A New Start

Everything changed when the sky turned black for two hours. During that time everyone within Hampton City underwent a change that no one but themselves knew or understood. Knowledge flowed into the minds of every human within Hampton City. There was one man named Kane who seemed to have adjusted quite quickly to the unexplainable change that happened to everyone.

Inside solitary confinement, Kane looked at the star symbol imprinted on the back of his right hand. It appeared silently and without pain after the information about what it was flowed in his head along with the special ability he was personally given. He didn't know if anyone else had special abilities but he assumed they did because why would he be the only special one? There wasn't anything special about him compared to other people.

"Magic Tome." He quietly spoke to himself.

[Familiar: Weak Zombie]

[Level: 1 (0/100]

[Rank: Common (★)]

[Race: Zombie]

[Bio: An undead creature with a craving for flesh and insatiable hunger.]

[Racial Trait: Relentless creature with no fear and rotting organs but still somehow goes on endlessly.]

[Thoughts: Give flesh!]

Kane stood in front of the door of his cell and whispered quietly.

"Summon Familiar." Outside the cell, he could see a bloodied corpse staring back at him.

Hollowed out eyes with blood leaking out from within them, grey malnourished skin that clung tightly to the skeleton underneath, bloody fingers that resembled claws, and all sorts of horrific injuries were spread across its body up and down. After getting its fill of looking at Kane's face, it started to look around the hallway. To keep its attention from going elsewhere, Kane quickly ordered it to break the lock on the cell door. It gave a groan before grabbing the lock and pulling with all its strength.

Kane was more than surprised to see that the zombie labeled as Weak Zombie was capable of ripping a metal lock off. If this was weak, then he was interested in learning how to make it a Strong Zombie. But for now, he had to find out how his own special ability worked. And to test that, he needed to find another person.

Now that Kane was free, he went to the cell next to his and opened up the small opening on the door that the guards used to send food trays through.

"Give me your hand if you want me to free you." He told them, keeping his eye on both ends of the hallway.

A hand larger than his own slowly came out from the other side. Kane gripped their hand tightly and activated his ability. The process wasn't quick and took a matter of minutes before he gained everything, he could from the man. After sucking him dry, Kane ordered his zombie to break the lock on this door as well. There was strength in numbers after all.

"Thanks man. I don't know why the hell you wanted to hold my hand for so long but whatever. The names Fred." The inmate from inside smiled as he came out.

"What's your ability?" Kane asked.

"I can stretch man!" Fred slung his arm back before slinging his arm down the hallway, extending several feet from his own body before returning.

"Follow my lead." Kane didn't give him a choice.

"No problamo amigo. What's your name if you don't mind me asking?" Fred chatted.

"Kane." Kane led them down the hallway freeing certain prisoners while promising others freedom before draining them.

All the prisoners on this block were drained using his special ability. Not a single inmate was spared. By the time they got to the end of the hall, Kane freed only three others besides Fred. Matthew, Timmy, and Greg. Everyone else was left to rot inside their cell based on the crime they've done to stay in here, their personality, and how useful they would be in aiding Kane in his escape.

"You mind telling us your superpower since we had to tell you ours?" Greg grumbled.

"Yeah, I do." Was Kane's only response to this as he looked ahead.

As they traveled through the prison together, eventually the other prisoners also caught on to the fact about their familiars and special abilities. Soon after, the entire prison collapsed into anarchy. Guards vs Prisoners. Prisoners vs Prisoners. Neither group was safe as no one could predict the familiar that the other would have along with their superpower. Kane's group didn't participate in the chaos as their focus was solely on escaping.

However, that didn't mean that they wouldn't gain some advantages when the opportunity revealed itself. Kane allowed his zombie to kill and feed on several unaware officers when the chance presented itself. Before they died of their injuries, Kane made sure to drain them with his ability to maximize his own benefits. This was not missed by the rest of the inmates traveling along with him. They realized that Kane's ability worked through physical touch, making them more hesitant to allow him to touch them even for a single moment. Despite them not feeling any different after he touched them earlier, it was better to be safe than sorry. Especially since everyone seemed to have gotten superpowers.

"You think we should steal some uniforms before we go?" Fred suggested.

"That's pretty smart..." Matthew liked the idea.

"Hurry up." Timmy stood at the door, keeping watch as everyone else grabbed guns and ammo from the guard tower.

"Once we break out of this place, people will think that we're cops instead of wanted criminals. That'll make things easier for us." Greg also agreed with this idea.

"If you see any clean uniforms take them from some of those corpses down below. Don't grab any if they have blood on them." Kane told them.

