46: A Self-Inflicted Defeat

A Self-Inflicted Defeat

Using the same telepathic ability that the Necrojek had within my mindscape, I controlled every single zombie within this horde to follow a simple command.

'... Kill yourself.'

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~Kohta's POV~

It was extremely hard to believe what he was currently witnessing right now.

He just watched his friend sacrifice his own life in order to save someone else, get bit in the process, and then immediately mutate into a zombie with glowing green eyes...

That wasn't even the weirdest part.

His friend's eyes seemed to glow brighter for just a moment a couple seconds later, and he knew that's what just happened, but it felt like he was dreaming because of what occurred right after.

The entire horde of undead stopped in their tracks all of a sudden, which definitely caught everyone's attention, due to the fact that they had just been fighting them off with increasing difficulty. However, what really threw Kohta for a loop, is when all of them started to inflict grievous wounds onto themselves... on purpose.

His eyes widening like dinner plates, Kohta turned back to his friend, who had just been forcefully turned into one of those creatures. Kohta's mind was running rampant with certain theories and a hint of optimism leaked through.

The impossible had already been achieved with a real-life zombie apocalypse, which put a sliver of hope into Kohta, although he still knew that his theory would sound outrageous to the others.

However, that wouldn't stop him.

... Kohta wasn't going to give up on his friend.

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~Dante's POV~

Hmm, this ability is really useful.

I hadn't moved a single muscle ever since I transformed, which had also been an interesting experience. To be honest, I had never given it much thought, but my transformations have actually always been sort of painful.

The reason that I'm so nonchalant about it is because of the fact that they've always been instantaneous, which sometimes makes it seem as if I had only been imagining it. However, that's just simply not true.

It's just a mystery to me. Even though it's supposed to be an instant transformation, I'm still able to somehow feel all of the intense pain that my body goes through as I morph into an entirely different creature.

... Weird.

Refocusing my attention, nearly half of the undead in front of us had already dropped onto the ground like dead fish.

That's when my mind conjured a wonderful idea that would also help me in trying to convince the rest of the group that I was still on their side.

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~Kohta's POV~

With a tight grip on his rifle, Kohta backed up towards the other members of the group, still making sure to keep his guard up in case any of the zombies that were currently trying to kill themselves didn't get the drop on them.

"Everyone... I need all of you to listen to me very carefully." Kohta whispered, crouching down in front of the assembled group with complete seriousness. Once he saw that everyone had split a small piece of their attention from Dante and onto him, he dived straight into his ridiculous theory. "I'm aware of how crazy this is going to sound but just bare with me. First of all, I think Dante is still with us. I don't think he's been fully converted onto the... undead side, if you will."

There was a couple members that gave him uncertain looks while the rest seemed intrigued on what he could possibly mean by that. Kohta understood how both sides felt, however, due to the fact that he was currently sitting on the thin line resting within the middle.

Shizuka appeared doubtful to say the least, her airheaded persona completely gone for the moment, which even surprised Kohta when he first spotted her. However, it was probably due to her medical background, which gave the blonde haired woman better knowledge on the biology of humans than an average student who's obsessed with guns.

Miku also seemed to doubt the notion, still feeling the remnants of shock that coursed through her when she saw Dante sacrifice himself in order to save someone else.

Speaking of the one he saved, Saeko was an emotional wreck. Even though she hadn't shed a single tear just yet, Kohta could literally feel the sadness rolling off of the purple haired woman in waves, and it was honestly beginning to affect him as well. It's like she was in a coma or something, just barely cognizant of her surroundings as she also listened to the explanation with a strong sense of doubt placed into her mind.

"From my perspective, when Dante got bitten by one of them and transformed, he turned into a zombie with eyes that glowed a bright green color. Now, I know all of this hasn't been going on for very long, but I seriously doubt that's a normal thing for them to just have naturally." Kohta paused, clearing his throat before he continued once again. "What if he turned into some kind of mutated version, like the one we saw at Fujimi Academy, you know? Not to mention, he hasn't even appeared interested in us in the slightest..."

Saya cut into the conversation with anger in her voice, frustrated at all of the vagueness within Kohta's explanation. "Get to the point!" The pink haired girl yelled, clearly upset at what she witnessed earlier concerning her big brother.

With a deep sigh, Kohta looked towards each member of the group with a despondent facial expression, quickly losing the hope he once had in his theory the more he tried to elaborate on it. "What I'm trying to say is, maybe Dante could have turned into a mutated version of one of them that somehow lets him retain a portion of his original intelligence... it's the best I've got. Honestly, I'm probably just wasting my breath here."

