The Z Gene - Chapter 4：Meeting with a furry friend

As Daniel was resting inside the house the white feline was approaching it stealthily, Daniel forgot to close the door properly so the cat could easily squeeze its body in then it started talking the moment it set its eyes on Daniel:

Daniel got up immediately from his resting position and shot directly at the cat pinning it to the ground with his hand, the cat meowed loudly and hissed being actually able to escape from Daniel’s grip!

Daniel looked at the cat with wonder realizing that the voice came from the cat then he said with an inquiring tone:

“Is it you who talked?” The cat was swishing its tail left and right a sign of aggression and it being annoyed by something then it said with a proud tone:

“Of course I’m the one who talked, you won’t find a second cat like me on the whole planet!”

Daniel scratched the back of his head as he looked at the cat then said:

“I’m sorry for attacking you but I have been through quite a few things already and I’m very tense.”

The cat made eye contact with Daniel showing its deep blue eyes to him then he said in a lazy tone as he made its way to the bed and stood on it while cleaning himself with his tongue:

“Ah, whatever its no matter I can’t count how many times someone attacked me first before asking questions when I started talking, its quite the different thing seeing a talking cat in real life isn’t it?”

Daniel chuckled then approached the cat and he couldn’t resist petting its soft and fluffy coat, the cat started purring then it hissed at him while he jumped away from him:

“Don’t touch me without permission!” Daniel looked wronged seemingly thinking that he didn’t do anything wrong but he decided to comply with the cat’s instructions.

The cat then continued:

“Whatever, now I smelled your presence around here and made my way, it’s hard for a little cat-like me to trudge this Earth now, won’t you be my companion? I will let you know that I have my own uses.”

The cat smiled then started to disappear in front of his eyes! the cat knew stealth! Daniel immediately felt danger as a claw appeared near his neck which he tried to grab but the cat got back to where it was seconds later and said:

“I’m adept at stealth and assassination technique, whenever you need to scout someplace you can’t get in by yourself I’m the cat you can rely on!”

Daniel was thoughtful at the cat’s words, he already fought zombies and genetically enhanced humans, a talking cat wasn’t that strange in this world, he wasn’t sure what happened to the world as he had no prior memories of what happened before he woke up but he was sure it wasn’t anything small!

Back in the bunker, Baidoa was talking with Litoa about the zombies gas that was used to revive all of the dead people across the world. Baidoa had an inquiring gaze as he looked at Litoa through his monitor, Litoa opened his mouth to tell his boss about the characteristics of the virus in detail, he didn’t tell him everything before as the virus was in testing and the order for it to be launched was extremely sudden for him.

“Mr. Baidoa the virus only works on dead people and I can’t say they truly revive the person, it’s more like advanced cloning any kind of DNA is taken from the dead target that was engulfed by the gas then it recreates the body, of course, to make things easier for the gas if the body or any components of the body are nearby it can create the body near them using them as a base.”

Then he coughed a bit to clear his throat and continued, Baidoa didn’t interrupt him at all seemingly just listening quietly:

“After the dead person is ‘revived’ he would have no intelligence or memories of his prior of course with the help of the gas they can awaken their memories hidden in their DNA! as long as they eat enough meat of any kind they can strengthen themselves to even rival Gene Z users!”

Then he sighed:

“Of course the more meat they eat the more rationality they lose and they lose control of their power, they would need a cooling down period before eating any more or else they would fully go insane if they continue eating they might grow stronger and stronger but all their rationality would go away they would just become meat grinders.”

Baidoa had a question:

“Yes, I see.. but what about their effects on the Z Gene users?”

Litoa’s eyes started to shine at the question which he answered fervently:

“Their blood is extremely nutritious to the Z Gene and it can enhance the genes abilities, of course, the stronger the zombie the higher the enhancement the best way to nurture the Z Gene users would be to make all the zombies eat every last human on Earth then each other to create the ultimate zombie being which one of the Z Gene users would drain of its blood.”

Then his eyes dimmed as he continued:

“Of course the plan isn’t feasible at all, the strength of such a monstrous being would be way higher than anything we could imagine, pitying the infant Z Gene against a peak existence like the ultimate zombie would be like sending lambs to the slaughter.”

Baidoa nodded his head as the explanation finished then he said with a smile on his face:

“Don’t you worry about how the Z Gene users will get stronger I already have all of that planned, what you should worry about is getting rid of the Z Gene side effects so we could use it on more people, of course, if you would improve the formula to create even better beings would be great!”

Master Litoa bowed his head low then the image changed to Daniel’s location, he was still talking with the cat, Baidoa interlocked his fingers and looked at the screen of his monitor with a huge smile on his face. This was one of humanity’s future, the one with the best physique which could take in the Z Gene and strengthen it to such a high scale!

Daniel didn’t know anything about the undercurrents which were brewing around him, the cat leaped on his shoulder then made itself comfortable there then said:

“Let’s get out of here already there’s nothing to do here anymore!”

