The Origin Warden

chapter 12 : psychological shadow

Sylvie frowned and was about to speak but Jack anticipated what she wanted to say.

“Ma’am, please don’t worry, I’ll come back, my father didn’t raise me to be ungrateful”

Sylvie looked at him coldly, shrugged her shoulders and said,

“Who said I was worried, you don’t owe us anything. If you want to leave then do it”

Jack did not notice that she was actually tense and afraid that he might abandon them, afraid not for herself but for her children.

Jack turned the handle and said seriously,

“As I said I’m not an ungrateful person”

He tried opening the door but found it stuck. His eyes fell on the dents and he could only curse.

' That damned monster damaged the door frame '

And... in truth Jack felt fear, fear that if he opened the door he would find the monster waiting for him. Even though he had become confident in his strength especially after obtaining a firearm, not to mention awakening his latent powers which granted him a supernatural ability.

His jaw tightened while staring at the dented metal door.

Even the metal looked like dough squeezed between the fingers of that monster.

He gripped the pistol harder until his finger began hurting behind the glove.

Supernatural power?. Firearm?.

All of that felt worthless for a moment as he imagined that thing standing behind the door merely waiting for him to open it.

Behind him Sylvie frowned when she saw how the shoulders of the man before the door trembled slightly. She understood that the man before her was afraid!.

She did not mock his fear. How could she do so when she herself was barely maintaining her composure and only because she drew strength from the existence of her children.

But what about Jack?. What exactly gave him the energy to maintain his composure?, gratitude?, no!, such a thing did not exist at a time like this, the end of the world where every soul knew only itself!.

' Damn!, that damned cat left a psychological shadow inside my heart '

He released a long breath easing his tension then gripped the handle once again and pulled using all his strength.

The door emitted a loud creaking sound but finally opened. Jack cautiously stuck his head out and cast a quick glance.

“Damn is that skin?”

He muttered in shock while staring at the rotten skin piece lying on the corridor floor which had become an organic dump. The floor that was once white was now overwhelmed by the red color of coagulated blood decorated with human and nonhuman entrails and limbs that stirred disgust inside Jack who thought he had already become used to such sights.

But what caught his attention was the presence of the rotten skin. It was not merely a small piece but the entire skin of a human corpse!, exactly like a snake shedding its skin.

' Well, at least there’s no monster in the corridor '

Jack reassured himself then without throwing another glance at the family behind him slipped through the partially opened door.

His feet landed on the coagulated blood and when he took the next step he almost stumbled from losing balance because of the liquid on the ground.

He took a deep breath and began walking cautiously while holding the pistol with both hands. He stopped near the skin and stared at it with disgust.

“This definitely belongs to that monster that made the door look like that...”

He lightly pressed it with his bloodstained shoe.

“This is definitely a damned zombie and just like that wasp, it evolved into something stronger...”

He stared at the empty air before him or rather at the interface displaying the strange runic letters.

' I wonder if they can also see and use the system!? '

He shook his head dismissing the thought for another time then continued walking until he stopped again staring at a skeleton with some flesh still attached to its bones.

“Damn!”

He cursed angrily in a low voice.

' who the fuck stole my shit?! '

He truly felt like crying while staring at what remained of the ugly cat’s corpse. His goal was not the corpse itself, although food had become rare these days he had not yet reached the stage of desperation where he would be forced to eat monster meat!.

But someone had stolen the ugly cat’s core!, he had intended to rip it out and feed it to the gluttonous Azoth Armor but it seemed someone, or rather the owner of the skin, beat him to it.

He turned and stared at the skin hatefully then kicked it as though it owed him rent money and was late paying it.

' Hmph!, you insignificant creature, do you know how close I came to death and... and you... you took my reward so easily '

He stopped his anger episode when his eyes met pale blue eyes staring at him strangely and with a hint of evaluation. Exactly like someone watching a monkey perform clown tricks!.

Jack placed a wide smile on his face revealing his yellow teeth which were now complete again. Unable to endure the suspicious look in Sylvie’s eyes he turned and quickly walked toward the outside but not before bending near the ugly cat’s skeleton and grabbing his old weapon. The sharp bone!.

' Hello my old friend. You and I are still destined to kill more cats umm that came out wrong, I mean monsters of course monsters... after all I definitely love cats '

He placed the bone into one of the pockets on his belt then approached the exit and hid behind the door frame which was the only thing still in its place because the door itself had been torn away by someone.

Jack stared outside and noticed a small number of dead walkers limping toward the place from which the gunfire sound was coming, a sound that somehow was drawing closer and closer.

' Tsk, the bastard stole the dead walkers’ cores too '

The zombie corpses he killed yesterday which he intended to return to later to extract the cores from their skulls.

Their heads had disappeared or rather turned into something unrecognizable, a pool of bloody chaos mixed with brain fragments and skull bones.

' The damned monster smashed them like pistachio shells '

Jack was angry because of this and not because his loot was stolen.

Even if it was somewhat inhuman, fundamentally the dead walkers were still humans and smashing their skulls just to take the core was truly shameful toward the corpses!.

He waited until the small zombie horde moved away then snuck forward with limping steps. If someone saw him from afar they might mistake him for one of the dead walkers.

He hid behind the same car whose window he shattered yesterday, kneeling on one knee. He touched the car’s body and could only sigh bitterly.

' How beautiful it would be if these damned things still worked, one press on the gas pedal...'

He stared dreamily at the retreating zombie horde imagining himself crushing them beneath the car wheels then leaving without a single scratch on his body.

A familiar and strange gurgling sound pulled him from his daze. He instantly snapped out of his daydream and lowered his head to the ground to look beneath the car.

He saw it was merely a lone dead walker, a man who did not appear older than him. There was no trace of bites on his pale body which showed he was one of the original victims of Origin Energy.

From what Jack understood so far since this disaster began, this Origin Energy appeared and infected all creatures on Earth or at least he thought so. He had no means of confirming it but he was certain the entire world was in the same state as his city!.

Those infected by Origin Energy which resembled a virus, those who resisted it survived and those who failed turned into dead walkers. As for animals Jack still had no idea. He had not seen a single animal unaffected by the energy so he assumed they had all transformed into monsters.

Jack slowly raised his head and stared through the back door glass at the strange dead walker with a puzzled expression. This zombie was somewhat strange!, it walked upright as if it ruled the place! instead of the normal type that walked like cripples.

' Well I guess this is the horror movie part where the zombie starts talking '

Jack mocked remembering an apocalypse movie he watched once where one of the zombies evolved and shocked the protagonist group by speaking!.

Suddenly the strange dead walker stopped in place and without turning around slowly rotated its head and stared over its shoulder at the gray car with the shattered glass.

' Fuck! '

Fortunately Jack had already lowered his head when he saw the zombie stop.

' This thing is definitely more evolved than the rest, I’d bet all my possessions on it '

Jack thought wanting to cry because of his rotten luck that placed him near a strange zombie which he bet all his possessions on, which by the way were merely an old model phone now useless.

He tightened his grip on the pistol and disengaged the safety as Sylvie taught him. He slowly and cautiously raised his head to check whether the guest had left but this was the worst decision he made.

His glowing brown eyes under the sunlight met ominous red eyes staring directly at him then Jack saw something that nearly made him piss his pants. The zombie raised the corner of its cracked lips into a mocking smile or at least that was how Jack imagined it.

' Fuck! '

Without hesitation Jack raised the pistol and aimed it at the zombie then pulled the trigger but nothing happened. No bullet fired from the gun and only an empty metallic click sounded.

“What THE F...”