1 Zombie (Part 1)

"Get outta there, you oxygen stealer!" A boy yelled from outside the bathroom, holding his pants as he crunches down.

"Just a moment."

The sound of the school bell rang out, signifying it was time for classes. Finishing up in the bathroom, the boy washes his hands and walks out calmly.

"Pack."

"When do you take me for Mark?! Don't you know I don't like to wait?!" Mark touched his cheek, feeling the liquid dripping from his hurting cheek. "Are you deaf?! I'm talking to you, you bastard?!" Mark however puts this insult aside as he walks to the sink to wash his face off.

"I'm not done with you!" As Mark nonchalantly washed his face in the sink, the boys comes at him, grabbing his head as he bashes it on the sink, breaking it to pieces. Mark lets out an almighty scream as he tumbles backward, his face a bloody mess.

"That'll teach you to mess with me!"

After a minute of screaming in pain, Mark eventually regains his composure. "Gggyyyouuu pppasdat!" He struggled to utter over his dismantled jaw. Curling his hands to fists, Mark launches an uppercut at the boy, despite not being able to see properly. However, the boy easily sidesteps Mark as he delivers a devastating kick to Mark's gut, causing him to speak blood on the floor.

"Tch. You never learn."

As a finishing blow, the boy's elbows Mark on the back, causing him to fall flat on his blood. "Have a drink." The boy then entered the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

"vvvuuufffk jjiiuuu!" Mark struggles to speak as he stands up to his feet, the taste of blood still fresh in his mouth.

If it was anyone else in his place, he would have beat the hell out of Bryan, but not Mark. Mark was a fly compared to Bryan. He chose not to fight because he knew it was pointless, and talking was equally useless.

As Mark walks to one of the restroom sinks, he sees his reflection on the mirror. He sees his two jaws hanging out in opposite directions while his eyes lids have gone dark purple. His dirty blonde hair was soaked in blood. His blood.

Gripping the sink of the tap, something snaps in Mark. 'I swear on my life. One day, I'm gonna beat the hell outta you, Bryan. Just wait and see!' He yelled in his head as he struggled to rip off the sink, but was sourly unsuccessful. 'I need to hide my face.'

Looking at the five toilets in front of him, Mark's attention is instantly taken to the window curtains. 'Perfect.' Not wasting any time, Mark immediately gets to work.

As Mark walked down the hallway to his next class, he tried his best to avoid the sound of students laughing and pointing fingers at him. Even calling him hideous names as he went on. "Hey, Mark. What's with the mask?" A large student asked as he walked towards him.

"Oh. This old thing? I'm trying to make a fashion statement." Mark said meekly as he laughed nervously. "And the black eyes?" He asked, raising a brow. "Oh. These? It's just makeup I added to complement the look." He said with half-moon eyes. Fortunately, the boy just shrugs his shoulders as he walks past Mark, pushing him with his shoulders. 'Phew. No one suspects a thing.' Thanks to his hoodie, no one saw his messy hair and bruised skull.

As Mark makes it to class, he spots Bryan talking to some girls by the corner. 'Shit! I can't let him see me!' To avoid being spotted, Mark swiftly walked to his seat in the front when he unknowingly bumps into a busty girl tapping at her phone.

"Hey! Watch it loser! Bryan! Some piece of crap just bumped into me! Come take care of it!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, pushing Mark to the floor. "Just a moment, girls." He said as he swooned to her rescue. "Who's troubling you, babe?" He asks as he hugs her seductively, making the other boys in the class burn with jealousy. "This thing!" She said pointing her slender forefinger at Mark with a disgusted look on her face.

"First you disrespect me in the restroom, and now you go around bullying my girl?!" He said as he balled his hand into fists. "I'd give you an ugly look but you already have one." He said getting back on his feet. "What did you say?" Bryan asked, his voice dangerously low. "Feel your ego. I'm busy." Mark said definitely as he shrugged past the tow. However, he doesn't go far as a large hand grabs his arm.

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Far away from your craziness." The crowd gasped as Mark uttered his statement. "Seems your head has gotten too big. Time to take you down a peg."

Letting go of Mark's arm, Bryan begins to concentrate. His whole body begins to morph as the crowd looks on in horror. "What a fool." In the middle of his transformation, however, Mark takes advantage of the opportunity to dash towards the exit, but his road is blocked by some able-bodied boys. 'Shit!' Mark thought as he searched for another way out. 'The window!' Sprinting to the nearest window, Mark attempts to shatter his way through but is caught kid air by another student.

