Six hours remaining until phase two!

Josh felt nauseous as he thought about the ominous notification he had witnessed just a few minutes ago.

Josh had stopped on the side of the road near the outskirts of the city, right by a small pond. His sickness was caused by the influx of information due to all that had transpired. Not even sure if he is based in reality anymore, he sat staring at his reflection in the water, which was oddly serene despite the chaos occurring all around it.

Lost in thought, all that met his gaze was a broken, five foot seven male with disheveled short blonde hair and brown eyes. Josh was scruffy due to lack of shave from the fat, disgusting nurse prior to the apocalypse. He was not emaciated but was rather thin due to being bedridden and no noticeable muscle mass could be spotted despite being healed.

He chuckled...even he hadn't really remembered what he looked like. Josh was banged up pretty bad, and was covered with a mixture of his and...well, who knows who else's blood.

Josh felt tired...more tired than he's even felt in his entire life, and he pondered if this is how soldiers or Marines feel after a life or death struggle...or maybe it's just the blood loss.

Still dizzy, Josh managed to get up and return to the vehicle.

It made him very uncomfortable, but the tracker had led him to the city...which was like ground zero.

Josh turned off the lights, parked right outside of the city, and sat in silence. On his way to the city, Josh had scavenged better bandages and some ointments to stave off infections. The man bandaged himself up in silence and was now simply waiting.

The tracker specified that the convict was half a Km away, and was moving towards him. Josh had made it in a good time considering there was still two hours left until the deadline, so he decided to bide his time and confront him when he exits the city.

Fifteen minutes later, Josh caught site of the silhouette of someone exiting the city...followed slowly by innumerable other silhouettes…

“Shit...I didn't even consider the possibility he was being chased.”

Josh slowly turned on the vehicle and crept forward. Drawing near, Josh clicked on his headlights and the convict started flailing as if signaling for Josh to pick him up. Josh simply accelerated without emotion. Realizing too late what was happening the man attempted to jump out of the way, but lacked time to do so as he was thrown around under the vehicle.

Josh stopped as the zombies approached and began clawing at the doors. He felt as though a giant weight had been lifted from his shoulders and his head seemed so clear. Despite bathing in the newfound wave of relief,

Josh was scared and appalled by just how little murdering another living being had just affected him. He finally thought the last string snapped and his last bit of sanity had dissipated from him, and that he had finally become a psychopath.

“Wait...where the fuck’s the notification?”

This sudden revelation brought Josh back to reality and he started panicking. He then noticed the zombies surrounding him and his fear arose once more, but that was the least of his problems. Feeling the ground shake, Josh entered a state of shock. It would seem his antics had attracted even more much unwanted company. As he stared at the skyscraper directly in front of him, a giant had was all he could see grasping into the side of it...fifteen stories up.

Without waiting to sneak a glance at the rest of the creature, Josh threw the ambulance in reverse.

“Fuck no! Not today! No way! Double fuck no, even!”

Josh sped backwards as fast as he could and tried to swing the ambulance around, but then heard some odd noises.

*Snap. Click. Urrrr.*

*Ding*

Main quest - A debt paid in blood Main quest complete!

And paid in blood it was! Did you really have to make him suffer? Sheeeesh…

Reward: 1000 Greed points

“Oh…” Josh managed to utter softly, but immediately turned his attention back to the situation at hand.

Josh was finally managing to outrun the behemoth, but it had been following him for over an hour. When Josh initially looked in his rear view mirror, he realized it is literally just a giant zombie, and that it is most likely following the headlights or noise. There was nothing he could do about the lights or he'd be blind, and the sound was the byproduct of operating a damn vehicle…

Then, there was nothing…

*Dub...blub...blub...bummm*

The vehicle was out of gas. Still holding onto some false sense of hope, Josh kept trying to start the ambulance while tears formed in his eyes.

*Click. Verververver. Click. Ververververver.*

“Start, damn you! Start!”

Exhausting all options, Josh looked back and saw it was too late. The creature was upon him and towered over the ambulance.

“Shit!”

Josh looked on in horror as the abomination slowly began reaching for the vehicle, and with a quick thought he ran to the back of the ambulance. Just as he felt the vehicle shake and begin to lift from the ground, he threw open the emergency doors and tumbled out. Running in between the oblivious creature’s legs, Josh made a beeline straight for the forest to his left.

He turned around and watched in horror as the vehicle he occupied just moments ago was crushed as if it were a bug, and then it exploded. The creature began to thrash wildly due to the explosion.

“I...guess even giant zombies don't like flames...good to know.”

After the creature calmed down and realized it wasn't in danger, it began to walk slowly back towards the city leaving Josh alone with the pitch blackness of night. He made his way out of the tree line and simply stared at the flaming wreckage before him...mesmerized. This could have been him but moments ago, but that didn't matter.

“Ha...haha...hahaha. I...I lived. I'm alive, and I have passed this horrible trial.”

Josh then heard rustling and turned around. Zombies...a lot of them, were convening on his location. He began backing up and was about to run when…

*Thud*

He turned around and looked up only to see another zombie. The...thing, grabbed him by his left arm and Josh went to stab it with his…

“Oh, right...I no longer have a weapon.”

The zombies immediately swarmed him and fought amongst themselves to be the first to tear into his supple, delicious flesh. As the first one sunk its teeth into him, he screamed in agony and struggled to break free.

“No! I survived and did the fucking quests! I'm supposed to live! Get the fuck off me!

As Josh began to black out and had resigned himself to his fate, with tears in his eyes he was met by...darkness. All he could see was darkness, nor did he feel any pain and assumed he was dead, until…

*Bzzzzt!*

Phase one: End! Time: 00:00 # of remaining players: 21,326,032

Congratulations all! Achievement unlocked - Against the odds! Achievement unlocked - Survivor! Initiating phase two!

“...What?”