I was sprinting down the abandoned dark road scattered with debris, chased by a handful of zombies. One of them flanked me and lunged at me, but before it could touch me, I used my electric staff to swipe it away with all my strength. There was a loud crunching sound as my staff connected with the zombie's jaw. I kept running forward, while keeping my eyes on everything happening in my periphery. It was a bad idea coming here alone at night. But I wasn't ready to hunt with other streamers, not before I had a better understanding of what I was becoming. I didn't want to hurt anyone.
Zombies really are fast, especially at night.
As I lunged forward, I heard a shriek behind me, and turning in mid air, I found my face mere inches away from the rotten, jarred teeth of a zombie. With almost lightning fast reflexes, I raised my forearm to protect myself just in time. It sank its teeth into my arm at the same moment I stuck my electric staff in one of its eye sockets as we crashed to the ground together. I fought it off as I got to my feet quickly. I smirked - I wasn't as weak as I used to be. I guess 5/100 strength did mean something after all. I remembered I had just been bitten and I glanced at my forearm in wide-eyed. Another zombie that had caught up to me lunged at me from the shadows. I put away my electric staff speedily and caught the zombie by its neck. I threw it to the ground and pummelled it with my fists then stomped on its head with my boot, mostly breaking it's skull. I resumed sprinting down the dark road, starting to feel a little fatigued. I felt a bit of panic, thinking it was the infection setting in.
Shit shit shit! I got bitten, I got bitten! Fury what the hell do I do?, I screamed inwardly, doing my best not to freak out as I surged ahead. I was way in over head, what was I thinking coming back to the underground alone so soon after I'd barely survived six months ago??
"HAHAHAHAHA", Fury's laughter echoed in my mind. What the hell was Fury laughing at?
What's so funny?, I retorted.
"CAN'T BREAK WHAT'S ALREADY BROKEN", Fury replied.
Broken? What the hell is that supposed to mean?, I yelled inwardly as I hurtled down the road.
"YOU CAN'T GET INFECTED", Fury stated dryly. I stopped in my tracks. What?
"LOOK DOWN AT YOUR INJURY", Fury said.
I looked at my forearm and the injury was almost totally healed. I looked at my arm in spite of myself. I can self-heal! I can't get infected and I can self-heal!!
My smirk turned into a chuckle and my chuckle turned into a cackle when Fury interrupted me.
"I CAN'T CONSTANTLY DO THIS, THOUGH. YOUR LEVEL IS CURRENTLY TOO LOW TO HEAL MULTIPLE INJURIES QUICKLY. IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO POWER...UP", Fury's voice echoed in my mind.
"And i power up by...", I said, looking around as I heard rustling sounds from the shadows.
"EATING!", Fury shouted at me as a zombie lunged at me from the shadows, baring its teeth and stretching it's hands at me.
I felt a sharp pain from my upper back as a tentacle that looked like intertwined threads of flesh ripped out of my skin and went straight for the zombie. The zombie shrieked in pain as the tentacle pierced it and began to feed on it as it crashed to the ground. Another tentacle ripped itself out of the other side of my back and dug itself into the zombie. As it drained the zombie of the last of its life force, I began to feel less fatigued and more refreshed. I took a deep breath and exhaled. I looked down at the zombie at it was nothing but a husk.
This is what Fury meant by "eating". I would hate to see what this would do to a living human being. I'm never doing this to a human, for any reason whatsoever.
"Did that do anything?", I asked.
"LOOK AT YOUR STATS", Fury responded, pride in its voice.
The green transparent screen appeared in front of me and it read;
STRENGTH 7/100
SPEED 8/100
DURABILITY 6/100
STAMINA 10/100
BYTE-SIZED GENE POWER 5/100
It increased!, i mused mentally.
"YOU EAT, WE POWER UP", Fury said.
"Interesting", I quipped. I heard more rustling in the shadows. Uncoordinated quick footsteps from a little afar.
"I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU A BIT OF A ONE TIME BOOST, ACE. YOU ONLY HAD ONE LITTLE MEAL, SO IT'S NOT GOING TO LAST LONG", Fury said.
I looked down at my body and I started to glow a soft smoky green aura. My muscles felt more taut and my bones felt more dense, but I felt a lot lighter on my feet.
Woah, what's going on?
I looked at the notification that just popped up in front of me;
PREDATOR POWER UP: COUNTDOWN 00:59:32
I smiled. I was going to make the best of the one minute Fury gave me against the remaining handful of zombies that had finally caught up to me.
I started to hear the growls and shrieks as the zombies got closer. I brought out my electric staff.
The first of them jumped out of the shadows and charged at me, the others following not far behind. I felt the two tentacles coming out of my upper back again. Fury was getting ready to eat whatever I killed. I gritted my teeth as I entered a lunge stance.
I charged at them, debris flying from the spot I lunged from, my hair and hoodie flapping in the wind.
"LETS DO THIS!!!", Fury and I yelled together as my staff made contact with the first zombie.