Chapter 19

The group continued scavenging anything useful from the scattered suitcases.

"Paul, look at what I found!" Amy handed Paul an axe.

"Nice find. It's a crash axe, small but useful," Paul observed, feeling its sturdy build and somewhat sharp edge, though not sharp enough for fine slicing. "It's not made for slicing, but it'll handle chopping just fine."

Paul then opened an expensive-looking suitcase and inside discovered an expensive-looking wristwatch. Taking it in hand, he saw it was a Rolex, made of gold with diamonds encircling the case and a black dial. "Cool," he exclaimed, putting it on his wrist and confirming that the watch was working fine.

"Where are Liza and Chris?" Madison asked, not having seen them in a while.

"I don't know. I haven't seen them for a while," Paul responded, starting to look around for his sisters, finding them but not Nick. "Nick isn't here. He moved away from us too."

"Let's regroup and send the things we've found to the zodiac," Paul instructed his mother.

"Good!" Madison agreed and began calling for the girls. "Alicia! Claire! Come back here! Andrea and Amy, you too!"

"Come back here, girls!" Paul yelled.

"What happened?" Alicia asked as she approached her mother and brother.

"Chris and Liza are nowhere to be seen, and Nick is also missing," Paul explained. "You girls, move the things in your hands that you want to take to the zodiac. I will find Nick and the others. We are leaving after finding them. It's time to go back."

"Alright, brother," Alicia replied, with Claire following suit. Andrea and Amy also listened to Paul's instructions and began moving their findings towards the beach.

"Mom, take care of the girls while I find the others," Paul said, kissing his mother's lips.

"Fine, my love. Take care and be fast," Madison replied, caressing his face, then grabbing a few things in her hand and following the girls to the beach.

On their way to the boat, they kept calling for Nick, Chris, and Liza.

"Chris! Liza! Nick!" Paul yelled as he searched around the place, calling for them.

"Nick! Where are you?" Paul continued calling, venturing further away from their starting point.

"They're taking too long, and worse, they left quite far away. Fuck," Paul cursed under his breath as he continued searching.

Paul walked for quite a while until he found Chris and Liza near another portion of the airplane fuselage further away.

"Chris! Liza!" Paul called out to them.

"Paul, what happened?" Chris asked, looking a bit shocked. Liza was also emotionally shaken.

"What are you doing here, the two of you? We need to go and you weren't with us, so we've been looking for you everywhere," Paul said, a bit angry at them for moving so far away.

"We were looking for supplies," Liza replied, sounding stressed, as if something had happened.

"Did you find something? Are you hurt?" Paul asked, checking on them and noticing blood on their faces and clothes.

"No," Chris answered for Liza. "There wasn't anything of worth in there. Just..."

Seeing his son like that, Liza answered for him. "There were a couple of walkers tied to their seats, and... there was this man still alive, but he looked more dead than anything for God knows how long... we gave him rest."

Paul instantly understood why they were so shaken up. "You did well. You gave him mercy and peace," he tried to comfort them both.

"Alright, let's go back to the beach fast," Paul said to them.

Then they heard a few bursts of gunfire in the distance.

"That sounds like an assault rifle. It must be Mom. Let's run to the boat!" Paul said quickly, not waiting for them, and started running fast, shocking the mother-son duo, who followed behind him.

Paul in no time stood on a sandy slope overlooking the beach and the path into it, his shoes sinking slightly into the sand as he scanned the area. His eyes immediately locked on the girls huddled near the zodiac shooting constantly at the wave of walkers getting near to them from all sides, but Nick was nowhere to be seen. That was the least of his concerns for now.

Between him and the girls loomed a massive horde of walkers—easily over a hundred shambling corpses, the remnants of the plane's passengers as they were making their way to them.

The stench of decaying flesh filled the air, mixing with the salty sea breeze, creating an almost suffocating atmosphere. Paul didn't flinch. His heart beat steadily as his fingers wrapped tightly around the grip of his rifle. He could hear the groans of the walkers growing louder, their hunger intensifying as they moved closer to the girls.

