New Realization

“That was, um, educating” Bai said scratching his head while thinking of what he just saw.

“Yoshi, could you pause the footage at the end, just before it ends” Micheal said to Yoshi who nodded and did as he was told, he paused the video right at the moment when something shot out of the Captain’s mouth.

“Yeah, could you now zoom into this part” Micheal added pointing to the thing that shot out.

“What is that?” Hai asked with a frown pointing at the now zoomed image which showed the clear figure of the object that shot out.

“Seems like a tube” Racheal replied squinting her eyes at the image trying to identify what it was.

“But there is something also coming out of the tube” Henry also added pointing out the sharp pointed organism also shooting out of the tube.

“So what strange details did you guys notice in the video?” Micheal asked with a frown after some thought, he seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

“Well one strange fact is the zombie who got up after being shot in the head” Bai replied inciting a nod from Micheal who turned to the others.

“Yeah most zombies are supposed to be killed after a gunshot to the head but this one got up after some seconds like nothing had happened, and still had the energy to murder two people” Henry added thinking back to the scene where the captain ripped out the necks of the two men.

“Yeah, and it seemed to be triggered by blood or something” Yoshi said for the first time, his words only now bringing everyone to the realization that the Captain only awakened when the man split his finger and the blood trickled down.

“Hmmm” Micheal stayed silently listening to their suggestion, his eyes then moved to the canister that contained the worm, he picked it up and then glanced at the footage which had been paused, his eyes specifically aimed at the tube which he stared at before glancing back at the canister and then back at the footage, seemingly piecing something together.

“Micheal, what is it? You seem to know something” Yoshi asked Micheal after noticing his serious expression.

“Did anyone notice that the zombie only lunged at their throats and only gave one bite, only one bite” Micheal replied with a thoughtful expression causing the others to also fall into deep thought.

“What are you getting at?” Bai asked wanting to know where Micheal was heading.

“So my guess is that the tube there is meant to transfer the parasite to a new host, through his neck where it stays, that would explain why it still exists after a bullet to the head of its host” Micheal added, his words causing a lot of things to make sense.

“Hmm, that actually makes sense, but if it’s true then this is on a whole new level, most zombie infections are usually caused by viruses that reside in the brain, that’s why when they are shot in the head, they die but if this new version is a parasitic worm that resides in the host’s neck, we need to be really careful with those infected” Hai nodded his head in understanding.

“That should be why it spreads so fast, there must be a specific way to kill those infected but the others must not have known it that was why they were caught off-guard, it must have been surprising to see a body shot in the head suddenly rise after a few seconds” Racheal chuckled with a grin.

“In the footage, the part where the doctor was about to explain how to kill it suddenly got blurred too, that was as strange as someone also wiping out the database, honestly now that we know this much, there are many other questions that are left unanswered, like what connection does the Octo-worm have with this worm” Bai took out a soda from his bag and popped it open before gulping down its contents in satisfaction.

“Hmm, that’s a nice question which even I don’t know the answer to, but one thing we do know is that if we are to find out more about what’s happening, we need to find that scientist who also happens to be our main target, Dr. Grey, I’m not a psychic but I have a feeling that all this might be connected to the V-Cell” Micheal got up and said while taking in a deep breath.

“So what do we do now Mike?” Bai asked curiously wanting to know their next move, hearing the question, Micheal glanced at the timer on his watch before replying.

“We’ve spent approximately 4 hours here, so that out of the 62 hours means we have approximately 58 hours more, we don’t know enough about the threat we’re facing but that also doesn’t mean that we have to stay cooped up here searching for a solution, we have to move while we still have the chance, so I think we should hit the streets and cover some distance, we’re still a long way from the research center” Micheal replied grabbing his gun and moving toward the window to sneak a peek outside.

“Hmm, you’re right, we have to keep moving, what do you guys think?” Yoshi said before asking the others who glanced at each other.

“We’re with you Cap” Bai replied turning to Micheal with a grin.

“Okay then let’s move” Micheal also smiled after hearing the response, he was happy that even though they all just met, they all thought alike, Bai even seemed to be getting along with Yoshi, little by little.

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The sun rays illuminated the streets that were filled with undead of all kinds, the undead consisted of humans and Octo-worms, that moved through the streets climbing onto structures and fighting amongst themselves, the undead also had one thing in common, there all had a Octo-worm attached to their heads.

“That’s so creepy and disgusting” Bai whispered to the others as they watched the streets from the side of a car hidden in the shade of some houses.

“Remember, we don’t know enough about them for a frontal confrontation, so the mission is to avoid that at all costs otherwise if we find ourselves surrounded by a horde of undead that can’t die we could be in trouble” Micheal also whispered counting the number of red dots on his watch, the number was very discouraging as they were just too much and this was supposed to be the safe path.

“Hahahaha, that’s funny, how you said the undead can’t die, it means, you know it kinda, okay I’m just going to stop talking now” Bai chuckled at the latter part of Micheal’s words when the others turned to him, he tried to explain and ended up keeping quiet.

“From the map, there are several routes we can take but this is somehow the safest, we just have to get around that building and then move past some apartments and we would have covered a quarter of the distance” Micheal said before turning to Yoshi who nodded before speaking.

