The Origin Warden

chapter 13 : The Zombie That Spoke

“What THE F...”

His face immediately turned pale. He pressed the trigger again, but nothing happened.

He did not try a third time. Instead, he threw the defective pistol aside, pulled out another one, and aimed once more at the strange zombie.

Just as he was about to fire, he heard the latter speak in the frightened voice of a young man.

“Wait, wait, don’t shoot! I’m human, I’m human!”

“What!?”

Jack quickly stopped his finger from pressing the trigger, but he did not lower the gun.

He was still aiming at the strange zombie, who was now raising both arms in surrender while his legs trembled slightly.

“Speak again.”

Jack ordered with a frown, keeping his eyes fixed on the zombie.

At the slightest movement, he would shoot without hesitation.

His life was more important than some talking zombie!.

“What?, I... what am I supposed to say?”

Jack scratched his beard nervously, then pointed his finger toward the zombie trembling in fear, in complete contrast to the rest of the zombies who had left earlier toward the source of the ongoing battle.

“Okay. You’re either... a damned evolved monster trying to lower my guard so you can kill me, or... a damned monster that likes playing with its prey before killing them. I don’t see any other option here... please enlighten me and prove that you’re human.”

Then he added in a serious threatening tone while slightly shaking his pistol,

“Oh, and don’t even think about doing anything reckless. This time I won’t hesitate!!”

The zombie nodded several times, indicating that he understood, then cleared his throat and opened his mouth filled with white teeth that looked completely out of place compared to his body.

“I really am human. As you can see, I... I don’t know whether you’ll believe me or not, but I have this superpower that lets me transform into other people’s forms.”

Jack raised his eyebrows in slight surprise.

In truth, the idea had crossed his mind that the zombie before him might be someone who had awakened their latent powers and obtained a disguise ability.

But the problem was that he had absolutely no idea whether zombies could also awaken supernatural powers just like humans.

As for monsters!, well, he had confirmed yesterday that monsters could awaken supernatural powers too.

Otherwise, how had that ugly cat managed to blend into the darkness and hide its presence, not to mention those blue tentacles?.

“Oh really?, I see. Smart choice, turning into one of these creatures and moving among them freely. I envy you for that blessing.”

He paused for a moment and noticed how the zombie’s shoulders relaxed and a wide smile formed on his pale face, to the point that sunlight passed through the skin and revealed the contents underneath.

It seemed as though the zombie was about to speak, but Jack beat him to it and said,

“But look...”

“...it’s not like I don’t believe you, but what if you’re a zombie with the ability to transform into a human?”

“What?!, no. No, I really am human! Look, I understand that you don’t believe me...”

Jack scoffed.

“Yeahh, well I’m sorry to disappoint you, my friend, but with that appearance I don’t think any sane person would trust your words. In fact, you should be thanking God that you’re still breathing... assuming you actually are!”

“But today is your lucky day. I’m willing to give you a chance. Prove it, prove that you’re human!”

The zombie fell silent for a long moment, a conflicted expression appearing on his face.

His shoulders relaxed even more, as though he had given up.

“Fine... I can’t...”

“No. It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but I can’t. I really can’t return to my human form right now.”

Jack sighed with a headache and asked in his mind,

‘Hey system, is the person in front of me really human?’

Naturally, he received no answer, and he had expected that from something that only spoke whenever you took a life to announce your achievement.

“What’s your name?”

“My name is Evelyn Manor.”

“Evelyn?, if I’m not mistaken, that’s a female name!. Or rather... are you actually a woman?”

The zombie, or rather Evelyn Manor as she claimed, nodded her head, causing Jack to laugh strangely.

“And that’s another reason that makes me think you’re a zombie, on top of saying your full name. Are we in some damned job interview!?”

“Look, for the millionth time, I really am human. It’s just that I can’t get rid of this form unless I touch the person whose shape I took.”

“Yeah, yeah. A defective ability either way. So, zombie Evelyn, do you have any idea what’s happening over there?”

Jack pointed toward the gray smoke rising from the area near the residential building at the end of the street.

Zombie Evelyn shook her head.

“No. No idea, but we think it’s the army and I was on my way to...”

“We?”

Jack interrupted her with narrowed eyes.

He had not missed the zombie using the plural form.

Before the zombie could answer, he added,

“Again. Evelyn Mior, are you really human?”

