ZOMBIE SLAYER!!: A LitRPG Apocalypse

by Cameron Milan

  Michael squinted his eyes as a screen appeared. It showed him the durability of the door, but also something else. Something that wasn’t there before.

  Metal Door

  Durability: 35/500

  Spend 100 kill points to upgrade max durability by 500.

  How many doors did the entire school have? Over a hundred? This upgrade was infeasible. Michael glanced at the brick wall. Another screen appeared in front of him.

  Brick Wall

  Durability: 240/250

  Spend 50 kill points to upgrade max durability by 250.

  Michael walked alongside the school wall. He took a look at the durability of the wall every few steps. After understanding everything, he shook his head. When the screen informing him of the durability appeared, a portion of the brick wall lit up, indicating the portion of the wall the screen was referring too. He found that the wall was separated into 5x5 portions. Each brick within that portion shared the same durability. That meant that if he wanted to upgrade the entire school, it would probably require tens of thousands of kill points.

  Eric picked up the bat he dropped earlier and watched Michael for a few minutes. He called out to Michael after growing impatient, “This is cool and all, but let’s head inside, yeah?”

  “Mm,” Michael gave a nod. He would test things out later. Something so perplexing stimulated him. He couldn’t remember the last time something sparked his interest. It must have been a few years now.

  They entered through the main entrance of the school and found the principal standing in front of them. She must have been waiting for them. Eric gave a relaxed smile, “All finished. There are no zombies on campus.”

  The principal let out a relieved sigh. She walked over to them and embraced them firmy, “Thank you. Thank you so much.”

  Michael excitedly began to explain his findings with the principal. It looked like the territory management required a lot of knowledge on how to run things, and who else was more knowledgeable about running things than a principal? Michael knew when to look to others for guidance. This was how he grew more knowledgeable himself.

  The principal listened with a frown. She was baffled that what she was hearing was now reality. It was hard to believe. When Michael was done explaining, he asked, “What do you think we should do first?”

  The principal closed her eyes as she fell into thought. She tapped her foot against the ground. An old habit of hers. After a few moments, she opened her eyes, “I have a friend who works with the police, and the situation isn’t looking so good over there. We have to rely on ourselves, at least for now. What humans require most are three things: food, shelter, and sleep. The school can provide two of these things.”

  Eric’s eyes flashed as he exclaimed, “Wait… how many people do we have?”

  “774 students and 46 faculty. That’s 820 mouths to feed. No, wait…,” The principal shook slightly as she corrected herself, “5 people have died already, haven’t they?”

  “How much food does the school have at the moment?” Michael asked quickly, trying to keep the conversation productive.

  “A truck comes every week to resupply the cafeteria. The food we have right now could last us a week at most,” The principal explained.

  Michael pondered silently. It looks like upgrading the kitchen was a top priority, but the points required were too much. Plus, it only increased the rations from 50 to 100. It would require several upgrades before the kitchen could supply everyone with enough food. That option was crossed off the list. Michael recalled where he shopped for food and said, “Isn’t there a Safeway nearby?”

  Eric glanced at him with a frown, “You want to steal?”

  “In these circumstances? Yes.”

  “Well… I suppose,” Eric agreed after thinking it over.

  The principal shook her head, “Let’s not worry about this for now. We still have time. What worries me most is that several students tried contacting their families, and those that got a hold of them share the same news. Zombies have appeared everywhere.”

  Eric instantly paled at the mention of the word family. Of course, how could he forget? How did he not think of his grandma, mother, and sister? He quickly pulled out his phone and immediately saw that he missed 15 calls from his mother. His phone was on silent when he was at school, so he didn’t notice. His heart clenched in anxiety. It was like a spear was stabbed into his chest. Were they safe? He recalled Mr. Gray and Freddie. Were they even… alive?

  He quickly dialed his mother. As the phone rang, he hoped. He hoped they were safe. After a few seconds, he heard his mother’s voice, “Eric?”

  “Mom!”

  “Oh thank god, you’re alright.”

  Eric quickly asked, “Mom, are you safe? How’s grandma and Lily? Are they okay?”

  “Yes… they’re fine.”

  Eric felt his chest unwind as he let out a sigh of relief. It looked like no zombies made it inside the house, “Are there any zombies around the house?”

  His mother hesitated briefly before saying, “No, they’re gone now.”

  “What? You mean there were some? What happened to them?”

  His mother sighed, “I killed them.”

  Eric froze in surprise. His mother fought zombies? How?

  His mother answered his unspoken question, “You remember how your father shot guns for fun, right? Well, hah, he thought it would be romantic to take me on a date to a gun range. I learned how to shoot a pistol that day. When he passed… I couldn’t bring myself to sell his pistol.”

