LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 18 – Choice
The virus was developed with the hope to help humanity reach the next step in evolution. It caused a fever because it needed a high temperature to work. If the patients died during the transformation, they could turn into zombies. But most of the dead were sent to the morgue and the low temperature stopped it.
After the rain fell down a month before the sick people’s number multiplied. The hospitals couldn’t accept all of them and even the dead were left at home. Originally there weren’t that many dead who turned into zombies. With their little number, it was impossible to turn cities into their kingdom.
But in this world, the zombies were different than the ones in the movies. After the postmortem rigidity was over their speed and strength were inhuman. They only needed some minutes to turn everyone in their family into the same kind. The virus in their body was so much stronger. Once they bit the ordinary humans they could turn into zombies in an hour.
The zombies couldn’t see, hear, or smell anything, but they seemed to have a sixth sense and could feel the living. They learned to use their strength faster than humans became familiar with their ability. Their weak point was their brain, but during the postmortem rigidity, their bones became harder. It was almost as strong as steel.
Future city was safe because Vincent knew this. He commanded all the soldiers to cut down every dead’s head. It sounded brutal, but this was the only way to protect the others. The city was safe inside, but from the outside, they could be attacked anytime.
Klaye sat in front of the window and sighed. Today was the 5th morning after Vincent left. He could come back anytime, yet Klaye still didn’t make up his mind. He calmed down and realized he overthought his situation. In this life, he still didn’t do anything against Vincent. He didn’t know if Egbert was assigned to help him because of monitoring or something else.
If Vincent really wanted to kill him, he wouldn’t let him take care of him during his illness. Maybe that time was a test. He wanted to see if Klaye did anything suspicious and hid some cameras in the room.
Klaye felt ashamed. If Vincent really saw everything he did in his room, then he wanted to bury himself. He dared to do all of those things because he believed that it would be his secret...
Loud barking awakened Queen. ’That stupid dog’s here again!’
Klaye smiled and threw away the pillow. He hugged Queen and went down to eat breakfast. Every day early in the morning Stupy ran to the villa and only left when the sun went down. Some wolves came over and tried to bring him back, but he didn’t listen. In the end, another wolf came with him and followed them like a bodyguard. It was easy to see his position was high in their pack.
They went down and in the hall, Egbert already waited for them with the two wolves.
„Good morning! Breakfast is ready.” Egbert smiled and looked at Queen. „This time I got some chicken’s wings.”
’Chicken wings! Hurray! All mine!’ Queen was excited and jumped out of Klaye’s hands. ’You are too slow!’
Klaye was speechless and watched the cat disappear behind the door. He awkwardly scratched his head, then followed Egbert.
In the dining-room, some people already sat around the table. There’re Vincent’s friends and servants who couldn’t awaken strong ability. It was easy to see how much they hated the fact they were left behind, yet they did their best to manage the city until the others came back. They understood that they didn’t have enough power, so they used all their free time to train.
Klaye ate his breakfast in silence. He wasn’t familiar with them, but he knew almost all of them died early in the book. They’re still here because Vincent worked hard to change their future.
„Ouch!” Klaye lifted his right hand and he saw he cut his finder.
„Oh, I’ll bring you a band-aid!” Egbert stood up and ran into the kitchen.
The wound wasn’t big. Only a drop of blood came out. Klaye watched it slowly went down on his finder and fell on his plate. He knew that later the zombies would evolve and the men’s lifes around the table would be in danger. But even just a drop of his blood could save a life...
„Here it is!” Egbert came back and grabbed Klaye’s hand. He carefully bandaged the wound. „Done!”
„... Thank you!” Klaye watched his gentle smile and sighed. He was just an actor who followed his script and never cared about others’ life. Maybe he never treated them as real people because he believed the whole world was just a book.
But now it was different. He wanted to help Vincent! If their lives were important to him, then he needed to overcome his fear and took the next step. He would let them know his power, but he needed to find a suitable time...