"You ain't getting away that easy!"

Resistance was futile. The boy grabbing Mark was at least twenty times stronger than him. Wiggling in his grip like a worm, Mark struggles to contain his scream, not wanting everyone to know what happened to him.

"Now you're gonna be sorry!" Bryan said in a muffled voice. "You had to go Apis on me?!" Mark asked, still wiggling rapidly. "Let him go."

Obeying his boss's command, the boy immediately does as told, stepping away to not get involved in the punishment. "I'm gonna make you pay for all your nonsense crap!" He said as he charged at Mark, his speed invisible to everyone. All Mark noticed was the rising pain in his chest as his body is flung through the window.

On the other side, Mark is seen lying in a pile of broken glass. Fortunately for him, his back was facing the ground.

"Bryan was too harsh on him."

"No way. That twerp deserved everything he got."

"He isn't even a Mutated."

The gossip went on and on while Mark lay lifeless outside the building.

After some time lying unconsciously, Mark finally opens his eyes. The first thing he sees is the harsh sun burning his flesh. Quickly getting back up to his feet. Surprisingly, he wasn't injured by the shards of glass.

Quickly checking his watch, his jaw drops. "Itchhh chu shock?!" He 'said' in shock. As Mark looks around, he notices how empty and quiet the school looked. Everyone left him.

Quickly putting any depressing thoughts aside, Mark walks up to the broken window as he climbs back inside. 'Where's my backpack?' Mark thought, searching tirelessly for it. It wasn't until Mark walked out of the class that he saw what he was looking for. Right outside the class, in a pile of ash, Mark notices his lucky pen sticky out from the side. "Vvvuuufffk jjiiuuu, Vrain?!!!" He cursed out loud, the anger he has been bottling up all this time coming to the surface. No longer in control, Mark angrily punches the wall. A big mistake, as his bones are crushed by the massive force he applied.

'One day, Bryan. One day.' Looking at the remains of his precious backpack, Mark grits his teeth, angry that he lost his first-ever backpack, one of the things his parents left him before they left.

After twenty minutes of mourning, Mark finally gathers the strength to move on. As he walks down the hallway, his gaze looks back at the ash behind him as a smirk appeared on his face.

After walking for a few hours, Mark finally came home. Well, if you consider a tiny room home. As Mark opens his door, new resolve builds in him as he eyes his workstation, an old phone left on the table. "Time to get to work."

Ever since Mark's parents died in the Great War, the military promised they would take care of all of his needs until he turned sixteen. And just as promised, they provided him with a tiny room that can barely contain half his belongings. How helpful.

As Mark enters his home, he struggles to navigate through all the junk he left lying around on the floor, tripping over some things here and there. Not waiting another minute, Mark immediately walks to his wardrobe. Opening it, he views his sparse number of old tacky clothing. As he looks down, hidden deep within the wardrobe, he finds what he's looking for. "Gotcha."

Dipping his hands in to pull it out, he immediately opens the briefcase, revealing his arsenal of tools and equipment.

Trial 300. Let's see if I can fry it open with"h a knife." He thought as he glanced at the odd weapon in the case. Pulling the knife out of the case, he walks towards his working table as he eyes the phone. "Let's see how durable you are, shall we?" Pointing the knife at the side of the phone, Mark inserts it into a small line between the phone's components as he begins to apply pressure on the knife.

"Come on! Open your piece of junk!" Mark yelled in his head, shaking the knife as he applied more pressure. Unfortunately for him, the knife accidentally slips out of his position, slicing a deep cut on Mark's arm, causing him to yell in pain. "Aarrgh! Damn it!" He thought as he kicked his feet on the table, pushing his roller chair backward. However, due to the endless junk in his room, the chair trips on a box, causing Mark to fall headfirst on the floor. This made Mark's rage grow more and more violent as visible smokes escaped his ears.

However, after twenty minutes of yelling and kicking random objects, Mark finally calms down. As he inspects his arm, he notices the insane amount of blood dripping from the deep cut as his vision begins to blur. In haste to find his first aid kid, Mark scatters through his closet, tossing aside useless objects as he struggled to prevent more blood from dripping from the wound.

