"Chowing down, huh?" Zane's tone was laid-back, like he was just chatting it up with his crew.
But Zoe and Jake popped up like jack-in-the-boxes, standing at attention. Jake quickly hid the bugs he was holding behind his back, then flashed a cheesy smile.
"Hehe, boss, this was all Zoe's idea, I wasn't really feeling it..."
"Hmm???" Zoe spun around to glare at him, totally flabbergasted and annoyed. Her sharp nails poked Jake's side with a 'pfft,' like she was saying, 'Really, bro?'
But Jake, tough as nails, hardly felt the poke and kept on smiling.
Zane didn't seem bothered.
"I gotta step out for a bit. Keep things tight here."
"Oh, sure..." Jake and Zoe responded quickly, wondering what Zane was up to. Maybe a hunting trip? Could they join?
But having just been caught, they weren't about to press their luck with questions.
Zane gave them a pointed look.
"You guys into eating bugs, right? Before I get back, I want this place bug-free. Don't wanna see a single critter."
"Got it." They nodded quickly, like birds pecking at seed.
...
Zane exited the building.
After juicing up with all five of his soul crystals, he figured it was the perfect time to hit the streets and maybe snag some 'lucky ones' for more crystals.
He also wanted to scope out the recent rat rumbles and the zombie chaos.
With the details sketchy, Zane decided not to bring his army of Walking Dead.
He preferred to roll solo.
If trouble popped up, he could activate his [Dead Zone], making it easy to strike or split.
The minions, though, might not handle it; facing a mutated beast swarm or a mega zombie mob could decimate them, leaving Zane short on troops.
Zane had some leads on the rat and zombie issues, thinking they might be linked to a group he encountered in the park a few days ago.
So, he headed to the park.
A month into the Apocalypse, the streets were littered with rusted-out cars.
The once bustling roads were now overrun with weeds.
The city was a ghost town, wrecked and abandoned.
The only signs of life were the Walking Dead, sometimes frozen, sometimes aimlessly shuffling.
They sprang into action at the slightest noise, charging toward the sound.
Their ghastly faces and hungry eyes softly growled, a clear sign of their intense hunger for flesh.
These wild Walking Dead wouldn't dare mess with Zane; they knew better and steered clear of him.
But as Zane continued, the wild Walking Dead became scarce.
Bodies started appearing on the streets, the flesh of these zombies flattened like they'd been steamrolled into 'meat pancakes'.
This wasn't the work of humans, but the result of a zombie horde stampede.
The less clever Walking Dead, lacking intelligence, ran wild, leading to some getting crushed flat.
The larger the mob, the more accidental squashing occurred.
Loads of flies were buzzing around the dead bodies, which were freakishly large in the Apocalypse, like the size of your thumb, and their buzzing just added to the chaotic scene.
Zane had just wandered into another Zombie Overlord's territory.
The streets were filthy with hair and these nasty black rat droppings everywhere. Nasty, right?
Zane had already pictured this in his mind.
Under his feet, in the sewers, there were like thousands of rats chilling, sticking to their nocturnal habits, only coming out to snack at night.
Not too far away, a bunch of dark crows were going nuts, squawking all over the place, circling some tall building.
Crows, man, always the harbingers of doom and gloom.
They were all hyped about something in the building, eager to get inside.
"Anyone still alive in there?"
Zane called out and made his way towards the skyscraper.
Getting closer, he nailed it.
Yep, Zane caught a scent of blood; there were people alive in there.
But the puzzler was, along with the fresh human scent, there were Zombies, all hanging out in the same spot.
"What's the deal here?"
Zane activated his [Dead Zone] power, going all stealth mode, and slipped through the walls straight to the upper levels of the skyscraper.
Invisible in the void, nobody could see him.
In this wild Apocalypse, being invisible was like having a superpower, but the catch with Zane's ghost mode was he couldn't throw down without popping back into view, which would totally blow his cover.
Zane reached the eighteenth floor.
He figured out that in the room ahead, there were four humans and one Zombie.
Driven by curiosity, Zane ghosted through the wall again.
The first room he entered was this cramped bedroom, and man, the scene was wild—blood splattered all over the walls and floor.
The stench of blood was overpowering.
Then, there was this chain noise clanking, assaulting his ears.
Zane looked over, and there was a Zombie, all chained up, tied to the bed's headboard, growling, trying to break free.
Across from it, some guy, Larry, with beady eyes, was just staring blankly at Zoe.
"Dear Nancy, my queen, even though you've gone full Zombie and don't remember me, Larry, I'm still sticking to my promise to look after you forever."
"Remember back in the day? I said no matter what you turned into, I'd always love you."
"Heh heh—"
Nancy just growled back at him, all wild, drool dripping...
Larry seemed accustomed to it, just squinting and grinning.
"You're still my fierce Nancy. Chased you from middle school to college, ten years, always brought you breakfast. Even when you were with your dude, I had to double up the order, but you never gave me the time of day, always on my case like this..."
"Man, oh man!"
Zane was internally flipping out, wondering if this kind of crazy devotion was even real.
But Larry was all smiles, talking sweet.
"Now it's perfect, you're all mine, and I can keep you safe, even with the world going to hell. Nancy, babe, you hungry? I'll whip up something..."
With that, he bounced out of the room.
Zane followed right behind.
Invisible, Larry couldn't see him at all.
Zane could tell Larry was no ordinary guy; he was one of those awakened ones.
Larry entered another room.
When he opened the door, there were three other guys in there, all tied up, mouths duct-taped, just making muffled sounds.
Seeing Larry, the fear in their eyes was off the charts, bodies wriggling like crazy.
But tied up tight, they were stuck.
Larry squinted, giving them the once-over.
"Let's see... who's the lucky guy today getting the honor of feeding my dear Nancy?"