Blood And Hunger
1366 Words
Morning came with a sickly golden light that seeped through the cracked roof of the broken church. Dust particles floated in the beams of light, catching their glow.
Elias stretched out lazily on the altar, his spine arching, muscles rolling under pale skin like a panther waking from a long, dangerous rest. His black hair stood up in messy spikes, damp with sweat from the night. His crimson eyes were half-closed, heavy with hunger and heat.
Not the kind of hunger for flesh.
Not yet.
A different hunger stirred low in his stomach—coiling, tightening, demanding.
It was for the soft, breathing woman curled nearby, wrapped in torn blankets that smelled of mildew and her own warmth.
“Fuck.”
She smelled so good, it almost felt wrong.
System Notification:
[Hunger Status: 34%]
[Warning: Prolonged hunger may trigger Berserk Mode.]
[Recommendation: Feed on zombie cores or human flesh.]
[Corruption: 2%]
Elias sat up with a grunt, wiping sweat off his face. The scar on his throat tightened.
“No way I’m turning into some mindless beast,” he muttered, voice rough from sleep and self-control.
He looked down at his body again.
Every muscle was hard and sharply defined, almost inhuman. His hands seemed normal, but beneath the skin, he felt something deeper humming.
A monster coiled under the surface like it was waiting, begging for permission to burst free.
Waiting for an excuse.
But he wouldn’t give it one.
No permission.
No damn excuse.
He’d spent the night studying the system... the silent HUD flickers, stat breakdowns, corruption mechanics.
All he had to do was level up.
But every gain carried a price.
Corruption.
A measure of how much he’d accepted the darker instincts inside him:
Bloodlust.
Sexual urges.
Violence.
The system pushed him, tempting him to give in, grow, become more.
Stats went up when he absorbed cores violently.
When he surrendered to lust excessively.
When he killed without reason.
Morality Sync.
At 100%, he was still Elias—human mind, human soul.
At -100%, he’d be a mindless zombie.
He was slipping darker inside.
Even if he barely noticed.
Exactly what the system wanted.
For him to become the real Vark Draven.
A Warlord.
He had more to learn.
But he would, eventually.
First... he had to cut down on corruption.
Or at least stop it from climbing.
The system wasn’t exactly eager to tell him how.
Ivy stirred.
She sat up slowly, her hair a wild mess of ash blonde and dust, her robe slipping off one pale shoulder. Her hazel eyes, rimmed red from sleeplessness, blinked at him, cautious... and something else.
'Urge?'
“You okay, Sister?” Elias raised an eyebrow, smirking when her cheeks flushed bright red.
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, clutching the robe tighter, fingers trembling.
He laughed low and rough.
“Sure, Sister.”
Ivy shot him a deadly look but grabbed her crowbar and stood.
“We should move. No supplies here, and it isn’t safe.”
Elias got up too, towering over her. He cracked his neck, the loud pop echoing like a gunshot.
He didn’t actually need to eat or sleep.
But he did.
Just to hold onto what made him human. To keep from seeing himself as a monster.
“Lead the way,” he said, voice dripping with mockery. “I’ll keep the bad guys off you, nun.”
Ivy muttered something about assholes and stalked to the door barefoot, silent on the stone.
Elias didn’t like being barefoot.
He knelt beside a dead Ghoulspawn, grabbed its ankle, and yanked a boot free with a wet shluck. The rotting foot came along, twitching slightly.
He shook it off like a sock.
Ivy gave him a disgusted glare.
“You’re stealing from the dead?”
“They won’t be needing it anymore.”
He slipped the boot on. Too small, but his flesh shifted subtly, bones compressing with soft crunches to fit.
“Let’s go, sweetheart,” he said, hands shoved casually in his pockets.
.
Outside, the city was worse than he remembered.
Dead streets. Burned-out cars like melted steel carcasses, seats charred beyond recognition. Bodies lay scattered on cracked concrete—some missing limbs, others twitching in death spasms.
Ivy had killed most of them yesterday.
Elias sniffed the air.
His new senses caught everything:
The sickly sweet stench of rot, like fruit gone bad. The metallic tang of blood—old, fresh, new. The wet copper scent of death still cooling.
System Notification:
[Detected: Low-tier Zombies nearby.]
[Estimated Battle Difficulty: Minimal.]
“Stay close,” Ivy whispered, tight voice, crowbar raised. “Don’t wander off.”
“I wasn’t planning on ditching you,” Elias said.
He wasn’t lying.
Something inside liked the idea of protecting her.
Maybe it was the last shred of his humanity.
Or maybe something darker.
They moved fast, darting between abandoned cars, weaving past shattered shop fronts with mannequins frozen mid-scream.
Elias’s stolen boots crunched glass with every step.
He didn’t care about the noise.
He needed to test this power.
They turned a corner—
Ran straight into a pack of zombies.
Four of them.
Rotting flesh hanging in strips from their faces.
Eyes dull yellow like dying embers.
Drooling.
Snarling.
Low-tier scum.
Ivy gasped, swinging her crowbar up in defence.
Elias stepped in front of her immediately.
Blood pounded in his ears like war drums.
“Stay behind me,” he said, voice low and dark.
One zombie lunged.
Elias caught its head mid-air with one hand — fingers sinking into a soft skull like wet clay.
CRUNCH.
Black blood and brain matter sprayed hot in an arc.
System Notification:
[Zombie Core Absorbed.]
[Gained: +2 Strength | +1 Agility]
[Corruption: +0.2%]
[Total Corruption: 2.7%]
He laughed.
“Come on, you ugly fuckers,” he growled.
His body moved on instinct—faster, sharper, stronger than any human.
Of course, he wasn’t just human.
He kicked another zombie backwards—spine folding like wet cardboard—crashing it into a rusted car with a wet crunch.
He lunged at a third, grabbed its arms, and ripped them off in one brutal, fluid motion.
Tendons snapped like rubber bands.
Black blood sprayed onto his bare chest, hot and sticky.
He barely noticed.
The last zombie tried to run.
Elias was on it in an instant.
He slammed it face-first into the pavement.
Again.
And again.
Until the skull caved in with a sick splat.
System Notification:
[Zombie Core Absorbed.]
[Gained: +1 Strength | +1 Vitality]
Breathing hard, chest heaving, blood dripping from his chin, Elias looked back at Ivy.
She stood frozen, eyes wide in shock. Chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. The crowbar hung forgotten at her side.
“You’re not human,” she whispered.
“Surprised?” Elias grinned, his teeth too sharp. “I thought you already knew.”
“But you’re not like them, either,” Ivy said, voice trembling—a mix of awe and fear.
“Depends on the day,” Elias said, wiping blood off his hands on his jeans. “And how pissed off I am.”
She stared at him a moment longer.
Something shifted in her gaze.
Less fear, more confusion... and something hotter.
Elias felt a stirring against the denim.
'f**k. Not now.'
“We need to keep moving,” he said, voice rough with control. “More will be attracted to this mess soon.”
Ivy nodded stiffly and fell into step beside him.
As they walked, Elias felt the corruption rising inside.
Slow, creeping beneath his skin.
He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms.
'Focus,' he told himself. 'Stay human, Elias. Don’t lose yourself.'
But some dark part of him didn’t want that.
Yeah, he felt it.
That annoying feeling that had been bugging him since he woke up in this body.
Was it the system?
Or the body’s real owner?
He wondered.
The system wanted him to become a monster. One that would bring ruin to the world.
He let the dark thoughts fade with a heavy sigh and focused on moving forward.
He was going to stay human. At all costs.
- Writer
