Equip arms.

You are a Level 0 Dessicated corpse

Much of your flesh along with most of your right arm is gone but you still have enough tendons to walk. Barely. Fortunately your nerves are mostly gone so You cant feel any of this.

You are in a second story apartment, small and compact with just enough space for a twin-sized bed in one corner to your right, a tv and bookshelf on the wall opposite it and a small kitchen and a closed bathroom to your far left.

There are two zombies shambling around, what's left of the horde that took your life. You feel a great hunger take over you as you look at them.

What do you do?

(This work will EVENTUALLY be NSFW farther down the line. Just saying)

Is there a chance zombies can communicate with each other? Try saying something to them.

Other than that, check the kitchen for anything to eat, maybe something rotten like something you left in the fridge months ago.

You try to vocalize words but you cant even manage a grunt. Your not even sure if theres air in your lungs if you even have those anymore.

You slow shamble past one of the zombies and approach the small fridge. You clumsily try to open it with your one hand and after a few seconds manage to open it to reveal...nothing. Whatever food was in there was eaten long ago.

What about the other zombies around you, do they have anything interesting on them?

You try to focus a little more on what the zombies have on them but your barely aware of them as is. Your almost sure part of your brain has been eaten or rotting from the inside.

Let's write a book about what it's like to be a zombie!

Your not entirely sure what a book even is though you somehow remember the word itself.

Let's feel at the back of our skull to confirm whether or not there is a hole in it.

You clumsily reach with your one remaining arm to feel your head. You cant really sense much since you have no feeling in your arms but your more or less sure your skull shouldnt be open to the elements.

>>983917
you shouldn't have a hole... right? try and find a hat

Maybe tape and bandages too to patch the hole?

>>983920
>>983921

You attempt to find yourself a hat but your blurred senses and the great hunger within makes it impossible to do search for one.

That would be hard to with one arm even if you could find one. You have a sneaking notion that you might not remember how to even pick things up.

options are limited.
maybe attack the other zombies? not that it'll do much, but it's something. Though I wonder why zombies never do attack other zombies in movies.

The great hunger within wins out in the end and you turn your eyes to the only other piles of meat within shuffle distance. The closest is some feet in front of you but you barely discern anything about it. But it doesnt matter. You let your inner instincts guide you in next action. For all your inability to function in this new blurred world of yours, the one thing you DO know works is your mouth. In part because the zombies didnt rip off you and partly because its one of the only places where you can still feel anything. So you know you can still bite the shit out of that zombie.

With as much power as you can muster you roughly shove yourself against the zombie in front of you and instinctively go for the neck, Tearing a huge chunk of flesh of it. You thought you might have heard guttural grunt of surprise but it may as well have been your ears playing tricks on you. With the zombie more or less decapcitated, the of the body fell to the ground as you ate and ate and ate and ATE...

The hunger which had long been denied had begun to sate itself and you could do not but stay for the ride. In time your hunger began to fade and you began coming to your senses. Actual real senses, not the blurred half nightmare you were in before. You can actually feel things again, and your body feels whole.

You have gained Mass!

Mass 15/10

You have leveled up! You are now a Level 1 Shambling Zombie.

You have 5 points of extra mass to spend. You may spend it on increasing your attributes or save it for your next evolution.

Strength - 1

Dexterity - 1

Endurance - 1

Mutation - 1

Intelligience - 1

Locked - N/A

-1 Morality

+1 Morality

With your body now more or less whole you can finally take stock of your surroundings. You are on your knees, corpse of a zombie eaten almost to the very bone. You realize you only stopped because you cant actually eat bone. The bed to your far right, something you can actually see at this distance, you now see to be a twin bed with faded blue covers over it, that matched the turquoise paint in the room. The bookshelf was filled to the brim with books and weird miniature people that you vaguely recall are 'action figures' whatever those may be. You feel you could read those books but you wouldnt truly understand what they were saying. The TV is large and bulky and you realize it is an old design though you dont know what a new design even looks like.