Thankfully, after what felt like an eternity of searching, Mark finally finds it. Quickly prying it open, he pulls out a pair of tongs and uses it to hold a piece of cotton which he used to apply some antibiotics on the gapping cut. The antibiotic stung like hell, but Mark had to bear with the pain, screaming like a little girl as he pushes through applying it.

As Mark fully applied the antibiotic, he brought out a cast from the briefcase. "This should do for now." He thought as he put the cast on. Finally treating his wounds, and calming down, Mark decides to clean up the bloody mess he left everywhere.

As he walked to the side to grab a rag, his gaze briefly shifts to the phone lying on the table completely undamaged. "What the heck is that thing made off?" As Mark grabs a bucket and a rag, he goes into his bathroom to fetch some water.

Getting to work, Mark begins to clean all his stuff that we're stained by blood. After finishing up with that, he decides to clean up the messy table where he got the cut. As he begins cleaning the table, he notices that his cast was loose. Weird since he was sure he tied it on properly. However, he shrugs the thought aside as begins to tie it back up. However, he realizes that the cast is changing from white to brown.

"What's going on?" Mark timpressionas he loosed the cast out. Immediately the cast was removed, a gush of blood comes pouring down, staining everything within its reach. Mark's heartbeat rapidly as he shook in fear. "What the hell's going on?!" In his panicked frenzy, Mark's bloody elbow briefly collide with the plastered phone.

As Mark runs around the room in panic like someone on cocaine, he notices a bright light coming from where the phone was. Abruptly stopping to take a look, he noticed that the phone plastered on the table was vibrating violently as it shone a blinding light.

As time went on, the phone vibrated more and more until it eventually broke free from the handles pinning it to the table. The brightly lit phone rose in the air, its radiance shining more and more as it kept on vibrating.

Mark wanted to look away, but couldn't. It felt like something was drawing him to the mysterious glowing phone. In an instant, the phone flies towards Mark at an unknown speed, appearing only a few inches away from his eyes. The blinding light was too much for Mark to bear, but he couldn't look away.

As the bright light deems down, a message begins to appear on the screen, more and more appearing as they scroll down at a rapid pace. Even though Mark had no idea what the message meant, he still felt like he could make sense of it as the message went on.

As the message arrived at its last word, the phone begins to disappear into dust right in front of Mark. Not wanting the phone to vanish, Mark attempts to grab it, but by the time he attempts to do so, the phone had already vanished into thin air.

Staring blankly at the wall, a shooting pain bangs on Mark's head, causing him to stumble back and fall on another box. "Was it the excess blood loss?" Mark was confused by what exactly was happening. He's been standing all this while just fine and nothing happen, so what's the problem? Looking at his right arm, he notices the once deep open cut has been healed, not even leaving a scar. As the pain rages on, Mark's consciousness begins to slip away.

[ Congratulations: You have been granted the Zombie... ]

With his consciousness slipping away, Mark was unable to finish reading the message as his eyes fall shut.

Gradually, Mark's eyes danced open. The first thing he did after regaining conciousness was inspect hos cut. To his surprise, when he looked at where the cut was made, he didn't see any injury. Thinking back to what happened, all Mark could remember was the blinding light that devoured his vision. As he got up from his stuff, he realized that the stinging headache he had before mysteriously vanished. That was when it hit him. "Wait! My jaws! They're back to normal!!!" Mark yelled, grateful that such a miracle took place. He was so over the moon that he didn't even bother thinking how it happened.

As he jubilated in joy, another fragment of his memory hit him in the face. "I received a Zombie what?" As he looked at his hands and his overall body, Mark didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "Maybe I was just seeing things."

However, right in front of him, to his greatest surprise, the same message is still hanging mid air.

[ Congratulations: You have been granted the Zombie System ]

"Zombie System?" Mark thought, his eyebrows creasing at the name. "What the hell's a Zombie System? What the heck is going on?!!!" "Patience, user." A mysterious voice said in his head. "Who...who are you?" Mark asked, dumbfounded by the series of events so far. "I am Razer Slade. First ever Zombie Emperor, and now your mentor." He said. "Hang on. Zombie System? Zombie King? Mentor? This had to be a sick joke." Mark said.

