3 days ago. The basement of the lab.
Dr. Hansen casually wiped at some blood stains on his cheek as he glanced at the vitals of Ash Kage on the screen. The data showed strong fluctuations. Sometimes they were dangerously low while other times they were abnormally high. He took a look at the boy strapped to the stimulator for the past two days. His cloths were dyed red with his own blood and torn from the various knife slashes. Sweat tickled down from his chin and mixed into the blood-soaked shirt.
Now was a rare moment of rest, but there was hardly a peep from the boy. Ash had his eyes wide open as he stared blankly at his feet. One couldn't even see the rise and fall of his chest as any indicator that he was still alive. Yet Dr. Hansen knew that although there weren't any movements, the boy was still barely holding on to life, the signal in the monitors were proof for it. It was only due to his miraculous self-healing ability that Ash was hanging in there, anyone else in the same situation would have died three times over. 'Dr. Davis was right to push forward with an aggressive approach. The boy really seems to be in his last stretches of life. His self-healing has slowed down considerably, it was just a matter of time before it may completely disappear. Then they won't have such a rare and precious hope of salvation anymore. So, before that happened, I have to find a way to isolate the power.'
As Dr. Hansen was lost in thought, the slim figure of Shelly arrived without his notice. "Dr. Hansen, I have been sent over by Dr. Davis to inquire on your progress." she said which startled the man out of his skin.
"Oh! you have to wait a bit, I myself am waiting on the test result. I have sent all the samples to the laboratory. They should arrive any minute now." Dr. Hansen said while calming his heart. "I would have gone up to see him in a bit after the results came back anyway. Why did he rush to send you? Did something happen?"
"Apparently Dr. Davis just received a call from his good friend Dr. Hawks, informing him that he has landed in our country. There were some complications so the plane touched down some distance off, but he should already be making his way here as we speak. depending on how the road between us is, he should arrive within three weeks to a month." Shelly shared the information she got. "I assume that Dr. Davis wants to present good results to his friend, so he is urging us along."
Dr.Hansen grumbled under his breath in dissatisfaction. It was hard having an unreasonable superior. Even in the apocalypse he had to watch how he talked and acted. It was getting exhausting. Yet he knew that there was nothing else he could do. As he was about to lead the woman to get some tea while they waited, one of his students rushed over holding an envelope in his hands. "They have arrived!" Dr. Hansen immediately got excited and rushed over to take over the documents. Without hesitation he took out the papers and scanned through them rapidly. Even before he reached the end of the document, his face fell, and an ugly expression replaced his previous joy.
"I am assuming not good news?" Shelly asked as she carefully observed all of the man's expressions.
Dr. Hanson looked at her and sighed. "Bad news. The samples that were send over do not show any sign of regenerative ability." His hands clenched into fists over the paper crumbling them a bit. He has been down here for days now without rest, yet the results were all negative and... he shot a look at the motionless boy, 'the boy is at his limit.'
"Hmm. That is indeed bad news. If I report it back like this, Dr. Davis would most likely be very displeased. Is there any hypothesis that can be shared along with it to lighten the blow?" Shelly asked as a concerned look also flittered across her face.
Dr. Hansen looked at her for a long moment, chewing on his words before he finally sighed and decided to state his guess, "From what I can gather, it is not his DNA that carries the regenerative ability. Yet it has been detected in his blood before. So according to logic our method should have been correct. But from the last few months of observation what I think is the actual situation is that "It's the boy's mind that somehow alters the DNA of his body for an amount of time to help his recover. Likewise, I also think, unless he actively thinks about wanting to heal someone his power would not extend out of his body to help others. Of course, all this is still a guess. And like we thought before, I would assume that each time he uses his power it saps at his vitality."
"This is not good news either Dr. Hansen. In fact, this puts us in an even more precarious situation." Shelly said with widened eyes. "Dr. Davis is not going to like this at all!" Her faced showed fear at the thought of the genius doctor's next temper tantrum. "So, what you are saying is that this power won't work at all unless the boy stays alive! Right?" Her head quickly snapped towards the pale boy who looked already dead. 'Are we all doomed not to survive this zombie apocalypse?' The fear became more and more obvious on her face.
