Jean started bouncing on the balls of her feet and raised her pistols. She wasn't sure how long she should wait as she didn't know her range. Just as she thought she should take a few practice shots, the zombies slowed and then stopped. The world dimmed slightly as though she were on a stage. She stood still and looked around. Beside her, another figure appeared. It looked like a woman about her age, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. She wore an orange ball cap and had her brown hair pulled back in a pony tail. When she was noticed, the woman smiled at Jean. “Hi,” the woman, who Jean mentally dubbed Orange Cap, began, giving a little wave. “My name is Anne and welcome to Survivor Siege! I'm here to help you learn the basics.” Jean groaned. “Do I need to? Can't I just...” she motioned with her guns at the enemies. “kill stuff?” she finished.

“I know, I know,” came the reply. “I'm not going to keep you long, I promise. Let's start with you pistols.” She motioned and a straw target dummy appeared in front of Jean about 25 feet away. “This is rough effective range of your pistols. This range will improve as you upgrade your weapons. I'll get to that later. For now, go ahead fire until you're empty on both.” Jean sighed. She turned back to the dummy and raised the pistols again. She squeezed the trigger on the left. It barked and the recoil made it jump in her hand. From what she could tell, the bullet missed. She squeezed the trigger on the right gun. She was expecting the recoil this time and was able to hit the dummy this time, though with a glancing shot. She kept firing, alternating hands until each gun's slide stayed open. Six shots per magazine. Not a lot but she could work with it. Anne nodded and said, “Normally, guns need to be reloaded by physically inserting a new magazine. As a Gun Mage, however, you don't need to. Simply twirl the gun on your finger. Let me know when you want to continue.” She did as she was instructed and the guns slid closed. She emptied the magazines and reloaded a few more times to get used to it. She turned back to her instructor. “I'm ready to continue,” she said. Anne nodded. “While your shooting is impressive, it's not the only tool you have.” she motioned and a screen popped up in front of Jean. It should blue squares with stylized pictures connected via lines. Most were darkened but the lone square at the top was pulsing. It looked like two pistols in front of a flame. The text under it read “Fire Ammo”.

“This is your Skill tree,” Anne explained. “From here, you will be able to spend skill points you get from completing waves. You get one for every third wave completed. I just gave you one skill point. Go ahead and buy the indicated skill. Let me know when you want to continue.” Shrugging, she looked at Fire Ammo and mentally “clicked” it. It stopped pulsing and stayed lit. The tree went away and she was faced with the dummy again. She thought about the skill and felt the pistol butts heat in her hands. She raised the guns again and fired both. The dummy burst into flame where the bullets hit it. Before she was completely dry, only ash remained of her target. She reloaded again and told Anne she was ready to continue. The ash disappeared and a new screen appeared. This had pictures of guns, armor, ammo, health kits, and pictures of people. “This is the Store page. From here you can upgrade your personal equipment and request backup using the money you collect from killing zombies. Who says the apocalypse isn't lucrative?” She smiled blandly as Jean looked at her confused. Seemingly uncaring about the effect she had on her student, she continued, indicating the portraits of people. “You won't need to defend the settlement on your own. From here, you can hire backup. They are, in order of ascending strength, Survivor, Ranged, and Badass. Survivors are basic and only have simple melee weapons. They aren't strong but they are cheap to produce. Ranged are Survivors that have a gun. Badasses are strong survivors that are stronger than their cheaper cousins. In addition to having upgraded melee and ranged weapons, they have a random skill. In addition, if they survive long enough, they will level and could gain additional skills. They are expensive but they can prove worth it.” The screen faded away and Anne stood in front of Jean. “That covers the basics. Keep in mind, there is more to learn and you can find additional info either in the tooltips or Help in the Options screen. Do you have any questions?”

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“No,” Jean replied. “I'm just ready to get started.”

“Alright!” she beamed. “Have fun and remember: it's just a game!”

“Huh? What do-” Jean started. Then froze. A zombie appeared behind Anne and grabbed her. A look of fear and pain crossed her face as it sunk its teeth into her neck. Blood shot from the wound as she screamed in pain. She fell, dragging the zombie down with her. Jean just looked in horror as the zombie continued to feast and Anne's movements slowed. It looked up at Jean. It was once a man but the eyes were completely blank, blood covered his face and matted his hair. It screamed at her, gore and blood spraying from his mouth. He scrambled at her on all fours. Without thinking, she stepped back, raising her right gun. Almost on instinct, she fired. Rocks beside him scattered as she missed. She squeezed the trigger again catching him in his shoulder. He rocked but otherwise, seemed unfazed. She shook herself and raised the second gun and fired together. The bullets hit home this time and the back of his head exploded. The zombie fell instantly, completely inanimate. Shakily, she lowered her weapons and tried to calm her breathing. “Shit...” she whispered, her heart pounding. She didn't have long, however. A shuffling sound came to her ears and she looked up. Four more zombies were moving toward her. In addition, Anne's corpse began moving.

Quickly, she put a bullet through her former instructor's head. She then raised her guns and moving backwards to give herself room, starting unloading on the zombies. She had a hard time hitting anything and didn't try to shoot anything in the head. The zombies' torsos became riddled with bullet holes. Absently, she noticed that as long as she hit the chest, three bullets were enough to stop one. She took two down before her left went dry. She spun, training her right on the furthest and moving to put another zombie between in the line of fire. The middle zombie moved its head at just the right time to receive a round through its forehead. Viscera exploded and it fell heavily. Three in the chest or one in the head, she noted, spinning the right and bringing the left to bear again. The target, only five feet away now, managed one last scream before she sent a bullet through its eye. As it struck the ground, she heard a fanfare. She looked up to see the words in the sky:

Wave Complete!

New round begins in 60 seconds!