"I assure you this is not a prank. You, Mark Paige, have been chosen to be the next Zombie Emperor, and it is my utmost duty to train the next ruler in our ancient ways of life." He said with a bow."Why should I believe you?" Mark asked with a threat. "Why don't you find out for yourself? Complete your daily quest." As Razer said that, a tab appeared in front of Mark.

[ Daily Quest: Do 1000 push ups ]

[ Reward: 5 Exp ]

Are you crazy?!!! I'm not some super human who can go through hell and survive! I'm just an average teen!" Mark said. "Just do it and observe how you feel." Razer said.

Mark didn't want to complete the quest, afraid this was all a sick joke, but curiosity got the best of him. Getting down in a plank position, Mark adjusted his arms as he began the push-ups.

At first, Mark thought that he would get tired when he reached ten. However, he reached ten without even breaking a sweat. Next, he thought his breaking point would be twenty with ease. As he progresses, he makes more and more mental limits but keeps breaking every single one of them until he finally completes the quest.

[ Quest Completed, five Exp have been granted ]

[ 5/100 ]

"Woo!!! This is awesome!! And I still don't feel tired!!!" Mark said in excitement, the adrenaline getting to his head. "Now you believe me?" The voice in his head asked with a smirk. "Yeah." As Mark continues to gloat over his new found power, a round knock is heard on his door as it gets louder and louder.

"Paige!!! Open this door this instant!!! That's an order!!!" Not wanting the soldier to breathe fire on his door, Mark quickly ran to open the door. "Is this how you go around threatening your elders?!!! I'll have you areested if such a thing happens again." He warned, his voice causing the ground to shake. "Sorry, sir. it won't happen again." He said so peace can rein. "There is a van waiting for us at the end of the Street. Come on, boy! Let's get moving!" He said as he closed Mark's door. 'Don't you have antly sense of personal space?!' Mark thought as he glared daggers at the man. When he was looking away.

Mark wasn't a fool. He knew that soldiers never bluff. When they say they'll do something, they'll do it. As Mark and the Sergeant walked down the street, Mark's gaze darted towards the kids playing. Whenever he looked their way, they all ways turned away, like he was some sort of disease. 'Good ridence!'

As Mark entered the van, he was greeted by a foying pencil aiming straight for his left eye. However, to everyone's surprise, mark catches the pencil inches before it hits his eye, breaking it to pieces. "Everyone, behave yourselves!!!" A deep loud voice said as he entered the van after Mark.

"Paige! Go take a seat!" The Sergeant said, giving him a nudge on his back. "Mark wasn't happy with the way he was treated, but he managed to swallow his pride and does as told without quarrel. Moving through the crowd of students, an ugly scowl marries Mark's face as his gaze locks with a familiar face.

As he moved through the crowd, he felt a hand grab him as he was being yanked with force. For some reason, the person was having trouble doing so. "Get down here!" Bryan said, struggle visible on his face. "Fuck off." Mark said as he tries to free his hand, but feels Bryan applying more force, finally bring Mark to his head level.

"Listen to me, you idiot! I own this place! Don't you dare try and outshine me!" He wispered into Mark's ear. "Slap the idiot!" Razer said in disgust. "What?!" Mark asked in shock. "You heard me right! Slap him! You are a little more stronger than he is." Razer said. "You really think so?" "Why would I give you false information?"With the green light from Razer, Mark didn't see anything wrong with patting his 'friwnd' on the cheek.

"Pack." It was as fast as lightening. As lound as thunder. And shocking enough to put a horrified look on everyone's faces. Touching his right cheek, Bryan noticed red liquid dripping down his fingers. A smirk lingers on his lips. "I'll kill you?" "Not if I kill you first."

The deed was done. Now all that was left for Mark was find an empty sat. "Excellent! In all my years, I've never met an apprentice as gutsy as you!" Razer said in Glee. "How many apprentices have you had?" "I don't actually keep count. They could be more than a million." "A million?!!!" Mark thought perplexed. "Zombies are not your average monster. We are better than the rest!" Razer praised on. "I really need to learn more about you Zombies." Mark thought as he spotted an empty seat. "Lucky for you, that will be a lot easier now that you're one of us."

"Can I have a seat?" Mark asked the girl sitting at the window. "Oh, what?" "Can I sit with you?" He asked again. "Oh, sure." She said as she kept on staring out the window. 'I'll not disturb her. She seems to be busy.'