  So his mother killed a zombie with a gun? That was much better than fighting them up close. Much better. His mother continued, “At first I could hear car horns, screams, and gunshots in the neighborhood, but its all quiet now. It’s kind of scary. But enough about me. Are you safe? How’s the school?”

  “Ehh, yeah… we killed the zombies that were on campus, so we’re safe for now,” Eric didn’t mention that there were almost two hundred zombies in total.

  “That’s goo-” Her voice cut off.

  “Mom? Are you there?”

  He waited for a few seconds, but he didn’t hear anything. He looked at his phone and saw that the call ended. He tried calling her back, but it couldn’t connect. He looked at his signal and gasped.

  “What’s wrong?” Michael asked.

  “There’s no signal!” Eric exclaimed.

  The principal and Michael looked at their phones. Neither of them had signals. The principal muttered, “Something must have happened to the cell towers.”

  Eric clenched his hand as he declared, “I need to go get my family! They aren’t safe.”

  The house wasn’t nearly as fortified as the school. It was built from wood decades ago. He didn’t dare imagine what durability it had, but it must be much less than 250. He turned around and headed for the door. Michael called out to him, “Wait, are you going to walk the whole way?”

  Eric nodded firmly, “If I must!”

  Michael shook his head, “Ah, ah. Let me drive you.”

  The principal frowned but didn’t say anything. Did she really have the right to deny someone from going to save their family? Eric paused before turning around and handing the bat that Courtney gave him to the principal. He said, “Be right back!”

  Michael and Eric left the school and began to walk through the parking lot.

  Chapter 10

  Now that all of the zombies were wiped out, the parking lot was silent. The combination of the fog and the lack of sound created an eerie atmosphere. Especially when they didn’t know what lurked out there. The fog made Eric feel like he was cut off from the rest of the world.

  As they approached Michael’s car, the sky exploded with a thunderous boom. The sound created a shockwave that brushed against Eric and Michael. All of the nearby cars rattled slightly.

  The unexpected sound shocked Eric. He’d never heard something so loud. He looked over at Michael, “What the fuck was that?!”

  Before Micha
el could respond, another boom rang through the sky, followed by another. It was the like the heavens themselves were falling apart. Soon, all was quiet. Eric looked at the sky, but couldn’t see past the fog. He wondered if bombs were going off.

  “I think that was the sound of the sound barrier being broken,” Michael said after a moment of thought.

  “The sound barrier?” Eric tilted his head in confusion.

  Michael gave him a look, “The air force!”

  Realization came over Eric as he exclaimed, “That was the military? What are they doing?”

  “No idea,” Michael shrugged as he unlocked his car, “hop in.”

  Eric quickly opened the door and sat down, remembering his goal for leaving the school. Michael turned on the car and pulled out of his parking spot. He slowly drove towards the exit of the parking lot. As they neared the edge of his territory, the fog once again consumed them. Michael turned onto the street and drove towards Eric’s house. He kept his eyes peeled for any obstacles.

  “What’s that?” Eric squinted his eyes.

  They could make out a bright light in the fog. As they got closer, they realized what it was. Fire. Two cars had crashed into each other. One of them was on its back, the wheels facing the sky. The other was on its side. There were even a few zombies surrounding the wreckage.

  “Fuckin’ zombies,” Eric grit his teeth.

  Michael drove around the wreckage and ignored the zombies. The zombies turned towards them as they passed and began to walk towards them, but their speed couldn’t match up to even a slow car. Eric’s house was ten minutes away from the school. As they made their way there, they saw at least a hundred zombies. There were numerous car crashes as well. Who knows if it was from the lack of visibility or the zombies?

  On four occasions they passed another vehicle driving on the street. They too drove slowly and carefully. By the time 25 minutes passed, they finally made it to Eric’s house.

  “I’ll open the gate,” Eric said as he got out of the car. He looked around to make sure there were no zombies around before opening the gate to his house. After Michael entered, Eric closed the gate. As he turned around, he found to his delight that his grandmother’s property was completely devoid of fog. That meant someone was in control of this territory.

  He looked around to make sure there were no zombies before jogging to his house. He immediately noticed that the front door was missing. It wasn’t damaged or on the floor, but outright missing. In its place was a piece of furniture. He recognized it as the kitchen table. Michael and Eric glanced at each other before making their way inside. Eric called out, “Mom! Are you here!?”

  He heard a door open upstairs as his mother’s voice rang out, “Eric?!”

  His mother walked downstairs with a gun at her side. When she saw Michael and Eric, she visibly relaxed. Eric walked up to her and gave her a firm hug, “I’m glad you’re safe.”

  “You too.”

  Michael glanced at the open doorway, “Jane, what happened to the door?”

