Becoming a Monster

Night still hasn't arrived yet. Even though they were tired, they wanted to at least leave the campus before finding shelter. Their next destination was the main gate, where true terror awaited them.

"I'm telling you we should go back! Those freaks may not understand, but everyone else isn't like them! We were safe and had enough food for maybe weeks!" Regina was in the back raising up a storm towards Neal. Almost everyone had a disheveled appearance at this rate and their appearance matched their face after having to hear the yapping of Regina the entire time. Even Neal was beginning to reach his limits with her. You can be beautiful, but an ugly mouth can lower your attractiveness.

"Are you waiting for an invitation? No one is telling you to follow us, head back yourself!" Ailetta spat back towards her. She was finally looking like a proper human in the apocalypse. She wasn't able to obtain the suit of gear that Noah had on, but she was equipped now with sturdy brown leather garb but with half sleeves. The garb by itself looked similar to a skirt. The torso had an extension that extended to the half of her thighs that protected her legs.

Her shoulders to her sternum was protected by an extra layer of armor that was made out of unknown animal hide. The apron-like extension and her stomach area was also made out of the same material, while her breast and the end of the arm sleeves were protected by a brass metal.

She had found a better weapon from all the loot before, but she continued to wield the rod. She felt that even though another weapon would be more efficient, the extra points in magic benefited her more. Not only her but everyone there who participated in the fight had undergone a change. New weapons and clean gear could be seen in their possession.

But even though their appearance had changed, the people who were familiar with Ailetta were shocked to hear what she said. Her tone was cold, it may have seem like too much of a change for just an innocent girl like her, but people who knew the history between her and Regina would understand.

Regina was first struck with disbelief that anyone would talk to her like that, but when she saw who it was, her anger flared. First it was Noah who stood up to her, someone she felt wasn't even good enough to lick her feet and then his 'follower' was now talking down to her. She was becoming livid! With just flirty exchanges and empty promises, she could do and have everything she wanted, but now her world seemed to turn upside down.

Her inner ugliness began to show more and more when men were too focused on surviving and growing stronger to think with their lower head. And the women were either just like her or they avoided women like her and stuck together. However the women like her who tried to leech off of people? There was no way they could get along, they were like cats trying to climb and own the highest platform, they were each other's competition.

"Don't talk to me you slut! Noah isn't here t-"

Boom!

Everyone became startled, borderline horrified when a loud explosion sounded in their ears towards the direction of the gate. The conversation that was transpiring between the two women was quickly forgotten, the girls themselves had even lost interest in each other.

Following the explosion, gunfire and yelling was heard right after. By this time the group of students had reached the parking lot and were just about to make their way over. Without having to vocalize it, they had all silently agreed not to progress forward and wait. The gun fire was intense, but they noticed the firing was becoming less and less by each passing minute.

The sounds were becoming unsettling, the lack of gunfire could only mean two things, the people who stopped firing ran out of bullets, or whatever they were shooting was killing them off slowly.

That second thought sacred those who were still capable of logical thought as they stood and listened in suspense.

However they didn't have to wait long, small groups of armed men made their way through the gate and then promptly turned around and began to fire.

Seeing the men dressed in black carrying guns had inspired a change in most of the students watching. Magic is real and monsters have been forced upon them so many times that they had to accept it, but the safety of guns just couldn't leave their psych yet.

Some of them smiled when they saw more people coming through bearing arms but when the people never stopped shooting and there was no longer any backup withdrawing through the gate. Their smiles began to stiffen and their legs were becoming heavy.

"We need to retreat further!"

"Bullets aren't working! We need to run!"

"Fuck that, we can kill it! Look i-" while one of the guards who delayed to back away was talking, a tentacle came from outside the gate and pierced through his stomach. The pain and shock forced him to spurt blood from his mouth and his hand forcibly squeezed the trigger, spraying bullets in every which direction.

The guard was lifted into the air before ten more tentacles came attacking as if the tentacles themselves had eyes.

"….." The students didn't know what they were watching right now. They could barely tell what the guards were fighting, but they knew that the monster on the other side was more monstrous than anything they ever encountered.

"W-We need to get out of here before they draw whatever it is over towards us." Someone from the crowd spoke. They said what almost everyone was already thinking, but few still had different opinions, surprisingly Jasmine was one of the few who didn't agree.

"No!" She walked ahead before standing before everyone. "We need to help them." It took a few words for the group to compute the words coming out of her mouth, but another sound of someone roaring in agony brought them back.

