Jason, Hakeem, and Mateo froze on the spot as they witnessed a flesh-eating zombie with blood dripping over its mouth while letting out an eerie growl. Then Mateo broke the silence between the three.

“Wuargh…” Mateo puked on the floor and as the stench wafted in the air, the sound of him puking caught the attention of the zombie.

The bloody zombie turned towards them as it growled.

“Oh shit, you fuck us up man,” said Hakeem.

“Graa!” the zombie pounced towards them baring its foul-smelling mouth ready to bite over their flesh.

Hakeem stepped forward with his shield ready to guard himself but a flash of shadow was a notch faster than him. Jason lunged forward meeting the zombie head to head. The rare-grade sword shined within the grasp of Jason’s hand.

His Intermediate Swordsmanship unleashed as the blade of the sword slashed right through the neck of the zombie. A clean-cut and a head rolled on the floor.

It was fast and Hakeem took a few seconds to process what he just saw. But then.

“Graaa!” another loud growl came from the other side snapping Hakeem from his momentary daze.

“Ah!” Mateo shouted as he retreated his steps from the new appearing zombie.

Hakeem stepped in front of Mateo blocking the incoming zombie with his new shield. A loud clang reverberated in the air as these two clashed. Neither budge from their spot but Hakeem was gritting his teeth trying to withheld the zombie from charging.

The zombie kept on wriggling its arms trying to reach Hakeem as the zombie was fueled with the desire for flesh. Hakeem gripped his mallet tight readied to bash the skull of the zombie but then the zombie stopped resisting.

It flopped on the ground lifeless as it should be while a sword removed from the nape of the zombie.

“You good?” Jason asked. It was none other than him that cut down another zombie.

“I can’t see in this dark,” said Hakeem. He responded through the noise made by the zombie and moved through instinct alone. With the flashlight on the floor, he had no way of seeing the damn zombie.

“Then I think you better prepare yourself,” said Jason as his eyes kept on glancing around the place.

“They’re coming,” said Jason.

“Shit,” Hakeem said as his eyes darted around the vicinity preparing for another fight.

As Jason and Hakeem readied themselves, someone poked Hakeem by the shoulder prompting Hakeem to turned around quickly.

“Who?!” Hakeem said as his mallet was already in mid-swing.

“Stop,” Jason said as he grabbed Hakeem’s arm stopping him from attacking with the mallet.

“Sorry,” said Mateo.

“You’re about to kill one of us, you know that,” said Jason as he saw Mateo standing perspiring with sweat all over his face.

“Damn, I forget about him. Sorry man, I just felt nervous not being able to see,” said Hakeem.

“Here,” Jason grabbed the flashlight on the floor and ripped apart of Hakeem’s shirt much to the latter surprise.

“Hey, what are you…”

“Stay still,” said Jason as he tied the flashlight around Hakeem’s head making a makeshift headlight. But then something greeted him.

Headlight

Category : Headgear

Grade : Inferior

An amateurish creation just from a simple piece of torn up cloth with a flashlight.Flimsy in design.

Defense : +1

Effect : Small area of light source

A slight smile on his face, nonetheless it showed that his effort paid off. As of now and in the future everything in this world would revolve around the system.

“Try not to break it,” said Jason.

“I don’t think it will last long,” said Hakeem.

“Better than nothing,” said Jason. He then made the same thing for Mateo as Jason fit it on Mateo’s head, Hakeem on the other hand saw something.

“Hurry up with that, they’re coming,” said Hakeem as he saw multiple zombies limping around towards him as they were attracted by the light.

“What the,” said Hakeem as something took him by surprise. A glowing brown light engulfed him and the same happened to both Mateo and Jason. Hakeem turned to Jason.

“It’s a buff and try not to die,” said Jason. “You too Mateo.”

Mateo held his sword tight with both of his hands on the grip. He was determined but he still couldn’t shake the nervousness gripping over his mind and body. This was the path that he desired and he won’t give up.

The zombies came swarming over the trio. Hakeem swung the mallet in his hand and struck one of them right at the head. He continued to smash his shield at another one as another fell. But they were more than one or two, more came swarming over Hakeem but within the darkness, a spark emerged.

The zombies around Hakeem went flying as Hakeem unleashed his electric AOE attack.

“Come on!” Hakeem shouted.

Mateo on the other hand swung his sword to the nearby zombie striking it right at the neck. But it was far too weak. His sword was stuck on the neck. He thought he would turn into a warrior killing enemies like they were ants but the reality was far more serious than fiction.

The zombie that was stuck charged right at Mateo. His mind was telling him to run but he was stuck in a perpetual state of fear. Then he realized it.

“Help,” Mateo shouted.

In a blink of an eye, the zombie stopped moving. Its head went rolling on the floor as Jason flicked his sword removing the blood on the blade.

“Pretty rough right,” said Jason.

