Staring at me was the most hideous creature I've ever seen in my life. Pale sickly skin with round disgusting boils all over. Its boils pulsated, filled with some thick slimy fluid no doubt. Just imagining what would flow outside them made me want to puke. But the boils weren’t even the worst part!
The boils may have grown underneath its chin like a second chin that grew because of an abnormal tumor inside it but they weren’t the first thing someone would notice about this gross thing. It was its extremely bloated stomach! The shirt it was wearing couldn’t fit over that enormous belly. Its shirt stretched to only cover its flabby chest while the cartoony sweatpants could snuggly fit around its waist. Whoever this guy was he picked some nice pants before turning into what he became now. Otherwise, I'd be forced to look at his junk along with the other stuff.
If I looked closely, I could see something from its insides poking out from its belly button which was replaced by that strange bulge coming out of its stomach. I didn’t want to touch it to find out what it was or I'd puke. But besides the boils, the fat, and the strangely healthy-looking blonde luscious locks, the obese creature had stubby sharp fingernails as well. Even while standing still, it made nasty sounds that would cause any person nearby to get as far away as they could.
Gurgling, growling, and burping. Those were the only three sounds this creature was capable of making. Despite just standing there and looking back at me, it looked as if it could do another sound that it didn’t want to tell me quite yet. A sound I would have to find out for myself if I was really curious. To be honest, I might have been disgusted and grossed out beyond belief but I was indeed curious to find out that special fourth sound that it could make. Call me morbid or sick, but it was a feeling that I couldn’t control. My curiosity was just that great.
This was the new me and I would have to accept it whether I liked it or not. Staring at this pond for dozens of minutes on end in the middle of this abandoned park wouldn’t help my situation. The faster I accept this new world, the faster I would get used to it. I never thought I would transmigrate into an obese zombie but what could you expect when reincarnating after death? How many people even believe in reincarnation?
Guess my first task would be to find some humans and get munching.
[Host has accepted reality and their new state of being!]
[You have been gifted the Zombie System!]
[This system will only stay with you in this life! If you die, this system will not follow you!]
Zombie system? I don’t really remember much of my past life, but I must have done something good to get something like this. Or maybe my reincarnation cycle isn’t quite over yet, and I'll be gifted another system that will be related to my next life.
“Haha, I hope I'm not the play toy or experimental rat of some deity.” It seems I could still talk despite being a zombie. That surprised me more than the system! In how many movies could zombies talk or think!? If there are any other zombies like me then this world is absolutely fucked. I wondered how this system even worked.
“Menu.” My vision was suddenly filled with two words.
[Status]
[Skills]
Pretty bare boned but let’s see what this system has. Can’t complain about my lucky break or I'd sound ungrateful to whatever godly being that gave me this. I’m just happy I got anything at all.
[Status]
Identity: Fat Zombie
Title: None
Lvl: 1
HP: 10/10
Str: 5
Agl: 1
Vit: 1
Cha: 5
Luc: 10
Exp: 0/100
SP: 5
Skills
Lv 1 Vomit (Active) - Puke out your mouth.
* 5% increase in the force of vomiting.
* 5% increase in Accuracy when preparing to vomit and when vomiting.
* 10% increase in control of vomit.
* Can temporarily blind those hit by vomit.
Lv 1 Bile Mutation (Passive) - The virus has mutated your physiology into something capable of producing an immense amount of bile. This bile produces a strange reaction when coming in contact with non-infected flesh.
* 2% increase in bile aroma.
* 5% increase in bile storage.
* 5% increase in bile production speed.
Well, first things first, I am not going to survive with a vitality stat of fucking 1. I raised that sucker up to 6 for my survival and didn’t regret using all my stat points in the slightest. The feel of my skin becoming more resilient was a lot less than I thought it would be. Usually you’d expect intense pain from all those molecules within the body altering to a strengthened state but all I felt was tingle all across my body. I’d have to thank the god that gave me this system a third time. One for reincarnating me, two for gifting me the system, and third for not making me go through horrible pain.
I was just gifted this new life and didn’t plan on dying anytime soon. Considering that I'm some sort of zombie meant for puking, my puke has to have some sort of dangerous quality to it that will let me deal with humans or help my fellow undead. To figure out which, I should leave this empty ass park and find some more zombies like me. Staying here won’t do me any good.
I headed towards the city. I didn’t remember much of my past life or really anything at all regarding personal information about myself, but I still knew a few things. There was one thing that was present in any form of zombie media. Cities were a zombie haven. There should be a few survivors holed up somewhere who didn’t manage to escape from the city. If I'm lucky, I'll also find another zombie like myself who will show me what my vomit can do. The system wasn’t giving me anymore information that wasn’t already listed.
Making my way into the city, I could already see just how badly this zombie apocalypse hit. Cars were scattered all across the streets. Some were badly damaged as if they were hit by other cars and others looked as if they were torn apart and smashed by something. The frightening suspicion that there was a zombie going around that was strong enough to tear apart cars was enough for me to say that this world was most definitely doomed. Especially now that I've arrived with this zombie system.