"Shit," Paul muttered under his breath. He glanced back at the girls, seeing the fear etched on their faces, but there was no time for hesitation.

He raised his rifle, flicking the switch to full-auto, and without a moment's delay, he opened fire. The sound of gunfire echoed across the desolate beach, blending with the crashing waves as bullets tore through the air. The first few rounds dropped the closest walkers, their heads exploding in gory bursts as his bullets found their marks with precision.

The recoil of the rifle kicked against his shoulder, but Paul didn't slow. His aim was steady, controlled. Walker after walker fell, their bodies collapsing in twisted heaps. The ground quickly became littered with corpses, but the horde kept moving, relentless and unfeeling.

He moved in a line to the girl's position, shooting everything he could on his path, only aiming at the heads of the walkers in the bulk, reloading with practiced efficiency. Each squeeze of the trigger sent another walker to the ground. His mind was sharp, calculating—there was no room for error. He focused on thinning the horde, giving the girls a fighting chance to survive.

As he noted the diminished sounds of gunfire near the girls, Paul switched his focus, aiming at the walkers coming dangerously close to them. The loud sound of gunfire filled the air again, cutting through the moans of the undead. In a short time-lapse, he thought that he must have dropped over seventy of them. The beach was starting to look like a slaughterhouse, but there was still a large group of walkers still moving.

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the clicking of an empty magazine echoed in his ears. His last ammo was gone. Paul cursed under his breath, tossing the rifle aside.

The girls had been firing too and were left without ammo, their guns shaking in their hands as they desperately tried to hold their ground. Madison, with wide, panicked eyes, had managed to take down several, her shots wild but effective. Together, the girls must have dropped around thirty walkers. An impressive number given their lack of experience.

But the remaining walkers were still coming, and now they were close—too close.

"Fall back!" Paul shouted over the chaos, but he didn't give them time to respond.

Without a second thought, Paul reached for the axe that Amy had found earlier. It felt solid in his grip, the weight comforting. He charged forward, positioning himself between the girls and the incoming walkers. There was no time to think, only to act.

The first walker lunged at him, its decayed arms outstretched, its rotten teeth gnashing. Paul swung the axe with all his strength, aiming for the neck. The blade cleaved through flesh and bone with a sickening crunch, the walker's head was sent flying off, its body crumpling to the sand. He pulled the axe free, spinning on his heel to meet the next one.

Another walker came from his left, but Paul was faster. He ducked under its grasp and swung the axe upward, the blade catching the walker under the jaw, ripping through its throat and severing its spinal cord in one brutal motion. Blood and gore sprayed across the beach, but Paul didn't flinch. He was in survival mode now.

The walkers were mindless, slow, and clumsy, but their numbers made them dangerous. They surrounded him, shambling forward like a grotesque wave of death. Paul didn't back down. He swung the axe in wide arcs, each strike with power and precision. He avoided the skulls, knowing full well the risk of getting the axe stuck, instead aiming for the necks. His blows were brutal, almost savage, each one fueled by the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

One walker managed to get too close, grabbing onto Paul's arm with its bony, decayed fingers. Paul snarled, slamming the handle of the axe into its head with enough force to shatter its skull. The walker collapsed, twitching in the sand, but Paul had already moved on to the next target.

Madison and the rest had taken up to using the butts of their rifles to bash in the heads of the few walkers that slipped past Paul. Madison swung wildly, tired and desperate, but she was holding her own. Claire, Alicia, Andrea, and Amy, were no less fierce, their fear driving them to fight with everything they had.

The sound of bones crunching, flesh tearing, and the dull thud of bodies hitting the sand filled the air. Paul's muscles bulged with each swing of the axe. He could feel the sweat dripping down his face, mixing with the blood splattering from the walkers.

A walker lunged at Amy, its hands clawing for her throat. She screamed, but before it could reach her, Paul was there. He slammed the axe into its back, driving the blade deep into its spine. The walker collapsed in a heap at her feet, and Paul yanked the axe free, turning back to face the next threat.

