I entered the house, and Jake hurriedly got up from the couch. "So how was it?" He must've been waiting for me.
"Not good; the base isn't run by the authorities but by punks with guns.""So what now?" He lost his excitement, yet he maintained a firm expression. "Just like I told you before, la bagh park, but if you want me too, I can leave you at the bas-." "NO! I mean, it's alright. I'll come with you if you'll have me, of course," he let out a nervous laugh. Is it because I said there were punks? "Well, I'm glad to have someone come with me," I smiled at him.
It was evening right now, so me and Jack spent some time fortifying the house, like barricading the doors and windows, etc. We decided to sleep on the second floor, just in case a zombie creeped in. At least that's what I told Jake.
Some hours later, it was 10 pm now. I found that out from the living room's old clock, Jake had gone to sleep quite early, probably because he was terrified for his life and couldn't get proper sleep during all of the time he was locked up in his home.
Well, it's better that he went to sleep early. The real reason I convinced Jake to sleep above is because I was planning on turning the living room into my private laboratory.
Just after he fell asleep, I put two tables together to form a makeshift bed and covered them with a white bed sheet. I recycled the plates into trays and fashioned some tools from different kitchen utensils and from the tools I found in the garage.
Now, I had also moved the couches away and pushed them into the corner of the large room and also placed beside the makeshift bed, a fairly bright torch. Now, because of my powers, I wouldn't have any real need for the tools that I've made, like the scalpel that is actually just a knife.
I've made sure to sterilize all of my equipment as well by mixing rubbing alcohol and a smaller quantity of distilled water together into a spray bottle. It didn't take me much time to prepare all of this, so just after that I decided to put my theories into practice.
In the time I had given myself. I learned many things, tested out my theories and ideas, and also formed new ones. Essentially, I can basically do anything I want with my items that are in my mind. I had been experimenting on what type of modifications I could give to the rat.
And all of them would hypothetically be plausible, but they would either be a curse or a boon. I hadn't actually tried to replicate them all into reality because seeing in them my mind was enough, and what would I do with that many rat corpses?
There are many experiments that I did, but the last one was the result of all of the experiences I've accumulated from all of them.
By fusing both of the rats together to form some sort of functional chimera, it had two heads, a long and robust body to support all of its eight limbs, and a thick tail that branched off into a fork.
I had made sure this 'chimera' could actually move and use its body properly. I gave its neck enough strength to support the two heads and also allow it to move both of its heads individually. I also made its neck branch off into a fork like I did with its tail, but much shorter.
Now, the idea of a chimera could actually work, and it has already happened in nature, like when animals are born with two heads that are either linked or possibly even separate as they can be on one neck, but I've never seen such a phenomenon, so it's just a plausible theory.
And I've also come up with theories, like possibly even changing the genetics of the rat by zooming in enough, but the problem with that is that it requires a lot of focus and time. Frankly, I can't afford to give both at the same time, at least not in my present circumstances.
Anyway, I grabbed my bombs in a small children's bag I found in the house, my hammer, and some other stuff I needed for what I planned to do, and I also took my handgun with the holster. I slung the bag over my shoulder and walked out of the house. As I closed the door, what I saw left me amazed.
The trees were glowing. The leaves and their barks were covered in faint green light. It was ethereal, but how? What is even happening in the world?
I can't even say I'm dreaming; NO, I have to focus! .. Anyway, thankfully, there was fog all around me; I didn't bring my torch because it might attract zombies towards me.
And I don't plan on staying outside long enough to regret my decision. The nearest zombies were north, besides some cars. Only their silhouettes were visible, as was their erratic behavior. It seems they're waking up from whatever they were doing before. That would mean they are about to fight.
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I have to do this quickly. I moved as fast as I could while crouched. As soon as I got within 30 feet of them, I took the nearest car as cover, which was crashed into one of the glowing trees.
Seeing the trees from up close was even better, like it was straight out of a fairy tail. I have to take a closer look at them after this; there were about seven zombies in my sight.
Slightly less chubbier than the previous zombies I saw before. Suddenly, one zombie just straightened up his posture with a growl and moved its face towards one of the other zombies. I already knew what was going to happen, so I quickly grabbed a rock and threw it a bit ahead of the zombie. It hit the truck that was parked slightly askew. The truck's alarm went off.
