"No, please, stay back! Stay back!" In a narrow alley, a scream echoed. His back was pressed against the cold iron; all around him were bloodthirsty zombies. Dead zombies lay sprawled on the floor, but more were coming, boxing him in.
Their hands were outstretched as they tried to grab him, the disgusting echo of their growls filling the air. Stumbling back, a zombie lunged from the side. He couldn't dodge; he was already exhausted. Its teeth sank into his flesh. He tried shaking it off, but others were already biting down.
"No, no, I don't want to turn into a monster." He took the gun from his left hand and placed it to his head. Death was a better option than turning.
His eyes closed as the trigger was pulled.
Click...
"No, no, I'm... I'm out of bullets." His voice quivered. He suddenly remembered the single bullet stashed in his chest pocket. Quickly, he took it out, his hands fumbling to load it, but before he could, the horde piled on him, knocking the gun from his hands.
Panic set in as a furious shout escaped his mouth. He watched his veins turn black, his consciousness fading. Soon he would be just another drop in the multitude of maddened zombies. The thought terrified him: "Would I have to kill other humans?"
He fell backwards, his body hitting the cold floor hard. His body convulsing as the black veins raced up his neck. His eyes grew heavy. Just before the darkness took him, a voice rang in his ears.
[PING]
[SYSTEM INTEGRATION]
[EVOLUTION IN PROGRESS...]
[EVOLUTION COMPLETE]
His unconscious body lay on the floor as the black veins writhed like living creatures.
His eyes snapped open. Slowly, he stood up. The alley looked the same, yet different, it was kinda odd.
'What happened? I survived?' He tried gasping for air, but his chest didn't move.
"Rrr-agh!" A noise resounded, a sound he knew all too well.
"Zombies!" He tried to shout it, but only an animalistic growl came out. He tried again. 'Growl.'
Raising his hands, he saw torn of bite marks and pulsing black veins. 'No, no, I... it can't be!'
"Noooo!" He wanted to scream, but the guttural growl was his only voice.
[PING]
[INTEGRATION COMPLETE]
A semi-transparent blue screen flickered before him.
'What's this?'
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Vark
Exp: 0/100
HP: 50/100
MP: 100/100
Lvl: 1
Title: Zombie
Hunger: 85%
Evolution Progress: 0.0/100
Strength: 5
Speed: 3
Agility: 3
Stamina: 3
Stat point: 0
[PING]
[HUNGER IMMINENT, EAT TO RESTORE HP]
'What? Huh?'
From the corner of his eye, a zombie moved closer, its body arched and half its face missing. It let out a low moan. He scrambled backward, his mind expecting a heartbeat that wasn't there. He touched his chest. No pulse.
Slowly, the denial broke. He was a monster.
'No!' His thoughts were in chaos. He could think, but he couldn't speak.
The clouds parted, and moonlight flooded the alley. Something metallic twinkled.
'My... my gun.' His legs moved slowly, his back arching as drool leaked from his mouth. The other zombies ignored him. He reached the gun and picked it up. 'I have to end this. This is a fate worse than death.'
He placed the barrel to his head and squeezed. Click. 'No bullets.'
His dull eyes searched the ground for the single bullet he had dropped. 'No... no.' He wandered the alley, bumping into the other monsters, no longer afraid, only desperate.
'Where is it? Where?'
He turned everywhere searching, trying to remember where it might have been. 'I... I can't live like this!'
[PING]
[MENTAL DEGRADATION, HUNGER IS IMMINENT]
[HUNGER: 70%]
'Shut up! Shut up!' No matter how he looked for the bullet, he couldn't find it.
BUMP
A zombie bumped into him.
'You! Y'all caused this?' Letting out a loud growl, he lunged at the zombie, his teeth sinking into its neck.
His teeth kept on tearing at the neck without stop.
[PING]
[FIRST KILL + 50]
[YOU HAVE KILLED A LEVEL 1 ZOMBIE]
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: BITE LVL 1 (ACTIVE)
DESCRIPTION: HOST CAN TURN HUMAN INTO A ZOMBIE WHICH HE CAN CONTROL. BITING OTHER ZOMBIES CAN ALSO TURN THEM TO HIS FOLLOWER. NOTE HOST HAS ONLY A 20% CHANCE OF SUCCESS]
[COST 40 MP]
[+ 50EXP]
[LEVEL UP]
[+5 STAT POINTS]
'What?!' His dull eyes popped wide as he stared blankly at the floating screen. 'I... I... Wait... what?!'
The first time the system window popped up he had been in a haze and barely acknowledged it.
'This is like a game window!' The cold realization slowly sunk in. His chest was still boiling with anger on being turned into a monster and the taste of revenge was still sharp in his mouth.
'With the system... With the system, I can help exterminate these things. I can level up, grow stronger, just like in games.' His dull eyes gleamed with a little bit of conviction.
