Chapter 25 Counting Sheep

"Kisha, rest and I'll drive us to the base." Duke said worriedly, he was concerned that Kisha was pushing herself too much and taking all the burden by herself.

"Don't worry, I can handle this much." She doesn't want to give this responsibility to anyone else, especially right now that they are still inside City A, the biggest and most prosperous city in their country. One wrong move and they might get trapped.

She doesn't want to gamble on her family's safety at all, they can't even protect themselves.

"I'll let you drive once we reach the outskirts." She said as she stepped on the gas pedal to increase their speed.

"Sister, we're almost at the outskirts. Are we really staying with Duke and his people?" Keith ask.

Duke's eyes frosted over. "Is he insinuating that his sister should choose not to?!" He thought as he simmered inside, does this kid want to take his business partner away?

Kisha did not think twice and answered. "We will eventually need to join a base, joining now and joining later is still the same."

Duke crossed his arms in front of his chest and nodded in agreement. His anger subsided a lot.

"But don't we need to go out there to hunt zombies for the crystal core?"

"Not yet, the zombie cores have yet to form, instead. Why don't we ask Duke to include you in their training?"

Duke smirked, he was given a chance to teach the brat a lesson. "Right, it's important to know the basics."

"Right! I've seen Hawk and the other's strengths, it will do you good if you can learn at least one or two moves from them." Grandpa echoed.

Keith only smiled as he leaned both his arms on the back of the driver and passenger seat, his head lowered. Everyone thought that he was just feeling down and doesn't want his ass whipped out while training.

Grandma wanted to cheer up her grandson, so she reached out to touch his arm however, she was surprised by the heat that was coming from his body. "You are scalding hot Keith." She yelped. She already noticed his skin turning red earlier but did not think too much about it, but now, he seemed to be having a high fever.

Kisha's body jerked, and she reached out her right hand to touch Keith's forehead. She didn't look worried and instead asked. "Have you felt a sudden surge of energy inside your body?"

Keith slowly lifted his head with a smile and just nodded with a low grunt. He remembered that he felt a sudden surge of energy from within when he was fighting the zombies earlier.

Kisha saw Keith's actions from the rearview mirror and exclamated. "Congratulations!" A sincere smile plastered on her lips.

Keith was a little delayed in his reaction and processing skills due to the suffocating heat enveloping his body, that's why he did not understand what his sister was congratulating him for. His blood pumping to his brain with double the pressure, and his whole body is aching as if he were suffering from internal injuries and bone fractures.

But he was doing his best not to let others notice his pain so he was chattering nonstop, even when his lips turned pale and his back soaked in cold sweat. He still tried not to worry his family, but he already reached his limit and wanted to take a little break, he did not expect that his Grandma would still find out. 

And why was his sister congratulating him?

Duke's eyebrow raises as he gives Keith a side glance. "Is he in the process of awakening?" 

"Yup!" she then turned her attention to Keith and looked at him through the rearview mirror. "My little brother, you're doing great! Hang on a little longer okay?!" 

Her calm demeanor reassured Keith and felt like the pain he was feeling was a lot more tolerable than earlier, he was able to squeeze a smile before he passed out.

Grandpa caught him in time before he hit his head. "Will your brother be alright?" He was nervous and worried that a mishap would happen to his grandson.

"Don't worry Grandpa." She took out an ice pack from her inventory and gave it to her grandpa. "Please help him reduce the heat, or else it will fry his brain."

It was too early for Keith to awaken, it was supposed to be a month later. Kisha did not anticipate that the virus's potency would increase to ten times more than before. She was worried that the zombie's evolution would drastically increase in numbers and the time they evolve might be earlier than usual as well.

008's words popped up in her head, it mentioned that it was suspecting that something or someone was manipulating things behind the scenes. Was this man-made? Is it why the apocalypse broke out earlier than expected?

Then, does that mean that someone other than her has experienced a regression or rebirth? Or was it just a coincidence?

These thoughts were eating at Kisha's mind, everyone feared the unknown, including her. It was true that she had experienced a hundred rebirths, but more and more things had been happening that had never happened before. Everything is spiraling out of her control.

She thought, everything was already under her grasp and she would have the absolute advantage over the previous rebirths she'd been through. But the hurdle just increases in difficulty.

Nevertheless, she hid her thoughts and emotions under wraps. She knew that her grandparents and Keith would only worry if she let it slip. Although she was well aware that they would do their best to assist her and carry her burden with her, it would also only mean that the danger they would face would increase. 

She decided to ask Duke to include her family members in the training his team conducts every day. She was just thinking of how she'd ask him.

She glances at Duke, noticing her eyes on him. He met her gaze and he was stunned to see her sweet smile.

He was swooned over by that smile, over his cold indifferent facade was a heart palpitating nonstop. Although it was but a brief smile, he could still see the image in his mind.

'How would it feel if she treated me like her family? How she cared for Keith. How she worried over someone. How would it feel when she caressed me gently and whispered in my ear...' A sudden swelling pain in his lower body jolted Duke out of his reverie. A certain part of his body stood at attention, his eyes clouded with lust.

He changed his position, put his left leg over his right, and pulled his shirt a little to hide what was trying to come out. He didn't know what came over him to have this kind of thought. He couldn't even lift his head to look at Kisha, he leaned on the window and started counting sheep in his head to calm his raging snake.