Time went by, maybe 8 hours till Barry awoke from his slumber. His back and neck ached from sleeping on the hard floor inside the van. “I need to go out and stretch.” He mumbled, rubbing his back and neck.
He opened the back door and stepped out, letting loose a yawn and began stretching his body all around. It was early morning and the sun was just coming up, peeking its bright orangish face out the horizon.
Barry could see the city of Millawauke ahead down the road. If he had a working car, he could get there in less than half an hour or so. He would have to inspect the vehicles nearby for one with keys and worked.
He went over to the van and began looting anything valuable that was inside the boxes. Barry rummaged through them, finding only tools for handyman work for the most part. Nothing of value he saw so far, he frowned, getting upset with his luck.
He then went through his final box and saw something emitting a faint light. Barry stuck his hand inside, shoving around the useless junk and found a glowing silver chest. It was slightly bigger than his hand and was locked, he assumed it required a key of some kind to unlock it.
“This looks like it might contain something good, too bad I need a key it seems to unlock it.’ Barry stored it in his inventory for later when he did find a way to open it.
Barry then remembered the rewards he obtained from completing the event. “That's right! Almost forgot about them.” He opened up his inventory to look at what he had.
In his inventory, he had stacks of undead monster parts, a multi-tool knife, 1,780 gold, 1x silver chest, 1x Uncommon Starter Kit, and 1x Random Grade D skill. He wasn't sure as to what the undead parts were for but he held on to them, thinking there had to be some way to use them.
He opened the starter kit and two health potions, a shortsword, and a set of PT clothes with a windbreaker jacket was materialized in front of him. He equipped his items which provided him a boost in agility, endurance, and strength. It also had a full armor set effect since he wore the entire outfit, which granted him a +20% increase in stamina recovery.
The shortsword he was given had +35 attack, with +1 in both agility and strength. It also had a higher durability than the bat he was using so it was definitely a better weapon overall.
Barry then looked to the random Grade D Skill and used it. A slot machine magically appeared in front of him, the arms handle tilted slightly towards him, almost as if asking him to pull it down. So he did just that, wishing for something decent.
The slots spinned with a countdown of lights flickering above it. He was anxious to see what he would get, his heart was beating a bit faster than it would normally.
Eventually, when the final light turned on, the slots immediately came to a stop. A burst of confetti came out from the machine, along with party whistles sounding off that Barry thought was weird.
‘Enhanced Vision (Grade D) obtained!’ A screen window appeared, informing him. He saw a icon distinguishing it, which was a singular eye looking sharp and focused with a 3D grid in the background of the icon.
‘Passive/Toggle Ability: The user can will the ability to toggle off/on. When toggled on, the user can spot collectables and their rarity, hidden loot if looked hard enough, and known enemies easier. Also allows the user to see the HP of enemies. Current Grade: D; Exp till next Level: 0/10,000’.
Barry was interested in the skill, although it lacked offense or defense capabilities, it was more a utility skill that he knew he would come to appreciate. Being able to identify loot and their rarity from distances, as well as, spot enemies from far away and see their HP.
He then went to his profile window and began adjusting his stats. Barry saw the boosts that he was getting from his outfit and sword alone which was (+1) in strength, (+4) in agility, and (+2) in endurance next to his base stats, separated. He assumed once he unequipped his items, those bonuses in parentheses would disappear.
He then noticed a drop down menu labeled as ‘More Additional Stat Info’. He pressed on it and found a list of keyword stats labeled for resistances, armor rating, HP regeneration, stamina regeneration, magic regeneration, and bunch of others. He could also see a compiled list of his skills, traits, and such that he had at the moment.
His armor rating was 75 at the moment which seemed important to know seeing as he was fighting zombies. Barry figured it meant his physical defense but didn't know how it was calculated when taking damage.