Daniel smiled for the first time since he woke up in this crazy world, he had what he would call for now a friend! and it helped it was such a cute and fluffy friend, he didn’t like looking at the mutated humans that much, or the other mutated animals for any matter.

Daniel started to run at high speeds away from the abandoned village even though he failed to do his job again here he got quite the benefits even though he didn’t know about it.

The cat could actually sleep and hold himself on his shoulder at the high speeds he was traveling at, Daniel was extremely surprised by the cat’s powers.

Along the way, he met with what could be said savage scavengers, there was a fat bald middle-aged man with a spiked helmet and biker clothes who stopped him from continuing, he also had four arms and wore red sunglasses, his gang of cronies either had some deformities or were hideous.

The man started talking immediately the moment he spotted Daniel running at high speeds:

“You there stop for this daddy here!”

He grunted as he exerted his strength leaving cracks in the ground, as Daniel was approaching civilization he would run in these kinds of gangs pretty often.

The fat middle-aged man intercepted Daniel but Daniel himself started to push on trying to overpower the man, the man became red in the face as he tried to fight him with his pure strength and four arms but he failed and retreated!

The gang of cronies started gasping as they saw their boss that was known for his high strength be beaten easily by a scrawny looking young lad.

The fat middle-aged man started to scamper and bowed directly to Daniel then he took off his helmet showing his shiny bald head in a concession of surrender, might make right in this post-apocalyptic world the moment he saw himself overpowered he knew he couldn’t beat Daniel, he put on a strong front earlier to scare him but now he cowered like a beaten dog:

“This little one is called Dabo, I and my gang are ready to serve this great sir here, please don’t annihilate us.”

Daniel rose his eyebrows at the man’s shamelessness, he attacked him first called himself daddy and tried to rob or kill him, after being beaten he wanted forgiveness?

Daniel was instructed to only be hostile to other Z Gene users that ate human meat so he didn’t bother with these guys even though they offended him, but he still asked them a question before he left:

“How much till a habitable place?”

Dabo scratched his bald head then he said awkwardly:

“This great sir um.. there’s a town some hundreds of kilometers away from here but they don’t accept everyone there, it’s said that the town is also under quarantine because of a zombie infestation so I’m not sure if it’s good to go there.”

Daniel nodded his head and left the cat yawned on his head then said:

“Why didn’t you kill these fools? they might go and hurt other innocents who try to run away and find a city to refuge in, they also offended you but you did nothing why?”

Daniel shook his head and afterward gripped it as intense pain assaulted him, the orders were still imprinted in his brain, the cat’s words immediately triggered some sort of change in his brain that made him go back.

Dabo was suddenly sweating intensely when he saw Daniel come back as he continued bowing then said:

“Why has this great senior come back?”

Daniel didn’t say anything as he directly looped off Dabo’s head of his shoulders a shower of blood quickly drenching him, the cat already was off his shoulder not wanting to dirty itself with such a trash quality of blood.

The cronies screamed and begged after Dabo was killed instantly but Daniel had no mercy for them, he killed them swiftly and let the wild animals help themselves to their remains.

After he left some of the zombie gas made its way to their corpses which started reanimating themselves.

Dabo was the first to get up and he immediately started to eat its former comrade’s corpses not even letting them get up properly. By the time everything was done Dabo looked like he was back to normal but his eyes shined with a red light and his skin started turning from a normal white to a shocking red and green combination.

His arms muscles started bulking up as he told himself:

“I won’t forgive you! I humiliated myself to save both I and my subordinates but you killed all of us in cold blood, you made an enemy for two lives!”

He started to quickly run in the direction of the city, besides his peculiar skin color and double the number of arms he looked like a normal human, he thought he could easily get in the city if he exhibited strength good enough to kill zombies and take his revenge on Daniel!

Baidoa laughed as he looked at everything unfolding on his screen that seemingly could show everything that happened on Earth.

Daniel was on his way to the town as the cat was cleaning itself, after a few tens of minutes of traveling he finally arrived to a huge town! But his entrance was barred by armed soldiers who looked at him with wariness on their masked faces, it could be seen in their eyes that were exposed by the lenses of the masks. Anyone who could survive in the wastelands by itself was extremely strong.

They also eyed the cat with wariness as well any normal looking animal wasn’t normal at all in these times!

One of the guards walked forward and asked:

“What business do you have in Town Magenta?”

Daniel walked a bit nearer and put his hands up while saying:

“I’m here to help you out with the zombie outbreak I’m a pretty strong guy, could you also tell me if you saw this guy?” Then he started to describe Costil’s looks

The guard was thoughtful for a few seconds then shook his head and said:

“I didn’t see the guy you talked about, also I can’t let you in now I have to report to my superiors.”

Daniel waited as the other guard was standing there stoically waiting for his comrade to come back, the giant walls that blocked the city were imposing in the scorching sun. Zombie’s moaning could be heard behind the walls.

After a long while, the man came back with bite marks over his military outfit but he was overall fine.

He made an inviting gesture to Daniel and let him in the town as the small door which he came from remained open.

Daniel entered the town that was way bigger than the small villages he was in before and he was immediately stunned by the view which he saw.