"Well... that seems to be the case. Unless of course we are able to isolate the DNA change that happens to his body while he uses the power. Dr. Hansen admitted shamefully. 'Isolating that DNA strand has been almost an impossible task. One they didn't have all the equipment, two like he mentioned before the amount of time that the DNA change remained in the blood was getting shorter and shorter, and three, they didn't have another Ash Kage.'
"I-I have to let the doctor know of the situation. Give me a minute maybe he has some ideas." Shelly took out a walki talki from her pocket and walked to a corner to make the call. After what seemed like ten minutes, she walked back with a strange look on her face.
"What is it?" Doctor Hansen asked nervously as he turned away from his assistant after instructing him to provide Ash with first aid.
"Dr. Davis said that his friend once did an experiment with a rabbit which showed excellent results. H-he asked us to stop hesitating and take it up a notch." Shelly answered in a soft voice. Her eyes were darting back and forth as if she was not happy with this idea.
Dr. Hansen thought for a moment, weighed the pros and cons and then said decisively, "Let's move on with it first thing tomorrow. Today... let him recover a bit."
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Ash was in an endlessly dark empty space. His ears were ringing but other than that there was no other sound. "Am I dead?" Ash wondered as he walked a few steps forward. There was not even the sound of footsteps to be heard.
The past few days had been one nightmare after another. The hundreds of images of horrifying creatures and his violent deaths remained like a flashback in his mind. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't shake those pictures from his head.
"Maybe it's better to die." Ash murmured to himself as he kept walking forward aimlessly. Only silence and darkness surrounded him. In that long stretch of silence Ash thought about his life so far. It had been nothing but pain and sorrow. He didn't do anything to deserve it, but fate still liked to play a cruel joke on him. It's as if the heavens were punishing him by giving him this curse. Yes. it was a curse. Everyone only saw the benefits that this power brought during this apocalypse, but him as the bearer of this power, it really was a curse.
"My only regret is that I left the girl behind, I hope that Rhys can find it in him to take her back out now that he doesn't have to worry about me... or maybe one of the others will? Emma is no longer sick and shouldn't be a burden to them." Ash said to himself as he stopped walking and looked up at the blackness above him. "They wouldn't abandon her, would they?" Ash worried his heart out. "They aren't such bad people." Ash shook his head trying to convince himself.
"...if nothing else, I am pretty sure that Jule would look after her. He is kind." The said man's smiling face popped up in Ash's mind and he was momentarily stunned. Immediately his thoughts wandered to all the times that Jule had helped him out, stuck out for him and looked after him. "...he really is kind..." Ash whispered as a small blush unconsciously filled his cheeks. '...and handsome' he thought secretly as he covered his hot cheeks with his hands and squatted down in embarrassment.
After a few seconds, Ash lifted his face and looked at his hands in sadness. All the lines on his palm seemed to lead to disaster. 'What does it matter now?' he let out a very long sigh and was about to get up to try and find that doorway to heaven or hell, when a sudden shot of pain passed through his scarp and like electricity buzzed down to his toe tips. This was a very familiar feeling. He had experienced it too many times to for it to be anything else but the unbalanced currents from the stimulator. 'Seems like I am not dead yet.' Ash gasped in pain as he tried to scratch at the area that the pain started from. Yet even after scratching his scalp raw, nothing seemed to help. 'Why am I not waking up?' Ash wondered biting into his lips to fight through the pain. Being blind to his surroundings and suffering from agony at the same time was making Ash more scared than usual.
After what seemed like forever, finally bits and pieces of conversation started to reach his ears. Although they were voices that he despised, hearing anything at all was a form of relief in that dreadful silence. "He isn't waking up Dr. Hansen" Ash recognized Shelly's higher pitched voice immediately. "Are you sure he is still alive?" There was doubt laced in her voice.
"Of course, he is. Can't you see his vitals on the monitor." Dr. Hansen's voice came as a reply. "But why is there no response? Is the voltage too low?" He wondered as he talked out loud. "Let's turn it up a notch."
"Are you sure? Didn't just say yesterday that we still need him alive?" Shelly asked with concern.
"Well, we don't have a choice now do we? If he is unconscious the higher voltage will wake him up. If he is dead like you said, then it won't cause any difference." Dr. Hansen said reasonably. " It is better to try it out." Soon after the words stopped an even sharper shot of pain pierced ash through his skull. He screamed out in agony. Yet outside, the body of the boy still remained motionless with a lifeless stare in his eyes.
