Becoming a Monster

Chapter 25 It Wasnʼt A Misunderstanding

”Guys…itʼs all a misunderstanding.” Henry didnʼt plan on moving, after he and Noah both revealed themselves, they kept their distance. Even though the opposing group could tell now that Noah is most likely not a zombie, it didnʼt minimize any of the tension between them. Especially considering Noahʼs appearance and demeanor currently.

It became more apparent to them how much of a threat Noah could be when he looked at each of them one at a time. The way he observed them one by one made them all uneasy.

Noah first took notice of the one who could possibly be the one called Ken who appeared to be the leader during the conversations. He wasnʼt hard to spot since he was the one in front of the other two and the last thing he heard from them was Ken telling the two to follow so it could only be him.

He noted the appearance of Ken which at this point in time was a good representation of someoneʼs strength. He knew that in the future, you wouldnʼt be able to tell how strong someone is based solely on their appearance since, as of now, stats donʼt reflect on your image.

Ken didnʼt appear to be a muscular character, but he still had a solid build, mostly likely from his genetics. With short brown hair and full beard neatly trimmed. He appeared very mature but that meant nothing to Noah, what he really cared about was only his build and what weapons they had.

His other two followers were most likely his ʼmusclesʼ which makes sense in Noahʼs opinion. He was the average wealthy thug. He had the lackeys who did his errands and then two bodyguard like people who had his back to promote his standing. Even though this was a prestigious school, there were still many students who were able to get in due to sports scholarships and met the bare minimum grades. There were also other students who just had rich parents or just had rich connections, but they werenʼt the brightest, which might be the case for Kenʼs two followers.

Money could do anything, it could even say, you know, influence a few grades here and there.

Noah couldnʼt tell which person was Dave or Phil, he didnʼt care about matching a name to a face. All he needed to know was that one was tall and overweight while the other one was short and a little bit stocky.

After assessing the first issue of the opposing danger, he then observed their weapons. Ken wielded a two hand battle axe, even though he still had to hold it with two hands, he didnʼt appear to be struggling which Noah took account of. Most likely he leveled up once or twice and put his points into strength.

The short guy, coincidentally, also wielded an axe but unlike Ken he held two one handed battle axes. Noah couldnʼt use game logic to define the personʼs build path, if he did then he would assume that he was going the barbarian route, also putting all of his points into probably strength, agility and stamina. But this isnʼt a game and these guys could also be stupid, being able to use magic is tempting, who knows if they wasted their points early on.

Lastly he looked at the bigger guy of the bunch, he didnʼt worry about the guy Zack from before. If a fight broke out, he doubted that he would participate, same as last time. But the bigger guy was kind of weird. Well it was weird in this setting since the most common monster they have all been fighting lately was zombies. The weapon the guy wielded were two metallic gloves, fitted with an extra metal layer around the knuckles.

Part of Noah wished that they would try to attack him so he could increase his stash on weapons but at the same time he wasnʼt sure if he could take them on. One, he couldnʼt be sure what level they were on and two, he already met two people who gained something from gaining the early achievement, who knows if one of the three also had one.

Yet even though he knew that thereʼs a chance he couldnʼt take them on, that didnʼt mean he would go without a fight. Death didnʼt scare him, it never did. But now he had something he wanted to live for and he didnʼt want to lose that chance to live it.

As he observed the three, he chose to stay quiet to allow Henry to resolve the issue. While he was waiting, he channeled his soul to his spider to stir it awake just in case.

”Guys…itʼs all a misunderstanding. When me and Zack went to check on the situation, we couldnʼt see properly and got caught up in the moment. But heʼs definitely not a zombie and he wants to take shelter here for a little while.”

After saying his piece, Henry waited for the others to respond. He saw the three look towards each other and then they all looked towards Zack on the next floor who shrieked down to avoid them. Before they addressed Henry, they did one last look over to Noah. You would think that it should be easy to be able to tell a human and a zombie apart, but when they viewed his appearance once more even they believed that it made sense why Zack saw him as such. They all killed zombies too, but why did it appear like Noah bathed in their blood?

It was logical why they would be wary, but the wariness didnʼt last long on the leader Ken. Even though Noah has a dangerous vibe, he was still alone and the only weapon he wielded was a small mallet. They didnʼt have to have a conflict with the person, but! Ken also wasnʼt worried if the conversation led to them conflicting with each other either.

