Asher groaned out in pain as he smelled the strong scent of bleach and antiseptic. He felt nauseated and lightheaded. Asher was laying down on a hard, cold table. His arms and legs were strapped down. His mouth felt dry and on further inspection, he realized it was taped shut with duct tape.
With limited motion, Asher turned his head to look around the room. It seemed like he was trapped in some sort of lab and Asher was the subject to some crazy experiment. The lab was very clean and white.
Hanging on the wall on the far right was a clock that was painted with a pearl white color. It fit right in with the other room décor as the walls, floors, and even the table underneath him were painted in the same pearly white.
It was eerily quiet except for the sound of Asher's labored breathing and the mocking sound of the clock.
Tick tock...tick tock...tick tock...
'Where am I? How did I end up here?' Asher wondered frantically as he tried to break free from the tight leather bindings that strapped him to the table to no avail. No matter how much Asher tried to break free, he couldn't.
He tried to activate his lighting ability to form a lightning ball but after a long struggle, Asher realized that he was not able to use his ability for some reason. He put his head back down on the table and stared helplessly into the ceiling. He squinted his garnet-red eyes as he looked up at the bright ceiling light before closing them a moment later to think.
Asher eased the panic that was creeping into his heart like a thief by counting down from 10. He breathed out a deep breath. It worked. Now that he is calm and can think clearly, he slowly began to recall the memories that led up to this point.
The last thing Asher remembered was protecting his older half-sister Rene during an important S-ranked mission at Saint Ana Claire Hospital.
Asher and his teammate's mission was to gather medical supplies, samples, and data from the hospital to aid in the progression of the cure for the Z-virus. The hospital was a hot-zone, meaning it was infected with more than 4,000 zombies scattered across the hospital floors.
Saint Ana Claire Hospital was the first hospital to come in contact with patients that were infected with the zombie virus. Thus, it had valuable research papers, samples, and data about the early zombies.
The mission was a Rank-S mission because of this. The plan was to start clearing out zombies level by level, starting from the first floor. Although there were 10 stories in the hospital, they only needed to get to the 5th floor, where the testing had been conducted.
It was a delicate plan that if done well, should have taken no more than three weeks to complete, as their team had 25 ability users. All of them were at least rank 4, excluding Asher and Rene who were a higher rank than them.
Asher did not want to come on this mission, but he agreed to it anyway after his father requested him to go along with Rene in order to protect her. It was the first time his passive father ever asked him to do something, so he felt compelled to do so as he wanted to make his father proud.
Although Rene rarely came on missions, a Rank S mission at that, Asher knew she needed to come on the mission. This is because she, although 3 years older than him, was a famous doctor even before the apocalypse. Rene was a renowned genius. She graduated from medical school at the young age of 14 years old.
When the apocalypse occurred, Rene found out that she had the rare light ability that is capable of healing. Rene used this to her advantage to get on people's good side and soon she was hailed by all as a Saintess.
Because of this, she is an important piece in ensuring the mission goes smoothly as she can heal, influence the other people in her favor, and has the knowledge needed to collect the samples and data from the hospital.
'Speaking of Rene, is she okay? I pushed her out of the way because a zombie was about to bite her, but when I turned back to check if she was alright, something suddenly hit me behind my head and I blacked out.' Asher thought in confusion.
Just then, Asher heard the sound of heels resonating throughout the silent lab. A 29-year-old woman sneered down at him. The woman was wearing a long white lab coat and was holding a clipboard. Her long blonde hair was pulled in a high ponytail and her plump lips had bright red lipstick on.
Her usual kind-hearted expression was replaced with a sharp glare. This woman was none other than Asher's sister, Rene. As she reached the table Asher was laying down on, her expression distorted into a creepy grin. Looking at her gave Asher the chills.
"Stupid brother." Rene spat out as she looked down at Asher in utter disgust.
Asher's eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. He quickly put things together and realized that his kind older sister was just putting up an act. She is actually just a two-faced bitch hiding her true self. As Asher looked into her cold, taunting gaze, Asher realized how naïve and stupid he was.
Before the apocalypse, Asher's older half siblings, Cane, Brent, and Rene, along with their step-mother would always bully him and his older twin brother Kyle just because they were illegitimate children. Only his third half-brother James and his loyal butler Tristan treated Kyle and Asher as humans.
After Asher got his lightning ability, everyone's attitude towards him changed a total 180 degrees. He thought that they finally changed for the better because they finally realized they were family. Asher finally acknowledged that he was totally wrong.
Rene was just hiding her true self from him to obtain what she wanted from him: his rare lightning ability. Asher knew that she wanted his ability without her even saying anything.
The sudden blackout was actually Rene knocking him out cold to bring him here when they were finishing up the mission. It was not a surprise that she knocked him out during the last 2 days of the mission. The looks of admiration that Asher perceived from her were actually looks of jealousy. She was jealous that a half-breed like Asher was able to have such a strong power.
