Eric pushed his way past the crowd. His increased strength was reaching the level of superhuman, so it was easy. His family slept near the front entrance, so he found them after a few seconds. He helped his grandmother move through the crowd while his mother carried his sister. Together, they made their way to the gym.
Michael, Connor, David, and Elizabeth continued to guard the main entrance while the students ran from the cafeteria to the gym. When the last student passed, Michael shouted to his friends, “Go to the gym!”
They nodded and turned to run. As Michael ran past the cafeteria, he looked inside. His face fell as he saw over a hundred zombies. Most of them had familiar faces. They were the students he’d been living with for the past week. Michael clenched his teeth as he made his way to the gym. Once inside, he locked the door behind him.
He looked around at the students. Their eyes were full of terror. He ignored that as his thoughts churned at lightning speed. After a moment, he called out to his friends, “Quickly eat food to restore your stamina! Force it down if you have too.”
He turned to look at the students, his expression solemn, “Everyone, its live or die now. You have to fight. If not, we’ll die. Do you understand?!”
Michael didn’t give them a chance to speak as he roared, “Form a line!”
Eric placed his family in the gym storage room. They would be safe there. He told them they’d be safe and not to worry as he stuffed his face full of food. It was a funny sight, but no one laughed.
Eric left the storage room and looked around. Michael had forced the students to line up whether they wanted to or not. The gym would be their final stand! Whether they lived or died would be determined here.
Chapter 18
“Here they come!” Michael warned everyone when the door was destroyed.
A horde of zombies entered the gym, five at a time. They slowly walked up to the crowd of students. With every step, the students staggered backwards in fear. Eric noticed the terror on their faces. He walked up to a zombie and punched it in the face. 5 damage was dealt. Apparently, a fist counted as a blunt weapon, so he did more damage than most.
Eric glanced at the students and said, “See? Easy. Just take it one punch at a time.”
The students witnessed themselves how to do it. They also noticed Eric’s lack of fear. They gathered their courage and stepped forward. Every punch from the students dealt 1 to 2 damage.
More and more zombies entered the gym. They couldn’t kill them fast enough, so their numbers began to add up. Soon, the zombies that were once students entered. The students began to slowly back up. Eventually, the students in the back were pushed into a wall.
One student realized that things weren’t looking good, so they ran towards the door that led outside. They decided to flee. As soon as they pushed the door open, their face fell. Outside was a horde of zombies. The student backed up in terror. In their fear, they forgot to close the door, so the zombies entered the gym from the back. Now the students were surrounded on both sides.
As more zombies entered the gym, there just wasn’t enough room. A girl was pushed by a student behind her and fell into the embrace of a zombie. The zombie opened its mouth and bit into her face. Her nose was ripped off as a shrill scream rang through the gym. Panic ensued. The students who were stuck in the middle began to push those around them.
Michael clenched his teeth. It was now or never. He pulled out the gun that was hidden in his waist and opened fire. The zombies were so close that each bullet entered a brain. 15 to 30 damage was dealt with each bullet. He quickly emptied the clip, so he switched to the other gun. After emptying both guns, he switched back to melee combat. He didn’t even try to reload. There was no time. Plus, he only had a single clip. He wasn’t like a marine who held multiple clips on their belt.
More and more screams rang through the gym. Student after student was bitten by the zombies. Their health depleted and fell towards 0. 10 minutes after the battle started, the first student died. That lead to a domino effect. 10 students died, then 20, then 50, then 100.
As the battle raged on, the number of the living dropped dramatically. At the same time, though, the number of zombies decreased significantly. All of the zombies that entered the gym were already missing health. They were wounded by Mr. Drew’s road rage. It was only because of this that the students were surviving.
Eric, Michael, Connor, Courtnet, David, and Elizabeth were running low on stamina. They had been fighting since the start, unlike the other students who joined in later. Elizabeth was low on mana and stamina, so she had it the worst. Her body was exhausted, and her mind fuzzy. She could barely make out any shapes. She retreated back towards the students, only to realize she had stepped into a pack of zombies. They grabbed onto her limbs and bit into them, causing her to scream in pain.
“LIZ!” David heard her scream and charged towards her, his eyes bloodshot. He summoned the last of his stamina to knock the zombies off of her. He pushed her towards the students with a soft smile, “I love you.”
He had no stamina left to move his body. He felt pain as the zombies ate away at his flesh, but the smile never disappeared from his face. Elizabeth’s heart was torn, but she wouldn’t throw the life David just saved away. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she continued to fight.
