"You mean to say, my Tomtom is able to save daddy and help big bro? That's amazing!" Claire hugs Tommy after hearing about his exciting journey to meet her.
"Yes! I saved dad and am here to rescue you. Like the superhero!..." Tom giggles and pose like the characters he saw on TV.
Claire couldn't handle the cuteness and hugged Tom and rub his face against hers.
After Will helped David awaken his ability, he proceeds to go to his mom.
"Mom… Thank you for being safe" Will enters their private room and sits on the bed beside his mother.
"Why are you saying something so strange? Thank you for coming to me…" Claire finds it both adorable and funny.
"No… I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to you…"
"Aww…" Clair hugs Will too along with Tom.
"Both my sons are so amazing. You always make me happy"
"Mom. We're going to head out to get food for everyone. Tom is coming too. Are you fine with that?..."
"Well, I'm not perfectly fine with it. I get worried as your mother. But you will be safer if you stick together. You arrived here safely together after all. I have less knowledge about the so-called 'abilities' and can't imagine your capabilities now… but honestly, if you're fine with it, I'm fine with it too. I know you won't willingly put Tom in danger unreasonably. And I also heard from Tom that he was such a good boy! He saved your father!"
"Yes. Tom is very capable" Will rub Tom's hair causing him to release a childish giggle.
"Mom. We should probably have your ability activated too… So you will be safe anywhere"
"Really? We can do that?..."
"Well…" Will explain everything to his mother and then proceed to help her awaken her ability.
Soon, it's time for the food gathering team to go.
"I will be watching you in the monitoring room. Please be safe…" Claire bid them farewell.
Will move towards his team bringing along a few items.
"I found some useful things that were gathered by the looting team from earlier… I augmented them with my ability and should work even better with your abilities" Will hands them respectively to his team one by one.
"For dad, since your ability could change the weight of any object that you touch, a blunt weapon with long reach should be appropriate to max the potential. But we will be fighting indoors and I couldn't find anything longer, this folding stick should be the next best thing. I augmented its toughness to be able to handle at least a hundred kilos of impact…" Will hands a white cane for the blind or visually impaired person.
"This looks great… what are these markings? Is it the effect of your ability?" Will nods and lets his father practice using it. Liam could channel his ability to it but it makes the whole stick so heavy to lift. Everyone helped devise a solution and finally found the right suggestion after gathering their thoughts. Practicing how to only make the tip of it heavy would be the most probable to work well. If this works, then Liam's ability could be more dynamic along with this weapon.
"For you Rick, I couldn't find anything better than this surgical knife. You're very fast so you could just evade the zombies, but I augmented its sharpness several times anyway. You should have this as an alternative weapon to be used in emergencies…"
"Oh. That's fine"
"I'm sorry. I could have made something more flashy but those things require a lot of time like those that I originally brought from home… this is the best I can do given the short time"
"You're doing a good job son" Liam praise his son.
Will smile and then takes out a rather strange object as the next weapon.
"For Tommy… do you want to be like a ninja? You know those ninjas in that animated series, right? They're like superheroes too!"
"Oh! They're cool too! What's this big bro?"
"It's a throwing star. I believe they're also called shuriken… I prepared them for a long time just for you. Remember about what I told you before that I will make the best super weapon just for you?" Tom nods enthusiastically. "This is an amazing super weapon. But, you can't hold them with your hands because they're very, very sharp. You could play with it with telekinesis instead… how about you try"
Tom uses his ability and makes it fly directly from Will's hand. It slowly floats in the air wherever Tom wants it to.
"How do you feel? It's not even that heavy or making you feel sleepy right? It should be more energy efficient than directly lifting the heavy bodies of the enemies. Now, how about you imagine the rapid spinning of the rotor blades of the helicopter? It should be even more cooler! You could become unstoppable with it! But be careful not to hit the good guys with it okay? It's very lethal…"
With a buzzing sound, the shuriken revolves rapidly in the air generating soft wind. Tom easily manipulates it by whirling it around without hitting anyone.
The rest ability users gulp.
"Isn't this a bit too lethal? Should we really let the kid have this?..." David feels hesitant about letting the five years old Tom have this deathly weapon along with his already dynamic ability.
