Ash opened his eyes to pain and horror. His body instinctively trembled and cowered in fear as the image of hundreds of foul smelling, bloody, rotten mouths with snapping teeth rushing at him came to haunt him. To bite into his flesh, to tear him into shreds. His brain could still remember the situation like a slow motion movie. Those foul creatures closing in on him. He could still recall the sting as the zombies bit out chunks after chunks of his flesh and their disgusting hands pulling at his limbs from all directions as if to tear him to pieces. The sound of the growls and roars along with the disturbing sound of chewing on his own flesh, still rang in his ears. His body shivered again, and the action brought stabbing pain all over his body. At that moment when he was surrounded and bitten into, he was sure that he was about to die. 'So how did I survive?' With great difficulty he sat himself up from the ground and looked around him. There was nothing there. No bloody zombie. No car. No teammates. Unconsciously his eyes started to water at the betrayal they displayed, and he quickly raised his hand to rub at his eyes. Only to realise that each movement brought unbearable torturous agony. What stabbed at his heart the most was that he had put in extra effort so as to not drag anyone down, but he was still pushed off without hesitation. And to think that the one who did it was the one whom, Ash had endured torturous pain to treat from the virus. Suddenly he laughed at his own stupidity. But it soon turned to bitter tears. 'What did I expect? Humans were cruel, ungrateful creature with only their self interest in mind.' But could he really blame the man? Even though the man didn't know that Ash had paid a great deal to cure him of his infection, it still didn't give him the right to toss someone off without a second thought. Yes. He can and he will blame the man. If they ever encounter again in this lifetime he will ensure that he dies miserably.

This thought of taking revenge seemed to calm down his turbulent emotions a bit. He let out a heavy sigh and then mustered up his courage to look down at his own situation. Ash hissed with horror at the state of his body. He was sitting on a pool of his own blood. There was so much of it that anyone else would be dead due to severe blood lose. The flesh on his hands and arms were bitten off so deep that he could see the white of his bone. Looking further down, he shuddered with fright. His stomach was torn open and his intestines piled out through the gap. Ash felt like vomiting, but just the action brought so much much pain that instead of heaving out his stomach he ended up gasped for breath. His left leg was twisted into an unnatural position and deep claw marks stretched from his thighs all the way down to his knee caps. 'How am I still alive.' Ash wondered as he fought through the mind numbing pain. He guessed that it was because even with the severity of his wounds, none of his vitals were damaged. Even the torn hole in his stomach was not life threatening. The only thing that could cause him death was the excessive blood loss. But his body had always been able to recuperate twice as fast as a normal person.

'And where are the zombies? As he scanned his surrounding except for the large amount of dust on the ground surrounding him, there was nothing else unusual. Soon a breeze swept up the pile and scattered it away into different directions as if it never was there to begin with. He felt an urgency to quickly get up and scan for danger.

He gasped again due to the agony. 'I need to stop the bleeding first' He laboriously placed his hand over his stomach and focused in stuffing back his exposed tubes through the torn wound. By the time he was done another puddle of fresh blood had formed around him. Although he didn't know if this would work, he focused all his energy onto one point to try to hasten the healing process. To his satisfaction he saw the large wound that exposed all the inner workings of his body, slowly start to stitch together until only a long red scar was left. As soon as he was done he started gasping for breath as that stunt had taken up most of his energy. 'I can't afford to do that again. I have to let my body heal at its own pace.'

As he sat on the ground for a moment to recover, he heard a rustling sound coming from afar. Ash's eyes shot in that direction in high alert. From behind a pile of abandoned barrel slow, uneven footsteps could be heard. Ash clutched the gun that had fallen next to him, close to his chest and waited with his breath held. He was in no state to fight. The seconds ticked by. It hadn't been that long but it felt like an eternity as Ash's eyes were glued in the direction of the sound.

Soon a low growl echoed and a half rotten head popped out from behind the barrels. The zombie had one of its hands missing with the broken end of a bone sticking out from the jagged flesh and its head was split open to expose its blackened brain matter. It stood there for a moment and then sniffed the air. As if detecting something it turned its head towards Ash's direction and screamed at him. Ash's hands were trembling as he raised his gun and aimed it at the beast. Fear was making it difficult for him to take action. His fingers were frozen over the trigger. Only the images of the zombies tearing into his flesh kept flashing in his head. 'No. Focus.' Ash scolded himself and willed his hands to stabilise as the zombie approached him with another blood curling scream. 'Stay away from me.' Ash shouted in his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet shot out through the gun and accurately pierced the exposed brain matter.