Courtney ran out of stamina and collapsed to the ground. She couldn’t move as zombies bit into her. The light slowly faded from her eyes. People were falling one after the other.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the battle was reaching its end. Mr. Drew had arrived after all the zombies entered the school. Unlike the others, he was full of stamina, so he finished up the rest of the zombies.
After confirming there were no zombies left, everyone collapsed to the ground. They had won, although at great cost. Eric struggled to glance around and found that there were less than a hundred students left. Over 80% of their group was lost. His chest clenched in pain, but there was nothing he could do. After gathering some stamina, he stood up and made his way to the gym storage room. After finding his family was unharmed, he laid down on the ground and fell unconscious.
30 minutes after the battle ended, Michael stood up and glanced around. He shouted, “Everyone head to the hospital facility. You will be healed there!”
The students who had missing chunks of flesh struggled to stand up. They made their way to the hospital. If they made it there, their pain would disappear, and their wounds would heal.
Michael continued to shout commands. Even though the battle was won, he had too little information. It made him anxious and frustrated. Would more zombies appear? Why did the moon turn red? Would this happen again? He didn’t know!
Thankfully he didn’t have to deal with any bodies. They all disappeared into motes of light after being killed, so he didn’t need to clean anything up. He was glad he didn’t need to worry about diseases spreading. Where would he even put hundreds of bodies?
Michael made his way around the school. He found that most of the school walls on the bottom floor were missing. The zombies must have broken their way through. He had an idea on how to fix it, but he needed kill points. As he examined the state of the school, he fell into his thoughts.
They had been too lax. Why didn’t they force the students to train outside? Instead they just lazed about. This blood moon was a wake up call. They needed to work together as a whole. Just five or six people alone couldn’t defend against a horde of zombies. He needed to be prepared for the next zombie horde. If another one appeared, there would be no survivors.
In the hospital, people regenerated 1 health point per minute. That meant in less than an hour, they would be completely healed. All flesh was regenerated without even a scar left behind. This was a miracle. The only unfortunate thing was that the hospital was too small. Only ten people could fit inside the room at a time.
Time continued to pass as the students were fully healed. Soon, night became day. The blood moon disappeared an
d was replaced by the sun. The fog returned to its gray color. When Michael woke up, he let out a relieved sigh. It didn’t look like there would be another horde.
Chapter 19
On the 8th day, everybody was allowed to eat as much as they wanted, but they all lacked an appetite. The atmosphere was heavy. The cafeteria was once packed. Over 700 people lived here, and yet they were all gone. Only 122 people were left. Most of the faculty were killed. Only Mr. Drew and Mr. Lane were still alive.
Morale was low. Nobody talked to each other, and most people just sat alone lost in their thoughts. Elizabeth’s eyes were red from crying all night. She had been saved by her boyfriend, but at what cost? He was gone now.
Connor grew frustrated with just sitting around moping, so he told Eric and Michael that he was leaving to go hunt zombies. Eric felt the same. He asked Connor, “Can I hunt with you?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
Eric and Connor left the school together and entered the fog. They found that the average level of zombies had risen again. They hunted for an hour when they encountered something new. It was a zombie, but what was strange was that the screen above its head said something different.
Level 1 Feral Zombie
Health: 50/50
Connor frowned as he whispered, “What’s a feral zombie?”
“No idea,” Eric shook his head, “we should check it out.”
They adopted a fighting stance as they slowly walked towards the feral zombie. Eric observed its behavior as they approached. It twitched randomly like it had tourettes. All of a sudden, it turned around and spotted them. Shockingly, it let out a hoarse scream as it charged towards them. That’s right. It sprinted right for them!
“WHAT?” Connor exclaimed in shock.
Eric didn’t hesitate as he stepped forward and swung his bat. The feral zombie was knocked sideways and fell to the ground, but it jumped up immediately and lunged towards Eric. It didn’t feel any pain, and its attacks were relentless. Still, Eric didn’t miss as he repeatedly attacked the feral zombie. Because it moved so fast, he didn’t attack its head, so his damage was reduced. After several hits, the zombie died and dispersed into light. Eric relaxed after finishing the feral zombie. As he saw how much XP he acquired, he grew excited.
100 XP Acquired.
A level 1 feral zombie gave as much XP as a level 10 zombie.
“T-that feral zombie was crazy…” Connor said as he walked over to Eric. He was a little shaken at the ferocity of the feral zombie.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Eric shivered at the thought of a pack of feral zombies charging towards him.
Connor mused aloud, “Let’s head back and tell everyone what just happened. The zombies are evolving.”
“Right. We also forgot to get a quest when we left. Let’s see if there’s anything new.”
