Chapter 43: The Void

While Adam and the others were arguing, Carlos, from the superblock, realized that something bad had happened. So, after fighting his fear, he decided to approach. Menil, who was at that moment on the bridge overlooking the parking lot, decided to take the opportunity and talk to Adam.

Menil had not been able to find the opportunity to explain to Adam and the others the information the system had on the infected, so he approached them. However, he immediately realized that there were problems. He watched Jane's corpse with cold indifference and with some hunger. Noticing this, his stomach knotted momentarily.

"Any problems Menil?" Marlen asked, somewhat suspicious of the way the infected was watching Jane.

"Unfortunately, yes there is one, but I see now is not the time to talk. However, I would like to offer my assistance."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think a Stalker like you can do much."

Menil frowned at Noah's words, but he didn't deny it. He had talked to his other companions and they had all decided that they would soon have to start gaining levels and try to evolve. Unfortunately, unlike normal zombies, they seemed to have to consume a lot more corpses of other zombies to evolve. Either that, or they needed to consume human bodies.

"Then we'll talk after we're done here." Is it very important?

"Yes, I'm afraid so."

Adam nodded and tried to fix his gaze on the block they were having trouble with. However, his gaze passed for a second over Jane's corpse. He felt a shudder and looked away quickly. He felt a lump in his throat and momentarily felt nauseous again.

He fixed his attention on trying to think of countermeasures against the Void Zombie and soon felt better. He knew he was running away from the subject, but he repeated to himself that this was not the time to think about it.

Just then Carlos arrived, recoiling in horror as he looked at Jane's corpse.

"What happened? How could this happen?"

"We underestimated our opponent."

Adam was unwilling to look Carlos in the face.

"Well, even though I feel guilty, it's not like we were careless."

Marlen's words cheered Adam up a bit, but he still felt he should have anticipated such an ambush. His emotions were all a mess, so he decided, again, not to think about it.

"We'd better get back inside, we're not doing much by staying here and hesitating."

"Don't we better wait for reinforcements?" It was the first time Miriam had spoken and everyone looked at her. Marlen, especially, was worried about her sister.

"I don't think it's a good idea. We don't know what that zombie might try. Remember yesterday? We attracted the presence of several powerful zombies just by passing by the building they were in. The field of silence he has set up prevented noises from outside from reaching him, but now he knows we are here," said Noah.

"Silence? What are you talking about?"

Everyone looked at Carlos for a few seconds. The man had stopped paying attention to Jane and kept looking at the building Miguel was in. He had only turned his attention back to Noah's words.

"I have a favor to ask, Carlos," Miriam interjected. "Can you take Jane to a safe place?"

Carlos looked at the corpse again and looked away quickly. When Adam had cleared the superblock a few days ago, several of his neighbors had died as well, but he wasn't close to any of them and he hadn't seen the bodies up close either. With Jane, however, it was somewhat different. He may not have known her very well either, but she was part of the most powerful group of all the survivors, so the fact that she died had disturbed him far more than he was willing to admit.

"Carlos?" The man looked at Miriam.

"Excuse me. Yes, I think I can do it. I'll need help moving her, though," Carlos looked at Menil, who nodded.

Carlos didn't trust Menil very much, but last night, during the massive attack, they had had the perfect opportunity to betray them. Instead, they had helped a little to fight the Stalkers.

"Another thing. Do you think there's a chance she'll come back to life as a zombie?"

This time they all looked at Marlen and fell silent. Adam felt some hope.

"Do you think it's possible?" he asked.

"I think that's a question for the system," Noah replied. Menil was a little startled to hear this, but no one noticed.

Adam wasted no time and asked.

[Only someone alive can become Infected by being contaminated with the virus carried by the zombies].

Adam noticed the name "Infected" right away and looked at Menil, who knew what had happened.

"I'm afraid not, Jane won't be coming back," Adam replied to the whole group. Miriam, who had also been hopeful listening to her sister, felt horrible again. However, there is another issue that doesn't add up. The system refers to humans turned into zombies as Infected. Do you know what Menil means?

Menil sighed.

"Yes, I know, that's precisely what I wanted to talk to you about. Basically the system has classified us as a different race from humans and zombies. We didn't notice it right away yesterday, but we all kept our classes and we don't seem to be as strong as a regular Stalker."

Adam didn't know what to think about it and didn't feel much like devoting himself to finding out all the consequences of it. He felt tired and after what had happened, he just wanted to finish with the Void Zombie and rest for a while.

"I'm afraid it's more complicated than what I just explained. I need to talk about this later anyway."

Adam nodded, not paying much attention to what Menil said.

Finally, Noah, Miriam, Marlen and Adam watched as Carlos and Menil carried Jane's corpse away. When they finally disappeared into the superblock, Adam turned to look at everyone.

"We'd better get inside, I don't want that thing to catch us by surprise again. Inside we'll all surround Miriam and position ourselves in the shape of a triangle. We must try to cover all the angles with our eyes, so that thing can't get close again, luckily, it doesn't seem to be very fast."

Everyone nodded and moments later they re-entered the quiet zone. The Void Zombie was able to spot them immediately and prepared for battle.

Adam advanced at the head of the group, flamethrower held high and scanning his surroundings, growing increasingly nervous. Miriam built up so much pressure that she decided she would have to do something, so she used the Halo spell and covered everyone with a pleasant light.

Adam, at first, almost jumped with fright, but soon began to feel better under the spell. Unfortunately, Miriam wouldn't be able to do much more than walk while casting it, so they would have to protect her even more carefully.

It wasn't long before they rounded the corner to the stairs, where they were met almost head-on by the zombie. Before they could even react, the zombie waved its hand and fired an almost invisible wave at high speed, so Adam could barely make out the trail.

The attack hit Noah and, for a horrible moment, Adam thought he was dead, but the spell didn't seem to affect him. Marlen grabbed her axe and attacked the zombie, who recoiled as it watched the group. Adam then realized that he had been paralyzed into thinking Noah was dead.

He raised the flamethrower and without further hesitation, fired. Adam could feel the heat given off by it, but watching it spread in complete silence was disturbing to him.

The zombie got another bad surprise and immediately jumped back. He almost escaped the attack, but a flare caught him in the arm and he felt the worst pain of his life. Before he was crippled, he nullified the pain he felt by using his magic and then proceeded to jump to the upper floor.

Adam was about to move forward when he realized Noah hadn't fired, so he turned around with a lump in his throat. Noah was sitting on the floor, while Miriam stood beside him, worried. Adam noticed right away that Noah's eyes had turned white, so the man most likely couldn't see.

Marlen had also noticed what was happening, so she didn't rush after the zombie and returned to Adam's side. Unlike him, however, who was examining Noah, she was busy keeping an eye on the upper floors.

For his part, Noah found himself blind for the first time. The sensation of blindness, combined with absolute silence, made him understand the meaning of the zombie's name. His world was becoming a void as the zombie affected his senses. Noah felt a shudder of realization.