Chapter 920: Not Safe for Work (Even for Zombies)
Room 308âŠ
âLooks like theyâre all gone,â Ethan said, peering out the window.
âYeah, probably,â Chris replied. âFeels like weâre the only ones left in this whole dorm building.â
âWake Henry up. Weâre heading out to scavenge the other dorms.â
ââŠâ
âWaitâEthan, donât tell me the only reason you wanted to stay an extra day was for this.â
âOf course not,â Ethan said with a grin. âMostly, I just sleep better in a real bed.â
Chris rolled his eyes.
âBesides, now that the zombies have cleared out, those other guys probably already picked the place clean. Weâre not gonna find much food.â
âThen why go?â
âWeâre not just looking for food. We need everyday stuffâclothes, power banks, lighters, that kind of thing.â
âGot it.â
Chris gave a nod and went to rouse Henry. The three of them shoved the bed aside and slipped out of the room.
The dorm building was nearly empty nowâno zombies in sight. The emergency broadcast was still blaring, pumping out bass-heavy club tracks that lured the undead like moths to a flame.
But it wouldnât last. Sooner or later, the speakers would get trashed, and when that happened, the zombies would start wandering again.
They moved room by room, sweeping each floor. Occasionally, they ran into a stray zombie, but nothing they couldnât handle.
After two hours, theyâd cleared floors one through six.
Just like Ethan predicted, food was scarce. But theyâd filled an entire backpack with useful suppliesâsoap, socks, even a half-full bottle of cologne.
âLetâs drop this stuff off and head out,â Ethan said.
âOut where?â Chris and Henry asked in unison, both raising their eyebrows.
âTo hunt a mutated zombie.â
Chrisâs eyes lit up. Henry just blinked, confused.
He didnât ask questions, though. He just followed.
Back in their room, they stashed the haul. Ethan handed Henry a steel pipeâmakeshift weapon number threeâand the trio headed out.
Most people were doing everything they could to avoid zombies. These three? They were actively hunting them down. Not just any zombies, eitherâmutated ones.
The thing was, even if you knew mutated zombies had crystals in their skullsâvaluable onesâit didnât help much. They looked just like regular zombies. No glowing eyes, no extra limbs. Just stronger. Meaner.
And you couldnât exactly test every zombieâs strength one by one.
But Ethan had an edge: his [True Sight] ability. With it, he could spot a mutated zombie even if it was buried in the middle of a horde.
They left the dorm and hadnât gone far before they spotted a group of zombies clustered around a speaker, swaying to the beat like undead ravers.
Ethan gave them a glance, shook his head, and kept walking.
They wandered for a while, running into a dozen or so zombie packs. None of them had what they were looking for.
Luckily, Ethanâs [True Sight] let them steer clear of danger. He always saw them first, and theyâd duck away before things got messy.
Only a few times did they have to fightâjust when there was no way around it. Chris and Henry handled those without breaking a sweat.
Then, as they passed through a small grove of trees, Ethan suddenly stopped.
His eyes lit up.
âYou found one?â Chris asked, voice tight with excitement.
âYeah,â Ethan said, grinning. âThough⊠itâs a little NSFW.â
âWhat do you mean?â
âSmall woods. One guy, one girl. You do the math.â
âNo way,â Henry said, eyes wide. âZombies are getting freaky now?â
âPlease,â Ethan snorted. âBack in the day, me and Lolaââ
âStop. Spare us the highlight reel,â Chris cut in. âYour ex-girlfriend Lolaâs already sleeping with someone else.â
ââŠâ
Ethan crouched, eyes narrowing. âTwo zombies. The girlâs the mutated one. Guyâs just a regular. Iâll take the girl. Chris, you handle the guy. Henry, hang back. Quick and quietâwe donât want to draw a crowd.â
âUnderstood.â
âLetâs move.â
The three of them slipped into the woods, ducking under low branches and pushing through thick underbrush. The grove was denseâonce inside, it was nearly impossible to see in from the outside. No wonder those two zombies had gotten so bold. Without Ethanâs [True Sight], theyâd have gone completely unnoticed.
They moved fast, and it didnât take long to spot their targets. But the moment Chris and Henry laid eyes on the scene, both of them froze, eyes wide.
âHoly shit,â Chris muttered. âThis really is not safe for work.â
âWere they⊠mid-bang when they turned?â Henry asked, blinking hard.
âHonestly? Wouldnât be surprised,â Ethan said.
âAlright, enough commentaryâtheyâre coming in hot.â
The two zombies clearly had no shame. The second they saw living flesh, they lit up with excitement and lunged forward.
Or tried to.
Their pants were still bunched around their anklesâhalf-on, half-off. They managed a few awkward steps before both of them tripped and faceplanted into the dirt.
ââŠâ
All three of them stood there for a beat, a single bead of sweat sliding down each forehead.
âWell, that explains why they didnât follow the music,â Chris said, deadpan. âThey couldnât run.â
The zombies scrambled back to their feet, only to stumble again. The femaleâs shirt had ridden up, exposing her large, pale breasts, which smacked the ground with every fall like a pair of overripe melons.
âThink sheâs gonna break something?â Henry asked, half-concerned, half-fascinated.
âNah,â Chris said knowingly. âThose things are built to bounce.â
ââŠâ
âAlright, enough. Letâs finish this before we draw a crowd,â Ethan said, voice sharp.
âGot it.â
They moved in. Two quick strikes to the head.
It was almost too easy.
Chris took out the male zombie in one clean jab. Ethan had to stab the female seven or eight times before she finally stopped twitching. Mutated zombies were tougher, no question.
And this one? She was stronger than the two heâd killed yesterday.
âStrange,â Ethan muttered, frowning. âShouldnât a female body be weaker than a maleâs? Unless⊠zombies can evolve?â
The thought hit him like a cold splash of water. If they were getting stronger over time, that changed everything.
âDamn shame, though,â Henry said, eyeing the fallen female zombie with a sigh.
Ethan smirked. âHey, virgin boyâif necrophiliaâs your thing, nowâs your moment.â
âUgh, gross! Iâm not into that! And Iâve told you a million timesâIâm not a virgin!â Henry snapped.
âYou also said youâve never even held a girlâs hand. If youâre not a virgin, then who is?â
ââŠâ
Ethan crouched beside the corpse and reached into her skull, fingers slick with gore. After a moment of searching, he pulled out a small, blood-red crystal.
âThis what you meant by energy crystal?â Henry asked, eyes wide with curiosity.
âYup. Here.â Ethan tossed it to him. âEat it.â
âWaitâme?â Henry caught it, stunned.
âWho else? Youâre the weakest one here. You wanna keep dragging us down?â
Henry hesitated, then nodded. He knew exactly how valuable this was. He gave the other two a grateful look, wiped the crystal clean on his shirt, and swallowed it whole with his eyes shut tight.
A few moments later, the three of themânow all powered upâheaded back out into the world, hunting for their next mutated zombie.
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