Stepping outside I am immediately assaulted by the scent of blood. Trying to ignore the smell, I move hesitantly down the side of the building.

Reaching the corner I squeeze myself against the hot brick and focus on any sounds that may be coming from the parking area. Sure enough there is a soft moaning and sloshing of liquid that reaches my ears.

As calm as possible I slowly peak my head around the corner and witness a revolting scene.

Zombies.

Feasting on the goblin corpses are the remains of the people that were killed earlier. Their bloody and gauged bodies allude to their undead nature as they ravenously eat. Flesh and entrails are torn out and dully chomped away by these creatures. Doing a count I confirm that there are exactly five, same as the number of people that were killed earlier.

Pulling my head back I turn to look at Matt before quietly whispering. “Looks like we can add Zombies to the list of new threats.”

His eyes quiver slightly at the mention of zombies, but ultimately he remains calm. “Should we go around the other way to avoid them?”

“We should kill them. I don’t want to risk leaving them nearby our base, if we were to be injured later on the way back and then run into them….” I leave my sentence open ended to allow Matt to understand the implications. “Besides, this seems like a reasonable number for us to handle and get some experience.”

“Okay, then what is our plan?”

“Well, that depends if they are the fast or slow variety.” Reaching down I pick up a rock and bounce it in my open palm.

Leaning out I carefully aim for a far away vehicle. The rock flies true to aim and pings off aluminum siding. The sound draws the attention of a couple of zombies who dumbly raise their heads and turn in that direction.

Throwing another rock I repeat the distraction and finally prod the zombies to shakily stand and stagger off towards the car.

“Slow it is.” With this information I quickly come up with a strategy and explain each of our tasks.

Briskly moving away from the building I stand in the open and loudly cough to alert the zombies. Their bodies sway towards my direction as their foggy eyes seem to scrunch in confusion before moaning loudly.

Their haggard steps are faster then earlier, but the overall speed is still something I can easily escape. Patiently waiting proves to be more taxing than I had anticipated as I purposely allow the zombies to draw near.

Each step closer their wanting hands slowly extend out in anticipation of the flesh that is nearly in reach.

Just as they are passing the corner I quickly jump backwards and give the call to Matt. “Now!”

With a powerful thrust, Matt extends the shaft of the spear out and successfully entangles it into the legs of the zombies. Like a cheap comedy the zombies trip forward as if dominoes falling into a jumbled gory mess.

Moving swiftly, I join Matt and we both cautiously begin stabbing with our spears. Avoiding their out reached arms we slowly but efficiently kill the undead.

“I leveled up.” Matt is the first to speak after the slaughter and it is good news that he shares.

“Ditto.” Pulling my spear out I grimace at all the gore and I silently thank the fact that I have a spear and don’t have to get too near this bloody mess.

Matt quietly evokes his screen and I see his hand move to spend the points. “Wait there is something I want to share....”

I hold nothing back as I quickly inform Matt of my discoveries. The theory of hidden effects for each attribute, the gain of points from Intelligence, and the threat of this information spreading.

“I think you are being too pessimistic. I won’t argue that in the wrong hands this could be dangerous, but you are assuming that the majority of people would actually put an emphasis on Intelligence. If this was a safe world they might, but everyone will be too busy struggling to stay alive. Their attention will be placed onto the physical attributes instead….” Matt finishes his little speech before turning and quietly staring at the restaurant.

“As for sharing this information with everyone, I’ll cross that road when it comes.”

“Okay.” I don’t agree with his decision, but I was the one that pushed him to be the leader and I will let him make the call. However, that does not mean I won’t be keeping a close eye out for any threats.

“So I guess the next question is which Attribute are you raising: Strength or Intelligence?” I shift the conversation back to the present.

Watching Matt hesitate over the decision I decide to give him my opinion. “Matt, focus on getting 20 Strength first, then you can focus on Intelligence. It will only take you one more level up to reach 20, it will have a greater affect on combat, and I want to check my theory on the Inventory.”

“You really think we will get an option for Inventory from Strength?”