"L-let's up it one more!" Dr. Hansen said, starting to panic a bit and without an interval the pain got so intense that Ash felt like he would disintegrate. The strong pain made him jump up while clutching his head. A few strands of light pierced the darkness.
Ash's body, still strapped to the chair jolted on the increase of the voltage and clarity returned to his eyes. He wanted to scream but instead only heavy gasps left his lips.
"He has come to!" Dr. Hansen cried in joy as he slapped the boy a few times on the face to wake him properly up. "We have prepared something for you Ash so, stay awake and focus." he sounded a bit excited.
Ash blinked several times trying to make sense of the situation. He was still in the basement. Still strapped to the stimulator. His body was still aching and bleeding. The sloppily wrapped bandages didn't help at all. He seemed to be running a very high fever. His throat was dry, and Ash could hardly pronounce a syllable. He blinked a few more times to focus his eyesight and only then did he notice the weeping girl standing several feet away from him.
Emma sat on the floor before him with her hands covering her sobs in shock and sadness. Her eyes were already red and swimming with tears. She noticed Ash regaining his consciousness and immediately called out to him. She tried to crawl towards him to get closer, yet her movements were restricted by a chain around her ankle.
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"Em-ma" Ash gasped out with great difficulty. It took him a few moments to regain his clarity. But when he saw her chained up, Ash immediately lost his reason. He started to struggle fiercely against his retrains with minimal success.
"I didn't know you still had this much energy in you." Dr. Hansen said as he appeared from the side to stand next to the girl.
„What are you trying to do?" Ash asked. His eyes were glimmering with hate and anger.
Dr. Hansen saw the raw expressions on his face and sighed, „We didn't get the results that we hoped from the previous experiments. So, now we are going to try something different. A little bird told me that in the past there was an incident where you displayed enormous amounts of power. So, we are going to try and recreate that scenario."
His words made Ash's heart fill with dread. Remembering the few sentences, he had overheard before, it seemed like he had an idea what they were talking about. The memories of his most favourite rabbit dying kept replaying in his head. He didn't know whom they got this information from, but it surely had to be someone from the inside. ‚But there are no rabbits here now and any random rabbit's death won't trigger me in any way... so' Ash's eyes fell onto Emma and his eyes widened in fear. „Y-you are insane! "Ash shouted in panic." She is just a child."
But his shouts and struggling didn't seem to move Dr. Hansen in the slightest. He nodded towards Shelly who immediately moved to connect some additional tubes to Ash's veins to collect blood samples. Once she was done, Dr. Hansen leisurely walked behind the still sobbing little girl and placed his hands around her neck.
Emma, being as clever as she was, had already realised that her life was in danger. Her eyes were filled with fear as she tried to break away from the scientist. Yet the strength between a child and a grown man was vastly different that she didn't stand any chance of escape. In the end as the hands tightened around her neck she could only stand and shed silent tears for both her and her beloved brother.
Ash watched in horror as the air circulation started getting cut off from the girl. Her face slowly started turning blue from the lack of oxygen. Ash's fingers clenched so hard that his nails bit into his palms and started bleeding. „Stop it please." he kept begging as he struggled harder and harder.
As he saw Emma's eyes rolling back into her head Ash felt a sharp pain strike his chest from deep within. It kept flaring up in intensity as his eyes turned red from the agonising thought of losing someone dear to him. He remembered his poor rabbit how he hadn't been strong enough to save him. And thinking that was the same fate that waited Emma, something in him snapped. He didn't want to be alone anymore. He didn't want to lose someone he loved. The thought of losing her brought a strong whirlwind of dark emotions to his heart. It was familiar. He had experienced something similar once before.
It was like a storm gathered around him and he was at the centre of it. As the power gathered in strength, Ash lost his reasoning, wires and paper started flying around as if forming a mini cyclone in the room. Dr.Hansen had at one point completely forgotten his prey and stepped forward in fascination and excitement. Ash had watched with strained eyes as the girl fell to the ground once Dr. Hansen stepped away from her. Emma lay on the floor unmoving. Ash's clouded judgment couldn't make out if she was still breathing or not. But her unmoving body made him think of the worst possible scenario and a heart-wrenching scream tore out of his lips.