The battle seemed endless, the walkers relentless, but Paul was relentless too. He moved like a machine, his axe cutting through the air with brutal efficiency. Walker after walker fell at his feet, their bodies piling up around him. He was covered in blood and other nasty things, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the last walker fell. Its head was severed clean from its body, rolling into the surf as its lifeless form crumpled onto the sand.

Paul stood amidst the carnage, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. The beach was littered with the remains of the horde looking like a burial ground—hundreds of bodies strewn across the sand, their blood soaking into the ground.

"Is everyone okay?" Paul's voice was hoarse, but he didn't lower the axe. His eyes scanned the area, searching for any lingering threats.

"I'm fine, brother," Alicia called while panting, exhausted after shooting and then bashing around the gun.

"We too are fine," Andrea and Amy said, being pretty shaken up after fighting for the first time so close to the walkers and feeling tired.

"I'm fine, my love," Madison said too after regaining her breath. She was crazily killing the walkers while defending the girls.

"Brother... sniff sniff... They bit me. Weeping." Claire said to the group. "I don't want to die, I don't want to leave you, Paul."

Paul felt pretty shaken up when she told him that. Instantly, in the blink of an eye, he was beside her, as were the rest. "Show me where they bit you?"

Claire showed them a bite on her arm. The walker didn't have the chance to bite too deep and remove a chunk of meat, just leaving the print of it but he put quite a nasty bite mark there.

If it was anyone else, the correct method to save someone from a bite like that would be to cut off the arm. But he could save her with his blood, being thankful and relieved that he was a tribid now.

"Shh, shhh. Don't worry love." Paul embraced her body as she cried her heart out. Then he bit his wrist firmly, trying not to be bothered by the pain, and put it in her mouth as blood flowed from his veins. "Drink, drink my blood. Everything is going to be alright babe. All is going to be fine."

"What are you doing Paul, you are bleeding, why..." Claire was scared while crying, seeing how he was bleeding a lot from his wrist and even more asking her to drink his blood, putting it in her mouth.

"Drink Claire, now! This will help you with the bite." Paul put his wrist on her lips. Claire didn't know what to think about his order but she nonetheless did it.

She drank and drank until she could no more while crying her heart and looking into his eyes, but Paul was also looking around to see that no more walkers were coming.

"It's healing," Madison exclaimed in happiness seeing her daughter's wound heal. At the same time, she was also amazed and concerned about the implications of Paul's blood healing the bite. They knew about his powers but they didn't think it could heal others with his blood, even less a bite from a walker.

"Look, sister, you are not wounded anymore." Alicia also exclaimed. "Is it because of your healing powers Paul?"

"This is so magical, and strange. What do you mean Paul as having healing powers?" Andrea asked in doubt and amazement. She also started thinking about Paul's incredible speed and strength while fighting the walkers just now.

Amy, meanwhile, had stars in her eyes, looking at the magical feat happening in front of her.

Claire drank his blood all she could, feasting on it. She felt amazing drinking it and it also tasted incredible and also got horny at the same time. It was like an aphrodisiac that she was drinking, delighting in it. Until the wound closed on its own, stopping the bleeding. She kept lapping her little tongue around the closed wound as if looking for more.

"Good girl. Well done, you are healed now." Paul praised his sister, patting her head and kissed her bloody lips. Making her moan and cum instantly just from the kiss.

Claire, with loving and devoted eyes, looked at her man. It took her a while to extricate from that feeling of devoting everything to him because of how much she loved him. Then she looked at her arm that was bitten.

The bite was gone and any mark or scratch on her body was healed, leaving her with milky white skin all over her body, even her eyes were more energetic. And she felt great, never been better.

"Everything is fine now, baby girl. You are not going to die, because I would not allow you to leave my side even if death tried to take you." Paul kissed her lips.

"How is it possible? That your blood could heal me?" Claire couldn't understand what was happening, still in shock about what happened, until a moment later. "It's because of your powers right?"

