I didn't know whether it was due to the smell of my delicious blood that had been pouring out of me the last few minutes or the remarkably loud gun shot from the fight earlier. Either way, it didn't matter at that moment, as, going off the similar sounding growls, there were several zombies behind the door. Bring the Leatherworker notification back up I selected yes. Receiving a new notification.
[Congratulations! You have become a Level 1 Leatherworker – Permanent +1 Agility]
Quickly reading over the notification, I was happy to see a stat increase but what truly brought a smile to my face was right after I accepted the profession, the ugly bandage vambrace on my left arm magically started to morph and move about on my arm. It didn't change too much, but what once looked like a large grey belt wrapped around my arm now turned into one solid piece of tight but comfortable grey skinned leather vambrace that ran from my elbow to wrist. "Nice!" As if in response to my words, the banging on the door got even louder. Looking back at the door, I yelled, "Just one moment, please. I'll be right there!" The banging was now joined by a series of guttural bloodthirsty roars. "Well, that's my cue." I replied and made my way back to the bedroom to get my gun and crackers.
Now, with my head feeling a lot clearer and my Health Points going up instead of down, I felt some of that wonder and what had to be a slight insanity in regards to my current situation surge up within me again. I half jogged back into the bedroom, grabbing the pistol and put it into my trousers. I then grabbed the canteen and crackers and put them in my already stuffed jacket pockets. Just as I was rising up and ready to leave the bedroom, I spotted a metal gleam out of the corner of my eye that made me pause. The dim bedroom light was bouncing off something in the closet. The same closet that the bastard of a zombie with its elongated jaw was having its nap in.
With speedy steps, I went over to the closet and saw what was making the metallic shine from the dim lights in the bedrooms. A metal baseball bat in what looked like perfect condition was leaning up against the wall, right behind where the zombie was previously standing. Picking it up, I twirled it a couple of times with one hand and then checked every inch, seeing that it truly did look in perfect condition. Focusing on the bat, a description appeared telling me it was of common quality doing only +10 damage, but its durability was a full hundred points, the highest I've seen on an item so far. Getting a couple of practice swings in, I nodded at my new weapon and muttered, "Much better than that flimsy baton."
As I was admiring the bat, the sound of splintering wood almost caused me to hit the roof in fright. Running out of the bedroom and back into the living room, I saw several ghoulish hands had broken through the door and were making grabbing motions. Looking around, I tried to think of the best ways I could take on what must have been close to four zombies. Seeing there was no real furniture in any good shape to use as a barrier, I spotted the hole in the wall the zombie had made in the kitchen earlier, and my eyes shone. Approaching the hole, I peered into the apartment at the other end and saw it was an almost exact match for the one I was currently standing in, except a little more on the darker side, with a couple of the lights being busted. I couldn't see any zombies in the apartment and considering it had been a while since the first had smashed its way through, I was betting on it being the only one.
The sound of the door splintering even further and the aggressive growling on the other side getting louder let me know that the door was only seconds from giving in. Not hesitating any longer, I went side on and shimmied my way through the broken wall. It was a tight fit, with even my jacket and pants getting caught on several jagged pieces of wall, which caused a couple of rips in my clothes, other than that, the wall wasn't very thick and I got through to the next apartment ultimately unscathed.
I did a quick check of this new apartment lounge and kitchen area, finding much the same as the one before, which was nothing. Being as quick but as cautious as I could, I opened the doors to the bathroom and bedroom. Much to my relief, my guess proved correct and there were no other zombies inside the apartment. There also appeared to be not much in the way of loot either, with the lounge room, kitchen and bathroom coming up empty after a hasty rummage. The only thing I found worth keeping was a decent sized canvas backpack that was under some scattered furniture in the bare bedroom. Grabbing the crackers, bars, water bottle, and canteen from my jacket pockets, I put them in my new backpack and swung it over my shoulder, heading back into the living room in a run.
Just as I got back into the living room and faced the hole in the wall, the sound of a door being broken through and falling onto the floor in pieces let me know the zombie gang was incoming. A small part of me cried out at that point that I should be escaping through the front door of the new apartment, not standing there waiting to confront several human-thirsting walking nightmares. However, another part of my brain was telling me that beyond the apartment door could be a horde of zombies or even some other creature of myth waiting to devour me and that at least in the apartment, I knew what was coming and I had a chance to control the terrain. There was also a little part of me that, at the time, I didn't want to admit even to myself existed. That small part of me was almost roaring in excitement for the upcoming battle. I wasn't a hundred percent sure whether it was the greedy part of myself looking forward to the possible loot drops after defeating the zombies or if there was actually a repressed bloodthirsty part of myself that never revealed itself or never had the option too.