"You don't have to worry. Tommy has been practicing for almost a month now… his accuracy is already on point" Will deliberately did not explain the matter regarding Tom's clairvoyance ability. Will is worried that Tom's abilities would make other people feel that he's too much of a threatening child. Which he already is.
With that, David stops questioning anything regarding Tom and his lethal power. This is a good thing since Tom's shuriken is specially enchanted with something even more dangerous. It took a long time for Will to finalize it.
"Next…" Will feels reluctant to bring the item he prepared for David.
"Since Mister David's ability could turn him into a large wolf… there really is nothing I could think of that would be suitable for you as a weapon so…" Will hands David a large backpack.
"I understand. We already agreed that I would be the main person to bring the looted goods. I have a backpack already prepared but it's smaller than this one… so, thanks" David accept it with appreciation.
"Although… I augmented it to be stretchable and secure when you transform. You could be assured to move around as much as you want"
With that, the group is now equipped and ready to go.
As for Will, he grab a pair of glasses from within his backpack that he prepared some time ago. Also, he takes out two toy guns and put extra magazines in his pockets. He also resupplies energy to his augmented outfit.
Shortly, the group finally started making their way to the first floor.
"The rest of you should take some rest first… remember your lookout rotation schedule" David left a last-minute reminder and then step down the stairs. After leaving the other survivor's field of view, he makes some preparation to activate his ability. Since the first time he ripped his clothes while transforming, he's now only wearing a long coat with nothing else inside. In the dark, he takes it off and put it on the backpack and then his body slowly turns into that of a large wolf. He himself feels that the process sounds rather perverted but it's not like he has another choice. Will couldn't just make him transforming clothes without the right amount of time and preparations.
The first floor is very slippery because of the coagulated blood splattered all over the floor. The group of five men and boys proceeds cautiously.
"Are you okay there Tommy?..." Rick asks while pinching his nose to block the thick scent of blood all over the place.
Tommy riding on his father's neck nods while holding his facemask against his face for an extra filter. The buzzing whirling shuriken hovers near him bringing in air and blowing at him.
Looking around, a lot of windows and doors on the first floor are made out of glass and most of them broke from Will's fight earlier. If they turn the lights on, the zombies might swarm and get through them, making things more troublesome. So they let the lights stay off.
A few minutes later, they soon arrive at the place where Will's team hasn't been through before.
All the lights in the area or even outside aren't working so their eyes could easily adapt to the darkness since they haven't been exposed to much light, except the natural lighting from the moon.
David's eyes are that of the wolf's thus giving him night vision so he's leading as the vanguard of the team. All four of his wolf paws are on the ground so slipping won't be a problem for him. The only downside of this ability is that David won't be able to talk in this form. He could only growl, bark, and howl… as to be expected.
With a whistling sound, a streak of a shiny object instantly shot as fast as a bullet up ahead. Then, with splatter and a dull thump, something falls on the ground. The whistle consecutively flutters a few more times, each time, a splashing and falling sound follows. Since the room is dead silent, it resounds with crisp quality.
When they arrive at that location, there are no longer any zombies standing up. Will put up his guns and then starts destroying the few zombie's heads crawling on the ground.
"Good job Tommy…" Whispers Will.
They continue this series of actions until they finally arrive at the west wing. Mainly Tom and Will attack and clear up the zombies on the way while the others are conserving energy solely for transporting the food and emergencies.
"Don't you feel like this is child endangerment? Tom could do this by himself but I still feel guilty… and quite useless to be honest…" Rick grumbles unsatisfactorily since he's unable to show off his move.
"Remember our goal here. Didn't we decide that we could clear the building once the morning comes? Just look forward to tomorrow since we could use your speed very well to clean up this mess…" Says Liam. Rick's unreasonable grumbling stopped and he could only think that tomorrow will be a nightmare for him.
"You wouldn't be able to show your capabilities right now since it's dark. Plus, I already told you from the beginning that it would be dangerous for you since you just awakened your abilities. You still haven't grasped your limits. Tommy and I have been practicing our abilities for a while now so it's better for us to be left with this task… also, your task is just as important. We need that food and water and bring them back without hitches so you should just conserve your energy…" Will adds, reminding Rick of the importance of sticking to their roles.