The kitchen, that you can now see clearly is not only small, but really dirty as well, the sink in particular filled to the brim with dishes. Dried bloodstains cover the hard floor below you and the carpet to your side. You finally notice a single window besides the bed and the first rays of light from a rising sun begin to fill the room.

The second zombie is still wandering around still totally oblivious of you despite the no doubt loud ravenous session you had. The former male zombie wears a blood drenched t-shirt and blue jeans. You feel hunger as you look at, but it is weak and faded, sated from your recent meal.

Despite becoming whole you are pockmarked with holes, rot and patches of fungus obscuring whatever gender you may have been. Worse you can feel BUGS in you eating you from the inside though strangely you dont feel pain from them and thankfully they are few of them.

Go full Rugrats and eat the bugs.

Now that you can feel again you are very reluctant to dig into your body to eat the bugs inside of you

>Place points in mutation until Dietary Adaptation happens- There are likely luckier survivors or dangerous animals that we will mindlessly attack if we get too hungry, so we will need to be able to subsist on either LESS flesh or be able to eat MORE things in order to avoid hunger problems. Placing points into intelligence will only benefit us when we are not overcome by ravenous hunger.

Put at least one point in intelligence.

>I generally want you guys to figure things out for yourself but I will say this. Putting points in mutation will not help you resist the hunger.

Try communicating with the other zombie.

>>983950

Now that you have actual vocal cords you can finally manage variations of "Uuunnngh".

*sigh* Put one point into mutation, if you hadn't already, and eat the other zombie.

>>983950

It didnt seem to hear you. Perhaps you need to be louder?

>So I have one for intelligence and one for mutation. Do you guys want to use the rest or save them.

For now, let's save the other points and try to interact with the other zombie.

You attempt once more to communicate with the remaining zombie at least before you decide to eat it. It doesnt seem to respond no matter how articulated your grunts get or how close you get to saying real words. You begin to feel frustration building up, what had started as a whim of fancy had begun something more. Now that you were a zombie as well you wanted to ask this zombie why did it kill you why did it take your life away from it. You tried to vocalize these frustrations to this zombie but once again the zombie was oblivious to your ire. Rage and frustration boiling over, you take a deep breath and yell at the zombie with all your might.

"UUNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

You are so shocked to hear such an inhuman shriek come out of your lungs you thought it wasnt you for a second. The Zombie instantly turns it head to you then starts turning its head looking for something before letting out a confused "Uuungh?" and going back to its business. You hear a low shuffling outside as well before that to quiets down.

You Have Gained the "Howler" Perk!

Howlers are an uncommon mutation in shambling zombies that allows the zombie to call upon any nearby zombies in the vicinity. Can be upgraded with Mass.

Mass - 3/30

Strength - 1

Dexterity - 1

Endurance - 1

Mutation - 2

Intelligence - 2

Locked - N/A

Your Body feels different. You dont have a way to explain but your body feels stretchier? More Malleable? You dont have the words to describe.

Your mind feels clearer as well. In defiance of your still decomposing body you feel your senses getting a little sharper as well.

>Sorry made a typo.

Get out of the building and observe your surroundings.

Gnaw on those zombie bones! Bang them on stuff to break them up if you have to.

Maybe +1 on strenght to eat those bones, couldn't hurt.

>>983952
>>984028
>>984032

After the surprise of your own shriek wore off, you look towards the bones of the zombie you had eaten a dull hunger resonating through. You bend down and attempt to once feast upon the zombie or whatever is left of it. Your jaws now healed still however lack the strength to break it down into pieces small enough for you to safely swallow. You look around for a nearby object to smash it with and grab a nearby pan to smash the bones with. The nearby zombie reacts to the loud noises but soon begins to ignore it once more. After a few minutes of banging all you have gained is an appreciation of how durable bones seem to be. You feel you need to become a little stronger in order to break apart with your hands much less your teeth.

With this in mind you look towards the nearby zombie and let your sated but still potent hunger take over your instincts. With more speed than you were capable of before you awkwardly walk towards it and with your regenerated hands you grab it to keep it still and bite it's neck with all your strength. You tear out much of its neck disabling the body from the neck down. You feast upon the fallen body albeit slowly for you are in no hunger frenzy and otherwise in no rush.

