(Longer chapters from now on....)
(Enjoy...)
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"Papa..? Do you think the world will be beautiful again?" I asked my dad as I slowly pulled at the bottom of his shirt.
He looked down at me and smiled, cuddling me close as I nuzzled in more before looking into the distance of the ruined city.
"I hope so pumpkin... I miss watching my Favourite T.V show. Or that sweet pancake down the street" he said as I laughed cutely with my tiny voice.
"Don't worry to much on it alright kiddo? You're still 5 years of age. I'll protect you till the end." He said with a warm smile as I stared up to him.
A small smile emerged on my face as I snuggled closer to him before staring into the distorted city. Minutes passed quickly and it wasn't long before I heard the sound of a helicopter. I looked up and stared at it before standing up and walking towards the edge of the cliff as it flew by.
"Ohhh a helicopter!" I squealed in excitement before the helicopter suddenly had an explosion. It was falling. Swirling around and rolling as it flew down.
I was scared when that happened and turned to meet the comfort of my father only to realize he wasn't there.
"P-Papa? Papa!!!" I called out to him and no reply was made. My eyes teared up as I called out to him yet again but no reply followed.
The sound of the helicopter was louder now, I turned around only to see it falling towards me. Struck by fear, I fell down on my butt, staring right at it; tears flowing down my cheeks as it quickly flew towards me.
"P-papa!!! Help!!" I shouted as the helicopter came crashing down and an explosion erupted....
....waking me back to reality....
———————————-??
With a heavy intake of air, my eyes slid open as my breathing quickened. My body ached and the pain coming from my tummy wasn't helping at all.
My right arm was broken and dislocated, my right eye bleeding out while multiple burnt marks and bruises were over my body.
I slowly pushed myself up the muddy ground; spitting out the blue blood that formed in my mouth as I looked and observed my surroundings. it didn't take long before I remembered what happened.
I groaned in pain, noticing the sharp helicopter blade that was stuck in my tummy. The pain was insane. To think I'd feel this much even after being an undead. I weakly pulled at it with my left arm as it slid out, screaming out in pain until it was fully out of my body.
I got up weakly from my sitting position; holding the bleeding hole in my tummy as I activated the flower on my shoulder and my self healing began. It was slow. But eventually I would feel the hole closing, my broken arm mending itself and the cuts and bruises slowly healing up.
I rejoined my right arm back into its socket which caused me to groan in pain before taking a deep breath and began searching for everyone else.
I searched for a bit before finding Grr first. Her head was bleeding and her left arm was badly cut. Blood dripping down.
Her left leg was broken as well; angled in a very... very weird shape. But she was alive. That I could tell. Placing my hand above her chest, I felt her heart beat gently but weakly.
A small frown formed. Who would have thought this would have happened...
I gently pulled her along the muddy ground. My strength had yet to return and even so I was still healing. I was pulling her with a slowly healing gapping hole on my tummy
I pulled with the little strength I had into a nearby cave before crashing on the ground once I was inside.
I held my tummy gently before standing up and looking for the others.
After 20mins I dragged everyone back into the cave. Everyone except kale. I couldn't find his body anywhere close by.
I stared at Cassei and Sohan. Their badly disfigured face and deep cuts were sad to look at. Cassei had a giant metal scrap in her chest that I didn't remove. Not yet anyway, she could survive a bit longer if I didn't pull it out right now. I didn't have enough strength To pull it out and heal her at the same time either way.... Tougz was bleeding from his face downward. And both hands were broken.
Sohan's face was nearly burnt off completely, and his leg was in an awkward angle as well.
To be honest, I didn't expect any of us to survive this. Nether of us should be alive right now. But we were, although on a thread between life and death. My flowers energy was slowly depleting and I could feel the infection spread. And my strength that I was once regaining was slowly degrading yet again.
It wasn't long before three vines grew from the ground and out came Zandolf, Seraph and Vira who immediately rushed to my side once they saw me.
Upon leaving the vines, the vines immediately began to rot and die off; like a poison to its very nature.
"Are you—"
"I'm fine... I'm fine.. just..heal them." I said; cutting her off. She looked taken aback but nonetheless did as she was told. I weakly produced a spore flower and handed it to Vira as I stood up and walked towards the entrance of the cave.
"Where are you going?" Seraph asked as I smiled a bit, my veins slowly turning a shade of blue.
"To find kale... remember him? Yeah... I think I know where he was tossed onto... if he is alive, I'll... bring him back.. "I said coughing before looking back at them.
"If not... I'll make my way back... I promise.." I said gently as they stared at each other before nodding in agreement.
