"How does it feel?"

"Ah, it tickles." Monica squirmed slightly. "And it's cold."

"Not that."

"It still feels very uncomfortable. Like it's constantly there and won't go away."

Because Monica was now in better condition and in a safer location, she had changed into comfortable shorts and t-shirt, revealing more of her sun-kissed skin. She had been fairly in shape before, but after evolution, her physique became more defined and toned.

Will pulled away from her and scanned her with his various visions as she adjusted her luscious and wavy hair.

"Alright, lie down and take off your shirt." Will finally said, putting away the stethoscope

"I've heard better pickup lines than that." Monica quipped but still followed the instructions and stripped down to her undergarment. "But I guess it wasn't the worst either."

After a quick operation, Monica now had the hookworm Parasite inside her chest, near her lungs.

Will had been planning to use it for himself but after some thought, decided it was better to wait for a better healing Parasite—like the sea cucumber he used to own.

"What will this do exactly?" She asked as she gently touched her stitches.

The way these transparent worms healed was through a series of chemical reactions that help them quickly heal wounds.

Although a healing Parasite was extremely useful, this one couldn't regenerate missing body parts, and the Parasite would also take nutrients and some of the virus away from Will in order to evolve—slowing down Will's own evolution to Category 1. He had to be selective with his choice of Parasites until he had enough resources. He also did tell Monica he would heal her, he just hadn't originally planned for it to be so soon.

Will vaguely explained the healing process without giving away too much information.

"Are you sure this will work? It sounds like some kind of pseudo-science." Monica said, putting her shirt back on.

"I can always take it out."

"No, it's fine. I'm grateful for everything you've done. I can wait a couple weeks or so and see what happens."

It should heal in a few days. Will thought to himself.

They left the clinic and Monica joined Grandpa Wong in making breakfast for the entire household. Afterwards, Will along with Donny and Karen geared up in the armory. Soon they were outside, climbing into the armored jeep.

"It might be dangerous, you don't have to come along." Donny said to Karen.

"I have to earn the rent for myself and Monica, right?"

"Speaking of Monica, she's like 24, right? How was it playing doctor in private with a sexy and mature patient?" Donny nudged Will playfully with his elbow. "Oh wait...cancel the mature."

"I hate to break it to you boys but Monica swings for the other team." Karen said from the backseat.

"What?! Really?"

Karen nodded and Donny suddenly looked crestfallen.

"For the record, I'm a straight-shooter." Karen added.

The jeep became silent, Donny turned to look ahead and watch the road as Will started the jeep and drove.

"Hey! What's with that reaction?" Karen called out. "I can't believe I'm being dissed by a couple of kids who barely just graduated from high school."

Donny and Will shared a look before they laughed.

"What?"

"We didn't even graduate." Donny chuckled with amusement.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Karen sat back before she suddenly realized something and leaned forward against the driver seat. "Did something happen? What happened to Mister Grumpy?"

Instead of answering her, Will stopped the car in front of the gate. "Open the gate."

"Fine, be like that." Karen said as she exited the vehicle.

As they travelled and ran into zeroes, Karen proved herself to be very capable, especially when most of the zeroes they ran into now ran.

"These things are getting more dangerous." Karen exhaled after she speared one in the head. She had decided to stick with the pole weapon after getting used to it but also adopted the use of a riot shield.

They arrived at the mall a little later. It was much different than when Will had visited the other day. All the zeroes had been cleared out and there was now a gigantic wall of cars circling around the mall. They drove around until they found an opening in the back, near the loading bay.

There were people working at the loading bay, unloading boxes and other things from cars.

"I think that's Jason." Donny pointed at a young man with bronze skin. He wasn't masked up like the last time they had met but he was still wearing the same armor and standing to the side having a smoke.

When the people of the mall spotted the jeep, they paused their actions and warily watched as it entered their territory. Jason immediately recognized the jeep and approached.

After a cheerful reunion, they introduced Karen to him.

"My condolences." Jason said after hearing her name.

"Yeah, yeah." Karen waved her hand, unamused.

Jason then filled them in on the changes around the mall. The dog that had been terrorizing them had gone missing and they finally gathered enough people to agree to go out and clear the parking lot.

The dog went missing...did it find another place with more prey to feed on or did something else kill it? Will pondered as Donny and Jason caught up.

"Some people are also starting to show strange symptoms." Jason said.

"What do you mean?" Karen asked as Will and Donny exchanged glances.

"It's different for each person but some get sick or fall into a coma or get really hungry for a couple of days. And then after they recover, a some of them show changes."

"Changes?"

"Like seeing in the dark or growing a bit taller or a bit more swole. That dude over there." Jason pointed at a teenager that was helping unload boxes. "He used to wear glasses, now he has 20/20 vision. One girl even developed a photographic memory, it's like some superpower shit." Jason shook his head, still unable to believe it.

"That sounds crazy." Karen said.

"Yeah...crazy." Donny muttered.

"Oh yeah, you were right, man. They did come up with a pretentious name for our community." Jason said in a low voice as they were approached by a group of people. "This place is now called Hope."

"Jason, care to introduce us to your acquaintances?" A middle-aged woman with short hair spoke.

