Author's Note:
I just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you. When I started writing this story, I never expected it to go this way or to reach so many people. Seeing that it's almost at 100k views is completely mind-blowing. A huge, sincere thank you to everyone who has been reading, following along, and supporting this journey. And an extra special thanks to those who have gifted Powerstones – your support means the world to me and helps keep me motivated. Thank you all so much.
---
Three days had passed since the failed mission. The mood in the school was heavy with defeat. General Roberts called all the officers into the main classroom they used for meetings. He stood at the front where the teacher's desk used to be, his shoulders slumped with the weight of their failure.
"The mission was a complete and total failure," General Roberts began, his voice rough with exhaustion. He looked much older than he had just a week ago. "We lost all twenty-three soldiers from the assault teams. Captain Reynolds was the only one who came back alive, and he's currently in medical being treated for severe shock."
He placed a series of blurry, dark photos on the table. The images showed the bodies of soldiers lying scattered in the street. Some were missing limbs, others were cut clean in half. The officers around the table shifted uncomfortably, avoiding looking directly at the graphic evidence of their failure.
"Our men didn't even scratch it," General Roberts continued, his voice rising slightly with frustration. "Not one bullet hit the target. Our snipers reported it moved too fast to track properly."
Then he showed another photo, this one even more disturbing. It showed the six-eyed creature fighting another mutated zombie - a hulking brute with bony protrusions covering its body. The six-eyed one was winning easily, its strange flesh-like sword moving in blurs.
"This proves beyond doubt that it has consciousness and higher reasoning," General Roberts said, tapping the photo for emphasis. "It's not like the other zombies. It thinks, it plans, it makes tactical decisions. We're officially classifying it as an S-rank threat now. I've already sent the full report to what remains of the government."
Major Carlson, a stern woman with sharp features, spoke up. "What about the research on the other mutated zombies? Has Dr. Crenil made any progress with the tissue samples we provided?"
"None," Colonel Harris answered from the corner of the room. "Dr. Crenil can't figure out how the virus works at a fundamental level. The mutated specimens are just as biologically confusing as the regular zombies. If anything, they're more complex - the virus seems to be rewriting their DNA in ways we can't comprehend."
The meeting lasted another hour, with officers arguing about next steps. Some wanted to try again with heavier weapons, others thought they should avoid the creature entirely. No consensus was reached, and they adjourned with the same sense of hopelessness they'd started with.
---
Around the school, survivors whispered about what happened. The story spread quickly through the crowded corridors and makeshift sleeping areas.
"I heard that monster killed twenty-three soldiers in under two minutes," one man said to his friend while they sorted through donated clothing.
"They say it can dodge bullets like they're standing still," another person added near the food line. "My cousin was on guard duty when Reynolds came back - he said the captain was babbling about that zombie and a sword that moved like lightning."
Kaily and Xxya heard the news while waiting in line for their evening meal of canned beans and rice. They looked at each other with wide eyes, the spoonfuls of food suddenly forgotten in their hands.
"That thing from the storage room..." Kaily whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "It's really that powerful? It took down twenty-three trained soldiers?"
Xxya nodded slowly, her expression grim. "It killed all those professional soldiers like they were nothing. Just like it killed those armed men who were after us in the building. Remember how it moved?"
Later that day, they saw Captain Lee walking across the schoolyard with two of his men. He was laughing at some joke, completely at ease. Seeing him made their blood boil, their hands clenching into fists at their sides.
They remembered what he had done with painful clarity. He and his soldiers had rescued them and their mother from a horde of zombies. They had thought they were safe finally, that military protection meant survival. But then Captain Lee and his men had trapped them in an abandoned office building. They had taken turns raping their mother while the girls watched, helpless. Their mother had created a distraction - overturning a shelf and screaming for them to run - so they could escape, but she didn't make it out with them. Days later, they found her wandering with the other zombies, her eyes empty, her body moving with that familiar shambling gait.
