Zombie Rebirth

The far wall exploded. Brick, fine woodwork, paintings, sculptures, it all went flying. What was on the far side was beyond my expectations.

“BOSS FIGHT!”

I shouted in glee, then took off running at the creature. I focused on the thing, waiting for the inspection window to pop up.

Feral Amalgam

Level: 9

HP: 770

HP regen per second: 0.39

Mana: 0

Stamina: 260

Stamina regen per second: 0.13

Faction: Feral

The name was as accurate as it could get. The thing, which was the best I could describe it as, could not have been a single entity. It was a shapeless mass of flesh, with skin, muscle, hair, and bloody clots covering the surface seemingly at random. It was around fifteen feet high, nearly twenty across, and who knew how deep. Two limbs extended from the mass, swinging slowly but with great power. They were formed from the same biomass, with only the loosest definition lending it the likeness of a playdoh-caricature. It didn’t even have hands or fingers, not that it needed them.

One of its arms slammed into a sturdy ornate table and shattered it to splinters. It roared again. I jumped onto the nearest table and started running across them, instead of weaving between.

“C’mon Basil,” I shouted over my shoulder. “You’re going to miss all the fun!”

“You fight with your hands!”

I skidded to a stop on a table, causing it to tip for just a moment. It settled with a thump, one which would have been loud if the Amalgam hadn’t been busy tearing the building down around us.

“Damn, you’re right.”

A terrible match-up. The frailty of zombies was countered by not having a head. I couldn’t even tell if it had eyes. For that matter, I couldn’t tell where it was roaring from. Just then, I saw an expanse open on the top of the creature, only visible because of my extra few feet of height lent by the table. It was lined with bones, though that was the closest it came to resembling teeth in a mouth. Femurs seemed to be the most common bone, but every one was broken and sharpened to a point. It let loose another roar, and this time, I felt it like an explosion, deep in my chest.

Condition gained: intimidated.

I shook my head, putting a hand to my chest to still my–

“Dammit, I don’t have a beating heart.” Just like that, the condition disappeared. I am a zombie. I am undead.

"What are you going to do?”

I dodged a flying table. It crashed into another one behind me. I had to keep moving, or I was going to die.

“I don’t know. I guess I go in and find out if I can beat this thing to death too!”

Basil shook his head. I ignored him and turned back to the monster. It roared again, but I was ready. I charged in when it froze to let loose the sonic attack. My steps were sure. I had the mismatched brass knuckles on. I was as prepared as I could possibly be.

“Come get some!” I launched from the table in a superman-like lunge, fist out front. What I was not expecting was to connect and sink in. The mass of flesh rippled like a thick ooze, enveloping my hand. “Shiiiiiiiit!”

Just as I thought I was going to get free, it sucked my arm in deeper.

“Basil, I’m in need of help!”

I looked around frantically to see where the arm things were, but it wasn’t willing or able to hit me where I stood. That made me wonder why. I turned my attention back to the disgusting, writhing mass of flesh and examined it closer. Skin slid like thin plastic sheets over exposed muscle. All of it glistened in the soft light from the chandeliers, as well as the moonlight filtering in through the massive windows. Then I saw it.

A face. One stretched in a rictus of horror and pain. I couldn’t even tell if it had been male or female before being absorbed. The flesh had been eaten away, parts of the surprisingly complex muscle mass that made up its face had been chewed nearly to paste. Dark brown eyes rolled wildly until they spotted me, and the mouth opened wide. I couldn’t tell if it was screaming, asking for help, or trying to eat me. But the eyes couldn’t lie. There was endless pain, fathoms deep. It was agony, and I was only feeling it secondhand and through dulled senses.

I nodded. I would kill this thing, this Amalgam, even if I had to die again doing it. Just then, Basil wrapped his arms around my chest and started to pull.

“Hang on, I’ve got an idea.”

“What?” The incredulity in his voice made me smirk. I know, I’m an asshole. I’ve been told that so many times, I’ve lost count.

Instead of answering him, I stretched over and slugged the face. My leverage was non-existent.

“Wait, okay. Pull me free. Friggin’ physics.”

He wrapped his arms around me again, then pulled. It took three attempts before my arm slid free. I freed myself from his grasp and sent a rocket of a punch into the face. Skin slid in the way exactly as my punch landed, and while I felt something break underneath, it wasn’t enough. The Amalgam roared in pain and anger, and started surging toward us.

“Back up!”

I backpedaled while waiting for the skin to slide away again. Everything on the body was constantly moving and shifting. It was only a matter of timing. Sure enough, ten seconds later, the skin retracted and I saw the face. The nose had smashed flat, and one eye had ruptured.

“Disgusting,” I said while stifling a retch. I took a moment to recenter myself, then punched again. This time, my fist sank in to my wrist, and the Amalgam screamed in undeniable pain. I checked the health bar at the top of my vision.

Feral Amalgam

HP: 695/770

Seventy-five hp for one good hit. Now I just needed to find another eight or nine faces. As soon as I started looking, I found them. I raced to the first, landing a flying elbow and crushing the face in.

Feral Amalgam

HP: 620/770

“Now we’re cooking with fire!”

