I was in a building filled with food and water. I had a bathroom and was entirely secure. There were only two doorways into the building. The backdoor was solid metal with a deadbolt, a chain, and even a brace on the door.

The front doorway had a metal framing I could drag across and lock, so even if the glass was broken nothing could get through. The problem was my lack of information. Without a TV or internet I wouldn’t know what was happening anywhere beyond the gas station.

I dragged the metal lock across the door and secured it. No one was getting in, nor was I getting out. The two cars sat in the parking lot: Rick’s and that of the unknown man. But I couldn’t see anything else. I continuously scanned the streets outside in expectation that more monsters would appear.

Several hours passed and night time rolled around. Not a single car had driven down the street in all that time. Previously, I had let myself believe the lack of traffic was because the gas station was on a back road and slightly out of the way. With a full day having passed without a single vehicle coming past, I couldn’t hold on to that belief anymore. No one at all was traveling this road, which meant shit had seriously hit the fan. Still, as far as catastrophic events went, I was in the best spot to be: a low population area inside of a secured building filled with food. This was going to be my home base.

I moved to the main office and grabbed a camo bag and emptied out the contents. The owner wouldn’t need it anymore, nor would he need the food or drinks I’d be taking. I packed the bag with several bottles of water and lightweight foods (dozens of protein bars) before strapping it on my back.

The monster’s spear was still lodged in the man’s neck, and I hadn’t had the stomach to remove it. I needed it now, however, for protection beyond the relative safety of the metal doors. I grasped the wooden shaft of the spear in both hands and placed one foot onto the ribs of the body. Asking for forgiveness seemed pointless now: if there was a greater being, he was surely toying with us and didn’t care.

The sensation of removing the weapon from the body’s neck was awful and something I’d never experienced before. The man’s blood had thickened and turned somewhat gelatinous. It made a sloshing noise as it ran onto the floor after the spear tip was fully pulled clean. Blood was caked on the tip of the blade and was even darker than before.

I moved towards the front door and unlocked the cage and then the glass door before stepping outside. I made sure to relock the cage and the glass door on my way out. It was a decision I had struggled with. On one hand, leaving the cage and the door unlocked would give me quick access in case I had to run back into the shop, on the other hand it would give people free reign to loot the store. My supplies there might prove essential. If the whole world were caught up in this disaster, then food might become very precarious. I couldn’t risk people or monsters breaking in and taking everything useful, including all the various packets of food. This was a selfish thought, but right now I was solely focused on my own survival.

Across the street from me was a line of thick pine trees and a dense forest began with them. The forest was a great place to go during deer and hog hunting seasons, but on the other hand was slow to progress through and it provided cover for enemies to hide in and get close to me. My goal was simply to gather some information and be able to sprint back to the gas station if I needed to: it would remain my home base until I learned more about my situation.

Gravel crunched beneath my feet as I walked through the parking lot and past the gas pumps. A chill wind blew past my face and into the distance. I turned my head and looked down the barren street. There was nothing in sight in either direction.

I wanted to see what my home city – Sangeal – looked like. Walking there would take at least an hour. Assuming my truck worked it would only take around ten minutes to get to beyond the forest and onto a road with a good view. I tossed the pack on my passenger side seat and, as a feeling of anxiety rose up in me, turned my key.

Yes! Whatever strange change had taken place, vehicles were still working. My truck started without much trouble. I took one last look at the gas station before pulling out and speeding down the street. No one would pull me over, and no one was even on the road.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw when I cleared the final clusters of trees and the city came into view. Fire had wreaked havoc on all of the northern half, with smoke still billowing from the taller buildings.

The cars I could see down the road ahead of me were totaled and smashed together, others were burned to their frames. Street lights and power lines had fallen to the floor. I pulled up as close as I could to the first residence before stepping out of my vehicle. Glass crunched beneath my feet.

Every step of mine felt heavier than the last. There wasn’t just trash, and glass, and burned debris on the streets. There were bodies: people who had been alive just two days ago and were now dead. I didn’t dare walk too close to the corpses, but from a distance I could tell that their cause of death varied.

Some looked mangled and mauled; others were burnt and mutilated beyond recognition. Obviously, they had all been murdered. All showed signs of assault except one woman who had no obvious wounds. I walked towards her. When I made it about halfway, I heard a noise behind me: a growling.

My body instinctually froze as every hair on my body stood up. Fear dominated me as the threat of the growl was so visceral. I didn’t even want to turn around, but my fear of death overwhelmed everything.

I grasped the spear so hard my hands turned white. My body spun and faced the enemy behind me. It was a wolf with patchy fur that made it looked completely deranged. The hair around its jaws was caked in dried blood. All these bodies seemed to be quite the feast for it.

The wolf crouched lower and seemed ready to pounce at any moment. I knew what I should do in this situation, but acting it out in reality was so much more difficult than when people had talked to me about wolves. It took every ounce of will power to spread my arms wide and make myself look as big as possible.

“AHHH.” I screamed at the wolf at the top of my lungs while stepping forward. In normal times, I knew it was possible to scare these animals away by acting intimidating and emphasizing that you were bigger than them. That wasn’t the reality of this situation, unfortunately.

As soon as I stepped forward, the wolf lunged directly at me with an obvious intent to rip me to shreds. My reactions weren’t fast, but they weren’t slow either. I frantically swung out the spear with a single hand and the spear shaft caught the side of the wolf, causing it to skitter to the side.