The power that was swirling around Ash lost control and was flung out like a sharp shockwave in all directions. Dr. Hansen who was getting closer to the boy was send flying back by the force and crashed into the wall. Sounds of equipment breaking and glass shattering was heard throughout the place. The power was so strong and fierce as if it could devour everything in its path. The veins on Ash's body popped out and his wounds that were barely starting to heal were torn open again. Ash looked as if he was possessed and the power showed no indication of slowing down. Cracks started appearing like cobwebs on the floor and the walls. The lights started flickering and then burst out, shattering glass everywhere. It took several minutes before the power finally started to subside, due to the drain of energy from the boy. Ash's eyes rolled up and he slumped down unconscious. Emma's unmoving figure was the only thing that filled his sight until his world went blank. Once everything settled down, there was only a long silence remaining. Both Shelly and Dr. Hansen lay several feet away, unconscious.
After several minutes of silence, a slow roar sounded in the wrecked basement. With the sound several figures started moving. The captured zombies were quicker than the humans who were still in a daze from everything they had witnessed so far. Only after hearing the first cry of pain of a zombie biting into their companion, did the others realise in what kind of precarious situation they were really in.
The humans immediately started panicking. They lacked any kind of coordination or insightful actions. Not to mention that their hands were bare and they were severely malnourished. They didn't have the courage nor the ability to defend themselves. All of them scrambled towards the basement door trying to escape while pushing and pulling at the others. Only the door wouldn't open no matter how hard they pushed or slammed their bodies at it. Immediately another wave of disorder and panic ensued which further caused their situation to worsen.
The zombies although fewer in number were suddenly well coordinated under the intelligence zombies influence and they started attacking the people in an orderly fashion. They were more focused on wounding the humans rather than sating their hunger. Soon screams of pain and agony sounded throughout the basement yet no one came to check on the situation. Either because they were used to the sounds of screams from the basement or because the walls were especially soundproof that nothing reached the surface.
Dr. Hansen had only been knocked out for a short 45 or so minutes. When he regained his consciousness, his head was throbbing, and his arm seemed to be dislocated. His ears suddenly filled with all the chaotic noises around him, and he looked up in confusion as he held his temple. The scene before him made him freeze in fright.
Except for a few remaining wounded humans, all the rest had started showing signs of zombification. Dr. Hansen knew that the more virus was injected into one's body the quicker they would turn. After all he had done countless experiments in this very basement. Yet those experiments were controlled and guided. Under normal zombie behaviour more than half of these humans should have become zombie snacks by now. yet, the zombies did not try to devour the humans. They just inflicted them with a huge dosage of the virus and then moved on to the next prey. Dr. Hansen immediately looked over towards the intelligent zombie and stiffened in fright. The torso zombie was staring at him with very obvious hate in its eyes. He was carefully watching his every move and even enjoying the emotions of fear and despair that flitted across his face. The zombie roared in command and two zombies turned away from their prey and started pacing towards the scientist instead.
Dr. Hansen immediately scrambled to his feet as he backed away towards a wall. He then quickly snatched up his walkie-talkie and started shouting for help. As soon as he finished his first ‚help me' the zombies jumped at him and started tearing at his flesh. Unlike the others, Dr. Hansen was labelled as food. Soon ear shattering screams and the sound of chewing and flesh tearing filled the room. Dr. Hansen was very agonisingly slowly eaten alive. It took several minutes before his screams completely subsided. In the end only a disgustingly mangled body and a pool of blood remained of the man.
In this situation, the biggest mistake that Dr. Hansen did was calling for the guards. The otherwise not openable basement door was pushed open due to his SOS. The guards had immediately rush over to help the scientist, only to discover a swarm of zombies and panic-stricken wounded people rushing out as soon as the door was opened. They didn't even have time to react when they were overwhelmed and pinned to the ground. The problem that could have been contained before got suddenly out of hand.
For the group of physically weak, indoor-sy scientists, this was more than they could handle. Not to mention that the zombies knew how to jump out from hidden places to catch them off guard. As well as to encircle them from all sides so that they couldn't escape. The shouts of panic and pain rang out one after the other for a long time until only the intermittent zombie roars remained.
Someone must have been rational enough to call for help from the military stationed a block away from them. Those lucky enough hid themselves in small rooms scattered all over the place in order to try and wait it out until rescue arrived.
