What's in your head? Zombie!

(AN: Just for fun I decided that the title of every chapter in this arc is going to be a fitting verse of various songs, it isn't that easy and sometimes I waste more time than needed, but well I wanted to do it. Have Fun!)

Jayr POV - ??? Universe, ??? - ???

After jumping through the Unigate, I feel the strange water-like consistency of the gate on my skin for an instant, and the next moment, my feet touch the ground and what greets me is the sight of empty open space with lively green grass under my feet and trees full of green leaves around me which immediately makes me realize that I'm in some kind of natural park, since I notice the presence of some structures like wooden bridges and gazebos even if now they look abandoned and in a state of disrepair.

In addition, the immediate area is enveloped in a strange eerie silence marking the absence of any kind of life in my immediate surroundings, not even small animals or insects.

At the same time, as I step on the ground of this new Universe, the first thing I do is hold back my senses and presence as much as possible to avoid catching the attention of any possible supernatural overpowered and malicious beings that I'd like to have nothing to do with, especially if for a sadistic twist of fate I ended up in the SCP Universe or the always dreaded Cthulhu Mythos Universe.

But the next instant, I realize that my Spiral Cosmo is sealed within my body, unresponsive to my will no matter how much I try, even my own Divinity and Cosmic Awareness are sealed within me. 

This is something I had already experienced some years ago, to be more precise, when I first left my home universe to go to the Arifureta Universe in which my Cosmo, as a supernatural form of energy, was then sealed as in that universe where only Magic and Technology is allowed.

As soon as I connect what I'm feeling with that experience, I immediately realize what is happening and mutter, "I ended up in a "normal" universe... One completely devoid of any supernatural power or magic. A universe where everything can be somewhat explained by science and logic."

Shortly after realizing this, I let out a sigh of relief while thinking, 'Good! I just avoided the worst-case scenario! Even if my Spiral Cosmo is sealed, I don't have to worry about any overpowered evil entity messing around with me. In addition, since this is a "normal" universe, my natural physical body and abilities that I tirelessly honed and refined over the years are more than enough to give me an overwhelming advantage over everything else this world can throw at me. Someone attacking me with a knife, a sword, or shooting me with a pistol or some other weapon? Good luck trying to pierce my skin that can endure even a nuke. Terminator suddenly appears to kill me? Simply rip off its head and throw it into the sun. A huge meteorite is about to destroy this planet? Leave the planet with a single jump and obliterate the meteorite with a casual punch. Aliens like Xenomophs or Yatuja? Just be careful about some of the more dangerous weapons and simply rip them apart with my bare hands.'

In addition, I can't help but grin while thinking about my trump cards in case something too dangerous for my natural body to face appears, 'And even if something that can actually be a threat to me appears I can always call out Cratergann, Galeon or the other Gunmen to defend myself. However, without Spiral Cosmo both of them are quite limited as they can't combine, but even then they can still work by coverting solar energy into electicity and their armor is tough enough to endure basically everything short of something strong enough to obliterate multiple universes and such powerful technology is quite rare. In addition, I can also simply transform into a full dragon to further increase my physical abilities since that became a natural biological function after I ascended into Godhood and infused the Metamorphosis Magic Advent of the Divine Dragon Lord into my being. So I think I'm more than capable of dealing with just about anything this universe can throw at me, the only exception is very likely the other Champion that was also sent to this universe for the Random Battle. Only he or she is likely going to be an actual threat...'

While I'm thinking that, I suddenly notice the bountiful presence of a particular microscopic organism in the air that is actually trying to invade and infect my body with each breath I take, not that they are successful as my blood still has its healing properties and is constantily eliminating everything that is considered harmful.

I usally ignore such things as the air of almost every universe is more or less filled with some harmful substances and organisms here and there. 

For example, there are harmful particles like elemental black carbon, which is basically soot, volatile organic carbon compounds, heavy metals, and ammonia that are released in the air through chemical reactions such as burning fuels.

There are also harmful materials like dioxin, asbestos, toluene, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium, and lead compounds that are released into the air and water by various industries.

Then there are natural biological pollutants such as mold, pollen, animal dander, dust mites, and cockroaches that may trigger breathing problems, allergic symptoms, or asthma attacks.

Last but not least, there are also many airborne bacteria and viruses but those are usually the least concerning ones, at least in open spaces like this one.

Basically, unless one lives in a supernaturally protected enviroment like the Sanctuary or my Soulbound Territory that ensures "clean" air, it is inevitable to come in contant with such harmful substances in smaller or bigger quantities depending on how polluted the environment one lives in. 

As said before I do not care too much about them as my body and immune system are so strong that even if I actually eat and drink nuclear waste I would still be perfectly fine and healthy, well, except for the awful taste as I still remember the trauma that Nia's cooking caused to the members of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, they still get ill and start to puke at the simple idea of Nia cooking something. 

