Words of encouragement

Harris, Lucas and Roxas stood still now that the attackers were dead. They were motionless and stared longingly at the corpses. They had just killed someone and felt grief. Killing zombies was fine since they were no longer humans but dangerous mutants, these people were the first humans that they killed with their own hands.

Sophia and Alice rushed to their respective loved one. Kim Hannah was comforting the crying Abigail. She was scared from the attack and could feel the strong emotions of grief that the men were displaying. Her untrained mentality was being influenced to feel the same as them. It was a lot for a young girl to handle. She could feel all their emotions combined and it made her cry.

'Hmm'

Dean had watched the whole fight undetected. He was ready to rush in and save them at the last second. He didn't want any one of them to die fighting for him being the reason.

He slowly walked to the group.

"Dean"

Kim Hannah was the only one to notice his return. She felt partly responsible for the attack and didn't know how to act now that everyone was in a weird mental state.

"Sigh"

Roxas and Alice looked up at the nonchalant sigh. Roxas rushed at Dean intending to tackle him to the ground. He shook at the grasp of Alice and ran with a tearful face.

"Your weak, just like everyone else who died because of me"

Dean easily dodged the tackle, making Roxas face plant into the ground. Who reluctantly didn't get up but started to cry. It was impossible for him to attack Dean who could dodge a mutator.

"Everyone was soon to die for not fighting and overcoming their weak wills. So what if they died because they couldn't fight a zombie. Would you have liked to see everyone be murdered by further strengthened zombies. Would you have let everyone die because you couldn't kill the few to save the many"

Everyone paused at his words. They knew that what he was saying was an extreme scenario but it was more logical to save 50 out of 100 than have all 100 die. Their hearts were saying that his logic was wrong, especially Harris and Sophia who were the most caring out of the group.

"Grow up"

"Their deaths helped you all escape and survive. Now that the world has ended there will be many more times where even more bad things are going to happen. Humans won't be good now that law is no more. Selfishness and greed will bring people to do unthinkable things."

Dean paused for a bit to let his words get through to them.

"I'm not a good person. I won't have trouble throwing people away to achieve my goals"

Alice looked at Dean with a tinge of anger.

"What about us"

"Hmm…You are all similar to an investment. Of course I won't deny that I don't care for you all, but it's also true that I want everyone to be stronger. None of you are strong currently but should grow strong in the future if you survive. Only the stronger person is able to dictate what others do. That's why if you have any complaints and strong emotions. Train and get stronger so that you can resolve your own problems"

Dean walked away to let them think. Kim Hannah's will burned at his words, it was like he was reinforcing her new way of thinking.

'Strength is what matters'

She left with the calmed down Abigail and started to move their supplies into another car.

"Honey, are you okay"

Sophia comforted her husband. Harris seemed to be thinking about Dean's words as he clearly knew that power was needed to protect those he loved. He felt anger towards Dean who let everyone die in the supermarket but he couldn't judge that action. It was what let them to survive, so it was true that their lives were already bloodied by other people's sacrifices.

"Yeah I'm fine. I need to work on hotwiring the car"

He kissed Sophia on the forehead and moved to the car that Kim Hannah was moving supplies into. Alice comforted Roxas and got him to help as well.

Lucas was staring at the corpse of Susan, the girl that slit her throat to stay with her lover. Her blood covered the concrete road and lifeless hand reached for her partner.

'I'm sorry that you died because of me'

His eyes slightly teared, forcing him to take off his glasses and wipe them with a cloth from his pocket.

'I don't know how many more corpses I will step over but I won't let their deaths make me sad. I live and they die, it could be the opposite whenever someone stronger wants me dead. I will live freely and not worry about the blood that I spilt..no…I will live not regretting my actions that let me live'

He resolved his will and watched Dean who was fighting in the distance.

'Power is what I need. It's what will let me live'

The group were now travelling in a family van as it was spacious. They didn't want to have separate vehicles and were only planning to stop a few times before arriving at the police station. It was roughly 10km away and would take some time to get there. Dean was sitting on the roof of the vehicle.

The roads were full of zombies and he was the most efficient at killing them. He would quickly kite and kill hordes that blocked the road. Some vehicles also blocked the road which forced him to push it out of the way. It was easy for him but would make the group inside the car struggle.

Another group of zombies blocked the road, he was about to rush and kill them but stopped.

"Stop the car and hide"

The car stopped and hurriedly hid with other cars that were parked on the side of the road. Dean quickly hid inside another car and pointed to the group to stay quiet and hide.

*Bzzzz*

A loud buzzing noise was heard throughout the street. Numerous shadows were cast on the ground. The group were shocked at the noise and shadows and stayed quiet.

The noise grew louder and louder and soon reached above them. One shadow swooped from the air and slammed into the horde of zombies. Smoke covered the horde making it hard for the group to see what fell from the sky. Dean however could tell what it was with his enhanced senses. He saw a glimpse of it before falling with his enhanced vision.

Soon more shadows dropped from the sky and started to slam against the horde. More smoke appeared hiding the attackers from the group in the car. They looked at Dean who once again signaled for them to stay quiet and hide even more.

The smoke disappeared at the sight that shocked the group, forcing them to hide more eagerly.

The group wanted to scream at the site. Most of them were scared of insects and were having trouble seeing these pests so big.

Huge cockroaches were munching on the bodies of the horde. Blood and flesh dripped from their mouths. Their large orange bodies were the size of an adult human. More than 200 had fallen out of the sky and swarmed the horde. The rotten smell of flesh and blood had attracted them to the feast. Their wings buzzed in the air and their hard exoskeleton made them survive the crash from such a height. Their sharp mandibles easily teared off the flesh from the zombies.

There were more cockroaches than zombies, which let them double down. One cockroach was using its maxilla (Basically it's mouth) to eat the guts and stomach from zombies. While some ate the whole head. It was fine for them to directly eat bones. Their gizzard that was located in their stomach had mutated as well and let them easily break down hard materials such as rock and bone. A human skull was simple for them to digest now.

The swarm of roaches quickly devoured the horde leaving no trace. They then quickly started to survey the surrounding area looking for more food. Like more insects they could detect food and changes in the surroundings with their antennae.

6 sharp clawed legs climbed atop the car the group were in. The antennae was moving wildly. Its sharp clawed legs left dents on the metal roof.

Inside the car everyone was shaking. They quietly layed low and covered their mouths and kept themselves from moving or screaming. The cockroach atop the car quickly left and flew to the air with its wings. The rest of the cockroaches that were exploring the area also flew into the air with buzzing sounds.

The buzzing grew faint which signaled that they had gone. The group sighed and felt relieved.

"So even insects are changing"

"Yeah, it's probably all organisms that are on Earth that are mutating"

"It's going to be dangerous if we encounter more mutated animals"

"Mm, we need to arm ourselves and find somewhere safe to build a base"

They nodded and started to drive again with more haste.