68

In the basement of the luxury hotel, terrified screaming in the distance passed through Adam's ear. Damp and wet moisture struck his skin and the rustic smell of blood assaulted his nose. Slowly opening his eyes, a gray block of stone welcomed his blurry vision. His arms felt numb, he tried moving it, but he only heard the rustling of metal beside him. Looking closer, his arms were raised and attached to it were chains pinned to the wall.

A figure approached him, it's the old man from before. The old man looked at him curiously and said, "I see that you've woken up. You can call me the Chemist. We're gonna have so much fun together."

The Chemist touched his body and said, "Yes, good bone. I can see that you've already eaten a dozen of these stones," he looked at his two pale men on the side and ordered, "Put him on the chair."

The two pale men nodded and released Adam as they carried him to the chair and tied him up with leather belts.

The room was dimly lit, shelves were lined up with jars multiple jars of black liquids and many of what seemed to be blood bags.

The Chemist picked up a blood bag from his table and attached it to the IV pole next to Adam while grinning. He walked closer to Adam and inserted a needle on the right arm to let the blood flow in Adam's vein. Afterward, the Chemist did the same thing on the left arm, but this time, it was a liquid as black as ink. Upon closer look, the black liquid seemed to have something squirming around as if trying to get out.

"What are you injecting me with?!"

Adam felt something crawling inside his left arm. Suddenly, his left arm felt like being pricked with thousands of needles. The black liquid then seemed to have arrived on his heart and this time, it felt like thousands of blade was slashing at his body whole being. He trembled uncontrollably as he breathed heavily and screamed. It was excruciating.

"Arrrggghhh!!!!"

Blood came out of his eyes, ears, nose just like the pale men. Black veins bulge out all over his body. It felt like he wanted to explode. He looked around as his instincts were telling him to destroy and kill as if it was the only thing that would make the pain go away.

The pain calmed down and stopped after two hours, his whole body was soaking wet with his sweats. When Adam started to regain his consciousness, he heard another sound.

"Boy if you can stand the pain... believe me this thing will make you stronger...One more dosage!!"

Another jars of black liquid and blood bags were again transfused into him.

"AARGGG!!!"

The process was repeated many times that he lost count…

His blank eyes stared at the gray ground and he suddenly saw a small item on the floor. Staring at it blankly, he tried to see the item clearly.

"A hairpin… a flower hairpin... Daisy?" Adam's lifeless eyes returned its color as his mind flashed back to the time when he was with Daisy, "I'll be fine. Do not worry. I promise. You know how much I love seeing you wearing this. I will give this back to you when we manage to get out this, ok?"

"This cruel world devours the weak. Stronger… I need to be stronger! If this black liquid makes me stronger, then so be it! As long as I can return to her side, I must endure!!"

Hafiz and the Chemist walked into Adam's cell. Hafiz looked at Adam and said, "Hoo hoo. Your eyes. They're still alive. I'm impressed."

"Yes yes, out of the 30 test subjects, he's the only one who persisted. Based on what I have found, his body has adapted to the black liquid. At first, he needed the blood of patient x, but right now, he just needs to be injected with the black liquid," the Chemist said and walked closer to the vials of black blood, "Patient X's blood was very interesting, it seemed to have merged perfectly with the black zombie's blood. We need to search more for an immature black zombie cocoon and recover its bone marrow."

"That's very good, how long now is the potency of the drug?" Hafiz asked.

"Before it was only 3 hours. But since I have injected the bone marrow of the black zombie with patient x's blood, it's should have last a few days. Too bad the subject would still become depended on it and if they didn't receive more dosage in time, they will lose consciousness and dies. Next thing I wanted to try would be to inject new bone marrows with the one we have here and see if it'll merge. It'll be too limiting if we only have one of these," picking up the jar with the bone marrow, the Chemist smiled as if he was looking at his most precious treasure.

Hafiz walked closer to Adam and looked him in the eye, "Come with us and be with our merciful god."

Adam felt his shivers down his spine, fear was overwhelmed him, but it was only for a moment as he gritted his teeth and stare at the two madmen in front of him with pure killing intent.

The Chemist grinned, "Seems like your persuasion is not powerful enough for him. You could convert normal civilians just within days, even easier if they are a believer, but for soldiers and people who had consumed those stones, it seems like it's not really effective."

