I threw my backpack over my shoulder exiting through the cafeteria—as to not bump into any teacher or students. I didn't have any close friends in school that I needed to 'protect', so leaving everyone and the school didn't really bother me.
Walking through the door, I noticed that the dark clouds that were once looming over the sky eerily started slowly dispersing. Rays of sunlight began filtering through and the smell of rain lingered. The contrast between the gloom and the sudden light created an eerie, unsettling calm. Unfortunately it had to be cut short. There were other things that needed tending to.
The drive from home to school usually took about seven minutes on the highway, but with people suddenly turning into walkers without warning, I knew that option was no longer available.
'But maybe if I ran at full speed I could make it there in about 10–15 minutes, but would that be fast enough?'
Shaking my head, I got rid of such useless thoughts knowing they were of no help. "I have to be there before anything happens to my parents. If anything happens to them..."
Holding my spear in my left hand and my bag in the right, I immediately broke out into a sprint, only one goal in mind.
While running, I looked around and saw how bad the damage actually was. There were houses demolished by cars, cars demolished by trees.
Yet the worst of all were the bodies.
Bodies. Upon bodies.
Hundreds if not thousands of walkers roamed, showing how many people turned or lost their selves turning into stranded beings; the sight of the walkers feasting on what remained of the those that perished only seemed to raise the fear in my heart.
'Please be safe.'
*******
After sprinting for twelve minutes, my house was finally in sight. But as I got closer, I noticed the amount of walkers in the area. The fear that I managed to suppress running over here immediately began surging in my heart.
I wanted to enter immediately, but knew that wouldn't be a smart choice. Due to the unknown circumstances sprouted, I had to tread carefully. Despite the overwhelming urge to ensure my parents safety, I had to think of mine first. Charging in blindly could get me killed, and that would help no one.
Entering the doorway, the fresh scent of linen caused me to think of my mother. 'She must've just got done with the laundry.'
I sat my bag down aside and gripped my spear tightly.
There were no signs of a struggle, everything looked tidy as it always had been. But the amount of walkers I seen outside did nothing to calm my nerves. The thought of my parents...
With a low shout I yelled for them through the house, "Mum! Dad!"
Yet there was no response. I tried again but to no avail. Realization started to set in, I would've collapsed in defeat, if it weren't for the low signs of groaning heard from upstairs. Without hesitation, I ran upstairs towards the groans leading me to my parents room.
"Mum? Dad? Are you guys in there?"
The groanings stopped.
Shortly after, the sound of footsteps slowly made their way towards the door. The door handle started to rattle. Almost as if someone wanted to open the door but didn't know how. After some time, the rattling stopped. But the footsteps didn't move either.
I grabbed the door handle, ever so slightly turning. Just as I started, so did the sounds of groaning. This time it was louder, accompanied with the sound of what seemed to be head banging.
Opening the door slightly, I slowly backed up with my spear firmly gripped in both hands. If my parents truly turned into walkers, I don't know if I had the ability to kill them or not. Memories of our happy family started flashing, from times I was in Elementary all the way up to Highschool.
Just the thought of them looking like the things I had killed earlier twisted my stomach. I turned to the side, unable to hold it in, and vomited up my breakfast.
Without much time to recover, the door was swung open with a bang as the walker toppled over due to its momentum. As it tried to pick itself up I caught a glimpse of its face, chills ran through my body and cold sweat ran down my back... it was my father. The bald head, the apparel, and the icing on top was him coming from my parents room; everything pointed towards this walker being my father.
Slowly backing away I tried calling out to him, "D-dad... it's me, Winter. Please, snap out of it." But to no avail. My voice began to break, my legs felt as if they would buckle under the pressure, every second, a growing pain arose in my chest.
Unable to pick himself up, he began crawling towards me at a very slow pace. His groans a constant reminder. The father that I once cherished and loved, now a husk to the desire to devour.
"I'm sorry dad, I hope this ends your pain and suffering and may your soul rest in peace."
Raising my spear, I took a deep breath and brought it down against his skull, resulting in what I hoped a quick, painless death.
