“Shiinng!”

[Bloody Machete – Common]

[Effects: +3 STR and +3 DEX]

[Skill: None]

‘… I can’t believe I kicked a woman for this piece of garbage.’ Peter glanced at the woman groveling on the floor and felt guilty. ‘Well, I lost my glock to save this bitch, only fair if I get the spoils.’ Thinking along this line, Peter smugly grinned at the woman, flaunting his new machete.

“Scr..Screw… You!” The woman coughed up blood and stopped breathing. Peter indifferently looted the new corpse and searched for SYSTEM items. 'This woman definitely isn't a saint. 'Peter found Mick’s necklace on the woman and a pair of boots. 

[Leader’s Tooth – Rare]

[Effects: +15 CHA]

[Skills: None]

[Cloth Boots – Common]

[Effects: +2 CON]

[Skills: None]

After looting the woman, Peter walked to a, surprisingly, untouched car. “No! Please stay away!” Peter realized that there was someone in the car and inwardly cursed, ‘Damn it! I was careless!’ 

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“I saw you kick that woman and she’s not moving anymore. Go away!”

“Look, she tried to kill and rob me. No other way around it. If you let me drive your car, I’ll protect you. Plus, you look hungry.” The man didn’t reply for a few minutes before opening the door. “Okay, you can drive, but first, you have to drive to the supermarket and help me get food? Deal?” 

'Food? Why food? Well, I am starting to feel hungry. I suppose this is mutually beneficial' Peter felt glad that he had run into this hungry spineless man, who helpfully reminded him of the importance of food in an apocalypse. 

'Definitely won't be able to buy any whiskey after the world ends right.' Smiling at the man, Peter replied, "Deal. Now can I come in?" 

The man unlocked the door and slid over to the passenger seat. Hopping inside, Peter asked the man what time it was. “It’s 1:09am” the man meekly replied. Peter noticed the man’s despairing body language, despite the man's attempt to stay positive.

“It’s okay, everyone is probably confused right now. Monsters came out of nowhere and ransacked us. If you’re not scared then no one is.”

The man nodded his head with gusto and said, “My name’s James.”

“Peter” The man then smiled and asked, “You a family man?”

Peter grimaced and replied “No.” Seeing the path of this conversation, Peter decided to focus on comforting the man rather than sharing. Yet, every attempt made the man more nervous and Peter more irritated. Instead of wasting more time, he focused on the task at hand. 

Peter stopped talking to the man and silently drove.

“He..ey, hey, the supermarket’s that way.”

“Yeah, I know just stay calm.” Peter replied. Peter cut across the group of goblins and swerved back onto the main road. James screeched, “What the hell you do that for?!” 

Peter looked at James like he was an idiot.

Peter irritably spat, “I was afraid the system would confiscate the car. Now stop your bitching before I throw you out of the car.” Although Peter didn’t talk, James had been whimpering the entire ride. 

“I’m sorry. I’m just scared.” James whimpered again. A vein popped out of Peter’s forehead, but he held his anger back. After another unpleasant 10 minutes of listening to James' borderline suicidal ramble, Peter slammed the car door and told James to keep quiet.

“Wait! Can I have one of your knives please?”

“No.”

James’ gloomy expression became even more downcast as Peter walked into the supermarket. Peter strained his senses to the limit and unconsciously shivered after scoping out the place. ‘There’s gotta be at least 50 monsters crawling in that place.’

Going in from the entrance was the same as committing suicide. ‘Hmm, Jamar used to work in this shit-hole. I know that his boss never approved of him walking in through the front, so there must be a backdoor entrance somewhere.’ 

Exploring possible entry points, Peter finally settled the garage. There were two garages, one for employees and one for customers. It was the employee garage which connected to the building.

“Hiss!”

Peter held his [Bloody Machete] in his dominant right hand and the normal machete in his left. The 2 meter cat dodged Peter’s slash and jumped on top of the left machete. Using Peter’s machete as a stepping stone, the cat pounced towards Peter’s face.

Trickle

‘Damn cat, you’ve done it now.’ Before the cat could land, Peter thrust his [Bloody Machete] into its body.

“Scroowl!”

Peter ended the cat’s life with a follow-up stab. As he stepped over the corpse, he picked up light footsteps, impossible for any other human to hear, rushing at his position. Peter clutched both weapons tightly and braced himself waiting behind a red Toyota. 

Since it was dark, Peter decided to close his eyes and focus primarily on his sense of hearing and smelling.

“Hiss! Hiss! Shrowl! SHROWLL!”

Peter could tell there were close to a dozen cats that had arrived just now. Emerging from behind the Toyota, Peter threw his left hand forward and made a kebab out of the first cat. Stepping back, Peter swung his right hand horizontally, while dislodging his left machete.

Two dead. The cats viciously stared at Peter, waiting for a slip up. Feeling their murderous stares, Peter purposefully feinted left and swiped both machetes towards the two cats jumping on the right. Four dead. The cats became more vicious after seeing four dead companions.

