Reborn as the Zombie King

Chapter 7: Speaking Again

Chase could feel his body settling into something new, something sturdier. High-tier cores clearly hit different than the low-level ones every green core barely registered anymore, but two blue cores in one night had left a fluctuation he could actually feel, humming under his skin.

If Lulu had made a single move against him back there, he wouldn't have hesitated. His first read on the woman who'd shot out his tire hadn't exactly been glowing, and if she'd turned hostile after he'd bothered saving her twice, he'd have written her off the same way he was planning to write off Vanessa and maybe tasted that gold core of hers while he was at it.

But she hadn't. She'd stood there quietly while he finished testing his limits on Vivian, and once he stopped, she'd simply said, "...Thank you. For saving me. Twice now."

Chase studied her sheepish expression. His senses were unusually sharp right now crisp, almost hyper-defined and he realized, testing it, that the effect wasn't just his own. He could extend it.

"Whoa wait, why can I suddenly see everything so clearly? Was that you?"

"Let's... go..."

The words came out before Chase fully registered he'd said them. He froze mid-step. I just... talked.Rough, slow, dragging but actual words.

"You can talk?!" Lulu's hand flew to her mouth. Something about him looked more human by the minute. Is he... evolving?

"Just... a little... slow," Chase managed.

Her curiosity only sharpened. "Okay, seriously what are you? Human? Zombie? Something in between?"

"Before I died... I was human," he said, each word deliberate. "After... I still had my mind."

That answered enough. Lulu nodded slowly, finally understanding why he looked the part but never quite acted it.

"I'm Lulu Hayes, by the way. What's yours?"

"Chase... Ryder."

They walked back up to street level together. Chase told her to wait by the cars while he headed into the dealership, put his fist through the glass front door, and strolled in like the place belonged to him. Not one infected inside so much as flinched.

Maybe I can just... tag along with him, Lulu thought, watching his back disappear through the shattered doorway. A guy who can walk through a horde untouched and just take whatever he wants? That's basically a walking survival plan.

Also not that it mattered, obviously he was kind of handsome, in a pale, intense sort of way. And he'd saved her life. Twice.

A few minutes later, an off-road SUV rolled out of the dealership's garage. Chase had grabbed the repair tools he needed, and while he was in there, noticed a whole wall of spare keys hanging behind the counter. He picked the best truck on the lot.

Finally. No more driving Pinky everywhere.

"...Get in," he told Lulu.

She climbed into the passenger seat, marveling at the absurdity of it a zombie chauffeuring her through the end of the world like this was any other Tuesday.

Something new had settled into him after this round of leveling up. Beyond the physical strength, he could feel a thread connecting him to the infected around them faint, but real.

As they drove, a cluster of zombies caught Lulu's scent through the open windows and started drifting toward the car. Chase focused, barely a flicker of effort, and watched them peel off and retreat the way they'd come.

So that's the next stage. I can actually direct them now. Not just tolerate them command them.

"Can you... drive?" he asked.

"Technically? I passed my test freshman year. Practically? I have driven a grand total of zero times since, and I'm bad. Really bad."

"Just... follow. For now."

Given that the streets were entirely empty of other traffic and every zombie in range could simply be waved off, this was possibly the safest driving lesson anyone could ever hope for. No other cars to hit. No cops. No rules at all, really.

They swung back by the gas station so Chase could finish swapping Pinky's tire. Lulu, meanwhile, had cleared out the entire convenience store bag after bag hauled to the truck, her expression somewhere between giddy and feral, like a hamster that had just found the mother lode.

Once everything was loaded and the tire was fixed, Chase led the way with Lulu trailing behind in the SUV. Driving conditions this apocalyptic were, ironically, easier than any road test she'd ever taken gas pedal, steering wheel, done.

Dusk was settling in by the time they pulled into Chloe's driveway. Two cars now, parked side by side.

Chloe had heard the engines from upstairs and relaxed slightly at the sight of Pinky rolling in until she clocked the unfamiliar SUV right behind it.

She watched quietly from the second-floor window as both car doors opened. Chase. And a girl who couldn't have been more than twenty stepping out beside him.

Is that... his girlfriend? Is that why he's out every day not hunting food, just seeing her?

Something uncomfortable settled in Chloe's chest that she didn't have a name for.

Chase knocked. She hurried down and opened the door.

Lulu got one look at Chloe the face, the figure, all of it and swallowed hard without meaning to. Older-sister energy, for sure. Guessing they were together before he died. Maybe even living together.

"Sister-in-law, hi" Lulu tried the friendliest tone she had. She was, after all, about to be a houseguest in someone else's home, and this place beat her old rental in every measurable way, especially on the not getting eaten going downstairs front.

"...Are you... sick?" Chase tilted his head at her, genuinely confused, completely missing the way Chloe's face had gone crimson at the word "sister-in-law."

"You can *talk* now?!" Chloe blurted, momentarily derailed by the bigger revelation.

"Oh wait, you two aren't together?" Lulu blinked. "I just assumed"

"No! We're not it's not like that!" Chloe's blush deepened further.

"I'm Lulu Hayes. Chase saved my life twice today what should I call you?" She reached out and took Chloe's hand without waiting for permission, clearly delighted at the prospect of befriending someone this pretty.

"Chloe Sutton. I'm just his neighbor. Honestly, if it weren't for him, I'd have starved days ago."

"Neighbor?" Lulu tilted her head. "Then why isn't he staying with you? Doesn't he live, like, two houses down, in a place way nicer than this?"

Chloe blinked. She genuinely hadn't thought about it hadn't let herself think about it. *Does he... like me? Is that why

Her face went hotter still, hot enough she could've fried something on it.

"Sister Chloe? You okay? Your face is doing a whole thing right now."

"I'm fine! It's just warm in here, that's all."

Chase, oblivious to the whole exchange, let out a long breath and started explaining slow, halting, but clear enough everything that had happened with Vanessa and Liam.

"That is disgusting," Lulu snapped the second he finished, fists clenched. "Who does something like that to a person?"

Chloe's expression cooled too, her eyes drifting toward the estate visible over the hedge line. She couldn't stop picturing exactly how it must have felt, standing at that gate, begging.

"Chase, let me help you get back at them! I promise I'm actually useful!" Lulu blurted, practically vibrating with indignation.

Chloe shrank a little at that, suddenly very aware she had nothing to offer in comparison. Chase had done so much for her, and all she had to give back was gratitude.

Chase shook his head. "This is... my fight."

He wanted to do this himself wanted Vanessa's family to suffer exactly as much as they'd made him suffer, at his hands and no one else's. Tonight, he decided, was the night he'd finally face the people who'd left him for dead.

He planned to wait until full dark to make his move his night vision came in strongest after sunset, and so did the infected, meaning he'd have more of them under his command if things went sideways.

He was still running the plan through his head one more time when he heard the gate creak open outside.