Alex pushed through the opening with loud and confident steps, pushing away the people who blocked the way.
Several of the store's shelves were ransacked already, pushed down to block the glass windows to hide the humans inside from zombies.
'Tsk, these little fucks already took all the best food.'
"W-wait... Alex! Why are you dragging me? I can walk for myself... Ah?"
Since she asked, he released her hand as she stumbled forwards and collided with his strong, muscular back. Her hands fumbled forward, groping at his tight chest and abs before stabilising herself.
'Wow... His muscles are so firm... and... sexy...'
Alex ignored the idle Claire, who seemed aroused by his scent and the changes slowly occurring in her body and pressed her nose closer to take stealthy sniffs, hoping he didn't notice.
Eclaire [Affection: 34] +1
"Let's see... Nice!"
Alex quickly grabbed a handful of candy, chocolates that seemed light tasting and foods high in calories, his large rucksack now half full with the food and other items.
Looking back towards the girl twiddling her fingers, he stepped forward, pushing a smaller boy out of the way with his arm.
"Ah!? W-what are you... Ugh!"
The boy's whiny voice irritated him, so he slapped him away, filling the backpack with more biscuits, female sanitary products, a few medicines, and bandages before picking some of the 3-litre bottles of water and stuffing it full.
Many eyes watched him with unpleased looks, some wanted to step forward, but the leader stopped them.
He was a boy named John Davies, with brown curly hair and green eyes.
John stepped forward, holding a large mace, ready for anyone to strike at him.
Alex squatted a little as he flung the backpack over his shoulder, frowning as he tried to move his body and wondered if it was too heavy.
"Hmmm, no, it's about fine. Let's increase strength a bit."
Earlier, he focused more on willpower and stamina but found that all the attributes were important; strength and agility needed to be improved quickly.
Carrying weight would probably be very important in the future; somehow, this end of days seemed more tiresome than he thought.
"Claire, here, take this."
Woosh, thud! He tossed a small backpack filled with a portion of water, medicine and feminine products, although he could carry some and kept most of them in his bag.
He wouldn't just give them to someone else; she hadn't given him any payment—instead, giving her another bag and treating it as a form of repayment for her earlier help.
'She did kill quite a few zombies and help me get here sooner.'
"Ah!? Thank you! I-is it okay to take these?" Claire asked; her Vesta transformation would take a little longer to mature, thus still retaining most of her human feelings and emotions.
"Don't worry; you earned them killing those zombies; you bought enough time for these insects."
John approached the pair, his hand slowly reaching for Claire's shoulder with a slight grin.
He acted the perfect gentleman, but both Ghouls could smell the male's slight excitement when he approached, and her shoulder moved to avoid him, standing beside Alex.
"What's the matter?" Claire asked, feeling a little strange, 'Why did I avoid him, and how come it felt so unpleasant for another male to approach me so close?'
She took a moment to look towards the tall, handsome male beside her who could look sexy chewing beef jerky with a loud chomp.
"E-eh, well, miss Eclaire... those supplies are technically ours as this is our base... Could you please put them back?" John scratched his head before shifting his eyes towards Alex, wondering if this guy would do something.
Claire nodded, feeling his words and logic were sound, "Mmm, I see... I guess you are right."
When he saw her accept so easily, John smiled and continued speaking.
"Of course, the feminine products and bag itself you can keep... Some of the food is okay if you'll stay with us."
Alex ignored this loser, chewing the tasty jerky, one of the few foods that didn't taste like vomit for him now, as he surveyed the small store with two floors.
This small supermarket was nothing like a large mall or fully sized one. The walls were thin and used ordinary glass for the large human-sized windows. He concluded this wasn't a place for a prolonged stay.
'This cannot stop the zombies now; what if they evolve as we do? No, what if they evolve beyond us?'
Alex began to realise his previous idea of finding a place on campus until things eased down was impossible, from the sounds upstairs of several women being forced into performing acts for food. 'This world is fucked...'
"A supermarket.... Or shopping mall might be a good place to hold out. Then I can spend a little time to improve myself before heading south to try finding my mother..."