Anyways, Barry invested 5 points into strength and 3 points into endurance. He wanted to have more strength and endurance because he didn't want to have a repeat of what happened towards the end of the event he had accomplished. His speed was decent already, especially with the bonuses he was getting from his equipment. Increasing his intelligence and wisdom would do no good since he didn't know how they would help him and had no way to utilize the stats.
Satisfied with his preparations, he spent the rest of his time searching for a working vehicle for his journey to the city ahead.
Barry tried his ability, ‘Enhanced Vision’, thinking about it and his eyes flickered a light blue for a moment and he saw the world a bit differently.
Every item or object that he was focused on or in sight, had text above them that read what they were with a type of color. For example, the sword that he was holding had green text reading ‘Starter Shortsword’. And when he looked at one of the wrenches he found in the boxes, it had black text reading ‘Basic Wrench’.
Barry was curious what the colors meant between the two items and thought it must have meant the rarity. The wrench was a common item while the shortsword was an uncommon item. He then continued his search for a working vehicle.
He checked the van but no keys were inside and he didn't know how to hotwire a vehicle. Barry checked every other car in his vicinity but they were all either broken down or keyless. “Am I going to have to walk there?” He questioned the unknown, dreading how long that would take.
Barry took another glance around and spotted something that made him shout “Seriously!!”
[Transition scene]
“This,” Barry was huffing and puffing. “Is fucking stupid.” He complained, as he rode a bike he found on a car rack.
It took him an hour and a half to get near the city. His investment in endurance had made his travel a lot smoother with having more stamina but it still tucked. But as his environment got more city like, he slowed down and decided to get off the roads to avoid being a visible target.
Barry came to a stop next to a map post that had flyers with purple text saying ‘ Map of Millawauke City’. He went to grab one and it disappeared, followed by a notification reading ‘Millawauke City has been updated to World Map!’. Then the map of the city appeared on it's usual blue screen.
On the map, there was a white circle with a red arrow pointing in one direction. There were buildings drawn around with the names of the streets and such. He assumed the white dot was him because everyday he turned, the red arrow would turn the same way. He also discovered that he could zoom in/out by just pinching and expanding. He could also do a couple other things like pinning waypoints with each one a different color.
He searched the map for the street that one person was requesting for help at. The street was much farther down north-east. Barry marked the street as a waypoint and planned to take the alleyways to avoid confronting too many zombies on his way over.
The doctor also crossed his mind and he hoped that he would find him in the city and make him pay for abandoning him.
Barry got moving on foot taking the alleys. He spotted a few test dummies, zombies, wandering to try out his new sword. No way was he a professional swordsman or expert fighter, but he had to get accustomed to fighting in general.
With his first target, he swiftly managed to cut down his enemy in two slashes before it could react to his movements. The rest of his foes charged forth at him but he was much faster than them, evading their actions with ease and cutting each one down as he watched their HP deplete to 0 with his ability.
He was able to feel the temporary buffs he was getting from the title he had gained, 'Psycho Blood Artist'. It provided him a boost in strength and agility everytime he drew first blood from his foes, stacking up to 5x only. If he had max stacks, it would not refresh everytime he would attack another.
Barry would loot the fallen dead afterwards before moving on. He would keep glancing at his mini map as he went, checking the distance between him and the waypoint.
Eventually, he would come to a halt when he heard commotion going on down a different path. “They keep coming! I don't see an opening!” A man shouted, they sounded distressed.
Barry rushed to the direction of the sound to inspect the situation. He wanted to know if it was worth assisting whoever was over there.
When he arrived, Barry peeked from the corner of the alley and saw a little boy being shielded by what he could assume to be his father.
The father was fending off a crowd of zombies that were circling them arounf a bus. The father was wielding a stop sign, flailing it at the zombies.
He seemed to have invested a lot of his points into his strength because each zombie that came into contact with his weapon was torn from their waist. However, despite his immense strength, he appeared to be getting tired quickly which meant that he had to have low endurance.
