[Kardian’s point of view]

We left the lair of the Mutated Nano-Z and then headed straight back to our base. The two teenagers remained quiet while they were following us and took quick glances at me and Xerya. They were dirty and skinny, showing signs of malnourishment and weakness. Although they once were the stars of the tennis club, they were now far from that image of a role model athlete student, which was, honestly, unexpected given how in this chaotic age, physical prowess increased your chances of survival.

Once we reached the apartment we used as a temporary base, I barricaded it and then proceeded to cook some food for the two of them. They looked at me with big eyes and a sense of wonder when I shared it with them.

“Are you alright? Don’t eat too fast, it’s still hot.” I warned them.

“Yes, teacher!” they replied in unison with tears forming in the corners of their eyes.

“These poor children, they must have suffered.” Nataly remarked.

“We did! We did!” they replied with a nod.

“Eat first and then you can tell us all about it.” I told them and then left them to eat while me and Nataly moved to the other room.

“I feel the urge to infect them.” Xerya dropped the bombshell on us.

“Please, don’t!” both me and Nataly retorted.

For a moment there I forgot that she was actually an AI that evolved with the Zombolik Virus as a base in the infected nanobots in my body. All of her ‘instincts’, if I could call them that, weren’t yet tamed by her reason. It was normal for her to go inside a host body and start modifying things as she pleased. In my case, it was what kept me alive and what allowed Nataly to return to her human self, but if through a twist of fate I did not befriend Xerya, I might have been a Nano-Z right now.

“Understood, I will refrain from doing so.”

“Yes, please do...” I said with a wry smile “It’s not good to go around infecting folks...” I added.

“Anyway, what are you planning to do with them?” Nataly asked.

“Do with them? Well, I don’t have anything in mind...” I replied scratching my cheek.

“We could have them lead us to their camp.” she suggested.

“We’ll probably do that, but right now, I want to see what they know. They used to be my students at Resonance High, so I want to know what happened over there, if they are organized in a camp and how many of them managed to survive.”

“You are worried about your students? That’s kind of you.” Nataly complimented.

“Yes. It’s... in a way, my concern since I woke up in this new world.” I told her as I looked back at the entrance to the other room. “It was my initial objective as well. If they are gathered there in a camp or something, with my newfound powers, maybe I can help them last longer or even help them reunite with their parents. I can’t really teach them anything about survival, but I can act as their guardian... and... what?” I asked as I saw Nataly looking at me with a smile.

“You look happy.” she told me.

“I do?” I asked blinking surprised.

“Yes. It’s a first.” she nodded.

“I guess so...” I smiled.

“It suits you.” she pointed out.

“What?”

“Smiling and being happy.”

“I think it would suit you well as well... A lady is always pretty with a smile on!” I declared.

“Pft! You flirt! Besides, I’m an old baba right now, not much of a lady.” she laughed.

“To me, you look like a lady.” I told her.

“I wish.” she shook her head, probably not believing me for now.

While Nataly and Xerya stayed here to keep an eye on the two, I went out to check the perimeter again for any traces of other humans or Nano-Z that might be lurking around. There was a limit to how far away from Nataly I could be, so my range of action was rather limited. This limitation was something that Xerya did not like and was currently trying to find a solution to.

“Why does it take so long to research these implants?” I asked her while heading back up after I did my sweep.

“During the research process, there’s an experimental stage during which nanobots are reprogrammed and sent to act out as various parts of the implant. Sometimes, they don’t work and either end up being heavily damaged or completely destroyed. Almost 67% of all the nanobots you collected ended up being eliminated this way. Each nanocore assimilation isn’t completely successful either. Anywhere between 40% to 95% of the total nanobots can be extracted each time. This being said, I mostly focus on sending nanobots to repair and reinforce your current implants.” she explained.

“That sounds like a waste, so how many nanobots exactly do you use for research right now?” I asked her.

“5% are doing active theoretical research and 7% are undergoing practical experiments.”

“Is there any way of improving this process?” I asked.

“At the moment, no, but if you were to find the original blueprints and even an intact copy of the original Debug Version of the Zombolik Virus, I could, in theory, deepen my understanding of my functions and then improve myself.”

“That sounds like an incredibly difficult task to accomplish...” I told her.

