Antoinette woke up and saw that her Health returned to 12. She got dressed and loaded the Colt. She filled her pockets with extra ammo and stuffed the barrel of the revolver down the front of her shorts. Lastly she picked up the aluminum bat and headed out of her small apartment to the next room. She checked the terminal screen for any update, but there was none. She was still level 1, but she was going to do something about that if it killed her.

She moved to the thick exit door and pressed her hand to the metal. Moments later it slid to the floor and she exited the room. She took the elevator to the ground floor, each second her resolve grew to make today’s venture outside the Safe House to be something that would improve her life. The elevator doors opened and she walked out. Smiling, she held the knob of the handle between two fingers and let the end of the barrel drag on the ground. In movies, she loved the foreshadowing that someone was going to get their ass beat it provided. There was no one around to see her foreshadowing but her, but that was enough.

The metal scraped over the concrete of the floor, creating a soft screeching sound. She smiled at the effect it was having on her. The screeching was hyping her up like Popeye eating spinach. By the time she got to the door she was going to be so hyped the world wouldn't be able to contain her. She was almost too concerned with the bat dragging across the floor that she didn't notice the small shop that had popped up.

Antoinette let the bat drop and ran to the small building. As she approached she could see the sides were made of brick, but the front was glass. She ran until she could see what was inside and her face lit up when she saw it was a clothing store. She made the connection to the coin she found, and the emblem printed on it. Above the entrance to the shop was a sign, it read:

Bella's Boutique

She pulled on the door and an alarm sounded.

You must be level 5 to access Bella's Boutique

She shook her head in disbelief and pulled on the door again. The result was the same, with the overhead voice's impartial tone informing her of her deficiencies once again.

"Fuck you." She breathed. Taking a step back she looked through the glass to see what might be inside the store. Her skin tingled as she gazed on items that looked they were right out of the 19th century. There were coats, dresses, shirts, hats, boots and lingerie. She wanted to go inside and try on some new clothes, but she was four levels away, which only fueled her anger. She walked back to retrieve the bat and returned to the revolving door. Let the zombie's be wary, death was coming.

The thought made her laugh because zombies were already dead. She wasn’t going to be able to use a catch phrase about death on the horizon, or similar motivational quotes. She was just going to have to beat undead ass until things opened up. First off, she needed a better weapon.

Antoinette exited the Safe House through the revolving doors with the bat in her hands. The handle was in one hand and she was tapping the barrel in the palm of her other hand. She scanned the area and saw the first target. Not too far away was a zombie shuffling away. She gripped the bat with both hands and started creeping forward. With each step she picked up speed and was quickly closing in on the target. Just feet before reaching the zombie she swung her arms back and planted her lead foot, swinging hard. The sound should have been that of metal striking rotting flesh, but it was more of a soft gong.

It didn't really matter what the sound was, the force of her swing dislodged the head form the body and both fell to the ground. Her screen showed 40/300 XP. She smiled at her success and scanned the area for another target. The area was pretty barren of zombies, but she spotted three more close by. She crept up on each one and several swings later all three were dunzo and her XP updated 70/300. After she disposed of the fourth zombie her skin started to tingle; making her reflexes sharper and her movements faster.

She stood waiting, and a zombie walked around the corner of the building. She raced over to engage the creature. Two swings later it was over and her XP was climbing nicely, 80/300. The voice from overhead announced

Enraged

That was more like it, she thought. Antoinette started jogging and in no time found more zombies in an alleyway. She used her heightened state to whack three more. The next alleyway had two more and she quickly ended their existence (XP 110/300). The overhead voice announced

Bloodlust

She checked the condition of her bat and noticed that her skin had a red outline to it that she attributed to Bloodlust. Her bat looked like it was in good order, which was a relief. Zombie fragments covered some of the barrel, but she cleaned the bat on the worn sweatshirt of one of the dead zombies at her feet. She wondered if there was something more than Bloodlust. Over the next several minutes, she dismissed twelve more zombies, but the overhead voice never spoke (XP 230/300).

She ran around her area of the city, making sure to keep to the sidewalks and alleyways, destroying every zombie she encountered (XP 280/300). When she was done, she stopped in the middle of the street and pulled out her Colt. She fired several shots in the air, hoping the noise would attract more. A minute passed and nothing happened, then another minute with the same result. She was going to have to venture into some buildings.

Antoinette spun in a slow circle, looking at the shop signs. One of the signs read:

Wally's Weapons

She laughed, kicking herself for not paying attention to her environment more. Of course she needed to stop and see if Wally was open for business. She rested her bat on her shoulder and walked to the shop. She pulled on the door and it opened; apparently Wally would like a new customer. When she stepped in the shop she was surprised to see a man behind the counter. He stood behind the safety of protective glass. She also noticed that the red glow outlining her skin vanished.