Unlike the goblins, the cats were faster, deadlier, and had better teamwork. Hacking upwards, Peter dissected another cat, but exposed himself in the process. Gaining another bloody wound, he became more determined to end these cats as quickly as possible.

5 wounds, 12 deaths, and 3 minutes later Peter emerged victorious. The price came with multiple minor cuts and two serious lacerations. Peter tore apart parts of his shirt and created make-shift bandages to staunch the bleeding.

“Ding!”

[Skill Generated: Bandaging – Common]

[Active: Reduce bleeding effects. Minor healing properties.]

Peter opened his eyes and noticed a glowing treasure box. “Potion?” Peter tiredly murmured.

“Shingg!”

[Panacea – Uncommon]

[One-Time-Effect: Heals HP, Mana and Stamina loss.]

Staring to feel woozy, Peter immediately drank the elixir shaped panacea. The taste was bitter; however, Peter internally felt a surge of energy fill his body. His minor wounds disappeared as a thin green glow encased his body. The lacerated skin and muscle immediately closed and turned into a healthy color. Finally, the energy circled back to his brain and relieved some of the fatigue. 

“Holy…” Peter whispered.

‘I underestimated these monsters. I thought I could take em with my extra STR, but it seems I’ve forgotten that this is real life, not an RPG.’

After the fight head on with a group of deadly cats, Peter became more cautious. In fact, after walking up the garage to the first floor, Peter noticed the cats generally traveled alone. Thinking back, the cats only colluded after the first cat screamed.

‘This time, I’m going to quietly kill these savage cats.’ Approaching the lone cats one by one, Peter would slit their vocal cords with a dagger and hack their brains apart with his [Bloody Machete] before going back into hiding. After killing two dozen cats with the same method, the cats started traveling in groups.

‘So, these things aren’t just savages. They’re intelligent.’ While Peter was thinking of a new strategy, he remembered he still had a white treasure box in his bag.

“Shing!”

[Major HP Potion – Uncommon]

[One-Time-Effect: Restores 1050HP]

‘…What am I going to do?’ Peter dejectedly stored the loot in his backpack and started using his head again. ‘WAIT! I have two bottles of whiskey… maybe…’

Pouring the whiskey onto a large pan, which he took off a shelf, the strong aroma quickly attracted a group of cats. Peter ducked under the shelves, watching the cats timidly circling around the pan.

‘Damn kitties, don’t drink everything!’ Before long, the pan was emptied as two dozen cats were haphazardly walking and happily meowing. Feeling great pain at the sudden realization of having no whiskey left, Peter rolled out from under the shelves and angrily slit their throats.

Watching the pan of whiskey whittle to nothing, he inwardly ranted, ‘My whiskey, my whiskey… Damn! I really should’ve held back! Whatever, what’s done is done!’

“SCRROOOWL!”

‘Danger!’

Peter reacted and hopped to the right just in the nick of time. Although the cat’s claws merely grazed the side of his ribs, it left three bloody wounds.

“Ding!”

[Elite Monster: Wild Night Cat]

[Level: 15]

[Skills: Fury Claws, Savage Appearance]

Sure, the skill [Savage Appearance] sounded silly, but Peter looked warily at the huge 5-meter long cat.

He mentally complained, ‘that thing’s a freaking tiger on steroids, SYSTEM are you sure this is a cat?’ Straining his Mind’s eye ability to the limit, Peter felt the wind around him slightly shift.

Although he couldn’t see the cat move from the spot, he intuitively knew from the slight noises and wind distortions which direction it would come from.

Left.

Above.

Left again. Peter dodged with exaggerated motions hoping to avoid the lethal claws.

“Huff, puff”

After several close calls, Peter’s felt his body aching both mentally and physically. ‘So that’s the cost of overusing mind’s eye. I can practically see where it’s coming from, but my body can’t react to it. My head also feels like it's splitting in half.’ Sick of continuously dodging by a narrow margin, he decided to take a gamble.

“SHROWL!”

The cat had jumped up and swiped downwards. Before the cat could reach him, he jumped into its exposed belly and hacked with full power.

“MEOOOW”

Feeling a sharp pain in its gut, the cat retaliated and wildly clawed away at the human. In an instant, Peter’s back was ripped to shreds. His muscle tissues on his back were completely torn and the gashes were bone-deep. After unleashing its rage, the cat groaned and slowly retreated into the shadows.

Peter fell forward along with the shredded bag. Luckily, the treasure box containing the potion didn't seem harmed and landed by his right hand. 

Groaning, Peter willed his limp hand to push the box towards to his mouth. After much effort, the box's latch was merely two centimeters away from his mouth. Sadly, his arm went completely numb at this point.

The box was so close. All he had to do was open the latch, but his mouth couldn’t reach the box. Dragging his chin across the floor, millimeter by millimeter, Peter felt a mix of despair and extreme pain. Finally, he felt no control from the waist down.

‘COME ON! A little closer!’

“Meow!”

‘Guess I’m going to die.’