Chapter 26: Mutant Zombies
Elijah brought out the binoculars and examined carefully.
The man wore round-framed glasses, giving off a very artistic vibe. His physique looked good, even in a simple white shirt, he exuded style!
Such a man would surely attract women, especially college students; he might even be considered a god among men.
No wonder his reputation was so poor, and female students fell for his tricks. Or perhaps, it was a case of willing participation on both sides.
But what did it matter to him? In the apocalypse, all these things were irrelevant; only strength mattered!
"Is he really that despicable? Forget it, let's not watch anymore. Let's make some food!" Elijah drew the curtains shut, and Daisy immediately burst into laughter.
...
Elijah's guess was correct; Benjamin had a habit of staying up late. Artists often found inspiration in the quiet of the night.
Last night, he had been excited to see the lights on at Elijah's place, thinking the power was back.
However, after checking all the switches at home and finding no electricity, he realized it was only on Elijah's side.
There was no light anywhere else outside except at Elijah's place.
Benjamin understood that they might have a generator but had no idea where they got it from.
Maybe the property management or the nearby supermarket might have one.
The next morning, Benjamin noticed an electric tricycle downstairs on the opposite side and found the unit door tightly shut.
He went to the south-facing window and noticed that the group of zombies that had been wandering at the community entrance had disappeared.
He immediately realized they might have gone to the nearby convenience store.
So he took out the binoculars he bought for spying and observed the opposite side. Sure enough, he found a large amount of food and drinks in the corner of the room, along with two women and a man. He recognized one of the women, a student from his school named Daisy.
The first time he saw Daisy, he was deeply attracted to her.
Her figure, her long and shapely legs, and her sweet and charming face were much better than any woman he had been with before.
So he pretended to bump into them by chance, asked for help, and subtly revealed his identity and talent. In the past, after just a few casual chats, those women couldn't wait to jump into his bed.
But Daisy seemed uninterested. At first, he didn't mind, but later, she even threatened to sue him for harassment.
He felt ashamed and resentful, so he bought binoculars to spy and take some private photos.
But now, seeing them with so much food, drinks, and electricity, Benjamin decided to compromise.
He came up with a plan to make some noise to attract their attention and then displayed a distress message on the canvas.
Benjamin thought that since they dared to go to the supermarket, they might not be indifferent to his plea for help when they saw him nearby.
But after holding it up for a while, they ignored him and even closed the curtains...
Okay! Damn it! I'll remember this! When I have the chance, I'll kill those two bitches!
One day passed quickly. In the evening, Elijah and Daisy set off again. This time, they were looking for diesel and hardware stores.
Daisy once again started her beloved tricycle, and the two headed straight out of the community. After a day, they had cleared the way from their building to the community gate of zombies.
But as they left the community, the number of zombies increased again.
"Elijah, there's a small truck parked over there!"
They were looking for the truck to get diesel. Daisy's destination was the intersection where the community merged onto the main road.
Outside their community, it was an east-west road with six lanes in both directions.
It was supposed to be wide, but due to people fleeing the community and traffic accidents, it was chaotic and congested.
"Zombies aren't that plentiful!"
Elijah glanced around; many car owners were hiding inside their vehicles, guarding against zombie bites.
However, they managed to evade the outside threat but couldn't escape the mutated virus, eventually turning into zombies themselves.
"Let's take it slow," Elijah and Daisy descended from the tricycle, following yesterday's method, slowly clearing the wandering zombies outside.
They didn't dare to venture deep into the group of cars, only luring and killing zombies in open spaces.
Because Elijah knew, in there, a zombie could emerge from any corner, catching them off guard.
Soon, a pile of corpses accumulated, and no more zombies approached. Elijah began to crack open skulls, tossing the zombie bodies into the nearby greenery, while Daisy kept watch.
"Today's haul isn't bad!"
Killing over twenty zombies, they obtained four corpse cores. With a one-fifth probability, it wasn't too low.
Elijah gave two cores to Daisy, who was now taking care of Abigail and needed to stock up.
Daisy happily accepted.
Yesterday, after feeding Abigail with the corpse core, she noticed a significant improvement in her reactions.
She had a hunch that as long as they persistently fed her, Abigail might recover one day.
"We don't need to deal with the zombies in the cars for now; they can't come out anyway. Let's get the diesel first!"
Elijah and Daisy slipped into the shadows, cautiously heading towards the small truck.
Along the way, they passed many vehicles, some of which had zombies trapped inside. Some cars were particularly bloody, with bloodstains covering the windows. One could imagine the situation at that time.
Family members or passengers in the back suddenly turned into zombies, while the driver in the adjacent or front seat remained unaware. Then, taking advantage of their distraction, they bit through their veins. Amidst the splattering blood, people struggled continuously, but they were trapped by seat belts or locked doors, unable to escape. Eventually, they were consumed by the virus, turning into zombies driven solely by hunting instincts.
"Ah!" Suddenly, as they passed an SUV, a zombie inside violently banged against the glass, roaring at them. Elijah and Daisy were startled. They were in the shadows; even humans couldn't see them, let alone zombies. How did this zombie...
Elijah's mind raced as he glanced into the car. Indeed, he saw four bodies gnawed into pieces. The shape of this zombie inside the car was even more bizarre. It seemed to have no bones, slithering like a snake in the confined space of the car.
"A mutated zombie?" Seeing the zombie unable to break the glass, Daisy's courage grew. "A mutated zombie?"
"Yeah, it seems to be a mutated zombie with some kind of enhanced perception ability; otherwise, it wouldn't have noticed us!"
"Why is its body so strange?" Daisy was astonished to see the zombie contorting its body, its face almost touching its rear end, yet still able to move freely inside the car. Her own body was flexible, but she couldn't perform such inhuman movements.
"The space inside the car is narrow. Perhaps during its mutation, it chose to sacrifice strength for agility and flexibility to maneuver inside the car more easily."
Elijah observed the zombie's eerie movements inside the car, continuously banging against the glass, making guesses.
"What should we do next?"
"I'll try to control it first. This could be a great opportunity!"