"Please be safe you highness...." Zandolf said as I smiled a bit. I really wasn't going to get used to being referred to as royalty...
I made my way out of the cave and into the swap once again. Slowly moving my feet through the thick and gooey pathway, I kept on pushing through till I got towards land finally. I pulled myself up, my body sticky with mud before bubbling sounds could be heard behind me.
Turning around. Three tentacles shot out of the muddy ground and loomed over me. I swallowed a bit, staring up at them as their sharp edge and thick and stick body swayed in their. Disgusting....
Few seconds passed as it just stayed there, looming over me like a predator before descending back into the muddy ground. A
Sigh of relief escape my lips as I c range down on the ground before fleeing the infection spread the more. A groan escaped a growl that was more violent and sinister. I was turning again back to that violent beast I once was.
Everywhere was slowly fading as everything was slowly becoming colors again.
"N-No.... Not this... again!" I growled before pushing back the infection with the little will power I had. Once it subdued my vision slowly returned.
My breathing was heavy, I was literally fighting for control now. But I continued oneward. Without any zombies nearby, I couldn't grow a flow from attacking them and taking the spores that formed. And since this area was bad to the vines, the vines would rot here.
I kept moving towards the direction I assumed kale fell out of and soon enough I was at a destroyed building. My tummy had healed now but my strength was declining faster than usual.
I weakly searched around for kale... dragging my feet as I looked around only to hear a male voice in pain. I moved towards the direction and nearly fell from the shock.
Kale was alive. But in a very bad state. Both legs were gone, a deep wound at the side of his waist and he was bleeding. A lot.
The smell of blood alone was almost tempting, my infection suddenly growing faster as I growled in pain and hunger.
"Soulen...?" He called to me quickly as I looked to him, my left eye glowing bright blue and my veins all turning blue.
I moved towards him and knelt down beside him as tears slowly trailed down my cheek. I once I got close to him, a sharp pain shot through my body as the infection continued it's spread in my body. I used every willpower I had left to keep fighting it back down.
Just then another voice was heard. A female, I turned towards the direction of the voice only to come face to face with a female in a white lab coat. She was dark in complexion, an ebony beauty with her braids tied up in a sort of donut style. Her glasses sloped down on her nose as she sort of observed until she saw me staring.
My growl grew more as I suddenly lost control of my body and gave a loud howl just like a howler. She freaked out from this and got up, a sort of high tech tablet falling down as he quickly picked it up. Just as I was about to jump towards her direction, I was grabbed by someone. It was kale.
"Don't.... Soulen..." He said weakly as I growled furiously, trying to yank his hand away.
"I know what you want to do... it's okay... I don't mind..." he said weakly as I growled more, tears flowing down more from my eyes as I turned to face him again.
"Just do it... I'm tired of this life anyway... I don't care anymore.." he said as I turned to him and fell back down on my knees, crying more.
"I'm.... sorry..."I said through growls as he smiled before letting the infection take over and devour what was left of kale.
Everything happened in a blur and once I regained consciousness, there was nothing left of him. Only a bloody mess and my own body a palette of blood.
I cried. Deeply wounded and saddened from what had just happened. First the helicopter crash, everyone getting hurt and now this. Because I was careless and used up too much of my flowers energy, I ended up eating kale to regain it back.
The flower on my shoulder began to bloom again, my body healing in a faster pace as I punched the ground while my tears turned the area around my arm more sticky.
My breakdown soon seized once I heard footsteps behind me. It was the woman from earlier. She stood near a tree and observed as I stared back at her before fidgeting once she moved closer. I quickly got up and ran back to where I came from before jumping away as she called out to me.
Minutes later, I arrived back at the cave still a total mess. Cassei, Sohan and the rest where awake now and looked a lot better than I found them. Almost 100% healed.
Once they saw me and the blood on my body, they stayed silent as I frowned before slowly curling myself into a ball as I hugged my knee.
"Your revenants told us where you went... did you see him..?" Grr asked as I gently nodded.
"Did he become an infected? Did you have to fight him..?" Sohan asked as I bit my bottom lip and began tearing up again.
"I ate him..."
"You did... what?"
"I ATE him okay?! I lost control to the infection and had to eat him... it was either that or I'd run a rampage. He held me back and told me to.... to..."
Tougz quickly came towards me and pulled me into his arms. I embraced without batting an eye as I cried into his chest. Regretting everything
I thought being a revenant was a good thing. Being born again with this sort of power. But with this power had its consequences and problems. I hated it. Hated the fact that i could loose control and turn on my friends. I hated the fact I was careless and got bitten by the zombie in the first place.