As the unmoving corpse hit the ground Ash was more stressed than relieved. 'I have to get out of here fast. He was panicking and breathing hard. But this time instead of pain it was due to fear. Although there are no zombies around right now, who knows when they will come back.' The smell of blood on him was really strong. While he was unconscious, he body had made sure to continuously generate blood in order to replace the flushed out infected blood. Now that he was wake and in control of his actions, Ash realised how low his RBC count was. 'Escape first. Worry about everything else later.' He thought drowsily. It was a struggle to keep his eyes open. He had a feeling that the only reason he had woken up this quickly was because his subconscious mind knew he was in danger. If he was passed out in a safe location then he would most probably sleep for over a month. His eyes fell onto his twisted leg and sighed. 'This is going to be painful.' He tore out a portion of his clothing and stuffed it into his mouth to bite down onto and then placed both his hands on his misshaped leg. Clenching his eyes shut, he used great force to pop his leg back into the normal position. A muffled scream echoed through the empty space as the boy fell back to the ground due to the suffering. Tears filled his eyes and they dripped down the side of his cheek and mixed with the bool of blood on the floor.

After taking a long moment to recover, Ash gathered all his strength and got up on his feet. 'Get out from here.' With sheer determination he limped towards the gate and walked out. 'Now were do I go?' He remembered the face of the man who had pushed him out of the car and shivered at the thought of having to see him again at the camp. He even considered not returning there at all. But then Emma's face came to his mind and prevented him from thinking further down that road. For him who had no one to call family in this world, she became his home and motivation long ago. 'How to get back?' Ash wondered as he remembered the long journey that they took to get this far.

'First let's find somewhere safe to rest and recuperate. Then I will look around to see if there are any survivors wandering around to help me.' At that thought he looked down at his current state and flinched. 'I need new cloths, if I don't want to scare people off as soon as they see me.' He took off his blood soaked top and threw it into a nearby bushes and then looked around for a sturdy stick to lean on. Once he found one, he made sure that the gun at his waist was there and then slowly started making his way to a random direction he picked.

Ash was wandering aimlessly. The first time he found a relatively safe spot he passed out for 5 days straight. To his lick nothing had come to bother him during this time. When he woke up he realised that he felt more drained than before. He could not get rid of this feeling until he was completely recovered. His stomach was empty and rumbling in protest. So he set off in search of food before setting off again. Days passed by quickly. Ash was in a daze as he walked with the help of the stick. His food supply easily ran out. And he didn't dare to venture into the more heavily crowed areas in search of rations. The last time he ate something was four days ago when he had sneaked into an off road gas station with a mini mart inside and killed a wandering zombie. He had also found some loose clothing on a dead decaying body at the counter and took them for himself. He was already not in a good condition for travel and now the roads no longer looked familiar to him. Everyday he would try to find a secure place to hide and then focus on healing his wounds. This would put him out of commission for several hours. Durning which he could only hope that no harm came to him. He hardly could cover any distance in his condition. The hunger and lack of nutrition were not helping his worn out body to heal any faster.

Right now the hunger and dehydration were getting to him. His vision was blurring from the stress on his body. His left leg was still throbbing with every step he took. The staff he had found to lean on, was already drenched in the blood of the countless zombies he had used it to kill with. He felt like a lost soul in a scorching desert in search of an oasis. His throat was parched and his lips were cracked and he desperately licked at them to give himself the false sense of not craving water. Ash started hallucinating that he was floating. Then he thought he heard something faint. He scanned his surrounding in a half conscious state but couldn't find anything. And then something hard and heavy hit the back of his head. The pain didn't register as his eyes blackened and he passed out. As he lost consciousness Ash seemed to hear a distant voice saying, "What have you done idiot. He is not a zombie..."

—————

Tensed people. Heavy breathing. The Stuffy atmosphere. The distant yet near sound of hundreds of footsteps followed by growls and screams. The rising heartbeats. The fear. The panicked expression on everyone's faces. The dodgy eyes of the man next to him. The feel of a hand pushing him hard towards the grabbing hands and snapping teeth. And then pain. 'I heard the captain say he was useless anyway'. A lot more of the pain.

