The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro didn't have to even turn his head to know that he screwed up. He could feel the metallic teeth sink deeper, through his skin and into his bones.

'How the f*ck?' He couldn't believe that his very hard skin was penetrated by a mere zombie.

He felt a cold chill run up his spine. For a second he was rooted in place, not because he was poisoned or anything but because he was shocked. There were never any zombies, he could remember in his past life, he had no idea how this would affect him.

His thoughts were disturbed by a vibrating Ryu. The staff almost exploded with anger, it was furious that a mere undead dared to sink its teeth on his master. Kiro quickly acted, and pierced the head of the zombie with his staff, it immediately turned into mush.

Ding!

[You've been infected by the zombie bite. You will turn into a zombie, the effects will last a single minute. Have fun.]

"Guys, get—" He felt his tongue go numb, his vision was starting to go awry too. It was as if his eyes were covered with fog.

His worst fears were recognised, when he lost his ability to think. He looked through his eyes, as though he was looking through a foggy window. He could see his friends had now noticed his blunder.

The changes were visible to them too, he had turned pale with roots for veins plastered all over his body. They stood there dumbly not knowing how to react to the situation.

They all had expected at least, to be Ishaan who made such a stupid mistake. But, they were greatly disappointed, as their leader came rushing at them.

He wasn't like the other zombies, what made him terrifying was the fact that he had retained all his skills. He was now a brainless killer machine for a whole minute.

"Fall back!" Hiro shouted which broke their trance and they started heading for the door.

Though they didn't make it, Zombie Kiro was at the door. With a dumb smirk on his face. Hiro however didn't stop, he went straight for his friend, his shield ready to blast him out of the way.

He was however met with the strongest kick he'd ever felt in his entire life. It blasted him through the room and right at the centre of enemy territory.

While zombie Kiro was still walking at a snails pace, he'd occasionally blink, making him really faster than the rest.

Ishaan was quick on his feet and activated his force shield. Protecting everyone. He had a bad feeling that, if they were also bitten by Kiro they'd turn.

They had no idea of the duration the state would take. They just knew Kiro was faster and stronger, therefore he could infect them all without a problem. Ishaan's only prayer then, was that, his indestructible shield would remain so.

Zombie Kiro walked slowly towards them. It looked like the body was fighting itself. Kiro could not control his body, he was like a prisoner in his own body. But he could occasionally impede its movements.

He decided to reserve his energy, for when the thing attempts to bite his friends. That's when he'd have to put his all into stop that from happening.

At the back of the shield, a swarm of zombies had reached and were pounding at it with all their might but none of them looked back to see, their only concern was the zombie in front of them. The zombie with great skills.

"What the hell are we gonna do?" Nikolai asked.

"We can't beat him, I know for sure. Especially now that he has no limiters, we can only hope the time he has to be a zombie is little, otherwise we're doomed." Hiro answered him.

Zombie Kiro disappeared from their field of vision. He appeared overhead. The 4 inside the shield started darting their eyes, looking for where he'd be attacking.

He hadn't heard the shatter yet, but he shouted, "Get down everyone!" They did as he commanded.

He jumped upwards, with nothing but his shield as his weapon. He was ready this time, this time he'd be sturdier than the last time, that's what he thought anyway.

His fist and the shield met, and Hiro was sent plummeting to the concrete ground. That disturbance helped, because a second later there was yet another force shield.

"Please, Felix, keep healing me, I think we will have to play hide and seek with Kiro like this." Ishaan made his thoughts known, and it was a command.

One that Felix didn't very much like, but they were in a bind. So he let it go and went on to feed him more mana.

"I thought your shield couldn't be broken into?" Nikolai mocked.

Ishaan simply smirked. If it was him from the past, he would've taken offence but he'd liked thinking he'd grown from that. It was him after all keeping them from getting bitten by Kiro.

"You should be thinking up countermeasures instead. He will break in again. Here he comes..."

With a single bending kick, the force shield cracked. Then the energy ball shattered and disappeared into nothingness.

"Is it me or there's absolutely no time between him attacking and activating his skill?" Nikolai asked, jumping from one side to another to avoid the full effects of bending kick.

"How do you guys not know that Kiro doesn't need to activate his skills, they're just like breathing to him..." He took way too long explaining and he had no hopes of dodging the man that was already in front of him.

Hiro stood there dumbfounded, waiting for the attack to annihilate him completely. He could sense it from afar, palm crashing had definitely evolved into new heights, and the attack that would make contact with his chest in a millisecond from then would shatter his every bone and turn him into mush.

He instinctively closed his eyes readying for the worst. He felt something hot burn within his chest, he figured, that's what it felt like. He'd never died in-game before, so he wouldn't know.

The heat travelled from his chest to the pits of his stomach, then everywhere in his body. He felt a bit numb.

He heard a loud clanking sound in front of him.