Jean put her hands, which still held her guns, on her knees and breathed. She didn't feel fatigued physically, just needed a moment to process what had just happened. Watching the guide get eaten in front of her and then having to make sure she stayed dead made her shudder involuntarily. What sick, twisted mind put THAT into a game? She took a few deep, calming breaths and stood back up, spinning each pistol and holstering them. It was time to look at the store page. She called it with a mental command.

She perused the options available to her. As noted in the tutorial, it was divided into subcategories: Weapon and Armor Upgrades, Consumables like ammo and health kits, and survivors. Most items were grayed out. She surmised that these would become available later. She scrolled through the page and found another: Terrain. It looks like this was dedicated to adding obstacles. “Probably to channel large numbers,” she mused, tapping her finger to her chin. All of the items had a cost in gold coins. Idly, she wondered how many she had. She looked to the top right and saw that she had fifty. She thought about that. There were six zombies if you included Anne. How did the breakdown for coins happen? Unless Anne didn't count, maybe it was ten coins per kill? She mentally tapped on it and a tooltip appeared.

Coins: Coins are awarded for killing zombies! Aim for the head for more!

She blinked at the message. It was only marginally helpful but she could figure it out. If Anne counted, she had shot four head shots and took two others down with shots to the chest. So, killing a zombie without a head shot gave you five coins, and with gave you ten. Dismissing the tip, she started to go over the items in the store again when she heard the voice from before yell “WAVE INCOMING!” again. The store screen went away on its own and Jean was left looking at the “Wave 2” that hung in the sky. Cursing, she took out her pistols and faced the zombies that had appeared. They were shambling toward her in a larger number this time, but still manageable. With a quick count, she determined that there were twelve that she could see. Their moaning hit her ears and she shuddered again. With a thought, she activated Fire Ammo and as her hand felt the warmth, she ran toward them. The first screamed as she ran by it. Before it could turn, she lifted her left and placed a burning bullet right into its skull behind the ear. It ignited as she went by, but she caught her foot on some imperfection in the pavement. She tucked into a roll, trying to stop her forward momentum but wound up flat on her back. “Shit, shit, shit, shit,” she chanted, scrambling as the nearest zombie approached her, jaws open wide. Lifting her right pistol, she fired a round through its skull, causing it to burst into flame. She was able to stand but by this point, she had three more zombies had surrounded her. On instinct, she planted one foot and sent the other into the stomach of one trying to push it away. It fell backward into another that she hadn't seen. She sent two bullets into the chest, noting that the extra damage from the fire was enough to kill it. What's more, the zombie behind it caught fire and, while it was still mobile, seemed to be taking damage as well.

Stolen novel; please report.

All thoughts fled, however as a sharp pain pierced her bicep. One of the zombies had gotten ahold of her arm and had bitten into it. Screaming, she ripped her arm away then drove her elbow into its face. Its head snapped backwards and it lost its balance falling into yet another. She shot each in the head allowing the flames to create a barrier for her. She had cleared her way back to the stadium and started running back, the zombies following her. She made it about ten feet and turned. It looked like the the zombie she had set on fire but hadn't finished had fallen to ash. The remaining seven looked at her hungrily. She set herself and methodically aimed and fired. Two other zombies caught aflame but weren't killing shots. One zombie took a round in the head to her right but she missed the next shot entirely. She moved again, kiting the horde, trying to buy time for the fire to take its toll. An idea struck her and she waited for the nearest one to get to within five feet and took aim. She pulled the trigger and it jerked to the side as the bullet tore into its knee it caught fire as it fell. Spinning her now empty right pistol, she aimed with her left as the undead approached, heedless of the fire in their way. One tripped and fell on top of the fiery corpse and caught as well. She brought her right gun back up and shot it in the head letting its weight add to the barrier. She was dismayed when both simply crumbled to ash. She had five left, though and decided to throw caution to the wind. Using her last fire bullet on the leading zombie, she spun her left as she sent bullet after bullet from her right. The lead zombie took another round causing it to fall. Two more behind it fell shortly after. She stepped back, giving herself more room and firing with her left again. The last three fell just as the last bullet left her guns and she heard the fanfare indicating the end of the wave.

Jean sighed and started to relax when she heard a new sound. It sounded like a far off roar. She looked into the sky for a new message:

Wave Complete!

Boss round starts in 60 seconds!

“Well,” she breathed, reloading her pistols. “fuck.”