William's first reaction to the sound was to tense up.

"What was that?" he cried.

Andrew got up from his chair. "How about I go check?"

He was almost to the door when Robyn shouted, "Wait, NO!"

The Guide opened the door.

And that was when several putrid, stinking zombies spilled inside.

They all had rotting, pale green skin and were dressed in ragged brown clothing, all smelling like rotten meat and vegetables ground up and left outside for a few months. One had black hair, another had no hair, leaving its brain exposed. The third appeared to have a Blue Slime encasing its entire head, giving it the out-of-place appearance of an alien in a spacesuit.

They lashed out at the Guide, landing several blows that all dealt around 20 damage each. He was knocked backwards but still had over 180 life left, and began walking to the other side of the room.

Sid was the first to lash out with his wooden sword, his blade lashing across all three zombies at once. Robyn and then lastly William joined the attack. William noticed the zombies had around 80 or 90 max life, which was higher than the slimes, and almost as much as him and Robyn and Sid. But they dealt more damage than their swords did – the slime zombie landed a hit on him that brought him from 100 life down to 73.

He grit his teeth. If we get to 0 life, we're going to die. That was something he hadn't really thought about before – what happens in this world if they die? He knew how it worked in the real world – actually, nobody really knew for sure. Many religions believed in heaven or some sort of afterlife.

But this world had wildly different rules. Maybe dying wasn't the end.

Could it mean going back to the real world? he thought with hope. But that thought was superseded by a more distressing one.

Or what if we... really die. For real.

Whatever was the case, he was not keen on finding out.

A few more zombies managed to get into the shelter with the door still open, including one that looked female. Then one stepped in holding a long, bloody claw. It lashed at Robyn, dealing 34 damage.

She cried out in pain and stumbled backwards. William saw why – she'd taken a lot of damage, and was only at 15 life. Another blow would kill her.

"No!" he cried, and leapt at the zombie with the claw, hitting it backwards. The zombie tried to swipe at him but that was when something shot into its face, dealing 7 damage.

It was an arrow.

William risked a glance backwards to see Andrew the Guide was holding a bow in his hand, and was notching another arrow, which shot forward and into the zombie's face. It erupted into a mess of bloody chunks and body parts with a rasping roar. Several copper and some silver coins popped out and rushed into William's inventory.

He, Sid and the Guide's arrows continued peppering the zombies. Sid managed to get the door shut, and then they finished off the remaining undead.

He and Sid collapsed into a sitting position against the wall, panting. Sid was left with 43 life, and William himself only had 28.

"May I suggest crafting a campfire?" Andrew said. "It boosts life regeneration."

"Thanks for nothing," Sid muttered. William figured he was mad at the Guide for letting the zombies in, though a few seconds later he had crafted a campfire and placed it down in front of him. A warm, orangey glow began emanating from its roaring flames.

William briefly worried that the campfire could burn their house down, but then again if Andrew knew that, he wouldn't have suggested crafting one.

Then again, he was stupid enough to open the door and let the zombies in.

Thankfully the shelter did not catch fire as their life slowly regenerated. However, the zombies hadn't let up on their assault on their shelter. William began to hear the door rattling and thumping, accompanied by groans and growls from the zombies.

"How do you get arrows?" Robyn asked. "I made a bow out of wood earlier, but... there wasn't any arrows in it."

"You can make arrows out of stone and wood," Andrew said.

"And where would we find stone?"

"Sometimes you can find stone on the surface, but given our current situation, you might want to try digging underground."

Robyn shakily got to her feet and began bringing her pickaxe into the grass floor. Her work was slow, but she soon began digging a hole in the floor, heading underground to find stone.

William thought about helping her, but his mind was more preoccupied with the zombies still banging on their door.

"Do you think they'll be able to break in?" he asked.

"Don't worry," the Guide said. "We are perfectly safe in here."

Sid stood up, casting a wary eye at the door. It was still pounding violently.

"There must be like seven zombies out there," he said. "That door's not going to stand a chance!"

Before Andrew or William could say anything, he had charged outside with a loud "YAAARRRGGHHH!"

For a horrible moment William worried Sid was going to get instantly ripped to pieces by all the grasping hands of the zombies, but he somehow managed to swipe them all aside. Not only that, but as he ran further outside the zombies all turned away from the door to amble after him, leaving the shelter alone.

William ran to the doorframe. One of the zombies was holding a torch, so he could see Sid combatting the horde with his sword. Zombie after zombie got destroyed with his swipes. For a second it looked like he was making headway, until something moving so fast that William barely saw it swooped through the air and knocked Sid on the head.

"Ow! What was that?"

Another one swooped, and this time William saw what it was – a giant flying eyeball. It was grotesque, trails of blood flinging off its retina as it flew. Sid must've spotted it too, as he tried to jump to avoid it.

And he did. He soared at least twice his own body height into the air.

"Holy cow!" he cried. "Did you see how high I just jumped?"

He was interrupted by another eyeball grazing his arm.

William ran forward, first cutting through the remaining zombies, including the one with the torch. Thankfully it dropped all 12 of its torches, which he snatched up, though doing so immediately plunged them into darkness. He quickly swapped to one and planted it on the ground, again lighting up the ground around them. Just as he did, an eyeball swooped down from the sky, which he managed to hit away like a baseball. It flew back up and out of the torchlight, seemingly vanishing.

Another flew downwards – this one coloured strangely purple. He missed it, the eyeball grazing his stomach and dealing 29 damage. He did get to see the eyeball's label – 'Demon Eye: 112/120'.

"We're getting swarmed!" Sid cried.

"Head back inside!" William shouted.

Unfortunately, another group of zombies blocked their path. Some Demon Eyes swooped over their heads and towards Sid and William, which they continued to hit away, but they just kept coming back.

That was when more arrows began pouring out from the house, battering the zombies. Most took multiple hits to die, but when the wave fell, William spotted Robyn standing in the doorway.

"Hurry!" she called, firing more arrows, this time at the incoming Demon Eyes.

Sid and William rushed forward, ducking the swooping Demon Eyes, and through the doorway. Robyn slammed it shut.

"Let's not go back out there again," William grumbled.

Sid moaned. "Thanks for the save, Robyn."

She held up her wooden bow and twirled it in her hands. "You're welcome."

***

Some time later the sun began rising. William risked a peek outside and spotted the Demon Eyes all flying away, to who knew where, and the zombies also beginning to amble away, disappearing in the shade of the forest.

"I congratulate you," Andrew said. "You survived your first night."

"No thanks to you," Sid said. "You opened the door to let that first wave of zomberts in."

Andrew seemed to shrug.

"The first night may be over," William said. "But now what?"