With their steady phase and ironclad team up, their venture to accomplish the task makes them feel quite anticlimactically. Although there are many zombies, Tom and Will are steadily dealing with them without even breaking a sweat. This makes the other three wonder if they were even necessary to begin with.
Finally, the three could show their worth once they arrive at the canteen. Rick rapidly grab all the foods, snacks, and drinks that he could find and gathered them in a cleared space. It literally only took an instant. While he's at it, Rick also brought the kitchen utensils that can be used for weapons later.
Liam immediately starts packing them up. He put most of them in the large backpack on the back of the werewolf David, while some are on his.
Will and Tom are sticking together to find usable kinds of stuff while also looking out for any remaining zombies. Will is wearing glasses that he augmented to have a dark vision effect, so he's perfectly fine this whole time with the darkness. Tom also has clairvoyance so even with this darkness, he would be fine as long as it's not completely pitch black.
"The fishy-rusting smell of blood will probably turn putrid tomorrow… this went perfectly well so how about we come back and deal with it after bringing the food to the second floor?" Will suggest to the others.
"That's a great idea!" Rick seconds.
However, the werewolf snorts a few times while his body language shows he's against that idea.
Liam heaves a sigh and also disagrees. "At this rate, you're just overdoing it, Will. We have no plan to make improvised actions along the way. No matter how capable you kids are, you're still young. Especially, Tom, he is too young. He's five years old. It will be dinnertime soon, and after that is bedtime. That's always been your routine. It would take a toll on your bodies if you suddenly divert to your resting schedule now. Plus, this whole mess would take a lot of time to clean up even if we do it fast. It will be too late at night by the time we finish them all… we should deal with this tomorrow as planned"
"You're right. I'm sorry dad…" both Will and Rick dejectedly agree.
"Thank goodness you still have childish qualities. What you've done today has been so amazing that I worry that you would turn independent so soon… I still want you to stay as my precious son for a long while!" Liam laughs it off and pats Will on the back.
"Dad, I will always be your precious son even if I do become independent in the future. It will stay like that wherever I will be. You will naturally always be my dad too…"
Liam couldn't help but hug his son for his moving words "As expected… all the praises in this world wouldn't be enough for a son like you!"
After that, they finally returned to the second floor bringing all the food from the canteen which resulted in everybody's thankful and delighted faces.
They divided the foods according to tonight's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast while the rest is safely guarded in an empty room to conserve them for next time. They picked the food that are the earliest to spoil as tonight's dinner and they happily started eating.
On the rooftop.
"Sean, are you feeling cold?" A nurse sits beside Sean hiding from the cold breeze by the wall.
"It's okay… more importantly, what's the situation?" The warm dragon plops flat on Sean's stomach while its wings wrap around his shoulders to keep his temperature from dropping.
"The live broadcast ended for now. They probably need to charge the phone… we're conserving our phone's power for emergencies too. We probably have to wait for the morning before those people take action… I'm still not sure if they'll save us though"
Sean takes in a long breath. The night will only get even colder.
"Should we make a fire? Only that… there's no wood laying around… We also have no blanket" Sean is warm thanks to Black, but the other nurses huddling near could only rely on each other's warmth.
Sean glance at them and realizes how he usually takes their care and service to him for granted. He recalls those times when they tuck him in the warm blanket when it's time for bed. It's the first time he's seeing those reliable nurses need to be taken care of. They were always the stronger ones who don't seem to need any help but at this moment, Sean is struck by the realization of how much thankful he is to them. All those years of their care for him accumulated into his will to pay them back in kind.
Right now, Sean really wants to be the one to wrap them in a warm blanket. Sean wish it deeply in his heart watching them getting blown by the wind.
"It's warm…" Aria mutters while hugging her friend and colleague nurse. The others also agree.
The long night continues. The eerie red moon hangs in the center of the night sky. The reddish reflection magnifies clearly on Sean's irises as they slowly close.