Nodding my head I speak. “Yes, in many games to increase your carrying capacity you would have to raise your strength. It just seems to be the most logical…although there is the chance it could be some other function, but we won’t know for sure until afterwards.”

“Well... I was going to going to go that route originally.” Shrugging Matt decides on Strength.

Seeing Matt working on his screen I open my own and distribute the points. 5 go into Intelligence, 1 to Agility, and 2 for Perception.

Once we are both finished we proceed past the blood stained asphalt and giblets of flesh.

Crouching beside the sidewalk we hide behind some heavy shrubbery to carefully scan the area before we go traipsing down the road. Vehicles are strewn everywhere after the initial pandemonium of appearing monsters and numerous wrecks are piled haphazardly.

Looking around I am surprised to not be seeing hordes of monsters marching down the street. Instead there is no movement and the area is eerily silent. The only sound is the steady humming of engines which alludes to the haste that vehicles were abandoned.

Not wasting any more time I motion Matt to follow as we slowly move down the sidewalk. We hug closely to walls, while keeping a careful watch to our surroundings.

Moving along, I soon spot a blood trail that crosses the sidewalk and moves down an alley between the buildings. Peeking around the corner I am able to discern the source.

A lone zombie is crawling across the ground. Cracked and chipped nails cover the bloody fingers as the zombie digs deep with each pull. A pair of broken legs reveals protruding shards of bones.

Taking a glance over its entire appearance I only have one thought…easy experience.

Not hesitating I walk brisk and confidently towards the prey. As I approach I can see the zombie struggling to crane its neck around to look in my direction. But giving it no time I swiftly thrust the spear through the nape of its skull. Its movements cease immediately.

“I leveled up.” Matt quietly speaks behind.

“So the parties do share experience. Interesting… wish I could know the amounts of experience per kill.” I silently regret the lack of system information while watching Matt poke around in the air obviously working on his status screen.

“Done. I received a notification for reaching peak… but I didn’t get a reward.”

“Not surprising, I figured Strength is one of the more appealing attributes. Someone could have redistributed heavily into it….” Shrugging my shoulders it is not a big loss to not get the extra point, disappointing but not devastating. “So did you have any changes to your Status?”

Matt does not respond instead a smirk plasters his face as he moves to pull a dagger out.

I carefully watch as the dagger rests in the palm of his hand. It slightly shimmers as if the air is moving before simply disappearing. My eyes arch in surprise, but I remain silent while waiting. Next Matt raises his hand and somehow grasps the handle and slowly pulls the dagger back into existence.

With a goofy smile on his face Matt looks at me while speaking. “Was that not awesome?”

Nodding my head I smile while still feeling a little jealous. “So what are the details? To store an item you have to be touching it and to retrieve the item the Inventory screen must be open?”

“Pretty much, there’s a tab for Inventory now that shows a bracketed screen. Oddly enough I don’t see any details about how much I can carry.”

“That’s fine we will figure that out later. You can also play around with it more at the gas station.” I say this slightly condescendingly as I watch Matt playfully making the dagger disappear over and over.

Pushing past him I move to start back towards our original goal.

A few minutes later we are forced to hide behind an abandoned car, while worryingly staring at the gas station.

Before the station is a horde of zombies that are trying desperately to push their way in. The zombies are too many and the glass windows soon break with a shattering noise. Almost immediately a loud scream makes it way from the inside and alerts us of potential survivors.

“Do you think we can help?” Matt asks, he is humane enough to want to help, but also not stupid to just rush in getting our selves killed.

“Give me a sec, I’m thinking.” Glancing over the hood of the car, I take in all the sights around the gas station looking for anything to take advantage of. My eyes soon stop on an industrial truck or more precisely the large flat trailer on the back. The trailer surface is raised several feel off the ground and wide enough to allow easy movement.

“Okay Matt, I got a plan but we need to move quickly.”

Darting across the street we soon reach the truck. Matt immediately climbs up, while I turn to observe the zombies. Surprisingly they did not notice us. Taking a few steps closer I swing out my spear and tap it against a metal pole.