You have gained mass!

Mass - 13/30

You may use extra mass to spend on Attributes or save it for evolution.

Strength - 1

Dexterity - 1

Endurance - 1

Mutation - 2

Intelligience - 2

Locked - N/A

You feel more whole after another such meal as if your new mass was filling out places that otherwise empty. You even feel some of the bugs still inside you be forcefully pushed out of you, to your not unwelcome relief. Your feel a little bloated though as the extra mass fills your stomach.

You now look towards the door and awkwardly walk towards it. You reach forth with your newly regenerated hand and hesitate. What is world now like? How long have you been dead? What does this life have in store for me? These questions fill your mind as you open the door. You squint, realizing that its now quite bright out now before your vision clears. You are on the balcony of a 2 story apartment with more doors leading to other apartments to your left. A staircase leading down to a parking lot to your right. A parking lot full of zombies, at least 12 by your count. This 2 story apartment you find yourself in is smack dab on the edge of a massive city parts of which are smoking, and the suburbs leading into untamed wilderness. Despite the Sun climbing into the sky, the color of the sky is not blue like you imagined it but a pinkish red though you do see tinges of blue far on the horizon. What all this might mean you could not say.

Go ahead and take 1 strength, your going to need to overpower others to get your food. Also search them extra rooms for food and singled out zombies. Maybe force them open with zombo strength.

Is it really cannibalism if you’re all unnatural undead monsters?

Mass - 12/30

Strength - 2

Dexterity - 1

Endurance - 1

Mutation - 2

Intelligience - 2

Locked - N/A

You feel strength surge within you as your body takes extra mass and strengthens your muscles to typical zombie levels of strength. You feel you can physically do more now than you could before.

>>984032

With this newfound strength you walk back into the apartment and try once more to gnaw once more on the bones. Once again the bones prove pretty durable, but with your new strength you finally manage to snap the bone into two. You pick up the two halves of the bone and continue to break it down into smaller parts each time getting a tiny bit more easier. Soon you were crunching down bone after bone devouring even the bones of your victim with speed that even surprised you. As the last bone was swallowed you feel your teeth to check on any wear and tear. You are shocked to find not only slightly larger but sharper as well.

You have gained mass!

Mass - 18/30

You have gained the "Sharp Teeth" Perk!

An exceptionally rare mutation among shambling zombies and an indication of that individual's evolvability.

Your shock wearing off, you shamble over and pick up some of the bones of the other zombie to chew on before leaving the apartment once more to step on the balcony. The Sun is high in the Reddened sky as you shamble down the balcony to inspect the other rooms. The first two doors are locked and after sufficient banging which temporarily attracted the attention of the horde in the parking lot you have surmised you lack the strength to open them. As you near the third door, you notice the remains of a large dog lying in the front of you and a large rotten stench coming from one of the rooms ahead of you. You also hear something moving inside. Something big.

I can't believe I'm saying these exact words, but... dragging the dog away and eating it may be the most prudent choice here.

>>I should say that the Sharp Teeth Perk is also upgradeable with mass

>>984187
yeah i agree lets drag it away and eat it lets see if its possible to get unique mutations from it or if we can infect it.
and those sharp teeth are a very good mutation increasing food availability if we could reproduce and have generations of offspring its likely they would become efficient scavengers that could call on other zombies in defense.

perhaps if that big thing threatens us we could try and call on the horde while running away

>>984166
the interesting thing is eating humans is also cannibalism but like we are adapted same with the others to consume human flesh so zombie flesh could be a logical next step if this was a ecosystem with stable producer base.

i have a idea for the future we can use at a later date if we are ever lost and hungry we can probably use our howl to summon zombies to eat

>>984187
>>984216
I agree. Best to find a nice secluded spot to eat in case whatever inside decides to join us outside.

I'd also say that we should to invest a point into Endurance, since it seems to be the most likely stat that will govern our hunger.

