When they reached the door, suddenly it opened from the outside and nearly hit Kaan in the face. Thar barged in from the wide-open door with the club tightly in his grip but quickly slow down seeing that both of them were safe.

“Are you okay?”

Nevertheless, he asked just to be sure.

“Yeah, yeah we’re good except you nearly smacked that door, please be careful with your strength.”

Kaan was sure if he took the hit of that door, he might’ve had a broken nose right now.

“Yeah, sorry about that, just thought you were in danger.”

Thar said a little abashed by his action of barging inside. Seeing him like this Dean smiled and moved to his side patting him on the shoulder a few times. Thar was already happy with a smile on his face seeing that Dean was in a better mood.

“It’s nice that you’re okay and that Thar didn’t smack you in the face with the door, but we better move quickly, zombies are already at the end of the corridor.”

Emily called out to them as she saw the first zombie reaching towards their side. Kaan saw that she was in front of the door, protecting the back. They left the room quickly and head down the corridor to reach the room that was under renovation. Kaan and Thar lifted one of the beds in the room and placed it securely in front of the door to hold zombies off at least for a while.

“What happened back there? It was kind of aloud for one zombie.”

Emily asked the Dean as she was a little confused about what caused them to shout.

“When we were looking for stuff in of the rooms a zombie sneaked up on me from the bathroom, I was not able to realise, and it was nearly succeeding.”

He said grimacing at the thought once again.

“But Kaan realised it and warned me by shouting so I was able to react in time, after that, we just took care of it and you know the rest.”

After hearing all of the events. She thought that zombies might get stronger in time, but she didn’t wait for them to get intelligent to sneak up on someone, at least not this quickly, that was new.

“Guys let’s be a little bit more careful around the zombies. They might be getting stronger already or at least some of them are more dangerous than others from what I’m seeing.”

She warned the group, and everyone agreed with the way she was thinking.

“And be sure to check all of the rooms before we drop our defences.”

Kaan quickly added after her, he still felt a little foolish for not checking all of the rooms, it was nearly costing them one life.

After that in a few seconds of silence, Emily gave a look at Thar as if she was looking for approval and after he nodded to her side, she walked a little forward towards Kaan and Dean. She straightened her posture and had a confident look on her face as she got ready to do her offer to two.

“What are you thinking about doing after we left the Dormitory?”

“I’ll probably wander around near to outskirts of the city as everyone seems to leave the city centre, maybe look if there are survivors gathering around and join them.”

Dean was first the answer to her question.

“I’ll probably head towards the outer parts and see how things are going for further plans.”

Kaan answered quickly after him. Emilly gave both of them a nod.

“Then why don’t you join us, we also plan on heading towards the outer parts, actually towards the pine forest. We could probably find people there as many people fled towards the outer parts of the city as we thought to do. We could move more freely and securely together as we are all capable of dealing with monsters and hardships from as far as I saw. Also, we have a debt to both of you so it would be nice if you were around so we could pay it back. So, what do you say?”

She finished her offer and look both of them in expectancy.

“Well, I already don’t have much of a plan. Count me in and you are not indebted to me, we just helped each other.”

Dean happily agreed to this offer, actually, he was hoping for something like this as he thought they were good and capable people in his mind, but he felt embarrassed to tell it out.

“Why not, you’re right that we would be probably more secure together.”

Kaan agreed to her offer, he was not thinking of being like a lone wolf or lone man who thought people slow him down in the apocalypse. Having people around, especially the ones who could adapt to the new, was good.

She sighed in relief and felt gradually happy that both of them took the offer.

“Then, I welcome you two to the team!”

Thar cheerfully said without minding the banging on the door caused by the zombies. Kaan could see that bed was not going to hold them back off long.

“So, are you ready to get a moving, team?”

Kaan asked with a smile on his face after seeing them nodding with a newfound spark in their face then smashed the newly placed window and shattered it into pieces so it would not create an unwanted wound when they jumped off.

“Then I’m going first.”

He let them know and then jumped off to the garden. Of course, what he first faced was a zombie and many more were coming to their side. With the same tactic, first on the limbs, preferably on their knee, then when they are at a disadvantage finish the job off by crushing their skull.

After him he quickly rushed to the zombies and decreased their number mostly, killing them mostly with one shot. When all of the group was down, they headed towards the entrance the leave the dormitory. They might’ve tried breaking a hole into the garden wall or just jumping over it but when they had Thar and killing zombies possibly advanced them to the next level he decided to kill as much as they could rather than avoiding them.

From what Kaan saw, Dean also looked like he had some kind of expertise on the sword as the way he handled it. His stance and swings looked very clean though Kaan was not too sure as he didn’t use any swords in his life but he had his information about some sword arts by directly watching master users of their weapons, thanks to the visions.

