The Last Evolution

Chapter 3 — Awakening of a New Body

A pair of rotting hands crawled out from the dark shadows at the end of the alley and dragged a mangled lower body across the asphalt. The zombie's cloudy eyes locked onto Max the moment he returned from the other dimension.

What a warm welcome home, Max thought coldly as he tucked the bottle of mineral water and the bag of bread under his left arm. A half-dead crawler like you dares to come after me?

His right hand snatched up the bent iron pipe near his knee—the weapon that had fallen with him when he jumped out the grocery store window.

"Dream on in hell," Max hissed, driving the pipe straight down.

Wham!

The brittle skull burst open in a single swing.

If I stick around in an open alley like this, the noise from that hit will draw more undead. I need a safe spot higher up.

Max climbed the iron fire escape on the side of the neighboring building and slipped into an empty office on the second floor.

Once he bolted the steel door from the inside, he leaned back against a wooden desk and tore open the plastic bread wrapper.

He wolfed down three thick slices of bread and washed them down with long gulps of clean mineral water.

Man... fresh food really tastes this good, he thought as he chewed fast. Starving for three days because of Chloe and Derek felt like being buried alive.

As soon as half the bag of bread and water hit his stomach, a wave of warmth spread through his veins.

The dull ache in his ribs from the bakery owner's kicks faded away.

Max raised an eyebrow as he checked his palm, which had been sliced open by rusted metal earlier.

"Wait... the cut closed up already?" Max muttered as he wiped the dried blood from his hand.

The torn flesh had knitted back together and left only a thin red line. Even the bruises at the corner of his mouth and along his ribs had gone down without a trace of pain.

So my new body just needs food to heal at full speed? The moment my stomach's full, my cells repair damage way faster than a normal human's.

Smash!

The side window of the office shattered into a shower of glass. A scrawny runner zombie—one of the pack from the hallway downstairs—leaped across from the neighboring roof and lunged straight at Max's throat.

"Still coming after me?!"

Back in the grocery store, the scrawny monster had moved like a speeding bullet that was nearly impossible to dodge.

Now, with his strength restored, the airborne corpse looked much slower to Max's eyes.

Every twitch of its rotting muscles and the trajectory of its claws registered clearly in his mind.

You couldn't even bite me when I was starving, let alone now that my stomach is full!

Without a shred of panic, Max shifted half a step to the side. The black-stained claws sliced through empty air.

Before the runner's feet even touched the floor, Max's iron pipe whipped across the space and slammed into the side of its neck.

Crack!

Neck bones and skull caved in at once. The body crashed into the wall before slumping dead to the floor.

Max's breathing stayed even as he lowered his weapon.

My reflexes and speed shot way up, he noted as he looked down at the carcass at his feet. Running into your pack in that hallway earlier triggered my body to adapt. The more dangerous the threat I face, the faster my body evolves.

Curious about his new limits, Max gripped a heavy steel filing cabinet lying on its side in the corner of the room and hauled it upright.

Hundreds of pounds came up smoothly in a single breath.

When he tested his speed across the twenty-foot room, his feet cleared the distance in the blink of an eye without making a sound.

"Strength, speed, reflexes, even healing... everything evolves after surviving a threat," Max murmured with a cold smile. "If Derek and Chloe saw me right now, they'd piss their pants."

Once he was sure the room was secure, he reached into his pants pocket to check the blue meteor stone.

The rock's surface looked dull and lifeless now. It showed zero reaction even when he pressed it against the leftover blood on his finger.

Just as I thought. This stone needs a cooldown period before it can open a path to another dimension again.

He weighed the blue rock in his palm with a calculating gaze.

Besides, there's no point jumping dimensions right now with empty pockets. Before my next trip, I need to gather cash or valuables so I don't get mistaken for a beggar and beaten up like earlier.

In this ruined world, paper money and jewelry were trash. Over on the other side, though, they were his ticket to buying up supplies in bulk.

Max pocketed the blue stone, grabbed his remaining rations, and headed down the fire escape into the side street.

Not far from the alley, the side road was a mess from a battle between survivors a few days back.

Two wrecked sedans had plowed into a lamppost right in front of a jewelry store with smashed display windows.

Keeping a sharp eye on his surroundings, Max searched around the wrecked cars. From a man's corpse near one of the sedans, he claimed a large military canvas backpack along with a sharp hunting knife in a belt sheath.

He stepped inside the jewelry store next. Previous looters had clearly only cared about food at the convenience store and left the jewelry scattered across the floor.

"Trash to everyone else, startup capital to me," Max muttered as he swept dozens of gold rings, diamond necklaces, and luxury watches into his backpack.

He also pried open the dented cash register with his iron pipe and cleaned out all the thick stacks of large-denomination bills from the bottom drawer.

With a big pack, cash, and all this gold, I just have to wait for the blue stone to recharge.

Krrrzzzt—!

Loud static crackled from the open door of a sedan parked by the curb.

Max walked over and pulled a black handheld radio—still switched on—from the jacket pocket of the dead driver.

"—repeating to all surviving citizens. Proceed immediately to the North Stadium Evacuation Center. The military is providing full protection and free food for every survivor."

At the sound of the automated broadcast, the corner of Max's mouth curled into a sneer.

"Protection and free food in the middle of the apocalypse?" Max snorted coldly. "The second they spot the bite mark on my left arm, they won't feed me—they'll slice me open on a lab table."

Chloe and Derek's betrayal had been the final lesson he ever needed. Never mind an armed group of strangers—even the woman he saved had stolen his food and left him to starve.

In a broken world like this, only an idiot believes in free protection. The only thing I trust is my own strength.

Just as his finger reached to switch off the radio and save the battery, a short-range transmission cut across the emergency channel with a man's panicked scream.

"Is anyone still alive near the supermarket? Help... somebody locked us inside!"