I’m hungry. That fact is undeniable. It bubbles up to my attention with gurgles from my stomach. The feelings and noises break the blissful spell that sleep had on me. Bringing me back to a bruised, battered, worn out body.
Opening my eyes I find myself in a dark room. Stiff cushions support my weight as I sit up, finding that I’ve been sleeping on a couch. My eyes adjust to the darkness and I realize I’m in one of the meeting rooms with a couch and tv.
The act of sitting up sends pangs of soreness ringing out through me. Emanating from my right side and wrist. Lifting my shirt I see that the skin is a mess of greens and purple. I drop the shirt and move to stand.
Standing causes the pain to burn hotter but it’s still a lot more bearable then I thought it should be. Curiously I open my stats screen.
Personal Stats:
Attributes:
Value
Name:
Joel Dylan
STR:
10
Level:
12
DEX:
6
To Next Level
223/600
AGI:
7
Sex:
Male
END:
12
Age:
18
INT:
55
Class:
Mage
WIS:
11
LUC:
4
HP
78/100
CHA:
5
Mana
120/120
PER:
8
WIL:
6
Free Attribute points:
6
My eyes quickly find my health giving me a little surprise. Granted I don’t know how long I’ve been sleeping for but for my health to recover almost half seems a little suspicious. Maybe the system heals us or maybe my mana has something to do with it. In lots of video games and stories magic can be used to heal people.
Something in the back of my mind tickles at that idea. The idea that magic can be used for healing. Just the idea makes me feel like my brain is about to sneeze. It’s a really uncomfortable sensation.
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I push the idea out of my head as something to explore later. The growing pangs of hunger emmintaning from my stomach demands my full attention.
I make my way out of the tiny meeting room and wander through the floor. While most of the floors are similar in layout they all have their own uniqueness. I quickly realize I’m on the seventh floor.
I turn a corner to head towards the break room. As I do so I catch voices drifting through the floor. The words and their meanings lost in the distance.
Following the voices leads me to the far end of the floor where the break room lies. The lights on the floor seem to have been turned off as even at night they would turn on when they sensed motion.
Looking outside I see the night sky like never before. The city lies nearly completely dark aside from the random orange glow of fires. The sky is a beautiful dark deep shade of blue bordering on black. More stars than I have ever seen stand out like never before to me.
Before I moved to the city I lived in a really small town known for how little light pollution there was. However, even the night skies from there could never compare to the sky right now. It’s as if the heavens opened up revealing all of their secrets for the first time.
A gentle hand rests on my shoulder. I come back from my gaucking at the beauty that the sky holds and realize I’ve been standing there for a while.
“I’m glad to see you awake. How are you holding up son?” Decker asks.
“‘I’m feeling a lot better actually. Did something happen to the power?” I ask.
He sighs and turns his gaze to the same sky that I’ve been marveling at.
“A few hours after you fell asleep the power went out. Not just here but the whole city. Like all at once someone turned the power off.”
“Damn that’s not good. Doesn’t this building have generators?” I ask.
“It does, down in the garage. But we elected not to turn them on. Other than powering lights and stuff there's no real point in doing so. However, in the morning we are going to run them for a bit.”
“Why’s that?”
“With the power system already failing other infrastructure are soon to follow. Water being my chief concern. So in the morning we’re going to try and collect as much water as we can.”
“Oh yeah that makes sense. Why don’t we do it right now?”
“I worry the lights will draw unwanted attention to us. With the power out the electric locks throughout the building disengaged. I had to take that master key from you and make sure that the manual locks on the outside doors we’re engaged.”
“Will starting the generators mess with that?”
“I’m not sure. Just in case I’m going to have someone in the fire command center to make sure that the doors stay shut. We tested the radios at the security desk. They still work so we’re going to start carrying those around. But without power we can’t charge them so I’m trying to think of a system to make them last longer.”
“We could use the cars in the garage.”
“I didn’t think about that. Do the radios charge through usb or something?”
“No. But I have a power inverter in my car. We can use that.”
“Not a bad idea for the short term. Where is your car?”
“On third street. Just outside the doors from the bike room.”
“I’ll add it to the list of things we need to get. Maybe in the morning we’ll see about trying to bring that into the garage. I doubt we will get to it tomorrow but it’s one of the things we should start working on. Right now I’m more concerned with water and food.”
“Speaking of food, I'm starving. Is there anything to eat?”
“Yea but not much. I raided all the fridges and storage areas and between us four we only have maybe two to three days worth of food. More if we starve ourselves considerably. Come on, I'll show you.”
Decker motions for me to follow as he guides me to the area where the voices were coming from. There I find Andy and Angila sitting in separate booths looking tired.
On a table is a neat pile of food lies. Assorted snacks, from the vending machine I assume, some containers of home cooked meals, and some microwavable meals. All in all it’s not much. I know it takes a while for a human to starve to death but I’d still rather not starve myself.
“So is there a plan to get more food?” I ask.
Decker grabs one of the home cooked meals and hands it to me. Some spaghetti leftovers or something.
“No definitive plans. The restaurant across the street probably has some food. And then there’s the hotel next to the restaurant. But I don’t know how we are going to get to either of them.” Decker responds as I accept the food.
“The restaurant should have food. They receive a delivery every day just before midnight. If I remember right, the delivery truck had just driven off when that earthquake hit.”
“Then we should check them first. I’ve never stayed at that hotel and only assume they have food because the hotels I’ve been in usually have some kind of catering service.”
The conversation finds a lull as I start eating the cold food. Decker collects the home cooked foods and takes them to the fridge. Then he places a few in the ice maker that each floor has. Despite the tomato sauce covered noodles being cold they taste amazing and fill me up. Once done with the meal I place the container and fork I used to eat in the sink.
“What if you and I scouted out the restaurant?” I ask Decker.
He takes a second to think it over
“I just don’t know. It’s risky and dangerous. We have no clue how many zombies are in the streets or how many are in the restaurant.”
Thinking it over, a plan starts coming together in my mind.
“I can use my Magical Sonar to see what’s in the restaurant. We can see the street from the second floor where they were doing construction. Or we could go to the roof and go to the edge to look over. Between your speed and my Magic I bet we could run from any threat. If we take a radio we can relay information back to Angila or Andy if we need to make a run back here. If we leave through the front doors it wouldn’t even take you a second to cross the street.” I say.
Decker closes his eyes and rubs his chin in thought. Andy seems upset by something I said while Angila just watches silently. Her tired eyes blankly stare out at the space before her. The bags under her eyes are deep and evident. And if my experience with using mana is anything to go by, she’s probably supporting a gnarly headache.
“Not a bad Idea. After we get the water we should work on that.” Decker says while looking down at his watch. “However, for now I think we better get some rest. Only you and Andy have slept at all today.”
At that Angila visibly appears to brighten up. A smile spreads across her face.
“What should I do?” I ask.
“With you being one of our heavy hitters I think it’ll be good if you stay rested. But I’d also sleep more comfortably if we had someone on watch in case anything happens. So I think we should start implementing some kind of watch. For now just try to stay awake but if you feel tired take a nap.” Decker says.
With that being said the three stand up and make their way away from the break area. The seventh floor has two meeting rooms with couches and three break rooms with recliners. The break rooms are technically called nursing rooms but everyone uses them to relax.