I awake with a pounding headache and feeling as if my body had been chucked off a cliff. My face, burning as if I had sat out in the sun for too long. Sitting up sends the room spinning and I want to vomit. Looking around I find myself in the midst of a blood bath.

  Countless bleeding bodies are scattered and strewn over one another. The sight brings back the memories of everything that just happened. Panic creeping in, I check the doors to make sure that they’re actually closed and locked. A quick shove proves they are and I sigh as the panic fades.

  With that I retrieve my baton. Teeth marks dance across the blood covered metal shaft. The shaft arcs upwards in a sixty degree angle. In all honesty I don’t think it’ll survive many more fights. Especially if there’s any more zombies like the last one.

  Just the thought of the fast, strong, agile zombie gives me shivers. I almost didn’t survive that one. I shake the spiraling dark thoughts and hosler the baton, which now sits at an odd angle on my belt.

  Looking inwards I find my mana reserves to be sitting at full. Finding it curious because I can tell that I wasn’t out long enough to have regained the mana naturally, I open my Stats page.

Personal Stats:

Attributes:

Value

Name:

Joel Dylan

STR:

9

Level:

10

DEX:

5

To Next Level

13/500

AGI:

6

Sex:

Male

END:

12

Age:

19

INT:

45

Class:

Mage

WIS:

11

LUC:

4

HP

72/100

CHA:

5

Mana

80/80

PER:

8

WIL:

6

Free Attribute points:

10

  Reading through it I notice my health is sitting just under a quarter. Curiously I find my mana refills every level but my health doesn’t. Other than my level, health, Attribute points, and mana nothing has changed. Looking closer at my health an idea pops into my head.

  “Can I die from a lot of smaller wounds?” I ask myself

  I retrieve my pocket knife and return to the fire command center. There I plop down in the chair. I take the knife out and examine my body. I’m covered in blood and much and I wonder for a second about how infectious the zombies are.

  I know that if you’re eaten by one you turn into one. But I don’t know if that’s just how the world works now or if the zombies are some disease. Questions to figure out later, it’s best to just play it safe now and now get any zombie goo in me.

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  With that thought I hesitate to perform the experiment I came up with. I need to know how this system works but I need to be careful.

  Rolling up my pants lef reveals my pasty legs covered in hair and no blood. I mentally thank whatever manager picked our uniforms for picking waterproof pants.

  I open my character sheet focusing on my health. I drag the edge of the blade across my calf, a stream of red blood follows its wake. My health drops from seventy-two to seventy-one. So I probably can die from a lot of minor attacks. That’s something to keep an eye out for.

  Against the wall with the door built into it is a small first aid kit. Inside I find a waterproof bandage and gauze. I place the bandage over the new cut in my leg and then wrap it in gauze to be sure.

  Part of me wants to strip out the bloodied clothes but the other part doesn’t want to be trying to clear this building without some form of protection. For now I’ll leave these clothes on but getting new duds is definitely on the list of things to do.

  Thinking of things to do. I turn to the machines displaying information about the building. One in particular shows open entrances to the building.

  There three out of four dots are displayed in red. Meaning that the other two doors on the ground level are still held open and need to be manually closed. While the garage door is also still being held open.

  I groan as I realize that I’m not quite done yet. However for the most part the still open entrances aren’t a huge deal. The only way into the garage is through the stairwell and elevators. The stairwell entrance has a gate on it that needs an access badge to be swiped to unlock, so if I close that I don’t have to worry about clearing the garage. Unless zombies can use elevators.

  I dismiss the thought for a second. The crazy fast and agile zombie pops up in my mind. If zombies can level up and gain strength maybe they can gain intelligence too. So the elevators aren’t to be dismissed.

  With that in mind I walk to a different machine that controls the elevators. There’s four in total. Two sitting on the ground floor, one on the tenth, and the last sitting down on the first level of the garages. A key switch sits in the bottom corner of the machine with “Emergency Shut off” written around it. Knowing the master key wont work I leave the command center for the security desk.

  The entrance to the lobby already as a zombie trying to beat it’s way in. Ignoring it I move over the bodies of the undead and to behind the desk. In one of the cabets lies a lock box full of keys. There I find one to the elevator controls and return to the command center taking it with me. I power down the elevators and return to figuring out my next step.

  The open doors are definitely an issue. The garage, I’m sure, is to house as many if not more zombies than the lobby. Even with the fire alarm off the giant opening can let more wander in and the more inside the garage the more sounds they’ll make. Meaning the more drawn in. So it’s definitely something to handle but not a huge thing just yet.

