Chapter 228 - 228 - A Different Mutant

Yue's eyes went wide. The burning sensation in his chest returned... he could feel his lungs struggling without air.

Fan Xui held his face carefully and blew a small bubble close to his lips.

He desperately breathed it in.

Fan cupped his mouth close before he could breathe in water. With a firm hand on his waist, he pulled him up to the surface.

Yue collapsed onto the ground puking out all the water he had swallowed.... gingerly he touched his neck.. the gills were nowhere to be found.

"Yue!!!" Tian ran to them and pulled them both out of water swiftly. "You okay? What happened down there?!"

"I saw a zombie," Fan gently patted his back. "It was dragging him down..."

Tian knelt down before him, gently caressing his pale cheeks. "Did you get bit anywhere?..." she hurriedly searched his angles and hands.

She even pulled off his shoes and socks to check for injuries.

Yue panted softly. "It did not bite me.... it did not bite me Tian. It was very weird..... it felt like a curious animal rather than a zombie...."

Tian checked his pupils. "hallucinations. Happens when you are in a delirious state of drowning.. Are you okay now? How many fingers am I holding?" she held up three fingers.

"Three,"

"Good, if you had stayed one more minute down there your brain would have stopped working....." she pulled him into a tight hug. "Don't ever do that! we are going back home this instant!"

Yue frowned slightly. "How long was I down there..."

"Five minutes!"

He pulled away from her hug. "Tian, I don't think I'm hallucinating. I met that zombie and when I touched it I was able to breathe underwater!"

"What? That's...."

"I had gills." He touched his neck, which was still sore. "I'm not joking, it happened..."

Fan Xui gently pulled him onto his lap and hugged him close. "You were not breathing Yue..... You were barely holding on when I got to you,"

Yue pulled at his hand and gazed at his palm. "The moment I touched you, the gills disappeared... it was weird."

Now that he said it out loud it did sound very weird...

"I think I might be hallucinating,"

"goooo....goo.." a soft whisper came from his side.

Startled he glanced to the rover.

The zombie popped its head out with an innocent look.

"Fuck!" Tian took her bazooka hurriedly.

"Wait, wait! Don't shoot it!" Yue gripped her hand tightly.

"Yue, out of the way, that thing almost killed you. Why are you..."

"I think that zombie might have consciousness." He shouted aloud.

Tian froze. "t-that's impossible. It's not possible...."

Yue glanced back and peered at the zombie man. Its grey eyes were always following his moment. "I can prove it," he took out his dagger and waved it around in a circle.

It tilted its head slightly. After a second, it too waved a circle with its own dagger.

"See! I told you!"

"goo goo goooo..." it gave out a throaty sound.

Tian doubtfully stayed there. She carefully took a gun from her holster and moved close to the shore.

The zombie just stayed there looking at her. It too held its dagger like Tian was holding.. it pointed it at her.

"It's imitating me..." Tian whispered.

"goo go goo...."

Tian stepped back and placed the gun in her holster. "Prisitsky is going to have a field day...."

Yue frowned. "Do we have to tell him?"

Tian gave him a look. "Obviously, the sooner he finds a cure the greater the chances of our survival,"

"But...." Yue's eyes fell on the zombie... there was a high possibility that he would get dissected in the name of science.

"You can't pity the dead Yue," Fan Xui whispered close to his ear. "You are the one who taught me that..."

"This creature is dead.. But alive at the same time..."

"Fan, go call Prisitsky out," Tian unhesitant gave out orders. "we have to do this Yue. It's for the better."

The zombie was not like the others. it was innocent. He desperately wanted to cry that but who was he to advocate for the dead. This creature.. might be innocent now but in the future, it might turn into a very powerful zombie killer.

Who knows, it could have already hunted down hundreds of humans.

'Zombies are not to be pitied...' he repeated it in his heart.

In about a minute Fan Xui came back with an annoyed Prisitsky. His whining was so loud that he could hear it from far.

"I have work to do. Why did you drag me out here? Are you planning on killing me? I'm a precious commodity for the settlement. Don't waste me on a zombie." He kept chattering when he was close.

Fan Xui sighed loudly. "I'm not going to kill you. Take a look at that," he pointed to the river, but the zombie was nowhere to be found.

"What? You want me to enjoy nature?" Prisitsky grumbled loudly.

Yue glanced around. The zombie man was nowhere to be found. "Maybe he swam down.... he must have been scared..."

A fish all of a sudden splashed out and fell right before his foot.

"goo~" the Zombie swam close with a goldfish in its hands. He chewed on it loudly, crunching the bones and flesh.

"I think it wants you to eat that," Tian whispered to him.

"Oh yeah..." Yue picked the fish up and pretended to bite into it.

The zombie happily cooed loudly and ate his fish with relish.

"Fascinating! Completely fascinating!" Prisitsky ran to it.

The zombie flinched back in fear. 

"It can feel! It can communicate! It's a miracle! A complete miracle!!! I need samples!!!!" without control Prisitsky ran into the river.

The zombie was spooked. It swam away, hissing loudly.

"Wait!" Yue pulled him back. "Do you have a death wish? It's tame, but that too can bite!"

Prisitsky peered back with shimmering eyes.. "I don't care about that. I just want some samples,"