A weird glint appeared in her red eyes. Licking her lips, Rene pulled out a dagger from her white coat pocket. Ever so slowly, she traced it down his face until it reached his neck. She added slight pressure to it, as a result, a line of blood appeared. Deep red droplets of blood fell onto the cold tile floor.
Asher slightly winced from the pain, before screaming out in muffled pain due to the duct tape on his mouth when Rene suddenly raised her dagger and cleanly sliced off three of his fingers. With incredible speed, Rene shoved his fingers into her mouth before swallowing the digits whole.
Witnessing this, Asher wiggled around frantically like a worm trying to escape the bindings that held him down.
After licking her fingers clean, Rene laughed before saying mockingly, "Poor little brother...you are so stupid!!!"
"Mmmh...Mmmh!!!"
"Ahhh...I forgot you can't speak." She said as she ripped the gray duct tape from his mouth, smirking at Asher in utter victory.
"What....what are you? Why are you doing this to me?" Asher gasped out, even though he knew why she was doing this.
Asher wanted to distract her, to bid himself time to escape. But the real question Asher wanted to know was, what is she? Asher had a feeling she wasn't just a cannibal, many became cannibals in the end of times after starving and he knew this was not the case for Rene. He had a sick feeling that the mad scientist herself, experimented on her own body.
"Why, you ask? Because it is simply unacceptable that a half-breed like you can have a rare ability. Even if you are father's son you are nothing to our Greyson family. Oh, and to tell you the answer to your first question, I'm not telling you. It's a secret~!" Rene said with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Does father know about this?" Asher questioned.
"Everyone was in on it my dear little brother," Rene said with a smug expression on her face.
Asher's heart pounded in despair. Not because he was heartbroken about their betrayal but because of how naïve he was. It was believable that his 1st brother, 2nd brother, and stepmother were in on it as well but his father?
Father was usually a passive man. He knew that Kyle and Asher were getting bullied, but even so, he never did anything about it. But when things went too far, he was always the first to step up.
"The Greyson family wants your ability and to do so we must kill you to obtain your crystal core. Too bad we had to wait so long to obtain it since we needed your strength to ensure the success of the Rank S mission."
After the meteorites fell down to earth 5 years ago, scientists found out that the particles that were on the surface of the meteorites contained the Z-virus. Some became zombies, some became ability users while some stayed as regular humans. There was only one thing in common. Everyone's brain shrunk to the size of a golf ball. The golf ball-sized brain then hardened, forming a crystal which is known as a crystal core.
Both ability users and regular people can only eat zombie crystal cores and vice versa. For regular people, eating crystal cores has added benefits such as an increase in strength for a short period of time and a feeling of fullness which is a good sign since many are short on food.
If an ability user eats the crystal cores from the zombies, it can help them level up faster and strengthen their ability. Even more so if the crystal core is a high rank which is determined by a zombie's rank. Both zombies and ability users have abilities that are ranked from 1 to 25. 1 being the weakest and 25 being the strongest.
Each level was further divided into sub levels starting from F to SSS class. For example, an SSS class level 10 ability user was stronger than an SS class level 10 ability user. Asher was a A class, level 6 ability user while Rene was a F class, level 5 ability user.
The two of them were considered powerful bigshots in the apocalypse since they were the few who were able to progress above level 5 within 5 short years. The two of them almost rivaled the number 1 bigshot, the ability user nicknamed the Ice Emperor. He, the God among Gods leveled up to SSS class, level 9.
Rene, the mad scientist must have found a way to temporarily seal Asher's ability away as when he tried to use it before, it did not work. Also, she must have found a way for her to consume his crystal core or extract it so that she can take away his lightning ability from him and keep it for herself or use it at the demand of the Greyson family.
Asher knew that he was going to die. There was no other outcome. No one was going to rescue him and there was no chance of escape. The death of Kyle, James, and Tristan flashed by him and he couldn't help but grit his teeth in frustration.
'3 precious lives sacrificed, all for nothing. Why did they feel the need to sacrifice themselves to save such a pathetic loser like me?' Asher wondered as he suffered in regret.
Asher's heart hardened into steel, unfeeling. If there is a next life, Asher would not let his feelings cloud his judgment. All this time, he wished to grow closer to his father's side of the family, not realizing he was pushing away those who care about him. His true family: Kyle, James, and Tristian.
Asher did not understand why he wanted their love, their validation so much. He felt as if he was brainwashed by some unknown forces. Regret was all he felt. If he had another chance, he promised to protect those close to him!
"Rene, there is a special place in hell just for you. I swear, in my next life, I will destroy the Greyson family and take my revenge. Everything you did to me, I will return it all back to you and the Greyson family tenfold!" Asher spat out venomously.
Rene just smiled at him and replied, "That is never going to happen, little brother."
She raised the dagger up high before slicing his head cleanly off the lab table.
"Tehehe~Good riddance, little brother." Rene laughed maniacally.