I raced around the Amalgam, looking for the faces. They weren’t exactly equally spaced, but they did have at least a few feet between each. That was including a few literal feet, which stuck out at weird angles. The creature was a nightmare given form.

“Oh, what the actual–” I had to stop and suppress the urge to vomit. One foot stuck out further than the others, and it had teeth growing out of the heel.

“Ah, I’ve seen that before.”

“Basil, how are you keeping up with me?”

“You’ve been staring at that foot for almost a full minute.”

“Ew, no, no, no!”

He shook his head, then smashed the foot with a makeshift club. It looked like the one I had used just a bit before. With that distraction gone, I continued looking for faces to punch. The third was actually right behind the foot of horror, also screaming silently. I punched it, once again unable to determine what kind of person it had originally belonged to. The roar that came from the Amalgam was different. It sounded panicked.

“Ha, suck it, Amalgam! Amalgam of suck!”

“Wow, you really are dumb,” Basil commented.

“Look, we’re both capped in intelligence. I’m working with what I’ve got.”

He lunged to his left, my right, and I was confused. I turned just in time to see the fleshy arm appendage slam into me. I rocketed away from the Amalgam, tumbling through the air like a leaf caught in a gale.

“Fuuuu–”

Slamming into the wall hurt just as much as last time. I slumped to the ground, unable to feel my legs.

“Oh god, oh god, I can’t feel my legs!”

Basil jogged up, looking none the worse.

“Could you before?”

I paused, then shifted my body. “Right. I guess I’m still adjusting from having hyper-sensitivity.”

“I wonder what that’s like,” Basil said idly. I shot him a glare.

“Are you just here for flavor commentary, or are you going to help me with this freaking boss?”

Basil shrugged. “I guess I could try helping.”

“Find the faces, smash them in. Don’t get caught by the arms.”

I felt something jabbing my arm and brushed at it. That caused my hand to hurt, so I looked down.

“Oh. Yeah, definitely don’t get caught by the arms.”

One of my ribs had punctured the skin. The bone leaked some marrow, a sickly yellowish fluid. I was fairly certain I wanted that to stay inside me. That hit had hurt me in a way nothing else had, even the Berzerker. I pulled up my status while I caught my metaphorical breath.

Name: Alabaster Blackwood

Race: Zombie Human

Faction: None

Age: 20

Level: 4

XP: 14/120

HP: 440/660

HP regen per second: 0.12

MP: 0/40

MP regen per second: 0.00

Stamina: 110/280

Stamina regen: 0.13

Strength: 34*

Agility: 14

Constitution: 33*

Wisdom: 2

Intelligence: 2

Charisma: 2

Luck: 12*

Titles: Primordial Undead, Prime Undead, Star-born: Dragon, Noble, Royalty, Capable

Skills: Unarmed Combat

Abilities: Earthen Bulwark I

Spells: None

Notes: English, Zombie Common

“Holy hell, 220 health in one hit.”

“Two hits,” Basil shouted.

“How the hell can you hear me?”

“Great hearing, now get back to work!”

He swung at something just outside my vision, then dodged the retaliating blow from the Amalgam. He was definitely doing better than I thought he would.

I nodded, then walked to the boss monster. I couldn’t move fast, nor could I move my right arm down without jabbing it with my broken rib. Thankfully, I could fight southpaw. A thunderous haymaker from the left did the next face in.

Feral Amalgam

HP: 470/770

“It’s working!”

“Keep going!”

I stumbled over the remains of a chair, and that saved me. Instead of catching me full-force in the back, I was clipped by a tentacle that had sprouted from the upper ridge of the Amalgam. It sent me sprawling, where my rib caught on a table and snapped off. I felt it even through the heavy suppression of my senses.

“Gaaaaah!”

The remainder of my rib slid back inside, no longer held in place by suction. My chest felt like it was suddenly collapsing. I slapped a hand over the hole, but felt no different. Then I rolled to my back and found a large piece of wood jutting from my chest.

“This shirt is ruined,” I wheezed out. Then I yanked the wood, and sat up. The Amalgam was still in the same place, about ten feet from me. I was well within range of the thrashing tentacle, yet it didn’t go for me. I glanced over the monster and didn’t spot any of the faces.

“How about that,” I whispered. My chest ached. I pushed back to my feet. It felt like I was lugging around an extra hundred pounds on my back. I didn’t let that stop me.

“I got another one!”

I silently cheered for Basil. I didn’t think I could make enough sound to be heard of the constant keening of the monster, anyway. I stumbled to the next face, which had just been revealed by a sheet of muscle sliding away. It took three hits, instead of the usual one. My health was in the red, as was my stamina. I couldn’t get enough force to kill the faces quickly. While I hunted for the next face, I slathered an entire tub of unguent on my chest. That, at least, removed the pressure that made it feel like an elephant was sitting on me.

Feral Amalgam

HP: 320/770

The boss screeched again, then the whole body shivered. A dozen tentacles sprouted from the top at once, then started thrashing wildly. One caught me in the stomach and sent me to the ground again. I lay there, staring at the ceiling.

This is it.

My thoughts echoed strangely.

This is how I die.