Ah, I should’ve known better than to trust some asshole system that almost self-destructed on me! Does this thing just not want me to live? Who do I go to when I need to report a malfunction? Is there some manufacturer address on this stupid shit?

   Well, no time worrying about it now… this zombie is about to enter my house and probably going to bring along its friends with him!

   I could hear Kayla gasp behind me but I had no chance to turn around unless I wanted to end up as zombie noms.

   I gripped the bat with one hand and just started whacking at the fucker.

   “Hit him harder!” Kayla yelled in a louder whisper.

   I mean sure, saying to hit him harder is easier fucking said than done don’t you think? However, as I whacked the zombie one to two times, it still didn’t show any signs of retreating and was adamant about shoving itself inside.

   I reaffirmed my grip onto the bat with both hands. I lifted it above my head and…

   Bam!

   I smashed the bat directly onto its head! Forcing the shitter out the door. I smiled back at Kayla, even going so far as to put two fingers on my chin with pride.

   “Are you stupid? Close the fucking door!” 

   My smile fell and thought that people really didn’t know how to be grateful in life. I just saved our lives, a little praise never hurts.

   However when I heard the floor rumbling and the sounds of snarling growing closer, I immediately dived for the door and shut it close. I put the latch back on and shoved the table back in. 

   Slam! Slam! Slam!

   Copious amounts of slamming were apparent, seeming to want to break the fucking door down! I walked back breathing heavily, looking around for something to push against it. 

   Kayla was gesturing over to me for attention but I didn’t feel like it was the time nor the place to finally confess your feelings so I just ignored her. 

    “Stupid, come help me move the couch!” 

   I snapped my fingers and looked up the genius that was my neighbor. I never felt more proud to be your neighbor than I did now… Good job tech nerd.

I jogged over to her and started pulling the couch towards the door with the help of Kayla on the other side. Surprisingly, that girl had some arm strength to her. Who would’ve known she worked on something other than her brain.

   When placing the couch against the table, we made sure it was secure and sturdy. Only then did we look at each other and let out a sigh of relief.

   Cough, cough. Clearing my throat, “Close one. Haha.” I laughed nervously.

   She stared at me like I was an idiot then fell to crouch on the floor while hugging her knees.

   “How are we going to get out of this…” she said pitifully as if not really looking for an answer but just wanting to be consoled.

   However, being the intelligent person that I am, I naturally understood that this meant to give her some alone time. So I patted her head to which gave me the response of an icy glare but slowly turning soft. I then quickly rushed into the kitchen because, lets face it, we haven’t eaten all day and I’m fucking starving.

   Opening the fridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see just how much food I had stored up. Ahh, spending most of my time gaming and sleeping instead of eating has finally paid off. Feels good to have done something good in life. Should I get an award for most prepared?

   “Hey, what do you feel like eating? We have eggs, rice, some fruits…” my words trailed after landing my eyes on a few tupperware dishes wrapped in floral cloth.

   Mother… sister…

   Everything happened so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to think of them. My eyes sharpened and hands clenched into fist as I hoped that they would be fine.

   I’ll save them...

   I unwrapped the cloth and grabbed two of the five stacked containers before closing the fridge.

   Feeling the bottom of the containers, I could tell they were way too cold. So I set them in the microwave and put a timer of thirty seconds. I got two sets of utensils from the drawer along with two bottles of water.

   Ding!

   My quest? Oh wait no, that’s the microwave.

   I grabbed the two heated containers while trying to carry everything at once by stuffing the water bottles under my arms. 

   “Foods ready.” I announced, seeing that Kayla was still crouched on the floor staring off into nothingness.

   I sighed and walked over to crouch beside her. I set a container in front of her and one for me, then placing the utensils and water beside them.

   After everything was set, I sat cross legged in front of Kayla and let out a breath of air.

   … That was exhausting.

   Why am I doing so much work? This is too much, I’m not used to this amount of labor. Even though it was only microwaving and carrying shit, it still feels like I did too much! Division of labor Kayla!

   She looked down at the food and then picked up the fork.

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   “Thank you…” she said softly.

   Instead of complaining, I let out a sigh then a smile appeared on my face. Company isn’t too bad I suppose.

   “Are these from home?” Kayla asked while peeling open the lid.

   Inside was rice and bacon with eggs on the side. All fit perfectly to look like the best comfort food on the planet.

   “Yep.” I replied, ensued by a few seconds of silence.

   …

   “Do you know how they are?”

   I opened my own container and started digging in once I smelled the sweet scent of bacon that overtook my senses.

   “No clue. But knowing mother, I don’t believe they’ll be in danger with her overprotective self. I’ll go looking for them eventually.”

   Kayla nodded silently but her face seemed to brighten up as she started to eat with larger bites.

   “How about you?” I asked.

   I honestly didn’t know if she had any family. Kayla never really talked about her personal life besides what she was working on and I never really bothered to ask. I mean, after all she’s just a close neighbor that orders me around for rides that sometimes puts up with my gaming achievements.