In the now almost empty basement, a zombie looked around to see if there were any delectable snacks remaining. Its eyes landed on the little girl who still lay unmoving on the floor and the unappetizing smelling boy a few feet away from her. Without hesitation, it rushed over towards the girl and leaned over her to take a bite. Emma's eyes fluttered as it slowly opened. As soon as she woke up, she saw a wide mouth open in front of her ready to bite down. She screamed in panic and kicked out. The zombie was caught by surprise and stubbled a few steps back.
Emma quickly looked around her at the completely destroyed surrounding and quickly pieced together what might have happened. Her eyes snapped towards a certain direction and to her relief found that Ash was still there and still breathing. She didn't know if he was scratched or infected due to the large number of wounds that filled his body but when she saw his figure her panicked heart immediately calmed down.
The zombie who got kicked, growled in anger at it rushed once more at them with its mouth wide open and claws outstretched. Emma didn't think twice before she stretched the chain on her ankles to the maximum and rushed in front of Ash to protect him by using her body as a shield. As the zombie claw was just a few centimetres away from her stomach, she squeezed her eyes shut in fear.
A sudden low growl was heard some distance away and the zombie froze two centimetres away from her body. It quickly looked around and saw a torso zombie being carried over by a larger zombie. It flinched for a moment. The disabled zombie displayed a far scarier aura than the humongous one. It was the same feeling one had as when they saw their superior. An unknown pressure pressed down on the zombie's body as it looked at this scary zombie.
Another low growl escaped the torso zombie's lips as if in warning. The one on the receiving end flinched and whimpered in protest. But seeing that his efforts were pointless and knowing that it wouldn't win in a fight against them, it reluctantly turned around and left the basement to go and locate those other more appetising smells that drifted down from above. 'No need to fight for the leader's prey when there are more delicious snacks all around this place.'
Once the small fry left, the torso zombie looked at Ash's motionless form emotionlessly 'It really didn't find this boy appetising.' Its gaze then shifted to the girl who was now staring at him with a determined look on her face. After a few minutes of evaluating the girl before it, the zombie made the one carrying it turn around and they left while slamming the basement door shut. It had spared them, but whether they had the ability to leave safely was all up to their ability. Maybe it was due to it having witnessed the similar sufferings the boy had gone through as to it, or maybe it was because Ash's power set them all free from more endless torture. Either way Ash and Emma survived their onslaught for the time being.
Emma blinked her eyes several time in confusion, then she let out a long breath that she didn't even realise she was holding. As soon as she confirmed that there was no more danger she slumped down on the ground as if all the energy in her body had left her. The basement door being closed meant that it was unlikely that any zombies could wander down here. They were safe for the moment. She took a second to settle her frantically beating heart and then turned towards Ash who was still sitting there as if he had lost his soul. Her small hands stretched out towards him wanting to make sure he was alright, but the chains prevented her from getting any closer. 'Brother Ash has suffered so much' Emma's eyes started tearing up she looked at the countless wounds that adorned Ash's body. Tears of sorry slid down her cheeks as her heart squeezed in pain for the other. 'Why is it never peaceful for us?' She cried harder and harder. "Brother Ash, please be alright!" She tearfully lay at his feet, as close as she could get and then let the exhaustion take her into a deep sleep.
Receiving the distress call, the soldiers gathered together to discuss their next steps. Given their armed power, they were still confident enough that they could bring this situation under control. So, they collectively agreed that in order to prevent chaos and panic they should handle it quietly. Even though several of them showed doubt at the number they are facing and voiced their ideas on abandoning the laboratory and trying to resettle so as to save the remaining survivors they had, the superiors were against it. The soldiers were duty bound to protect those sharp minds no matter the cost. After all they were more valuable than anyone else. So, even if it was only 4-5 that were remaining, they still had to rush in and try to save them. One of them could be their salvation.
After a few hours of quick planning, the soldiers set out for this rescue mission. Yet after they entered the laboratory, they never came out alive again. Under the smartly coordinated onslaught, the few scientists that they were able to bring out of their hiding spots also ended up turning. The number of zombies that they were able to kill while navigating those narrow halls and corridors were not as many as those who got turned from their side.
Under the ignorant eyes of the survivors of the camp, the number of zombies were increasing rapidly. It was just a matter of time before this hidden bomb would explode out and implicate them all.