If I could somehow lead these zombies into doing what I want, it wouldn’t be too hard for me to help the zombies win this battle. Maybe there would be a way with the system in the future. The potential of this thing has to be far greater than my own imagination considering it was made by some deity. Or so I hoped.
Strangely enough, I haven’t encountered a single zombie within this part of the city. I did take notice of the many restaurants. Some looked looted while the others looked untouched. I’ll have to remember where this street is for later. My stomach was grumbling a bit and I wasn’t so keen on finding raw human flesh to eat just yet. If I could eat regular food while still being a zombie then I would definitely do that instead of eating people. But first, I needed to find out what kind of zombie I was then I could move on to my other plans.
The quiet and vacant atmosphere in the air made me nervous but then I remembered that I was the zombie. What would I have to be afraid of in a zombie apocalypse?! It was so funny to me that I couldn’t help but laugh. That was when I heard a sound in the alleyway to the right of me, freaking me out so badly that I froze like a statue.
It looks like I'm the type of person who would freeze in the face of danger instead of running away like a sensible person should. Things were not looking good for me so far. My agility might have also been at 1 but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t try to run away. While I was walking through the city, I also found out how exactly fast was 1 point in agility and let’s just say... If I was in any danger and needed to escape, I would look as if I was walking away rather than running away. Speed walking was not even a possibility for the lard of fat that I am. I do got a dumpy though.
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Despite the rapid thumping of my heart, yes strangely enough it was still beating, I slowly peeked around the corner into the alleyway. At first glance, I saw nothing but a dumpster along with black bags of garbage lined up against the wall. I kept looking for the source of the sound I heard and saw a pair of jeans poking out from the other side of the dumpster. Someone was sitting against the wall next to the dumpster.
Thinking about this situation made me hesitant in approaching the figure. Why would I go willingly investigate something that I was afraid of? The smarter option would be to return where I came and take a different path than my first one. But I didn’t do that and instead slowly made my way into the alleyway.
My brain and heart were screaming at me to flee and not figure out who was behind this dumpster, but I steeled myself. The only thing I should be afraid of are humans with guns. Zombies usually never attack their own. And if they do in this world, I'll get the advantage by attacking first. Hopefully this 5 in strength is more impressive than my 1 in agility.
I readied my sharp nails and walked forward. There were still little signs of movement but movement, nonetheless. Preparing myself for a possible life or death battle was a lot more stressful on the nerves than realizing that I became a zombie. Strange, I know, but what can you do about it? I was still hesitating even when I was so close to them.
This person who was most likely a zombie had some nasty feet. Their toenails were disgustingly yellow and long. Like they never took care of them a day in their life. Whatever life this person had before the apocalypse couldn’t have been ideal. Now that I think about it, where the hell was his shoes?! Who would take their shoes off in a situation like this? Was this guy some hobo who got bit?
Thinking about unimportant stuff like this helped ease my anxiety. My body moved faster than it was when I tried to run earlier. My hand grabbed the face of the now confirmed zombie and held it against the concrete wall. With an inhuman shriek, he reached out with his hands and latched onto my arm, his nails digging into my skin. I couldn’t help but let out a pained hiss followed by an uncontrollable burp. I’ve been burping and gurgling a lot and guessed that it had to do with my unique zombie body.
His yellow eyes filled with sharpness looked into mine. Once he stared back into my similarly colored eyes, the fierceness in his gaze died along with any thoughts of fighting. I released my grip on his forehead, seeing that his eyes were now vacant and unfocused. This guy didn’t look like the type who could talk.
“Hello? Can you understand me?” I asked.
He didn’t do anything but look at me with the same dazed look.
“Do you speak English? Or am I in a place where English isn’t the main language?” I tried again.
“Grieek.” It responded!
“Greek? You speak Greek?! Uh Zeus! Hera! Hades!” I frantically said some Greek gods in hope that it would understand me.
“Erpghnen.” It mumbled.
“Aphrodite! Poseidon!” I talked back.
“Rehrg!” It was at this point I realized that it wasn’t speaking Greek and I was talking nonsense to a zombie.
Well if I couldn’t communicate with it, maybe I could get it to follow directions somehow. Having a little army of zombies under my command sounds pretty fun. Especially in a world probably overrun with the undead buggers. Fighting against humans with guns would be pretty hard but it's not like there is an infinite source of ammo in this world like it is in most video games. With enough zombies, even bullets have their limits. There is also the fact that there might be more mutated zombies like myself with different special abilities. If I could get whatever zombie that tore that car in half on my side, I really would have nothing to fear!
“Stand up.” I ordered to the groaning zombie.
He continued to moan on his ass as if I hadn’t said a single word. Since that didn’t work, I tried something else.
“Stand up.” I gripped him by the shoulders and forcefully placed him on his feet.
The smile that rose from seeing him stand up quickly faded away as he fell back on his ass and growled.
“You little shit. You’re really going to make this hard on me, aren’t you?” He mumbled something.
“Stand up!” I stood him back up and he actually stayed up longer than last time.