When they were finally out in the street Kaan was able to see how bad it was. You would quickly inhale the smell of death, blood and rotten flesh. The dead bodies were scattered around and the only sounds you heard belonged to the guns or zombies trying to barge into the building by banging the door or walls.

There were crashed cars blocking some ways, but it wasn’t a problem as you could just walk over them and also you could see people occasionally, running away or fighting with zombies. When they faced some groups of two or three, Kaan quickly realised people mostly tend to avoid each other, the trust was gone as they had seen their share of human cruelty in this short time, yet Emily was able to talk with a few of them along with Thar.

The talk was mostly simple, some people looked for items to trade with them or just looked for information some just wanted to talk a little with others to feel that there were still sane people in this madness.

When Kaan they were moving in the street Kaan really appreciated being with them. Thar would lunge towards the zombies without holding back, his style was wild and fierce not really focusing on defence yet he had very good reflexes and control over his body, so he didn’t need defence against zombies which moved slowly, the group were also backing him.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Whatever he had as a skill, it was really good and didn’t seem to have a cooldown as Kaan’s [Firebolt] skill. As for Emily, she was mostly, she was sharp and confident in her actions and decisions, you would feel reassured in her presence. She had a strange aura, Kaan was not sure about it in the begging but now he felt it clearly as if they were following a good leader who had a calculated and elaborative way of thinking and had assurance in her decisions which made following her orders much easier.

Kaan was following the group rather behind, while Dean and Thar dealing with the zombies and Emily took the role of lead and backing them up, he decided to play the role of the watcher.

When Kaan was watching the surrounding with focus, he felt his skill was calling him to use itself, [I See The Worst]. When he called it, the skill naturally came into existence in his mind. He suddenly felt his perception of his surrounding gradually expanded. The skill's first focus was on him. He was able to pick up every single movement and sound in a close radius, he felt his instincts were raised to the limit ready to react to the worst situations the skill had created in his mind.

Then it assessed creatures around Kaan and put them into labels, zombies were ‘red’ as the information about them was created in his mind. The skill analysed every one of them individually based on their look, how they act until now and the information he had already in his mind about the idea of zombies and then created their precise information in his mind as if he was seeing what he might call their ‘stats’.

The information built up by analysis was imprinted on their red form and from these pieces of information, the skill showed him how much danger they might possess, and how they might act. Zombies were generally weaker than him, the skill use Kaan as a base for comparison, especially their endurance and agility but he saw some with higher endurance, nearly reaching his level.

Then it was people who were labelled in blue. Kaan felt that the skill tried to analyze their stats too, but it wasn’t able to do that as the numbers constantly changed. Still, he saw if they were under threat, what might create danger for them, and he was quickly able to perceive the changes in their movements and the occurrences around them.

After that came the background. For the background, it didn’t create the worst scenario, it seemed that it was exclusive to the creatures, and it didn’t give him a warning or anything that might happen. The skill gave him a ‘feel’ of how dangerous was the path he was taking and made him more prone to realize the movements, for example, a move in shades, a rock being displaced or someone opening a curtain light from the buildings and so forth. Kaan was not sure how the skill adjusted these danger labels, but he knew he was going to heed them.

What was best about this was that it felt like a place was created in his brain for the skill. He had two visions at the same time, and he was able to perceive them at the same time. One was created from the skill with labels and formations and the other one was his own that saw the reality.

This place was consuming the information coming from the skill vision and channelling it to him so while he perceived them at the same time there was no interference between the vision. Thanks to skill handling itself he was able to clearly focus on other things and also take the information at the same time without a problem. Of course, when he focused on the skill results were better but still, it was a very acceptable drawback for him to be able to use this skill while fighting.

Overall, he had a skill that heightened his senses and perception, giving him specific information about the stats of the monsters he was facing and how they might act along with their danger level. It also put labels on the places based on how dangerous they were, it was basically a perfect skill.

Of course, this kind of skill didn’t come without a downside. He quickly felt that it was taking a toll on his mind, and he only used it for ten seconds. He closed the skill, for now, to not trouble his mind and decided to use it occasionally to check if there was a problem ahead or if things seemed to go bad.

After wandering for a while, they decided to pay a visit to the supermarket on the way to look for ration, especially canned food which can go a long while without being expired and a few utility tools.

They were able to reach the supermarket entrance without a problem. Kaan saw the entrance was partially broken and the glass was shattered on the ground, it was also the same for the other glasses on the walls of the supermarket. People must have plundered this place but right now it looked very quiet.

The most conspicuous thing was a young man, probably between eighteen and twenty-two, hanging on the wall next to the entrance of the supermarket which was painted with his blood. There was a black javelin on his both shoulders pinning him down to the wall.

His legs were eaten to his groin by two zombies under his hanging corpse and they were trying to reach for more.