"Yes, we will talk about this later. In the meantime, no one talks about this. This is serious." Paul said to the girls, who nodded, knowing the danger and implications of this.

All this happened pretty fast. Ten minutes later, Liza and Chris appeared, panting with a few walkers on their backs that Paul killed easily after a moment.

"Where's Nick?" Claire inquired, now feeling much more composed and at ease. No longer frightened by the walkers or their bite.

"We don't know," Liza says, panting and trying to catch her breath. "They're coming, and there are many of them. We've been running after Paul left to here while he was moving extraordinarily fast. It's something I'd like to know—how?"

"Dude, my eyes could barely keep up with you, Paul. You were like a flash!" Chris said, also out of breath.

"We can discuss this later. Not now," Paul said, spotting the walkers in the distance.

Just then, Nick arrived from the opposite direction bathed in blood, trailed by a group of walkers and a woman at his side.

"Guys!! We need to leave, now!" Nick exclaimed, coming to a stop beside them. Blood-soaked, the group of walkers surrounded them in a pincer movement from both sides.

"Nick!! Are you alright?!" Madison quickly moved to his side, examining him closely. She saw him covered in blood.

"I'm okay. It's walker blood, not mine," Nick reassured her quickly, noticing her concern.

"Nick!" Alicia also came to check on him. "Why are you like this?"

"I had a little problem, sis," Nick replied, relaxing a bit, but the walkers were still advancing.

"Damn you, Nick! You didn't need to leave our side!" Claire scolded him angrily. "Who is she?"

"I don't know. She came out of nowhere, running in my direction with an extra group of walkers on her trail, yelling to run," Nick explained.

Upon hearing this, Paul eyed the Asian woman warily, alert but seeing her unarmed and looking distressed. He decided to let her be, for now. "Alright, we'll discuss everyone's actions later. We need to move. The walkers are getting close, and I don't have more ammo to spare on them." Paul began pushing the boats into the water. "Get in them. We're leaving now!"

As they boarded the boats with the walkers already descending the beach and preparing to move out, the woman suddenly spoke up, having remained silent since joining them. "Wait, we need to stop and look for someone in the water."

"Who? We don't have time to lose on someone we don't know," Paul said, not particularly concerned about the woman.

"Please, you have to get him. He needs medical help. He's dying." The woman pleaded desperately. "He is already in a boat."

Paul quickly weighed his options. He wanted to leave the beach as fast as possible. There were only two choices: accept the woman's request and avoid further issues or simply kill her here and be done with it, or let her die on the beach with the walkers.

But Paul already knew the implications of each decision. Killing the woman would make the others see him as ruthless and cold-blooded, which could be problematic as they were still adapting to the new reality, only two weeks into the outbreak.

"Alright, get in the boat quickly. We'll look for him." Paul pushed the woman into the boat and shoved the dinghy into the water, where the girls had already climbed aboard. The Zodiac was already in the water, occupied by the rest of the group.

"Thank you, thank you," the Asian woman expressed her gratitude.

Once safely off the beach and out into the ocean, the Asian chick pointed in a direction and they found a badly disfigured man in terrible condition. His face and parts of his body were severely burned, making him look more monstrous than a walker. They tied his boat to theirs, and the woman moved into his boat.

Not long after, they returned to the Abigail and started boarding it from the platform.

"Are you hurt? What happened?" Ofelia asked as they boarded, having heard the gunfire on the island and seen the walkers with the binoculars.

"We're fine. I don't know exactly," Alicia replied, still stressed from their recent ordeal. "They started appearing suddenly out of nowhere from everywhere."

"Who are they?" Daniel asks, eyeing the Asian woman and the other man in the boat with suspicion.

"They were already on the island - passengers from the airplane crash," Paul explains, taking Andrea's hand as he helps her board the yacht.

"We can't take them," Strand interjects, his expression hard. Not wanting to bring along the disabled man and the poor-looking woman, he sees no benefit in adding them to the group.

Madison opens her mouth to protest but closes it before saying anything, already recognizing the dire situation they find themselves in and the harsh reality of the new world. But some are more resistant to change than others.