Anyway, the reason why I'm currently taking notice of these microscopic organisms trying to invade and infect my body is because the air is basically overflowing with their presence.

So I close my eyes and take a deep breath before focusing more on myself while making sure that my blood doesn't eliminate them too fast to find out what these microscopic organisms are trying to do.

Shortly after that, I sense that they are trying to quickly spread throughout the blood and concentrate in the central nervous system moreover, I sense that while inside my body these microscopic organisms are also trying to multiply inside the healthy cells that they are infecting making me realize that these microscopic organism are actually a virus instead of a bacteria that are single cells that can survive on their own, inside or outside the body. 

Of course, before they can actually do that, I stop restraining my Gold Blood which quickly moves to eliminate any traces of them within my body.

Realizing that it is a virus I immediately start to narrow down the possible universes I could probably be at the moment and mutter, "If we are talking about a virus... well... There is Black Bullet, The Walking Dead, The Last Ship, Resident Evil, See, I am Legend, High School of the Dead, The Stand, The Andromeda Strain, World War Z, Zombieland... Oh God! There are way too many movies, TV series, anime, manga, books, and so on about virus outbreaks! It's impossible to find the right one among them at the moment." 

Reaching that conclusion, I decide that the only way to find out where exactily am I is to simply leave this park and explore my surroundings.

Having decided my next immediate action, I simply pick a random direction and start to walk hoping to find anything that will help me identify this universe.

The more I get away from the place of my arrival, the more my enhanced sense of smell picks up a certain particular strong odor in the air. 

A disgusting smell, one I became quite familiar with as I often smell it in both this and my previous lives because of my experience as a doctor and the many battles I went through, the smell of death.

The smell that many dead human bodies release when they start decomposing and start to release around 30 different chemical compounds and gases. 

The gases and compounds produced in a decomposing body emit a distinct mix of odors that is particuarly disgusting for those not used to it. 

The best way I can explain it is by saying that the smell of death is a mix of rotting flesh, a strong feces odor, a mustier, mothball-like smell, rotten eggs, rotting cabbage, and a foul, garlic-like odor, let's just say that it isn't something one would like to smell. 

This is one of the reasons why so many medical students vomit or even faint the first time they have to dissect a body, even more so if the body in question isn't so "fresh", which means 3 days old or more, or worse the ones in charge with conserving the bodies didn't use enough formalin whose smell is also quite smothering and nauseating but still leagues better than the original smell produced by the decaying bodies.

This strong smell of decaying flesh in addition to the omni-present virus in the air, and now the small and slowly shuffling sound in the distance, immediately makes one single word appear in my head, 'Zombie!'

At the same time, as I continue moving forward, I mutter, "This once more narrows down the possible universes. A universe where there are zombies that are the product of a virus... Well, there are still too many choices, but if I see a zombie running or doing other crazy shit, I'm pretty sure that I can narrow it down to Resident Evil, World War Z, or maybe Zombieland... personally, I hope it is Zombieland, after all, it would be quite fun to see a Homer... and save Bill Murray from being, well Murrayed. Maybe even pull off a Zombie kill of the week."

I casually walk out of the park and find myself in what looks like an empty and abadoned suburban residential street with abandoned cars all over the road. 

Seeing this, I continue to move forward hoping to find a hint or something else that will tell me where exactily am I while I continue to plan my activities in this universe, "Talking about the Zombie kill of the week... if I'm not in the Zombieland Universe maybe I should introduce the concept to the people living here after all, a little bit of entertainment can do wonders for the human psyche, especially if they are living in a harsh world full of zombies." 

But then I get more serious as I continue to move through this desolate street, "Anyway, focusing back on the more important matters. After finding out where I am, I should probably try to help the possible survivors and try to do something about this virus while also searching for the other Champion. In fact, I could gather a lot of survivors together and use them to search for him or her with the excuse of gathering and helping many other survivors. After all, a Champion would surely be a lot more powerful and resorceful than the regular people even if they do not have access to their full capabilities like me which should make it quite easy to identify, even more so if he or she has some peculiar charateristics like my totally unbelievable dark blue anime hair that seems to defy gravity no matter what." 

At the same time, thinking about the survivor and the zombies I can't help but mentally pat myself on the back while thinking, ''Luckily I chose to wear some simple black track pants with a plain, sleeveless blue shirt and plain black running shoes. Comfy enough to move around, and I won't care too much if they get dirty with blood and guts..."

Suddenly from the distance, my enhanced sense of hearing picks up the dull sound of something metallic hitting someone shortly followed by an excited young boy's voice as it yells, "Daddy, daddy! Daddy, I got this sumbitch. I'm gonna smack him dead."