After incapacitating the guards on the guard tower with the help of Fred's familiar, Strange Goblin, they snuck up here to steal some of the weapons. Fred's Strange Goblin had a blowgun that shot poisoned darts. Kane was going to feed these two guards to his zombie but after hearing Fred's idea, he decided to hold it until they grabbed the uniforms off of them. Looking at the size of the two guards, only Kane and Fred had comparable sizes to them. Greg and Timmy were big guys while Matthew was shorter than everyone else.

Kane and Fred stripped the two before Kane drained them and allowed his zombie to eat them. Over the course of his prison break, Kane quickly realized that people were worth a pitiful amount of experience when not using their familiars. People killed by his zombie without their familiar summoned only gave 1 experience point. When they did have their familiar out, they were worth 10 experience points.

Max, his zombie, was now 70 points away from leveling up. On their way down from the guard tower, Greg and Timmy decided to split from the group now that they had guns. Apparently, they had unfinished business with a few fellows back in the prison. Kane didn't stop them while Fred only wished them luck. Matthew stayed silent as if he didn't care in the slightest.

On their way out of the prison, they stumbled upon a lone injured officer with just a baton in hand. Upon spotting them, his eyes lit up in joy seeing them escorting a prisoner. Just as he rushed over in relief to have some backup, Kane suddenly gave him a tight hug. This confused the injured young man but didn't cause him any alarm until Kane continued the hug for more than a few second. He struggled to push Kane away and stop this awkward hug only for Max to sink his teeth into the man's neck after Kane was pushed away. A huge chunk of his neck was ripped away after the bite while Kane had an idea.

While Max was feeding, Kane undressed the officer and helped Max into his uniform. Once he had enough of the guy, Kane ordered him to grab his baton before showing him how to properly use it. Max mindlessly swung away with the baton in his prison guard uniform as he was instructed. Kane was satisfied with what he saw and the group moved forward.

The three of them continued their way out of the prison with Fred also trying to dress up his goblin like a police officer. Sadly, there were no uniforms that could fit children-sized monsters. Luckily, Matthew managed to find one that wasn't too big on him before they made it to the front gate. Reaching the front gate, they suddenly realized that something wasn't quite right. There wasn't supposed to be a forest in front of the prison...

"Where did this forest come from...?" Fred was stunned. The roads were gone and there was nothing but grass and trees and bushes where they used to be.

"We might not be in America anymore..." Matthew spoke.

"Look ahead." Kane refocused their attention.

They had plenty of time to question things and chat once they get far enough from this prison. But right now, there was a group of monsters heading straight for the prison behind them. Dozens of goblins excitedly made their way towards them. Kane grabbed the pump-action shotgun off his back and walked forward with Max. He aimed down the sights and shot at the biggest goblin leading the group.

The bullet hit dead in its chest. Kane pumped the shotgun after firing and sent Max after the big one to quickly finish it off. Max ran with its hands held forward at a pace faster than an Olympic runner to fulfil Kane's request. None of the goblins could react in time as everything happened within a matter of seconds. Their leader died after that loud sound and now this fearsome zombie was coming after them! They fled without any hesitation as Max clawed its way into the hobgoblin's chest, tearing through the rib cage and organs to get at the heart hidden deep inside.

Max plunged his face into the torn open chest and began devouring the heart of the hobgoblin. Instinctively, it seemed to know that by making sure this creature died by its hand would help it grow. And help it grow it did. Kane mentally brought up the magic tome.

[Familiar: Weak Zombie]

[Level: 1 (60/100]

[Rank: Common (★)]

[Race: Zombie]

[Bio: An undead creature with a craving for flesh and insatiable hunger.]

[Racial Trait: Relentless creature with no fear and rotting organs but still somehow goes on endlessly.]

[Thoughts: Give flesh!]

'Only 30 experience points for that monster...' Kane tried siphoning from the monster's corpse just to test it.

Only for it to fail just as he expected. Kane's ability was called Man of Luck. He could absorb the luck of others and use it however he pleased. It seemed he could only steal the luck from still alive beings so far. To him, it made sense that a being's luck would run out once they're dead. What kind of luck would a dead man need in the first place?

"Let's keep moving till we reach civilization again." Kane spoke.

"Sounds good to me." Fred smiled with a thumbs up.

Matthew just nodded.

Matthew and Fred watched as Kane touched as many plants, trees, and anything else he could put his hands on while they travelled together. They didn't understand why he wanted to keep that monster walking alongside them now that they had guns to protect themselves. Matthew had a feeling that maybe it was more beneficial to keep their monsters out somehow because of this. He released his familiar from his magic tome and soon after Fred did the same because everyone else was doing it. Fred's goblin lecherously greeted Matthew's familiar, a feminine pixie.

"Hmph." She scoffed and turned away from him.