Discussions

Jason looked at his coin balance and he could not help but smile widely. Looting this Store had given him a hefty sum of coins, seven thousand in total. He only had three thousand or so left before he could get rid of the ten thousand coins debt that was looming over his head.

He gave one last look to the store and then zoomed towards the bus just as he entered the bus he made eye contact with Kim, surprising him.

"How are you feeling," Jason asked when he noticed her unnatural gaze.

She looked at him with a weird gaze mixed with piety and concern."I'm okay but what about you? I know that this apocalypse is terrifying and adjusting to it can be hard. But you have to hold on and not lose yourself in the progress. Jewellery is not worth anything in this world now and it would be better if you focus on growing stronger than focusing on something that doesn't matter now" Kim replied in a sincere tone as she tried to make him walk on the correct path.

Arya and Harry could not stop their laughter at the scene of Kim trying to make Jason understand. All along Jason had been acting like a mature man and as their leader, seeing Kim try to talk to him as a senior was oddly refreshing.

"That... how do I make you understand this?" Jason asked himself as he scratched his head.

He did not want to explain the whole thing but leaving things unexplained would create awkward moments and misunderstandings every now and then.

"The thing is my powers grow by killing zombies and looting Jewellery. So I have to loot them to grow stronger." Jason said as he explained his powers in the simplest form possible.

"Oh? Quite weird powers…" Kim said with an odd expression.

"Arya start driving we still have a lot to cover before we reach my sister's school," Jason said with some seriousness mixed in his tone. His primary goal in the apocalypse was to find her before anything else.

"As you say, captain!" Arya said laughingly as she started the bus. She knew Jason wanted to find Aiden badly and she also knew how it felt to feel anxious all the time worrying if the one you care for is even alive or they have become prey to this terrible world. Until she found her sister she had been an emotional mess sometimes furious sometimes times a timid little girl. Now that she found her she could finally be herself again, well as close to herself as losing her mom and dad was still painful but it would become bearable with someone to share the burden.

***

The bus was on the road again and he had found a construction company's base near his sister's school so they will go there after getting her to find a better ride. He then looked at his friends now. There were four of them now and he could see this group grow as time went on but he had something to discuss with them now as it would decide the path this group takes further in the apocalypse.

"I have something to discuss with all of you and this is something that needs to be done to decide the path this group of our's will take," Jason said with full seriousness. Everyone grew serious as they could feel the seriousness in his voice.

"Go on.."

"okay "

"Hmm"

Came their affirmations for him to start the conversation.

"There are two primary things I want to discuss." Jason paused to organise his thoughts.

"One is that the zombies in this new world are growing at a terrible speed. And I have information from a trusted source that every organism having enough intelligence is going to evolve including animals. And also zombies are going to gain intelligence as they evolve but they will still crave for blood and flesh of humans and other animals." Jason looked at each of them as he unveiled this terrifying piece of information.

Harry and Arya had unbelieving looks on their faces. But slowly they accepted it as they had enough trust in Jason and they had also seen the zombies evolve unnaturally fast. Kim, on the other hand, was blown away by this and could not believe it but looking at the other two and their expressions of acceptance she could not help but ask.

"How do you know this".

Arya and Harry kept silent as this was Jason's thing to tell, that is why they did not tell Kim about Jason's abilities and the fact that he knew about apocalypse before it happened. Telling about this was his call and they would keep quiet about it if he does not say anything.

"There is someone who helps me every time and they have never been wrong about anything before so it's safe to assume that all this is true and on the journey here we saw zombies evolve from level one to two in just one day… heck Arya and Harry even fought a mutated zombie that was as strong as us" Jason gave an explanation filled with half-truths but this is the most open he can be about his powers for now.

Kim was still a bit sceptical about it but she chose to believe him as she trusted him enough.

"So we have to become stronger at a similar… no at a faster speed than these zombies to not to become zombie food. We know that we can grow stronger by consuming the mana beads that drop when evolved beings are killed."

Kim took out a brown coloured bead from her pocket and showed it to Jason and company in a surprised tone.

" Is this the so-called mana bead?" Kim asked, " It hovered over a man's body when I killed him, I found it interesting so I kept it in my pocket."

Jason looked at Kim with a funny look on his face as he said. "It gives you a power upgrade or a tiny little chance to gain the previous owner's powers if you eat it."

Kim directly put it in her mouth and gulped it...