She stopped for a moment as what I said clicked in her brain. “It depends… What do I have to do for the power?” I could tell that she was a very untrusting person, but this is getting ridiculous. “How about I take you back, and you can think of something I might want for the power? I don’t have time to waste convincing you I’m trying to help you right now, I have a bunch of prisoners I got to kill.”

“Why do you want me to come with you?” I didn’t like girls like her. She was overly argumentative to the point of annoyance. She already pegged me as a bad guy just because I’m a male, and now she’s trying to prove her own point. “Fine, I offered help, but you’re so set in your ways, you obviously don’t want it. Let’s go our separate ways, I’ll go deal with the bad guys and you can go back to being a dumb bitch.”

I didn’t give her a chance to come with me at that point, and she was so guarded that she didn’t speak as I packed up a bus while storing another and left. I didn’t think it would be the end of her, but the next time we met, it would most likely be when she was begging for food with the other refugees. I didn’t take the bus back but went straight to the college.

They might have weapons, but I highly doubted they’d pose a problem to me. It was going to be smooth sailing for the first few years. I was just too strong, too powerful compared to everyone else. Right now, no one stands a chance of killing me. Sure, a sniper rifle round might put me down, but those were more rare than you would think, I don’t even think AK bullets could kill me, sure they’d hurt but besides leaving welts, it might take hundreds of bullets to do any real damage and I wasn’t just going to sit around and take it.

I was in a killing mood as I cranked phonk on the bus radio as I thought about the situation again. I was clearly trying to help, but she took the worst out of every situation. Even when she heard I had a girlfriend and was tied to the police, she still didn’t trust me. It just goes to show you can lead a horse to water, but she’ll think you’re a sexual assaulter.

The song changed over from ‘Murder on My Mind’ by Kordhell to ‘By the Sword’ by Jake Hill as I looked at the building. The music was blaring loud enough to give me away, but I wasn’t trying to hide myself; I was looking for a fight. “Oh, bitch I got some razors clawing at my fucking stomach. I’m from the shadows. Left the gallows, made the summit.”

The loud, blaring music finally got the attention of the lookouts for the building. The prisoners would have set lookouts in case the police showed up, but seeing as it was a single man, they would lower their guard. He tried to shout as I pretended I couldn’t hear him. “Turn that music off!” “What!? I can’t hear you over my music.” “I said turn that fucking music off!” “I still can’t hear you over the music, let me turn it down a bit.”

I cranked it up instead; the radio on the bus had a surprisingly loud speaker system. He was done playing as he pulled out a gun. “Turn that shit off or I’ll fucking kill you!” “I still can’t hear you, you’ll need to speak louder!” “I SAID TURN THAT FUCKING MUSIC OFF OR I’LL-.” A bone spike pierced his hand. He looked down at his arm in surprise. The rest of his goons didn’t even notice him screaming behind them, and they tried to look threatening to me.

I finally turned the music down after playing with them. The music reached its crescendo, and they could now hear their leader crying over the golfball-sized hole in his hand. “Oh, I was just going to say.” “As my blood runs black, you can tell we’re not the same.” “I’m just waiting for the beat to drop to kill all of you.” “Cause I’ll live by the sword and I’ll die by the fucking sword!” As the phonk switches over to metal, I kill the two guards and put another bone through the ‘leader’s’ other hand. He was a powered, and I wanted to activate him before I killed him and turned him into a zombie. 

Someone from an upper window is watching everything as he began to fire in my direction, even with all the time in the world, he sees someone kill so easily and effortlessly, it makes his aim worse from his shaking hands. I don’t even move to avoid the bullets, his aim is that bad, as I walked over and clamped a hand around the man’s throat. He grips and grapples with me, but both his hands are slick with his own blood.

Moving inside, I put another spike through the guard at the door. He was supposed to stop me by dropping down a makeshift barrier, but he froze from seeing a living terminator. I punch him to death, making sure not to destroy his brain so he has a higher chance of becoming a zombie. These men were going to be core fodder for me if I could make it happen.

The man who had shot at me from the second story thought it best to cut his losses, as I hear him hit the ground outside in an attempt to flee. If he had a strengthened body and the ground wasn’t so soft, he might have made it away. He crashes hard into the mud, knocking the wind out of himself, and as he’s trying to get up to run, I fling another spike back out the door I just came through and pierce his chest on the side without the heart.

Making my way up top, the gunfire and screams from the leader, if not the music, had already caught everyone else's attention. I could feel them all packed into the end hallway, which was a big dining room with the door closed. The music could barely reach here as it shifted to a different song. I pull out one of my CD players as I begin the next song. Since I was in a phonk mood, why not go with a classic phonk song, one of the originals.

I switch through the list as I put on the song I want, and I also yell inside. “Sorry about the hold up, just picking the song I’m going to kill you to.” RAVE by Dxrk begins to play as I go toward the door. The hail of gunfire stopped by the door itself and the makeshift bone shield I placed in front of it. A man yelled from inside. “W-wait, we don’t have to-.” I silenced him with a bone spike.

The men could only scream as the spike hit them all with precision, it was as if I could see where they all were, because I could by scanning the room beforehand. I left the dots near the walls alone; they were most likely the women in there. The prisoners might try to hold them hostage to get their freedom. As I thought that, another voice yelled out over the screams of fear and pain.

“If you don’t stop, we’ll kill the wom-!” Another spike shot through the door as it pierced his knee. I would be upset over the death of a girl, but it would be the same level of upset I’d be for failing a mission in a video game. The women were more than likely killed in the first timeline. I had seen far too much death to care about a single person. If I could save them, I would, but I wasn’t going out of my way and risking my own life to guarantee their safety.

The gunfire had all but stopped, only the few I could feel powers with still stood, they might have had guns but I wasn’t going to pierce them unless they fired at me, I didn’t want the zombies I’d control in the future to have weakpoints like giant holes in their hands or knees like I did to the first guy I choked to death.