"Yeah, these are the people that helped me out last time. Donny, Will, and...Karen." Jason presented.

"Anne Mackenzie but you can call me Anne." After she introduced herself, the others in the group also introduced themselves. "Considering the circumstances, the three of you seem to be well-off." Anne gestured at the trio's well equipped gear and clean clothing before indicating her own side's worn clothing, unclean faces, and greasy hair. Though some were wearing what looked like brand new clothes. "If you have any water to spare, it would be much appreciated. We have things to trade."

A group of vehicles arrived at that moment.

"Actually, we sort of ran into a water problem ourselves." Donny said.

"I might have a way to fix everyone's water problems." Will said.

"Are you talking about Gerald's plan?" Karen asked and Will nodded.

"I'd also like to hear about that plan." A bearded man called out as he exited a truck from the group of vehicles that just arrived. All the people in this group was armed with various weapons, from guns to machetes to crowbars to even tasers. "You trying to hide this from me, Anne?"

"I see you haven't had any luck again." Anne side glanced the man before turning back to Will. "How about we move this conversation to a less exposed place."

"Sure." Will agreed.

"By all means." The man said.

As they led the way into the mall, Donny fell back and whispered to Jason. "Something going on here?"

Jason sighed. "The gist of it is pretty much Anne is in charge of the group that doesn't want to take unnecessary risks, but wait until help comes. While Jerry's group doesn't think help is coming anytime soon and wants to be more proactive and shit. It gets messy when Jerry's group wants to horde most of the shit they find for themselves."

"Which group are you part of?" Donny asked.

"I'm not into cliques and shit, I'm neutral. The entire mall is pretty much divided into those three groups."

"Which group is the biggest?"

"The neutral group, since most of us don't give a shit. But with the water supply running low, people are starting to join the other groups. Jerry has been recruiting people that are starting to get desperate. He's promising to find water but he hasn't had any huge luck. Anne's group is growing and becoming more vocal, since Jerry's group is using more resources and some people think it's better to just sit around and use less energy to conserve our resources."

As they walked through the mall, they saw people spread all over the place. Many of them were sitting down and had downcast expressions on them, they were generally spiritless. A few people noticed Will's trio and had curious looks.

"I don't think this looks like a place called Hope." Karen muttered.

"You mean Hopeless?" Jason asked. "It feels that way some days, but you gotta just pick your shit up and keep moving."

Will kept an eye on their surroundings as they travelled through the mall. They eventually moved into a furniture store on the second floor, to an area by the windows that had been converted into a meeting area.

A middle aged man joined the meeting before it could start. Jerry and Anne seemed to be more mindful of this man than the others who were also apart of the meeting.

"That's Jacques." Jason whispered. "He's in charge of security against the zombies, and you could say he sort of speaks for our neutral group."

"So, tell us about this plan of yours." Anne said after Jacques introduced himself and they sat down at the large circle of sofas.

Will explained the plan that Gerald had proposed to him and the dangers he expected to go along with it.

"That sounds a little dangerous, especially if there are going to be more super zombies." Anne expressed her worries.

"How do you know if super zombies are going to appear?" Jacques asked.

"From what I've seen so far, they tend to appear in large crowds." Will explained.

"You've had a lot of experience with the zombies?" Jacques eyed Will's group with interest.

At that moment, they heard the sound of gunshots echoing from far in the distance.

"We should just wait until the military arrives. We can already hear their fighting from time to time, they'll be here any day now." Anne gestured outside.

"How do you know it's the military? And we don't know how long 'any day' actually is." Jerry countered before turning to Will. "I'm on board, but I think we'll need a lot more hands on deck if we want to pull this off."

"There's no way you're dragging more people into this mess with you, Jerry. And if you think you can use this as justification to take more of everyone's resources for your group, then you're sorely mistaken."

"All you want to do sit around with your thumb up your ass and pray that someone will save you. At least I'm doing something about it." Jerry leaned out of his seat and pointed at Anne.

"How about we all calm down and keep this meeting on track?" Jacques advised.

Jerry leaned back and took a breath. "And we won't need extra resources for this."

"What are you thinking, Jerry?" Jacques inquired.

"If this plan is benefiting half a million people, then I'm sure some of those people wouldn't mind contributing."

"You want to contact others?" Will asked.

"We've been keeping in touch with a few other groups via radio and we've met another community recently on our runs. They call themselves Nirvana and they are very well armed. We can use their help. If you bring that Gerald fellow over, I can arrange a meeting so we can go over the plans."

"Sure, that sounds good. I'll get in contact with Gerald."

"Great! I look forward to it." Jerry said, standing up and reaching out to shake Will's hand.

"It was a pleasure to meet the three of you." Anne also came up and exchanged handshakes.

Jacques greeted them last. "I'd like to swap info on the zombies, especially before we go through with this plan. But for now, we should come up with a way to keep in touch."

"Of course."

As they walked back to their car after a short discussion with Jacques, Will snuck a look at the slip of paper Jerry had slipped him during their handshake earlier. The handwriting was messy and seemed to be scribbled down in a hurry.

He crushed the piece of paper and tucked it away.