  Eric’s mother, Jane, explained what happened an hour ago, “I heard someone banging on the front door when this all started. Thankfully I looked out the window before opening it. There was no way a person could still be alive with those wounds. I quickly called the police, but they were busy. I waited and waited, and eventually the door dissipated into light. That was when I fired the gun.”

  Michael nodded before turning to look at the gun in her hand, “Do you mind if I look at the stats of the gun?”

  “Stats? Oh, those numbers? Sure, just make sure you don’t touch the trigger,” Jane carefully handed over the pistol.

  Glock G43

  Damage: 15

  Durability: 199/200

  “As expected, this does a lot of damage,” Michael mused aloud. He looked up at Jane as he asked, “How much ammo do you have?”

  “Only a single box, so around 100,” Jane explained.

  Michael nodded as he handed back the gun. At this time, Eric’s grandmother and younger sister walked down the stairs. His younger sister’s face lit up as she looked at him. Eric knelt down and opened his arms with a smile, “Hi Emily!”

  Emily ran past him and grabbed Michael’s leg. She looked up at him as she said, “Mike!”

  Michael laughed as he tousled her hair, “Hi!”

  Eric’s face fell as he realized his sister ignored him. His mother gave him a consoling look. He stood up and gave his grandmother a hug, “Hi grandma, are you okay?”

  “Yes, yes, thanks to your mother we’re all safe.”

  The group entered the living room and made them themselves comfortable. Eric and Michael recounted what happened at the school. When they finished, his mother couldn’t help but sigh, “Where did these zombies come from?”

  Michael’s brow furrowed as he thought aloud, “I thought about that too. There’s no way that these zombies all came from humans. I think… they were created.”

  “What makes you say that?” Eric looked at Michael in surprise. What did Michael mean by created? By who?

  Michael gathered his thoughts before speaking slowly, “Think about it. There were hundreds of zombies around the school within half an hour. The only way into the school is from the north west. How did they come from the football field?”

  The group fell silent as they considered his words. Everything that happened today seemed like it was out of a movie. Everybody couldn’t help but think about some massive company that created a drug that would turn a human into a zombie. If anybody encountered a zombie, that would be their first thought. But that wasn’t all. There was also the fact that the screens that appeared said that the undead system had been chosen, and that they were all users of that system. It felt like they were in some type of game.

  Eric’s eyes lit up when he recalled that his mom always watched the news. He asked, “Mom, what does the news say?”

  She shook her head, “Nothing much. An emergency broadcast cut off every channel telling everybody to stay in their homes. The message has been on repeat since then.”

  “Hmm…”

  Everyone fell silent and became engrossed in their own thoughts. Tension filled the room as time passed. It suffocated them. All of a sudden, the sound of a stomach growling filled the room. Everybody looked wide-eyed at Emilia. Emilia patted her stomach with her small hand. She smiled widely, “I’m hungry!”

  Everybody looked at each other before bursting into laughter. Eric remembered that he hadn’t eaten anything since fighting all those zombies and said, “Actually, I’m hungry too.”

  “Same here,” Michael said.

  “Well, then I guess it’s decided then. I’ll go make some sandwiches,” Eric’s grandmother stood up and walked to the kitchen.

  “I’ll help,” Eric prepared to stand up, but his grandmother stopped him.

  “Don’t worry about it, Eric. Take some time to relax,” His grandma disappeared around the corner.

  Eric felt a wave of exhaustion overcome him. Ever since the zombies arrived, he’d been in a state of high stress. Now that he was sitting comfortably on a couch in his own home, he shut his eyes and instantly fell asleep. Michael himself wasn’t that tired, everything that happened today left him feeling excited for what was to come. He decided to watch the front door in case any zombies came.

  Chapter 11

  Eric walked through the school hallway, heading towards his next class. The students around him were laughing and chatting happily, just like any other day. He turned the corner and found an old friend. He smiled widely, “Freddie! How have you been?”

  “I’ve never been better, Eric,” Freddie voice was low as he said, “although, I just have one question…”

  A chill crawled up Eric’s back. The hallway fell silent, and what he thought were students were actually zombies. Eric looked up at Freddie, only to find that he was dead. One of his eyes had popped out of his head, and the other one was half eaten. His nose was bitten off, and his ears were miss
ing. Freddie moaned, “Eric… why didn’t you save me…?”

  Freddie slowly walked up to Eric, and no matter how much Eric wanted to flee, he couldn’t move. He could only watch as Freddie placed his hands on his shoulder. Eric’s face was pale as he muttered, “Freddie… I…”

  Freddie slowly moved his mouth towards Eric’s neck. Just as his teeth sunk into Eric’s flesh, Eric’s eyes snapped open, “NO!”

  “AH!” A high pitched yelp rang from in front of him.