There was also something inside of me that was screaming that I needed to get to Level 1 as soon as possible. This feeling was more akin to when you feel someone's eyes upon you, even when you're looking in another direction. I had no clue why, but a feeling in my heart was telling me it was important and the faster I did it, the safer I would be. With that thought running in the back of my head like a monkey with a pair of symbols, along with all the others, I ultimately decided to stand my ground and do my best to bash in some zombie skulls. Now back in the living room, and looking through the broken hole in the wall into the apartment I woke up in, I could see the group of zombies shambling their way towards me. Although the monsters couldn't see me at that moment, they apparently knew where I was, as if they had caught my scent. Upon thinking about it, I wasn't sure the zombies even had sight, with their pupil less milky white eyes, regardless, at that moment, it didn't really matter.
Placing my new bag against the opposite wall, I held the bat in my right hand loosely while I gingerly moved my left arm. It still shot small waves of pain through me when it was moved, but otherwise, I still had full mobility. Which was good, as I believed I didn't really have the muscle capacity to inflict much damage using the bat with only one arm. Taking a deep breath, I readied myself and focused on the hole in the wall. The first two zombies to make it to the hole looked a little worse for wear than the other two behind them. Going off the fact the two in the lead had bits of splintered wood in their flesh, I could take a guess that they were the two who took the lead in battering down the door as well. Even though the hole in the wall was plenty of space for one person to force their way through, the two zombies in the lead both attempted to jam their rotting bodies through at the same time, becoming stuck with neither taking the lead. Within moments, they began to push and shove against each other with blood gurgling growls directed towards the other party, both jockeying for position. Even though their previous gait was lumbering, once they were only several meters from me, their almost animal instincts appeared to kick in and their movements turned much quicker, but on the flip side they appeared even more wild and bestial.
I tensely watched for several seconds, holding the bat in a two handed grip over my right shoulder, ready to home-run the skull of whoever made it in first. However, I soon found out that these zombies, besides having human like mobility, had absolutely no intelligence, as the two just continued to shove and push against each other and the hole ineffectively, all that happened was that they made the hole slightly wider. Which in actual fact wasn't a good thing for me, as I had planned to use it as a chokehold, so I only had to face them one by one.
The other two zombies behind them had also joined the first two and were now using their bodies to push against the ones in front. Their combined weight and constant struggles against the already crumbling wall were causing cracks to spread out and the wall to creak ominously. "Oh, come on you god damn morons!" I cursed at the imbeciles and decided I needed to intervene before they all came barreling through the wall together. Coming closer to the hole, which was only a couple of feet plaster wide, my close presence appeared to just drive the zombies into a more intense frenzy. Holding my bat with both hands and acting like it was just a normal stick, I jabbed it through the hole and into the shoulder of one of the zombies. The force wasn't very strong, but it did have the desired effect, causing the struck zombie to be pushed back slightly.
Even though the zombie I poked moved back a fraction, it still wasn't enough to break the jam up. So, I kept poking the zombie on the left, with several times almost losing my bat in the process as they made wildly grabbing motions towards me and what it perceived as an attacking limb. Finally, though, it paid off. After a wild swipe at the bat, the zombie was in an awkward position and only needed another shove to send it stumbling back and off its feet. Because it fell, the other two zombies behind it stumbled backward, leaving only one zombie standing firmly in front of the hole. Taking the chance of nothing pushing it out of the way now, the only zombie left standing finally managed to squeeze and struggle its way through. Unintentionally enlarging the hole in the process and sending chunks of plaster and dust towards me.
After successfully shoving the other zombies away and seeing the one left was making its way through, I took several fast steps back and took my home-run swinging posture again. Even though the zombie made it through to my side of the wall, it had gotten part of its already threadbare clothes stuck on the mortar in the hole, halting its momentum and messing up its already precarious balance, ultimately sending the zombie falling to the floor right at my feet.
Now lying on the floor face first, the zombie apparently didn't want to waste any time getting up, especially with the tasty meal being me, being only a foot away, it instead made a half crawl leap towards my legs. In my vision, the diving zombie looked like nothing more than a piece of experience waiting to be harvested. With my best attempt at a warrior cry, that was somewhat ruined by my voice cracking, I slammed the metal bat on top of the zombie's head. The moment the bat made contact, a sharp crack rang out from the zombie's skull bone followed by half the zombie's head crushing into itself. Sending bits of brain and rotted flesh out to either side. The gruesome sight up close made me pale slightly, while the smell of the rotting and pulped flesh almost caused me to vomit right on top of the now double dead zombie. Not being able to help myself, I turned away from the zombie and dry heaved several times, rubbing my nose vigorously as if the action could expel the stench infecting my nostrils. Turning back around after gathering my bearings again, I didn't bother checking the zombie for now. I knew it was dead, as the notification itch had appeared the moment my bat made contact, so I wasn't worried about it playing possum.
