Chapter 43: Chapter 36 - A Dud
The following morning, Zeel was already prepared to leave the camp.
With the uncertainty surrounding Alice's current situation, Zeel found himself strangely anxious.
Joining the group near a campfire was a routine for every morning since Zeel joined the group in their underground dwellings.
"Where's Sasha?" asked Tim concerned about not having seen his girlfriend for the entire night.
Everyone gave him strange looks, it seemed that everyone knew his girlfriend had been cheating on Tim. Of course, Tim himself didn't know.
"I don't know, she went out sometime yesterday and didn't come back," Kim replied attempting to cover for either her friend or James. Zeel was not sure, but he did find the females lying for each other a bit concerning.
'Good thing Alice doesn't have many female friends that are alive right now,' Zeel thought in relief.
Zeel found it strange that James would pick this time to murder someone from the group without attempting a cover-up.
Then Zeel realized, he was already considering killing everyone here in the first place, so Sasha dying early would not be such a big deal.
Zeel decided to no longer wait for James to make a move. Zeel was currently pressed for time and could not tolerate any more delays.
"She's dead," Zeel said as he pointed to James "He killed her,"
In response, everyone present froze, especially James who appeared to be in a fight or flight mode.
Zeel continued to eat as if nothing was happening, each bite echoing louder than the other.
Everyone's heart rate increasing that much more, some suspecting they brought a killer into the camp and others suspecting the killer was right next to them.
Suddenly, Zeel stood up and said "Follow me!"
The group as if in a trance got up and followed him, not daring to refuse because of the pressure behind Zeel's voice.
Zeel led the group through the depths of the cave and towards the hidden area covered in cross hatches of vines.
"By the way James if you try anything, I will kill you first," Zeel said as a warning since he could hear Jame's fingers ruffling something in the background.
*Crunch*
The wall was blown open by a punch from Zeel, causing everyone present to gawk at the amazing show of strength.
Upon seeing what was behind the wall, everyone in the group, apart from Zeel and James, began to puke up their already minimal stomach contents.
They saw the dead bodies that littered the floor of the hidden cavern. Zeel's eyes were trained on the pulsing crystal at the center of the small room.
Zeel then turned to James and asked "What is it? Apart from high output energy signatures it also emits faint traces of gamma radiation along with internal chemical reactions that are similar to the breakdown of simple sugars and is self-sufficient through photosynthesis,"
James replied, "If you already know why do you need to ask?"
"For confirmation of course. Better to be 110% sure it times like this," Zeel replied as he observed every inch of his surroundings noticing several areas were freshly dug up heaps of dirt.
"It … her name was Sally, she was a botanist that worked with Umbrella Corporation, she attempted to use the t-virus to create something unique – a self-sufficient, steady, power source through natural processes.
However, she later found that in order to make it work, the plant/animal hybrid required a constant, specified, source of nutrients,"
"So it needed to feed on flesh huh? Like all other things infected with the t-virus. Well is there anything else I need to know?" Zeel asked slightly interested.
"Nope that's about it, Sally just notified me to keep feeding it until it was time for extraction," James replied truthfully.
"Yeah. She failed to mention what it was huh? Let me explain that crystal-metal is not only an amalgamation of everything it has consumed.
It is a synthetic metallic plasma. Basically, Sarah was creating a new element for the periodic table but one that could contain and generate fairly small amounts of energy at steady rates," seeing they were not understanding, Zeel decided to dumb it down a bit.
"Just think of it as a built-in battery. If you mixed some of this into a metal alloy for say … a motorcycle.
You could ride for about a week without stop. All the while the bike recharges itself automatically through sunlight or whatever you decide to stuff it with, maybe even rocks would work. Though it would be a slower conversion rate," Zeel explained sounding fairly impressed by the work of Sally who fell victim to her own genius intellect.
He truly was impressed that someone of this primitive world could create something so unique, though the invention was not exceptionally brilliant in comparison to other energy sources he had encountered.
"Amazing!" whispered the group members that were also present there. They had completely forgotten about Sasha and her murder at the hands of James.
"The best part is the… harvesting is just about ready … based on what I see here, it just requires a little more nutrients," Zeel said as he smiled genuinely for the first time in many months; how could he not? He came for vibranium and got a bonus in the form of a new element – wasn't the universe generous?
*bang*
*bang*
*bang*
*bang*
Four shots echoed in the underground cave system, the sound traveled far and wide. Groans and surprised yelps could be heard in response.
Not knowing when, the group had fallen to the ground, bleeding from the location of their heart.
"I'm sorry but you guys have to be that nutrient. I don't have the luxury of waiting a couple more months," Zeel apologized after he finished killing the four. It was a sentiment he doesn't fully understand but Alice taught it to him.
So Zeel just followed the instructions. Zeel was not concerned about the moral implication of this situation. As long as Alice didn't find out, he would be fine.
Alice was the only reason that Zeel avoided killing innocents in the first place. Zeel left James alive due to the weird remote in his hand.
Panicking James yelled "See this? It's a bomb trigger, it will blow the moment my hand leaves …"
Not waiting for James to finish speaking, Zeel disappeared and reappeared next to him. It took a while for James to realize that he no longer had any hands.
Zeel was currently holding the bomb trigger with a weird look on his face.
"It's a dud," Zeel said feeling amused "Looks like you can't do anything right. By the way, the noise Kim was making the night you had sex was clearly fake,"
Over the next two hours, the roots of the crystal-metal slowly entangled the now-dead bodies of the group.
It burrowed beneath their skins, slowly but surely the white crystal began to turn a blood-red color as if tainted by blood.
Zeel used the time to thoroughly interrogate James, extracting every bit of information he could before also allowing him to contribute to the 'nutrition cause'.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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