While it might've sounded absolutely ridiculous to even think about, considering they were all literally walking sacks of rotten flesh, none of them could resist turning back to look at Dante in curiosity. That's when he finally began to move.

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~Dante's POV~

Walking with a hunchback, I proceeded to slowly make my way over to the flipped Humvee. Turning around to face the much smaller horde, I keenly noticed that there was only about a third of what there was originally left over.

Once again, I tapped into my newfound telepathic ability, and planted another command within their dull minds that was made to overrule the previous one.

'... Stop.'

Immediately, all of my undead puppets paused in their attempts at committing suicide. My group was continuing to pay attention at the show before them with great enthusiasm.

'... Here.' I ordered, pointing a clawed finger in front of the flipped Humvee, which they quickly followed by shambling their way over with sluggish steps.

It was deathly quiet now as my group gaped at the sight before them with varying degrees of shock. However, many of them were now starting to believe Kohta and his crazy theory.

'... Push.'

The command was followed by every single zombie that was left proceeding to use their weight against the military vehicle in order to flip the Humvee back over onto it's wheels. There was a few of them that simply weren't cut out for it, considering certain parts of their bodies just broke off like twigs, and it was actually kind of difficult for them since the horde was much smaller now.

That still didn't prevent them from getting the job done.

'... Stop.'

While the Humvee may've been successfully flipped back over, it was still dangerously smoking, which meant that it wouldn't be drivable for very long. However, lucky for all of us, the Takagi Estate wasn't that far from here.

The small horde once again paused everything that they were doing and stood completely still, patiently awaiting another order. Lucky for them, they had one last use for me.

Pointing a clawed finger at the area in front of the wire gate, I gave all of them their last command before they finally died. '... Ramp.'

Although it might've been a command that was probably a little too vague, it helped when you were also able to send mental images in order to better describe what you wanted.

They all traveled towards the designated location before piling on top of one another before they officially made a sufficient ramp for the Humvee to drive over. The plan was to use them as a way to get the vehicle over the wire gate. I feel like it was a pretty good idea, to be honest.

Turning back towards my group, they were all staring directly at me with varying degrees of pure shock, and it was pretty amusing to witness. However, this was honestly more of a serious matter, considering they all most likely thought that I was pretty much done for.

I slowly began walking over to them, not showing any kind of signs that would possibly indicate hostility or killing intent. My calm demeanor, along with what they just saw me do to the horde, was apparently enough for them to reach a solid conclusion that I didn't intend on hurting them in any type of way.

Saeko, who had also been watching everything go down with rapt attention, nervously moved in front of me with tears running down her face. Honestly, the sight nearly broke my heart. If this was any other occasion, Saeko would've most likely never shown herself being this emotional.

In a sudden movement, the purple haired girl actually dashed forward and hugged me tightly even though I was currently a rotten walking corpse, but that didn't seem to really bother her at the moment. Deciding to return the favor, I wrapped my arms around her and gently pat the sword user's back in a comforting manner.

After that, it definitely cemented the fact that I was on their side, and I didn't even really have to say anything. However, I wasn't done shocking them just yet.

With the hug still in place, I began reverting back to my base form, which elicited a gasp from every single member of the group except Saeko. Although, due to the fact that I was now back in my much healthier body, the purple haired girl quickly realized and pulled away from me in surprise.

That was when she also let out a gasp.

"... W-What happened?" I asked, rubbing my forehead as if I actually had a headache or something.

Everyone seemed to reel back at that, confused as to why I would even say that. Saeko, with more tears running down her face, was somehow able to get out a few words that sounded like a question. "You don't... r-remember?" I pieced together the words, just barely understanding her as she wrapped her arms around me once again. Rei and Saya quickly ran over as well, doing the same thing as the other two girls started crying, already emotionally and mentally exhausted for the day.

"Uh... no? All I remember is pushing Saeko out of the way and getting bitten by one of them. After that, everything sort of got fuzzy."1

Kohta, with a relived smile on his face, somehow patted me on the shoulder even though there was three girls clinging onto my form. "It's alright, buddy. We'll explain it to you later. For now, all of us should get out of here."

Giving the big guy a raised eyebrow in response, I continued to act unaware with the current situation. "How are we going to do that- What the hell?!" I purposefully turned and examined the area before spotting the zombie ramp I made with my Necrojek transformation.

Kohta grinned at me in reply, carrying his precious rifle in one hand while holding out my CZ 75B handgun for me to grab.

"It's a long story, man."

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