After watching this scene for a while as they got closer to the entrance Thar couldn't take it anymore and with a fit of anger rushed towards the zombies. He quickly took care of them; their lifeless bodies fell to the ground thud sound and then Thar looked at the young man’s head dangling on his mauled body.

Emily quickly followed behind Thar who looked at the body with anger and dejection, in the incredulity of what he was seeing.

“What has been this world became, Emily? It’s not even killing someone anymore, who would do this?”

Thar was unable to make sense of things happening, it was just evil. What was wrong with people, are they waiting for this madness so they could butcher people? He was just angry for these people's fates, that they had to face these damned monsters while trying to survive among the zombies.

Emily came near to his body and put her hand on his shoulder.

“There have been always people like this Thar, they just didn’t have the opportunity to do this. But now there are no laws, no morals, at least for them, and no one to stop them as people are trying to find a safe place in this madness. It’s up to people who stand against them, it’s up to us to stop them.”

“No, you shouldn’t get near these psychopaths. I’d fight them off alone if it means you don’t have to face them or maybe ask Kaan to join me, he looks though, and probably wouldn’t be taken aback by facing them. But I wouldn’t like you to get into danger to stop them, but if it comes to that, I’d do anything to kill them before they can do any harm to you.”

Thar said determination in his words, he would not let these monsters touch what he cared about most in this world and the thought of him not being able to protect her already became his biggest fear.

Emily put her hand on his cheek and softly caressed it. She could see the worry in his eyes, and the care he had for her which she sincerely shared but if he was thinking that she was just go and wait for him while he threw himself into danger for her, he was very wrong.

“I better not let myself eyes go off of you in case you wander around to face the evil for me then. We are together in this Thar, as we promised, whatever we are facing we are in together. Never ever think about leaving me behind to do something stupid and be sure I would never forgive you for leaving me behind without you.”

Seeing those enchanting eyes looking deeply into his eyes. Thar quickly nodded and leaned her to give a quick kiss. Yeah, they were together in this, but still, he was not able to suppress his fears about the future as the madness around him grew every second they moved forward. Then he just had to get stronger so there would be no danger that could touch his loved ones.

“We’re together, whatever happens.”

He grabbed her hand with a smile, and they moved away from the corpse hanging from the wall. Emily also shared a smile but she felt a little conflicted because of the thing she was not yet able to tell him, she was going to let him know, soon, that she might have to face those psychopaths as she saw what would happen if no did and believed in its words. But there was still time, first, they had. She just hoped it wouldn’t make him angry.

Kaan saw the two coming closer to their side. He had already used [I See The Worst] and saw that the supermarket only contained a medium-level threat and there was not much activity going on inside. People were mostly avoiding this place after seeing the dead body hanging from the wall, a right choice actually. But it meant there were probably still many items inside and he wanted to see if the culprit of this ‘display’ was inside.

When Emily returned back to Kaan and Dean along with Thar, she gave a look to the door of the supermarket and then returned to the group with a serious gaze.

"There might be trouble waiting for us inside and we might encounter some… dangerous people, you see what they did," She pointed to the dead body hanging on the wall before continuing his words, "They would probably be hostile towards us if we face them and we might have to deal with them, you know what I mean. Still, I say that let’s go in and see how it’s inside, we might find many things in there that could really help and if it comes to fighting, we already had what it takes to deal with humans. So, what do you think? Are you still okay with going in?"

From her words and stance, it was easy to see that she was in favour of going in, and it was the same for the Thar, there was no way he was going to avoid going in. Even if the group decided to not go in, he was going to offer to go alone for a few minutes. He wanted to find the fuckers who hanged that guy so he could be ready if. So, it was up to Kaan and Dean.

“Let’s go in, we can’t just avoid places because there could be a few maniacs could in there. If the situation looks bad, we can just leave quickly.”

Kaan also wanted to see and gather a few more items from the supermarket. Kaan was sure that there are people inside and they are the ones who killed and hanged that man. It was a threat that simply pointed out that you shouldn’t come in or your fate would be the same as the man hanging on the wall or maybe he was just being delusional.

Whatever it was, they would eventually meet with murderers or psychopaths in this new world so what was the reason for avoiding them? It was better to experience it so they wouldn’t falter when they faced them on another occasion, just another adaption for this new world. He wanted them to have this experience, even though it could be traumatic, it was simply needed. As for himself, he had already seen many deaths, the only thing left for him was just to experience ‘killing’ with his own hands.

Dean also agreed with a light nod. Though he felt complicated about Emily’s words, could he really kill someone? Of course, he could if it was needed but still it felt… weird, even though he was not going to step back. He had to face this and change his way of thinking so that when the time came to face the killer of his brother, he wouldn’t hold anything back. Killing them would just mean doing good for other people.

The group got their mind ready as they walked into the supermarket on the lead of Thar,

Their weapons were tightly gripped as they were ready for the face of whatever they had to encounter in the loess corridors of the supermarket.