As the journey to military school began, everyone was over the moon. Some of the students were even seem raising their middle fingers out the window. As the seconds turned to hours, Mark looked at the girl who was still staring out the window, seemingly lost. 'Don't talk to her. Don't talk to her...' He spoke to her.

"Hi. I never got your name." He said, snapping her out of her daydream. "Oh, it's Sera." Her gaze shifted back to the window. "I know this may be private, but why are you constantly looking out the window? Anything wrong?" He asked, concern visible on his face. "No, it's nothing. I'm just gonna miss home." She said with a sheepish smile. "Oh? Are you from here?" Mark asked. "Nope. Not even from this country." She said blankly.

"What? You're not even from here?! How fast is this bus?!" Mark asked in shock. "So, where are you from?" "Now THAT is personal." She said as Mark's cheeks go red in embarrassment. "Sorry. So, can you tell me about yourself?" He asked, hoping to spark a conversation. "About what?" She asked, her interest peeked. "Anything you want. Your experiences, your specie, your favourite food and places. Literally anything." He said enthusiastically. "Sure. As long as I also hear about you. Don't wanna be the only having the spotlight." The two chatted on and on all through the journey, seemingly loosing themselves in the laughter.

"Alright, everyone. We're reached our destination!" The driver said as the door opened up. After a whole twenty hours of being cooped up in the van, everyone was more than eager to get some blood flowing in their legs. As the Sergeant came out first, everyone else followed afterwards, three or more boys getting stuck in the door from time to time. "Guess this is where we part ways. Really fun meeting you." Mark said as he got up to leave. "Same. Hope we meet again in the base." She said as they both exited the van.

As they came out of the van, they both felt their legs vibrating, almost wanting to cave within themselves. "This is why I hate road transportation. So slow!" Sera said in annoyance. "Everyone, come together!" The Sergeant said in a booming voice, resembling that of a lion.

"Now, just beyond that cliff lies the military base. But before you are allowed entrance, you will all have to undergo some tests." He said as he pulled out a holographic pad from his belt. "Now, I want five of you to come stand by me. I will transport you to where the test will take place." He said as they did as was told.

Not completely sure how things worked, Mark decided to stay behind and see how the others handle it first. "Wish me luck." A girl said behind him. "Are you sure you're ready? Don't you want to wait and see what happens?" Mark asked in concern. "No need. I've been training my whole life for this." She said with a determined look. "Sure." Mark said sarcastically, giving her a thumbs up as she walks to the Sergeant.

As the other four emerge, they are instantly teleported out of everyone's sight. With no one to talk to, Mark decided to try his luck with the others. As he approached other cliches, they either ignore him or outright threaten him if he even looks in their direction.

"People are stupid." Hanging on his own by the side, Mark looks at the spot where the five were teleported from. "I already miss her." "You mean your girlfriend?" A voice asks, startling Mark out of his daze. "Geez. That's creapy." Mark wasn't in the mood to talk to strangers, most definitely those trying to get under his skin.

"Looks like we're in the same boat." The boy said as he stood by Mark. "What do you mean?" Mark asks with a raised eyebrow. "No one here wants to talk to me. And since you're also unwanted, I decided to come to you. So yeah. Together." He said. "Mhmm."

Finally, the group of five that teleported away have come back, but this time, there was something different. "Hey, what's up with those watches?" Mark asks the boy beside him. "Those are what the military uses to keep track of the students' power levels. Each digit is equivalent to a power of 100." He explained.

"Next batch!" The Sergeant called out. "Know what tests we're taking?" Mark asked, hoping he had a reply. "No. The military has a strick policy of not letting students know the tests. Even those that just arrived. If they tell anyone about the tests, the watch will release a massive shock that will kill them instantly." He said blankly. Mark had no words. All he could do was glare up at the boy like he was crazy or something.

"Next batch!" With all the information he could get, Mark makes his way to the Sergeant, hoping the test will be an easy one." The first thing the group notices as they arrives at the location is the dry Rocky layout of the land.

Now, if you'll just follow me, my partner is waiting for us behind that boulder." He said as he led the way. 'Man, I hope this isn't gonna be some suicide mission.' Mark prayed as his legs shook slightly. 'We have him, sir.' The Sergeant thought with a stoic look. 'Excellent! Our mission will soon be complete!' The man behind the boulder said with a wide grin on his face.