"Are you out of your mind, if they haven't killed that thing by now then what can we do?" Neal was the first to speak. He lived with a family that owned their private guns. He had more belief in guns then most, but when he saw multiple armed people still dying, he wanted nothing to do with what they were fighting.

However, Jasmine's expression didn't change. "It's not about being able to fight that thing. We just need to stall long enough to let them retreat. They came from outside, they would have information that we don't. Don't you want to know what cities haven't been attacked badly or what areas that could possibly have your families are still safe? We need to save them."

If she was considered crazy before, now she got most of their attention. How many of them had the thoughts of their loved ones in mind as they struggled to survive? Or is the area they have to travel through to reach shelter too dangerous to walk through as they were prepared to do? They were beginning to be inspired to help out in any way they could.

But when they saw the monster coming into view, they could barely make her base appearance. The zombie's dark messy hair covered her entire face and she was wearing a gown that was barely covering after the tens of holes were made through it from her tentacles.

The zombie walked slowly but as she moved closer and the guards were becoming harder to take down and shot at her less. Hordes of tentacles shot from her back, the number far surpassed thirty!

"Fuck that!" Jasmine's idea was shut down without being given a chance before one by one, the students lost the confidence to interfere. But thankfully they weren't the only ones who were afraid. Seeing the zombie they have been fighting all this time become even more dangerous, the armed men and women decided to run for their lives.

"Look! It's the students!"

"What does it matter! Boss is dead! We're not getting paid for this shit!"

"Who cares about him now? They have to know a place to hide if so many are alive."

"Did you forget about his daughter! Do you have no shame!"

"How will fighting that thing help us find her? That's another reason to run!"

With that said, the groups of guards began to follow the ones who seemed to run with a destination before they also saw the large group of students.

There were only about twenty guards left. Their stats were still pretty high considering their level which averaged around 5 across the board. The fact they never attempted to use anything else besides their guns made them fail to realize that monsters come with drops after death.

While they retreated, three more died before they managed to get out of reach. The distance the tentacles reached was close to 50 yards. No one in the guards group could determine its range of attack, but they were quick to realize that no one else was screaming to their deaths as they gained more determination to get away with their life.

"They're coming towards us! We have to run before they lead that thing here!" Regina who was already quite a distance away screamed, but if anyone noticed, she didn't go any further than she already did lest she gets attacked on her way fleeing.

The main characters of the groups began to frown as they also began to think about what they should do.

"Look, look at the monster, it's not fast at all!" Ailetta pointed out. She was trying her hardest all this time to not give into despair, so when she saw the guards approaching them, instead of only worrying about what that signified, she was more worried about the capabilities of the creature itself.

Her words made everyone look in the creature's direction and notice the zombie slowly walking towards them, its tentacles were being used to shove the cars out of her way, making a clear path.

Bailey looked towards Paul who hasn't said a word yet, but he never took his eyes off of what was going on.

"Wha-t do you think Paul! What does your skill tell you?" She tilted her neck to make sure she could perceive even the tiniest bit of emotion coming from the silent giant. The people around them looked on in confusion wondering what they were discussing. They didn't know about Paul's ability to assess a person or creature's threat level.

His skill couldn't evaluate the target's stats in any way. In gamer terms, it showed him the difficulty of the monster and the potential threat; so easy, normal, hard, etc. But that information was obtained on an emotional level of fear. If he didn't feel any fear from the target then it was easy. The higher the fear, the harder the difficulty.

It was another reason why he was so afraid of Noah before and not so much after. When he first saw Noah and used the skill, his skill made him feel the fear of Noah's threat level. If he had used it any other time after Noah fought the Zombie King…Well the scene would be an entire different story.

Paul looked towards the creature solemnly at first, but then his body began to quiver and he began to sweat uncontrollably before he had to look away. No one knew what was wrong with him, but the sight caused Bailey and her small group who knew the ins and outs of the skill to panic.

"It's….bad….we…need…to…leave….quickly.." He talked robotically, but Bailey could notice the lapse in breath he took, the danger was serious this time. It didn't seem like something they could even hope to contend with.

By this time the groups had finally caught up to them one group at a time, but they didn't immediately confront the students as they turned to make sure the zombie was catching up.

It wasn't until the last person arrived that they all acknowledged each other.

But there was someone there that noticed one of the guards and it wasn't a good thing.

"Pam? Is that you? Where's my father?"

When the guard looked over towards the voice, she was in shock to find who they were looking so fast. There was a higher chance of her being dead instead of her being here, but Pam wasn't happy at all as she looked at the person speaking to her.

"I'm sorry, but your father is dead Regina…"

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