I didn't summon the notification either, as I already knew what it would say. Instead, I focused my attention back on the hole, as another zombie had already made its way into the hole in the wall and was almost through. I did, however, touch the shoulder of the now even more brainless undead and commanded yes, to collect loot. Only one item appeared in the pile of ashes, but I left it for now and instead made my way towards the next zombie. This one had successfully gotten through the hole without being caught and came stumbling towards me half covered in plaster, its broken nailed fingers leading the way, like a mummy from an old movie.
Seeing the grabbing hands might get in the way of my bat making a direct contact with the zombie's head, as we were roughly the same height, I decided to remove the offending limbs from the equation. The moment the zombie was only a foot away from me and made a half stumble, half lurch towards me, I jumped to the side as smoothly as I could, and brought the bat down onto the outstretched arms. Both arms offered little resistance, as if they were just skin and bone, and easily broke under the pressure. Accompanied by a sickening snapping sound, the two arms bent down towards the floor at an awkward right angle. Not wasting time, after taking a step back for more clearance, I wound the bat back behind my head and struck the now semi-armless zombie right in its ugly face.
With a crunch, the bat mashed the zombie's face into a pulp, sending black blood splattering over my face and bits of broken teeth flying to the side. Much like the others when killed, all motion ceased, and the zombie fell to the ground like a lifeless lump of meat. Surprisingly, after the small skirmish, I found myself having to take several deep breaths, feeling slightly winded. "Shit it. None of the movies ever explained how exhausting it is fighting for your life. I feel like I've been non stop running for an hour." Attributing my current winded status to the fact that my nerves have been as taut as a wire since I found myself here and I've been in a constant hyper attentive state, instead of the real fact that I was seriously unfit and smoked far too heavily for a guy just out of highschool. I also took a moment to wipe my face with my sleeve to get rid of some of the gooey blood that had gotten on me. It was at that moment that I heard something that made my heart pause, as I spun around to look in the direction of the noise, finding to my now racing heart that the last two zombies were both now struggling through the hole in the wall. Together. The two I had just killed had obviously widened it enough to allow the next two to climb through at the same time.
Before I could even loot the zombie at my feet, the next two had already made it into the living room and were stumbling towards me. Raising my bat in a poking gesture like before, I took several steps back and tried to push one of the two off its feet; it was unsuccessful though as I couldn't put much strength in the action and the zombie's body mass moving forward was too much to get a good shove in. Pulling the bat back, so it didn't get knocked out of my hands, I took several more steps back and found myself in the connecting kitchen, now only a few feet from the opposite wall and running out of room fast.
I knew I couldn't allow myself to be pinned against the wall on the defensive against the two and needed to go on the attack. 'If only I had a shield or something.' I thought with regret, but the thought made me pause and look towards the zombie skin vambrace on my left arm. "Well, I hope the armour value works like I think it does." I said and then while holding the bat in my right, I held up my left forearm horizontally in front of me, guarding my face and shoved it towards the zombie on my left, which was leading not with its hands but its rotted teeth filled mouth.
I poked the zombie to my right in the chest with the bat as hard as I could, just barely managing it from getting any closer and stopping its lunge, at the same time I felt the pressure on my left arm increase as if I had caught it in a vise. Looking over I saw the zombie had clamped onto my armoured forearm and was in the process of trying to bite through it. My arm hurt slightly from the pressure. However, there appeared to be no actual damage from the Zombie's bite and the vambrace, besides tearing a little around where the teeth had bitten into, looked to be holding up under the attack. Now with one zombie effectively stuck, I dropped the bat onto the ground and, with one swift motion, I retrieved the handgun from the back of my pants. An action I may or may not have practiced in front of the mirror with my airsoft gun multiple times while uttering action movie lines. Remembering this time to flick the safety off before firing, I aimed at the impossible to miss the zombie on my right who was preparing another lunge and shot. To my rising despair, I somehow missed a direct head shot from only a couple of feet and instead just took off one of its ears, barely making it pause its lunge towards me. "Shit on me!" I roared. Luckily, either on instinct or fright, I didn't hesitate and while cursing, I shot again straight away, this time the bullet went right through the zombie's nose, dropping it in a lifeless heap.