Even if Klaye made up his mind, he needed to wait until Vincent came back. He didn’t want to accidentally help someone who could harm them. Even if they died early it didn’t mean they didn’t have any connection with Gardena.
Klaye felt that someone pulled his pants. He looked down and met with Stupy’s eyes. He was bored of waiting for them to finish their breakfast.
These days they visited Suzana and let Stupy try to copy her dogs’ appearances. He learned all of it yet he still liked to use this bizarre appearance. Yesterday someone mentioned if he could copy other animals’ appearances or not. They wanted to see it, so they chose to go to the Zoo. Stupy was excited to go there, but it was already too late. Klaye promised him they would go there today.
„Let’s go?” Klaye looked at Queen.
She licked her paw. ’Did this stupid dog never heard about patience?’
„...” Do you have the right to say this?!
Queen suddenly stopped and looked at him. ’Hey! Does the Zoo reek?’
„... Usually, a place with a lot of animals has some odors.” he whispered. He didn’t want the others to hear him, but they already suspected something. Gladly they misunderstood them and thought that it was Klaye who had some kind of special power and could communicate with different animals.
Queen watched her fur and was dissatisfied. ’We can go. BUT! Once we come back you need to help me take a bath!’
„Okay.” Klaye smiled and hugged her. He said goodbye to the others and left.
Stupy happily ran in front of them.
„Hey! Wait for me!” Egbert stood up and cleaned up the table. He used his power to send the plates into the kitchen, then ran after them. He stayed behind only to take care of Klaye. Even if Vincent beat up all the bastards, the city wasn’t safe. Not to mention, he couldn’t trust those wolves!
In front of the villa, Suzana already waited for them. She looked back at the 3 bodyguards with a dark face. She thought her grandfather was overprotective. Originally there was one, but when she mentioned she would go with Klaye her grandpa send 2 more... Just who was his real relative?!
Stupy came out and happily ran around her. He liked Suzanna because she always had some kind of snacks in her pockets. She prepared them for her dogs, but she always gave some to him too. He happily accepted some and ate it. Stupy felt that this life was perfect. Every dawn his lover gave him some parts of his prey. After that, he ran into the city and a human servant gave him some cooked meat, and if he was lucky he could meet with this girl and got some snacks too.
Klaye came out and greeted them. He became used to Study’s big appetite.
’Che! Stupid dog!’ Queen mocked him.
Stupy quickly swallowed the last snack. He was afraid Queen would take it away.
The Zoo wasn’t close. Egbert went to borrow a big car for them. Klaye sat in the passenger’s seat with Queen and Egbert let the wolves sat in the trunk. They separated them hoping to have a peaceful trip.
After an hour, they reached the Zoo. The place changed a lot compared to the last time Klaye was here. The bars were strengthened and every animal had their own place.
They just walked in and ran into a group of men.
„... let’s wait until the city owner come back!”
„Are you crazy? The bar barely can hold it back! Will you be responsible if it came out and kill someone?!”
„But it’s evolved! This tiger the strongest animal until now!”
„Yeah! And no one can domesticate it! I’m the one who is responsible for this place! So let’s kill it!”
Queen was shocked. ’Kill a tiger?!’
Stupy thought about something and barked. He looked at Queen with provocative eyes.
’Haha! You think you can do it?’
Stupy barked again and ran away.
Klaye felt that something bad would happen and went after him. „Let’s follow him!”
Egbert and the others ran after him without a word. The group of men were puzzled, but they’re wondering about what they wanted to do and followed them.
After some turns, they reached the place where the tiger lived.
Stupy was already inside and provoked the tiger happily. He easily evaded its attack and all his counterattack hit its weak points.
Everyone watched the ugly dog and the tiger’s fight absentmindedly. They only come back to their senses and understood what they saw, when the tiger fell on the ground.
Stupy happily barked and looked at Queen.