“It is. We do not even know the location of the laboratory where the Zombolik Virus was conceived.”

“And that is if that scientist didn’t already delete all the data and evidence related to him... I would have done that, so I don’t see why someone who is smarter than me wouldn’t.” I shrugged.

“That is indeed a true statement. At this point in time, there is probably no more original version of the Zombolik Virus since just as it happened with me, the program evolved in all the Nano-Z on this planet. All the nanocores I have assimilated so far have Zombolik Virus version going from 1.6773, which is the lowest, up to 3.4454, which is the highest.”

“Lots of numbers...” I nodded.

“The first number represents the original version, and it increases depending on how many new options or changes were made to it through the detailed process of experimentation. The numbers after the point are actually trial and error counts. The more numbers there are the longer it took for the Nano-Z to evolve to the next version. So far, a nanocore you picked up before meeting with miss Nataly contains the largest number recorded: 1.343248235. That Nano-Z was either extremely unlucky or extremely bad at researching its own programs.” Xerya explained, and maybe it was just me, but it felt as though she was pitying the poor fellow who took so long to develop.

“What’s our number?” I asked.

“Our version number is: 6.334”

“We went up to 6? I thought we were at 5?” I asked a bit surprised.

“The number had to be modified after we rescued miss Nataly. Operating two host bodies at the same time was not a standard feature of the 5 version.” she explained.

“Ah, makes sense. Anyway, I’ll keep in mind what you said, but for now, we should go back up and see what those kids have to say.” I said and then looked up at the stairs.

When we returned to the apartment, the two teenagers were staying on their chairs, quietly, waiting for my return. The good meal seemed to have done wonders for them as they regained some color in their cheeks and they felt more energetic than before. The look in their eyes also calmed down, and they stopped trembling from fear. It was a good change, and all of it was thanks to the miracle that was Instant Food! Meanwhile, Xerya, in Nataly’s body, placed herself as a guard at the door.

“So, Zuiza and Yumino, what happened to you two?” I asked as I took a seat in front of them.

They looked at each other and then back at me, the first to speak was the girl.

“Well... we ran away from Styler’s Gang... we couldn’t take it anymore...” she looked down and started to shake.

“The strong rule... the weak perish... That’s their rule, their law, but it’s not something that can help a bunch of kids like us to survive in this zombie-infested world. It was good at first because we were part of the tennis club, but we weren’t as strong as the others... Once they got their hands on some weapons, things just spiraled out of control and... and we had no choice. Believe us, mister Pandora, we had no choice!” the boy said as he looked at me with tears in his eyes.

“I understand, don’t worry... I’m not judging you about what you did to survive... no one is... I just want to know what happened to you and our High School. What’s this Styler’s Gang that you are talking about? I wasn’t able to get close to Resonance High since the beginning of the lockdown, so... I don’t know much.” I showed them a warm smile as I tried to ease them into telling me their tale.

“Calm down first and then start with the beginning...” Nataly told them from the other side of the room.

“Yes, she’s right, calm down first. As long as you’re here with me, you’re safe.” I nodded.

The two looked at each other and then holding their hands, waited for about 10 minutes or so until they gathered enough courage to speak up. In all this time, I stayed there by their side, waiting for them patiently. I did not want to rush them because if I did, chances were that they would not say anything or the fear of what might happen to them could lead them into saying whatever they believed could help them survive this ordeal, outrageous lies included.

Back when I first started to teach at Resonance High, there was a case of bullying, but instead of trying to make the victim feel comfortable enough to come up to me, I treated him as though he was the one to blame for being weak. It was an awful and stupid thing to do, and I only realized my mistake about two weeks later after studying some random material on teenage relationships and behavior. When I realized that what I did was exactly what the experts were advising others not to do, the first thing I did was to apologize to him. Afterwards, little by little, just like you would care for a frightened kitten that wasn’t comfortable with human presence, I managed to ease my way into his heart. Eventually, he confessed everything and then I was able to take the appropriate actions against those bullies. I didn’t expel them, I just called them in for a session with our High School’s psychologist. Two of them changed their ways, while the third one ignored us completely and continued with his ways. Eventually, we suspended that fellow.

