The truth was, at the moment, Zain couldn’t bring himself to kill humans just so he could survive. Letting people die and killing them himself was a distinction he had made in his head.

If people were to die in front of him, even though he could help, he would say to himself that it was meant to be, and they were meant to die.

It was somewhat a cruel and strange way to think. Zain knew this very well, but it was what he had to tell himself in this current situation. Which was why he was able to twist his views a little more to do what he needed.

The two men were startled for a second when they saw the red hooded figure, but they decided to ignore the person and continue to run forward, but that’s when the zombie who had leapt through the air spread his hands and was ready to grab the human.

“You guys are a good distraction!” Zain said as he ran past the two men and held his knife firmly as he stabbed it right through the head. The knife pierced through its skull and killed it on the spot.

[Mutated Zombie has been defeated]

[+ 10 exp]_.

‘It would take quite a bit to defeat a mutated Zombie since my movements are much slower than before. But when he had to choose between a human and me to attack next, it went after a human, which is good for me.’

“You saved me!” the man said. “Come on, let’s get out of here before the others catch up!”

“Hey, there’s a zombie in the way. Let’s get rid of this one and get out of here.” The other said.

The zombie in question was standing still. These men each had a weapon in their hands, a crowbar and a bat, to be specific. The one in the front gripped his crowbar and swung it to the side of the zombie’s head.

But before it reached, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg. It wasn’t just one of them, but both men felt intense pain. Blood trickled down their legs, and the man with the crowbar stumbled. Before he could understand what was happening, the zombie in front had taken a swing and hit him right in the head, sending him to the ground.

“Andrew!” The last man yelled. Turning to look at his leg, he could see a relatively large blade punctured in it, and it was the same for his friend.

“What are you doing? Why are you helping the zombie? Oh, now it makes sense, it was you! You were the one that threw that knife at us. What are you trying to do? We’re on the same side!” the man shouted.

Zain shook his head while slowly walking toward the man.

“The mutated zombie would have caught you, and then this small horde would have caught up and killed you. Besides, I’ve watched you guys for a while and heard what you said. And I concluded you aren’t good people at all… let’s leave it at that.”

The man gulped as he started to remember the few words he had had with the others, but he was sure no one was around them then, so how could this person know? Nothing made sense.

“And you’re wrong about another thing,” Zain said. “I’m not on your side.”

Just as the man heard those words, he felt someone biting on his neck, and it was none other than Skittle, having attacked the man from behind. In seconds he started falling to the floor, and blood was making him bleed out.

To make his death quicker, Zain stabbed him in the head. He didn’t look away, he was conscious of what he was doing, and he realised that the more his body functionality lowered, the more he detached himself from his human-like emotion and feelings, which had been gradually changing since he turned.

“You did a good job, Skittle, but no eating yet, not until I figured something out,” Zain said.

Based on the system message, Zain had a good idea that the brain would be what restored the Body Functionality stat. The only thing was that every dead body they came across, which wasn’t a zombie, had its brain already consumed by the other zombies.

As for these two, they had both died before the attacks from Skittle could have any effect on turning them. Or at least that’s what he hoped. However, their bodies still looked normal, so he had to act fast.

Using his hands, Zain smashed the skull’s top as if it was a big coconut. His strength allowed him to, and blood started to ooze immediately. This was harder for him to do than he thought, even though he was detached from it.

Still, if he wanted to survive in this world, it was something he had to do. An essential task. Grasping whatever was inside, he used one hand and shoved it into his mouth.

Not thinking about what he was eating, he chewed and swallowed. He was glad that his sense of taste seemed to have somewhat faded. After the struggle, he finally heard the system prompt he was waiting for.

[50 percent of body functionality has been recovered]

[Body Functionality: 71 percent]

Zain sighed a relief upon seeing the prompt, and thankfully, the percentage gained was large enough that it wasn’t something he would have to worry about, unlike his energy stat.

After consuming the second brain, Zain’s functionality was back at 100 percent, and the strange fog in his mind he had seemed to have disappeared.

‘That’s good, and it’s good that I won’t have to do it again if we spot more people, ‘ Zain thought.

It was time for Zain and Skittle to either try to find a large group of people now or find a meteorite to complete one of his objectives. The thought of turning the two in front of him into a part of his horde had crossed his mind earlier, but since Zain planned to meet others, he didn’t think having to be responsible for more was a good idea, and he had the other problem to deal with first.

“You did a good job, Skittle. I hope you level up soon. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about you so much.” Zain commented with a smile.

*BANG * BANG * BANG

Just then, several loud shots were heard, and they didn’t come from too far away. It was constant noise, and it seemed to be attracting the attention not just of him but others as well. Without a doubt, these were gunshots.

‘Who could it be?’

******

Thank you for reading the story so far, remember to use your stones to vote for WSA