"We can't just leave them," Liza says firmly, gesturing to the badly burned boy. "Look at him - he's dying. With a clear conscience, we cannot abandon them to their fate."

"We've done it before," Strand retorts coldly. "Why are you trying so hard now?"

"Because it's different this time," Liza insists. "They're only two people, and we have space on the boat."

"Are you people really debating this?" The Asian woman speaks up, her voice filled with indignation.

"Paul," Alicia pleads, clasping his hands. "Please."

Paul sighs, feeling a sense of déjà vu wash over him as he sees his sister in distress. "You don't want to bring them to our final destination, is that the issue?"

"Yes," Strand confirms, his voice clear and resolute. "We can't take them there - there's barely enough room for all of us, let alone more."

"Alright," Paul concedes. "We have enough supplies on the boat. We'll take them until we reach land, but after that, they'll have to fend for themselves."

"Fine," Strand grumbles and walks away.

"Liza, you'll be in charge of them. After all, you pleaded their case, and you're a nurse," Paul instructs objectively. "Check if we have anything to help them."

"Good," Liza nods and heads inside to search for medical supplies.

The group then proceeds to load their luggage onto the yacht, each going about their own tasks. Paul carefully extracts the badly burned man from the boat and places him in the lounge's settee before making his way to the cockpit.

"How's the yacht doing? Is everything functioning properly?" Paul asks Strand, who is seated in the captain's chair.

"Everything's fine... for now," Strand replies, his voice gruff with irritation as he pilots the yacht.

"Our Capitan seems a bit displeased with our new passengers," Daniel remarks, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth as he observes Strand's disgruntled state.

"I can see that," Paul acknowledges, smiling a little at how he was acting. "Don't worry, Strand. We're only taking them until we reach land."

"Mhmp," Strand grunts, his expression unyielding, but don't say anything about it.

"Alright, with the matter settled and the boat running smoothly, I'll go and rest," Paul announces, exiting the cockpit. "Call me if anything happens."

Paul embraces his mother tightly as he spots her in the saloon, pressing his lips against hers and fondling her breasts. "We need to discuss what happened on the island."

Madison moans into his mouth, her hands roaming over the growing bulge in his pants. "Of course, my love. I'm certain your sisters are just as concerned as I am. However, I still feel uneasy about what happened to Claire."

"I nearly had a heart attack when Claire broke down and confessed she had been bitten," Paul says, slipping his hands beneath her clothes to roughly grope her tits and pinch her nipples. "Thank goodness my situation could help her with that."

Madison shudders and weakens at the knees, leaning her body against his muscular frame as she gasps for air. "I love you, my son," she whispers before capturing his lips in a passionate kiss.

"I love you too, Mom," Paul replies, kissing her deeply before finally pulling away after giving her a firm spank on the ass. "Let's go find my sisters."

"Don't forget Nick. We haven't told him about my condition yet," Paul reminds her, his eyes still lingering on her exposed breasts wanting to paw them.

Later, in Paul's cramped bedroom with his family and the pair of sisters Andrea and Amy, Paul begins to speak. "So, here's the thing," he starts, once they've settled into a comfortable position.

He goes on to explain about the superhuman abilities he discovered in Los Angeles, sharing their thoughts and findings so far on the mutation from the virus they all carry that caused this change in him. The revelation shocks Nick, Andrea, and Amy.

"Guys, you've had quite some time to tell me about this," Nick says, sounding slightly offended. "What a family we have!"

"Don't be angry," Claire tries to placate him. "We were just waiting for the right moment to reveal everything."

"That's right, Nick. All this happened so fast we haven't had the time to put a thought about it." Madison chimes in, also trying to persuade him. "With what happened to your sister, it's become apparent again that we need to discuss Paul's condition."

"Alright, Nick, don't be upset," Paul says softly. "It's not something I would go around announcing anyway." He pauses, considering the gravity of the situation. "It has serious implications for my life and our family."