In the distance, thick smoke floats high to the sky, and then a fire. A house is burning, causing screams. Few cars on the road speed through hitting the zombies loitering here and there. Stores and houses are being ransacked by the fleeing people to find shelter for themselves. These dreary dark moments continue until the next morning.
The survivors in the hospital start an early morning. Many of them couldn't even sleep that night worrying that the zombies might come when they weren't looking.
When Will wakes up, Tom is snuggling under his arms. He slowly slides his arm from Tom's nape and then replaces it with a pillow.
"…It's still too early mom, stop shaking me" Behind Will, Rick murmurs and turn his body around.
Will carefully slides from the bed making sure he wouldn't wake up the two. He phases around the room and then walks out. Before he left, Will wrapped the doorknob with both hands and enchant it so that it would not turn when unfamiliar energy grabs them.
Will start walking around seemingly with no destination in the hallway and also take a glimpse at the survivor's situation.
"I can't find where mom and dad are… where did they go?"
Will then decided to head to the monitoring room since he couldn't find them no matter what.
"Good morning…" Will greet the nurse taking her shift on monitoring the situation from the CCTVs.
"Ah, oh, G-good morning…" The nurse is a bit startled by Will when he suddenly arrived in the room. She greets him back totteringly.
"Um… do you need anything? Perhaps I can help" The nurse is aware of Will's mysterious capabilities and also thankful for risking his own safety to get food for them last night. She's rather wary and grateful to him at the same time. Claire also often brags about her clever son and always talks about him whenever she gets the chance to.
"Actually… I can't find my parents…"
"Oh, that… Your mom and dad along with mister David went to the first floor earlier before I even started my shift. They're cleaning and sealing the area" The nurse plays the footage of the first floor on the monitor, showing it to Will.
"Oh…" Will have mixed feelings about the fact that his parents are working so hard too early. They probably considered Will's thoughts to clean up the blood and corpses before they release putrid stench last night.
Claire's ability allows her to produce a force field that can solidify and can be manipulated to form any shape externally. It's still the initial stage of her ability so she could only produce it in a small amount. However, it doesn't stop her ability to be dynamic even at this stage. Currently, Claire is controlling a pair of floating hands made out of her ability and cleaning up the zombies from the floor.
Liam could shift the weight of the heavy objects to make them lighter so he's carrying the bulk and biggest objects to block the openings around the building.
David is acting as the wolf guard for some obvious reason. He's clearing up the stray zombies getting closer to them by swatting them far away with his large strong paws or kicking them. Some zombies squash and splatter their insides directly after hitting the walls or ground.
The three have been working hard and cleared the area significantly.
"I should probably head there and find something that I can help them with..."
"Oh. That's… Your parents probably wouldn't want that. Maybe you should rest for a bit more? It's still four in the morning after all"
"I'll be fine I'm not a kid, in fact, I am currently in my puberty…"
Although Will is telling the truth, even his height is already the same as the nurse's but she giggles softly and only sees Will as an adorable diligent boy. Now she knows how Clair feels while giving all the praise she could find for her son.
Will then head down after saying "have a great day" to the nurse to try anything to help his parents.
"Will? You woke up too early… Why did you come down? It smells so bad in here you should probably head back" Claire said when he caught a glimpse of the figure of her son going down the stairs.
"I couldn't possibly go back and rest seeing you working so hard… how is it using your ability mom?"
"Actually, it's a bit fun. I could form any shape with it so it's very flexible for various jobs… Anyway, you should head back, there's gore scene everywhere" Claire is a doctor so she's already used to seeing people's innards and blood. But not the same could be said for her son. He was a student just a day ago.
"I think my stomach is quite strong mom. I could probably handle this much…"
"Well… there's the utility room, but are you sure?"
"It's really fine mom… don't you think the sooner I get used to this would be for the better in the zombie apocalypse?"
Claire sighed and could only think that it was the expected answer from her practical son.
Will found a vacuum cleaner and then enchant it to make its sucking power stronger. Using this, the coagulated blood on the ground is easily being taken care of.
"What's that?..."
"Will? What is it?" Clair looks at her son after hearing him mutter only to see his complexion looking pale and disgusted.
