A potential meal I mean ally! [1]

Surviving in this chaotic world as we know it today takes guts, knowledge, and skills... however, what strays away from these three factors is one's personality. A mind that can drive them to be wicked, pick inhumane choices to survive, for example cannibalism. The guys I fought before had everything, too bad they came face-to-face with their natural predator, a mutant zombie

[Your hunger has been quenched]

'This voice again? I've been hearing this shit since I evolved into a mutant, too bad it's nothing special. But I can't deny im full, the hunger... it feels like a rampaging desire began sleeping. I'll call this the state of desperation, every zombie that reaches this state will be drawn to the nearest banquet. Desperation can be seen as my frenzied state but its effects on the zombified body respond differently,'

[Z's survival logs day 17:

Zombie biology:

Desperation: When a zombie reaches its max hunger it'll begin to crave high amounts of flesh, not something to be mistaken by the act of frenzy

Frenzy: The final limitation to a zombie's senses; this is a state that they'll reach after most of their abilities are degraded from desperation. The once-degraded stamina, strength, agility, and force will rush and will last for about half an hour

Equilibrium: The moment the zombie's appetite has been quenched their hunger remains stagnant for a certain time. No basis for the max duration of Equilibrium may run some tests and do some further research on the matter

"... and done! I should return before he gets suspici– Rick! how long were you there?"

"Hey L what are you doing?" When he was about to leave the premises he spot his ally near the corpse of his victims

'Just now did he catch a glimpse of me eating? It wouldn't be bad if he did, im certain I can kill him. I wonder what an ability user tastes like? But im not in a rush, I can kill him in a single stroke, plus I rather have someone on my side,'

Leo remained calm and stood unfazed whilst his weapons awaited his command before he spoke with such familiarity. "Rick, are you fine? I was going back but these guys attacked me! You might not know but one of my other abilities is hearing. I heard these fuckers plotting to eat us when we drop our guard,"

Like a predator awaiting the actions of his prey, Leo remains steadfast and awaits his answer before he commands his tentacles. But to his surprise, Rick never doubted him for a single bit and gave him a pat on the shoulder. He then saw a figure behind his back, a small and feeble girl tightly clinging to his arm as she glared

"Dude I know you're a badass but can you rely on me? I've heard there's a side effect when overusing your abilities for me im physically drained. Oh yeah, I saw this girl chased by some fuckers, I thought their Phedos but who would've thought their cannibals," He sighed in relief once he was assured of Leo's safety and they left the grocery store back to the main hall

'The hell's with this kid? She's been gawking at me like a hawk, what the fuck did I do apart from having the thought of eating Rick? As far as I know im not that far behind those cannibals, but im a zombie with standards okay? I won't even consider eating a kid unless I don't have a choice, I rather eat a girl with thicc thighs,'

"Hello mister, aren't you a little different? What kind of ability do you have? I heard your friend talking about your inhuman strength, but that's just the tip of the iceberg am I right?" Her childish crept him the most when she darted her gaze with such intensity in her eyes

'What the fuck!? This girl... she's giving me a terrible feeling, and that's something when you realize you're a cold-blooded undead. What the hell's wrong with Rick, can't he see she's the a fucking a red flag?'

"Dinners ready! Come get some it's my special soup, one sip and you'll be asking for more. L come on dude take a sip, you must be famished. Oh wait, are you conscious of how you look? We don't need to if youre uncomfortable—"

Even though he never wanted to show his face, Leo didn't mind and unwound his mask revealing his disemboweled face. "An ability wielder with the power to spray toxic fluids shot me in the face. My ability allows me to coat my injuries but it's not in a rank where it could regenerate my wounds. So yeah, this is how I look, you don't wanna see the face if you're already disgusted, bottoms up,"

Not much had changed from his sense of taste but the sweetness couldn't compare to the taste of flesh. Leo also heard the voices alerting him as he downs every single remnant of the soup. Paired with Rick's yawning and sudden collapse, he rises from his seat grabbing Rick and avoiding the girl on short notice

[An unknown substance entered your body]

"Well well well look do we have here? I knew this guy was too good to be true, guess I was right. The reason why he's alive, it's because of you am I correct? You're also tense when you look at me, by any chance... did you recognize me?"

Before he could ever answer a steel bar came falling from the top of the ceiling, he was agile enough to escape but he was bewildered. The voice of the girl remains present even after the fall of such gigantic steel on top of her spot. The smoke disperse and he saw the metal bending from her will alone, the bars around them curled around and protected her

"Oh shit, we got a metal bender over here,"

"A metal wha? It's not important because you're gonna die, I can't let you go not after killing my men. You see I was bored out of my mind, entertained since I know everything, they called me a genius. But im just naturally born to seek knowledge and now the arrival of zombies piqued my interest... for the sake of my test subjects, I need to feed them,"

The girl sends wave after wave of metal at her disposal whilst she magically laughs at her insanity. Leo jumps from one side to another avoiding a single piece of metal before rolling to the first floor to evade spikes from below. Who would've thought tons of metal were present inside a Mall which makes it worse considering they step foot on her turf

'I remember now! She's Eleanor Stein, the 21st-century main contributor in terms of scientific advancement... as smart as she may be rumors of her being psychotic and knowledge-hungry were a hot topic of years to come. She toppled most of the scientists in terms of smarts and is rumored to be given invitations around the world. Lots of peeps on the internet meme her saying shit like she'll be the next big thing like the guy who invented the atomic bomb,'

"Wake up Rick—" He quickly jumps and avoids a buzz saw hurdling from their right

"It's no use, your friend is too gullible to trust everything I say... just because im a girl that looks oh so innocent his instincts considered me as a victim. What a fool! You got skills, how bout leaving him and escaping this hell? You won't escape if you keep sheltering that no-good parasite, ahahahahahahahaha!"

After evading for so long he was caught and the steel bars wrapped around him along with his friend. "So you're saying that even if I yell as loud as I can he won't wake up?"

Eleanor was bewildered by his actions but in light of his death, she replied. "Yell? Please even if this whole mall ruptured and fell to ruin your friend is still asleep. That's how strong the dosage of my drug is, so whilst im playing nicely you should leav—"

The moment he heard of her confirmation the bars holding them both were lacerated by his tentacles. "Did you think these tentacles are for show? Even without these things, I can beat your ass, im just worried I'll accidentally reveal my secret,"

He gently lay him down on the ground and proceed by walking steadily in front of her before discarding his helmet. Elenoar was amazed by such a sight to behold, what she faced was nowhere near an ability user or whatever they called. It was the arrival of a deadly infection, a pandemic purely meant to vaporize mankind

"Y-you're a zombie?"

He cracks his knuckles and with his command, the tentacles attached to his back block the steel from ever touching his skin. "I never said I was a human, but I did ask if he wanted to team up. He just thought I was a power wielder so rolled with it. Come at me freak!"