"Hello and welcome to Wally's Weapons. How can I help?" He said.

Wally appeared to be older than dirt. He stood no more than 5'6" tall and looked to weigh 100 lbs. His long gray hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The only thing memorable about Wally was his eyes. They were the blue of a morning sky and she had the feeling that somehow he was looking through her. He wore blue overalls with no shirt. His chest was sprinkled with gray hair poking out from behind the overalls.

"Hi Wally," she began. "I'm looking for a new weapon."

"Step over here and log in to the system." He said. Wally pointed at a computer screen with a connected hand scanner.

Antoinette walked and set her bat on the counter. She placed her hand on the scanner. Seconds later the screen lit up and she was given several choices: 'Buy, Sell or Modify'. She clicked on 'Sell' and images of her bat and pistol appeared. Next to each was a value - $0.

"You can't sell starter weapons." Wally informed her.

She gave him a dirty look and clicked 'Modify'. A message popped on the screen, "Insufficient level to modify weapons".

Fuck this, she thought coming in here was going to be a game changer, but it was just a kick in the ass about her sad state. Finally she clicked 'Buy' and two weapons appeared on screen. The first was a sniper rifle that looked like it was a single bolt type from the World Wars - $100. The other weapon was a single barrel shotgun - $250.

"Two hundred and fifty bucks for the shotgun?" She asked. "That seems like highway robbery."

"I have a way for you to make some money." Wally said.

"I think you have me confused on what type of girl I am." She answered. "You need to buy me a drink first."

Wally didn't appear impressed with her attempt at humor.

"Look at the board over there and you will find things I need done." He said. He pointed to a digital notice board on the far wall.

She walked over and read the board: "Current Quests". Under the heading were two listings:

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

- Clear the clinic - Eradicate the clinic from zombies. Reward: $150 and 300 XP

- Kill 20 level 2-3 zombies. Reward: $300 and 500 XP

Those both looked like a piece of cake. She was going to have her new shotgun in no time.

She grabbed her bat and left the shop, scanning her surroundings for a clue. She didn't have a map of the area, but when she looked down the street to her right, she could see something glowing in the distance. Either there was something radioactive in that direction or it was the clinic. She started walking in the direction of the glow and soon she knew she was heading in the right direction.

Once she reached the entrance to the clinic, she took time to make sure the pistol was loaded. Satisfied, she put it back down the front of her shorts and reached for the door. It was time to 'Clear the Clinic'.

This was going to be like a walk in the park, Antoinette thought. She had just dispensed with a number of zombies and barely worked up a sweat. She just needed to chain kills together and once bloodlust activated, she turned into an all-star zombie killer. She remembered how batters limbered up in the on deck circle and tried to mimic their actions. She knew that what she did had no impact on her swing, but it felt good. She pointed at an imaginary center field scoreboard, specifically from a story her father used to tell her about baseball; including the legendary Babe Ruth.

"It's time to pay the piper..." She whispered. She opened the glass door and walked in.

The inside looked like she expected it would. Chairs were overturned and files were spread haphazardly over the floor. She wasn't sure what zombies would want with files, but office buildings were always fucked up like that. It was if someone ransacked the place and then called the bad guys to come and populate the area to keep intruders away. In this case, zombies were the guardians of the non-information.

The receptionist desk was empty. Two sets of double doors led from the room, one to the left and the other to the right. She crept around to see behind the desk to make sure there wasn't a zombie worker hiding under the desk eating the brains of the receptionist; no one was home. She searched the desk drawers, but found nothing. There wasn't even a ball-point pen that she could disable a zombie with in true Jason Bourne fashion.

She walked to the double doors on the left and looked through the windows. She saw broken fluorescent light fixtures hanging from the ceiling at random intervals. Some of the lights were on, others flickered on and off, and others were dark. The hallway looked ominous and she got a bad feeling about it. Antoinette decided to try the other set of door and see if a similar scenario awaited her to the right.

When she looked through the windows she sucked in a breath and ducked back down. The right situation was similar, but there was movement in this hallway. Several zombies walked aimlessly while something waited at the end of the hallway. She wasn't sure what it was, but it had a softly glowing light red outline framing it. She thought about what the red color could mean. Did it mean that the creature was radioactive? No, games didn't outline radioactive baddies in red. Red meant trouble. Maybe it was a boss.

Could there really be a boss this early? She was going to have to find out if she was going to clear the clinic. She peeked through the window again and counted the aimless zombies. There were only four that she could see. That wasn't enough to enrage her, and even less for bloodlust. The best course of action would be to check out the other hallway and build up to the brute.