I want to die... just to end this suffering i knew I was going to experience in the near future.
"Soulen... it's alright..." tougz said with his deep and soothing voice. I nuzzled him gently, sniffy quietly as Cassei came towards me and hugged me as well.
"Well.... Kale is gone..... if anything don't blame yourself. We blame Justin. He didn't brief us this place was going to be this dangerous" Sohan said as everyone nodded. I knew they were trying to make me feel better but I couldn't. Not after what I did..
"Night time is here... we should rest a bit..." Grr suggested as everyone agreed. I turned to look at my revenants who seemed energetic as ever. All except Vira who looked like she would collapse. She must have used a lot of energy.
I made a spore and tossed it towards her which entered her system almost instantly; restoring her lost energy.
She turned towards me as I smiled a bit before mouthing the words "thank you" before slowly drifting off in tougz arms.
The next morning came and everyone seemed better than last night.
I slowly yawned a bit before looking up to tougz who slowly caressed my cheek. He was being too caring now. Probably because of what happened recently.
Well only around me I guess, few seconds he shouted "fuck you" to his sister when she came over to tease him while I was Supposedly asleep.
I smiled gently before pushing my self off his arms and up. My body was still covered with blood but there was nothing that could be done for the time being.
"Alright, we've gotten what's left of our stuff. And I managed to contact the group of people who we are suppose to meet. It's not far from here " Cassei said, taking charge as usual. At least she wouldn't kill us with her decisions.
With that we made our way towards the rendezvous point with my revenants behind watching our back.
It took 30mins but we finally found the semi secured camp outpost.
As we made our way towards the gate, My revenants and I had to wear the cloaks we picked up from the crash site an made our way inside after Cassei spoke to one of the guards.
Walking in, I scanned the area as to know what we were dealing with. It seemed they've been hit hard recently. Some mercenaries were injured and some infected bodies laid waste on the ground. It seems recent.
We made our way towards one of the scientists lab where someone I wasn't excepting was standing outside the door.
Once she saw me her eyes widened in shock as did mine.
We must have been staring at each other for a bit because Sohan spoke up after a while.
"Do you two know each other....?" Sohan said as she shook her head.
"You're.... an infected aren't you... a mutant." She said, her voice soft and tender as she attempted to reach for me.
Like instincts, I shoved my hand away and growled in response as did my other revenants. She seemed taken aback before her eyes beamed with excitement.
"She.... was the woman I saw when I was with kale... it was either I ate her... or kale..." I said sadly as she frowned right after.
"I'm sorry... for your loss.... I watched... it all happen.." she said as she held her left arm and looked away. I simply stood behind tougz and placed my head on his back before she allowed us in.
Once inside, I removed my cloak and sat down on a near by chair as everyone found. Spot to stand, sit or just wonder around.
It was a nice and well tidied lab room, with lab stuffs all around. She seemed a bit excited from just seeing me though.
"I wasn't... expecting to see you here, nether the fact of being apart of the camp we hired to be our bodyguards and escort." She said as she grabbed her giant tablet. The same one the fell yesterday at the broken building site.
"Oh! Where are my manners. My name is Dr. Alice Elizabeth. I was the one as of a few others here who ordered for an escort party." She said as we all nodded in agreement.
"Before I.... explain why you are called here uhh.... I am really fascinated by your friend here Mrs Cassei" Alice spoke as she adjusted her glasses and observed me before Seraph grunted.
I gently patted his arm since he scared Alice a bit by the sudden aggression.
"You are.... half infected? Are you alive or are you dead? How is this even possible?" She asked as she looked at me and noticed the flower in my shoulder.
"Most infected and mutants we've studied never regain their consciousness... you are the first." She said again before I heaved a sigh.
"I am.... dead... yet alive.. I am human... yet an infected... the right word is.... a revenant I suppose..." I pointed out as she seemed to type away on her tablet.
"Revenant.... ah yes that makes sense. Someone brought back from death. Fascinating. I hope you don't mind me... studying you later.... I really am excited about this. And don't worry I won't tell anyone else I promise." She said with excitement in her tone. Typical scientists... they were all the same. A new discovery and their minds seize to function right
Tougz coughed to get her attention back as she apologized quickly before pushing her glasses back into a proper position on her face as her expression hardened
"We hired you because we need more people to escort us... we found a place we're infected are gathering... and apparently something new is growing inside...." she said as everyone stared at each other in curiosity.
It seemed the rollercoaster ride was just about to begin its second phase.....