"It could be dangerous if discovered by the wrong people or groups," Paul continues, explaining the risks. "And by dangerous, I mean for you, Mom, Claire, Alicia, and now, also for Andrea and Amy because I care for them both too."

"Fine, I get it," Nick finally relents, understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Why did you think your blood could heal your sister?" Andrea asked, the question she'd held onto for so long. "I mean, that's not something most people would consider, even if you had some kind of healing ability."

Paul paused thinking 'Because I'm a vampire and my blood is a panacea of course.', gathering his thoughts. "There were a few reasons," he began. "In medicine, they've used antibodies from immune people to treat diseases, like using one illness to fight another. And there's the idea of 'fighting poison with poison.' My body heals from anything, almost like magic. So I figured... maybe my blood could counteract the infection."

He looked down for a moment, then back up at her. "And it did. Giving her my blood fought off the bite and healed her."

"Now, there's something important we need to discuss regarding the virus," Paul changed the subject. "Nick was covered in walker blood on his body and face, I was too, and anyone else could be later."

"You could be in danger, just as if you were bitten by a walker," Paul elaborated, explaining further. "The reason they're harmful is because they inject their fluids into your bloodstream. So having their blood or anything from a walker in a wound, mouth or eyes could be dangerous."

"Nick," Madison said, concern evident in her voice.

"Here, drink this," Paul said as he bit his hand and let the blood drip into a cup until it stopped, then handed the cup to his brother.

Nick took the cup in his hands, a look of confusion on his face, but still drank from it, feeling rejuvenated afterwards.

"I'm not sure if you would have had problems from it, but just in case, it was better that you drank that," Paul said.

"I didn't have a choice but to get that walker blood on me," Nick began to explain why he was covered in it. "I fell from an unstable ledge and landed on top of a trapped walker between the earth. I killed it, and its blood sprayed all over me. Then other walkers started to appear and fall on top of me, but strangely, they didn't attack me."

Nick recounted his story as the rest listened intently.

"Well, you were lucky, brother. Unbeknownst to you, you camouflaged yourself from them," Paul said after hearing Nick's explanation.

"What do you mean he camouflaged from them?" Madison asked, sounding a bit puzzled.

"Yeah, literally he became invisible to the walkers. They paid no attention to him," Paul explained further. "The infected attack anything that is alive, right? But how do they distinguish the living from the non-living?"

"They detect sound, maybe they can see too?" Madison pondered.

"There's a lot more to it. It seems their senses remain somewhat intact, allowing them to detect behaviors and characteristics that separate them from the living. They can detect fast movements, light, loud sounds, physical sensations, and smell," Paul developed the subject for them. "Of the senses, smell is their primary method of detecting the living. Nick camouflaged himself by covering himself in their blood and viscera, giving off a similar odor to them. However, one must also maintain similar behavior, such as shuffling and low sounds. Moving too fast or making too much noise can cause detection from the walkers, even when camouflaged."

"But that's good, right? Using this trick, we could look for supplies in any place," Madison contemplated the possibilities.

"We would be able to move freely everywhere without fear from them," Andrea remarked, amazed at the prospect. "If we could do it."

"Yeah, the trick seems simple enough and good, right? Gut one of them, put their shit on you, and walk slowly or make weird sounds. To be honest, I've already tested all of what I've said so far, which is why I know about it," Paul lied, his eyes open and calm as if nothing was amiss. "Back at the harbor, I experimented with them as I observed their behavior. Everything I mentioned works."

But also, you don't necessarily need to cover your entire body in their blood and entrails. Using garments covered in it and then wearing them as a raincoat will suffice and is far safer.

"Oh, by the way, if it rains while you're doing this, you're screwed," Paul said with a smile. "After all, this trick relies on smell. The rain will wash it away."

They chatted for quite some time before parting ways. Chris and Liza were informed of Paul's mutation, though only the visible aspects were revealed. His hidden ability to heal others remained undisclosed.

Paul departed to freshen up in the bathroom, relishing in Claire and Alicia's tender care. Claire was determined to please him, releasing her lingering emotions since drinking his blood into a tender, selfless dedication.