According to my colleagues, what I went through with those bullies was something every teacher had to go through at one point or another. There were a lot of students in the school and only so many teachers who could watch out for them. Each one of us had to do our part in order to maintain the order and offer a beautiful High School experience for the children. It sounded nice on paper, but it was very stressful for us, and we couldn’t do it all the time, we were only human.

These thoughts were going through my mind while I was trying to have them open up to me, but I forgot that a bullying case among students in a High School could not be compared to the life and death scenario that was taking place right now. These two had to survive all these months while thinking that the world ended. Right now, in front of them, I wasn’t their teacher but just another survivor, and I forgot about that tiny, yet crucial fact.

“Once the alarms went off, the teachers told us to stay inside... there was chaos on the streets.” Zuiza started as she looked down at her hands “Yulia was late to school that day, but... right before she reached the gates, one of those things jumped on her. The PE teacher closed the gates fast and... all I could do was watch it all happen from the safety of my classroom.” tears started to roll down her cheeks as she grabbed her head “They teared her apart and... and the adults didn’t do anything...”

“The teachers told us to stay in our classroom... some of the Nano-Z managed to get in and they were tearing apart everyone they encountered. They moved slow... but it was a closed space and back then... no one had the guts to deal a killing blow. We were scared and... we chickened out.” Yumino continued as he placed his hand on Zuiza’s shoulder to calm her down.

“The first day, we merely ran away and hid from them, but... some of the teachers and students started to fight back. By the fourth day, the ground floor of the school was sealed off. We then made some rules for surviving and stuck to them... News was coming in from all directions, whatever was going on was happening all over the world. The military was mobilized from day one, but the numbers of the Nano-Z just kept going up.”

“No one knew who was going to turn over night and there was no way to find out who was going to be next... The scans revealed nothing...”

“Food was scarce, but still enough, then... on the 8th day since we got stuck in the school, the army arrived and killed all the Nano-Z on the ground floor. They established a perimeter and brought in supplies. They setup a camp while more and more survivors were coming in.”

“The first floor was used for those who had to be isolated... If they didn’t turn in four days, they were safe to go out of the classrooms.”

“We thought we were saved, but... the soldiers weren’t too happy with the news they were getting through the coms...”

“We hoped that our parents made it through... I had a younger brother who was in kindergarten.”

“I had a younger sister, but we never heard of them again.”

“It wasn’t as if we had given up hope, but after the second week went by, we gained the courage to ask the military folk, and they told us that if they were caught outside during 0 Day, chances were that they got infected, but if they stayed inside at that time, then maybe... there was still a chance.”

“By the time the second month went by, we had given up hope completely, but it wasn’t as if the military stayed with us until then...” Zuiza said as she looked up at me with a wry smile “You were hoping for that, right teach?” she asked.

“Yes...” I looked down.

“A month after they came to Resonance High, they lost contact with their command center. This forced them to rethink the gravity of the situation... Captain Mcdeil Darvo decided that it was best if we moved in a big group out of Resonance High and headed to a more secure location, the Callipso Stadium. Two other groups were heading there and according to them, it had enough space to ensure our survival.” Yumino said as he then took a deep breath and looked at Zuiza “We had to make a choice then.”

“A choice?” I asked.

“Yes, between staying and risking our lives to go with them... Now, when I think about it, we should have decided to leave.” he showed us an expression of deep regret.

“Only around a quarter of the initial survivors in Resonance High stayed behind...” Zuiza looked up at me “Everyone else left... including most of the teachers and students who were brave enough to do so... The ones who were left behind were either those with ulterior motives or too cowardly to step out and face those things...” she said as she looked up at me.

“The strong survive... and the weak must serve the strong.” Yumino said.

“What’s with that?” I asked furrowing my brow.

“The new law that was implemented a week after the military left... The strong were all those who were brave enough to go out and face the Nano-Z... the weak were those left behind.” Zuiza explained.

“We were part of the strong, but... so were the others.” Yumino clenched his fists.

“The others?” I asked.

“They were teachers and students who were strong... They looked down on the others...” Zuiza answered.

“It didn’t take long before we started to notice that something was off. Some of the girls would go with some of them and return much later, tired and with marks on them. The boys were ordered to do menial jobs and if anyone complained, they were told to head out the door and fight a Nano-Z. If they won, they would be taken on the next Hunt, but if they couldn’t... well, they would be taken care of by the strong the next day.” Yumino explained.

