Ch. 12 - Juvenile Detention Facility

As the sun rose, and its dim light showered the land. Rena stretched and flexed her slender body in the back seat. Even though it was a big vehicle, she found it hard to move around. With her eyes half open, she saw Jin’s figure jumping off the hood of the jeep.

She fluttered her eyelids open and got up. Although she was drowsy, she heard growls coming from the distance. Rena, worried, looked out the window and saw a few figures meshing with that of Jin’s.

Without wasting time, she grabbed her gun and went after Jin. She sighed in relief when the young man bashed their heads in. Rena slowed down her pace and walked towards him, all the while keeping a lookout for any more popping up.

As she got closer, Rena was about to call out to him, when he saw him getting down and taking their skulls apart. For sure, the actions Jin took surprised and repelled her.

Upon closer look, she realized he was eating out of their heads. Her stomach growled, her knees weakened, and she dropped. Vomit hurled out of her mouth without stopping.

A few seconds later, she felt strength returning to her knees and she could stand again. With the gun out of its holster, she pointed it at Jin. Her voice burst, crackling out of her mouth. “What are you doing?”

Jin turned around and saw Rena aiming at his head. He raised his hands. “I can explain.”

Her hands trembled. She wasn’t even sure what she saw, yet the urge to puke filled her throat. Rena’s face twitched at the thought of it, and she looked the other way as she could no longer lay eyes on him. “Go ahead.”

With a gun pointed at his face, Jin took the time and told her everything that had happened. How his teammates betrayed him when they locked him out of the gym in a yard infested with undead, and how he roamed in his body without control.

Not once did she lower the weapon, but she looked him in the eyes the entire time. When he was done, Rena took a deep breath. “Do you expect me to believe you survived a bite?”

“Do you want to hear the rest of it?”

Rena looked at him in disbelief. “There’s more…?”

“Well…”

Jin then told her how he came to eat from the brains of the undead. Once he told her everything, Rena sighed and lowered her weapon. She laughed for a while, leaving Jin dumbstruck. “Couldn’t you have come up with a better lie, at least? I’m hungry too, you know, but I wouldn’t eat that.”

Jin let out a few dry laughs and patted his belly, acting the part. He didn’t try harder to convince her either, as she chose not to believe him. He changed the subject and pointed at the car. “We should get going. The sun is up, and Kroll will scold us.”

Rena nodded, but in her heart a thorn of distrust between her and Jin sprung roots. On their way back to the car, she remained behind him, ready to shoot him if the occasion called for it. She may have acted as though she didn’t believe him, but she was certain she saw him eating the undead’s brains.

Back at the car, Kroll already waited for them. “Come on, get moving, you two! We are burning daylight…”

The moment they reached the car, a translucent window appeared before Jin. He secretly rejoiced and waited with anticipation to see what he got. The lettering appeared and soon after, turned into recognizable words.

[Core Acquired!]

[Core Acquired!]

[Rewards: Upgrade]

[System Upgrade: Taste! Congratulations, you now have human taste!]

[System Upgrade: Extra Skill - Restoration! Congratulations, you now have restoration!]

[Extra Skills need approval before activation.]

[Approve!]  [Reject!]

Jin thought about it for a few seconds and spoke internally. "Approve!"

[Congratulations. Restoration is in effect. It will reverse any damage the host has taken!]

Although the upgrade elevated him, the moment he saw he got back his sense of taste, he flinched. All this time he could gulp down the undead brain cores and even that took effort without even having to taste it.

As he pondered over that, he could feel in his mouth remnants of iron. When he gulped down a mouthful of saliva, it came back and out of his mouth. He barely got his head out of the window.

Rena, who sat in the back, chuckled. “See? Wrong choice…”

Jin remained silent and simply stared out the window for the rest of the trip.

Kroll, with Rena’s directions through the back streets and dirt roads, sped towards the Juvenile Detention Facility. They arrived around noon. The destruction they came to face left them speechless.

The Detention Facility had large, bulky walls surrounding it. What alarmed them was the fact that the steel gates appeared to have some significant force cave them in. As if something punched through them. Kroll, with widened eyes from shock, mumbled. “What could have possibly done such a thing?”

Not knowing the answer to his question, Jin and Rena remained silent. They stayed in the jeep and approached the Detention Facility as slowly as possible. Jin, as always, had the bat with him, ready to strike if needed.

They stopped in front of the enormous gates; they realized just how serious the damage done to it was. Folded like paper and pushed in. With a slow and steady speed, they went through it.

Kroll whispered in a barely audible voice. “Keep your guard up at all times. You’ll hear them before you see them anyway…”

The Juvenile Detention Facility rested in a wide area. The structure had solid foundations. In the center were the cells where they kept up to five inmates in. Surrounding it were a large yard, a library, and a gym. It had a cafeteria in a separate building, where they fed the inmates and met with family and friends during visitation hours.

Debris surrounded them and dust particles floated. It didn’t obscure their visibility, but it still irritated their eyes. They couldn't drive in further and they got out of the jeep. After deciding to walk and the engine didn't interfere, they could hear from within the building muffled growls.

They approached a door and Jin pushed it open while the others covered him. Once inside, the growls became louder. Rena walked over and came to the front to lead the way. She pointed through a set of barred doors. “That’s the cafeteria. Stay away. The growls earlier came from there.”

The moment she finished her words, a loud thud came from that place. Their blood froze when the barred doors came down, raising dust on impact. While they waited for the fog of dust to settle, growls came from inside.

Rena didn’t waste a second. “Run!”