It really showed how much they were shook by last night. They even forgot to get a quest. When they returned to the school, they informed the zombie killing squad what they learned.
Michael furrowed his brows as he checked, “It sprinted at you, screamed, and attacked relentlessly?”
“Pretty much,” Eric nodded.
“Hmm. That’s bad. I was going to force the students to start leveling up, but they won’t be able to handle a feral zombie if it’s as you described. We will need to protect them as they level up,” Michael communicated his thoughts.
“If we watch over them, it won’t be a problem,” Eric agreed.
“What are you current stats?” Michael asked.
Name: Eric
Title: None
Age: 18
Kill Points: 439
Health: 30/30
Health Regeneration: .15/m
Stamina: 70/70
Stamina Regeneration: .35/m
Mana: 10/10
Mana Regeneration: .05/m
Level: 18
Experience Required to Level: 2800
Stat Points: 0
Skill Points: 0
Strength: 20
Vitality: 15
Agility: 17
Endurance: 35
Intelligence: 10
Wisdom: 5
This was the result of his hard work. The combination of leveling up and completing quests made his endurance higher than even the best olympic athlete. He put a few points into vitality, agility, and strength as well.
Eric was curious of Michael’s stats, so he asked, “What’s yours?”
Name: Michael
Title: None
Age: 18
Kill Points: 2890
Health: 22/22
Health Regeneration: .11/m
Stamina: 30/30
Stamina Regeneration: .20/m
Mana: 50/50
Mana Regeneration: .25/m
Level: 17
Experience Required to Level: 190
Stat Points: 0
Skill Points: 0
Strength: 10
Vitality: 11
Agility: 15
Endurance: 20
Intelligence: 15
Wisdom: 25
At first, Michael was putting his points into agility and endurance, but after falling in love with magic, he began to raise his wisdom. His plan was to kill any zombies before they approached him. In addition, he had been steadily accruing kill points due to people purchasing quests from his quest board.
Michael saw how close he was to 3,000 kill points, so he said, “Go purchase a quest real quick, then I can purchase another facility.”
“Oh? What’s this one going to do?” Eric asked curiously.
“Heh, just wait,” Michael laughed mysteriously.
“Okay, okay,” Eric shrugged his shoulders as he walked up to the quest board. There were now 3 different type of quests. 2 of them gave a stat point and 1 a skill point. This was now the 2nd quest that gave a skill point, so he immediately purchased it.
F+ Grade Quest
Goal: Kill 50 feral zombies.
Reward: 1 skill point.
*May only be completed once.
Connor did the same. He waved goodbye to Eric then left the school to go hunt on his own. Eric was curious about what facility Michael was going to buy, so he walked over to him and said, “Well?”
“Hang on, I’m just trying to figure out where to put it,” Michael thought for a few seconds before his face drained of blood, “Oh god, wasn’t there a wood shop in the school?”
Eric nodded hesitantly, “Uhh, I think so. I’m not interested in that elective, so I forgot about it.”
Michael placed his palm over his face as he groaned, “Don’t they have things that could be considered weapons there? Hammers and the like?”
Eric’s face fell as he realized what Michael meant. What if they used hammers as weapons during the battle last night? Would more people be alive?
Michael berated himself inwardly, “Shit. Michael, why did you forget about something so simple?”
They fell silent for a few seconds before Michael coughed, “Uh, well, the woodshop is where the new facility will be. Let’s go.”
Michael used 3,000 kill points to purchase a new facility. When he arrived at the woodshop, he placed down the workbench.
Level 1 Workbench.
The territory has a workbench.
*Crafting materials may be used to create weapons and armor.
*Weapons and armor can be repaired at the workbench with crafting materials.
Motes of light gathered together to create a workbench in an empty space in the woodshop. Michael and Eric walked up to it as a complicated screen appeared. On the left were various weapons and armor. When they selected one, the right side of the screen showed the required materials. For example, a spear required two planks to be created.
Eric gasped, “Wait, hasn’t Connor been getting planks and nails from zombies?”
Michael nodded, “Exactly. We all thought it was useless, too. Good thing we didn’t throw them away.”
Eric’s
eyes flashed with realization, “So you can create weapons and armor with the materials dropped from scavenging. Isn’t scavenging absolutely required then?”
Michael shrugged, “That depends. The planks and nails only started dropping at scavenging level 2. Connor is missing out on deadly skills like ours.”
“Ah, so there are drawbacks,” Eric nodded in understanding.
ZOMBIE SLAYER!!: A LitRPG Apocalypse Page 10
