[Kardian’s point of view]

After returning to my apartment, I closed the door and blocked it off with the dresser, which wasn’t that difficult to move given my enhanced strength; I could barely feel its weight. Afterwards, I went to change the sheets of my bed, which were covered in a thick layer of dust, nothing a good shake outside the window couldn’t solve. Because I couldn’t clean them, I used them instead as a cleaning rag.

I started off with the computer and my desk, then I went to the kitchen and finished off with the bed and floor. For a moment, I thought about cleaning the entrance as well, but with all the blood marks and everything, I decided to give it a pass.

“It’s all nice and clean now!” I declared as I sat down on the bed.

Everything that has happened to me so far felt absolutely surreal. It was like a bad dream from which I couldn’t wake up no matter how hard I tried. I wanted to just close my eyes and then wake up the next day, take a shower, eat a small breakfast, get dressed and then go back to Resonance High, where the students would greet me with a smile. I would go through another day of teaching and then spend the afternoon either looking over some test papers or having a drink with my colleagues. Maybe today would be the day when I would also get the courage to invite a pretty woman out for a date.

However, when I opened my eyes, the harsh reality struck me. There were blood stains on the floor in front of my door, and the core of nanobots that I plucked out of the brain matter of a Nano-Z was right next to me wrapped up in a rag with a knife next to it.

“I left the slums of Earth, hoping for a better future, only to be cast down in the depths of Hell…” I spoke in a soft whisper as I slowly made an incision on my palm.

There were barely a few drops of blood pouring out of the wound, but as soon as I placed the nanocore on top of it, Xerya let out the announcement: “Confirming contact with foreign nanobots. Beginning absorption.”

As she started to work on taking over the nanobots, I began to feel dizzy and was soon overcome with the need to lay down. The door was locked and blocked by the dresser, so there was no need to worry about a Nano-Z or survivor getting inside. For now, I was safe in my own home. Then again, even if someone managed to get inside and sliced my throat while I was in this helpless state, whether I would end up dead or Xerya turned me into a Nano-Z remained to be seen.

With my whole body going numb, I fell into a dreamless sleep. Time flew by in a snap and when I opened my eyes, a whole hour had gone by. It felt like I was asleep for just a moment.

“Is it over?” I asked as I stared at the ceiling.

“Affirmative. Absorbing this core was far easier this time because of the existing quantity of Zomoblik infected nanobots within you. Bigger and more advanced cores might require more time.” Xerya replied.

“Bigger and more advanced cores?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Within the Zombolik programming, there are numerous inactive programs with the sole purpose of evolving the genetic makeup of the host, resulting in controlled mutations. They are triggered upon acquiring new Zombolik infected nanobots from other hosts, whether it is through consumption or merging. I am unclear as of yet as to how this process is possible. The data appears to be incomplete for me... a mismatch between my Zombolik virus version and the one existing within other hosts.” she replied.

“Is that even possible?” I asked again.

“In theory, no. The information within the nanobots remains there unless it is deleted through a special admin command or made inaccessible through other means. The information that I can access does not seem to indicate the existence of a special subroutine within my programming that would remove that information upon upgrading the base program. This, however, may just be something that is currently inaccessible to me in my current form. I will attempt to isolate individual Zombolik V 3.092 nanobots and attempt to scan the code for a solution.” Xerya replied.

“In other words, for some unknown reason, information regarding the future evolution of the Nano-Z was more or less removed from your database... Sounds like an admin command. Only your creator could know the backdoor to your system. Does this mean that we are in danger of being hacked by them?”

“Unknown as of yet. I will run my own diagnosis and attempt to find more information to this puzzling situation. Meanwhile, I suggest you acquire more cores from the infected hosts. The more nanobots you acquire for Xerya, the more Xerya’s processing power will increase.”

“Riiight... So, what improvements did I acquire with this core?”

“Sensory link with nanobots within your system. If the nanobots discover a threat, they will send a wireless signal to the nanobots in your cerebral cortex and inform you of the danger.” she replied.