[Gained 5 EXP]
[EXP 330/400]
Kneeling down, tears welled up in my eyes before they poured. 'I killed my father.'
My body reacted before my mind did, puking up whatever was left of my breakfast.
After some time to myself, I picked up his body and took it to the backyard. After laying him onto the floor, I headed back upstairs to my parents room in search of my mother. Unfortunately, I found what remained of her dead body laying on top of their bed. Stomaching any nausea, I picked her up and took her downstairs to the backyard placing her next to her husband.
I headed back into the house in search of a shovel. Walking into the garage, I found one propped against the wall near my father's old workbench. After getting back to the backyard, I began to dig a hole that would fit both mother and father. It didn't take long due to my enhanced attributes.
Though it wasn't ideal, it was all I could do under such short notice. I laid both of their bodies down and proceeded to make a prayer, followed by burying their bodies and my makeshift spear. "May the lord let your souls rest in peace."
With a heavy heart and some tears falling from my eyes, I walked back into the house, securely locking both the back and front door. Wiping my eyes, a new goal formulated in my mind, "Survive." I went to the garage and grabbed wooden planks which would be used to board up the windows, as well as a nail gun to hold the planks in place.
After securely boarding up all windows and locking the doors leading outside, I sat down on the couch and decided to take a power nap. The day had been short but nothing short of exhausting, a few hours of rest should hopefully be enough to help me clear my thoughts.
*******
It was about 5pm when I woke up from my nap. Clouds covered the sky and the sun was making its last few rounds. A few stretches later, I got up and grabbed a can of tuna to snack on from my backpack. Scurrying to the kitchen, I emptied out the contents onto the kitchen table.
The sound of groaning outside seemed to grow with the slow approach of nightfall and killing walkers seemed to be the only way of gaining EXP. If I wanted to level up, it would probably be in my favor if I were to leave right now, before it's completely dark out.
I packed a bottle of water, a can of tuna and a couple granola bars—just for a quick energy refill. I turned off all the lights in the house—closing and locking the door behind me.
The sun was close to setting, causing the sky to turn a beautiful shade of red and violet, but the moment was short lived as the arrival of three walkers caused a small smile to appear on my face. But then it dawned me, I forgot my other spear inside my bedroom... you know, in the house, I just locked.
With swiftness I ran to backdoor, trying to unlock it but fumbling the keys in the process. Luckily I was able to enter my house without any walkers attacking me. I ran upstairs into my room and grabbed my personal spear from off its rack and made my way outside once again.
'Can't make another mistake like that, next time I won't be so lucky.'
There were quite a lot of walkers out on the street, not so much that I would get quickly overwhelmed, but enough to make me attack with caution. With my spear in hand, I approached a group of walkers that seemed to stray away from the rest. I swung my spear in attempt to decapitate the two walkers at the forefront, but it seems, I had slightly underestimated my strength.
[Gained 15 EXP]
Three walkers fell to the ground, two lost their heads in the process, and the last one's head was barely sitting on its shoulder before it collapsed.
[Level: 3 (EXP 345/400)]
'11 more to go,'
The other walkers—aware of the disturbance—began making their way towards me, as I arrived at the next batch of walkers.
"Let's get to it."
I charged at an unexpected walker, and stabbed my spear through its head before sidestepping and severing the heads of two nearby walkers. An unsuspecting walker tried to creep up on me but unfortunately for him, a good downward swing was all that was needed to crush his skull sending him toppling to the ground.
[Gained 20 EXP]
[Level: 3 (EXP 365/400)]
My eyes landed on a bigger group of walkers further to my right, which I ultimately ended up wiping out in under a minute, with that came a level up.
'Status.'
[Status:
Name: Winter Izanami
Level: 4 (EXP 10/800)
Strength: 21
Agility: 20
Constitution: 20
Intelligence: 15
Magic Power: 10
Fixed Stats: Luck-7, Charisma-7
Attribute Points: 13
Talent: Master Spearmanship (Hidden Talent: Child of Khaos)
Skills: (Hidden Skill: Synthesis)
Weapon: Normal Spear]
I decided against using my attribute points, as of right now I couldn't think of anything to invest them in. Strength? I was already able to kill mobs of walkers in under a minute. Agility? I was able to run faster than the fastest man on earth (before the end). Constitution? I was able to maintain that speed for for more than 10 minutes. There wasn't really a need for me to increase magic power or intelligence as I had no magic power.
