Two doctors ran through the corridor. One was a true beauty, with luscious blonde hair and sky-blue eyes; her face oozed perfection. Her body was even more amazing with d-cup-sized breasts, a slim waist, and a perky butt that made you want to take a bite out of it. If she became a model, she’d be one of the most well-known. As young as she was, she was also a brilliant surgeon, able to do many operations that only people with decades more experience were able to do. 

The other doctor was similarly skilled but hardly as good-looking. He looked like someone doing a young Sheldon cosplay, but somehow even more nerdy. He was even the most skilled pediatrician in the state, with many parents traveling hours out of their way to meet with him. Thick coke bottle glasses made his eyes appear larger as his thin, wimpy body was already heaving at the single hallway they had to run. He took in deep gasps as the more fit female flipped a table over before pushing it under the door handles.

The zombies that were chasing them had already proven they could open doors. It was only through sheer luck that they managed to survive until that point. Most of the hospital had been changed, there might have been ten humans left after hundreds were converted. Doctor Wimpy was shaking like a leaf as he pissed himself far earlier in the day and it didn’t matter to either of them. If they made it out of the situation, then he could be upset over being so afraid of a scary situation that his bladder gave up.

The door bowed inward as the horde hit it all at once. It would only be minutes before it would buckle, and they’d be eaten.

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Meanwhile, in the office across the street…

“Another is coming!” An older gentleman yelled out as he ran back, the zombie noticing the man was older and on the smaller side, ran towards him in a desperate attempt to consume his flesh and turn him. These tier two zombies were smarter than the slow and dumb kind but fell slightly short of humans. The human who became a zombie was already not that bright, so as a zombie, he didn’t see the obvious sneak attack coming as a chair and fire extinguisher bottom slammed into his head and back as he was tunneled through the stacked desks, only allowing a single person through at a time.

The large bodybuilder-sized man holding the fire extinguisher grabbed the zombie and dragged him further in while the beautiful secretary picked up the pieces of the chair that finally fell apart. Soon they’d be out of weapons, but they had already killed eight zombies this way, not including the five of their coworkers who also changed. Every single one of them regretted going to work that day, and even though they were told not to, the boss sprang a last-minute job with double overtime pay if they showed up through the flood they thought was going to be over by now.

At least their dipshit boss who had them come in was one of the first to change, it made everything slightly better knowing that the reason they were stuck in that hell was dead already. He was not only warned once but twice and had not given the information to his employees; otherwise, why would any of them have bothered showing up?

Another zombie entered, and hundreds inside the hospital, with ten or twenty percent leaving. It was unfortunate that they were right next to the hospital and were receiving some of the spillover. Most were still inside, but not all. The athletic secretary ran this time. The zombie was stupid enough not to realize her porn-quality acting, her screaming sounding more angry than panicked.

Still, this one was special. It sensed the attack coming before it did and got its hand up to stop his head from being smashed… He was knocked down from the sheer force behind the blow instead, then he had his head smashed much more vigorously than the other zombies did, turning his head into chunks. The man didn’t notice the core roll out as he smashed the zombie’s head… But his sister did. Moving up to grab it, her body froze as she touched it.

Her body seized for a few seconds as it began to shift. Her nails and teeth lengthened, as did her muscle mass. The athletic body bulked up before shrinking to an even smaller size than she originally was. Her black eyes dilated before becoming more cat-like. Her ears elongated and became pointed as hair began to grow on the outside of them to keep them warm. Growling at her brother, she hunched over and held her stomach. “Luca… Luna is hungry.”

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Meanwhile, at the nearby gas station…

A zombie moved slowly through the chest-high water. This might have been one of the smartest zombies alive. He knew that sticking around the hospital might have been safer, especially if they managed to turn the rest of them, but it would hinder his growth. Zombies needed to feed to grow in rank; he just knew it instinctively.

He needed to find humans and eat them to grow. He didn’t know the zombie virus was attempting to perpetuate itself by having the zombies make more zombies; he just knew instinctively that was how to get stronger. And to be strong was a good thing. That was why he headed here first. It was an area that some might come to, but it was submerged enough that they might not notice him at first.

He couldn’t really plan, but just following his instincts was telling him this was a good spot to ambush people when they showed up… Which was right about when he was ambushed. Someone had been raising crocodiles in the back of an abandoned school, and the massive flood made it a paradise for them. Jaws clamped down as the death roll began ripping the zombie's arm off. Zombies couldn’t feel pain, but they could still fear something. For the zombie to get injured, it knew that whatever injured it was dangerous.

It tried to flee, but the crocodile wasn’t satisfied with just the arm. Gulping it down quickly, it pursued the slow zombie. Nature ran its course as the crocodile ate his leg, then fully killed him, eating his head. Animals could turn into zombies, but they could also evolve. The race inside the crocodile began as the zombie flesh attempted to turn it, while the core, if exposed, would possibly allow it to gain a power… The core won out.

The crocodile began to expand, slowly at first, before speeding up. The animal also knows instinctively how to use its newfound power. The crocodile was already big, now that it could grow itself to twice its size, there wasn’t much in the world that could compete with it.

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Meanwhile, in a boat near the entrance to the hospital…

An idiot loudly sang along to the Soggy Bottom Boys rendition of ‘I am a man of constant sorrow’. “For six long years, I’ve been in trouble. No pleasure here on Earth I’ve found. For in this world, I’m bound to ramble. I have no friends to help me now! He has no friends to help him now! Well, if I listened to one of Duke’s favorites on my way here. Got to kill zombies to one of Dominic’s to keep it even.”