Now the sight of Captain Lee living comfortably, joking with his friends while their mother was either dead or among the walking dead, made them sick with rage.
"We need to make him pay," Kaily said later that night, her hands still clenched into fists as they lay in their assigned cot. "We need to make all of them pay for what they did to Mom."
"But he's a soldier," Xxya reasoned, though her voice was equally filled with anger. "He has guns, and he has other soldiers watching his back. There are too many of them."
Over the next two days, they started listening carefully to every conversation around the camp. They lingered near groups of soldiers, pretending to be occupied with other tasks while actually memorizing every word. They heard about how the six-eyed zombie was different from all other mutations. How it demonstrated clear consciousness. How it specifically hunted and killed other mutated zombies, apparently consuming them in some way.
Then, during a particularly revealing conversation between two lab technicians, they had an idea.
"They say it's hunting the mutated ones specifically," one tech had said. "Like they're food to it or something."
The other had nodded. "The reconnaissance photos show it absorbing them somehow. There's something about the mutated specimens it wants."
The girls also heard about the secret experiments happening in the converted science labs. The military was studying mutated zombie blood, trying to understand what made the mutations different.
That night, when most people were sleeping and the hall guards were changing shifts, they sneaked out of their room. They moved quietly through the dark hallways, sticking to shadows and avoiding the patrols they'd memorized over previous nights. They found the laboratory in what used to be the science room, surprisingly unlocked.
Inside, they saw tables crowded with medical equipment they didn't recognize. There were microscopes and centrifuges, test tubes and petri dishes. On one metal table near the back, they found a locked metal box. Using a hairpin they'd brought for exactly this purpose, Kaily worked the simple lock until it clicked open.
When they lifted the lid, they saw five small glass bottles nestled in protective foam. Each bottle contained dark, thick blood that seemed almost black in the dim light. A printed label on the inside of the box lid read: "Mutated Zombie Blood - Extreme Danger - Biohazard Level 4."
Kaily looked at Xxya with growing excitement. "This is what that six-eyed thing wants," she whispered, her eyes wide with realization. "It eats mutated zombies. This blood is like special food for it. This is why it hunts them!"
Xxya's eyes widened as she understood the implication. "If we give this to it... if we offer it this blood... maybe it will help us. Maybe we can ask it to kill Captain Lee and his men. It's powerful enough to do what we can't."
They took the box with the five precious blood bottles and quietly left the room, slipping back into the shadows of the hallway.
Back in their sleeping area, they hid the box under a loose floorboard beneath Xxya's cot. They knew they couldn't fight Captain Lee themselves - he had too many soldiers, too many guns and protection. But the six-eyed creature could. It had already proven it could slaughter trained soldiers with ease. If they offered it these five bottles of mutated blood, maybe it would agree to help them get revenge for their mother. Maybe this powerful, terrifying creature could become their unlikely ally.
---
The moon was high in the sky when Dr. Crenil entered his lab. He had been working late, trying to understand the mutated zombie blood. But when he went to check on the precious samples, his blood ran cold. The metal box was gone.
He ran through the dark hallways of the school, his heart pounding. He found General Roberts in his office, studying maps by lantern light.
He bursted through the door without knocking and shouted. "The blood samples! All five bottles! Someone stole them in the lab!"
General Roberts stood up so fast his chair fell over with a loud clatter. "What? When? How did this happen?"
"I don't know! They were there when I left earlier! Now the box is completely gone!"
The General's face turned dark red with anger. He stormed out into the hallway and bellowed for all available soldiers. They gathered quickly, looking confused and tired in the dim lighting.
"Which of you useless pieces of shit was guarding the lab earlier?" the General screamed, his voice echoing through the empty hallways.
Four young soldiers stepped forward nervously. "We were, sir," one of them said, his voice trembling.
"And you didn't see anything? You didn't hear anything? How does someone steal something right under your noses?"