Shortly after that, I hear the sound of a gun firing one single shot and without hesitation, I quickly run toward the area where those sounds are originating from. 

Of course, I make sure to keep my speed controlled to be under the supersonic level. 

After all, this is a "normal" universe, and running at that speed or more without using my Spiral Cosmo to contain its effects could easily cause massive damage to the surroundings. 

Despite that, I only take a couple of seconds to reach my destination and once there, I'm greeted with the sight of three somewhat familiar people in front of one of the houses, two of them are standing. 

One is an African-American adult man in his early to mid-40s with black eyes, very short almost shaved black hair, and a few days old stubbles, he is wearing a blue shirt and brown pants, in addition, he is armed with a gun that is currently pointing at the third man

The other one is an African-American young body with curly black hair and eyes, he should be 10 years old or so, he is wearing a cyan t-shirt under an open red jacked and jeans, and he is also staring warily at the third man while he is holding a rusty garden shovel. 

The other one is also a man, but he is lying on the ground holding his head clearly in pain and wearing what is clearly a hospital gown and boxer.

He is a Caucasian man in his mid-thirties, with messy dark brown hair and a clearly negleted beard, and while his eyes are momentarely closed, I know for sure that he has clear blue eyes.

Seeing those three familiar figures, I immediately recognize them and finally realize where in the Omniverse I am and can't stop myself from muttering, "Fuck... Those are Morgan, his son, and Rick Freaking Grimes... I'm in the Walking Dead Universe!"

Indeed, the man armed with the gun is Morgan Jones, the young body is his son, Duane Jones, and the man on the ground is Rick Grimes and all three of them have an appearance that clearly reminds me of the actors that portrayed them in the Walking Dead TV series, Lennie James for Morgan, Adrian Kali Turner for Duane, and Andrew Lincoln for Rick.

(Image Here - Morgan, Duane, Rick)

While I'm momentarily stunned by the revelation that I'm in the Walking Dead Universe, Morgan continues to point his gun at the aching Rick and asks, "He said something? I thought I heard him say something." 

In response, Duane continues to stare warily at Rick ready to attack him again if he makes any move, and says, "He called me Carl." 

Hearing that Morgan comments, "Son, you know they don't talk." but then he suddenly notices the bandage and with a guarded tone he calls Rick out and asks, "Hey, mister! What's that bandage for?" 

Still stunned by the blow he received to the head, Rick can only weakly ask back, "W-What?" but undeterred Morgan insists, "What kind of wound? You answer me, damn you! What's your wound?" 

Despite the fact that Morgan raised his voice Rick was too weakned to respond, after all, if I remember well, he woke up from a long coma not too long ago, and shortly after that, he received a blow to his head there was no way he is in any shape to answer. 

Morgan unaware of his state starts to threaten Rick to force out an answer, "You tell me! Or I will kill you." but this is just too much for the weak Rick who quickly passes out.

At this point, Morgan seems a little unsure of what to do, but in the end, he comes to a decision and says, "We can't leave him here. Let's bring him inside and check that wound. But we still have to be careful, it is better if we tie him somewhere..."

But just before Morgan can pick Rick up, Duane notices my presence as I'm slowly approaching the group and pointing at me he shouts, "Daddy! There is another one over there!" 

With quick reflexes, Morgan stares in my direction and points his gun at me, and in response, I calmly raise my hands to show them that I'm not armed and with a disarming smile, I cheerfully greet them, "Hello there! As you can clearly see I'm alive and not one of them."

Even if he relaxes a little, Morgan is still wary enough to keep his gun trained on me as he asks, "Who are you? What do you want? Quick! Answer!"

I stop a few meters away from them to give them an impression of security and calmly answer, "My name is Jayr Pucci. Nice to meet you. As for what I want, I simply want to help that guy over there with his wounds and very likely update him on what is happening in the world as from what I can see from here, the guy just went through quite a bit..."

Before I can continue, Duane interrupts me and asks, "How do you know that?" making me almost smirk while thinking, 'Smart kid...' before I calmly come up with an excuse using the knowledge of the TV Series, "Well, I've noticed him when he passed by the park over there. At first, I thought it was one of them who had escaped from the hospital but then I noticed that he was alive, even if clearly weakened, confused, and agitated. Because of that, I got worried and followed after him as he took an abandoned bike and rushed toward that house calling the names of what I think are his son and wife. I kept my distance in case there was truly someone in the house, but once I saw him walk out of it distraught, I decided to give him some time to regain his bearings and check the surroundings for any of those things. But then I suddenly heard your son calling for you followed by a gunshot and rushed over."

Morgan still looks at me with clear doubt in his eyes as he asks, "That still sounds quite suspicious and farfetched... more importantly why would you go through so much trouble for a random stranger?"

