I slowly open my eyes and sit up. Am I alive? Strange—and that's putting it mildly. Where am I?
I look around, and judging by everything, I'm still in the same place. Nemesis's corpse is nowhere to be seen, and judging by the circumstances of my awakening, it must have assumed I was dead and simply moved on. Which makes sense—I'm half-dead by nature, and unconscious to boot. Yeah. Surreal.
All right. Jill is nowhere to be found. Did she escape? Considering her phenomenal luck, she probably could have. Echo-6, on the other hand, is clearly no longer among the living. Not only are their bodies scattered nearby, drained of blood—which raises the question: is this from the "oops" section?—but also the memories of these guys in me as well.
Speaking of memories… I hit the jackpot again. That black guy was a virologist. Man, there I go again, saying 'the black guy, the black guy' – his name was Lawrence, as my memory helpfully informs me. So it turns out I drank them. Not all of them, though. The blonde is clearly missing from the list of absorbed memories.
At least the memories itself is faint this time. If they were as invasive as they were with Vector, I might not have woken up at all.
I get to my feet and notice a torn piece of my suit nearby. Strange. I'm sure I was covered. At least, when I came to, I didn't notice the gleam of my pale skin.
I look down… Holy shit!!!
Congratulations to me—I've definitely advanced to the next stage of mutation. Nemesis really beat me up badly, if I remember the transition conditions correctly. Now I'm skinny again, though not as much as when I first woke up. My body is still largely humanoid, but now it's anthracite black!
Here we go.
I approach the nearest first-floor window. It's cracked, but I'm not in the mood to hunt for a mirror. On the way, I notice that the individual Nemesis killed is also completely drained of blood. Maybe that's why transition had this effect on me. She was clearly not a normal zombie.
Sienna Fowler—the blonde from the squad—is still alive, judging by the faint glow. But not for long.
Obviously, I didn't drink her blood, but she's been beaten pretty badly. Whether by me or not is unclear. And according to the memories of the other squad members, she was a hacker-programmer and reasonably proficient with firearms. Nothing more.
So she's of no particular interest to me.
I study my reflection with curiosity. My eyes are completely red—both sclera and iris—with black dots at the center of the pupils. My cheekbones are more pronounced now, which likely means my jaw is stronger than before. A lean body packed with muscle, long claws—at least four centimeters, minimum—jet black like the rest of me, and completely non-retractable.
My fangs have grown as well, now protruding slightly from beneath my upper lip.
I've become a full-fledged vampire.
Great. An overbite. Talking is going to be uncomfortable.
I approach the unconscious blonde with the charming callsign "Party Girl" and crouch beside her, licking the blood. It's still warm, which means not much time has passed since I lost control. At least, that's what my newly acquired—or rather, sharpened—instincts are telling me.
If that's true, then I need to check on the Four Eyes. Maybe there's still a chance.
I leap from where I'm standing and vault straight through the window where the girl had been earlier. On the opposite wall, I spot Yamata herself, a bloody streak trailing down the wall behind her. Apparently, she tried to retreat as well—but didn't make it in time.
And I was just about ready to accept her proposal to escape.
So. What do we have here?
A faint, barely perceptible—but still visible—red glow. Is she alive? Looks like it. But I have no idea what to do. I'm a orderly, not a doctor—and I've never had to deal with gunshot wounds before.
To hell with it.
I remember she was talking to me about turning… or rather infecting... whatever, let her complain to me later. In my opinion, it's better to be half-dead than fully dead.
I lean over her, push aside her collar, and carefully bite into her neck. Thankfully, with my new fangs, it's easier than ever.
I drift through her memories for a couple of minutes, then force myself to pull away. For some reason, it feels like something needs to remain within her for the process to succeed… Um… Infection, I guess? Let it be so.
At the same time, it finally clicks where I've seen that blonde "zombie" before. Although, she wasn't a zombie at all. I turned her myself.
I just hope the Four Eyes doesn't end up the same kind of abomination. Otherwise, I'll have to kill her with my own hands—and I really wouldn't want that. Even with the memories of two scientists now weighing me down, there's a big difference between carrying dead knowledge and having the scientist himself nearby.
I can't afford to lose a living source of information. Sorting through all this research on my own would take forever, constantly bogging me down as I dig through half-assimilated knowledge.
Five minutes pass in tense silence. I'm already considering just leaving—having first reliably killed the girl, out of respect for her, she deserved at least that much—when a quiet sigh came from the girl, who had stopped glowing red.
No, more like a hoarse wheeze.
Okay, now let's get ready for something unclear.
But it's more of a mental preparation, because physically, I crouched down next to her when she turned into a vampire, and I'm still sitting here. Nothing is leaking, and I won't feel any discomfort no matter how long I stay in this position.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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