The zombie let out a long sigh, even lowering her hands and placing them on her hips as she spoke irritably, completely ignoring the fact that she was currently being threatened with a gun.

“It’s Manor, not Mior, and yes, I really am human. Man, you seriously have trust issues...”

Seeing these movements and the personality of this zombie, which completely contradicted her appearance, Jack was ninety percent sure that what the zombie said was true.

“Can you blame me for that?. You’re the crazy one proudly walking around the street looking like this as if you own the place!.”

The zombie wanted to reply, but at that moment a massive explosion erupted.

Jack felt the ground tremble beneath his feet.

It reminded him of the earthquake that had struck the city years ago with a magnitude of 7.3.

Now the shaking was just as powerful.

He turned his head and stared at a scene that made his eyes widen.

In front of him, part of the five story apartment building collapsed.

He shut his eyes and covered his mouth and nose with his hand to stop dust and smoke from entering.

‘what the fuck just happened?’

He waved the hand holding the pistol in front of his face, trying to disperse the dust, then slightly opened his eyes and suddenly remembered zombie Evelyn.

He quickly turned his head, only to find empty space.

“Damn it!”

he cursed resentfully.

He tightened his grip on the pistol and looked around like a madman, cautiously afraid that the zombie might attack him from somewhere unexpected.

But he quickly relaxed a little when he spotted the zombie running at a speed he had never seen any zombie run before.

She was fleeing in the opposite direction of the collapsed building.

Jack raised the pistol, trying to aim at her.

His finger was only a hair away from pulling the trigger.

He clenched his jaw tightly, sighed bitterly, then lowered the gun.

‘She’s human. I’ve never seen a zombie run away from someone before. Even if she really is a zombie, she’s not worth wasting time on.’

He bent down and picked up the defective weapon that had betrayed him in his darkest moment.

‘The police are really stingy. How could they keep a defective gun?’

he complained angrily, but he did not throw the weapon away.

Instead, he returned it to the holster, then turned around and started walking as fast as his injured leg allowed him.

Jack could feel hot blood leaking from the wound and running down his leg before being absorbed by the fabric of his pants.

Either Sylvie’s stitching had not been tight enough, or the wound had reopened because of his movements.

Whatever the reason, Jack did not have time to treat the wound.

He had to take Sylvie and her family and leave the area.

That explosion and the building collapse from moments ago would definitely attract things that could make creatures like zombies and even the ugly cat look like ants.

“Jacob, what happened?. What was that explosion just now?” “Was it the army?”

Jack raised his hands to stop both Sylvie and her daughter from asking continuous questions.

“Look. I’ll answer that later, but right now we need to leave. That explosion definitely attracted the attention of the nearby monsters.”

Sylvie nodded without asking any more questions.

She knelt on one knee and carried the silent Lucas in her arms, then pointed at the black bag Gina was carrying, though she looked like she was struggling with it.

“Here. Give it to me.”

Jack extended his hand to take the heavy bag.

Gina did not give it to him immediately.

Instead, she looked toward her mother, who nodded her head.

Jack grabbed the bag, not caring about the exchange between the mother and daughter.

He weighed it slightly in his hand and found that it really was heavy, though it was nothing to him.

He placed it on his back and asked,

“What’s inside?”

“Food.”

He nodded at Sylvie’s answer.

He swallowed his saliva and could not help but feel hungry knowing he was carrying food on his back.

Thinking about it carefully, it had already been a day and a half since the last bite of food entered his stomach.

‘Later.’

He pushed his thoughts aside, then looked at the small family dressed in police gear.

The chest protectors and helmets, of which the storage room had contained only three.

Otherwise, he himself would have been wearing one too.

It would have created a ridiculous contrast with the shining noble armor he wore.

“There’s an apartment building in the back street opposite the police station. Now that there’s a distraction, the street should be almost free of danger.”

Sylvie nodded, then hesitantly and with a conflicted expression extended the pistol in her hand toward Gina.

Gina grabbed it and stared at her mother with wide eyes, unable to believe what had just happened.

“Be careful!. Don’t make me regret giving it to you.”

Gina nodded with a broad smile, unable to hide her happiness.

“I will, I promise.”

Sylvie wanted to say something else, but she suddenly froze and turned toward Jacob.

Noticing this, he asked,

“Is something wrong?”

“Shhh...” Sylvie placed her finger in front of her lips, signaling him to stay quiet, then said in a low voice,

“Don’t make any sound. Something... or someone... is nearby.”