Ash's eyes snapped open in fear. His whole body was drenched in cold sweat. He could feel his own pounding chest. His breath came out laboriously as he remembered something that he had been trying to forget. He felt like he was on the verge of remembering something he had forgotten during that chaos. He closed his eyes and thought back and recalled again the chaos and panic as the zombies grabbed and tore at him. In between the struggle Ash remembered the fear, the agony, the anger, the pain and then the hate followed by the stubbornness not to die. He vaguely remembered the feeling of drawing in energy from the surrounding. This was similar to what he had experienced when Dr Hawks had killed his little rabbit to get him to revive the dead.

During that time as well he had drawn in the surrounding energy due to his immense anger, pain and hate due to the loss of his poor rabbit. Back then he had redirected the energy elsewhere. 'Did I do that again this time as well?' Ash was a bit scared, he had killed people back then so he had been always a little scared of his own ability. That was also the incident where he gave the breath of life to Erva. Which in return resulted in everything so far. What big disaster would he bring this time?' As he thought so far, Ash suddenly felt an energy inside him. He scanned his own internal state and realised that he had not released the stolen energy like last time but had instead stored it up in his body. After probing it for a bit, Ash understood that this energy had helped him to heal quicker than usual and gave him the strength to stay awake to avoid danger back then instead of passing out immediately due to energy drain.

Compared to the initial amount he had absorbed, there wasn't much left in his body but the small amount left was in constant conflict with his own internal energy. The forces colliding inside him made his stomach hurt. Ash clutched his own tummy and groaned in pain. He has to get rid of this turbulent energy left in his body. Even though the majority of the energy was directed to heal his injuries keeping it longer than necessary was having the opposite effect. Ash came to understand the meaning of the sentence, 'Too much of anything can be poison.'

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'But how to do that?' His head suddenly throbbed lightly reminding him of what had happened before he passed out. Instantly he became vigilant. First he had to make sure that he was safe so he quickly scanned his surrounding. There was only one faint source of light coming through a small window which looked more like a ventilation hole. His surroundings were mostly bare except for a few scattered boxes which seemed empty. He was lying on the bare ground with nothing to insulate him from the cold sweeping into his skin from the floor. Ash figured that he must be in the basement of some kind of store.

'I should get out of here' Ash thought and quickly jumped to his feet. As soon as he did he paused as he didn't feel the pain that had been accompanying him for the past several days anymore. He looked down to scan his own condition and noticed that most of his wounds were healed. His arms which looked the most gruesome before just had slightly deeper scratch marks left to indicate that he was wounded before. After he noticed his healed wounds he found metallic shimmer on his calf which had prevented him from running around. As he observed it closer he realised that it was a chain that bound him to the opposite wall. 'What the hell!'

Ash bend down instantly to see if he could break out of the chain. Even after pulling and clawing at it for a long time, nothing happened. Suddenly he heard a noise coming from the stairs leading up. Instantly, Ash picked up a box close to his reach and held it in front of him defensively. The sound of voices talking reached him first. They seemed to be arguing.

"more dangerous... you know what happened to grandfather. And now even father is..."

"....need to move soon" At first it was a little difficult to inferred what was being said but once the people speaking walked closer more could be understood.

"Lena, we cannot keep that thing anymore. its already been so long." A young man's voice drifted down.

"...He hasn't turned yet. That means he has something special in him." A young woman responded to the other's complaint.

"I told you we have to leave soon and we wont be carrying that dead weight which is most likely a ticking bomb. I refuse to place everyone else in danger because of your whims.

"Shut up Andrew-" Before who ever Lena was could respond to the guy, they both walked down the stairs and noticed the highly defensive and awake Ash. "You are awake." Lena shouted with a smile as she started rushing towards Ash but was held back by the young man named Andrew who had a very guarded look on his face. "What now Andrew? You can clearly see that he hasn't turned."

"THAT is exactly why we should be careful." Andrew started loud but quickly lowered his voice. Lena just rolled her eyes and shook herself free from his grasp and walked over to the strange, pretty boy with excited steps. Although Andrew wasn't happy, he immediately followed after her with a raised iron pipe in his hand.

Ash carefully observed both of their reactions and interactions and came to a conclusion that they didn't have any malice towards him. yet. The girl, Lena was very beautiful with sparking grey eyes and very short brown hair. She looked to be in her early twenties. Andrew on the other hand was a bit short for the average guys he had seen so far, light brown hair and dark eyes, but he made up for it with bulging biceps and pecs.

