2 Chapter 2: New Eyes

"F… Fuck."

"No."

"...Fuck."

The moonlight– as ironic as it may seem, it might be the only element that bestowed life to an otherwise already dead and abandoned city. It was only a mile away from the Wall, the colossal fence that separated the humans from the monsters.

It was only a mile away, and yet life had not graced the city with its presence. The streets were littered with destruction; wrought forth by the violent war that once plagued it.

No. Perhaps that was wrong– there is one thing that thrived in these abandoned streets, the plague itself.

And a part of that plague was currently walking around in the darkness; aimlessly in circles inside a ruined building. Its… horrid voice, echoed throughout the empty hall; repeating the last words its prey uttered again and again.

The Zombie was stopping its steps each time a word came out of its mouth. Perhaps it was curious? For the first time as an undead, the Zombie did something other than to search for its next prey.

There were words that only it could see floating in front of it still, but the Zombie completely ignored them for it just does not have the capacity to know what they meant.

"Are you sure it's here?"

"..."

And once again, for the very first time as an undead, the Zombie did something it has never done before–

–It hid.

The Zombie ran towards a counter, instinctively crouching down as a group of steps started whispering throughout the hall– getting louder and louder with each step.

"..." And once again, almost as if in instinct, the Zombie opened its mouth,

"Here," it said.

"Did you hear that?" A voice once again whispered in the hall; the steps, drumming faster and louder, "I think that was Nathan!"

"Can you lower your voice? What if there's a horde in this building?"

"Please, we killed all of them already. I swear, I heard Nathan some–"

"...In this building… please… killed…"

"There it is again! I think he's behind that counter!"

"Fuck… he doesn't sound too good."

The steps were getting closer and closer to the Zombie; their voices, now entering the Zombie's ears without an echo.

"It's your fault for being late! The guy probably thinks we betrayed him or something."

"Shit… will we get reported?"

And now, the people fully revealed themselves to the minute light that managed to enter the empty hall. There were 5 of them, all men wearing the same kind of uniform; dark camouflage so that they wouldn't be able to attract if there were any other monsters in the area other than the undead.

They were a Slayer Team– a small group of slayers that explore the Danger Zones together to finish some quests laid down by either the Slayer Association, or the common people.

"Does that even matter now? Our credits would take a hit if Nathan dies," One of the men that seemed to be the leader stepped forward; walking towards the counter where the Zombie was hiding,

"Hey, Nathan. You in here?" The team's leader then whispered as he looked over the counter.

And that, perhaps, was the greatest mistake he could have made.

The team's leader saw a finger– and that was it; darkness. Not because he was already dead, but because a pair of fingers was now lodged into his eyes. And of course, as is the obvious scenario– he panicked.

He wanted to pull himself away but was afraid that his eyes would be gouged out– another mistake. The Zombie quickly bit the man's neck; immediately tearing away his flesh before completely pulling him down towards its side of the counter.

As for the man's teammates, everything happened so fast that the only thing they could do was watch as their leader disappeared into the darkness. All they saw was some sort of shadow, and their leader was gone.

But as soon as they woke up from their mild stupor, however, they quickly looked at each other and rushed to the sides of the counter to pin down whatever it was that grabbed their leader.

"Chris!?" One of the men holding a spear called– but the only response they received was a gurgle.

A gurgle as their leader lightly wriggled on the floor; his neck, his left cheek, his eyes– mangled and torn. And the shadow they saw earlier?

…Now devouring their leader's stomach without even caring for them.

"Chris!" The man holding the spear quickly rushed towards the Zombie, the blade of his weapon, moving straight towards the Zombie's head. But before he could even take 3 steps, the Zombie suddenly scampered away…

…dragging the body of their leader along with them using its mouth.

"Fuck, why is it so fast!?" The group then quickly rushed towards the Zombie all at the same time, chasing it as it seemingly tried to escape. And with the Zombie carrying their team leader, they were able to quickly circle around it.

"...Shit, what the fuck is that?"

"Who the fuck cares! We need to kill it!"

"Chris! Hang on, buddy!"

The Zombie turned its grey eyes across the men that suddenly surrounded it, and almost as if it realized something– it dropped the team leader's body and slowly stood up; its stance, almost copying the people in front of it.

"No."-- it then suddenly muttered.

And as soon as its voice reached the group's ears, their eyes widened.

"It… It's a fucking ghoul!"

"Why is something like that so close to the Safe Zone!?"

"F… I'm sorry, Chris!" And just like that, one of the men decided to run away– not even looking back once. He was not alone, however, as the others quickly followed suit…

…and almost as if sensing their fear, the Zombie followed.

"Fuck! It's chasing us!"

"Do something!"

The group finally turned their heads back as they heard a loud growl following them from behind, only to find that the Zombie was sprinting towards them– not just running or limping, but sprinting.

"S… shit! It's getting near. What do we–"

And before the slowest one of them all could finish his words…

…a spear suddenly lodged through his chest.

"W… what?" The man could only look to the front, only to see the rest of his group running away… not even looking back once.

"..."

And as for the Zombie, he also stopped chasing the men as he saw one of them dropping to the ground. And almost as if it was confused as to what just happened, its eyes trailed back and forth towards the man on the ground and the backs disappearing into the darkness.

The Zombie was confused– but at the same time, it doesn't really know what to do with what it was feeling.

And so, it just did the only thing it knows what to do…

…he slowly approached the man on the ground.

"N… no," the man still tried to crawl away despite the long spear scraping the ground; its pole, grinding through his flesh and bone with every move. "P… please… please don't eat me."

The Zombie could only tilt its head as the man on the ground said words that felt familiar to it. But once again, it still does not know what everything meant…

…it just wanted to devour– and so it did.

"N–" And before the groveling man could utter another word, his neck was torn apart by the Zombie's teeth.

[Skill: Enhanced Hearing Lv. 3, Gained!]

[Skill: Enhanced Strength Lv. 1, Gained!]

"!!!"

The Zombie once again looked at the words that suddenly appeared in front of it; completely distracted as the man's intestines hang from its mouth.

[Host level, Up!]

[Would you like to distribute your Status Points?]

[...]

[.....]

[Failure to answer within the allowable time: Automatically distributing Status Points.]

[Adding points to Intelligence.]

"..."

The zombie continued to stare at words that were popping out in front of it. Until finally, after a few seconds, it did something that it hasn't done before in its… existence-- it voluntarily closed its eyes.

It was only for a short time, perhaps just a second– but when it once again opened its eyes, a certain color could not be seen from them.

Its eyes, which were previously completely grey, now held the sky within them. It was still pale, of course… but it was almost as if its eyes gained a certain life in them.

The Zombie then looked at its hands, rotating and seemingly curiously scanning the blood that littered it. It then turned its head towards the human below it.

And surprisingly, the man was still alive; looking the Zombie directly at its new pale eyes. The Zombie once again tilted its head to the side as it returned the man's gaze. The Zombie then leaned its head closer to the man; its face, only inches away from the man's as they stared at each other.

There was sort of a serene silence between the two. But then, after a few more seconds– the eyes that once held life were gone.

The man was dead– and once again, the instinct of the Zombie took over as he continued to devour his flesh.

[...]

[The Readers of Fate are starting to take an interest in you now, young Zombie.]