Barbara didn't hesitate to feast on the piece of meat offered by Zain. She now somewhat trusted Zain since he didn't seem bothered or scared of her actions, which was one of the fears that had been racing through her head at the time. It made her feel normal, despite her uncontrollable urge to eat raw meat.

Zain carefully observed Barbara devour the flesh covered with his blood to see if there were any reactions.

"I still feel a bit hungry. I don't think it worked." She said, standing up to look for more food, which there was plenty of here, in the butcher's back room. She had ignored the carcass and was looking for something else.

'I know Barbara is already on her way to becoming a Zombie, but I thought my blood might overwhelm whatever the others have, considering the mutation I have gone through.

'And it's safer to test what my blood can do on someone like Barbara, who is halfway less than a normal human, before I think about testing it on others. But, since there is no reaction, I'll continue to observe her for some time longer.'

"Where are you going?" Barbara suddenly asked. She could see that he was already at the door and had opened it slightly, ready to leave this place, but her hunger had yet to subside.

"I am going back to the store. You know I can't just stay here, and it's nighttime, I need some rest too. But in your case, it would be best to stay here until it's safe. If others found you like this, they might not react as calmly as I have." Zain replied.

Looking at her own hands, Barbara found herself in a mess. If there were a small amount of blood on her clothes, it wouldn't have been a problem. But when she lowered her head, she saw so much blood and the mess in all her clothes and mostly below her chin. Underneath her mouth, it looked like she had a bib made of blood.

Even if she was a normal human, seeing this sight would make one think twice. In the end, she relented and resumed her search for more meat.

Stepping out of the room, Zain slowly closed the door behind him. He looked left and right before continuing to look around the supermarket to see if he could find anything.

'Maybe, I should head to that control room. I know that Clark is there, but I can't just avoid him. I don't want to stay here too long after all.' Zain thought.

Unbeknownst to him, someone was hiding behind one of the aisles taking a peak and had seen him come out of the butcher's room.

The supermarket had a camping section with a few sleeping bags, quilts and pillows for customers to buy. Mark and Kelly had set up a little camping area for everyone just at the end of the aisle, but they were the only two, and neither of them could sleep.

"So what do you think about the new guy, huh?" Mark said, giving her a nudge on her arm.

"Huh?" Kelly's face turned red in embarrassment. "He's a student, and I'm a teacher. I don't think anything about him."

"Isn't every guy's fantasy to hook up with a good-looking teacher?" Mark joked before shaking his head and adding, "Anyway, I wasn't even asking about that. I was referring to his skills. You saw that, right? He's quite a good fighter. I don't think we could have done what he did against those two Zombies.

"I mean, he said he went to the same university you teach at, right? Are you sure he's a normal student? Because it's a little hard to believe after seeing that," Mark explained.

"Well, I'm just a substitute teacher, and I only recently joined," Kelly replied, hugging her knees and placing her head on them. "I just cover certain subjects when needed, so I don't know most of the students on a personal level."

"Really, well, I wonder how he learnt to fight like that, and he gave us a good tip by telling us to gather something to defend ourselves." Mark picked up a broom and thrust it forward in the air.

Meanwhile, Kelly was left deep in her thoughts with a memory of when she first joined the university flashed in her mind.

A few months back, Kelly had successfully passed the interview process and was having her first official meeting with the Principal. The two of them were in the latter's office for the meeting before she would begin her first day as a substitute teacher.

"You seem like a pleasant person, and I'm sure the students will love you here, but there is just one thing I need to warn you about." The Principal pulled out a fat file and placed it on the table in front of Kelly.

Then, he added, "There's a student here who is a bit complicated. All teachers need to be informed about him. There hasn't been any trouble yet with him, and he seems like a perfectly normal student, but I'm required to give you his file since there is a chance you could be dealing with him sometime in the future."

She picked up the file, and as soon as she opened it, there was the admission form of a student, with his picture and the name, Zain Talen,

———

'There's nothing to worry about.' Kelly told herself. 'I thought his face looked familiar.'

———

Inside the security control room, Clark paid attention to the security footage. However, since he didn't have to worry about the people inside the store, and with nothing going on outside, he decided to watch the recordings, especially of the fight between Zain and the zombies.

'The kid is good, and he's fast as well. He would have made a great sportsman, but I never saw him apply for any clubs.' Clark thought.

When rewinding the clip to the fight, Clark wondered if there were any other incidents in which Zain had to fight? It didn't seem impossible, considering the number of zombies outside. Maybe he fought before when he tried to enter the car parking area? 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝐧𝗼𝐯𝐞𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Rewinding the recording while following Zain, Clark switched to the cameras that showed the very end of the car park. The cameras mainly recorded the main four at the front of the store and would rotate every so often.

So it was the first time Clark saw this recording; however, while rewinding, he suddenly stopped the footage when he saw Zain do something unexpected.

'What...is he doing in that car?' Clark narrowed his eyes and came closer to the screen to have a clear look.

*****

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