Barry started weighing his option of helping ot not. The situation seemed like too much of a hassle with a hordes of zombies to deal with, if it was smaller then maybe but still. He didn't know the people and they didn't look to have anything of value.
‘Jumping in would just cause more problems for myself. Besides, I get nothing out of helping them.’ He thought, making up his mind by turning away from the situation.
He walked two steps away before his body instantly froze in place and felt a burning sensation of discomfort inside, he clutched his chest. ‘What is this?’ Barry was confused as he leaned against a wall.
“Dad!” The boy cried out as he watched his father almost get hit by a zombie that lunged at him.
Howls could then be heard from a distance which could only mean one thing, the hounds had decided to come out and play.
The father kept fighting on, paving away the zombies making minimal success towards creating an escape path but knew deep inside he was likely to succumb to exhaustion.
“Son,” The father panted. “I'm going to use everything I've got to charge through to get you out. Then I want you to run.” The father ordered, as he continued to fight off the hordes.
“No, don't do this dad!” The son cried, not ready to possibly lose his father.
The father did one more good swing before picking up his child, cradling him close to his chest as he gave out a big war cry, charging through the crowd of undead.
He tackled every single zombie he came in contact with, knocking them to the side like they were nothing and eventually making it out of the swarm.
The son got back on the ground, tears in his eyes but with a weak smile. “Dad, you did it! Let's run now, come on!” The boy said, pulling on his father's arm.
The father was motionless for a moment but stood up slowly with his knees shaking. He placed a hand on his son's head and rubbed it before bringing him in for a hug. “Dad?” The son said, sounding worried.
“I can't go with you son, my body is too weak right now to follow…but my will to keep them away from you is still strong. Just know that I'll always love you.” The father told his son in a weak but loving tone. He turned his back to his son, facing the coming wave of zombies, raising his weapon with both hands.
An undead hound appeared on the scene, leaping onto a nearby car glaring at the father with it's hungry eyes.
The father braces himself for his last stand, determined to ensure nothing got past him. “We can make it dad, please don't do this!” The boy pleaded.
The hound readied it's hind legs and pounced towards the dad with it's fangs opened wide, along with the zombies that marched their way to the family.
“AAAAAH!” The father shouted out loud, pumping himself up and drawing everything he had left within.
The dad was prepared to launch a counterattack, but strangely the hound had halted mid-air in front of the family. It was then pulled back, getting flinged towards the hordes, knocking a good amount of them over like bowling pins.
There stood Barry in front of them, sword ready to cut down anymore foes that came close. He then looked over his shoulder, glanced at the father and son yelling “GO!”. His tone of voice seemed as though he was mad.
The two stood there stunned, they were shocked to see that someone had arrived to their rescue. “FUCKING GO! NOW!” Barry ordered once again, gripping his sword with both hands even tighter.
The boy was the first to react to his command and pulled on the father's arm once again. This caused the father to break out of his daze, speechless, and followed his son from behind through the alley.
The zombies continued their assault, charging towards Barry now. The canine recovered, probably pissed that it's tail was yanked and tossed away like a rag doll.
Barry, with his agility and strength, rushed around the zombies and began leaping on top of cars and open spots with less zombies. He heard the howl of the hound from the back, probably calling for more doggies to come out and play fetch.
All the while, Barry was irritated. Not because of the people he just saved but because of why he did it. ‘Why did I get myself in this situation? I knew this would happen! Fuck!’.
He had planned to walk away and leave them too their fate but something inside had compelled him to help them escape. Even if it seemed illogical or more trouble than it was worth.
A couple of zombies got too close but were dispatched swiftly. ‘I just put myself at risk for nothing to gain. WHY!?’ He questioned himself, continuing onwards.
Two more hounds were spotted dashing out of the corner of a street towards him. He reacted to one of them jumping at him by sliding under and slashing it's belly a few times, dropping it's HP down by 50% and kept moving.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The second one tagged in but missed it's attack, smashing head first into a car window.
