"Keep going?" Zane cracked a slight smile, digging the plan. Time to keep hunting down those human Awakeners for more of those Core crystals to juice up.
He hadn't had his fill of 'cherries' just yet...
Plus, Zane, cooped up in his hidey-hole, wasn't big on uninvited guests. Best way to keep folks from dropping by was to take 'em out before they could even think about it!
So, Zane gave the word to Zoe, telling her to hit the streets and sniff out the human Awakeners. With her lightning-fast moves, she was the perfect scout.
"Hehehehe~~"
Zoe cackled like something out of a spooky flick, zipped out of the lair, and vanished around a distant street corner.
Night took over.
Darkness swallowed the world, and with Verdantia's power grid out, the streetlights were dead, leaving everything pitch black.
In that deep, dark night, the growls of zombies and the shrieks of mutated beasts were the regular soundtrack, painting a scene straight out of a nightmare.
Zane was posted up by the window at his place, eyes locked on the street below.
Zombies got killer night vision; even from twenty floors up, he could make out every gory detail down on the street.
Just then, a shadowy figure blitzed into the building.
It was Zoe, back from her mission.
"Boss... I found a bunch of humans. They're holed up in the Walmart Supermarket, guarding a warehouse. Looks like more than ten Awakeners, all decked out like those dudes we saw today," Zoe reported.
Now, with smarts like a ten-year-old, she could spit out anything not too complex.
More than ten Awakeners...
All in the same getups...
Zane didn't have to rack his brain to figure they were from Quantum Leap Innovations, 'cause who else would be rocking uniforms during the Apocalypse?
They were probably guarding a stash of supplies in that supermarket warehouse, trying to work out how to haul it all back.
In this Apocalypse, moving stuff was no joke, not everyone had the room to store things.
"Let's roll, take a peek," Zane said, cutting to the chase.
Zoe lit up, her grin stretching ear to ear, showing off a freaky, wide smile...
Night was prime time for zombies to go hunting.
But this run was gonna be different.
A whole crew of zombies moved in silence, ghosting through the darkness behind Zane, heading for the target.
Inside the Walmart Supermarket, there were over two hundred humans. Among them, more than a hundred were just regular survivors, and the rest were Quantum Leap Innovations crew.
Twelve of them were Awakeners.
They were there for the massive warehouse inside the supermarket, packed with supplies crucial for keeping thousands alive—stuff that was too valuable to lose.
"So much gear, how are we gonna move all this with just our two hundred folks? This is gonna wear us out," a young guard whined.
Another dude next to him took a long drag on his cigarette, blowing out a smoke cloud.
"Who cares, let's just wait for more backup. As long as we've got grub, smokes, and booze, we just keep on guarding," he shrugged.
"The thing is... it doesn't feel safe out here, away from the company. Gives me the creeps," the young guard confessed, sounding shaky.
His buddy just laughed it off.
"Scared of some zombies busting in here? We got twelve Awakeners on deck; any zombie dumb enough to step up is basically signing their own death warrant."
"Man, I hope so..." the young guard yawned, his eyes heavy as the night dragged on, "Yo, Kai, toss me a cig to keep these peepers open, will ya?"
Little did they know, outside the supermarket, a whole army of zombies had crept up and surrounded the place. They stood frozen like statues, their eyes burning with a fierce glow, like some demons lurking in the shadows!
At Zane's signal, they'd rush in, wild and fearless!
"Twelve Awakeners, huh..."
Zane picked up on the human vibes inside and figured storming in headfirst might not be the smartest move right now.
He wasn't sweating it, though.
The real headache was the risk of his zombie squad taking heavy hits.
The zombies he rolled with tonight were top-tier, trained to follow orders to a T...
So, Zane decided to sneak in solo first.
He planned to take out a few Awakeners quietly.
After thinning their ranks, he'd signal for the all-out attack.
He told his crew to hang tight and crept forward alone, blending into the shadows, vanishing into the night...
Using his [Dead Zone] power, Zane slipped right through the walls and into the supermarket.
Quiet as a shadow.
"Gotta stay sharp..."
With twelve Awakeners around, Zane could only keep his undead king vibe going for five minutes max.
If this turned into a drawn-out scrap, things could get dicey.
Sensing the humans nearby, Zane moved cautiously. Despite the pitch black, he could see everything clear as day.
The ground floor was all bling—gold, silver, jewels. Stuff that nobody cared about anymore, just collecting dust.
Zane kept moving, hitting the main lobby. The sound of human breathing got louder, some snoring softly. Scanning the room, he spotted a bunch of folks crashed out on the floor.
Not everyone was out, though. Some were still up, glued to their phones, the dim glow lighting up their shiny domes.
"Up late, no hair, huh?" Zane mused. It made sense—big places like this had their own power supply.
Zane didn't bother with the regular survivors. He had his sights set on a specific room not too far off.
Inside, three people: one Awakener and two ladies. Zane crept closer, silent as ever.
Using his [Dead Zone] power again, he phased through the wall into the room. It used to be a shop but now had a bed and a heavy, musky air.
On the bed, a young dude and two women were all tangled up, stark naked. Clearly, they'd been busy.
In these crazy times, Awakeners were hot commodities, and plenty of women were throwing themselves at them.
Facing daily dangers, these women were living on edge, never sure if they'd see another sunrise, so they lived it up while they could.
Zane pulled out a dagger and smoothly drove it into the young man's forehead. To keep it quiet, he used his [Dead Zone] to slip the blade through the skull, mixing up the brain. With a quick flick, a Brain Nexus popped out. This guy was low-level, no Core crystal yet.
Zane wasn't fussy. He gobbled up the Brain Nexus on the spot, the taste reminding him of 'cherries'.
The women kept sleeping, totally knocked out, worn out from earlier. "They're gonna freak if they wake up next to a corpse..." Zane thought.
With a hint of mercy, and to save them a scare, he gently used his dagger on them too, one by one...