"Got everything?" Daz asked his new companions, to which they all nodded hesitantly. It left a sour taste in Ger and Ellie's mouths stealing all of Lyle's merchandise like this. However, Daz had convinced them by saying that if they, who had a purpose in taking them, didn't do so, then surely someone who didn't need them, would come along to steal them eventually, which convinced the two.
Sarah was hesitant because of the weight of her backpack that she used for college being very heavy now thanks to the jewellery stuffed in it. She was fit, but she was no athlete, and her class didn't give her any physical buffs, but she was trying her best to make it look like she wasn't struggling, which Daz could admire.
"Alright then. Let's go. We're not gonna take any breaks along the way to my base, no time, but feel free to ask any questions while we walk back," Daz said in a good mood before he walked out of the store.
He was quite happy that he had found the group of four, because now Daz had managed to obtain all of the jewelled accessories instead of just the ones he could personally carry like he had expected, which obviously pleased him.
Rimmy quickly followed after Daz while carrying Lyle, and following him were the three conscious survivors, all of whom stopped moving immediately.
"W-What happened here? T-This is horrible!" Sarah exclaimed.
The only difference between her and Ellie was that Ellie wore round, metal-rimmed glasses while she didn't, so Daz had no trouble identifying her from her twin. Her shock was at the corpses of the Goblins and Slimes and also the countless bodies that were making not only her, but Ger and Sarah feel sick as well. The city was a ruin, and apparently, it wasn't one when they had bunkered down in the 'Smile like Lyle' store.
"The apocalypse did. Now keep moving, I said I'd answer any questions while we walked," Daz replied impatiently before he began quickly walking back in the direction he had originally come from.
The small family were taken aback for a moment before they came to their sense and tried their best to ignore the ghastly sights before them, as difficult as that actually was.
"Daz... how are you so strong?" came a curious voice from his left. He turned his head to see the interested face of Sarah staring right at him. She had quite a beautiful face, identical to her sister's, although, it was covered in sweat from the exertion required to carry the heavy jewellery.
"What do you mean?" Daz replied. He wasn't quite sure how specific her question was meant to be or if it was just a question regarding his overall strength.
"Well, you killed those monsters outside of the store and that roc-... Rimmy, follows your orders, so I'm just wondering, how did you do that?" Sarah explained in a casual manner.
Daz was taken by surprise at how different she was now that she was no longer the blubbering mess she was back at Lyle's store. Perhaps Sarah was curious by nature?
"I was attacked by just over two hundred Zombies for my first attack," Daz said which shocked Sarah, Ger and Ellie. They could all think only one thing,
'I'd be dead if I was in that situation!'. "I managed to kill them all somehow, God knows how, but I did, and that gave me a lot of merit points, which I used to buy my strength, Simple, right?" Daz finished.
"Y-Yeah, simple..." was Sarah's vacant response.
She was currently thinking about how difficult it must have been to fight so many monsters alone. Maybe that was why Daz seemed so... odd? Talking to a moving rock that didn't talk back was certainly a cause for concern as far as the family felt. Sarah left Daz's side and returned to Ellie's.
The group remained silent for most of the duration of the journey back to Daz's base, but just as they were about five minutes away, Ger approached Daz.
"Daz, I was trying to talk to the system you mentioned, I got it to redisplay my 'merit sheet'. would you like me to tell you what it said?" This statement of Ger's surprised Daz. Truly, quite an intuitive man. Daz's opinion of the trigger-happy guard had been elevated thanks to this.
Stolen novel; please report.
"Sure thing," Daz responded, but chose to try to inspect Ger's merit sheet himself first, just in case he could, and if he were able to, he would trust his own eyes above the man's word. '
Higher Identification, Ger's merit sheet,' Daz thought, and to his joy, the sheet appeared before his eyes while Ger was explaining what it said.
Congratulations on completing day 1 Day 1 Stats Enemies type: Goblins Number of Enemies Total: 40 Number of Enemies Slain By The Host: 4 Number of Attacked Survivors: 1 Your Contribution: 10% Your Performed Merits: Merit Description Merit point Value Monster Killer Successfully killed 1 monster 10 Escape Artist Successfully escaped the pursuit of your monsters for more than 12 hours 3,000 Leader's Will Displayed a level of willpower that exceeds that of average humans 2,000 Total Merits 3 Remaining Survivors 2,341,980,647 Total Points Gained 5,010
"Huh? Only one attacked human?" Daz said in confusion after Ger had finished explaining.
"Well, I was going back home when the apocalypse first happened, so I was by myself. I ignored the warning at first, but two hours later, just before I reached my home, monsters appeared around me, Goblins. I quickly shot and killed four of the 'Goblins' before I realised there were monsters everywhere attacking everyone around me. So I ran home as soon as I could and found my daughters unharmed, but roughly thirty blobs of what looked like jelly-" Ger said before being cut off.
"Slimes," Daz interrupted.
"What? Oh, right, thirty Slimes were destroying my house, so we escaped and fled to Lyle's home. A large manor near the outskirts, but when we got there, the house was being destroyed by about forty more Goblins, so we were just about to leave before we spotted Lyle hiding in a bush. We then decided that the vault to Lyle's shop would be the safest place to hide in while we waited for rescue, so we didn't all start together. Does that answer your question?" Ger explained in detail.
"Yeah, I guess it does. It must have been rough. You're exhausted, I can tell, so when we get back to my base, feel free just to fall asleep or something, I'll kill all of your enemies. We can discuss toughening you guys up afterwards," Daz said with a genuine smile. He felt some pity for the poor man whose life, literally got flipped upside down. Last he checked, Ger had less than one-hundred stamina which mustn't have felt right.
"Sure thing, Daz, and thank you. Thank you for everything. I can't apologise for shooting you enough. You've saved me and my family, really, thank you so much," Ger said with as much honesty as he could. He truly was very appreciative of the man who was younger than half of his own age.
"S-Stop it. I only want you for your ability to carry the gems and to test your skills, sheesh," Daz replied in embarrassment. It always felt good to be thanked so sincerely, and Daz was no exception when it came to this. It was nice to be appreciated.
A few minutes later, the group had finally returned to the recycling centre. "Home sweet home," Daz mumbled upon seeing the familiar, shoddy iron-barred gate.