"Hello, My name is Lena... Don't worry we wont harm you. could you tell me your name." Ash still watched the duo warily. He has already experienced human betrayal and thus it was going to be hard for him to trust people in the future.

"Ash." he responded shortly and then went on to ask the questions. "Why am I tied up? Where is this place and why are you keeping me here." The apocalypse is not a place where human comradery forms easily. Lena smiled apologetically and wanted to remove the chain on his calf but Andrew didn't allow her. He whispered to her that Ash first needed to inform them why he is fine before he was allowed to be set free."

After talking back and forth for a while, Ash finally understood his situation. He was currently among a small group of survivors who havent heard anything about the refugee camp so far. They were just a bunch of collage students who had escaped due to sheer luck and come for the help of one of their friend, Andrew's father, Loch, he and his family did hunting as a livelihood and possessed licenced guns.

They had found a store with lot of food stored in the basement when the apocalypse started and they had been camping around here for so long. They never dared to travel too far from here. Now they were running short on food as such Andrews grandfather took out a few students to search the nearby area for water and food. And discovered that the zombie tide was approaching slowly. That day they did discover food but grandfather got bitten since he was lagging behind due to his old bones. And he was completely devoured by the swarm. After that those who survived and those who never ventured out became even more fearful of leaving this tiny safe haven. Last time when the hunger got really bad, Andrew and Lena went out and discovered Ash stumbling around looking half head. There was also a lot of dried blood on his cloths. They would have usually avoided anything that looked like a zombie but, Ash was carrying a backpack and they hoped there might be something in it. That's why Andrew attacked Ash. Right before Andrew hit him Lena realised that Ash wasn't zombified yet. Against better judgment, she insisted that they bring Ash back for some reason.

Once they got back, everyone else panicked at the wounds on Ash's body and everyone wanted him to be thrown out. But Lena disagreed with them all and even fought them in order to have him tied up and wait either until he turns or wakes up. He had been passed out for 2 weeks before he woke up today.

"You... why would you do that?" Ash asked in surprise as he watched Lena curiously.

"Do you know how long the incubation period of the virus is inside the human body before they turn into a zombie?" She smiled mysteriously.

"3 days?"

"Yes that would be in case when the injected virus amount is not too much. If the dosage is high, then you can turn within an hour." Lena responded to his answer. "You know, I was a forensic student before, and my whole family were doctors, mom military doctor, dad, cardiac surgeon, brother physiotherapist." Lena laughed but there was a bit of pain in her words. "so i am well aware of the time it takes for a wound to heal and I can also deduct how long before an injury was made when I look at it. Your wounds back then were clearly much older than 3 days and yet, instead of showing signs of turning, all you suffered from was hunger and dehydration." She flashed her set of beautiful whites teeth again. She looked really stunning when she smiled. "So... with the addition of the gun on your waist, I concluded that you must be from one of the safe zones set up by the government and that they might have found a way to fight the virus... and... well we will talk about it later."

Andrew had already heard her theory before, but now when she mentioned fight the virus, his eyes suddenly reddened with want, desire and hope, and he almost ran forward to grab the boy. "Tell me how." Ash shuffled away from his reach due to his good reflexes and polished instinct, then noticed that this time it was Lena who was holding back the young man. She seemed to be saying something to him with her eyes as she glared at him. After few minutes, Andrew calmed down and stepped back with a hard face.

Only after making sure that he was back to his normal self did she turn her attention back to Ash. "Sorry about that. Andrew is just a bit emotional right now. His dad was bitten yesterday when he went out..." she didn't say anything more but Ash understood what she was meaning. 'If you have a way to safe him, we would appreciate it.' Ash was so surprised at how smart the girl was. She was able to deduct all that, just by looking at his state when they found him. 'I guess that's a genius forensic student for you.' He suddenly felt a bit of respect for the young lady. But he couldn't forget that he was just recently betrayed by the people he had helped. He didn't want a repetition of the same thing. So first and foremost, he will prioritise the safety of Emma and himself. All the rest, he will consider the risks and benefits thoroughly before taking action. He will not let his heart get swayed by false sentiments anymore.

