God Of War System : Apocalypse King

CHAPTER 3: THE PROFESSOR'S BLOOD

The wooden pier groaned loudly under the Professor’s monstrous mutated weight. Every step the creature took left cracks in the thick ironwood planks.

Satria gripped the rusty iron crowbar with both hands. His palms were slick with sweat. He stood alone blocking the creature’s path, while in the corner of his eye, he saw Andy, Cindy, and Abigail sneaking toward the side of the speedboat hull.

“Go… now!” Satria hissed without turning.

“Sample… resisting… procedure…” The Professor’s voice sounded wet, as if his lungs were filled with fluid. His giant swollen right arm pulsed, the neon green veins radiating an eye-stinging light.

SWISH!

Without warning, the mutant arm slashed through the air. Satria dropped to the pier floor at the last second. The wind from the swipe felt hot above his head. A wooden piling behind him shattered into pieces as if made of biscuits.

“Crazy! What kind of strength is that?” Satria thought. His heart was racing wildly.

Satria rolled to the side as the Professor slammed his fist onto the floor. CRASH!

The pier wood exploded, sharp splinters flying. Satria’s leg was scratched by wood shards, but adrenaline dulled the pain.

“Hey! Ugly thing!” Satria shouted, hitting his crowbar against an empty oil drum to draw attention.

The Professor’s half-ruined head turned with jerky movements. His remaining human eye behind the cracked glasses stared at Satria with pure hatred.

“Subject… Must be eliminated…”

Satria didn't wait. He knew he couldn't win a strength contest. He ran forward, not away, but toward the Professor’s left side—his human side, which looked weaker.

“Die!”

Satria swung the crowbar with all his might, aiming for the Professor’s left knee.

CRACK!

Solid iron met bone. The Professor roared—a high-pitched, deafening shriek. His leg buckled. The creature fell to one knee.

“Now! Start the engine!” Satria yelled at Andy, who had already jumped onto the speedboat.

But the victory was momentary. The Professor’s giant mutant arm moved with impossible speed for a creature in pain. The hand slapped Satria’s body from the side.

BAM!

It felt like being hit by a truck. Satria was thrown five meters, his body sliding across the slick pier floor, crashing into a pile of fishing nets. His breath vanished instantly. He tasted the salty flavor of blood in his mouth. He was sure some ribs were cracked.

“Satria!” Cindy screamed from the boat.

Satria tried to get up, but his vision was blurry. The world spun. He saw the Professor rising again, even though his leg was bent at an odd angle. Regeneration. Satria watched in horror as the creature’s knee bone shifted back into position with a sickening ‘creak-creak’ sound.

The creature walked closer, its shadow covering Satria’s prone body.

“Satria, look out!” Cindy screamed hysterically.

On the boat, Andy turned the ignition key. The speedboat engine roared to life. The sound of the engine only made the Professor angrier. He raised his mutant arm high, ready to smash Satria’s head into red pulp.

Satria saw death descending upon him.

“No. Not yet.”

Survival instinct took over. Satria’s hand fumbled on the floor, finding the crowbar he had dropped. As the giant fist came down, Satria rolled to the side and stabbed the crowbar upward—not at the body, but toward the cluster of neon green, pulsating veins in the creature’s armpit. A point unprotected by bone.

STAB!

The blunt end of the crowbar pierced the soft flesh, tearing the glowing glandular sac.

The Professor froze. His eyes bulged.

Then, an explosion occurred.

The sac in the Professor’s shoulder burst. Thick, neon green fluid sprayed out with high pressure like a fire hose.

Satria, who was directly beneath him, didn't have time to dodge. The fluid splashed his face, hitting his eyes and nose, and because he was screaming, the fluid entered his mouth.

“Ughh! Ugh! Blegh!”

It didn't taste like blood. It felt like swallowing boiling battery acid. Satria’s tongue instantly blistered. His throat burned.

The Professor roared in agony, his body convulsing violently. His vital fluid was leaking out completely. The giant body collapsed forward, nearly crushing Satria, who kicked himself backward with his last remaining strength.

“Satria! Jump now!” Abigail screamed.

The speedboat was starting to move away from the pier. Andy didn't want to wait. He was afraid the explosion of the Professor’s body would attract other zombies.

“Andy, wait! He’s not on board yet!” Cindy tried to hold the steering wheel, but Andy elbowed her roughly.

“He’s dead! Look at him! He’s bathing in poison!” Andy snapped.

Satria crawled to the edge of the pier. His facial skin felt like it was melting. His stomach churned with heat, as if fire was spreading through all his blood vessels. But he saw Cindy’s crying face.

He couldn't die here.

With a stifled roar, Satria forced his trembling legs to stand. He stumbled toward the end of the pier. The boat was already two meters away.

Satria jumped.

His body flew through the air for a moment, then slammed hard onto the back deck of the speedboat.

THWACK!

“Got him!” Abigail, who was in the back, immediately pulled Satria’s collar so he wouldn't slide into the water.

Satria rolled onto the middle of the deck, coughing violently. Each time he coughed, green fluid mixed with red blood came out of his mouth.

“Oh God… Satria…” Cindy knelt beside him, her hands trembling, wanting to touch Satria’s face but afraid of the black veins that were starting to creep up his neck.

“Hot… so hot…” Satria groaned. His voice was hoarse, almost gone.

The boat sped quickly, cutting through the waves, leaving Benoa Pier, which was now filled with hundreds of zombies who had just arrived at the shore, staring at their escaped prey.

But for Satria, hell had just begun inside his body.

He felt something moving in his bloodstream. It wasn't a normal virus. It was like millions of tiny needles piercing every cell in his body, tearing his DNA, and forcing him to change.

“Keep him away from me!” Andy yelled from the helm, turning back with a horrified face. “He’s infected! Look at his eyes! He’s going to turn into a monster like that Professor!”

Cindy looked into Satria’s eyes. The whites of her boyfriend’s eyes were now filled with thick black blood vessels that writhed like worms. His brown irises began to fade, changing to a dead gray color.

“P-please…” Satria whispered, his hands gripping the boat floor until the wood was scratched by his fingernails. The pain was unbearable. His body arched, convulsing violently.

The world around Satria began to darken. The sound of the waves and Cindy’s screams sounded further and further away, as if he were sinking to the deepest part of the ocean.

In the darkness of his consciousness, a blue light spot appeared. Small, then growing larger. Forming a rectangle floating in the void.

A cold, mechanical, and emotionless voice echoed directly inside his brain, not through his ears.

[BEEP!]

[Foreign DNA Detected: Prototype Variant-Alpha]

[Host Compatibility Analysis: 0.01% … Increasing …]

[Warning: Critical Internal Organ Damage]

[Emergency System Activated]

Satria vomited blood again in the real world, his body seizing up stiffly like a board.

“Throw him overboard! Throw him overboard before he wakes up and eats us!” Andy yelled frantically, letting go of the helm and running to the back, ready to kick Satria’s body into the sea.

“DON’T!” Cindy hugged Satria’s burning hot body, blocking Andy with her own body.

Inside Satria’s mind, the blue text became clearer.

[Welcome, User]

[GOD OF WAR SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED]

[Status: Critical]

[Initiating Biological Reboot…]

And then, Satria’s consciousness completely faded.