[Kardian point of view]

Now what would be crazier? To witness with your own eyes the end of the world in the form of a nanobot virus infection created by some madman or end up striking a deal with the AI of said nanobots?

Before this whole thing started, I would have proudly said that both of those options were not only farfetched but as crazy as crazy could be. Usually, the companies who designed the NanoHeal and TechScope nanobots implemented countless fail-safe systems to keep them from going rogue. They were even organizing competitions through which the tech geniuses tried to crack them. Whenever one succeeded, a new update would be released soon after to make it better.

Yet, despite how much the companies declared it to be safe, in the end, the worst happened and the nanobots were infected with a virus.

“Xerya, what should I use as a weapon? Can I make something with what we have lying around here?” I asked as I looked around.

“I suggest using the leg of the hanger.”

Every time she talked, it felt like she was right there over my shoulder, which was a bit creepy, and I kept having the impulse to turn around and look at her ghost.

“Hanger... where is it?” I asked as I looked around.

“Under the bed.”

“How did it get there?” I wondered as I crouched down and searched for it.

Just as Xerya told me, the hanger was under the bed. It must have rolled under it when I was busy making that barricade. I vaguely remembered buying this after I got my fourth salary.

Taking it apart was just a matter of unscrewing the round base and three-point head. The main body was just a simple hollowed bar that did not feel like a murder weapon, but more like a poking stick.

“Can I really win against those things with just this?” I asked.

“Affirmative. Until host Kardian attacks another fellow host, the Nano-Z are in idle mode.” she explained.

“So, if I wanted to, I could just walk out of here and reach the survivor camp without worry?” I asked.

“Theoretically, yes. Do you wish to proceed with this choice?”

Looking at the bar in my hand, I waited a moment and then replied “Not until I know I can defend myself against the survivors.” I gripped the bar hard.

“Xerya agrees with this choice.”

Back when I tried to reach the Resonance High survivor camp on my own, I was attacked by the Nano-Z outside of my apartment. At that time, I had to abandon my backpack in the hallway. It was filled with supplies, so if I was lucky and no one got to it first, I wouldn’t have to worry about food and other necessities for a while.

The small barricade I built was made of two chairs, a table, and a dresser I tossed in front of the door in a hurry. As I pulled it apart to make way for myself, I realized that these pieces of furniture weren’t as heavy as I remembered them to be.

Maybe my strength did increase a little bit? I wondered as I pushed the dresser away.

With the barricade cleared, there was only one last thing left to do.

I placed my hand on the knob. I took a deep breath and then opened the door.

As soon as I did this, the nauseating stench of death and rot hit me like a truck on full speed. It was disgusting, but I had to get over it. Puking my guts out was not an option, who knew when I would get to eat next?

Instead of just dashing out, I carefully poked my head out and looked into the hallway to my right and then to my left. There were a bunch of dead bodies scattered around, some of them looked like survivors that happened to reach this place during the time I was unconscious. The Nano-Z who bit me was leaning against the wall, a few meters away from me, with its head split open. A few others had their heads bashed in or even cut off, but so far, no active ones in the hallway.

If there were any Nano-Z left here, they were probably either scattered throughout the apartments of my neighbors or were lying in wait for the right opportunity to jump up and attack an unsuspecting prey.

What happened here? I wondered as I covered my nose.

My guess was that a bunch of survivors tried to find shelter here only to end up waking up all the Nano-Z on this floor. Some of the apartment doors were broken down, others left wide open and only two were closed. There were signs of struggle everywhere as the now dried blood gave this whole place a macabre makeover.

“Xerya, can you use the nanobots in the dead ones?” I asked.

“In theory, yes. Once the host is damaged beyond repair, the Zombolik units begin to scatter throughout the body and go through a hibernation process, during which they are vulnerable to attacks from bacteria and other nearby microorganisms. The estimated complete destruction of all the Zombolik units occurs in an interval of 3600 hours. If another host enters in contact with the fluids containing these units, they will reactivate and proceed to infect the new host. I estimate it would take me around 24 hours to retrieve at least 40% of all the nanobots present in the corpse and up to 72 hours for 100%. The process is highly inefficient when compared with hunting live specimens.” she replied.

“Well, I guess there’s no easy way out of this one… Hunting is better than scavenging the dead.” I said as I clenched my hand on the metal rod.

It would have been a lie to say that I wasn’t scared, this whole situation was horrifying, but my only two options were to either move forward or die alone in my room. Well, I doubted the latter was even an option right now.

I took a deep breath and then took a step forward.

