The house was about two stories tall; it looked similar to the modern houses beside it. It had a mostly white and red theme to it.

I decided to go for the safest option and try to enter the house from the backdoor. I went through the alley beside it, and when I was moving through, I heard something scatter near the dumpster. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest.

I thought I was done until the source of the sound revealed itself to be a rat. A curious rat at that which didn't try to run away as I slowly approached it. I took out a bag of chips from my backpack and placed a chip right in front of me.

The rat unhesitatingly approached the chip. It likely might've been a pet to someone, and that also must be the reason for its white and black disheveled fur from up close. I wonder, What would it be like to have a rat as a pet? I never even had a normal pet. Would it follow me around and always try to swindle me out for some treats?

Anyway, the rat had already finished the chip. I gave it another thought, or rather, an idea popped up in my mind while it was eating. Could I absorb living creatures? I don't see why not. My storage time is basically stopped. So if I manage to absorb it and carry it around with me, it would basically be teleportation for it.

Wait a minute, if I could absorb. Does that not mean I should also be able to clone it? I slithered my hand around the rat. It didn't try to get away after I had a firm grip on it. I tried to focus on it, but it's rising chest and blinking eyes broke my attention every time.

I decided to hold it tighter so it would stay still and let me absorb it. The rat tried to wiggle its body and screeched as it was being slowly choked. Eventually it closed its eyes as it tired from its efforts, and as it did, it disappeared from my hand.

Sweat slid down my forehead as the rat now occupied my fifth slot, yet my head didn't feel burdened. I tried to focus on my total slots and found one new one.

I smiled happily about the fact that absorbing the rat gave me another slot, but I questioned, Was that all there to it? I tried to duplicate the rat; something plopped in front of me. It was the rat, yet it lay there unmoving.

I tried to discard the rat, and an identical rat popped up on the previous rat. They were both dead, and it was my fault. It's a It's a shame I didn't think that this would be the price for my power to increase, but I should've realized that when I started choking the rat.

I decided to reabsorb the rats. I'll try to find a use for it with my power; it's better to not let it go to waste. I have a couple of theories about what I can do with a biological organism, as my power allows me complete control over my items, but the storage increase is unexpected.

Although it was found out by accident, I have to experiment more till I learn everything there is about this power. The rat died due to my negligence, but now more things will die due to my free will. Again, I can only make sure the sacrifice does not go to waste, and I think I have the perfect sacrifice in my mind too.

I left the corpses as they were and got back to getting to the backdoor of

the house. house. I spotted the backdoor and its short staircase. I climbed over the wooden fence and got to the door. I put my ear against the door to hear if there were zombies, yet I didn't hear any. I slowly twisted the knob and peeked inside; there was no one.

I entered and closed the door behind me. The house didn't seem to bear any signs of there being a zombie. The furniture was unbroken, nor was there any blood stain I could find as I looked around. I put my bag down near the backdoor so I could move better, and I put it near the door so I could escape as fast as possible.

I kept on exploring the lower floor with my gun pointed in front of me. I went to the kitchen; it was also empty. It looked like it was untouched except for the dirty bowl in the sink. Either it was there before it all happened or someone is living here.

I approached the staircase leading to the upper floor. I carefully looked around to see if there was an ambush, yet there was no one. no one. One by one, I kept checking all of the rooms except the second last one in the hallway, as it was closed shut.

I twisted the doorknob and pushed it inward; I felt weight behind it. Something was blocking it; I pushed harder, and the door opened up. A wooden chair was placed behind it; the room, on the other hand, has a bed and everything for a person, specifically for a kid.

Judging by the video game posters, maybe a teenager.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"STAY BACK!", A teenage boy sprang up from behind the bed holding a baseball bat. He seemed afraid, and his hands were gripping the bat very tightly.

"I'm not a zombie, nor did I come to harm you," I said in a calm voice.

"YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE ME THAT?!, I-I WON'T HESI-HESITATE TO BASH YOUR HEAD IN!" The boy threatened as his voice squeaked.

"If I planned on harming you, would I not have done that already? Calm down; it's fine. "I promise." The boy didn't speak, deep in contemplation.

The boy lowered his bat but raised it back up again. "Why are you here?!"

"Because of the zombies, I needed a shelter, a safe place. Again, I don't intend on harming you; I'm hiding from the zombies, just like you.""I hoped my speech could win some sympathy from the boy.

"Alright, but there's no food here, the boy responded a bit more calmly than before, but he still grasped his bat close to his chest.

"That's fine, I do, and I'm willing to share it with you as long as you let me live here."" The boys eyes relaxed, but they became vigilant at my last comment. Temporarilycomment. Temporarily, at least till I'm ready to leave."

The boy lost some of his vigilance.

"Alright, as long as you give me food,"

"Alright," "Alright," I nodded.

"Now, I plan on fortifying this place, like blocking it's openings, you get me?"

"I guess, okay," the boy agreed reluctantly.

"Are you hungry, right now?"

"Yeah, I am," the boy responded and momentarily looked towards my backpack.

Poor kid, I took off my backpack and took out the opened chip bag from the side pockets, and I approached him.

"Here, have this for now. Till I cook something, okay?"

The boy hesitantly took it and didn't open it fully but definitely wanted to because of his wariness of me.

"It's okay. If I had wanted to hurt you, don't you think I would've done them already? So just eat," the boy was still hesitant.

"Go on," I urged him.

The boy finally relented and took a chip and ate it. After he ate, he took out the next chip and then the next chip, and soon he finished the bag completely.

I went back to my backpack, and I took it downstairs.Hey, I'm going downstairs to the kitchen; you wanna come with?"

"Yeah," he answered and walked to me with his bat still grasped.

He and I both got to the kitchen downstairs, and I started making some ramen noodles for him. Something light and simple, for now. The boy sat on a chair nearby with his bat to his side.

"So, what's your name? Mine is Aiden".

"Jake," "this may be a personal question, but do you have siblings?"

"No, only me and my parents live in the house..used to anyway."

"It's a pretty nice place."

I kept on stirring the pot, and when I looked over to him, I saw his eyes on the verge of tears; he must've lost his parents to the zombies.

I took out a bowl and a spoon and served him the ramen by placing the bowl in front of him on the kitchen counter. I pointed my hands towards the bowl.

The boy took a spoonful and burned his tongue. "I guess you should wait for a bit till it cools down; in the mean time," I went to my backpack to "get" a bag of chips from it; eat this for now.".

I handed it to him. "Have you ever lost someone close to you?" the boy questioned me.

"I have experienced something similar to your situation. My advice is to let go; your feelings indeed are reasonable and important, but you must not be consumed by them or else you'll never be happy."

"Are you saying that I shouldn't even feel bad that my parents are dead?"

"No..you've mourned enough. Would your parents want you to stay depressed all your life? Would they want you to never experience life just because of grief, even though it's "good" grief?".

The boy didn't answer, "Even though the world is even worse than before, it still goes on, and you must as well."

I walked away from the boy, and I started to board up the windows and doors.

After some time, I was done. The place around the kitchen was dark now as there was no electricity. Fortunately, I had seen a flashlight on the kitchen counter before. I turned it on and found the boy had not even touched the bowl, nor had he opened the chip bag.

"Jake.. I understand your feelings, but you can't go on like this. Please, eat," I gestured towards the food, and he slowly began eating. I went up to him and patted him on the shoulder. "If you want more, just ask, alright?" he nodded.

After a while, he was done. "Can I get some more?"

"Sure," I responded happily.

In the end, he ate four more entire bowls of ramen and some additional snacks.