There was no one left in the room, or at least no one left alive in the room, other than Zombie Cobra, Zain and Cody in the very back. For a good while, Cody just stared at Zain and thought back to everything he had seen, putting it all together.
"Kelly," Zain said. "She's alive, tied up in the hairdressers in Chinatown near the entrance. When you get out of here, go save her."
Cody shook his head as he was snapped out of his daze.
"Thank you…" Cody replied. "Thank you for saving Kelly and me as well, but what do you mean, Zain? Aren't you coming with me? The two of us can get her together."
Hearing this response from Cody surprised Zain. It was clear the former had seen what he had done, and the fact that Cobra was a zombie standing there next to him made it clear as day, yet he wanted him to go along with him.
The unexpected response had made Zain go silent.
"Is it because of what you are?" Cody asked. "Did this happen to you because we left you at the department store…or were you-" He stopped there, unsure if his next words would be considered rude or not.
"Cody…right. I remember you from the department store. I came here as a favour because you helped me back then. I don't know why I'm like this, I just didn't get turned for some reason.
"Anyway, my debt has been paid back. So just stay inside here, and then, around fifteen minutes after I leave, you go to Kelly." Zain said as he went to one of the dead bodies lying motionless on the floor and then bent down on his knees to take a look.
"Wait," Cody called out. "You saved Kelly and me. I'm sure she won't care what you are. I mean, you are more human than them. You can speak and think, just like us. Honestly, if the situation wasn't like it was before, I would have followed you, and I believe Kelly would have come for sure."
Zain smiled back at the teenager. He always liked something about him from the beginning, but maybe because he was still a teenager, he had yet to understand the situation fully.
Pulling out a knife from his belt, Zain cut the top part of the skull, blood gushing out, and started pulling at it with his bare fingers, cracking the top of it open. It was so gruesome that Cody had no choice but to look away.
"Cody, you, me and the people out there are very different. This is how I have to live now. It's too dangerous to travel with me. Maybe one day, this could be you on the ground, and even if I can control my own actions, you saw the people before, right? I can't control theirs."
After that, Zain went to the rest of the dead bodies on the ground of the Cobra gang members. He also found a bag in the warehouse that one of the men seemed to have used to bring the rope to tie up Cody.
Zain carefully placed each brain in the bag, and while his back was turned away from Cody, he began to eat down on one. Since he had done all the work, he thought the others couldn't complain, but he wasn't going to tell them anyway. He needed his body at as close to 100 percent body functionality to stay as strong as possible.
Level 5
[6,318/10,005 exp]
Strength: 1
Agility: 0
Intelligence: 1
Endurance: 2
'Even after all that Exp bonuses I got, I still couldn't level up. Levelling up will get much harder unless I start grinding out Quests and mutated zombies. Still, I got a lot out of this trip. Cobra was a big bonus.' Zain glanced at the latter and set the command to follow as he was ready to leave.
"Zain!" Cody called out. "If it doesn't work out with your current group you are with, then you will always be welcome with me. You saved my life."
Zain didn't turn around and continued to walk out of the warehouse while thinking that if he hadn't turned into a zombie, the two of them would have made quite the team together in this world.
After heading down the slope, Zain and the others were surprised to see each other. It looked like the group had waited for him to see the outcome, but they were even more stunned about what was following behind Zain, holding two daggers in his hands.
"That's…. that's that Cobra guy!" Pink said, still filled with anger, but after carefully observing Cobra, her anger started fading away as she noticed certain zombie-like features on him and a huge bite mark on his neck.
'This is…what is this? Has he now gotten control over Cobra as well? Just like his friend Skittle?' Shark thought. 'That Cobra was no easy opponent, but he managed to defeat him and now controls him as well. How is this possible? I should contact the base about this.'
"This one, you can call my pet," Zain said, pointing his thumb back towards Cobra. "He follows me now and here; take this."
Zain took off the backpack and threw it towards Fingers, who managed to catch it and could smell something coming from the bag straight away. Once he unzipped it, everyone took a peek and saw that it was exactly what they were looking for.
"You got Brains! Does that mean you managed to kill them? There are so many in here!" Kun exclaimed in excitement.
"What about the boy?" Pink asked. "There was a boy in there. What happened to him."
"He...was already dead when I got in there," Zain replied as he continued to walk forward and went up to Shark. "The Brains are my gift. I hope I have shown my worth in this group."
'This guy...I just hope he really is on our side.' Shark thought.
****
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