  The other two entrances to the building lead to the bike room and kitchen. The kitchen has two extra doors that need to be passed through, both with a badge requirement to unlock. While the bike room has a door that opens directly into the lobby near the lockers.

  The doors in the kitchen don’t open automatically and just unlock when the fire alarm is activated. So with the alarm deactivated the doors should be locked again, and if not they open inwards. Aside from that crazy high level zombie I don’t think any are able to force those doors open.

  The bike room interior door also doesn’t open automatically and should be locked too, but I’ll check it before leaving the ground floor. There should be relatively few zombies in the rest of the building so clearing it should be next on my list.

  Laying back in the chair I stare up at the ceiling. I almost just died and I’m already thinking about going and getting into another fight. Something has to be wrong with me.

  My stomach growls, reminding me I haven’t eaten since yesterday evening.

  It’s already approaching the evening. I should clear the rest of the building quickly and find something to snack on. Then I’ll pass out and sleep the rest of the day away. There are a few comfy couches on the higher floors. Safety, food, rest. That’s the plan.

  I close my eyes and feel the aches and pain through my body slowly ebb away. My mind is still beating with a low headache but the worst has passed. I leave the command center and make my way to the bike entrance. Trying the door proves to me that it’s locked. Peeing in as deep as I can reveals no zombies but who knows.

  A shine catches my attention from the corner of my eye. Looking towards it I see the reflective casing of the camera. My mind lights up at realization.

  I race back to the security desk and check the computers. I power one on and wait for the screen to awaken. After a soft whirring I’m greeted by a familiar log in. I type in my credentials.

  Once logged in I maneuver the mouse over an app with a diamond and monitors. Opening it reveals a new login screen where I put in new credentials. Then wait as the application connects me to the cameras in the building.

  A window pops up with thirty-six black screens. Each little screen displaying the same message. “Connection Lost” My heart sinks as anger rises in me.

  “Fuck.”

  Looking down at the icon where a wifi symbol sits shows that the machine isn’t connected to any. Opening it shows that there’s nothing to connect to. Wishing I had a phone to try and hot spot the machine I shut the system down and leave the lobby.

  I may not be able to get some intel on each floor but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop. I’m getting tired and I want to wrap this night up quickly. For a second I entertain the idea of just trying to nap in the command center but part of me can’t relax knowing that there’s danger in the building.

  I traverse the eleven flights to the roof access door, closing any doors remaining open as I do so. Once on the roof I see the whole city. Pillars of smoke rise in the air sporadically. In the hotel across the street I see windows applently coated in blood. The suddenness and randomness of the zombies' appearances make me wonder where they came from.

  The desolate view makes me feel so small in the grand scheme of things. Here I am looking down on the apocalypse barely able to keep myself alive. Who knows how many people are out there and how many are alive. The small hope I had been harboring that the government or police were going to sweep through and save me vanished.

  Overnight the world had ended. The only movement on the streets below are the shambles of zombies. There’s no other signs of life than me standing up here on this roof alone.

  I tear my gaze from the scene and make my way around to the other stairwell. From here I’ll go floor by floor making sure the building is free of zombies. Making my way to the tenth floor I peer onto the floor not expecting anything of note.

  The tenth floor is the only floor after the second that isn’t laid out like the others. This floor is home to the offices for the executives. So wrapping all around the outside walls are walled off offices, many with their doors closed.

  This floor still has a figure eight pattern to it though, just that the inner walled part of the floor is home to a storage room full of computer equipment and office supplies. Along with a large mail room. The other inner box on the floor is home to a break area with cushioned seats and high end coffee makers.

  I follow the outside wall peeking into each room as I do so. Most have random artifacts from their owner’s lives. A pyramid of soda cans in one. Some baseball memorabilia in another. I round the first corner and continue checking the offices.

  I make it to the mail room and pop my head in there. As I do so I hear a thud sound from inside the storage room. The hair on the back of my neck stands, my heart beating faster and my lungs pulling in more oxygen. I take out my baton and make my way to the storage room door.

  I shove open the door, raising the baton above me in anticipation. My eyes scan for any movement. Three lie in the storage room, two men and one woman. One of them lying on the floor next to a counter rubbing her head.

  At the sound of the door being thrown open the three freezes looking at me. Their faces drain of color. The men curse and the woman starts to scream.