As more noise was made, more undead was sure to follow and soon Barry had created a train of undead following his lead.
Barry's eyes scanned around for the highest building that he could find and spotted an apartment building quickly running to it. He leaped, grabbing hold of the ledge of a window and pulling himself up.
A hound, the first one he made a fool of, caught up and bit down on one of his legs. Barry gritted his teeth and endured, stabbing it through the head, subduing the beast.
He moved fast climbing up to the roof, utilizing the edges and anything he had a firm grip on. Eventually, he managed to get on top of the roof and laid flat on it. Taking a moment to regain his stamina.
Barry was glad he had increased his endurance and have the 20% increase in stamina regen from the armor set he was wearing.
Not long after resting for a bit, a blue screen appeared. “(,,⟡o⟡,,) wow, how heroic of you to step in and help a father and son. Once again you amaze me and the viewers watching!” It was the same person that had interacted with him from the beginning.
“Fuck you! Just get on with the next round of bullshit you have.” Barry marked back at the mysterious person.
“(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ oh no, not yet contestant. You'll have to wait a bit longer before you and a bunch of others face what we have in store for you. It's a big surprise that I'm sure you'll enjoy. But since you want a challenge so badly, I'll send a little something your way…” The system responded with it's usual sassy tone.
Suddenly, Barry could hear something making a ruckus. It wasn't coming from below, but instead in the air somewhere. Quickly getting back on his feet, he looked around his surroundings until he spotted something in the sky. He focused his sight and saw faintly what appeared to be multiple HP bars.
Needless to say, he once again was on t he move and dashed to the door that lead to inside the building but realized it was locked after messing with it. Breaking down the door would require time that he did not have.
Barry went to the edge of one side of the building and jumped across to the next roof, trying the next door but no dice. “Damn it!”
Barry heard the sounds of cawing in the direction of the flying mobs and looked towards it. ‘Crows?’ He discovered his new foes were a swarm of undead birds. About a hundred or so, he could not see a way of fighting them with just a sword, there were too many.
He had to find shelter quickly so he kept running till he could find another way to enter a building but saw that he was running out of buildings to cross over.
The crows were closing in and he only had two options left which were; break his fall on top of a car and cause an alarm; or jump through a building window.
Barry chose the latter, he spotted an apartment building and sprinted full speed towards it. He had glanced back to see that the birds were about a few yards away which pumped him up even more.
And at the last moment, he transferred all of his momentum into one giant leap, clearing a the gap between him and the apartment window he was aiming for.
He crossed his arms around his body, bracing for impact. The birds zoomed past him, he could hear their wings flapping hundreds of times in his ears before crashing into a bedroom and tumbling on the floor, slamming into a wall.
He got up and dusted himself off of the broken glass. The system chat window appeared. “You're very tenacious, I'll give you that contestant.” The system complimented. “Most of the other contestants would have acted like a deer in headlights at the sight of these mobs of undead. But YOU, you react to almost any situation thrown at you with clear and precise focus.”
Barry went out of the bedroom and planned to rest a bit somewhere else in the building. “I don't need your praise, so you can stop.” He responded coldly.
“Ouch, how rude. But I'm sure me and the viewers would like to know what motivates you to keep moving through this nightmare of the dead.” It said.
Barry roamed down the halls trying to find an open room to enter. “How about getting the chance to meet you so I can strangle you into telling me my identity. I know you are prohibiting me from learning anything about myself.”
There was a moment of silence for a good bit. Barry found it odd for the system to stop it's sassy and mysterious personality. Then it responded. “Sure contestant ( • ᴗ - ) ♡, I believe we can arrange that. In fact, it might be sooner than you think.”
Barry's eyes lit up for the first time at hearing that he could know about who he was. “Are you lying? You better not be.” He asked in a serious tone.