“That’s awful... but the teachers didn’t say anything about this?” I asked.

“They were the first ones to convince the others to accept and go with this new law. They were rewarded with girls or boys, depending on what they preferred. They were part of the Strong because they had knowledge that the students needed, but they weren’t the only ones. The other adults who stayed behind were the same...” Zuiza said with disgust.

“We were safe because we were strong, but... every day that went by felt like we were becoming more and more like savages.” Yumino let out a sigh “Three groups formed soon after... the Styler’s Gang, the Eurepide, and the Exiles. We were part of the first group, and initially, we thought it was the best of the bunch, but... as time went by, we realized that we were just blind to the suffering of those around us and only clung to our own pathetic little survival.”

“The weak or the pretty ones became slaves to the others. Rapes, beatings, and killings became a regular occurrence. If not for Yumino, I would have ended up as a toy for the boys by now...” Zuiza said as she looked up at him.

“Why did you leave?” Nataly asked.

“We left because we started hearing rumors about the others... the Eurepides turned cannibal. The last slave we sent over, Cassan, a former classmate of ours, although he was a bit of a geek and not that strong because of his asthma, ended up as the main dish of those bastards.” she looked down.

What? I was so shocked to hear this that I almost shouted at them not to tell lies, that those students and teachers would never stoop so low, but I stopped myself just in time.

Nothing good would come out of me shouting at them. I had to let them finish their story before I could make a judgement.

Nano-Z were one thing. Those things were controlled by the corrupted nanobots inside them and were forced to behave like cannibalistic zombies, but those survivors were humans, even more so, they had been fellow classmates or even neighbors in the same city. To become cannibals and begin eating each other was something only an extremely twisted mind could bend towards.

“Three days later, during a Hunt, the Hunts are what we called a scavenge run, we stumbled upon a Eurepide party. They were dragging with them a survivor they found on the way. They then bragged to us about how delicious that man was going to be, just like our latest ‘gift’ to them. They didn’t leave any room for interpretation...”

“That’s just sick! Didn’t they have the automatic stores? The drones are still delivering food as long as you have a universal credit card. If they ran out, they could just scavenge the area and search for one... to recur to eating other humans that’s just... Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.” I said as I placed a hand over my mouth, but Xerya made sure to keep my reflux reflex in check.

“We know, teach... but what could we do? That’s how they chose to live from now on! The Stylers want to show off as the strong and use the weak as slaves and puppets, the Eurepides turned from math enthusiasts to cannibals, and the Exiles are acting like punk raiders from old movies! They trade the weak among each other and... no matter how strong you are, there’s a limit... there’s a limit to what you can handle...” Zuiza said with tears in her eyes, she was acting as though this was their fault, but there was no one here who could judge them.

“Mister Pandora, I’m sorry, we did everything we could to survive, but hunting other humans, eating them... or even acting with them as we would with slaves was too much. We had to run away. Even if this world ended up so messed up that Earth abandoned us, we couldn’t live like that!” Yumino declared as he held the girl in his arms.

“I understand, and no one here is telling you that you should have acted like that. It was wrong and even if you did some unspeakable acts, I’m sure you only did so in order to survive. So, it’s alright, we won’t hold it against you.” I tried to reassure them.

“You did good for running away even if this might have been a dangerous move in its own way.” Nataly told them.

“Yes... it’s dangerous because now we’ve become outcasts. If they catch us, we’ll be turned into slaves...” Zuiza told us as she looked down.

Letting out a sigh, I then leaned back and scratched the back of my head. I looked towards Nataly who simply shook her head. This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting to hear about the place I once held dear. In a way, there was still this foolish hope inside me that maybe things weren’t that bad, and everything could still turn out alright, but maybe I was simply blinded by the image painted by the past world.

“For now, just take a moment to relax... If you need anything, let me know...” I said as I got up from my seat. “We’ll be outside.”

“Yes... and thank you mister Pandora for saving us.” Zuiza said as she wiped off her tears.

“Yes, thank you!” Yumino added as he bowed his head.

“That’s good...” I nodded and then walked outside with Xerya following right behind me.