The soldiers shook their heads, avoiding his gaze. "No, sir. It was quiet all night. We didn't see anyone."
General Roberts started cursing loudly, his words sharp and brutal. "Do you idiots understand how important those samples were? We lost two squad capturing that single mutated zombie! And now some thief has stolen the only thing we got from that entire disaster!"
The other officers came running when they heard the shouting. Their faces fell when they heard the news.
"The mutated blood is gone?" The Colonel asked. "All five bottles?"
"All of them!" General Roberts shouted, spit flying from his mouth. "I want every room in this school searched! Every survivor questioned! Tear this place apart if you have to! If you find who did this... kill them on the spot! No questions!"
The soldiers spread out through the school. They started kicking down doors and tearing through people's few belongings. People screamed and cried as the soldiers ripped apart their sleeping areas, throwing everything everywhere.
---
Kaily and Xxya were sleeping when they heard the commotion. They jumped up from their thin mats and peered out their door. Soldiers were everywhere, searching rooms and yelling at terrified survivors.
"They've discovered the box is missing."
Kaily whispered, her face pale as milk.
Xxya nodded, her hands shaking badly. "We have to get out of here right now."
They quickly pulled on their shoes and grabbed their small backpack. Xxya carefully lifted the loose floorboard in the corner and took out the heavy metal box. She slipped it into the backpack, the bottles clinking softly together.
They slipped out of their room while soldiers were violently searching the room next door. They moved like ghosts through the dark hallways, staying in the shadows and avoiding the pools of lantern light.
When they reached the main gates, they saw four soldiers guarding them now instead of the usual two. The soldiers looked alert and serious, their hands never far from their weapons.
"Please," Kaily said to them, trying to sound calm. "We need to go out. There's a sick child who needs medicine badly."
The soldiers shook their heads firmly. "No one leaves after dark. General's direct orders."
Xxya tried to reason with them, her voice pleading. "The child might die without this medicine. We'll be quick, I promise."
But the soldiers weren't listening. One of them, a sergeant, noticed the backpack bulging strangely. "What's in the bag?" he asked suspiciously, stepping closer. "If it's medicine, let me see it."
The girls looked at each other nervously, their eyes wide with fear. That moment of hesitation was all the confirmation the soldiers needed.
"Thieves!" the sergeant shouted, pulling his pistol. "We found them!"
Other soldiers came running from all directions. The girls didn't wait. They pushed past the guards and burst out into the dark, dangerous streets.
"After them!" a soldier shouted. "Don't let them get away!"
The girls ran as fast as their legs could carry them. Behind them, they could hear soldiers gathering and starting to chase them, their heavy boots pounding on the pavement.
---
The news reached General Roberts quickly. "The two girls?" he said, his voice dangerously calm. "They were the ones who stole the blood?"
The soldier who reported it nodded nervously, sweating. "They ran out the main gate, sir. one team are chasing them on foot now."
General Roberts smiled a cruel, thin smile. "I'll handle this myself. No one steals from me and lives to tell about it."
He gathered six of his soldiers and they drove out in two military trucks. The trucks moved slowly through the dark streets, their headlights cutting twin paths through the overwhelming darkness.
It didn't take long to find the girls. They were running down a main street, stumbling in the dark over debris and broken concrete. They looked exhausted already, their movements clumsy with fear and fatigue.
One of the soldiers in the truck raised his rifle, peering through the scope. "I can take the shot from here, sir," he said to General Roberts. "Clean headshots on both."
"Don't be an idiot," the General snapped, slapping the rifle barrel down. "Gunshots will bring every zombie in the city down on us like flies to rotten meat. We take them alive, get the box back, then kill them quietly."
The trucks sped up and closed the distance quickly. The girls saw the headlights coming and desperately ducked into a large, half-collapsed building.
General Roberts ordered the trucks to stop. "They're trapped now," he said with a satisfied grunt. "This building has no back exit"
He led his soldiers into the building. They moved carefully, using powerful flashlights to see in the dark.