“Absolutely! However…” The system stopped for a moment. Barry glanced out the windows of the hallway and saw HP bars in the sky heading his way. “...you'll still need to survive if you wish know!”
Barry double timed and checked every doorknob of every door he came across, but none of them were opening. Down the hall, he heard glass shatter and saw the same flock of crows flying towards him. Their caws echoing the hallway.
And almost on queue, he found an open door, zipped inside, and locked it. He also spotted a cabinet close by and moved it in front of the door for good measure.
He could hear pecking on the door, it was like multiple drills were working their way through the door. Barry felt as if there was no escaping these types of enemies. He had to think of a way to eliminate them all but how was the question.
Barry thought about the time he blew up a bunch of zombies but how was he going to reenact it again…
His eyes looked to the kitchen stove and thought about tampering with the gas line and lighting a fire. He found a candle on a counter and assumed there had to be matches or a lighter somewhere.
He looked out the living room window and saw that he was about two and a half stories high. There below was a crashed truck with a trailer behind it. He had no other escape option if he was going to pull this off.
Using his ‘Enhanced Vision’, he managed to locate matches in a disorganized drawer and grabbed the candle with him to the stove. The birds were almost done breaching through the door as he heard the cabinet shake.
Wasting no time, he swiftly opened the oven hatch to find and open the gas lines with the multi-tool knife from his inventory. Barry prepared the candle, lighting it and placing it under a glass jar before turning on the oven.
“I’m practically jumping all over this damn city.” He complained, then saw something going on further down the street he was going to fall on to soon.
There was a group of people running towards his direction fending off a horde of zombies. “Fuck! Why the hell are they bringing more zombies to me!”
The sound of the door being breached and the cabinet being tipped over brought him back to his situation.
Barry bolted to the window as he threw his multi-tool knife at the glass jar with the candle and shielded his body, shattering through the window.
He plummeted down, hearing the roar of the apartment exploding, sending the roasted birds back to rest. He once again gained another achievement title that was named ‘Roasted Chicken Fiesta!’.
Barry dented the roof of the trailer when he landed, shouldering his fall and feeling a bit of pain, while also getting the air knocked out of his lungs. Thankfully, he had a good amount of health. But he was now at 60% HP and 55% Stamina from everything that had happened to him so far.
“Did you see that!?” He could hear someone shout out. “Someone fell out of that window that just exploded!”
“We have bigger problems! Keep running!” Another replied, reminding them that they themselves were also in danger.
Barry slowly got up, rubbing his shoulder that mitigated his fall damage. ‘Time for another shit fest that I didn't ask for.’ He was not enjoying his day so far.
He saw 3 men, 1 woman, and 1 teenage boy, sprinting their way leading a group of zombies to him. There were a ton of health bars he was seeing, which made him decide a very easy choice. Leave.
Looking at the map, he had a couple more blocks left to head to his destination. But honestly, at this point, he felt it was a hassle just making his way to it, with everything that's happened so far to him.
Yet, since he had nothing better to do besides looking for that doctor, he still planned on going because it was close by if he just kept moving.
‘I'll fly past them and keep heading down. In fact…’ He invested 5 of his available stat points that he was reserving into his agility. ‘...there, I should have an easier time.’.
Just when he was about to move, he heard what seemed to be a short whistle but sharp. He then heard the cry of a woman in pain. Another whistle was heard and then it was a man who shouted in pain. The two sounds were from the people who were trying to flee.
Barry looked ahead and noticed that there was a new type of enemy. It was a skeletal undead with sharp bones protruding out of it's body. One of it's arms held a bone shield while the other was in the form of a narrow cannon. There were two of them and they were firing spears of bones that could pierce through car doors.
The rest of the group halted, unsure of whether to help or not. The teenager made his decision to go back and help the two adults who were limping. Another guy went to help but the last man shook his head and kept running.
Barry sighed and continued with his plan to flash past them. “Just ignore them and keep going. There's no reason for me to help.” He told himself, he didn't know them and he really didn't want to expend any more energy helping.
