Chapter 20: Corrosion

Then, Adam decided to talk to Carlos.

The man opened the door and scowled at him.

"I need you and your men to gather the corpses of all the zombies we've killed."

"Of course," said Carlos, who paused to think a bit. "But don't think we'll do the job for free."

"Are you serious? I'm asking you to clean up the mess in your own building. Then you won't have to sleep among an army of flies and a foul smell."

Adam paused. He hadn't realized it until that moment, but he hadn't seen any flies or insects anywhere. He felt that this fact was important, but he was at a loss to explain the reasons for it. After some thought, he realized that the only animal he had seen was Darry, otherwise he had not even spotted any birds flying in the sky. Besides, Darry had fallen into a strange dream.

"If you put it that way, it's true that it's good for us, but I'm sure you know very well that only idiots work for free."

Adam turned his attention back to Carlos.

"That's all right. I'm willing to give you some of the special packages."

Carlos readily agreed.

"The zombies throw a red crystal. I want you to pay me with them. At least a part of what you got in this building."

Adam suppressed his irritation, but after a moment's thought, he decided to accept. He didn't exactly know their use, so he preferred to accept the deal with Carlos.

Carlos nodded and closed the door. He didn't know what use the crystals would have, but if the system itself considered them a currency, he was sure that in the future bills and coins would be forgotten and crystals would dominate the entire market.

Carlos woke up everyone in his house and nearby apartments and began to guide them, with some difficulty, in the cleaning operations. In the end, many refused to listen to him, so he had to do the job with fewer people than he expected.

Adam thought about going back to his group, but remembered something important. From his backpack he pulled out the piece of living ice. As he expected, it didn't seem to have melted, but he was sure it wouldn't take long. He went back to his house and stored the ice in his refrigerator. He hoped it would be enough. On the way back, he passed the Marriz's apartment and thought for a moment about talking to Tracel, but changed his mind and decided to finish off the zombies in the superblock first.

Adam returned to the second floor of the superblock and prepared to rest for a few minutes. But the rest extended for several hours as everyone ate lunch and regained their strength. Adam had noticed that, while their bodies could recover from the violent battles in half an hour, they all took significantly longer to recover from the fight against the zombie Glacier. It seemed that even though their bodies were much stronger than before, they still had to recover properly. When they were ready, they headed upstairs and stopped in front of the Gorger's apartment.

"When I killed the Gorger in our building, it didn't spit out those maggots."

"I still can't believe you killed a Berserker-level zombie by yourself," said Marlen.

"Neither can I, but in a sense I was very lucky. I managed to shoot a flare into the mouth on its stomach, so I cooked it from the inside."

"Still, it doesn't seem to make much sense that you won," Noah interjected.

"I think it might be something else, too," said Miriam. Noah turned to look at her and raised an eyebrow, "We can level up. How do we know a zombie can't? I mean, we know they evolve in a sense, but if they keep killing humans and gaining power, that would explain why the most powerful zombies in the superblock are so strong. They've had the opportunity to kill a lot more people than in our building."

Adam thought Miriam was right. Probably the zombies could continue to gain powers as they progressed to their next evolution.

"In that case we must be very careful" The apartments around the Gorger were crawling with parasites. Adam suspected that the zombie had used the parasites they had seen to gather more food around it.

Adam opened the apartment door and everyone followed him inside. The Gorger was locked in a spacious room located down the hall. From the living room, where they were, they couldn't see him.

Remembering the trick he had used earlier, Adam ripped off the refrigerator doors, one for himself and one for Jane, then they approached the monster.

Adam and Marlen positioned themselves in front, while Jane and Noah attacked from behind. Jane's arrows and Noah's shots plunged into what seemed like an endless layer of grease. The zombie roared angrily and, without stopping, began spitting acid.

Adam immediately noticed the difference. This Gorger's acid consumed the fridge doors faster than the previous one had. In addition, he ran into another problem.

Jane took a few seconds to prepare her [Aiming Shot] and when she had one of the Gorger's eyes on target, she fired. The arrow stuck in the monster's right eye, but unfortunately it didn't continue on its way. The gorger got so angry that it decided to attack them with everything.

From its mouth came a thick cloud of acid that slowly spread towards the group.

"Get back!" Noah shouted.

Adam and the others backed away, while trying not to touch the fog. The Gorger, meanwhile, continued to shoot acid at its victims without stopping. In addition, from the mouth on its stomach, it spat out more parasites that, protected by the fog, joined the attack. When his enemies disappeared from its sight, it continued to spit a cloud of thick acid that advanced in their direction.

They all backed up to the exit of the apartment. Adam noticed that their improvised shields were no longer of any use. Moreover, the acid cloud advanced through the apartment, corroding everything in its path. Adam could hear the bubbling sound as anything came in contact with the cloud.

"How the hell are we supposed to kill him?" Marlen shouted.

"I have no idea," Noah replied.

After leaving the apartment, the Gorger continued to send out the acid cloud. The room he was in was covered in a thick acid cloud, which destroyed everything in its path and began to corrode the walls, ceiling and floor. It didn't take long for the entire apartment to suffer the same fate.

Outside, Adam was trying to think of something, but to no avail. Meanwhile, a group of parasites left the apartment and attacked them with a hail of acid.

The group took care of the parasites without much trouble and it was then that Adam realized something curious.

"The parasites are not affected by the acid."

"I don't think that will be much help if we can't get close to the Gorger," Miriam replied.

"No, but I think we could use its skin to make some armor that would allow us to enter the acid cloud."

"Well, if you can create a full body armor, without holes and that lets you breathe, let me know. Otherwise I don't think it will do much good."

Marlen was right, Adam was running out of ideas. The acid cloud was beginning to escape from the apartment. But at that moment, something unexpected happened.

A horrible crunching sound was heard from the apartment, followed by a deep scream of pain. The parasites immediately retreated and the acid cloud began to dissipate. Adam peered inside and observed a horrifying sight. The acid had consumed everything in its path, leaving a viscous green liquid everywhere.

The group heard the Gorger again, but this time from downstairs.

"Shit, the Gorger fell to the floor below. The acid cloud must have consumed the floor," Noah said.

"If we can attack him from the hole, and before he starts throwing the acid cloud at us again, I think we can kill him," Adam walked carefully into the apartment. The acid had also affected the living room floor. He could hear a terrifying crunch with every step he took.

"Let's move quickly, I don't think the floor can hold much," said Jane, somewhat nervously.

Soon they reached the room where the Gorger had been and found a gaping hole to the apartment below. There, the Gorger was lying on his side and covered in debris. A pile of parasites surrounded him and a thick tentacle was sticking out of the mouth on his stomach, with which he was trying to pull himself up.

The monster had not realized that the group was watching him from above. Adam looked at the others and nodded.

Jane loaded an [accurate shot] and waited for the right moment, while Noah pointed the pistol at the monster's head.

Adam and Marlen stepped forward and looked, with their eyes, for a suitable place to land.

"When we go down, kill the parasites and find a way out, I'm sure the Gorger will try to fill the room with another acid cloud. I'll try to attack the mouth with the flamethrower, it's the easiest way to kill him."

Marlen nodded and then they both jumped down into a space that was relatively free of debris.