"So, what is going on here?"

Hearing my words, William gave me a familiar smile before speaking,

"Think it's three weeks now? Remember, I went off to college after bidding you farewell?"

I nodded as I remembered it clearly. It was just after that I slept and had woken up in this apocalypse. He then continued,

"After dropping dad off at the high school, I reached the uni. Rather than attending the lectures, I bunked the class with a few of my friends."

He took a sip of soda, relaxed on his back and continued with a slightly tired gaze.

"We were at the stadium enjoying our free time, as usual. Then... shit happened. A friend of ours started coughing, bleeding for no reason. To make the matter worse, we could hear gunshots... screams... and bombs going off, etc all around the area.

While we were helping the friend, suddenly... well.. He bit the closest one, turning him into another zombie. Foolishly enough, we still didn't take the situation as seriously as we should have, still trying to help them.

After all, what else were we supposed to do? The ones turned, were our best friends, the ones we have spent the past few years with."

William paused for a brief moment before he looked at me with a sad look as he continued,

"Everyone died except me... I probably would have died too, but for some reason... Those zombies were weakened in front of me. More like, their speed decreased, their powers went down... and then... you can say it was instinctive, but... I touched their heads, absorbing all of their powers, rendering them unconscious."

He looked at his hands, still unable to comprehend what had happened.

[Inspect!]

[Name: William Aroa

Race: Zombified Human (C-Grade)

Title:

Class: Lord of the Death

[Lord of the Death: If the user wished to, any being who used Cessation Energy, below the user's Grade will have their aura suppressed to an extent.]

Zombification: 43%[Reach 100% to get to the next Grade]

Cessation Energy: 25000/25000

Status: Healthy

Skills*

(1) Enhanced Sense: The user can sense nearby beings of similar energy even at a distance of 100 meters away

(2) Touch of Absorption: The user can absorb the energies of other beings and grow powerful

(3) Extra Terrestrial Manipulation: The user can extend his or her energy to other beings and absorb their Cessation Energy to an extent.

(4) Beyond Human: Allows the user to increase his stats by +400% for the next 2 hours. Cooldown: 24 hours

(5) I am Lord: Can control weaker zombies to an extent.

(6) The Supreme: Can use Cessation Energy to suppress those around him.

(7) The Protector: When saving people, the user's strength grows by 5 times.

Strength: 145

Constitution: 145

Dexterity: 123

Intelligence: 89

Wisdom: 130

Charm: 100]

I saw his stats and couldn't help but gulp a little as I compared them to mine. And his class...

'I guess it must be his class because of which he grew so strong so fast,' I thought as I looked at him.

"From that point, I kept running away from zombies. Because I didn't have any weapons, I openly absorbed them whenever I could and, within a few days, I ended up becoming way more powerful than most zombies.

Slowly, I reached back to the uni only to find most people had already turned, and the survivors were so low that they could be counted on one's fingers. I kind of did what I could have done, helped them out and protected them.

It was hard, but we reached the other part of the building and found a dozen more survivors. Fast forwarding another week, we ended up saving about 30-40 people in total, divided work and started building a safe area of sorts."historical

He chugged the last bits of soda before a deep frown appeared on his face as he spoke,

"Two days ago, when we were planning to raid a couple of buildings to get some food, I ended up sensing something really creepy on the other side of the university. It was the plant laboratory that was located beside the uni.

After some consideration, when I decided to pay a visit there, sadly the amount of zombies there was too overwhelming even for me."

Jeff had already started driving the jeep while the rest of us kept listening to William as he told us his story.

"I couldn't absorb all the zombies at once, so I decided to do it as much as my body allowed me to do. Though, all that planning went to trash when that bastard came out of nowhere. The one who pushed me here a few moments ago.

Every time I tried getting close to the laboratory, it just appeared out of nowhere and started attacking me.

Like a cockroach, every time I tried killing it, it escapes and comes back a bit stronger than before. I tried killing it many times, but before I could do so, it'd escape. The fact that it doesn't get weakened like other zombies makes things quite frustrating, honestly.

Well, that's more or less the jist of it. Do you have any questions, brother?"

William looked at me with somewhat tired eyes, and I pondered before asking,

"What are your plans from here onwards... also.. did you try to find out about dad?"

He looked at me and nodded,"Dad is missing as far as I know. Just yesterday, I started searching around everywhere, but still couldn't find him.

As for my next plan, my priority is to find what is inside that laboratory and kill it before it ends up becoming a problem that nobody can handle."

I could see determination in his eyes and it kinda reminded me how idiotic my brother could be. The selfless kinda guy who would sacrifice his life for the people anytime, it made me wonder how he ended up like this...

"Do you have a plan?" I asked again with a serious voice and his eyes just stopped for a moment before he spoke in a slightly sheepish voice,

"Ummm... get strong and fight hard?"

Hearing his words, a slight cold smile formed on my face as I looked at him. He gulped, looking at my face before he spoke out,

"It's not like I have so many options, anyway. Also, thinking is your area of expertise brother not mine, I am more of a physical type. Dush Dush Bang Bang, you know?"

He spoke as he did two air punches and acted like he was shooting bullets with his fingers and I just... looked at him. Then... I sighed.

'I guess I will help him out with the laboratory. I think Myla is here for the same thing as well, so it should all work out together. That way I can take him with me without any force and also help out Myla at the same time,' I thought as I looked at him for a brief moment and spoke,

"Let's first go to your uni. I want to see your hideout. Then we will decide our next move from there onwards. Myla, if I am not wrong, your destination should match the lab as well, so why not come with us? If someone like William is having a hard time, I doubt you guys would be able to do anything. So why not devise a plan first?"

Myla pondered over my decision before she nodded at me,"I was thinking of doing that, actually. William, I hope you don't mind our intrusion, do you?"

"Nope, no problem at all. Brother's friends are my friends," William spoke with a smile as he looked at Myla before turning at me with a smile that had more meaning to it than just a casual smile.