Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Ultimately, Zane and the girls did not find a place to stay the night on such short notice. Instead, they parked the Humvee in a remote area, and prayed that no abominations found them, or worse, other living beings. And while Elena and Olivia slept silently in the back seat. Zane sat in the driver's spot staring at his level up screen.

This was by far the most, shall we say, difficult series of advancements that Zane was forced to accept. He had done the unthinkable and engaged in the heinous act of cannibalism after murdering several awakened survivors. Nothing felt more horrible to the man than that.

Zane was never one to feel guilty in the past for anything he had ever done. And in a way, it wasn't necessarily remorse that he felt at the moment, more like a strange sense of bewilderment.

Perhaps it was because the girls he found himself surviving the apocalypse with helped him become more human, after a tragic upbringing, caused him to develop into a borderline psychopath. But Zane genuinely felt something strange and terrifying about what he had done.

Again, not necessarily out of remorse for his victims, or even because he felt it was morally wrong to do. Such concepts held no meaning to Zane and had not done so for a very long time. But rather, it was what his actions represented. And the fact that the system rewarded him to do so.

And then there was the voice in the back of his mind. A voice he had heard for a second time now. It was an alien and feminine voice. Yet at the same time, it felt so familiar, and perhaps even familial. It was this voice that had caused Zane to enter into a state of paranoia about continuing his stay in Elena's childhood home.

It was also this voice that compelled Zane to do the horrific things he had just done. All without any recollection of doing it. Whether this voice was real, or if it was simply a sign that Zane was starting to lose his sanity. He honestly did not know.

But ultimately, Zane had to come to terms with what he was. He was no longer technically a living being. Not wholly, at least. And perhaps, if he really thought about it, he could never have been considered as such. After all, as far as Zane could remember, he had felt different from everyone else, and had even despised the world around him.

Yet this apocalyptic world… It was the most lively Zane had ever felt in his life. So what if he was half-dead? Or, as the system called it, the living dead. This just meant he had significant advantages in surviving this hellscape of a wasteland that the world had so rapidly become.

Thus, after many hours of silent contemplation, Zane finally embraced what he was. And decided to activate his level up screen. Like before, Zane's immediate desire was to invest in intelligence, wisdom and charisma.

Luckily for him, this time around he had five attribute points to pick from. In addition to this he had a skill point, which would allow him to further evolve his ability [Dead Man Walking]. But first he wanted to allocate his attribute points. Which ultimately looked something like this.

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[User: Zane Graves]

[Race: Human]

[Subrace: Living Dead]

[Level: 11]

[XP: 0/20,000]

[HP: 150/150]

[Attributes:]

[Strength: 15]

[Dexterity: 15]

[Constitution: 15]

[Intelligence: 14]

[Wisdom: 12 ]

[Charisma: 11]

[Skill: Dead Man Walking – Tier II

Evolve: Y/N?]

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After allocating his attribute points, Zane quickly evolved his skill, where he gained a shocking new offensive ability.

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[Dead Man Walking – Tier III]

[Description: Your body has become that of a Higher Tier Undead without any of the disadvantages that come with it. You now possess the ability to manipulate the blood within your own body as you see fit.]

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Manipulate the blood within his own body? What exactly did that mean? As curious as Zane was to figure out the extents which he could do as the system described. He ultimately suppressed the urge to do so. Right now, his job was to look after Elena and Olivia as they slept. And ensure that nothing like what had happened earlier in the night ever occurred again.

After all, he somewhat took the blame, as he knew that had he been on the lookout, he could have spotted the raider convoy long before they were able to attack. Little did Zane know that there was quite a story about what happened after the girls had killed the bandits.

After all, there were slaves among the inventory that the bandits had, slaves which were intended to be sold within the Safe Zone. But Zane did not know about any of this, and would not understand the full context of what had happened until the girls woke up much later in the morning.

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Standing on a rooftop a few hundred meters away from the Safe Zone, the Horde King known as Bart gazed upon the domain of the living. Things had gone south suddenly, and he now realized that he never should have pulled back his forces during the Battle of the Storm.

After all, suddenly the Living had hundreds of new warriors, each with special abilities that were proving difficult for his Walkers and Howlers to deal with. Only an abomination really posed a difficulty for these survivors to overcome.

And even then, there were very few abominations within the ranks of Bart's horde. Perhaps if he was on par with Lilith or, god forbid, that pompous ass Damian, then he would have a Juggernaut, a Tier V undead that was capable of leveling the pathetic little safe zone by itself.

But the amount of living that an undead would have to consume to evolve to such a magnificent and terrifying state was beyond what his horde had been able to achieve thus far. Because of this, he could only lament his loss, and wield his abominations and stalkers with caution.

And as Bart gazed upon the human settlement below, he couldn't help but suspect his rival within the city, the one he had been informed about by one of his lieutenants, was hiding within the safety of its walls. The very thought angered the Horde King, but there was nothing he could do about this except cry and seethe.

"Soon… Soon I will have your head!"