I then turned to the zombie that was still clamped onto my forearm and doing its best to bite its way towards the juicy meat underneath. Putting the head of the handgun only an inch away from its forehead, I stared right into its milky white orbs and said, "Lunchtime's over meatbag." I then pulled the trigger and sent its brains on a trip across the room, with the bullet coming out the other end of its skull in a splatter. Like the previous zombie that had its teeth in my arm when it died, this one's jaw was still clamped on, even though half its brain was across the kitchen floor. It's very dead weight almost brought me to the floor with it when its legs gave way, but I quickly held its head up with my arm. Causing me to strain at the weight and bend down slightly. Because I was technically already in contact, when I commanded to loot the zombie clamped on my arm, it worked and was quickly turned into a pile of ash, relieving my now very sore arm.
Letting out several deep breaths, I leant over and placed my hands on my knees. Taking a moment, as a wave of exhaustion came over me. Even though I didn't truly do much when defeating the four zombies and it was over in a short couple of minutes. The short battle still took a lot out of me, and my nerves were truly in a constant state of tension while my heart raced nonstop. While I was catching my breath again, the sound of something scraping across the floor, coming from the other side of the wall, caught my attention. "Another one?" I questioned as I picked up my bat from the floor and stepped over the other two unlooted dead zombies, using my foot to make contact and loot them on the way towards the hole. Arriving at the hole with hesitant steps and the gun raised in my right hand just in case, I looked through the now more than four-foot-wide hole.
Right at the doorway of the apartment I had awoken in, there was a zombie dragging its body over the broken debris that was the door. It was crawling at a snail's pace, with only its arms scratching into the floorboards and pulling its body forward. The sight made me furrow my brows for only a moment, as when the zombie had fully entered the apartment's living room, I saw that its only option was to drag its body across the floor as it was literally missing its body from the waist down. "Man, classic Zombie. With even that much damage to the body, it can still move around, but one solid hit to the brain and they're down for the count." I muttered while watching the zombie crawl as if it were in slow motion, leaving a trail of flesh and gooey blood behind it. Seeing I had time before the zombie made it to the hole, I turned around and went to collect the loot from the four zombies, hoping there might be something good. I found two more pieces of zombie skin and what was an actual roll of clean bandages from the first two zombies I had brained.
The one I had shot in the ear surprised me, as after kicking the pile of ash across the floor, I saw it had apparently dropped no loot. "Stingy prick." I cursed and then kicked the ash around even more for good measure. After working out some of my pent-up aggression on the zombie ashes and having to spit out some of it that had accidentally gotten into my mouth, I then moved to the pile of ash that was the zombie who had clamped onto my vambrace. After just a casual glance at the pile, my eyes lit up with glee. I imagined at that moment that if my life were a cartoon, there would be dollar signs in my eyes. Leaning down, I retrieved two items from the ash; one was a ratty-looking box of ammunition that read .45 on top. Opening the box, I saw it had about fourteen loose bullets inside, which brought a smile to my face. I quickly took the clip out of my M1911 and loaded it with seven of the bullets, giving me a full ten bullet clip. Putting the remaining bullets in my bag, I retrieved the second item, holding it in front of my face. I focused on the almost shining loot in my hands to bring up its stats.
[Trench Knife – Uncommon – Req. Level 1 – AGL 7]
Duarbility: 100/100
Damage +25
Agility +1
Increases Total Damage to unaware targets by 25%
"Ohhh. My precious, you're so pretty." I whispered to the dark blade in my hand. Almost vibrating with excitement at the weapon in my hands, I looked it over and couldn't help but be even more satisfied once I removed the black blade from the knife sheath. The blade was about a foot long and razor sharp on either side. The handle was in a knuckle duster style, making holding it with one hand extra steady. 'My first Uncommon gear, nice. At least this means there are multiple tiers in gear. I wonder if they are going to be all based around the hot weapons era or whether there will be swords and such, too?' I thought to myself as I re-sheathed the knife and clipped it to the left side of my pants.
It appeared that besides the zombie skin leather, the rest of the loot was all fairly modern things, which made me wonder, but my pondering about the rules of this odd game like world was soon cut short as the sound of the legless zombie attempting to crawl through the hole grabbed my attention. Picking the bat back up, I headed towards the hole with a contented whistle while swinging my bat leisurely through the air. The recent successful fight and uncommon loot drop had made my small confidence inflate and although there was a lot of what I was currently going through to be absolutely terrified over, I knew if I dwelt on any of that I would be nothing but a blubbering mess on the ground. So treating it more like an actual game made it easier to adjust and take action. So with an almost casual gait I made my way over towards the crawling zombie's hand had just clawed onto my side of the wall, with its head following slowly after just as I arrived in front of the hole. With a fairly wild grin, I raised the bat behind my head ready to golf swing style the zombie's head into oblivion but was frozen in place at the sight behind the zombie.