The metallic tone rings abroad and several zombies turn to my direction. Three decide to leave the horde and move this way. I don’t wait for them to get close instead I go and join Matt to prepare for the killing.

With a zombie now close I begin attacking and kill it on my second thrust. I struggle to free the spear from the corpse, but the dead weight is pulling me down and I start to panic. Matt luckily notices and reaches over to grab and help pull my spear out.

“Thanks, I didn’t think about the spear getting stuck.”

Shrugging off my mishap, I resume the killing. With each kill another zombie immediately replaces its fallen brethren. Soon a steady stream is coming from the station and we have amassed a large number before us.

My breathing starts to become heavy and by the third kill I am forced to sit down and catch my breath. Checking my status I see that my stamina has neared empty. Happily though I have achieved a level, but disappointingly my stamina was not refilled after leveling. Guess that would have been too easy….

I put 4 points into Perception but hold the other five for emergency in case our situation turns ire.

Having rested enough, I stand up to assist Matt in the task at hand. He seems to be handling the strenuous activity better than me. Yet I can still hear his laborious breaths in between strikes.

After the last zombie is killed we both plop down exhausted. By my count we killed 15 zombies, but by the huge pile of corpses before us. You would think it was more.

“I leveled up twice, how about you?” I casually ask while absently staring at the carnage.

“Same.”

“I’m starting to think an Endurance of 8 is not going to cut it.”

“Yeah, I’m not much better off with 10….”

Doing some quick calculations I think over Matt’s requirements for 20 Intelligence. “You know…it will take you four levels to reach 20, but you only need ten of the points to do so. Why don’t you go ahead and put the remaining 2 into Endurance so you can fight longer?”

Sighing heavily. “I’m starting to think you are going to be micro managing my every point.” Matt shakes his head before responding again. “Okay, 2 for Endurance and the other points are going to Intelligence.”

Pulling up my status screen, I move to spend my remaining points. With no immediate threat I once more raise Intelligence by 5 and then click to level up.

Attention: You have reached the Max Allowance of Attribute Points for your Race

Hmm. Interesting, so does this mean that other races get different amounts?

Do monsters have a status screen also?

“I just got a notification saying ten is the max point allowance per level.” Ignoring my growing number of questions, I immediately tell Matt this news. “All it took was 50 points in Intelligence.”

“That’s… wait…. You’re saying you already have 50 Intelligence!” Shocked by this information Matt openly stairs at me with slacked jaw and wide eyes. “Dude, that is so not even right.”

Overlooking Matt’s disgruntled complaints, I move back to my free points. Since I no longer have to put points into Intelligence, then I have 10 points to spend. I don’t have enough points to raise more than one attribute to 20 and after this fight I could use some more Endurance. So I guess I will get Perception first and spread the remaining points evenly.

For being the first to reach the peak of human Perception

Reward + 1 Perception

StatusNameJackRaceHumanLevel6ClassN/ATitles---PartyQuestsMap-Health(150/150)Stamina(90/150)Mana(150/150)-Strength8Endurance10Perception21Agility13Intelligence50Wisdom10Charisma2Luck10Unallocated Points0

I am satisfied with my new stats, but what is even more appealing is the new feature.

Map.

This provides an amazingly detailed aerial view of the area. I am able to pan the image around however I want, but the default is stationed right over me. Zooming out the screen is soon covered by a greyed out ‘Unexplored’ area. It seems the map only shows a small radius around me of what I guess is 100 yards?

Hmm… would this area increase as my Perception increases?

Putting another question down to answer in the future, I decide to see how far the image can zoom in. Amazingly, I can zoom all the way to the top of the buildings. Even the cars are visible in the road, including the truck I am sitting on. Odd... neither the corpses nor Matt and I are shown on the Map. Guess it doesn’t show living…uh animate objects. Not sure if zombies are considered to be living by the new system.

Done playing with the Map, I slowly raise myself up and move off the truck. Matt follows along as we give a wide berth to the corpse pile.