His words were quiet; only Claire could hear them; thanks to her improved listening, a moment later, he noticed her taking the bag from her shoulder as if to hand the things over.
'What is this stupid girl doing?'
Claire handed over the red bag halfway towards John, but when he reached for it, a strong hand grasped her wrist and yanked it back.
'Why is he dragging me around? It's a little nice tough. So insistent... Hehe.'
Her trained body didn't clash with Alex this time, instead wrapping around him and standing to his back, watching him look at John with a strangely aggressive look.
"What are you doing? You are stealing!" Shouted a nerdy-looking guy with short black hair and thick glasses, his fingers pointed towards Alex, who snorted at him before tilting his head and looking at John, their supposed leader.
Alex shook his head before grabbing a bottle of water from the shelf, and he started to drink from it after opening the lid with a loud snap.
Water dripped from the corner of his mouth as he swallowed sweet, soft water; he stopped momentarily before taking a huge mouthful and turned to the cute gobsmacked Claire, pressing his lips against hers and feeding the water into her mouth as she swallowed it by reflex.
'Awawa!? What about his ex? Another kiss... The water taste's like sweet barbeque jerky...'
Claire was completely taken aback by Alex's sudden actions but eventually managed to suck up the water forced down her throat.
"M-mm!"
She felt so embarrassed when she realised what he'd done – not even giving her a chance to say no or back out! He seemed to enjoy himself as they kissed, their tongues intertwining passionately.
However, behind them was the opposite story; John grasped onto the tight novice mace in deep anger. He didn't hide the truth about his love towards Eclaire in class, sometimes taking the same ones as her to be close.
John bit his lower lip, taking a deep breath, trying to calm down while gritting his teeth. 'I have to hit him, this fucker! Just wait until you sleep, we'll beat the fuck out of you, and all take turns to enjoy this slut! I cannot believe all this time I felt she was pure!'
Oblivious to the simp's inner turmoil, Claire and Alex continued to kiss each other as they caressed each other's backs with a soft hug.
"I-I can't breathe..." Her voice came out in a husky whisper.
He didn't seem to hear her, continuing to feed more water into her mouth until he finally pulled away.
Her eyes were wide open, staring at him in shock and confusion. 'What the hell did I do?! Why would you...?'
She looked down at her shirt, which was already soaked with sweat from kissing him for the past few minutes. There was no way she could've missed the obvious bulge in his pants...
But still, she couldn't believe what she had just done...
Alex sighed before rubbing the back of his neck, "Sorry about that; I got carried away."
'He kissed me again... I have kissed him back twice... Was I also such an easy woman!?' Claire felt confused by her actions.
"Oi! You two stop making out and return our fucking stuff!" John shouted, his mace held high before a sudden gust of wind flashed past him.
Thud, crack! Alex kicked out with his armoured feet and crushed the small eggs between Johns's leg with a loud crack forcing him to drop his mace and kneel, grasping them.
Bang! A knee smashed into his face, crushing all his teeth and snapping his jaw, causing the boy to shudder and drop to the ground, drooling and blood seeping from his mouth.
"Ah, keep your filthy eyes and desires locked away. This is a woman you cannot touch."
Alex didn't stop thinking about Amy or Sarah; he planned to find them before night came. His feelings for Claire were merely a sexual attraction, a woman who would be helpful to be around, and she was already one of his ghouls.
However, these thoughts didn't come to Claire; she only saw Alex hit the boy because of her. Her eyes glistened, and she watched Alex step on the fallen John's face before stomping several times.
"Argh! It hurts... My teeth... they're all smashed..."
The loud crack and meat squishing filled the room as everyone backed away with horrified looks.
'Ah fuck... It seems becoming a ghoul has changed me quite significantly, huh?' Alex thought to himself.
"Ugh... P-please, help me... Someone stop him..."
'Is Alex jealous? Why... So strange, Amy and even Sarah are so much prettier... Hehe, but it feels nice! Beat the bad guys that want to molest me more.'
Eclaire [Affection: 35] +1
Eclaire [Loyalty: 29] +1