Mateo regained his composure as the sword was finally dislodged from the zombie.

“I can do it,” said Mateo proclaiming his determination. A few seconds after Mateo said that his eyes bulged in surprise which then replaced by a smile.

“Hold that smile, there’s more incoming,” said Jason.

He kicked one of the zombies away and slashed another by the neck. More, keep on coming. Jason beheaded them all in a single swipe leaving corpses on the floor. But they didn’t stop.

Jason grabbed a zombie by the neck as he cut all of its limbs.

“Mateo,” said Jason.

A zombie dropped right in front of Mateo as he flinched. The zombie was limbless yet its mouth didn’t stop biting the empty air.

“Kill it,” said Jason as he thrashed around the zombies that came near him.

Mateo did the deed and his level went up. Jason kept on feeding this contract-bound friend of his with limbless zombies.

Hakeem on the other side kept on bashing them as if he was a berserker fighting in the middle of a war. Before long, the zombies stopped coming. Countless dead bodies were on the ground, thanks to this trio.

“Is this it?” said Hakeem.

“No, not yet. They’re there,” said Jason as he pointed at the far end of their sight.

“Should we help them?” Hakeem asked.

“Let’s go up the floor, rather than them, we’re trying to find the big boss,” said Jason.

Hakeem hesitated a bit, he knew those people weren’t exactly the good type of people but they were still people.

“You want to help them?” Jason bluntly asked.

After spending much time with this friend of his. Jason came to know that one redeeming feature about Hakeem. He was really soft-hearted.

“I just can’t let them die like that,” said Hakeem.

“You do know that those guys can backstab you,” said Jason.

“I can handle it,” said Hakeem as he showed off the mallet to Jason.

A green glow enveloped Hakeem as his health restored to peak performance followed by a brownish glow.

“Don’t die, I need you,” said Jason.

Hakeem smiled.

“You need me? Is this really the Jason Park that I know of? Since when did you turn sentimental?” Hakeem said.

“Shut up,” said Jason.

Jason and Mateo went to the stairs while Hakeem came running towards the zombies hurdling around Antonio’s gang.

“Die motherf-…” a war cry from the man carrying a shield.

The mallet was swung cracking every skull and bone that it met. Even the shield was turned into a weapon as Hakeem kept on bashing against these mindless creatures from the realm of the dead.

Antonio and his gang managed to fend off most of the zombies as they took the higher ground over the top of unused machinery. They were fighting for their lives poking these undead heads from the top while being cautious enough from those stretched arms and fingers.

“Who the hell is that?” said one of the goons.

“I don’t know,” said Antonio. He merely glanced for a while at the incoming Hakeem but his hands were busied piercing these zombie’s head.

“Pay attention and don’t get caught! We need to level up!” said Antonio as he pumped up the motivation of whatever left of his crew.

Soon, Hakeem reached Antonio’s gang. He bashed another one of the zombies as he took a leap. Antonio and the gang turned towards the newcomer as they were wary about his sudden appearance. Their swords were ready as they ignored the flailing rotting arms from below.

Hakeem landed on the unused machinery as he noticed the rather cold greeting from Antonio’s gang.

“Who are you?” Antonio asked.

“Your help,” said Hakeem.

Meanwhile, Jason took the lead harrowing through the narrow stairs pushing back the zombies from above killing them one after another. He cut them down as if they were butter.

They reached the second floor. Jason stopped on his track as Mateo stood by the side. Jason stared at the zombies wandering around the second-floor hallway and to his surprise, the numbers were quite small compared to downstairs.

It might not be on the upper floors.

A simple thought came in mind. Then the zombies noticed the fresh meat that just presented themselves. They rushed at the duo while snarling into a frenzy.

“Can we handle this?” Mateo asked as he was quite nervous considering he could barely see.

“We can’t but I can,” Jason’s hand glowed in green as he swung his hand in a horizontal manner.

Numerous crescent green lights went flying in the air cutting apart these zombies like they were nothing. Mateo who saw this firsthand couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Woah,” said Mateo.

“Don’t get careless, I only cut their body apart,” said Jason. “Watch your step and make sure they’re dead through the head.”

Mateo had an easy time as his level kept on increasing. There was no doubt he was being carried by Jason. For sure he was proud of himself because he made the right decision.

While Mateo was walking around piercing the growling head of the undead on the ground, something crossed his mind.

“Hey, it seems like you’re looking for something. What is it?” Mateo asked.

Jason turned to Mateo with those lazy eyes of his.

“Nothing much, we’re just looking for the big bad zombie, the big undead,” said Jason.

The moment he said so, a loud snarl echoed throughout the whole abandoned factory. Definitely sounds like these zombies but it was definitely louder than ever. The snarl went on and on until it finally fell silent.

“Is that what you’re looking for?” Mateo asked.

“Bingo,” said Jason.