In the morning of the next day, Ryan takes a warm bath and then eats a bowl of cereal. Besides some ground-shaking tremors, nothing interrupted the night. Sadly, not even Ryan’s parents came knocking on the door, wondering why there’s a concrete wall in their yard.

After dressing and leaving the house, Ryan locks up the house and walks to the road. The wall is still incomplete, but Ryan needs more credits to finish it, so it’ll have to remain how it is for now.

While he does a slow run back to the manhole in the city, Ryan easily kills nearby zombies with his gun. A bullet only costs one credit, but a kill gains him sixty. Even if a zombie took several shots to kill it, the reward would be worth it.

After a couple kills, Ryan adds another skill to the shop to save him credits when buying things.

Discount 1, 300 ₵

After buying it and a bullet, Ryan doesn’t see any difference. However, when buying two bullets, Ryan only has a single credit taken away from him. Grinning, Ryan purchases three more levels for 900 credits.

Ryan arrives at the manhole before lunchtime, so he keeps on going to The Sanctuary. He plans on eating a rack of ribs outside while the residents watch with watery mouths. However, when Ryan reaches the part of the street where The Sanctuary held their ground, he sees the side of a building smashed in.

Glass and concrete rubble has poured out onto the street, making travel very difficult for Ryan. To make it worse, blood and skin are strewn everywhere, even in large blotches on the sides of neighboring buildings.

Even the entrance to The Sanctuary, which held up during the first night of the brute zombie attacks, has had all the glass broken. Support pillars inside the building are undamaged, but the security breach is undeniable.

“Hello?” Ryan yells inside the building but doesn’t see anyone nearby. The staircase at the rear of the lobby has been blocked by a long conference table, but blood covers the floors and walls on both sides.

Not hearing a response, Ryan proceeds inside. He hopes for the best but prepares for the worst. It saddens him to think that his new friend may have recently died, but Ryan continues with his gun drawn.

At the staircase, Ryan vaults over the table and walks up the stairs. The blood lessens as stairs get higher, and the second floor is almost completely devoid. At the door that would lead to the second-floor conference rooms, another table has been placed to block the door.

Ryan knocks on the door and takes a step back. He still had his pistol in his hand, but the area seems safe from zombies.

“Yeah? Oh, you’re new,” The man who answers the door says. He doesn’t have any visible injuries but looks upset when he sees Ryan.

“I came by two days ago with a list of food I had to sell. Is, uh, Jacob here?” Ryan can’t remember the name of the boss, so he asks for his friend inside.

“Just a minute,” The man says, and closes the door. Half a second later, he opens it back up. “Wait inside.”

Ryan climbs over the table and waits on the other side of the door as the man walks into the conference room on the left. A few seconds later, he comes back with the leader of their group, and a woman wearing fancy blue robes.

“Ryan, it’s good to see you again!” The leader says and shakes Ryan’s hand.