Unknown to the very defenseless zombie, another zombie had appeared right behind it and this one was far different from the others I had seen so far. It stood taller and straighter than the others, without the hunched and wobbly look of its brethren. The biggest change, however, from the other zombies was the fact that this zombie's face was twice the size of a normal head, looking like a double-decker bus. With its jaw so elongated, it was touching its chest. The most horrifying thing, though, was the gross tentacle appendage dangling out of its mouth. The appendage was so long it was being dragged along the floor, wriggling like an unearthed worm.
The sight of this new foul foul-looking zombie caused my jovial mood to plummet, and what happened next sent me further spiraling. The tentacle appendage, which previously looked limp and useless, shot out like a viper and wrapped around the torso of the legless zombie, its length extending out of the zombie's open mouth like a fire hose reel. The crawling zombie must have also perceived the sudden danger it had found itself in. Along with a muck-filled growl, it stopped reaching towards me and instead attempted its best to rip at the tentacle wrapped around its waist. It was ineffective, however, as the tentacle was like rubber and resisted the jagged nails of the legless zombie. The other zombie didn't appear to want to drag out the legless one's current struggle and with the sound of a low gurgle and leaning its head back, as if it was reeling in a catch, its tentacle tongue began to retract into its mouth.
The legless zombie was suddenly yanked from the hole and toward the bus-headed zombie's mouth. "What's its plan..." I muttered at the sight, even though the zombie with the tentacle tongue had a head that was double the size of a normal one, with an extra-long jaw, it didn't appear to be big enough to swallow half a human zombie in one bite. Watching in fascinated terror, I imagined the zombie would either grab the legless zombie and ravage it in several bites or bring it to its feet to bash into a pulp, however what I didn't expect was for the large head zombie's massive mouth to elongate even further. Resembling the mouth of a massive anaconda, with the bottom jaw reaching all the way to its bellybutton.
The legless zombie, with an unwilling sounding roar, was swallowed in one mouthful, with only its head and hands still peeking out through the gigantic mouth. They soon disappeared too though, as the tentacle tongued zombie used its own hands to stuff the legless zombie further down its mouth. The sight made my whole body clam up, and my eyes quaked in absolute terror. "Screw this! I'm out." The moment the legless zombie disappeared down the other's throat, I screamed in fright and ran back to the kitchen, grabbing my backpack off the floor and running straight towards the apartment's front door. I couldn't give a toss if there was a horde of zombies on the other side of the door at that moment, as the moment the large headed zombies had swallowed the legless zombie, its tiny beady white eyes made contact with mine and it felt as even my soul had roared at me to run. With shaky hands, I unlocked the door and removed the chain, while sounds of movement near the hole in the wall rang out behind me, causing my shaking to become even worse. Ignoring my ragged breathing and my rapidly beating heart as best as I could, I swung the door open and ran out of the apartment and into a hallway, not forgetting to close the door behind me with a bang.
Now, with something solid between me and that tongue wielding zombie that I knew was coming for me, I took several large breaths and tried to calm myself the best I could while leaning against the door. I wasn't giving much time though, as while I was hoping that the zombie didn't know how to open doors, a huge force struck the door right behind my head, sending a chunk of door flying out. Leaping back from the door, I saw the tentacle tongue of the zombie in the apartment appearing mere inches from where my head had previously been leaning against the door. It had smashed right through the door, as if it were tissue paper and was wriggling about as if tasting the air in the hall.
While focused on the wriggling appendage, I heard several growls coming from my left and turned in a flash while raising my metal gore gore-covered bat behind my head. About twenty meters down the hall, there were nearly ten zombies. Some were lying on the floor or simply standing staring at a wall motionless but as if they were one entity, all of them turned their milky white eyes towards me at the same time. "Well Shit on me. My life's a bowl of soup and I'm a goddamn fork." I cursed and heard another bang from the door in front of me again. As if it were a starter pistol, the normal-looking zombies in the hall that were just staring at me growled in unison and began trudging towards me. "Shit, Shit, Shit," I muttered and spun around to look down the other end of the hall, spotting only two zombies. But most importantly, I saw a door at the other end of the hall that had a picture of a staircase above it. "Thank the heavens." I breathed out loud and sprinted away from the horde of shambling corpses and the even more terrifying tongue flinging zombie.