On each floor, there were 16 mixed apartments. Some were studios like mine, others had two rooms, and the largest ones were of four and five rooms, with a maximum surface of 110 square meters. Since I stayed in 1607, I was on the right side of the hallway as you got out of the elevator. The even number apartments were on the left side. If I wanted to go to a lower floor, I had three options: the emergency ladder, located outside; the elevator; and the stairs going around the elevator.

Just a few steps away from me, I spotted a backpack, which I immediately assumed to have been mine, despite the fact that it had a Nano-Z hand cut from the elbow still grasping onto it. Blood and guts covered it completely like the offering of some sinister cult, making it almost impossible to recognize by color alone. With the help of my rod, I pushed away some of the gore so I could get a better look at it. The first thing I noticed was the sizeable hole in it, the backpack had been ripped open through sheer force and most of the contents were now either gone or destroyed by the blood that spilled on them.

“Even if it was mine, I’m definitely not using it again!” I declared and then stepped away from it.

I turned my attention towards the elevator, which I couldn’t tell if it was still running or not but going out that way would have been a terrible idea. Who knew how many Nano-Z were inside or were waiting for me down there? I could accidentally wake up the entire building by using it.

“Xerya advises caution. Multiple targets may be nearby.” she warned me and not even a second later, I heard a low growl coming from the apartment to my right.

I gulped and then held tight on my metal rod. With a careful step, I pushed the door open and then went inside. The place had been completely ransacked by survivors. When I passed by the bathroom, I saw a dried-up dead body sprawled on the floor, its head was split open like a watermelon.

From there, I moved slowly to the next room. There, I saw him.

With chunks of rotting flesh hanging from his body, a ripped off arm and hanging jaw, the Nano-Z was just leaning back and forth in the middle of the room while looking at the wall. The clothes on his body were all torn to pieces, hanging by threads and barely covering his mauled torso. The man looked as though, right before turning into a Nano-Z, something ripped the flesh off of him in anger and then took a few good bites out of it. There were traces of blood to indicate that he was dragged here in a desperate attempt by someone, and the other body in this room confirmed it.

Unlike his, however, this one belonged to a woman with multiple bite marks on her arms indicating that before her demise, she wasn’t far from turning.

At least she died as a human… I thought when I saw the gun in her hand and the bullet hole in her head.

She probably took her own life to spare herself of the horror of a continued existence as just another mindless Nano-Z who only knew how to lumber around, craving the flesh of human beings.

This didn’t seem to be a fresh kill. The body was already decomposing and there was a bad smell coming from her. If not for the improvements Xerya applied to my body, I probably would have already puked my guts out. I still couldn’t tell, however, if I originally had nerves of steel or if it was just another one of the perks of being friends with her.

Just like I was told, however, the Nano-Z wasn’t alerted by my presence and continued to bob back and forth in the middle of the room. This granted me the perfect opportunity to attack him.

Gripping the metal bar in my hands, I pulled it back and aimed at the head. One strike to knock it down and then another one to bash it in. That was the plan, the idea, but if I failed, I would probably end up dead.

Ok... Let’s do this. I thought as I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to gather my courage before landing the strike.

BAM!

With one swipe, the Nano-Z’s head cracked open. His body was sent flying towards the wall, smashing hard into it and slumping on the ground without moving. The bar I held in my hand was now bent and covered at one end in the Nano-Z’s blood.

“Target is not dead yet.” Xerya quickly notified me before I had the chance to lower my guard.

I dropped the bent bar and looked around for another weapon. Next to the bed was a metal bat that was covered in dried up blood, probably the weapon the man used before turning into a Nano-Z. Without waiting another second, I rushed to it and grabbed it. The metal bat felt light in my grip, but right as I was thinking about turning around, I felt a chill run down my spine and then swung as hard as I could.

BAM! CRACK!

The sound of the bones cracking was heard as the ribs of the Nano-Z broke under the impact from the metal bat. The force was strong enough to send it flying into the dresser, crashing into the door before dropping on the floor. I then rushed to it and slammed the bat hard on his head. Blood and brain exploded with a pop, and the Nano-Z stopped moving.

It took me a moment to realize what had happened. My breath was haggard, and my hands were trembling. I was in a state of shock, but how could I not be after I went through something like this?

Initially, I thought I had nerves of steel because I wasn’t reacting that much to the gore around me, but right now, I couldn’t get the sound of bones breaking and flesh going mush out of my head. It felt agonizing, terrifying, and I even had the urge to vomit, but something kept me from doing so.