“So from my observation, the undead are very sensitive to blood, I don’t understand how they achieved that vampiric feature but they have it, and being safe is better than being sorry, I also tested how sensitive they were to sound but it wasn’t as strong as that of blood but it's still significant so try to keep the noise to the bare minimum or hit could pop off real quick” Yoshi took the floor, giving off some hints to follow to be safe.

“Okay so after pressing this button, the device we installed a few blocks away will release a high-frequency pitch that will definitely draw the attention of the creatures around here, that will reduce the number here, our helmets will protect us, this will also let us know about the weakness of our enemies, so after crossing past this house and the apartments, we have to capture an undead but not kill it, we need it to learn more about what we’re dealing with, so with that in mind, let’s get this party started’ Micheal added some words explaining the plan before pressing the button at the latter part of his sentence causing a high-frequency pitch to blast out a few blocks.

This caused the undead and Octo-worms to squirm furiously, their head glowing with a faint green light as the ones situated on the undead’s heads all scurried off and rushed to the source of the pitch, after the Octo-worms moved off their heads, the undead didn’t fall to the ground, instead, they walked toward the direction of the pitch following behind the Octo-worms, as they moved, Hai noticed that there was a hole on their neck which meant that the worms were already living comfortably in their throats.

“Let’s go” Micheal whispered after a few seconds when all the undead and Octo-worms had moved, he looked around and took the lead, his gun aimed before him, ready to kill any enemy on sight, he quickly led the others around the house, his eyes scanning the immediate surrounding with a serious expression, they soon took on a formation with some watching the left, some watching the right and some also watching their back to alert them of any approaching threats, within a few seconds, they had moved past the house with no problems, this made them a bit relieved but there was still a block that they had to move past, so they couldn’t relax.

“This is the tricky part, I can sense several enemies within the radar, we have to take it slowly, so turn on your invisibility feature” Micheal instructed speaking to his watch which vibrated slightly before spreading an invisible cloak over his body causing his body to turn invisible, the others followed suit soon turning invisible as they saw each other through the helmet, Micheal gave a hand signal then moved forward, jumping over a wall that led them into an estate which they would cut through to reach their destination faster.

“RAWRRR” As soon as they took 5 steps into the estate, an earthshaking roar sounded from somewhere in the estate as the squad paused.

“What was that?” Yoshi asked in shock, remembering how powerful that roar had sounded.

“I don’t know but it sounded scary” Hai replied trying to pinpoint where the sound had originated from.

“Let’s go” Micheal said causing them to glance at him in seriousness.

“Really? After that?” Henry asked causing Micheal to turn to him.

“The roar sounded deep in the estate but we’re not going in that direction, we’re invisible so calm down and let’s double up” Micheal replied before turning around to continue moving, the others glanced at each other before also following behind him.

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“Rawwwrr” A lone zombie staggered through the streets, half of its head was missing, and its right arm dangled around being held and supported by only a small piece of flesh that looked like it was about to cut off at any moment, the zombie’s right leg also had a chunk missing which resulted in its bones showing partly through the torn jeans it wore, the zombie walked for some time before a pebble struck it from the side, it growled in confusion and turned to its side just in time for another pebble to strike it in its head.

“Rawwrr” The zombie growled and dragged itself toward the location where the pebble had originated from, without its knowledge, the zombie didn’t realize that it was being led into a shade that was obstructed from view, as soon as it walked into the shade, a strange force suddenly pulled it behind a huge bus which had crashed into one of the houses.

“Ra—“ Before the zombie could let out a sound, it was gagged and smashed onto the pavement, its limbs being cut off almost immediately.

“Hold it down” Yoshi’s voice sounded as the figures of the squad appeared behind the bus, Henry could be seen holding down the body of the zombie, his body had also taken on a silverish color, this was his ability, his skin could become whatever he touched.

“I don’t know how you guys managed to convince me to do this” Micheal said with a sigh, staring at the zombie, after deciding to move on, the others had bugged him about whatever had let out that roar, after the constant bugging, Yoshi had suggested a way for everyone to get what they wanted, and that was to abduct a zombie and check the memories, this was based on Yoshi’s theory that since the worm didn’t infect the brain of the zombie, it meant that the brain might still be active but the part used to control thinking has been suppressed giving control to the worm, this was what Yoshi wanted to confirm.

“The rest of you are on guard duty, I need to confirm this first” Yoshi instructed the others who nodded and moved to their posts as Yoshi’s hand took on the shape of a drive that had some wires coming out of it that wiggled like snakes, he moved his hand to the remaining half head of the zombie and the next second, the wires shot onto the zombie's brain which resulted in the zombie’s body to start twitching furiously like it was having a seizure, this continued for some time before it stopped moving totally.

“Is it—“ Just as Henry was about to speak, a swift tube shot out of the neck of the zombie striking the neck of Henry whose body glowed, deflecting the surprise attack enough for Yoshi to capture and seal it in a canister.

“The hell” Henry frowned massaging where the worm had struck him, there was a little scratch on his neck, if it was anyone else, they would have definitely been struck by that attack, it was only due to his ability that he wasn’t hurt.

“I was right after all” Yoshi turned to Mike whose expression changed to that of shock.

“The brain of the zombie was still alive but slightly deteriorated, I hypothesize that the more time that a zombie stays infected, the more the brain deteriorates until it becomes a normal zombie” Yoshi explained after placing the canister away.

“So you mean that the newly infected people can be saved?” Rachael asked not expecting this twist.