Chapter 55: Fear Of The Known

Chapter 55: Chapter 55: Fear Of The Known Victor’s eyes widened in fear. Not because a zombie instructed him to run, but because it could write! Zombies were supposed to have a barely functional brain. So, how the hell could he write? Run... Victor turned and ran without a thought. His body was screaming for him to get away from that masked zombie as soon as possible. He wasn’t the only one, either. All of them ran away as soon as they saw the writing on the floor. Blaze removed the chitin mask once the humans were gone before turning towards Breaker. He leaned in to inspect its armor and smiled. Not a single bullet went through. That means my mask should hold against bullets as well. Bullets. That was the one thing that could kill him. Blaze knew that and that’s why he didn’t invade the naval base. He wanted to try and see if the ant’s chitin could deflect bullets, as the humans had killed the headless with them. In order to try that, he instructed Fester’s crew to dig tunnels to the gun shops. San Diego had quite a few of them, so Blaze had hoped to find some survivors around them. That’s when Fester stumbled across the mall. Blaze’s assumption proved to be correct and the survivors here had guns. So he decided to test his primary force against bullets. The ants naturally performed well against guns, and so did Breaker’s armor. Blaze wanted to make an appearance as well, so he made the mask. Yes, it had a purpose other than to make him look edgy. Two of them, actually. First was to protect him, and the second was to hide his identity. It was ironic that a zombie wanted to hide his face from the living, but Blaze had good reason for it. Neha was working with the soldiers, and in all likelihood, they were probably aware of how he looked. He didn’t want to risk stumbling upon them and chasing him. They’d run away if they saw the Slenderman before them. Oh well, let’s not think about that. People say the fear of the unknown is the most dangerous feeling a human can experience. Blaze disagreed. Fear of the known scared them the most. He was hoping to achieve that by adopting a familiar persona. Something all the humans knew and feared to some extent. He hit Breaker’s chest once before turning towards the fleeing humans. Now that the trial was a success, it was time for training. The zombies had grown rusty over the week since no one ventured into the zoo. As much as Blaze wanted them to fight the monsters within the campus, he decided to wait it out. He was already busy with too much. Like building new installations and testing them out. In fact, that had been the highlight of his days. New creations and new toys to play with. Even now, he’d rather be playing around his lair, but leveling up the horde was more important. Especially since he wanted to raid the zombie king. That reminds me... He turned towards the ants and waved them off. The ants let out a low screech and fled through the holes they had made. Fester needs them more than I do. Walking to Carmel Valley on the ground was out of the question. The naval personnel would most likely deploy forces to clean the streets. Blaze didn’t want to risk getting in their way. It was better to get Fester to dig a tunnel to the Valley. He was sending the ants there to help the not-so-little rat. Now then, shall we hunt? "Grr..." Breaker was more than eager to have some human flesh. Ever since the ant eggs hatched, Blaze had instructed the undead to eat them. While he enjoyed the spicy flesh of the frogkins. Now that Breaker had the chance to eat something other than the bitter ant flesh, he wasn’t going to miss the opportunity. But before that, it had a question for Blaze. Why did I let them leave? Why? You wanted them all to yourself? "Grrr." Blaze shook his head. Even the zombies were getting ambitious and greedy. Everyone has to train. Not just you, now go! Breaker didn’t argue further and chased after the humans, wanting to get its hands on them before others. Now that it’s done, I should look for some clothes. Zombies didn’t care about decency, but Blaze did. Well, not about decency, but to cover his rotting flesh. Since he wanted to fool humans, he might as well go all the way. I wonder how Marrow’s task is going. *** Meanwhile, at the naval base. More people had awakened over the last week. It seemed new chosen were selected every time a chosen died. At least, that was Alaric’s thinking. That was his job as the base’s chief researcher. A position he was given by none other than Neha. Michael and Neha wanted to learn more about the zombies as well as the chosen. Since Alaric had extensive knowledge and experience in evolution-related studies, he was given a position of power with the base. That was Neha’s plan all along. In her past life, Alaric had died protecting Blaze, but with Blaze gone, his father should flourish in the new role. Besides, Alaric had grown to love Neha as her daughter, a fruit of Neha’s subtle manipulation. That way, he no longer missed Blaze all that much, and Neha was careful not to let him know about the truth. Not till Alaric had fulfilled his purpose. Back to his theory about the chosen. Both Neha and Michael found the theory to be interesting. Which meant... they immediately tested it out. Some low-grade chosen were sent on suicidal missions with false promises of glory and power. As expected, around 80% of them didn’t return. Those who did, died under mysterious circumstances. Then they waited. Within days, more people awakened. Then they performed the opposite experiment. They ensured no chosen was killed in the base and, surprisingly, there were only a couple of new awakening cases. While Alaric’s theory wasn’t entirely correct, it looked promising. And so began the ritual of sacrifice. Being Chosen was an honor that made you virtually untouchable. But things changed. Those deemed to have less than desirable skills were sacrificed in the hopes of the rest awakening better skills. Right now, one such group was about to head out on a ’mapping’ project... that no one had ever returned alive from. All because a mad scientist said so.