"Will, as expected, you should go upstairs for now…"
"It's not that mom… I could feel dark energy all over the place from the moment I arrive here but now, something seems to be sucking them and accumulating in one place… it's also moving towards this direction!" Will immediately stands up and heads to the main entrance.
His father who sees him dashing along the way also runs along with him.
"What is it will?"
"I don't know… we could only go and see. But I can feel that some force is getting stronger!"
David guarding the entrance could feel something coming with his superior senses. He just doesn't know what it is or where it's coming from. Taking a cautious stance, the hair on his back is standing on end. Baring his fangs and sharpening his eyes while growling, he scans the area without moving from the spot.
Then, Will and Liam run his way, proving that his gut feeling is right. He looks at them with a face saying "What is it? Do you feel it too?"
Will sees a male zombie in the distance, the source of that suction seems to be coming from him. The miasma in the air emitting from the other zombies is all gathering to him and he's somehow getting stronger and stronger.
"This is bad! That zombie seems to be getting stronger or something!" Will grab his toy gun and aims at it.
With the pull of the trigger, the bead bullet enchanted with piercing power shoots toward the zombie. The zombie shifts his body slightly, avoiding it.
Will who could see it clearly using his enchanted glasses is left alarmed. He grabs another toy gun and pulls the trigger in both hands aiming at the zombie's head and torso.
With a speed haven't seen before from any other zombies, this particular zombie is evading the bullets from hitting his brains, leaving the others hit other parts of his body.
"If only I brought my bag with me…" The explosion billets are left inside Will's bag in the room where Rick and Tom are sleeping.
The sun barely lights up the sky but David could clearly see the zombie in the distance swiftly evade the bullets with his wolf eyes. Even Liam could tell that this zombie is quite hard to deal with.
"It's like an evolved version of the zombies…" Liam mutters as he grabs the folding cane from the back pocket of his jeans.
"Honey, Will, what is going on?..." Clair also arrives behind them.
The zombies nearby who took notice of the ruckus are gathering one after another.
Three of them except Will have already used a significant amount of their energy from cleaning up the first floor. They're in no condition to fight now.
"We should get back and seal the door!..." Exclaim Will, slowly falling back while keep hitting the evolving and the other zombies gathering near. The others couldn't help but head inside too. They lock and block the door with the heaviest things they could find.
The evolving zombie outside pounces at the door in one leap causing it and the objects blocking it to tremor.
The four then go up to the second floor to see the situation from the higher ground.
The awake survivors seeing their hurrying manner look at them curiously. However, seeing the big wolf, they couldn't willingly get close.
"It's rampaging down there…"
"It probably really wants to get us… What is happening to it, Will?"
"I think it is as what you said dad, it's probably an evolved version of a zombie. However, it seems like it's still in the middle of its evolution. It keeps sucking up the dark energy around with no signs of stopping. I can feel it getting stronger by the minute…"
"Oh no! It's already strong now, how strong will it still become? We have to hurry up and stop it!" Clair is starting to panic.
Will hurries into the room and grabs his weapon from his backpack.
"What is happening Will?" Rick who notices Will whispers to prevent Tom from waking up.
"An evolving zombie appeared…"
"Huh? It can get stronger?!" Rick instantly dashes outside the door and huddles with the other survivors to see what is happening down from the windows.
Will glance at Tom sleeping peacefully. Maybe Tom could deal with this zombie faster but Will knows Tom needs appropriate rest to grow up properly. As the older ones, they shouldn't depend on him too much.
Before Will could get back by the window, the survivors simultaneously exclaim and hurryingly back away from the window. Then, they suddenly start running towards the rooms screaming for their life.
The zombie hovers in the air with an arch by leaping from the ground and then uses the air conditioner and water pipes as stepping stones to climb the wall as if it's crawling on flat ground. It only took two seconds for it to reach the second floor. Grabbing a reliable water pipe to hold its body in place, its hungry eyes peer through the window. The zombie then starts focusing a significant amount of dark energy on his hands turning them into sharp claws.
Clair produces a transparent sharp needle made out of a solid force field with her ability and shoots it at the zombie right through the glass window, shattering it.
It pierces the zombie's torso but it's far from stopping it. Liam swings his stick up and then uses his ability to make the tip a hundred times heavier and aim it down on the zombie.
