The fear in the eyes of the three dudes was straight-up horror movie material, knowing this guy was off his rocker, planning to feed them to his pet zombie.
One guy, shaking like a leaf, tried to scoot back.
Catching that, Larry made his choice.
"Alright, you're up, buddy."
"Ah? Mmm~~Mmm~~mmm~~~"
With his mouth all taped up, the guy could only let out muffled screams.
Larry grabbed him by the neck like he was picking up a bag of groceries and started walking.
No matter how much the guy squirmed, it was no use.
He could only watch in dread as they got closer to the zombie room, his heart hitting rock bottom.
When the door swung open, a nasty blood stench hit them.
Inside, Nancy was losing it, growling like crazy.
"Check out how stoked my Nancy is..."
Larry sighed out loud.
"Mmm~~~"
Seeing this, the guy was crying real tears, whimpering through his gag.
Larry yanked off the duct tape.
"What? Got something to say?"
"Mmm~~ please, don't do this, I don't wanna die, mmm~~"
The guy was begging, tears streaming down.
Larry just shook his head.
"Man, being part of me and Nancy's love story should be an honor, dude."
He dragged the guy step by step toward the zombie.
Right as he was about to become zombie chow, out of nowhere, Zane showed up.
He couldn't watch this nonsense anymore. The only thing he cared about was the Core crystal in Larry's noggin.
He was all set to take Larry out and snatch the crystal.
"Hmm?"
But Larry was quick on the uptake. The moment Zane popped up, he sensed it and spun around.
"What? Who's this now?"
As Zane appeared, zombie Nancy suddenly calmed down. She could feel the heavy vibe of the Zombie Overlord, and her wild attitude turned to respect, even submission.
"This..."
Larry's brow furrowed seeing this.
It reminded him of chasing his crush, only to watch her fawn over others.
Jealousy surged through him.
"Now that I'm Awakened, you're toast!" Larry roared.
Zane just watched him, thinking maybe the Apocalypse and being under pressure had messed with the guy's head.
He also wondered if eating Larry's Core crystal might mess with his own head...
The tied-up guy, seeing Zane, saw a glimmer of hope.
"Bro, please help me, this guy's nuts, he wants to feed me to his zombie!"
"Oh..."
Zane was unbothered.
What did he care if the guy was nuts? He was a zombie himself...
Larry's face twisted up, his hands glowing red, his aura beefing up, clearly an Awakened with some serious muscle.
"Let me show you... what an Awakened can do!"
He lunged at Zane with his mutated hands.
But to Zane, this was child's play. With just a thought, the Zombie Overlord's power unfolded
A massive chill vibe spread out. Larry froze up like his video game just lagged big time, totally stuck in place.
Thanks to Zane snagging five Core crystals, his [Dead Zone] was off the charts.
Regular Awakened folks couldn't even twitch in the [Dead Zone].
Larry felt like he was lugging a mountain, his legs shaking like crazy. Everything went horror movie red, with Zane looking like the boss level villain on top of a mountain of doom!
"How... how is this even happening?"
Larry was freaking out, shaking like a leaf.
He was usually the big man on campus, bossing everyone around because he was Awakened. But now, up against Zane, he was a total noob.
Zane, cool as a cucumber, just walked up to him.
Larry got that final boss vibe, like the Grim Reaper was coming for him.
He knew it was game over.
Using what felt like his last ounce of strength, he turned his head slowly and just blankly stared at Nancy.
"If I'm going out, might as well look at you one last time."
That was Larry's last thought.
Zane's fingers went right through his skull, snagging the Core crystal.
Larry blacked out.
Down he went, just like that.
"Is he gone just like that?"
The dude tied up was clueless. He just saw Zane walk up and take Larry out without breaking a sweat.
"Dude, you're a legend! Quick, get me out of these ropes!"
But Zane just gave him a look.
Did he ever say he was gonna save him?
"Hey? You mean..."
The guy got the hint, his newfound hope crashing down.
Just then,
There was this flapping noise at the window.
A massive raven landed on the balcony.
This bird was no joke, standing a meter tall with eyes like blood and feathers sharp as knives.
It was clearly here for the blood scent.
Its red eyes peeked through the railing, eyeing the room.
"I wanna eat... help me in, thanks..."
"Oh?" Zane was taken aback that the bird talked like a human.
Maybe it had some parrot in its family tree.
It was pretty polite, too...
Seeing Larry's body, which was useless to him, Zane, driven by curiosity, opened the railing.
"Thanks a lot..."
The raven busted through the glass and dove in, starting on Larry's body.
Its beak was like a meat cleaver, chomping off Larry's arm and downing it in one go.
It cleaned him up so well, not even a bone was left, a freaky sight for sure.
The tied-up dude was scared stiff, never thinking that besides zombies, these freaky birds were out there too.
Despite its size, the raven was still hungry.
It looked at the tied-up guy with those creepy red eyes.
But with Zane there, it seemed to ask for permission.
"I'm still hungry, can I eat him too?"
"Go for it if you're hungry..." Zane said without much care.
The raven seemed thankful.
"Thanks, thanks, for not eating and letting me have the meal. You're really cool."
"You're welcome," Zane replied.
"Huh???" The tied-up guy, hearing all this, was totally lost.
This is cool?
Is this polite???
This is quite impolite, isn't it? Help!