Use your mass to upgrade your teeth and drag the dead dog away and chow down on it. Keep an ear out to listen for that big thing ahead.

Oh wait, raising a stat from 1 to 2 only costs 1 mass? In addition to evolving teeth and dog dragging, raise Dexterity and Endurance to 2. Raise Mutation to 3 to see how much that costs.

>>Sorry for the delay, Christmas and all that. Also my new monitor kept fucking with my computer so had to fix that too.

>>984216
>>984217
>>984299
>>984300
>>984283

Mass - 8/30

Strength - 2

Dexterity - 2

Endurance - 2

Mutation - 3

Intelligience - 2

Locked - N/A

Sharp Teeth Upgraded!

Your body starts to change rapidly as mass disappears in your gut, feeling like a tingle all over your body. The tingle first lingers on your mouth and jaws and you can feel your teeth getting little bigger, more durable. Your jaws feel more robust, you feel like you could bite through solid wood. The tingle then spreads out to every corner in your body and then stays there. You feel your body somehow healing itself as if your body just woke up and got to work slowly closing up long since open wounds in your body. Strange, but not unwelcome.

You have gained Light Regeneration Perk!

The last major unique trait any shambling zombie can possess. Exceptionally rare and is a sign the individual is on the cusp of evolving into something else. Cannot be Upgraded by Mass.

You drag the dead dog away from the door you suspect is hiding some undead abomination back to the Apartment you came out of and began devouring it. Within a few minutes the dog was entirely gone, your new chompers making short work of it.

You have gained mass!

Mass - 16/30

Seeing as we are more fed, lets search the Apartment more thoroughly, there may have been some alternative foodstuffs that we overlooked.

Also check to see if the hole in the back of our skull is healing up.

Yes, let's look into the other apartments, away from the big bad thing on the other side of that one door.

Looks like the cost to increase a stat might be the current stat squared, so 4 to go from 2 to 3. Improve Strength twice, I think you might get in a fight soon.

Backtrack to the stairs down to the parking lot, head down and howl to lure some of the zombies over to eat in a sheltered spot. Eat until your mass hits 30 to see if that triggers any new mutations.

>>984402
>>You need to do your math again friend

It might be best to save those points for when we have acquired more mass.

>>984386
>>984391
>>984402

You reach up to check whether your head is healing. The giant hole in your head is still there but your brain is full and healed though you suspect that was more your evolution than your slow regen.

You attempt to search the other apartments for food but the they are locked. You could feasibly bang the door down after a while but that would no doubt draw the attention of the whatever is inside that apartment. Failing to find more food you change your plans. You walk to the staircase you saw before and walk down it. It creaks under your weight but it holds.

You are now on ground level. The parking lot is in front of you and a fence some 2 meters behind you forms a dead end. The angle of the sun causes the high wall to your right to cast the dead end in shade.

You breathe in an unleash a howl with an intent to lure one of the zombies to you. The zombies turn their heads in your direction, but only two start shambling on your direction. The others probably having better senses ignored the call. Perhaps you need to be more insistent?

As soon as the zombies get close enough you use your teeth to quickly decapitate one then the other before you feast upon their bodies until there is nothing left

You have gained Mass!

Mass - 56/30

You have gained enough mass to evolve!

Evolve into an even hungrier zombie.

Evolve into a more resilient zombie, ideally one that handle heat and sunshine so we don't start decomposing again.

>>985308
>>985326
Why not a more effichent becoming more inhuman and a bit for self sustaining a kinda alien lifeform thats a zombie eater

Let's put some extra points un strenght.

Increase Intelligence. Remember, you're among millions of literally brain-damaged zombies. The sooner you turn yourself into a zombie captain, the quicker your influence will grow.

>>985401
Actually yeah, this is a cool idea. I'll change my vote to this.

>>Sorry for the delay. Had to get some things figured out with college.

>>985326
You weren't decomposing because of the sunlight or heat. You were decomposing because the zombies wrecked your body nearly past the state of no return.

>>986322
Hence why I changed my vote :)

Level up and add some points to stregth, then explore a nearby building.