Tim carefully took off his bag and put on one of the reception desks without making any noise. Though the voice seemed desperate, but Tim was no hero and would never risk his own life for some stranger.

Tim stealthily went to the side of the room from the voice was coming and peeped in it through the side of the opened door.

Inside the room, the zombie corpse of Phil, the manager of the pawn shop, laid lifelessly on the ground while dark blood dripped from it is neck. Inspecting further, Tim saw that a female, probably in her 20s, was being held down by zombie who was trying to bite her while she yelled and howled in fear. The maiden’s howls were so loud that they were probably enough to even shatter glass.

Hearing the desperate pleas and cries of the maiden, Tim wanted to save her as a human because he definitely could without risking his life however, he didn’t act immediately because if he saved the girl, he would most likely have to take on the burden of protecting her and feeding her in this apocalypse.

Just as Tim was pondering over whether to save her or not while the howls of the girl continued, Tim felt that he should at least save her as he still had humanity left in him.

Tim immediately ran at his top speed towards the zombie who was now just inches away from the neck of the maiden while the intensity of her screams further increased. The girl was trying to cast off the zombie by pushing it away using her hands, though to no avail.

Just as when she had closed her eyes knowing that this was her end, she felt something falling slightly above her breast which was accompanied by a liquid that stained her shirt.

She slowly opened her eyes, only to find that the zombie that was attacking her was now lying lifelessly on her side while its decapitated head was lying on her breast along with a lot of blood.

She inspected the surroundings to find out her benefactor who had saved her, when she saw a man with blue eyes who was strangely covered all around in bandages and blood. Although, she knew that this man was her benefactor, she couldn’t help but feel scared for a moment as she shrieked out in fear, though not as loud as before.

The blue eyed man in front of her was surprised for a moment after which he held down his hand towards her.

She stopped her screaming and slowly grabbed the hand of the blue eyed man because it probably meant that he was helping her to get up. He slowly pulled her up and brought her back to her feet.

“Th-Thank You for saving me. If you hadn’t helped me that time, I would’ve definitely died. I’m Scarlett, what’s your name?” asked Scarlett as her eyes were filled with immense respect for the blue eyed man in front of her.

“I’m Tim. Don’t misunderstand me but I’m no hero or savior, I just did what felt right but now you’re on your own. I’m not going to take your responsibility, you’re free to do what you want.” replied Tim. Though his words may seem heartless, he was just being practical as he didn’t want to waste precious resources of food for some stranger.

“B-But how will a lone girl like me survive in a world of zombies and monsters?” asked Scarlett as she felt that someone had stabbed her listening to the words of Tim who was probably strong.

“Not my problem.”

“P-Please, let me stay with you, I’m willing to do anything.” Scarlett had already faced the horrors of the new world and was about to die once, so she knew that it was best to ask for help from someone strong like Tim. She didn’t even have any resource or any information so if she decided to let Tim go, she would most likely die. Moreover, she had already experienced the fear of facing her own death, so she didn’t want to experience it again.

“Why don’t understand? I’m not keen on carrying dead meat with me during an apocalypse. Besides, resources are scarce so I can’t afford to spend something so valuable on a stranger like you.”

“I-I won’t hold you ba-back. I’ll g-get stronger and help you to fight monsters” Although, Scarlett replied a bit clumsily, it was evident from the glint in her eyes that she really wanted to get stronger and help Tim.

Tim pondered for a while before finally asking, “Okay, I’ll let you stay with me however you’ll have to accept four conditions first. Firstly, I’ll help you get stronger by killing the zombies but when you reach class 5 and obtain a class change, you’ll have to choose a healer class and heal me during battles. Secondly, you’ll have only half the food as I have until we have an abundance in the food resources. Thirdly, you have to tell me all about your stats, skills and anything else you might know or have noticed. Lastly, I have to meet my parents as soon as possible so you’ll have to follow me at that time. If you are willing to accept these conditions, I can allow you to come with me. Make your choice.”

If anyone heard what Tim’s conditions, they would accuse him of not being a man however, Tim couldn’t care any less about someone being a man or woman until he/she is strong.

Hearing Tim’s conditions, Scarlett gritted her teeth in agitation because the conditions were extremely harsh. She knew that if she chose a healer class, she would never be able to get stronger as it was a support role and would always have to rely on Tim to survive. Although she didn’t have much problems with the second and third conditions, she definitely was against the fourth one. She also wanted to ascertain the safety of her only support- her father but if she agreed to his conditions, she would most likely not be able to do so.

“I-I don’t have any problems with the first three conditions however, I also want to me-meet up with my father so please after you meet up with your parents, pl-please help me to meet my father.”

Tim also knew that his conditions were extremely harsh, so he hadn’t expected that Scarlett would even accept the first condition but he was quite surprised on hearing that she didn’t object against any of first three conditions. Since, the condition that she objected against was not too much, Tim could easily help her to meet her with her father if he ever met his own parents.

“Okay, I’ll help you meet with your father but only after I meet up with my parents. Now, tell me everything you know about the apocalypse, the system, your stats, skills and what happened in the pawn shop.”

Scarlett started telling everything diligently without any trace of hiding anything, because she knew that Tim was reliable to some extent because he saved her and also the fact that if he found out that she was lying, he might not take her with him.

She told him that 3-4 hours ago, she also saw the meteor like balls and the blue screen. She was dumbfounded seeing unrealistic things happening to her and was about to shrug it off as her imagination when suddenly she heard screams of people and sounds of pounding of animals coming from the outside.

She was about to check the condition of the outside when suddenly a machete appeared out of nowhere in her hand which was accompanied by a screen regarding her skill and the weapon. She had got the rare skill ‘business sense’ which gave her a 25% discount in purchase of any item from the shop though, she had no access to the shop whatsoever which made the skill pretty much useless.

She had carefully made her way to the first floor of the pawn shop when she heard screams of her manager coming from below so, she immediately ran towards the store room on the first floor and locked it because she felt that something dangerous was lingering in the ground floor.

Soon after, the screams of her manager died down while she went to the window to check the condition of the outside. However, what she saw made her puke on the spot as she didn’t have any mind calming skill like Tim and what she saw outside was exactly the explanation to the mutilated corpses that Tim had seen on the street…

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Author’s Note : As always, follow, favourite, rate and review as it is he only thing that helps me keep going. By the way, I’ve tried changing my writing style a bit, let me know what you think about it in the comments. Anyways, thanks for reading.