Zombie Survival System

Twenty minutes after the start of the test, Alexandre was lying quietly on one of the island's beaches, drinking a can of beer he'd taken from the starting area and basking in the sun.

As soon as the candidates were free to move, he'd sprinted towards this spot far away from everyone else so that he could pass the test in comfort. Thanks to his enhanced biology, he'd reached this point very quickly. "Not such a bad island after all," he murmured to himself.

Just then, two young men in military uniform broke through the treeline, one with a tablet in his hand. The other one said, "Are you sure this guy's a candidate? There's no way one of them could've run fast enough to get to this point. He'd have to be at least as fast as us, and we only have that speed because of the virus. Seems way more likely that he's just an asshole first-year student hanging out in a place he's not supposed to be."

But the first student waves his tablet in the other's face. "Justify it however you want, but the minimap clearly shows that he's wearing a candidate watch that hasn't been deactivated yet. He's definitely a Mouse."

Alexandre took one last drink of his beer, then crushed the can between his fingers and turned to glare at the two students. "Gentlemen, I'd strongly advise you to look elsewhere if you don't want to end the day badly."

In response, the two young men simply sprinted toward Alexandre. Like him, their own speed had been enhanced by the modified Virus Z to superhuman levels. No ordinary candidate could have reacted in time.

Alexandre was no ordinary candidate.

The two men arrived, reaching out nearly in unison to grab Alexandre's arms and throat and also to strike him in the face and chest. They'd clearly planned their strategy beforehand.

Alexandre simply stepped backward, avoiding the blow to his head. He lashed out with his own arms, grabbing one student's arm in an iron grip and then driving down with his own elbow to shatter the captured arm.

The assailant screamed in pain. Alexandre immediately released the wounded arm and leaped backward a meter, dodging a swift counterattack from the second student.

The two Academy students stopped their assault at once and stared at Alexandre. Then the uninjured man turned to his companion, looking over the bloody bone sticking out of his arm. "Are you... alright? Your arm looks absolutely nasty."

Surprisingly, considering his previous scream of pain, the wounded man seemed unbothered. "Yes, I'm fine. Just took me by surprise, is all. More importantly, who the hell is this guy? How's he so fast and strong? No human should be able to break my damn arm with his bare hands!"

His teammate replied, "Then what should we do? Feel like trying to attack again? It's still both of us against just one guy."

The wounded man replied, "No, let's drop it. We've still got about twenty watches still to retrieve, and I've already got one arm out of action. I'm sure we can beat this guy, but it's not worth the risk of getting another injury as bad as this one."

As the two young men talked with each other, Alexandre became annoyed. Despite how easily he'd broken his attacker's arm, these assholes were acting like he wasn't even there, like he wasn't even worth their consideration! As they turned to leave, Alexandre shouted, "Where the hell do you think you're going? What, do you think you can just attack me and then leave?!"

The wounded man seemed slightly confused that Alexandre was challenging them. "We're letting you off easy, you little punk. Consider it a nod of respect for surviving our attack and getting a good retaliation in. Look, you're clearly on the Z Virus from some black market dealer, but don't let that get to your head! If we took things seriously, we could kill you as easily as squashing a fly."

Alexandre replied coldly, "Maybe. Maybe not." He pointed to the uninjured man's jacket pocket. "If you want to leave, then give me one of your tablets. The ones you use to track candidates. Otherwise, your hunt ends here and now."

Alexandre added, "Or you can always take your chances against me.

The two men hesitated and looked at each other again. Neither of them believed Alexandre could win, but it was true that further injuries would severely impact their chances of meeting their quotas. This was their only chance to keep attending Hunter Academy, after all... was their pride worth risking such a loss?

"We'll still have one tablet," the injured man said reluctantly.

The uninjured man sighed and took the tablet from his own pocket jacket, then tossed it with a thump onto the warm beach sand at their feet. "Enjoy having this little bit of advantage right now, Mouse. When you become a Hunter student yourself, I'm going to make you pay for this."

Alexandre smirked, but didn't respond as the two students left to find easier prey. When they were gone, he leaned down, retrieved the tablet, and turned it on. "Interesting," he muttered to himself, and then started walking back into the forest.