Hearing that question I continue to calmly smile while replying, "The world may have ended but that doesn't change the fact that at heart... I am a doctor. Whenever possible I still wish to help and save as many lives as possible."

I notice that Morgan seems to still have some doubt, but before he can ask or say anything else, I add, "I will continue to answer all the questions you deem necessary, but before that, we have to quickly bring him inside and take care of his bandage and wound. More importantly, that gunshot for sure didn't attract only me, but even all those things in the surroundings who are surely heading here as we speak."

Hearing that, Morgan remains in silence for a few moments before he lowers his gun and simply says, "Help me." then he adds in a threatening tone, "But if you make any funny moves, I'm going to kill you. Trust me, I'll do it!"

In response, I simply smile before I swiftly move to help Morgan carry Rick inside the house they are occupying under the watchful eyes of his son Duane.

Once inside the house, we carry Rick to one of the bedrooms and gently lie his body on a bed.

Immediately after that, Morgan started to tie Rick's arms to the bed's headboard slat while I started to carefully remove the dirty bandage, check and clean the wound, and then apply a new bandage using what was avaiable in the house, I also take care of the blood that came out of his nose as result of Duane's attack.

During the whole process, Morgan kept his eyes trainined on me while Duane moved back and forth to search for and get the items I requested for treating Rick.

At the same time, Morgan continued to ask me questions like where I was from, what I was doing in this area, if I was alone or with a group, and so on.

I answered honestly to most of them, while to some others I kept it more vague, but when he asked me what kind of wound I think the one I was treating, I replied without any hesitation that it was a gunshot wound and one that was around three months old. 

I also add that from the state of his muscles, it is also clear that he was lying still on a bed for quite a long time which implies that Rick was likely in a state of coma and may not know anything about what happened in the world.

After some time, Morgan finally stops questioning me and lowers his guard a little as he likely realizes that I mean no harm to him and his son, and in response to that, Duane also starts to relax a little bit more as I hear him and Morgan bet over whatever Rick is some kind of criminal or not. 

While taking care of Rick's wound and bandage, and answering Morgan's question, time quickly passes and the night starts to fall, not that it can be easily noticed as Morgan and Duane made sure to block all windows with everything they found to make sure that the zombies don't notice the lights, something quite stupid as the zombies are basically blind and find their prey thanks to enhanced senses of smell and hearing. 

Once I've done everything needed, I move toward a plastic basin full of water and use it to wash my hands while warning the father-son duo that Rick is also about to wake up.

In response to my words, both become tense once again as Duane grabs a baseball bat while Morgan moves closer to the bed and as soon as he notices Rick waking up and taking a look at his surroundings he immediately says, "Got that bandage changed out by doc over there. It was pretty rank." before he again asks for confirmation, "What was? The wound?"

Rick stays silent for a few more seconds before he simply answers with, "Gunshot." 

Hearing that, Morgan asks again clearly still not fully trusting me, "Gunshot? What else? Anything?" 

Rick confused and a little annoyed can't help but ask back, "Gunshot ain't enough?" making Morgan take a tougher stance, "Look, I ask and you answer. It's common courtesy, right? Did you get bit?"

Clearly not understanding what Morgan truly wants to know, a confused Rick asks again, "Bit?" making Morgan insist as he leans closer to Rick, "Bit. Chewed. Maybe scratch? Anything like that." but Rick shakes his head and comfirms, "No, I got shot. Just shot. As far as I know." 

Hearing that Morgan sits on the bed and starts to move his hand toward Rick's forehead making him flinch and seeing that, Morgan says in a calm tone, "Hey… Just let me… "

Morgan feels Rick's forehead comparing his temperature to the one he felt before I actually started to treat him and comment, "Feels cooler now. Fever would have killed you by now." 

In response Rick declares, "I don't think I have one." making Morgan comment, "Be hard to miss." 

Shortly after saying that he pulls out a knife and shows it to Rick while saying, "Take a moment, eh? Look how sharp it is. You try anything… I will kill you with it, and don't you think I won't." 

Rick stays still and Morgan cuts him free and after doing that he walks toward the door and says, "Come on up when you're able." before he turns to his son and adds, "Come on." 

Morgan and his son leave the room leaving me alone with Rick as he touches his now free arms.

Rick notices my presence and focuses his gaze on me, and in response, I show him a warm and comforting smile I as say, "Do not mind his somewhat extreme behaviour. The world has changed quite a bit in the time you have been asleep. It is much more dangerous and ruthless place than before where people are forced to take some very hard choices just to survive. But despite that, there are still good men like Morgan out there. If it was someone else in his shoes he would have likely left you there to die or even used you as bait to save himself."

After saying that I walk out of the room and say, "For now don't think about that and rest some more... When you feel ready joins us and we will catch you up on what is happening."