Chapter 3: Electrical Fatigue
Henrick breathes heavily as the day’s battles finally take their toll. "So absorbing that purple stuff isn’t a cure all." With a grunt of exhaustion, he picks himself up and lumbers towards the supermarket. He enters and grimaces at the smell.
The scent of burnt meat mixed with the unique tang of ozone fills the air as Henrick pilfers through the supermarket. He places a few cans of unspoiled spam, beans, and vegetable soup in a plastic bag. Wincing at his stomach wound, he decides to grab a few gauze rolls and some alcohol.
Henrick finds a secluded space and looks at his wound, noting that it has already started to heal slightly. With practiced ease, he lifts his shirt, disinfects the surrounding tissue, and wraps the wound.
Looking outside, Henrick decides to stay in the supermarket for the night, as a blood red moon rises. Inhuman shrieks shatter the silence as Henrick hears monsters running through the streets, no doubt in search of prey. He ignores them in favour of eating a can of spam, drinking water, and testing out his new abilities.
He looks at his hand and searches for that feeling in his heart. He closes his eyes and focuses on the energy running through his veins and wills them to his hand. When he opens his eyes, he sees electricity arc around his fingers in a chaotic dance. He commands them to move in a certain way and they heed his orders.
Henrick tries to shoot them out like he did when he fought Dominic, but an overwhelming sense of fatigue threatens to crush his consciousness. Henrick places the can of spam down and finds a corner as he throws up from that overwhelming feeling. His body shivers as weakness takes hold. "Damn. So I can’t be reckless with the electricity I use. Got it." he says, wiping his mouth and sitting back down on the ground.
Shakily grabbing his meal, he forces himself to finish the can of spam and huddles up in a corner. Sleep doesn’t come easy, even in his weakened state, but exhaustion eventually wins.
Waking up a few hours later, Henrick groggily opens his eyes and notes that the fatigue is no more. Instead it is replaced by a feeling of strength coursing through his body. He flexes his muscles and gets prepared to leave the supermarket, when the ground shakes as if an earthquake has hit.
Henrick quickly steps outside and what he sees shocks his very core. There in the distance, is a giant mutated bull bulldozing through buildings. "A bull in the city??" His external projection of his thoughts prove to be a mistake as the mutated bull snaps its head towards him.
There are rare instances when even the bravest of men must admit that they are beaten. In this apocalypse, those instances are not so rare.