My response was enough to make the wolf take pause and think carefully. Somehow though, I had the feeling that the wolf would never retreat. If this were a game… then this was an encounter. This was potentially a fight to the death, and to judge by the corpses on the streets and in my gas station, I only had one life to work with.

Both my hands grasped the wooden spear and pointed it directly at the wolf. It began circling me slowly and I kept the spear tip pointed directly at its head. My advantage was my range, and I wouldn’t let it get close to me unwounded.

It was fortunate that the wolf only had one avenue of attack and one that was completely predictable. As soon as it leaned low and the muscles of its shoulders tensed, I knew it was coming. Mouth wide, fangs visible, the rush came.

I lunged forward as the Wolf made its charge, spear striking out with pinpoint precision. Either by luck or thanks to my extreme concentration, my spear tip entered directly into the wolf’s mouth. There was a moment of resistance and then I felt the spear tip push on through.

It was a one hit kill, and the wolf dropped immediately. The spear was nearly ripped from my hand at the sudden force being exerted on the tip. I had to no choice but to drop it in fear it would snap in half. A few moments later, the wolf despawned.

Wielding the spear had been surprisingly easy and its impact when I struck the wolf unexpectedly light: the muscles of the wolf’s jaw and neck had offered no resistance, even though the spear tip wasn’t that sharp.

Probably, my having increased my STR to 3 had come into play here. At the time, I wasn’t sure how effective it had been to increase my STR, or whether everyone started with 1 of each stat (perhaps I had been weaker than normal). Now, I reckoned 1 must have been the base human start stat and that 3 was therefore a significant improvement.

A beautiful book floated above the wolf’s corpse, one whose glow lifted my heart. It was an item of some kind, and I rushed forward to grab it even before picking up my spear. A message was presented to me.

Book of Summon Skeleton LV. 2

Cast time: Instant

MP Cost: 5

Distance: 3 Meters

Summons two Skeleton Warriors to fight for you. Skeletons can only be spawned from a corpse.

Do you wish to learn Summon Skeleton LV. 2?

The description of the skill was immediately followed by a prompt asking me if I wished to learn the skill. This was life or death, and any increase in power was greatly welcomed. Yes!

Warning: You may only learn one Active skill currently. Your next skill slot will be unlocked at level 10. Confirm skill allocation.

This message gave me a second of pause before I confirmed. I checked the EXP I had received from the wolf and it was only a measly 60% of my level. I wouldn’t make it to level 10 at this rate.

Name: Mike Reynolds (27) Class: None Level: 1 EXP: 67%

HP: 55/55 MP: 15/15

STR: 3

AGI: 2

DEX: 1

VIT: 1

WIS: 1

Available: 0

Skills: [A] Summon Skeleton LV. 2

Summon Skeleton was now in my list of skills. It had an [A] next to it, which I assumed meant it was an active skill. That implied there were also passive skills I could learn. Whether I could level up my skills or needed to be lucky enough to find rewards of higher skill level I had yet to determine.

A sudden cackling came from an alleyway as I was contemplating my situation. It was unmistakable in nature. That had to be another of those small but fierce, green monsters coming my way. This was the perfect opportunity to test Summon Skeleton.

I didn’t know how to cast the spell specifically, but I figured it wouldn’t be complicated. The spell description said a corpse was required so my focus shifted to a body just ten meters away. It was mangled and partially burned already, the face completely unrecognizable. I had to get close enough to cast and that made me a bit queasy. The smell coming from the body was putrid.

I concentrated on the idea of using Summon Skeleton and immediately two Skeleton Warriors spawned from the corpse, which disappeared. Two boney warriors appeared in front of me, one wielding a spear and the other an axe. This… was absolutely fucking sick.

Did they follow my commands? Did they attack wildly at whatever they chose? It could be either and I wouldn’t be surprised. There was only one way to find out: test it. My focus shifted back to the alleyway, where the sounds of mocking laughter were coming closer.

Move to the alleyway. Having concentrated on that command, I was very pleased when the two summoned skeletons began walking over to the alley the monster was coming from. They moved neither fast nor particularly slowly. If there was something in the way they intelligently moved around it. The weapons they held ready looked quite menacing though, even though they weren’t particularly fast.

A green, humanoid monster – I labelled it a goblin in my mind – appeared in sight just before the skeletons reached the corner. It held a wooden spear just like the other goblin I’d seen and the tip of that weapon was also caked with blood. A sudden fear came over me and I wondered if the goblin would ignore the skeletons and throw the spear at me and kill me.

I urged the skeletons to move forward and fight, but far from moving faster they came to a complete stop! Perhaps they could only fight with me in range, or at least had a magical tether to me as their master? Both to protect myself from a possible spear throw and to give them more room if they were on a tether of some sort, I rushed behind a burnt car and allowed the skeletons to complete the distance to the goblin.

Changing its focus, the goblin rushed at the skeletons,where they efficiently fought it with axe swings and spear stabs. I didn’t know if the summoned skeletons had HP or how they worked exactly, but the goblin stabbed and sliced at them, occasionally knocking free a bone from their white frames. Fortunately, they didn’t fear damage or death. It took them just ten seconds to overwhelm the goblin.

Congratulations, you have reached level 2!