beneath his feet.
'I'm weak'
She felt pity at herself for enjoying the temporary display of strength of torturing Royce. Compared to the outside where that man was able to fight a hundred zombies who all had stronger bodies than herself, her feelings of triumph over someone who couldn't fight back and was tied. She was like a child who was hand held by their parents for something they wanted to do.
'I need strength if I want to ever look down on people who harm me. This man has already started his path towards power, I need power as well if I don't want others to triumph over me'
She clenched her fists. The joy she once had was now replaced with a burning will.
The two walked back to base. They weren't tired from getting no sleep as the two were used to staying up. Kim Hannah would have to stay awake for long periods of time in surgeories or when she was studying about medical situations. Dean was an otaku, who was used to staying up through the night binging anime or grinding games non stop to get the best gear.
Dean looked back at the street and noticed that the zombies were eating the corpses of their brethren. He wasn't that surprised at the cannibalism and thought that they would act the same with any corpse.
"Do you think they'll mutate further by eating those corpses"
He asked Kim Hannah. She was writing something in her notebook. It was a habit of hers now to write any weird detail about zombies.
"Yes, the virus should become more enhanced with the amount of corpses and further mutate their body"
He nodded at her words. He planned to come back here and take a look when all the corpses are gone. At that time he should be moving by himself and he wanted to learn what the next stage of a zombie would be.
The two returned to the base and didn't alert the others that they had disappeared in the night. During which Dean could sense 3 people watching him and Kim Hannah return. He had a slight smirk on his face.
The group woke up and ate food that Roxas made, he was the designated chef as his food was delicious. Most of the food was from a can but it was still delicious. They planned to leave the building and make their way to the police station as early as possible today.
Harris asked while everyone went to pack.
"Dean are you all set to go"
"Of course, my body is almost back to its peak if not stronger"
"That's good"
The two talked for some time while everyone was packing the supplies. The group packed up the portable stove that kept them delicious food, it would've been a different atmosphere if they ate food that they couldn't enjoy. They packed the remaining supplies such as water, food and medical supplies. Dean didn't have that much and only had a bag carrying water and some food. He didn't think his body would need medical supplies now and he could use that room for his favourite snacks or miscellaneous items.
The group left the building. Harris's sheild blocked any zombies while everyone quickly dispatched them.
"Big brother I feel that other people are watching us"
Abigail the young girl tugged on Dean's sleeve. The two were at the back of the group and didn't have that much to do since everyone else was fighting well. Dean didn't want to fight against these small numbers of zombies and just watched the group improve their skills. He smiled at Abigail's words and winked at her. Abigail had a confused expression but didn't feel any fear but a playfulness from Dean.
Abigail was an empath and was capable of feeling other people's emotions. Her being able to sense the people watching her was her sensing their emotions. Dean could scan his surroundings and get an understanding with his sixth sense, but Abigail was only able to feel people who were alive.
She had been in a daze when she had just evolved. The emotions she could feel were confusing and overwhelming for her. She didn't tell anyone about that and decided to stay quiet to not make them worry about her. Dean had a hunch that she was in pain and decided to give her some tips. His headaches were beneficial for him but the girl was struggling with coping with the incoming emotions she could sense. It was a small range at first and limited to the people who were close to her but it grew this morning which made her be able to sense the people watching in the building.
'It would be a helpful ability for someone who wants to find survivors and save them'
He glanced at Harris and thought of the possibility that he would return back to his previous mentality if he learnt about her ability. With enough training she would be able to tell if someone was good or bad from the emotions they had. It wouldn't be an exact telltale if they were good or bad but it would weed out the very harmful people who had no intention to be good.
'She doesn't look that scared..probably because she can feel my own emotions'
He slightly frowned and saw that the little girl looked at him in a weird way. He quickly changed his thoughts and saw that she also looked at him differently.
'It would be scary to have all my thoughts read'
He looked at the smiling girl and decided not to think anything more. He wasn't going to stay with them much longer and didn't need to be wary of her before she could master her ability. At most she could sense his feelings with vagueness and not discern his real emotion. His mental abilities had evolved while training with the portals. He could easily control his mind and make it hard to discern his real thoughts. It wasn't foolproof as he didn't really care for now but it was an added benefit while training.