”I see, I see…well we wouldnʼt mind anyone staying here…but thereʼs a couple of things that we need to cover. First, you need to pay up if you want to stay here and I donʼt mean money, Iʼm talking about the gold, you should know what Iʼm talking about. Second, I was told that you broke through one of the windows to get in here and you also let in a beast. Youʼve basically endangered us for future attacks now, as well as potentially letting a dangerous creature inside that couldʼve harmed us if you couldnʼt put it down.

I think we deserve some kind of compensation donʼt you think? And I donʼt mean gold…I want whatever it dropped.”

A fake smile generated on Kenʼs face, soon after, his two followers also wore the same kind of smile. Noah was sure that this group did these things before the apocalypse.

Thankfully he planned ahead and was already planning on releasing his spider who seemed to finally be stirring awake.

He was already desperate for weapons and this confrontation would be just what he needed. But, he also had to be sure of one thing. He didnʼt mind teaching them a lesson and taking their belongings since they were also trying to do the same thing to him.

”And what will you do if I say no?” His eyes narrowed as he asked the most important question.

What Noah needed to know the most was would they stoop low enough to want to kill to get what belongs to him. ʼAn eye for an eye, tooth for toothʼ Noah was particular when it came to this verse. He always wanted for others to feel the suffering that they put him through and now he can just do it himself.

After voicing his question, silence soon followed. The smiles on two of the group membersʼ faces including Kens turned into a scowl while the shorter memberʼs smile became one of excitement and eagerness. His smile signaled a warning to Noah that this may not be the first time that theyʼve experienced a similar situation. He didnʼt have to imagine too much about what that smile signified.

While the four stared each other down, there was still one person that wasnʼt a part of this staring contest, yet he was the most affected.

Henryʼs eye quickly darted back and forth between the two groups. He didnʼt want to be a part of what was happening. If they ended up confronting one another then he would also become caught up in the situation. He wanted to leave and just become a bystander but whoever drives away the other would surely take out their frustrations on him afterwards wouldnʼt they?

But he didnʼt have the courage to choose a side. Noah was able to kill that dog-like creature by himself. And his group…well heʼs seen what happened to the last group that declined their ʼtaxʼ to stay here. He still regrets being a part of their group ever since then. Everything happened so fast, the zombies, the blood and especially the way some people adapted. He was sure that Ken and his group killed people before, the way they treated humans worse than the zombies. Which was also why he didnʼt want to go against them. Henry didnʼt have long to think about his options before Noah finally got an answer.

”I donʼt think you get it…I wasnʼt asking you, look around.” Ken nodded his head towards the door that led towards the cafeteria. When Noah looked in the direction he saw more groups of people fearfully looking in their direction. But when he observed their faces, he didnʼt notice even a hint of curiosity of what was happening, all he saw was traumatized fear. Even then, he noticed the deep bruising on some of the men and womenʼs faces that didnʼt appear like animal or zombie attacks.

He didnʼt become worried seeing them but his solemn expression deepened. Ken seemed to enjoy the small change in his demeanor, he felt encouraged to talk more.

”What, itʼs been two, three hours and help still hasnʼt come? Phones arenʼt working either? Itʼs now everyone for themselves. If you want to get out of this mess then you should be obedient or youʼll end up just like them. Besides…” The smile Ken wore disappeared and he also became serious.

”Chest doesnʼt only drop for monsters…”

”!!”

That was all Noah needed to hear, unlike the sorry act they assumed he would display like the others. Instead he wore a playful smile and his eyes that lacked life held a crazed desire within them. He didnʼt have to ask what Ken meant by saying that, because he has had this thought ever since he was going to kill Derrick. The revelation that chest would drop from killing people made Noah more thoughtful for the future.

He was dreading having to meet more people like Derrick and Ken and he wasnʼt going to get much out of it besides experience. But then he remembered something more important.

ʼWhat happens to the gold? Does that mean all of it will drop too??ʼ The thought of obtaining lumps on lumps of gold morphed his playful smile to become as crazed as his eyes.

If at first Ken and his group were confused about his decision, now they fully understood whatʼs about to happen next as they positioned themselves for a fight.

They werenʼt afraid of him at all since they outnumbered him one to three and he only had a mallet as his weapon. But they were still wary of someone who showed no ounce of fear towards them in this situation, even more so because he appeared to be insane.

”Hahahaa…You know…” everyone became tense when they heard Noah speaking, Henry, who already decided not to be a part of what was happening also became tense even though he wasnʼt being addressed. Noahʼs tone during this heated moment came out to feel unpleasant. The mood was heavy and everyone knew someone was about to die and yet he was becoming more stimulated by the second.

”I wanted to come here to fix the misunderstanding that I was a threat to you, but….IT TURNS OUT IT WASNʼT A MISUNDERSTANDING AFTER ALL!”