Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse With A Genocidal System

"There is blood on your cheeks!" John reacted in great alarm, whilst pointing at the spectacles before him.

"Blood?" Alex asked himself.

He then lowers down his left hand, nearing eye level, to see what is going on.

However, he immediately spotted traces of fresh red blood, dribbling down the side of his palm. Coming from the four lunar moon shape wounds on his palm.

"Oh..." He said having grown slightly surprised.

"Oh, is that your only reaction! What if you've got bitten! Alex!" John shouted, showing great worry and concerns for his friend's wellbeing.

Upon hearing that someone may have been bitten. It raises a sense of alarm, as the players within the backend group, readied their armed weapons, once they are in need of it.

However, Alex's response wasn't exactly what they had expected.

"John, you are overreacting over the simplest of things. I'm not been bitten. Neither is it zombie-related..." Alex calmly said as he sighs deeply at their stupidity.

'If I were to have been infected. The zombie virus would immediately react, as ominous black veins start appearing all over their bodies, like that girl I've killed before.' Alex thought to himself.

"How can you be so sure, Alex?" Peter then asked Alex, with a whimsical look.

Hearing their response, Alex then smiles and grins.

"I'm not that dumb, you guys. I can differentiate between a bite mark and a scratch wound. I may have accidentally stabbed myself, with my own nails, without realizing it."

Alex then proceeded to show his left hand, as four-finger size nail imprints on his palm.

Blood is still dribbling down the side of his palm, forming measly droplets of blood, but the damage is negligible.

"What if you get infected?" John asked, with a face filled with worry.

Upon hearing these words, the others in the room shifted their attention onto Alex, as he could feel all of the eyes were on him.

"That is not possible!" Alex immediately shut him down.

"If you look at the colour of my blood more closely it's red right. If an ordinary person gets bitten by an infected zombie, the black zombie virus is thereby transmitted, entering their bloodstream, their veins would turn visibly black within seconds. The white part of their eyes darkens, with their skin becoming ghastly paled..." 

Upon hearing this, most of the people of the backend group seem to agree with Alex observational statement.

"How do we know know that you haven't already been infected, and is in the process of becoming one." Another individual then butts in, questioning his statement.

However, his response draws unwanted attention to the guy, who spoke out in opposition to Alex.

"Are you an idiot or something? Didn't you hear what the guy just said? The transformation to becoming a zombie happens within seconds, and pretty much most of us have already witnessed this... What more could this ruse do than arouse some suspicion between us?" 

After this, things start to calm down, as the place then returns to it's the dreary sad atmosphere.

People were hugged against the walls, with their heads down, wallowing despair. Others were having deep conversations, talking about their regrets and dreams.

Alex took a long sigh, as he gazed at the two, with a hint of annoyance in his eyes.

"Was there really a need to draw so much attention towards me. It's almost like a mob rallying was about to form." Alex said as you could hear the anxiousness and worry in his tone in the way he speaks.

"My gosh! I'm sorry, Alex." John said feeling a bit apologetic. Nevertheless, he truly felt sorry, for his actions on Alex.

"And besides Peter, were you really just about to lynch the boy," Alex spoke with caution, as he lowers his voice.

"I didn't expect that would happen. The boy sort of deserve it, for stealing your stuff, but not death. That sure did escalate quite quickly." Peter said, with a hint of surprise on his face, as he didn't expect for something so little to become a serious matter.

"And besides, do you really meant by what you said, that you would cut off the boy's hand," Peter asked Alex a serious question.

Alex didn't immediately respond, as he looks up at the ceiling, then down at his feet, before looking at John and Peter.

"Yes..." Alex said one word, as this single word sends shockwave, breaking Peter's and John's world.

Something that they would not easily break, their sense of Principality. 'To never punish an innocent man.'

"You would literally cut off a child's hand just because he wronged you a little bit!" Peter asked Alex a serious question, as they both know that it's a serious matter.

"I'm not involved in this. Don't drag me into this conversation." John said, as he slowly backs away, not so far that he couldn't hear what they were saying, as he was interested in it as well.

"Do not take this matter to heart.  It's only logical for actions to have consequences. Losing just one hand is nothing major. He could still live with one hand." Alex said so benevolently, almost like he was looking down on Peter.

"You..." Peter wanted to say something, but Alex didn't finish speaking.

"When times really matters, and the situation is extremely dire everything matters. One small thing could simply cause a chain reaction. If you don't punish the kid, enough to frighten him, or make him stop. He won't stop doing it. People will start seeing that you are too simple-minded and narrow, that they will start taking advantage of you."

Hearing this out of Alex's mouth, the boy who was usually quiet and quite shy in class. Peter was extremely surprised, as he gave Alex a scrutinized look.

"I certainly understand your point of view, but were you always like this, Alex," Peter said, but his voice is visibly shaken, at Alex strong resolved.

"No! Time has changed, the world is no longer as peaceful as it once was. If you don't start to change your narrow mindset now, then you would surely get into a more direr situation as you are now." Alex said to Peter, but Peter could face the facts himself, as he turned towards John.

"Do you agree with his point of view?" Peter asked John, seeking for his answer.

"... *Sigh* What he says I agree with him." John reluctantly said as he thought. 

'It's not like I have a choice, it's better to stick with someone you trust than with strangers... I don't want to be betrayed again.'

Upon hearing John's response, Peter was silent, as their resolves conflict with his. He didn't want to actually hurt innocent people, it's just sometimes they can be extremely annoying, and get on his nerves.

'I truly didn't mean to hurt them. Even if my actions may lead to the cause...' Peter thought back to the incident, on how his speech, lead the group to ganged up on the poor boy.

"I just need some time to think by himself. I won't even try to persuade you, at this point, I don't know what's even right anymore." Peter sighs regrettably, as he left the group.

"So is there anything new going on?" John curiously asked Alex.

"How long was I out for?" Alex asked John a question, in which he replied within seconds.

"You've been out for roughly half an hour. Not much has changed while you were out. However, there were a few players who were discontented for you destroying their source of experience points." John responded to Alex's inquiry.

 "Well, that doesn't really matter much to me anyway, if they are dissatisfied," Alex said, showing no signs of guilt.

'It is not like they could handle the large numbers of infected zombies heading their way, anyways... I recalled hitting the level 20 benchmark, and something happened.' Alex thought to himself, but his memory isn't exactly a hundred percent clear, isn't it.

"What happens when you hit level 20?" Alex spoke, and John was certainly surprised about how higher his level is than him.

"What! You are already level 20, already!" John shouted in great alarm, which certainly caught the other by surprise.

"What! He is already level 20!" A player shouted, with a face full of shock.

"How is this possible. Did he have some kind of cheat..." Another player said, trying to find some sense over the whole situation.

"Ahem! Quiet voices... You are drawing unnecessary attention towards us." Alex lightly coughs, as he spoke to John.

"Oh, right! I'm sorry, Alex. It was my fault for not thinking first before I've said it out loud." John then apologized to Alex, as he then sits down next to him.

"So is there anything special when you have the level 20 benchmark." John quietly asked Alex.

Alex just simply opens up his 'user interface', and checks the system logs, seeing the past system notification logs.

Alex smiles, as he turned his head to face John, and said. "I've just unlocked the Class/Subclass section of the system. It just means that I can freely choose a class to specialize in."