Chapter 1They Left Me with the Zombie Grandma

The apocalypse descended, and my ability was [Mascot], allowing zombies around me to act like normal people.

I was also the only tool that could keep Zombie Grandma quiet.

My older sister and younger brother both had offensive abilities, but they always praised me.

“Our Cici is the most capable. As long as you’re home, Grandma, who turned into a zombie, is like a docile cat, never biting anyone. That way, our family gets the institute’s family allowance.”

Until the day before New Year’s Eve, the safe zone opened up four hundred spots for a holiday feast!

Mom and Dad excitedly packed their bags, then slammed the steel security door shut.

“There are only four tickets, Cici. You’re our family’s guardian angel; stay behind and watch Grandma.”

“We’ll bring back some packed meat for you.”

But they didn’t know.

When the New Year’s Eve bell chimed, and they raised their glasses in celebration,

I was already being torn apart, flesh and bone, my throat chewed to pieces by a starving Grandma.

It turned out my ability only worked when my family was near me.

...

With a sharp "click" from the heavy steel security door, the last sliver of warm light that had seeped through the crack was completely cut off.

I huddled in the corner of the sofa, my voice trembling, looking at the rocking chair opposite.

“Grandma, be good, Cici is here.”

A hunched figure sat in the rocking chair.

Normally, as soon as I spoke, Grandma’s cloudy eyes would stir, then quietly close as she feigned sleep.

Everyone in the family said I was a lucky one, having awakened the [Mascot] ability.

Although I couldn’t conjure fireballs like my sister, nor slice stones thinly like my brother, I could keep my zombified Grandma rational, preventing her from biting or going mad, allowing her to be kept at home like an old cat.

Because of this, the base made an exception, allowing our family to live in the slums with Zombie Grandma, not forcing us to clear her out.

But today, something felt wrong.

“Hoo, hoo...”

The rocking chair stopped swaying.

A strange sound, like a broken bellows being pulled, emanated from Grandma’s throat.

She slowly turned her head.

Her normally grayish-white yet calm pupils now glowed with an eerie blue light in the darkness, and blood vessels in her whites spread wildly like a spiderweb, instantly swallowing the last trace of humanity.

Her shriveled mouth slowly opened, saliva mixed with some black, viscous fluid.

A nauseating stench of decay instantly overpowered the faint musty smell in the room.

“Grandma?”

My heart lurched, and I instinctively tried to activate my ability.

I desperately tried to conjure that "calming" feeling in my mind, just as I had countless times before, attempting to envelop Grandma's brain with some invisible frequency.

However, nothing happened.

That sense of ability, which usually flowed like warm water, was now like stagnant water. No matter how much I screamed and tugged in my mind, it remained motionless.

What's going on?

Why did it fail?

Grandma's withered fingers clamped onto the armrest, her nails lengthening and blackening at a visible speed, like ten sharp bone-scrapers.

She stood up from the rocking chair.

Her movements were no longer the slowness of an elder, but filled with a beast-like stiffness and explosive power.

“I’m Cici! Grandma! I’m Cici!”

I sprang up from the sofa in terror, backing into the corner.

At that moment, my parents’ parting words flashed through my mind like lightning.

“You’re our family’s guardian angel…”

“As long as you’re home…”

No.

That’s not right.

It’s not just "as long as I’m home."

Every time I’ve calmed Grandma before, my sister, my brother, or Mom and Dad, at least one of them was present.

They disliked Grandma’s smell, always staying far away, but they were all under the same roof.

Today, it was the first time.

Within a five-hundred-meter radius, I was the only one.

A flash of white light suddenly went off in my mind.

There was no [Mascot] ability at all.

The condition for the ability to work was the presence of a blood relative, forming some kind of magnetic resonance.

I was the conductor, and my family was the power source.

Now, the power was cut, escaping to the safe zone with the dream of braised pork and warmth.

Only I, the discarded conductor, was left to face a monster that had been hungry for three years.

“ROAR—!!!”

Grandma let out a shrill roar, lunging at me.

Her speed was like a black lightning bolt.

I instinctively raised my arm to block.

“Crunch.”

Excruciating pain surged through me.

The bone in my forearm was snapped clean, blood spurting like a fountain onto Grandma’s pale face.

The smell of blood completely ignited her ferocity.

Her hands, dry as tree bark, clamped onto my shoulders with astonishing strength, her nails digging deep into my flesh, pinning me to the floor.

“Dad… Mom…”

I cried out in despair, tears mixing with blood flowing into my mouth.

Salty, bitter.

Was this the taste of New Year’s Eve?

Grandma didn’t give me any more time to think.

She opened her mouth, almost torn to her ears, and bit down hard on my throat.

“Gush.”

The world went quiet.