So, Ash started analysing his options. right now he was hungry, weak and in pain. There was hardly any chance for him to survive out there alone, let alone find his way back to the camp. Thus it was beneficial to him to help this group of strangers with their problems. But did he really need to heal the bitten man? Especially when he will suffer whenever he uses his power recently? Ash already realised that this group was going to look for a new place to stay. So couldn't he just be a guide who leads then towards the refugee camp. then both of their requirements would be met. He would have someone to depend on, on the journey back and they will have easier access into the camp. '.... but I was in a way saved by these two. who knows what would have happened if he had continued to wander like that without food or water.' Ash thought hard what to do. 'I could help the old man as a repayment if they are willing to feed me and ensure my safety until we reach the camp.'

As if having made up his mind Ash readily lied to them without changing his expression, "I do have a way to save your father with a pill i have." Ash said in a weak rough voice due to his dry throat. Rhys had left the remaining vitamin pills in his care in case he had to do emergency treatment. He is willing to cure a person one more time. After this he will disappear into the shadows like a Spector and hardly raise his head or expose his skill. Ash saw Andrew's eyes light up but they fell again with his next sentence. "But of course I have conditions. First, Feed me. I need my strength back before I do anything. Second, Return all my belongings." The most precious object in his possession back then was his gun, although it was running low on ammo, it was still important to him. It just could provide him a false sense of security if he had it in his hands. Other than that there was just a medical kit and ropes in his bag. "Third, If your father makes it out alright, then I will ask you to take me towards the refugee camp I was with before. This will of course benefit you as well but don't be so happy too quickly. The road is long and the journey is difficult. I expect you to treat me fairly until we reach there, this involves watching each other's backs, no sacrificial abandoning and equal share of food, Of course I won't take advantage of you and will provide my full cooperation." Here he paused for a few seconds and then looked both of them deeply in the eyes, "lastly, the medicine doesn't always work. In case that your father doesn't survive, then I will still offer the previous deal to lead you to the camp but if you can't accept me due to some reason or hold me accountable for your father's death, then I want to be released so that I can fend for myself and find my own way back."

The two of them looked at each other with strange eyes, suddenly Lena laughed out aloud. 'She is certainly a cheerful one.' Ash thought surprised. 'Did I say anything funny?' She just patted him heavily on the shoulder and placed her hand into her pocket. On retrieval there were 4 Nutri bars in her hand. Without a word or regret she opened Ash's hand and placed them into it. She had saved them for the boy anyway in case he woke up so she wasn't rattled by that condition of his. But Lena could feel Andrew's dissatisfied gaze on the back of her head. She just slightly turned her head back to peek at him and asked, "what are you standing there for like a statue. You are still not moving?" There was a bit of scolding in her voice.

Andrew grumbled and passed out a half full water bottle to the girl and then very reluctantly fished out a small key before tossing it to Ash's feet. 'I guess this means they are agreeing to my request.' Ash thought with narrowed eyes as he tore open the package of a Nutri bar and bit into it with satisfaction. Hunger makes everything taste good. He even felt that this small bar was much more delicious than the chef made cuisine, he used to eat at the lab on his birthdays.

Seeing the boy wolfing down the dray ration, Lena couldn't help but chuckle again. Andrew might think that there was no need to feed him and that he was taking advantage of their kindness but Lena knew that all the conditions that the boy stated were indirectly benefiting themselves. If he can save father Loch, then wonderful. If he can't then leading them, who had hardly any hope left back to his camp was also great. Who among them haven't lost family. Andrew is one of the lucky ones to be able to have his dad with his so far. Since they started they have already lost so many people that the initial 23 has reduced to just 8. When someone dies, they have no choice but to pick themselves up and keep going. 'This guy is pretending to be tough but he such a kind boy.' Lena thought as her initial impression of Ash improved instantly. 'But he is hiding a secret...' she thought seriously as she watched the boy eat and then gulp down the water to rinse down the piece that got stuck in his throat. 'But he is very wary around people. From his reactions, expression and his previous statements... I think he... well I will ask him later when we are a bit closer and his hedgehog needle aren't pointing at me'

Lena heard a click sound and looked up to see that Ash has removed the chain around his leg which they had tied on him in case he turned. "Shall we go now?" Andrew asked impatiently and he looked like he wanted to grab Ash and run towards were his father was kept.

"Ash?" Lena asked him if he was ready and just saw him nod his head.

"My belongings, I need them." Then he started walking after Lena and Andrew as they led him to the patient and his ticket back home.