“So... eyes at the back of my head?”

“Negative. No extra optic sensors were created in this process...”

I interrupted her and said “I got it, that was just a figure of speech.”

“...”

“Let’s leave it at that... So, basically, I have the ability to sense incoming danger. That’s not bad, but can we do something about the way we acquire the cores? I don’t want to go around smashing people’s heads all the time. My mind won’t be able to take it.” I complained as I got up from my bed and did a few stretches.

“I am still in the middle of coming up with a solution for your impediment.” she replied.

“It would be nice if I could find an army knife. They have durable blades that don’t break easily... although, what I’m not fond of is the idea of digging through someone’s head.” I restated my point of view.

“Non-intrusive methods are impossible.” Xerya reminded me.

I left it at that and then started to search around my apartment for any supplies that I could use. There were several spare clothes in the closet, some cans and packs of instant soup left, but I didn’t have anything that could help me fight against those things. There was no way I could carry all of it either, since my only backpack was outside in the hallway, completely drenched in blood. It was far too gross to even think about grabbing it and then cleaning it. The only practical use for that thing now only as flammable junk and nothing more.

“Maybe there are more backpacks in the building?” I wondered and then looked back at the door, which was blocked by my dresser. “I could find other clothes too... Unless the survivors looted everything including the kitchen sink.” I looked up. “Hey, Xerya? On what floor can I find the least amount of Nano-Z? On the one above us or the one below?” I asked as I then looked down.

“Scanning.” after a short moment, she then replied “My current scan range can only go up to three floors above and below you. Starting from the lowest floor, there are thirteen, six, and eight, then there are zero on this floor, and three, nine, and zero Nano-Z that can be detected on the floors above us.”

“Great. Any human life signs?” I asked.

“Scanning.” once again, I waited for a short moment. “Negative.”

“Alright... then, I guess we’ll hunt them down in order. I don’t want to end up getting swarmed by them...” I told her as I walked up to the dresser and pushed it out of the way.

The bat was still usable to smash a couple more skulls, and if needed be, I had the gun too. The knife wasn’t too impressive as a weapon, but it would work just fine when I had to dig out the cores. The plan was simple, however, go to the floor with just those three Nano-Z, hunt them down, absorb their cores and then continue to the next floor. With a bit of luck, I could find everything I needed on the way, weapons, clothes, bags, and food. It sounded easy on paper, but I had the strange feeling that it would be harder to put into practice.

As I made my way to the fire escape ladder at the end of the hallway, I made sure to check the other apartment buildings on this floor, which were accessible to me. There were three apartments with locked doors, which I couldn’t budge open. Since Xerya told me that there were no more Nano-Z or living humans here, I had no reason to try and make my way in. Chances were that I wouldn’t find anything or just a bunch of rotting corpses. In case I did find something useful in the apartments, I gathered it near the door and left it there so I could collect it at a later date. In general, what I found were two packs of instant noodles, a flashlight, another small dagger, and a small backpack. I took the small backpack with me, which could only hold at most maybe 10 packs of instant noodles, give or take.

It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

The door that led to the fire escape ladder was broken, it looked as though it was ripped open by a mob of Nano-Z, which was probably what actually happened given the number of dead bodies in the hallway. I struggled for a bit, but I managed to pry it open and place it aside.

I was on the 16th floor, so up here, the wind was howling, and a fall would have been deadly for anyone, no matter if they were human or Nano-Z. Thankfully, the rail and the ladder itself was designed to be quite sturdy and survive emergency situations. Looking up from here, I saw bodies on the upper floors, probably survivors who got eaten up on the ladder. Then, looking down, I saw that there were quite a few doors that had been left open, probably by those who rushed out when the pandemic started.

When I looked to the building across the street, I saw that the escape ladder there was filled with corpses and a lot of Nano-Z that were just stumbling around or just stood there, swaying in the wind.