The group continued to march forward and make their way towards a car. Dean was going to lure the zombies in the area away while the group started the car. Harris wasn't knowledgeable in hotwiring and could only try again and again.
As soon as Dean left the 3 people who were watching quickly sprang into action. They sneakily got close to the group without alerting them.
"Who are you, why are you sneaking up on us"
Roxas shouted.
Abigail had told everyone who were surrounding the car that people were sneaking up on them. They weren't that alert, only having Roxas and Lucas keep guard and were packing everything in the car.
"Tch.. attack them before that monster comes back"
The other 2 nodded at their leader's words. Brandishing their knives they attacked Lucas and Roxas.
Lucas and Roxas quickly dodged the knife aiming for them, narrowly avoiding being stabbed. The two gripped their spears while the group in the car quickly rushed as backup.
"Hey! why are you attacking us"
Roxas the loudmouth shouted at the two attackers.
"You're with that monster and you don't know why we would attack you?"
The leader threw a molotov at the car forcing the group trying to rush as backup to flee from the fire. The leader pointed at Kim Hannah and said.
"We saw her and that monster walking at night after we kept on hearing screams"
The group looked at Kim Hannah with a shocked expression as if their trust had been broken. She didn't say anything at their looks but instead stared daggers at the leader. Harris and Sophia were also staring hard, as they remembered the attacker as the group they had met yesterday.
Harris spoke up
"I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation to that"
The leader scoffed at those words and continued
"So that man who just left also had a justifiable reason to open the door in the supermarket and let the zombies kill everyone"
Harris and the group could only shut up hearing that. They had a faint feeling that the attack on the supermarket was due to Dean. Them leaving safely while everyone was defending the supermarket was too much of a coincidence. Him going off on his own was also weird as he could've just followed them as they left the back door. They just didn't know what to say to Dean.
"Hah, all the same…my friend died because of him and you said that he had justifiable reason to lead to her death!"
The leader shouted
"I'm going to kill you all to make him know how I felt!"
The three used to be an independent group of 5 in the supermarket. The leader's friend who he had a crush on was killed by a zombie as the group escaped. The girl's brother had died as well and was going to die but was saved by her boyfriend who was the childhood friend of the leader. The couple were fighting Roxas and Lucas with tears in their eyes. They also had their own reason to kil.
With a swipe of his spear, Lucas accurately cut the leg of the girl who was attacking her. Lucas was aiming to stop her from moving just like he practised on zombies. Her boyfriend stopped attacking Roxas in shock from his girlfriend's yelp. He rushed to attack Lucas who was standing above her. Lucas had his back turned to the charging man and couldn't sense the danger he was in.
Roxas paused in a daze and quickly judged what he had to do. He bit his lips, tightened his grip on the spear and pierced the man's back. The man fell face forward towards his girlfriend with a tearful face.
"Su..Susan"
The girl screamed at witnessing her lover's death. She charged at Lucas ignoring the stinging pain on her leg aiming to kill with her knife. Lucas dodged the clumsy attack taking a step back. She fell to the ground with a disheartened expression realising that her final attack had failed. She briefly looked at her leader who was hurling molotov after molotov at the group behind the car and stared at her now dead boyfriend. She slowly raised her knife and slit her throat.
"I'll not live a life without you"
Lucas and Roxas were shaking at murdering people and couldn't stop staring at the lifeless corpses. They were normal people and not extremists like Dean who didn't care for others lives. They felt sorrow at murdering the couple even if for self defense.
Harris charged at the leader with his shield when he had stopped to look at his friends corpses. Harris pushed him to the ground, slamming the man with his large body.
"Get off me!"
The leader shouted in a shaky voice now that his only friends were dead. He knew he had no chance to win. The man wormed out his hand and tried to light the bag full of molotovs.
"Ahhhh"
Harris was left with no choice seeing the man's actions. His hands were out of reach and could only reach the man's head. He unwilling grabbed the spear and stabbed the man in the head before he managed to throw the bag.