Slumping back in the bed, I stayed there, huffing and puffing hard as I tried to gather my thoughts. This was terrible. I felt like a murderer.

“The Nano-Z’s nanocore is still there. Please collect it before it dissipates.” Xerya woke me up from my trance.

“What? Where?” I asked as my eyes flew around the room, I was intentionally trying to avoid looking at that body.

Even though there were a bunch of them lying dead in the hallway, and it wasn’t as if I had never seen another dead person in my life, but... killing someone like that... it was a first for me. I couldn’t just nod and smile then say that I was alright. I felt like shit.

“The Nano-Z’s nanocore can be located within the cerebellum of the host. Please extract it.”

I cursed and then got up from the bed.

With absolute disgust and a trembling hand, I pushed away the pieces of broken bone and flesh as I tried to find my way through the back of his head. It felt disgusting.

“We need a better way to do this...” I complained after I finally managed to find it.

Although this was my very first time when I was looking for a nanocore, somehow, I knew what I was looking for. Maybe Xerya was guiding my hand through small impulses. This nanocore was like a small black bead, which felt warm to the touch and gave off a weird sensation. It was definitely hard and unnatural, like a piece of onyx.

“I need to cut my hand now, right?” I asked.

“Affirmative.”

I cursed and then looked around for something sharp. The woman who killed herself had a dagger strapped to her boot.

“That looks good.” I said as I walked up to her and then pulled the knife out.

Looking at the gun in her hand, I thought about grabbing it as well, but then Xerya spoke out.

“I advise against using weapons without a silencer. The noise could attract the Nano-Z in the nearby area.”

Thus, I decided against grabbing it, for now. If I knew how to use, I would have probably jumped at it the first time I laid my eyes on it.

“This feels so disgusting...” I complained as I made a small cut on my palm and then placed the nanocore there.

“Confirming contact with foreign nanobots. Beginning absorption.” so she said.

Now, I just had to wait. Looking back at the dead body, I felt like puking again, but I abstained, instead, I went to the door of the apartment and closed it. The last thing I wanted was for the other Nano-Z wondering on this floor to come in when I wasn’t paying attention, especially since the noise of my fight could have attracted them.

Then, so that I could relax a bit, I went over to the balcony and opened the door. The scent of fresh air washed over me, and I felt revived again. With great effort, I kept myself from looking down at the street and just stared up at the sky. I didn’t want to see the horrors down there. It was simply too terrifying for me at this point, but somehow, I knew that if I didn’t man up and changed this cowardly attitude of mine, there was a good chance that I would end up dying the moment I left this apartment building.

Thus, with great effort, I lowered my gaze to the streets below and almost instantly the gag reflex came up. I turned around and covered my mouth. The puke was trying to go out, but I held it in. I felt my throat burning, and it was hard to breathe.

As I swallowed hard, I turned around and looked again at the street below.

There were countless human bodies down there, most of them without an intact head, while the others were Nano-Z who were groaning and struggling to move with their damaged limbs. Some of them were so badly mutilated that you could not recognize them even if you tried.

Personally, I was terrified by the sight of the gore, the ripped-up bodies, the monsters that kept moving thanks to the nanobots inside them, but I knew that I had to overcome this fear somehow. So, despite my desire to step away from the balcony, I kept looking down at the street while trying to calm down my fast-beating heart.

A few minutes later, I reached my limit. Feeling exhausted, I leaned with my back against the wall and looked up at the serene blue sky. This helped me calm down even more.

“You know...” I began to speak. “I’ve lived for a while in the slums of one of Earth’s megalopolises... Seeing dead bodies wasn’t normal, but it happened from time to time, however, they died because of drugs, an accident, or old age. I thought I was accustomed to death, especially because I liked playing VR games, but maybe reality gives you a different kick?” I wondered as I tried to smile.

About three minutes later, Xerya answered “A strong aversion towards the dead or killing acts in reality shows a high degree of compassion and empathy as well as a strong moral compass that won’t be swayed too easily. This statement was the closest thing I could find in my libraries regarding your current state of mind. Xerya, however, believes that my recent changes done to your body may have caused a hyper-sensitivity to these sorts of scenes, which resulted in your gag reflex. It is advised that you adapt and overcome this weakness before it becomes an impediment to our survival. Xerya also wants to inform you that the absorption process is about to enter a critical phase. It is recommended to find a flat surface to lay down on in case of involuntary movements caused by the new wave of nanobots flushing through your system.”

“Alright... I’ll go lay down in that bed...” I nodded with small smile forming on my lips.

The AI actually tried to find a way to comfort me, it was... unexpected.