Oh No! The zombies just stood at their places for a moment, then suddenly let out growls one after the other. They sprinted for the truck, and some other zombies that were nearby joined them.
Some of the zombies tried to claw and bite the truck as they got there, and some decided to attack the zombies near them, yet something was different in these zombies. They just weren't as ruthless as the previous zombies that I saw.
One middle-aged male zombie lunged for another male zombie, yet the difference between that one and the ones from before was that it actually tried to step back. As soon as it evaded it, it tried to counterattack by going for its neck. It tried to bite it so quickly that it looked like its head would fall off.
It latched onto it with its teeth and was grasping its body with its hands. The other zombie wasn't sitting still, and so both of the zombies engaged in a bloody brawl. The rest of the zombies were also engaged in their own battles, with them now fighting more cunningly. Their brawls will last for more than just mere moments.
Which unfortunately will make completing my objectives even harder now. Nevertheless, I readied my sludge hammer and aimed for two zombies mawling each other some distance away from the zombies. As soon as one seemed to be losing the fight, I leeped in behind the one that was winning and took it out by a strike targeted just below its neck, right at its spine.
It started to fall forward. I grabbed it by its clothes with my free hand and maneuvered my knee in front of its stomach and managed to set it down on the ground. The other zombie growled at me; it sprinted towards me and was aiming to grab me by the shoulders.
But before it could, I clutched the hammer with both hands and hit it right at its forehead. It stumbled and fell backward. I walked over the first zombie and struck the fallen screaming zombie right at its collarbone.
It's screaming died down, but more were around, and then there's no guarantee that these zombies will also stay down. I immediately got to work by inserting cotton deep inside the first zombie's ears and then covering its entire face with a pillowcase. I secured it with some rope and repeated the entire process with the second zombie.
The other zombies will soon be done with their brawls, and either they will die brutally or come asking for more. I hope for the latter, but seeing their state with numerous shallow scratches and bite marks. They still don't seem to be that tired. I hurriedly brought the knocked-out zombies by carrying them on my shoulder one by one behind the car.
After I was done, I lit up a pipe bomb with a lighter; I threw it right at the center of the zombies and ducked down. It flew there, and within moments it blew up, damaging the truck and the nearby zombies. The truck itself also exploded, doing even more damage, launching away the surving and dead zombies even farther away than the bomb.
In the after math, the only sounds that remained were the loud beeping of the vehicles and the sounds of something being burned. There were extremely damaged corpses set on fire that were laying upon vehicles, pavements, and the road. The trees that were glowing were now being burned, and they were losing their glow slowly.
In the distance, I heard the screaming and growling of more zombies. Without a second thought, I dragged the zombies away as fast as I could, even if I didn't reach the house. As long as I get away from here, the fog should cover me.
Thankfully, the zombies didn't get that near the wreckage and had started to brawl with each other just about 15 feet away from the site. I had in the meantime dragged away the zombies and had tied one of them on the 'patient' table with some rolled-up sheets. The other zombie was actually the first one; I had made sure it would be paralyzed with my strike.
The other not so much, but I still wanted it alive, so I aimed to knock it out instead, but I definitely could've done a better job nonetheless. I had tied up the paralyzed zombie in a hogtie near the couch in the corner of the room.
For my first theory, I wanted to see how I could expand my inventory even more. I had already freed up my sixth slot when I was finished with my experiment; I had returned the clone rat to its original state and then disposed of it. I dont want to leave behind something that is essentially a mythical creature.
Anyway, because of my attempts to block the zombies senses. Till now it hadn't shown any signs of stirring awake, but I really can't tell either if it's sleeping or not. They are certainly breathing, so that eliminates the possibility of me accidentally killing them.
But it seems that a lack of senses leaves them invulnerable. This nugget of knowledge will certainly be vital in the future; I want to see how I can take advantage of that later. Anyway, I carefully put my hand on its chest and focused on absorbing it. The zombie itself didn't exceed the storage limit of two square meters; at least that was the limit before I had absorbed the rat; I hadn't tested out what the new limit might be since then.
I focused, and in a moment between breaths, the zombie disappeared from the table. It appeared in my sixth slot, and it brought along five new ones. It worked, but why that number? From the rat, I got one, but with a zombie; let me correct that, a sick human. I got five, and I originally also had five slots in the beginning, so that means five slots per one human.