With a loud boom, the concrete frame of the window explodes, causing debris and dust to fly.
David with his superior senses could tell that Liam didn't hit the zombie as it was able to evade it at the last moment. He hit Clair and Liam with the soft part of the side of his stomach and fling them to the side to evade the zombie about to claw them.
The zombie's claw hit the backpack the wolf is wearing but before it could tear the fabric, the enchantments hidden within activates. The zombie's strength is remarkable. The large wolf is pushed from the impact of that claw attack and hit the wall.
When there are finally no longer any obstacles, Will that's aiming his gun constantly at the zombie's head pulls the trigger at the right timing.
The crispy sound of the gun releasing the bullet resounds dully among the noises. Will's hand barely shifted due to the virtually zero recoil and his aim perfectly hit where it should be.
The bullet bead with exploding enchantment hit the zombie right at its temple and then releases a massive amount of heat and shock wave, drilling into the zombie's skin and skull, and there explodes.
Among the dust, a large booming sound and strong combustion spread the air clear from them, along with the zombie's brain matter.
The room stilled. After the large explosion, everybody could only hear their heads ringing, especially the one closest to it.
"Untie, Uncle! Are you okay?" Rick zaps around and started checking everybody's condition. When he saw the terrifying look of the zombie, Rick was too scared to attack. Also, debris started scattering all over the place so he can't just run around or he might trip.
"Mom, dad!" Both Claire and Liam used most of the last remaining of their energy and feel extremely tired.
David's wolf form slowly shifts back into a human, leaving his body bare except for the large backpack that fortunately covers his private part. He breathes a large amount of air and seems to be in pain.
After a moment, the others finally realized that the threat is finally gone and hurries toward the ones fallen on the ground and help them. The hospital staff checks their physical condition and then lets them rest on the hospital beds.
The three couldn't wake up until noon that day.
Liam is the first one to wake up to see his wife sleeping deeply on another hospital bed. His son Tom is sitting in her bed while playing with a phone.
Later, Liam encounters the other survivors doing whatever they can to seal the broken window. However, Liam couldn't find Will anywhere and then only to hear from someone that he and his friend went out earlier while he was unconscious.
"Will, are you sure that you didn't have to tell your parents first before going out? Don't you think they'll get angry once they wake up?" Rick on the passenger seat anxiously said.
"Didn't you say earlier that we have to hurry up and check on your mom? If my parents know what we are trying to do then they would definitely be against it… or they would go along with their exhausted bodies"
Right after dealing with that evolving zombie, Will and everybody else realized that they were in a far more dangerous situation than they thought. If the zombies could easily break into the houses, they wouldn't be safe wherever they hide.
Realizing this, Rick started panicking and wants to go out all alone and get his mother right at that moment. Will is worried for her too so he decided to come along with him also so that he could prevent Rick from making hasty moves.
Plus, Will's weapons are steadily running out. If this goes on, it wouldn't take a month for him to be left empty-handed so he also has one other goal to get supplies along the way.
"Thanks, Will. I can't believe you're the type of person that could go against his parent for my sake…"
"Well, yes…"
Before they left, they cleared the perimeter of the ground level of the hospital from the zombies and thankfully found no other evolving ones.
Rick's speed is very advantageous against the zombies. Although he started puking for a while after he cut some zombies' heads from their necks.
"The government still hasn't issued a rescue mission… are they giving up on us? Are we supposed to just fend from the zombies ourselves?" Rick grumbles anxiously, gripping the surgical knife in his hand. He seems to be trembling with frustration.
The car traverse among the mess and scattered vehicles on the road. Zombies crawling on the ground are mercilessly hit by the bumper and rolled by the tires of Will's car that they found along the way, producing crunching and splattering sounds.
"Oh, we hit another one again…" Rick says with disgust as he bounces up and down.
"We'll get your mom then head to the stores and ransack what we can… or would it be okay for you if we head to the stores first so we wouldn't have to split our hands protecting your mom and hoarding stuff?"
"… please let's get my mom first… I just really want to see her now" After a long pause, Rick replied.
"I understand…"
They continue on the road leading to their neighborhood.
End of chapter.