So he dashed as fast as he could, trying to conceal himself the best he could behind the cars around him.
More rounds were fired and the limping man was hit in the back, falling down. “Kyle!” The boy and woman shouted.
The teenager had reached the man and began supporting him on one side. The injured woman was still behind slowly following. Zombies were closing in on her eventually.
“Kat! We need to help her!” The injured man named Kyle said, grunting in pain.
“I've got her, just keep going you two!” One of the men from the group responded, rushing past to help. He bashed a couple of zombies that were around her before assisting.
“Just leave me and help Eric and Kyle. I'm only going to slow you guys down.” The woman said, holding one side of her injured leg.
“No, we can do this. Believe me!” The man tried encouraging her, despite how ugly things were looking.
The two undead skeletons kept firing at the group who had to stop and take cover. But the woman tripped from her injured leg causing the man who was helping her to also fall.
Rounds of spears flew past them as they ducked. They could do nothing but stay low for the moment while the zombies motioned towards them.
Barry was witnessing it all go down and all the while thinking ‘Don't do it. Don't do it.’ He wanted to go about his day, having had enough action.
And yet, something inside him burned, urging him to leap into the fray again. ‘No! Leave them!’ The feeling intensified. ‘No!’ His legs began to turn in the direction of the helpless. ‘I DON'T WANT TOO!’.
The man and woman hadn't realized but a few zombies were about to attack them as they laid low. One of the zombies lunged at them but was decapitated by a swing of Barry's sword.
He swiftly did the same to the other zombies near him and man handled one of the bodies by gripping its arms and sides with both hands. Using it as a meat shield for the bones pears. It's body was slowly becoming a porcupine.
The two strangers noticed the firing had stopped and saw Barry using a zombie for cover. “Who-” Kat, the brunette woman, tried to speak but was cut off.
“Why did you make me do this!?” Barry yelled at them like a madman. “I just fended off another swarm of zombies for some other people, got chased by fucking crows, jumped out of a fucking building and now look where I am again! In more deep shit trouble! A damn party I never asked for!! He was so pissed.
The two people were unsure of how to respond. They just looked at him and the zombie who was already over qualified to be considered a porcupine.
Barry clenched his teeth for a moment, he was so mad at himself for stepping in mostly but also that the people weren't leaving already. “That means, GET FUCKING MOVING!” His voice boomed.
The two got back up and scurried on out of there. But then the woman looked back once and replied back. “Thank you crazy guy!” And the two continued leaving.
Barry could understand sounding crazy, what he couldn't understand was why his body had killed itself to help.
A shot flew and grazed one of his legs. He winced, it wasn't bad but it did agitate him. He was ready to vent out his frustration at the bastards before him.
Peeking around the porcupine he was holding, he spotted the two new enemies and took a charging stance. “How many can I stick on this body to make a shish kebab?” He wondered and started storming ahead towards the two bone heads.
He rammed into crowds of zombies like a spartan before eventually reaching the skeletons and ramming one to the side with his make-shift shield.
Barry let go and counted the number of bodies that stuck on his kebab. He frowned “Just 5 huh? The spikes weren't long enough I guess.” He had thought he would have stuck on more.
The second skeleton tried firing at Barry but since he was close to it and had good enough agility, he was able to close in the gap between them before it had a chance to fire.
Barry struck at it's cannon arm with his sword but only managed to nick the bone. ‘Shoot, figured a sword wasn't going to do much against these guys.’ He would need a blunt weapon of some kind, or something to pierce through bone.
The first skeleton he had knocked over, had a bone spear protruding out of it's cannon and tried to take a stab at Barry but dodged it by bouncing off the second skeleton's shield. This caused the spear attack to stab through the shield and remain stuck.
