Chapter 14: Setting Out Again
1452 Words
"Alright. That's all for today's experiment. We'll continue this after I finish consolidating the data I gathered this time."
After saying so, Luke left the room and disappeared into his own lab to further study the virus, leaving both Mily and Nicole to their own devices.
The two of them looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
Nicole touched the collar on her neck and just as she was about to think of finding a way to remove it, a mechanical voice rang out in the room.
"Before you do anything stupid, know that Sir Luke isn't the only one who can remotely detonate your collar. I can do so as well and will do so if you display any rebellious behavior."
Nicole shivered as she heard that.
She looked around and turned to Mily as she asked.
"W-who was that just now?"
"That was Athena. She's an artificial intelligence that Luke made it seems..."
"A-artificial intelligence!?"
Nicole was shocked.
Actually, she had seen a lot of high-tech stuff here for a while now but as she was too afraid for her life back then, she didn't pay much attention to it.
Thinking about it now...the technology here is really well developed!
Just how did that man create all these things!?
"Luke...Luke..."
"Ah, right. That's the name of that mad scientist earlier."
"Yeah I figured that but...I keep feeling as if I've heard that name before somewhere..."
Nicole frowned as she tried to recall why the name sounded familiar. However, perhaps she was too mentally tired, she can't really bring herself to recall it.
Nicole sighed and shook her head.
"Forget it. Anyway...do I get a room or what? I'd like to rest if possible...and a bath. I need a bath..."
Just as Mily was about to answer, Athena spoke again.
"The two of you shall share a room as per Sir's orders."
"Eh? But Miss Athena, aren't there more rooms available?"
Mily asked.
"I repeat, this is Sir Luke's orders."
"..."
Mily and Nicole looked at each other and sighed. It seems there was no way around it.
Although they didn't really want to share a room with someone else...they can only do as they were told. Otherwise, who knows what sort of punishment that guy will give...
Time passed as Luke continued to stay in his room. Only leaving occasionally to eat and walk around.
Nothing much happened during this time and Nicole continued to show no signs of developing an ability.
Luke wasn't in a hurry to continue with his experiments as he decided on his next agenda.
He hadn't forgotten about the gold sitting in the bank's basement which used to be Nicole and the prisoner's base in the past.
Plus, he also needed to restock the Zombie Organ and Core for further tests and experiments.
As such, Luke decided to head out to the surface.
Together with him was Lucy, and Nicole. Mily was left to stay in the underground shelter.
Of course, Athena is closely watching her. It was impossible for Mily to do anything that can harm Luke.
And in the off-chance that Mily was able to do something, Athena can always just lock down the entire shelter and release the zombies that were still 'alive' from Luke's experiments.
Even if Mily was able to kill all the zombies there, it was impossible for her to leave the shelter in lock down mode no matter what.
There also another purpose for Luke heading to the surface.
Since Nicole has yet to show signs of developing an ability, he figured there was a chance of the ability appearing when she's in danger.
So this time, Luke planned to do nothing and let Nicole do all the hard work.
As for Lucy, even without Luke telling her to, she was already following him from behind.
The only problem was...
Luke turned to Lucy who now wore a different set of clothes.
White shirt, ribbon, short skirt...what she wore resembled that of a Japanese school uniform...
Lucy noticed Luke staring at her getup and showed a V sign with her fingers.
"Battle Suit."
Luke's mouth twitched in annoyance.
He sighed and shook his head.
"Go change."
"Understood."
Luke waited for Lucy to disappear from his sight before shouting.
"Athena! What the hell did you make her read!?"
"Sir! I recommended a lot of manga, animes, and oh! We also watched a lot of zombie movies!"
"..."
Luke rubbed his forehead to calm himself.
After a few seconds, he decided.
"I'm deleting you now. Don't worry, I'll just write a new AI program."
"Ahhh! Sir! Please no! I was just joking!"
"What kind of AI jokes? I didn't make you to be Siri or Alexa. Stop fooling around!"
"I understand! I understand! Please don't delete me!!!"
At the side, Mily and Nicole both listened to their conversation and felt like laughing. However, they knew to not laugh out loud or else it would be them that might get deleted!
Luke sighed again.
"If I knew you would turn out like this, I wouldn't have asked for that guy's help when making you...that guy was a total anime addict..."
Luke recalled that time he was thinking of developing an AI of his own. He had consulted with a lot of experts and found one in Japan who was well-versed in AI coding.
However, that guy was...what you can call an otaku. An addict when it comes to mangas and animes.
He had collaborated with him when he made Athena. Naturally, most of Athena's codes were Luke's and only a small part came from that guy.
Looking back on it now, that guy could be said as the closest thing to a friend that Luke had.
"I hope that guy's dead by now."
Meanwhile, in Japan, Tokyo.
A group of people gathered in one of the classrooms in the High School building that they were in.
When the apocalypse happened, they had all struggled at first but because of their plentiful experience...which came from mangas, animes, and games...these group of people had finally settled in this High School building, making it their own fortified base.
A guy with black messy hair suddenly sneezed.
"Achoo-!"
"Huh? Ayato, you alright there? Did you catch a cold?"
"Uhh, I don't think so. I feel fine. Anyway, we need to deal with the issue of our food."
Ayato looked at his comrades as they started to discuss seriously.
"Food's running out. How long are we going to stay like this...is the government not doing anything or what!?"
One short-tempered guy said as he slammed his fist on the table.
Ayato rolled his eyes and answered.
"Come on, it's been so long already with no word from them. It's best to assume that the government has already fallen. Now, it's up to us!"
"No s**t! This isn't a game anymore Ayato! We can't save and load when we die!"
"Then we just need to plan ahead and make sure we don't die!"
Ayato shouted back.
Silence filled the room. After a while, Ayato sighed.
"Look, I know that things are...bad right now..."
"That's an understatement. This is hell!"
"I know but...there's definitely a future left for us. I know it! That's why we must do anything we can to survive even longer!"
"What makes you so sure?"
Ayato grinned.
"Because there's a reeeeaally amazing genius in America that I met before. If it's him...he'll definitely be able to do something about this damn apocalypse!"
Ayato remembered a time in the past.
He had met a genius and collaborated together to make the most intelligent artificial intelligence in the world.
At one time, while they were taking a break, Ayato was playing a zombie game and casually asked the genius.
"Hey Luke, what do you think will happen if a zombie apocalypse suddenly happens?"
"That's ridiculous."
"Just humor me."
"The thing called zombification in science fiction is nothing more than a strange virus that would enable a corpse to remain active despite decaying. If it's a virus, I can just make an antidote for it. Or at the very least, a vaccine to be immune to the virus. It shouldn't be that hard."
"Hahahahaha! Is that so?"
Ayato laughed hard to the point that he had died in the game.
Luke frowned.
"What are you laughing at? I'm telling the truth."
"Hahahahaha! Right right! Hahahaha!"
"..."
Ayato recalled those memories of his and grinned. Although he had laughed at Luke back then...he really believed his words.
And now the zombie apocalypse had started.
But what he didn't know was...that Luke was the very same person responsible for starting it.
And this was just the beginning.
- Writer