He slowly raised his bowed head as he scanned the alley. There were about ten filthy zombies there, zombies who were guilty of turning him into this thing.
From the side of his eyes, he caught a reflection of something metallic. Walking towards it he saw that it was a broken piece of metal.
'I will make all of you pay. System, add all the stat points to strength.'
[PING]
[5 POINTS HAVE BEEN ADDED TO STRENGTH: 5+5=10]
With the announcement, he felt a jolt of electricity run down his body. It wasn't a huge leap, it didn't feel like he suddenly had earth-sundering power; it was faint, like a little improvement.
Vark slowly stood up, his eyes holding an unbearable grudge that even the zombies felt; their eyes turned to him as if trying to understand what was wrong with him.
Wasting no time, Vark swung the jagged iron shard. The metal connected with the head of a nearby zombie, instantly cracking the skull open with brain and blood scattering everywhere.
[PING]
[LEVEL 1 ZOMBIE KILLED]
[+50EXP]
'I don't have to feel guilty; you aren't humans.' He swung again, the metal hitting deep into the creature's neck. The zombie stumbled back. Vark swung again, this time decapitating the wretched thing's neck.
He continued swinging as the pings of the system sounded louder and louder.
SWING...
The last zombie in the alley's head was destroyed, its body collapsing with a dull thud. He had killed a total of eleven level one zombies. Somehow, he felt tired.
[PING]
[MENTAL DEGRADATION, HUNGER IS IMMINENT]
[HUNGER: 40%]
[HOST IS ADVISED TO FIND FOOD]
'Find food? Like humans?'
[PING]
[EVOLUTION CRYSTAL FOUND]
'Evolution crystal? What's that?' He remembered seeing something in the system. 'System, pull up my status window.'
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Vark
Exp: 0/400
HP: 50/140
MP: 100/140
Lvl: 4
Title: Zombie
Hunger: 40%
Evolution Progress: 0.0/100
Strength: 10
Speed: 3
Agility: 3
Stamina: 3
Stat point: 10
BITE LVL 1 (ACTIVE)
DESCRIPTION: HOST CAN TURN HUMAN INTO A ZOMBIE WHICH HE CAN CONTROL. BITING OTHER ZOMBIES CAN ALSO TURN THEM TO HIS FOLLOWER. NOTE HOST HAS ONLY A 20% CHANCE OF SUCCESS]
[COST 40 MP]
His eyes wandered to the Evolution Progression bar; for now, it was still sitting at 0.
'I wonder.' He stepped towards the last zombie that he killed; his hands dug deep into the bashed-in skull.
[PING]
[EVOLUTION CRYSTAL DETECTED, CONSUME TO EVOLVE]
Vark pulled his hands out; in them, a dimly glowing crystal laid.
[DO YOU WANT TO INGEST THE EVOLUTION CRYSTAL?]
[YES]/[NO]
He raised his hands as he glared at the options. 'Yes'
[PING]
[EVOLUTION CRYSTALS INGESTED+1]
The crystal dissolved into particles as it drifted into his body.
Vark stood up as he inspected his body. 'What the hell? There is no change.'
[EVOLUTION PROGRESS: 1/100]
He glanced up at the bar. 'What! Only one point? It's going to take ages for me to evolve!'
At this rate, he would have to kill a hundred zombies just to evolve. The thought frustrated him.
'Well, I have ten more bodies.' His head turned at the bodies lying on the floor.
'No! No! No!' Vark screamed internally. He had searched the ten bodies but couldn't find a single evolution crystal in them. He had even checked other parts of the body, but nothing could be found.
The anger in Vark's chest swelled. He looked at the mangled remains of the zombies; he had been banking on the idea that he would find more crystals and speed up his evolution, but instead he was met with disappointment.
[PING]
[HUNGER: 38%]
[DEGRADATION BEGINS]
[HOST IS ADVISED TO EAT]
Right before his eyes his grey skin started decaying, as patches of skin fell off, showing bones.
'Shit! Shit!' His voice trembled. 'Meat, I need meat?'
Without much thought he shoved the zombie meat into his mouth as he began chewing.
[PING]
[INEDIBLE, CANNOT RESTORE HUNGER]
Vark spat out the rotting flesh, the taste worse than anything he could have imagined. The cold reality soon dawned on him: to survive he needed flesh, fresh one, and fresh meant human.
'Is there really no other way? Do I need to eat humans just to survive? I... I can't. Should I end it now?'
[PING]
[HUNGER: 35%]
[WARNING: MENTAL DEGRADATION INCREASING]
He glanced down at the iron shard, then at his own decaying flesh.
'I have to end this! I... I can't eat humans!'
Vark's grip tightened on the iron shard.
Slowly he raised the jagged metal to his throat. Although he didn't need to breathe, he still took a deep breath as he got ready to end his life.