Under the weapon tab where 'makeshift spear' was seen, now resided 'normal spear'. Brief curiosity washed over me as I wondered how the weapon rarity rarity worked, but I tossed that thought in the back of my mind as I decided to focus on my current problem.
A horde of walkers that heard the commotion started heading towards me. If I had to estimate, I would say there were about a few dozens of them. Maybe If I refrained from getting to close and chose to only aim for their head, I could get out of this unscathed.
'Nothing I haven't done before, I should probably try to wrap this up quickly though.' I still needed to scope out the area and scavenge for resources before nightfall. Yes, I had some food and water, but how long would that last me in the long run. I needed to find more food ASAP before others ransacked everything.
I knew of a small convenance store about a few minutes away from my house that sold daily necessities. Could probably get there in a few minutes if I ran right now. But that can wait, I had to clear out the area before it became over run with walkers; therefore making it tedious to bring resources back if they were found.
Getting into a defensive stance, the horde of walkers slowly approached. Once the nearest walker came close enough, my spear severed its head along with 2 walkers near it. Slowly backing up, I prepared for the next attack patiently.
This pattern went on for a few minutes, leading to a long trail of dead corpses on the streets.
[Level: 4 (EXP 295/800)]
Looking at the trail of dead bodies, I nodded my head before running to the convenance store.
*******
As I arrived at the store, I let out a breath of relief. The store seemed to be relatively untouched— other than the occasional sighting of walkers. I walked to the back of the store deciding against entering through the main entrance. If I had done so, the bell would no doubt garner unwanted attention.
The employee entrance was locked but with a little extra strength, I was able to force the door knob to turn, breaking the lock in the process.
Walking into the storage room, with a swift motion, I spun and aimed my spear in front of me.
Seeing as it wasn't a walker, with steady steps, I backed away from her, keeping my spear pointed at her head, in case she decided to try something.
"H-how did you get inside? The door should've been locked, I-I swear I locked it," she stammered, baffled by the sight. Her confusion was written all over her face as she struggled to make sense of what had just happened.
"Have you seen outside? Me being able to get in should be the least of your worries." I said staring at her. "On the contrary, why didn't you choose to lock the main entrance? Or have you really not seen what's going on out there?"
She stood there with pursed lips for a few seconds, it seemed as if something was on her mind, but she still chose to not say anything.
"It's fine if you don't wanna say, don't plan on forcing you or anything." I said lowering my spear. "But if you do know what's going on out there and chose to keep the main entrance open, you might wanna start rethinking your approach on things."
With one more glance, I turned away from her and walked into the grocery store. The search was for resources that would last for a long time. The store had baskets and shopping carts, choosing to grab baskets as it was more discreet.
Putting away my spear between the space of my backpack and body, the plan was too fill one basket full of water bottles, and the other filled with canned meat, corn, fruits, etc. For my backpack? I chose to stock it up with granola bars and such. It was a quick process, but if I really wanted to clear out this place of its resources, it would take a few trips. Not that I minded, it just wasn't efficient.
As I began to walk back through the employee entrance, I was stopped by the sound of a voice.
"I-I can help, if you need some," she whispered the last part.
I looked back and saw the same girl looking at me with pleading eyes. Though I didn't necessarily need the help, it would be a lot more quicker if I had an extra pair of hands. But nothing in life came for free.
"What's in it for you?"
"A place to stay for now, until someone comes and rescues us," she said straightening her posture, causing her breast to rise.
'Does she really think we're gonna get rescued, or is it a ploy to get a place to stay? Well either way, I don't lose anything. If she tries anything funny, I can just leave her here.'
With a slight smile, I freed my right hand and extended it towards her. "Since we're gonna be spending more time with another, I figured it'd be easier if we were on a first name basis. The name's Winter."
She reached out her hand and shook mine, "Sage, my name is Sage."