   Actually, come to think of it… Our relationship is indeed strange. Hmm, I never really thought of her other than the annoying neighbor of mine. 

  “How about me what?” she questioned with a mouth full of rice and bacon.

   I looked up at her and she had rice on her collar. 

   Pfft, what a messy eater.

   I stood up and headed for the napkins.

   “Where are you going?” she mouthed again, probably spitting rice everywhere.

   Grabbing one… ok three napkins, I headed back to sit down and handed her one.

   “How about your family? Do you have siblings?” I responded, ready to savor another piece of bacon.

   “Mm, too many too count.” 

   I scoffed inwardly, does she seriously think I’d believe her blatant lie? 

   “There can’t be that many, c'mon tell me about em.”

   “Hmm let’s see. I have one older brother, an older sister, one little brother, and two little sisters.”

   I dropped my fork and held my mouth agape as I listened to this poor middle child. How cruel must life have been to have to build your own robots for your own affection. Sniffle, sniffle, just thinking about it has me tearing up.

   “Ugh, what’s that ugly face for? Have you seriously never met someone from an orphanage?” Kayla sneered with a disgusted look upon her face which frankly hurt my feelings as I could tell the genuinity of such a face.

   “Nothing, it’s nothing.” I responded, saying nothing more.

   So an orphan, huh? Who knew?

   As I had my internal monologue, I twisted the water bottle cap open than chugged half the water away.

   “Ahh, refreshing.”

   As I sat in bliss, the water bottle was snatched from my hand!

   “What, he-“

   I was too late, Kayla was already drinking from my refreshing mountain spring water with no sense of repenting.

   I furrowed my brows then reached for her bottle! To which in turn she grabbed as well.

   “What gives!” I seriously wanted to drink water!

   She finished swallowing then sharpened her eyes at me as if I was the one that did something wrong.

   “We just get locked in by a bunch of zombies or whatever you call it, and you’re here wanting to waste our water supply! Are you really an idiot?” She mouthed off before taking another swish from my water bottle.

   I licked my lips as water dripped from her glossy lips. I then turned away back to my food and figured what she was saying made sense.

   We ate the rest of our food in silence since we were both exhausted. After that we took turns using the shower. Thank god the water still worked. I wonder if Kayla could smell the piss off of me.

***

   Ring!

   Ring!

   Ring!

   “I’m sorry, the number you are calling cannot be reached at this time. Please leave a -”

   Beep!

   Sigh, no use. Can’t seem to get in touch with Mother and I didn’t bother to get my little sister’s number. Ahh, just how much of a failure of a brother/son am I?

   After walking out from the bathroom with wet hair and a new white tee, I found the tech nerd with an oversized shirt sitting cross legged on the floor while watching the TV.

   She glanced over at me, “Did you get through?”

   I shook my head then looked over to what she was watching.

   “...Remain indoors and do not leave your homes. I repeat, we are on a city-wide lockdown. If you have a vehicle please leave the city as fast as possible. However, the streets are crawling with these infected people so be cautious of your surroundings….” 

   It seems like the news channels finally know what’s happening out there. Tsk, so I guess everything really is happening and this isn’t one giant fucked up dream. Though, haha, we knew that for a while now didn’t we? 

   “...The military has been contacted and will send someone to confirm the situation. Everyone please remain calm.”

   Ohoho now even the military is getting involved? Seriously, how can this happen? Is it only our city? Are other cities experiencing such a mess? 

   I shook my head in frustration and walked over to the window, wondering how the situation looked out there.

   When I moved the sliding glass over, my eyes widened at the bizarre sight in front of me,,, They are fucking everywhere!

   Cars crashed into poles with blood splatter on the windshield. Those are probably the ones that tried to leave the city. As I looked at the world in horror, I saw something moving quickly into view.

   “Get away! Get away!” a man yelled as he ran through the streets.

   I clenched my hands but as soon as I was about to call out to him, zombies caught up at a ferocious speed and jumped on the man! I gagged at the sight as dozens of zombies started ripping through his shirt and neck.

   Just then, I watched one of the zombies on top of the horde fall back with the sound of a gun!

   Gunshots? 

   One after another, the gun shots came through and hit the zombies right in the head with 100% accuracy! However it was no use, the man was already ripped apart on the floor.

   I looked up to find the origins of the sound and started scanning the other apartment building across the street. There wasn’t anyone on top of the roof… where are they? 

   Scanning down from the roof, I started looking at the windows of the rooms. Out of all windows, only five were open. I peeled my eyes open on all of them until I could see… a glint! 

   On the third highest floor of the building, a glint started shining from the window.

   Is this the man the shitty quest box is telling me to talk to?

   Suddenly, the quest box on the top left enlarged, filling my whole screen.

Side Quest: Make it across the street during daylight

Reward: 50 Credits

   Hahaha… this thing is trying to make me commit suicide!