He still fell down but this was progress! I spent hours trying to get this zombie understand me. Hours spent that could’ve been used on something productive to my survival. Like finding information on how this world went to shit, when it went to shit, was there anything different in this world that I would find different from my last one, and what in the world did my puke do when coming in contact with non-infected flesh. But nope, I used most of it teaching this common zombie how to stand, stay, follow, attack, and talk.
I say talk but its more incoherent mumbling or sounds rather than any actual human speech. It's like having your dog bark on command. Spending most of my time teaching this zombie was probably the hardest I've ever worked trying to teach anything. When I say teaching an old dog new tricks would be easier than teaching a zombie, I mean it. The dirty feet having son of a bitch really doesn’t like to listen. But with enough time, patience, and a lot of god damn determination I gained two new skills, a title, a new option added to the menu, and a new ally.
[Status]
[Skills]
[Pets]
Pet gained!
Identity: Derrick
Title: None
Lvl: 1
HP: 70/70
Str: 7
Agl: 7
Vit: 7
Cha: 1
Luc: 2
Exp: 50/100
Skills gained!
Lv 1 Taming (Active) - You have tamed something! It will now sometimes listen to you!
* 10% chance increase in taming a friendly creature.
* 5% chance increase in taming a neutral creature.
* 1% chance of taming a hostile creature.
Lv 1 Tamer (Passive) - You now have something to take care of! Take good care of it and this skill will rise!
* 5% increase in stats for all tamed creatures.
* 1% chance of sharing skills with each other. (As long as it doesn’t require a mutation that the host or creature does not have)
* Host gains a 1% increase in stats for every creature tamed.
* Host has a very small chance of teaching skills to tamed creatures.
Title gained!
Zombie Tamer: You are the first to tame a zombie in this world!
* All zombies have a higher chance of listening to your commands.
“Alright Derrick, follow.” My business in this trash-filled alleyway was finished.
With my new companion following behind me, I headed towards one of those food places I saw earlier in hopes of scavenging up some food. Befriending Derrick was a lot more rewarding than I thought it would be. I’m glad spending all that time to teach this pain in the ass was worth it. Looking back on Derrick stats, I wondered what these numbers matched up to in comparison with normal humans.
Derrick was better than me in everything but luck and charisma. I couldn’t find any skills for him so, he must not be a mutated zombie like me. After filling up my stomach, I'll go look for another zombie like myself or some survivors. Playing it safe will help me in the long run but I'm lacking information at the moment. I don’t know anything and hiding away from danger won’t help my situation. With Derrick around, it should be a bit safer to move around.
Going back to the places that didn’t look looted, I searched for any signs of food. There were no signs of any changes in the area. Still as quiet as always but this time with Derrick walking behind me. The first place I searched was a deli place. Forcing my way inside, the insides were dark and stuffy but I've found what I was looking for!
There were all sorts of untouched food inside the glass class on the counter! This city must have been hit by the zombies fast if so, much was left. Derrick showed no interest in the food but he was a zombie, so maybe humans were more appealing than deli meat. Maybe I could feed him some of this stuff too if I can eat it.
The slider to open the glass under the counter was locked and I didn’t see a key anywhere. The owner or an employee must have taken it before locking this place up. With my only source for food being blocked behind this glass, I had to take drastic measures. I picked up one of the chairs inside the store and bashed it against the glass, shattering it. The loud noise startled Derrick, sending him into alert mode.
To ease him, I patted his back before making way towards the results of my barbaric actions. Breaking and entering along with burglary isn’t that too much considering that I'm literally starving and my only other choice is cannibalism. None of the food was spared from entering my stomach. Bread, lettuce, bacon, sandwiches, pickles, salad, tomatoes, I ate it all. I didn’t care how long it's been since this food was made or put up. The taste was still pretty fucking great. Plus, I was a zombie who are known for eating raw flesh and organs. I’m sure some spoiled or rotten foods won’t be that hard for me to digest.
It was like my stomach was a black hole. Time passed by without my noticing. More than half of the food inside this little deli vanished into my gut. It seemed that my stomach was pretty satisfied as well, no more growling and grumbling sounds came out of it. I should share some with Derrick. If I could eat this stuff, he should be able to too. If we couldn’t find any humans for him to munch on, then this could save him from starving. His arms are a little thin despite having a 7 in strength.
The table behind the counter where the made the food was the perfect place for me to make Derrick a sandwich. Derrick seemed like the type of guy who would order a pastrami with a little bit of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and a lot of this special sauce. This special sauce just made everything taste better. I tried all sorts of sandwiches with different condiments and vegetables but out of all the sandwiches I ate, the ones with this special sauce were the tastiest.
“Derrick, come over here and get your food.” The asshole looked at me before turning and staring out the deli’s windows.
“Oi, you piece of shit. I’m trying to do something nice for you. This is going to taste better than any humans out there, trust me.” I made my way over to him instead.
Why did I have the unpleasant feeling that trying to feed him was going to be harder than teaching him how to stand on command?