‘Perfect!’ He landed on the lance that was stuck in the shield and repeatedly started kicking at the second skeleton's hand that was holding the shield. It tried to stop Barry with it's own lance but he managed to grasp it. ‘Almost got it…’ He could hear the bone hand cracking, also it's HP was taking small ticks of damage from his kicks.
His stamina was nearing 25% but he eventually managed to break it's hand and take the shield. Ripping it off the spear as well.
The second one was shieldless but yanked away it's spear away from Barry and tried stabbing him but he evaded the attack. He then followed it up with a shield bash, knocking it to the ground.
The other one took it's chance to attack him, actually managing to stab him at the side of his shoulder. It hurt but only fueled his rage.
He turned to feint an attack, causing it to raise it's shield, but Barry placed a hand on it, slamming it to the ground and vaulting over. Raising both legs, targeting it's head and releasing the full force of two kicks, cracking it's skull. It stumbled back but Barry pressed the attack, continuously pounding it's skull with his shield.
The other skeleton tried to sneak a stab at Barry but he was expecting it and guided the lance, driving it into the first skeleton's skull, defeating it.
He was getting exhausted and had to wrap it up. He swept his final foe off it's feet with his shield and pinned it to the ground.
Raising his shield high, he used the edges of the shield to strike at it's neck, cracking it little by little until he decided to ditch the shield and start pulling on it's skull.
“I'm. Sick. Of. All. This. BULLSHIT!” He yelled, yanking the skull off, along with its spine, raising it into the air. He was really going through the motions, Barry was exhausted.
He wanted to rest but the sounds of zombie moaning in the background got him back on his feet. He looted the bodies of the fallen and got back to moving to find some shelter he could find. There was a clothing store that he entered through a shattered window and went inside the employees break room, locking the door.
Barry saw a couch and laid on it without hesitation, he was slumpt. ‘So tired…need rest…” He felt like he had done 10 or so marathons in a row. He would describe his day as a bunch of pointless rescuing which was a waste of time and energy.
There was a fridge and pantry nearby. He wondered if there was any food inside and got up to check. Scoping about, he realized that the power was out and so almost everything in the fridge was spoiled. The pantry on the other hand, still had some snacks in it to consume for stamina. He used up one of his health potions and consumed some snacks to recover almost all of his health and stamina. He would take a kickback to recover the rest.
Suddenly, the TV in the break room came on strangely. There was no electricity in the building, so how could it turn on without any power source?
A smiley face emoji came on screen and Barry instantly figured out the reason why.
“Greetings contestants!” A cheerful male's voice said from the TV. “I've been enjoying the spectacular show you have all been putting out today. From the tragic display of self sacrifice, to the acts of heroism that made me cry. You have all gotten a taste of near death and survived up till now. Which is why, I believe everyone is ready to face the main event!”
The image on the TV changed like a PowerPoint, switching between images. “This event will require teamwork and I mean it! It'll be sorta like an Easter Egg hunt you humans call it. There are 4 objects that you must collect in order to complete this event. On your map, you will find 4 waypoints to these objects and you must destroy them all together. You all have 24 hours to complete this event. All who participate will gain a little something but the top 3 contributors will obtain an even bigger reward in ranking order. Simple enough right?”.
Barry knew there was some catch to this event and awaited to hear the rest.
“There is one very important thing I should mention…” The systems voice trailed off and almost on queue, the floor started to tremble causing Barry to fall to his knees.
It was a massive earthquake for a moment and then it stopped. “...someone else has come out to play with you all. Good luck contestants!” The TV exploded, shattering the screen.
Barry bolted out the room to look out from the store windows. What he saw made his spine tingle a bit from shock.
There in the distance down the street a massive crater was formed. A hill of moving corpses shifted down the road with a throne of skulls and bones.
Sitting on the throne was what appeared to be an undead king clad in armor and wielding a halberd pointing it in the direction it commanded it's hill and legion of undead to go. And above it's head where it's HP bar would be was red with a skull and bones crossing.
“Oh hell no…”