Chapter 12: New Abilities
1366 Words
A minute later, the woman finally stopped trembling.
When she opened her eyes again, she looked around her surroundings, seemingly confused.
Luke patiently waited as he continued to observe.
Finally, the woman noticed Luke looking at her. She tried to move but since she was still strapped tightly, she was unable to do so.
The woman started to struggle again upon finding her inability to move freely.
Suddenly, she opened her mouth and...shrieked.
"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
It wasn't a girly shriek that you'd often hear in animes. Instead, it was an ear-piercing shriek that can shatter one's ear drums!
Luke frowned as he heard the shriek but didn't show any other reaction apart from that.
On the other hand, Mily and the other prisoners winced in pain at the sound.
Mily was still able to cover her ears but the prisoners were unable to move and could only shut their eyes and grit their teeth to bear with it.
"Ahhh!"
"f**k! My ears!"
After screaming, the woman stopped and continued to struggle again while growling.
Luke placed his fingers on his chin as he pondered.
"Hm, it seems that Subject L03, after being injected with the Zombie Serum-02, still turned into a zombie despite lessening the pain induced. However, Subject L03 had developed an ability of sorts."
Luke tapped his fingers.
"Additional note. It seems strengthening my body using the Synthesized Serum is also able to strengthen my eardrums to the point where I can tolerate Subject L03's loud shriek."
While he was still thinking, the woman started to scream again.
Luke didn't stop her as he wanted to note the decibels she was able to produce.
After gathering the data, Luke gagged her to prevent her from screaming again.
Although it doesn't affect him, it was still quite annoying.
Luke glanced at the other syringe he had prepared and to the other prisoners.
"Well then, let's see if this version of the serum is responsible for generating that ability or not."
There were originally fourteen of them before.
One has already been killed by Luke before they even arrived here.
Their leader had also died on Luke's first experiment.
One had also turned into a zombie for Luke's use.
And now another one had turned into a zombie who can scream loudly.
Only ten of them remained. Five males, five females.
Luke thought for a moment and turned to Mily.
"Wait here."
"H-huh? Sorry, my ears are still ringing from before. What did you say?"
Luke didn't bother repeating himself a second time and simply left.
Confused, Mily followed after her only to have the door shut on her face.
"Eh? Wait...Luke!? Luke! Can you please open the door!?"
Sadly, the room was completely soundproof so Luke wasn't able to hear her.
Well, even if he did hear her, he had told her to stay so he would still ignore her.
Luke went back to his lab to get another sample of the Serum-02.
After taking another sample, he went back to the experiment room.
When he opened the door again, he was greeted with a tackle from a teary-eyed Mily.
With his senses heightened, Luke dodged her with ease.
"...What are you doing?"
"...Why did you dodge!?"
"You were attacking me."
"I was gonna hug you!"
"Good thing I dodged then."
"..."
Mily was speechless.
After a while, she asked.
"W-why did you leave me here!? Don't you know how scared I was!?"
"Why are you afraid? All of them can't move."
"S-still! It's very scary!"
"I told you to stay."
"I don't want to stay here alone!"
Luke shrugged.
"Anyway, let's proceed."
"..."
Mily pouted and no longer spoke. However, in her mind, she was raining curses on Luke.
This mad scientist! Crazy! i***t! Stupid! Zombie-con!
Luke ignored her and turned back to the prisoners.
Noticing his gaze, everyone quickly averted their gazes and didn't speak as they shivered in place. All of them knew what this meant.
Fuck! This crazy guy is going to pick again!
At this moment, Luke spoke.
"I need a man and a woman volunteer."
"..."
"..."
Everyone swore.
Is this guy crazy!? Wait, of course, he's crazy! But is he seriously asking someone to volunteer to be turned into a zombie for his experiments!?
For a while, nobody spoke.
Luke's voice rang out again.
"Speak. You can point names or whatever. If you don't choose, I'll choose one at random then."
!!!
"J-Jane! Pick Jane!"
"Pick Celine!"
"b***h! What did you say!?"
"Todd! Pick Todd! Or Ben! Anyone but me!"
"You fucker! S-sir! Please pick Justin! His body is strong! He can be an excellent experimental subject!"
"f**k you Kris! Can't you see how skinny I am!?
"I'm skinnier!"
In no time at all, the bunch of prisoners didn't hesitate at all as they gave out names of their comrades.
Mily saw them act like this and sighed.
Sure enough, none of them are good people indeed...or maybe this is just how humans are when faced with this kind of situation.
Luke calmly watched their acts. Just as he was about to decide, a woman shouted at him.
"U-umm! I would like to volunteer!"
"..."
The room fell silent once more.
Luke raised a brow in amusement.
"You want to volunteer to be my experiment?"
"B-before that...I would like to ask..."
The woman hesitated for a while before asking.
"The woman before...the other one...she's a zombie...right?"
"You mean Lucy? Yes, she's a zombie."
"T-then...is it possible...to maintain clarity after turning into a zombie?"
Luke nodded as he understood what she was trying to say.
"So the reason why you're volunteering...is because you wanted to still retain your clarity even after turning into a zombie?"
"Y-yes...is it possible? I-I'm willing to serve you...like that zombie girl...I'll fight for you...assist you...so..."
Luke thought for a moment.
It seems that this woman had misunderstood some things.
Although Lucy is very intelligent, she was no longer the same person as she was when she was alive. The evidence to this was the fact that she continues to be unable to recall anything in her past life.
Even if this woman were to also get the same level of intelligence as Lucy, she would already be a different person.
But that's fine as well. Luke was also looking to add another one like Lucy to test a few more things. Since she's volunteering for it, might as well let her.
Who knows, maybe a miracle will happen.
"Fine. You have my word."
Hearing that, the woman's eyes lit up.
"T-then...I would like to volunteer!"
"Good. Anyone else?"
Luke asked but no one else answered as they continued to hesitate.
"Fine. Since no one's volunteering on the male side. Todd, you'll be the next subject."
"W-what!? T-then...I would also like to maintain my clarity!"
"No."
"WHAT!? WHY!? YOU CLEARLY AGREED TO NICOLE EARLIER!!!"
To this question, Luke just answered coldly.
"You didn't volunteer. Hence, you've lost that right."
After saying so, Luke no longer bothered with him and pushed him to the MRI as he did in the previous experiment.
He did this so he would have another set of data to compare with and further study.
After activating the machine, Luke injected him with the Serum-02 in the heart.
"Urghhh!!! Ahhhhhh!!!"
Todd then began to tremble like the woman from before.
After a while, he stopped trembling.
Luke took a look at the monitor and confirmed the forming of the Zombie Organ in his brain.
He had turned into a zombie.
The question now was...whether he also developed enhanced screaming like the woman before him.
Todd began to wake up. Like before, he also looked around him and tried to move.
When he found that he couldn't move, he started to struggle.
"Ahhhhh!!!"
Todd roared but it wasn't loud enough to be ear piercing. It was just annoying.
However, something unusual happened next.
A dark green gas began to come out from its mouth.
Luke immediately pressed a button at the side and a reinforced glass wall dropped from the ceiling, immediately surrounding Todd.
Soon, the entire area inside the glass case was filled with that dark green smoke.
Just what is that smoke?
- Writer
