Seeing the situation becoming more chaotic, Karina handed her communication device to the person next to her.
"Go to the rooftop, keep an eye on the situation, and use this to call for help."
Hearing the command from his superior, the young man in a brown uniform grabbed the binoculars lying on the table and rushed to the rooftop at full speed.
After he left, Karina carefully closed the door. She then closed her eyes, focusing her thoughts on the crystal core absorbed in her body, and began to feel the energy flowing through her veins.
With full concentration, Karina gathered that energy into one. As everything began to peak, she unleashed the accumulated energy in an explosion. Several zombies nearby were paralyzed.
After releasing a large amount of energy, she felt an unbearable pressure in her chest, instinctively patting the area to ease the tightness. Her furrowed brow reflected the intense pain that was building up.
"Damn it, why does it have to be me assigned here?" she cursed between ragged breaths.
Although several zombies had been paralyzed, if someone was controlling them, the zombies would never stop coming. She ran, searching for the mutant commanding the zombies, but it was difficult because the thinking mutants had human-like appearances, making them hard to identify.
Although she had been killed by that mutant in her previous life, at the time, the mutant's face was burned and unrecognizable. "Damn, she'll never have peace because of that mutant," she thought angrily.
Feeling completely exhausted, Karina noticed everything spinning in front of her, and her legs grew weak, causing her to collapse.
Suddenly, a hand reached out to her. She looked up to see who it was. It was a man she didn't recognize. She frowned. "Isn't that the guy who found his dog? What's he doing here?" she thought.
"Are you alright?" asked the man with a wide smile on his face. But Karina, seeing that smile, felt uneasy and a bit creeped out.
Through her blurry vision, she noticed a snake tattoo on his neck. Her memory flashed, revealing the connection between this man and the mutant who commanded the zombies in her past life. They had the same tattoo.
"Damn, is this the guy who bit me in my previous life?" her mind screamed.
Before she could respond or react further, darkness began to envelop her.
...
Blinking a few times, she found herself in an unfamiliar room. Her once blurry vision began to focus again. In front of her was a familiar face.
"Here, drink this first."
With Jeffry's help, she sat up, trembling as she reached for the glass and drank slowly.
"What about the mutant?" Karina asked, her voice hoarse.
"Relax, our team is hunting it down," Jeffry replied, trying to calm Karina.
"And the zombies?" she asked, handing the empty glass back to him.
"All taken care of. Sorry, I was late. I shouldn't have left this new base without adequate military protection," Jeffry said with regret, his eyes reflecting his remorse.
"No, it's not your fault. The military here should have been enough. It's just that there was a big wave caused by that mutant," she said understandingly.
"Still, it's my fault," Jeffry said with guilt, despite Karina's efforts to reassure him.
"You said this was a movie, so you must know how to kill that mutant?" Karina asked suddenly.
Jeffry sighed and nodded. "Yes, actually, after you get bitten by that mutant, it will die right then and there."
"Why?"
"It's only briefly explained, but inside you is a high-level pure mutant core. I don't know the specific reason. But don't even think of trying something stupid," Jeffry warned firmly.
Karina could only laugh when she heard his warning. "Hahaha," she laughed, but not because it was funny. "Who would want to sacrifice their life for those humans?" she thought to herself.
"I'm not going to do anything stupid like that. I still value my life. In this life, I even want to get married and have kids."
Reflecting deeper, she realized the irony of her situation—her life had ended without ever having a lover, dying as a virgin because she was too busy with her research.
Hearing Karina's words, Jeffry turned his face away, unable to suppress the small smile forming on his lips.
"Let's go check out the situation," Karina urged, pushing the blanket aside with a firm gesture.
"I'm fine," Karina insisted when she saw Jeffry helping her to stand. However, Jeffry pretended not to hear her command and continued helping her to her feet.
As they walked, Karina saw a grim scene. Corpses covered with white sheets lay scattered along the road, blood seeping through the folds, creating terrifying red patterns.
Seeing this grim sight, Karina felt something strange in her heart, despite having witnessed similar situations in her previous life.
It was then that a hand suddenly grasped hers. She looked up and saw a familiar face. "Don't blame yourself," the person whispered softly. "You did your best to save them."
"Mr. Jeffry," a deep voice interrupted, causing Karina to release her grip on his hand.
Jeffry turned toward the voice. "What is it?" he asked seriously, his tone different from when he had been speaking to her.
"Sir, there's been something strange," the man said, panting. "I wanted to report it as soon as possible, but I couldn't find you earlier."
Karina nodded at Jeffry, signaling that he could leave her alone. "I'll check the situation myself," she said before disappearing from his sight.
Karina continued walking toward the military vehicles parked outside. Luckily, with her high rank, she had the freedom to use the base's facilities as she needed.
Upon arriving at her destination, Karina was greeted by the brown dog.
"Woof woof!" the dog barked happily, trying to catch her attention. But she kept walking, ignoring the dog's presence.
Once at her destination, Karina quickly put on her lab coat and focused on the test tubes to process several pure cores. After seeing so many casualties, she couldn't just sit idly by. The presence of high-level mutant zombies was a threat that needed to be dealt with urgently.
She wasn't worried about humans; it was just that Jeffry cared too much about them. No, no, why was she thinking about Jeffry? If humanity went extinct, her life on Earth would become even more difficult.
Karina shook her head. "I'm doing this for myself, not for Jeffry," she denied.