Chương 24: Chapter 20 - The Unfamiliar Feeling of Familiarity

Suddenly, a motorcycle came ramming through one of the church's Sigel glass windows before bombarding directly into a nearby Hunter.

This propelled the monster back a couple of meters. As if that display was not enough, Alice then revved up the motorcycle and drove it directly into another Hunter.

Halfway towards the Hunter, Alice backflipped off the motorcycle and sent the bike like a projectile towards the second Hunter.

She also proceeded to shoot two precise rounds at the fuel ignition, causing the bike to explode upon contact with the Hunter. This set both the monster and the bike ablaze in the most pristine art of arsonist anyone had ever seen.

Then there was one, but Alice seemed to become distracted for a brief moment allowing it to leap towards their direction, much to the panic of the group.

"So he's here huh?" Alice said as she looked in a particular direction, not minding the Hunter leaping at her.

There was a special tingling sensation present within the depths of her stomach. It was the first time she was experiencing such a thing, but somehow the feeling was eerily familiar.

Alice shot two bullets toward the opposite glass and continued to pay the oncoming Hunter no heed as if she was expecting someone else to deal with it.

Similar to Alice's appearance, Zeel suddenly appeared through the shattering glass on the opposite side of the church. Slowing his perception of time, Zeel wasted no opportunity as he utilized the glass shards near himself.

With three spins and three kicks, Zeel was able to direct three of the most conspicuous glass shards directly into the head of the last Hunter. Utilizing his robust leg strength, Zeel then pushed off the church wall and towards Alice, grabbing her and protecting her from all of the gooey liquids that erupted from the Hunter.

However, Zeel could still hear the grinding flesh of life within the hunter even after pierced by the glass.

Holding Alice, Zeel cranked back a fist with his free arm and met the falling hunter as he let a punch shoot at it with his unfathomable strength, smashing its head in and creating a small fist shape indent in the ground below.

Alice and Zeel look at each other for a moment, there was a lingering feeling of familiarity between the two.

After which Alice spun out of Zeel's arms with practiced ease as if she use to avoiding obsessive guys.

"Those two bullets earlier were to shatter the glass, right? One of them almost killed me," Zeel complained as the bullets used to shatter the Sigel almost killed him, who was directly behind the glass at that moment.

"To be honest, I would have taken either outcome," Alice said with mock disappointment.

She was still cautious of Zeel deep in her heart, but there was also another feeling budding.

Alice and Zeel walked alongside each other as they made their way to the three survivors of the incident.

Alice finally decided to compliment the tired-looking Zeel.

"It's nice to see you! Didn't know you were still alive," she said.

Zeel shrugged and replied "Yeah when they were trying to wake you up they also woke me up by accident. We are connected through the nanites,"

"So that's what happened, I have been sensing you this entire time," Alice said as she nodded to herself in confirmation.

"Yeah, it's a bit more complicated than that, but there's some business I have to take care of first,"

Zeel proceeded to slit his wrist and hold it up to her lips saying "Drink!"

Alice grimaced for a moment before asking "Why?"

Zeel shrugged "Upgrades? Also, it can help you better acclimate to your new abilities. It can also alter the T-virus so nobody could take away your abilities. As it is now, The Umbrella Corporation can not only make you but also break you... So drink,"

Zeel only needed one look at Alice to know that she was almost perfectly bonded with the T-virus. Alice was about to comply with Zeel's suggestion but suddenly paused.

"What if I want to be human again?" she asked.

"Then you won't survive, don't worry the nanites in your system will get rid of the T-virus and make It something completely different, all it needs is time, so you'll be human again either way," Zeel replied and after careful contemplation.

Alice ultimately agreed to drink.

*gulp*

*sigh*

Alice began drinking Zeel's blood and, once again, she grew a little addicted to the sweet taste, it was as if the more she drank, the more she would fall into Zeel's body.

"Don't worry the feeling is just amplified by the nanites, so we can use it as a warning system when necessary. It makes us weak empaths but only towards one specific person," Zeel explained as he could see Alice becoming alarmed at her lack of restraint when it came to his blood.

After the minor comfort from Zeel, Alice no longer held back and began gulping down until she felt her body heat up exponentially, reminding her that she was close to her limit of nanites intake for this round.

Alice didn't know exactly how she knew everything Zeel was talking about, but she somehow knew.

"Okay, that should be enough. Just rest for about 30 minutes, then you can do some light exercise to get acquainted with the changes. However, from what I see, you are perfectly bonded with the virus. I am suppressing and refining the mutation with my nanites," Zeel said sighing at his bad luck.

The clone in front of him was no doubt unique somehow.

Jill, who had been coming up from behind the duo, heard the embers of Zeel's statement and began a questioning session.

Terri, being the annoying reporter, began to video the ensuing events.

"Wait! What nanites are you talking about? Who are you guys anyway?" She asked.

Zeel refused to answer at first but seeing Alice opening her mouth to answer, he decided it was best to reply to the noisy group of three. Alice could not speak currently due to her transitioning from stage one to stage two.

"My name is Zeel and that's Alice, that's all you need to know," Zeel said to which Alice raised an eyebrow at him, but doesn't comment on what he just said.

Truthfully, Alice felt as if Zeel could have provided them with more information since they also required information about what was happening, though they could also figure it out more or less.

Zeel, however, didn't require information since after the upgrade his nanites' information collection ability had reached another level.

This allowed him manipulation of certain light-tech within a 50 ft radius of his current position. This was all the information collection he needed to know that shit had hit the fan.