Grey fitted himself into the sports sweater and trousers Richard had handed to him, peeling off his drenched, battle-worn clothes and replacing them with the new ones.
While he did so, he paid attention to his arm. It had healed to the point of being barely noticeable, but it had withered down to a thin layer of bone and dried flesh.
Finally dressed, he sighed and glanced around him. The store room of the gym was neither too large nor too small, cluttered with gym equipment and other objects he had no names for.
Bolt lay coiled into a ball, already asleep, and a few meters away was a pile of soaked clothes beside a large object Silver had hidden behind while she changed into the dry gym wear.
’This would work,’ Grey thought. He and his group had secured this small space for themselves. During the meeting, he had asked to be separated from the main group, not trusting them, not even wanting to.
Grey had imagined there would be an argument at that point.
There wasn’t.
Mrs Veronica tilted her neck slightly and nodded in agreement to his demands.
Grey’s gaze landed on Bolt. ’They’re probably too scared of what Bolt would do to them if they dozed off...’
Either that, or they held the same amount of trust Grey had towards them.
Little to none.
Grey nestled onto the ground and reclined his back against the cold, rough wall of the store room close to the door, close enough that if it was opened or tampered with even slightly, he would notice instantly.
He sighed softly and, from his side where he had placed his old worn-out clothes, picked up the rations shared by the group.
A jar of peanut butter, and a bottle of water by its side. He pressed his hand against the lid and twisted it open, revealing the glistening, alluring brown of the butter. Its warm, mouthwatering smell pulsed through the air.
Only now did Grey realize peanut butter had a sweet smell.
His stomach grumbled and he wasted no time. Opening the bottle of water, he rinsed his right hand as best he could.
Then he dipped four fingers into the lukewarm body of the mixture, took a considerable amount and placed it into his mouth.
His lips folded shut, his tongue pressing the peanut butter against the roof of his mouth, savoring the lingering taste of peanut mixed with sweetness.
The substance melted slowly over his taste buds, and every second of it Grey savored like it was his last... It very much could have been.
As the first taste began to fade, he placed more into his mouth.
Again and again, repeating the process, until finally he emptied the jar of its contents.
At that moment, he felt like a child, wanting more, urged to ask for more to eat, to fill his mouth with that taste one more time.
But there wasn’t... There wouldn’t be any more.
’We have no idea how long we’ll be trapped here. I’ll have to conserve as much as I can, even if I don’t like it.’
Grey drank from the bottle next, using it to fill the gap in his grumbling stomach. When he was done, he set it down by his side and sighed, his mind drifting elsewhere.
He summoned the system. ’It’s been a while since I checked this,’ he thought, scanning through the information immediately displayed before him.
[Your core 100/100]
[You have fully saturated your core]
[Bloodline Evolution inbound]
’Evolution?’ Grey thought rather than whispered to himself, his fingers pressing onto the intangible notification box in curiosity.
He tried once... Then twice.
However, nothing happened, even when he commanded the system in low whispers.
It remained silent, as if choosing to ignore him rather than entertain his worries. It felt... Cold, somewhat tiresome, and this only added to Grey’s many questions about the system and the current world.
A breath he hadn’t realized he was holding escaped his lips. Grey blinked and dismissed the system.
A brief silence followed, along with his genuine disappointment in the system.
For a moment he thought about the horde, then about how many terrors he had survived so far in this apocalypse.
His mind also wandered to how life had been just twenty-four hours ago... Back when the weather was the only thing anyone would worry about... No mutations, no monsters... Just him being a normal university student, trying to survive another day of not studying while figuring out how to afford an expensive lifestyle.
He grunted, rubbing his temples as his thoughts drifted to his family. ’I hope they’re alive.’
Before he could wander off too far, a low clatter caught his attention.
Grey’s gaze glided across the store room until he found it. There it was...
A shattered glass jar of peanut butter, wasted on the cold, unforgiving floor.
Grey’s dagger shimmered into existence. He got to his feet and stared at the peanut butter, his thoughts spiralling for a brief second.
There was a mutant here with him, he thought... They hadn’t cleared the entire gym as cleanly as he’d believed...
But...
As soon as those thoughts came, he began to calm them down.
Where the peanut butter had fallen... His eyes trailed a little further.
That was where Silver was.
A lump formed in Grey’s throat, his grip around the dagger tightening even further. He took one step, and another, closing the distance slowly and carefully.
Gahhh! Gahhh!
Two coughs echoed through the room, followed by a dry, rattling gurgle.
There was no doubting it. Whatever was around the next corner was certainly... not human.
Grey finally made the turn and stared...
"What the hell...?" He found the words falling from his mouth.
And all he saw...
Was blood... Blood everywhere.