“If I make too much noise here, the Nano-Z below might end up rushing up here, but shouldn’t that have already happened given the battle that must have taken place on this floor?” I wondered when I looked back at the bodies of the survivors who came here to loot but ended up turning instead.

“Another source of sound or possible prey may have pulled them away from here.” Xerya offered her theory.

“Possible...” I said and then walked up the stairs to the next floor.

Once there, I opened the door, which thankfully wasn’t locked. There were about eight bodies here. Most of them appeared to have either been killed by a blunt weapon or a bullet shot to the skull. There were a few faces I recognized among them, my neighbors who lived on this floor. Then, as I continued to move forward, I reached my first target, a man in his late thirties with a missing arm and his lower body gone. He was crawling on the floor, leaving a trail of blood and guts behind him. In other words, an easy kill.

With a single strike, I cracked open his head and took out the core inside his cerebellum. I didn’t know how many supplies I was going to find here, the temptation to search around was high, but I knew that I must first clear the floor of enemies before trying to proceed further. Xerya needed the cores to improve herself and my abilities, and the more cores I acquired for her, the stronger the two of us became. Thus, I moved to my next target, a teenager with half of his face bitten off, with his arms and legs chewed off, and his stomach gouged out. It was another easy kill, but I had a feeling that I saw him at Resonance High before. It was possible, but this didn’t prevent me from ending his suffering. If I was his father, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to let him go on like that... then again, if I was his father, would I have even been able to land the killing blow?

I thought about this for a moment as I searched for the core in his brain. The answer I reached was ‘no’. When I imagined myself in that situation, I found out that I couldn’t even raise the bat, let alone use it to strike him down. I just couldn’t.

“Now, I should find the last one...” I said as I then got up and headed towards the end of the corridor.

There, I found a middle-aged woman walking with a limp from left to right between two opposite apartments. Her clothes were in rags, and there were signs of biting and scratches on her, but compared to the other two, she could at least somewhat walk.

“I’m starting to guess that these three were left behind because they couldn’t give chase, or maybe killing them would have been a complete waste of ammo and energy.” I said and then prepared to swing my bat.

When she returned from the apartment on the right, I struck hard and then knocked her off her feet. Before she had the chance to get back up, I struck again, landing the killing blow.

“That’s three.” I said and then proceeded to dig up the core in her cerebellum.

Once I was done with this, I looted whatever I could from this floor and then went back to my apartment. There were two cans of a beans, four universal credit cards, a knife, and some spare clothes. It was a lot less than I had expected but considering the fact that this place may have been scavenged by survivors already, it may have been quite a good find.

I returned to my room with my loot, including the stuff I managed to find on my own floor, then I prepared myself to enter deep sleep again. The dresser blocked my door, preventing survivors and Nano-Z alike from entering, the loot I gathered was placed on my desk and the cores were washed of blood and brain matter. Afterwards, I made a cut on my palm with the clean dagger and placed the first one on the open wound.

“Confirming contact with foreign nanobots. Beginning absorption.” Xerya announced.

Just like before, I fell asleep almost immediately and then woke up an hour later. I placed the second core on my palm and then went back to sleep. After doing this one more time, I had completely absorbed all three cores, and Xerya announced that she was going through an upgrade procedure.

Looking out the window, I noticed that the sky was getting dark, which meant that it was going to get harder to hunt for the cores. I could use that flashlight and struggle a bit, or I could wait for Xerya to let me know what exactly she upgraded.

“Let’s not be too hasty about this and wait for her.” I told myself and then got up from my bed.

“I estimate that I will finish the upgrade in three hours from now. I will proceed with the simulated improvements then.” she told me.

“So, I have three hours to browse the web, great.” I nodded and then turned on the PC.

The first thing I wanted to search about were the various camps and survivor outposts within City 203. So far, I only knew that every city on the planet had become infected and the people were handling it in different ways. I still didn’t know what exactly was happening around me, and I wanted to know, or at the very least see if anyone posted anything. The first thing I did was to go to the website of the High School I taught at, Resonance High.