Drawing near the shattered windows I am able to faintly hear hushed voices. “I think I can hear the survivors.” I nod my head towards the inside of the gas station. “I’m going to go check the vending machines. Can you look into the people inside? But be careful, there still might be a trapped zombie somewhere.”

“Sure.” Matt raises his spear before stepping through the shattered window.

Turning, I start heading towards the two vending machines at the corner of the building. Stopping in front of the two machines I quietly observe them. They are two battered and dirty machines depicting labels of cheap knock off drinks, but other than that I see no other changes.

Sighing to myself I fear my theory was a bust. However, just as I am thinking of leaving a panel opens up before my eyes.

Welcome Customer. Would you like to make a purchase?

Yes / No

Quickly I tap yes and a new screen opens up showing the wares available.

Lesser Stamina Potion – 1 Silver Game Token

Lesser Health Potion – 5 Silver Game Tokens

Lesser Mana Potion – 1 Gold Game Token

My emotions are mixed between excitement and disappointment. I realize that these potions will become very beneficial to us…. But where are the magical items, skills, or even weapons?

Scanning the screen again I sigh after finding nothing else. With no tokens to spend, I mentally take note of the prices before closing the screen and move to check on the situation inside.

The sound of cracking glass beneath my feet draws frightened eyes my way.

Matt is calmly talking with an officer at the back of the room. Behind those two is a small cluster of people.

There is a middle aged woman I assume to have been working here by the nametag on her grimy shirt. Beside her, is an elderly black man leaning on a cane. And lastly there is a young woman holding the shoulders of a small boy.

After scanning the small group, I step over and stand beside Matt.

“Jack, this is Officer Brent Malone. I’ve actually met him a few times when we had people get a little too disorderly at the bar.” Noticing my presence, Matt was quick to do the introductions.

Reaching my arm out I offer a handshake. “Nice to meet you Officer Malone.”

“Brent is fine. No need for formalities.” Brent is very casual as he firmly shakes my hand. The officer is a large man, not as big as Matt, but very toned and fit with the typical crew cut hair.

“Brent was just telling me about how he and his partner killed an ogre.”

My eyes arch in interest at the mention of ogre and turn to look at Brent as he speaks.

“It popped out of nowhere in the middle of the street and started attacking cars. It was a large grotesque green creature that was swinging around a crude club. It took us several shots before the thing died….”

“Anyways, with no contact from the precinct we tried to do our best to control the situation. But there was mass chaos. Ultimately we ended up here right before being attacked by those…zombies.” Brent slows his speaking as he is reminded of the event.

“During the struggle, Officer Sanchez was bitten and pulled into the horde.”

No one speaks as we all quietly pay respects to the fallen officer. However, time is of the essence and I speak up. “I’m sorry about your partner, but we are not safe here.” Turning to look at Matt I ask. “Did you ask if they wanted to come with us?”

“I was just about to.” Matt then speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. “We have a group holed up the road in a restaurant. Brick walls, windows barricaded and food. It is not the Alamo, but it is a safer option. There is also strength in numbers.”

The people quietly mumble while thinking the offer over. I can tell a few want to go, but they are waiting to see what Brent decides.

“Okay, we’ll go.” Brent agrees and there is a collective sigh of relief from everyone.

“Good. Matt I want you to go and grab as much alcohol as you can carry. Focus on ones in glass bottles. Everyone else, grab whatever you want, but keep it light we have to move quickly.”

Finished speaking I turn to start rummaging around for supplies. Grabbing various snacks and oddities, I soon feel the presence of someone standing behind me.

“You’re not going to tell me to stop looting?”

Brent crouches down and coldly stares at me. “Actually I was going to tell you to pick the ones with caramel in them.”

My fingers fumble and I drop everything I was holding. I am so taken back by his humor I just stare dumbly at him.

Chuckling at my actions, Brent speaks calmly to me. “I can put priorities in order and as long as you don’t kill or rape…. I can turn a blind eye to petty crimes given the circumstances.”

Brent reaches down and offers one of the bars that I had dropped. Taking it in my hands I smile while thinking it might not be bad to have an officer on our side. Advertisement Previous

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