---
Back to the girls
The girls ran through the dark building, gasping for air. They were tired, scared, and completely lost. Their lungs burned from running, and their legs felt like rubber.
They turned down a long hallway and found a dead end. There was only one door at the very end. They opened it and found a small room with no other exits - just some rusty shelves and broken supplies.
Before they could turn back, soldiers filled the hallway behind them. General Roberts walked forward, a cruel, triumphant smile on his face.
"Nowhere left to run, you little thieves," he said. "Give me the blood samples and I'll make this quick and relatively painless."
The soldiers pointed their guns at the girls, trapping them completely in the small room.
Thinking quickly, Kaily reached into her backpack and pulled out the entire metal box. She held it up high, then deliberately took out one bottle and threw it to the concrete floor where it shattered, the dark, thick blood spreading in a viscous puddle.
"If you shoot us, I'll smash the entire box!" she screamed, her voice shaking but determined. "There are four bottles left in here! Shoot us and you'll lose them all!"
---
Kokushibo's POV
Kokushibo moved through the night streets. He was hunting another mutated zombies again.
The mutant was big, It didn't see him coming.
Kokushibo killed it quickly, efficiently. His sword moved once in a silver flash, and the mutant fell into two clean pieces. He was beginning to absorb its body when a familiar scent caught his attention.
The same kind he had been hunting. But this was different - this blood was fresh, concentrated, and had just been released somewhere close.
The scent was irresistible. He turned toward the smell and vanished into the darkness, moving faster than any human eye could follow.
---
General Roberts's eyes went wide with horror as he watched the precious blood pool on the dirty floor. "Wait! Don't!" he screamed, his voice cracking. He turned to his soldiers frantically. "Lower your weapons! Now! All of you!"
The soldiers slowly lowered their guns, looking confused and uncertain.
"Just give us the remaining bottles," General Roberts said, trying to sound calm but failing miserably. "No one needs to get hurt anymore. Give us the bottles and we'll let you go, I promise."
The girls didn't believe him for a second. They could see the naked murder in his eyes, the way his hand twitched toward his hidden weapon.
"If you want the box," Xxya said firmly, "Give us your guns. All of them. Then we'll give you the box."
General Roberts thought about it, his mind racing. He needed those blood samples desperately. Without them, their research was set back months, and he'd likely be killed or worse.
"Fine," he said after a long moment, his voice tight. He turned to his soldiers. "Put your weapons on the floor and push them to the girls."
The soldiers hesitated, looking at each other in disbelief.
"Do it now, you morons!" General Roberts screamed, his face purple with rage.
Slowly, reluctantly, the soldiers placed their guns on the floor and pushed them toward the girls. Kaily and Xxya gathered the weapons, their hands shaking so badly they could barely hold the heavy guns.
But General Roberts had a hidden gun under his jacket. He planned to get the blood back, then shoot the girls.
After the exchange, General Roberts took the metal box with a greedy smile. But when he opened it, his smile vanished instantly. "There are only two bottles here! Where's the other two? You said there were four left!"
The girls didn't answer, but their defiant looks told him everything.
General Roberts's face turned purple with pure rage. "You bitches! You smashed one and kept two! Give me that bottles!" He reached under his jacket and pulled out his hidden pistol, pointing it directly at Kaily's face.
But as he pulled the trigger, something impossible happened. He didn't feel his hand anymore. He looked down and saw his hand was simply gone - cleanly severed at the wrist. It lay on the floor, still holding the pistol.
Blood sprayed from his wrist in a shocking red fountain. He opened his mouth to scream, but before he could make a sound, a deep, echoing voice spoke from directly behind him.
"I'll give you one second..."
"Move."
Everyone in the room froze. Standing behind General Roberts was the six-eyed creature they had been hunting. His golden eyes glowed in the dark room, fixed on the remaining blood bottles. His strange flesh-like sword was already stained with the General's blood.