"Yes... given a couple of weeks probably I can convert people like him, but we don't have enough time. Finish everything here and we'll go back to the Middle East to find more believers," Hafiz coldly said, "continue with your experiments on him. We need the potency of the drug to be more powerful than this. I didn't realize that the Indonesian government would be quick to organize. I believe their army will come soon. Finish your research faster."

"Kekeke, ok," turning around, the Chemist picked up blood bag and injected Adam another set of black liquid and continued on with the experiments.

Before the doomsday start, the chemist was a biology professor who lost his practice license because of unorthodox experiments. When the doomsday start, the mutated animals, undead and spirit stones really excite him. He got acquainted with Hafiz and decided to join the cause. A few weeks ago the group was fortunate to find unhatched stage two black zombies cocoon in the city of Sukabumi, he has been experimenting on it, hence the birth of the pale man.

Days passed, horrible experiments took place, it made Adam want to die as if living wasn't worth it anymore, but he held on as the image of Daisy filled his mind.

Until one day, loud screaming and gunshots howled from the distance, the underground of the basement was shaking due to the explosions around the luxury hotel. The situation outside seems in chaos

When Adam opened his eyes, Three figure come rushing towards him. Three mad people appear came to take him away...

Hearing one by one his chains being unlocked,

In Adam's mind, "This is my chance"

Adam waited for the right opportunity. As soon as the last chain was released, a sudden burst of energy welled up in him as his muscles contracted and expanded. Same with the pale men, his strength and speed now exceeded peak mortal realm.

SWWOOSSHH! BANG!!

Two mad people were thrown to the wall, the pressure was so strong that wall nearly bore a hole in it.

Adam grabbed the remaining mad person on the neck and slammed him to the ground. Seeing that the mad person was still alive, Adam raised his foot and stomped the head of the person drilling a hole in the ground.

Just a few simple moves, three mad people died... he didn't regret the killing at all. Adam raises his arm and felt such strength coming out from his body...

"I.. i..." the feeling is hard to explain with words.

Adam walked out of his cell and moved through the corridor trying to find a way out, but instead of finding the exit, he stumbled upon a room with a marking Patient X. Adam took a glimpse inside the room and he saw a person strapped on a chair with multiple tubes attached to him.

It took Adam a couple of seconds to figure out it was Axel. Adam rushed over and saw that Axel was nothing compared to his previous demeanor, he's in critical condition. Axel body has become so thin, wrinkles can be seen all over it. Dozens of empty blood bags placed near the dying man. Adam suddenly figured out where the blood bags that's been injected to him coming from.

"Lieutenant... don't worry. I am gonna get you out of here!"

Pulling out the plastic tubes, Adam's was shocked when he realized how some of Axel organs were no longer in place. The scene was so gruesome that it probably will leave a permanent mark to his mind... Axel was such a great special forces fighter, but this is how he ended up now...

Adam cried out loud. "AAARRGGHHH.."

Axel, barely conscious, felt a man pulling out tubes, slowly opening his eyes he saw Adam helping him out. His dry voice let out a sound slowly, "Adam... please ...Kill... Kill me…"

Adam looked at Axel with sadness. Adam could somehow understand what Axel had been through. The man cannot be saved anymore... Adam grabbed a knife on the table, but this time, somehow it felt light. Adam moved closer and whispered, "Rest in peace, Lieutenant." The knife gently ran directly into the dying man's heart.

Stabb!!

Axel took one last look at Adam and smiled. Axel died...

Adam knelt to the floor as he pounded the ground repeatedly in rage. He wanted to kill all the people responsible. But suddenly,

"!!!"

Adam's body shook as the pain started again. Adam knew what this meant, his body needed another injection.

Thinking that this is the main experiment room, Adam hoped to find what he is looking for… and there it is. Adam noticed three vials of bottle that contained black liquid. He remembered what the Chemist and Hafiz talked about and grabbed it. He quickly consumes one to himself.

Pain once again coursed all over his body, but with the pain, he knew that was getting stronger. He welcomed the pain as he held his voice, gritting his teeth in delight.

After a few minutes of the grueling pain, he continued looking for the exit. Following the loud sounds of gunfire and explosion, finally, he saw the stairs going up and ran outside. Upon getting out, he saw that the place was crawling with soldiers and mad people being slaughtered. Guns roaring, people being slashed, armored vehicles.

He suddenly saw a familiar figure.

"Daisy!"