Antoinette stepped quickly to the other set of doors and again checked for movement through the door windows; nothing. She squeezed the grip of the bat tightly and pushed her hip into the door. It swung inward without making a sound. When there was enough room she slipped through. The flickering lights made it appear like there was movement, but no zombies wandered out of the exam rooms. She hugged the wall until she got to the first room, and peeked around the corner. No zombies. She searched the cabinets and drawers and found an EpiPen looking device with a red + on it. She put it in one of her pockets and moved to the next room.

Of the eight exam rooms in this hallway, none of the rooms were occupied. It was as if the boss called his gang over to run interference for someone stupid enough to come in and try to whack him. She did search the rooms for loot and20 found four more healing EpiPen devices and one with an E on it. All went in her pockets. She took her time walking back down the hall to the lobby. She didn't even bother to look through the windows of the doors. When she pushed open the swinging doors, she was surprised to see three zombies in the area.

A long second passed before anything moved but the doors closing, then everything happened at once. Luckily only one of the zombies was close to her, the other two about twenty feet away. She lunged at the one closest and hit it in the throat with the head of the bat. The creature stumbled backwards a step. She brought the bat around in a circle like she was chopping wood and brought it down on the crown of the zombie’s head (XP 290/300).

She didn't wait to see if it was going to get up and instead ran behind the desk. A zombie turned the corner and she kicked an overturned chair in it's path. The creature stumbled and she swung the bat in a looping arc hitting it in the neck. The zombie fell, and she slammed the barrel of the bat into it's skull. There was a splash of brain matter that hit her leg, but she pulled the bat free and turned to the last attacker.

This zombie ran at her from the other side of the desk and there was nothing for her to push in the way. She waited until it was almost on her and then rolled over the desk and landed on her feet. As she stood up she pulled the Colt from her waistband and pointed it at the zombie who was struggling to find the best way over the desk. She pulled the trigger twice in rapid succession, hitting the monster in the chest and the head. She remembered Jesse Eisenberg's advice from Zombieland, Rule #2: Double Tap. The zombie dropped to the floor (XP 300/300).

The feeling of electricity circled her body and she looked around to make sure she hadn't stepped on something weird. She didn't see anything but the creepy voice from above sounded:

Level Up

Before she could celebrate her achievement, the doors leading to the right hallway opened and zombies started flooding into the room. She ran to the opposite hallway and burst through the doors; she couldn't let herself get flanked by the enemy. As soon as she was on the other side, she turned and pushed the doors closed. There was a handle on each so she was able to slide her bat through to provide a bit of barrier from the rush of zombies.

They slammed into the doors and pushed until the bat caught and the doors wouldn't open anymore, although there was plenty of room for them to reach their arms through and try to grab her. She took her Colt and fired at close range at the monsters trying to break down the doors. They pushed, trying to bust through by sheer force, but her bat wasn't having any of it. It held fast and she dropped two zombies before her Colt clicked empty. Taking a few steps back she quickly reloaded the pistol and fired again at the remaining attackers (XP 20/600).

The situation reminded her of the trick to kill Drizzt in the old Baldur's Gate game. You could lure him to a small island and then use the screen's boundaries to trap him there while you plugged away with ranged weapons. It took a bit of time, but eventually you killed him. From there you walked casually around the lake to retrieve his magical armor and scimitars, Twinkle and Icingdeath. After that you practically had the game on cheat mode.

The smell of gunpowder tickled her nose and she sneezed. She looked but there were no more zombies trying to breach the barrier. Just to be sure, she waited while she reloaded her weapon. Finally she walked to the opening in the door and there was no movement.

She took a moment to wait for a menu dropdown to appear out of nowhere, but nothing happened. She felt stronger and noticed her Health improved to 18, but there had to be some other benefit of leveling up. Maybe she had to be back at her base to make adjustments. She turned back to situation at hand.

Adrenaline was pumping through her body, but she was pretty much unscathed. She turned her arms over to see if there were any injuries she missed, but didn't see any. The same went for her legs and body. Gore splatter from killing zombies sprinkled her appendages and clothing, but she was pretty sure that the clinic was almost free of the undead. Now she just had to go find the red guy and collect the bounty.

Antoinette wiped her hands on her shorts and verified the Colt was loaded. She laughed to herself, when realizing that she just reloaded it only minutes before, but uncertainty can make you do weird things. She put the barrel down her shorts and pulled the bat free of the door handles. Once the bat was removed, the doors swung open and zombie carcasses fell into the hallway. She stepped over the pile of fallen monsters and walked confidently to the other doorway. She peered into the window and the hallway was empty. She had killed over ten zombies, but there was no announcement of bloodlust. It took several seconds for her to realize that only close combat kills stacked. No kill using a weapon counted, fuck.

Taking a deep breath, she shrugged her shoulders and pushed the doors open with a hip. She wasn't too worried, how bad could this last guy be? The lights of the hallway flickered for the first two steps into the hallway and then all the lights went out. Panic rushed through her body as her vision fought to adjust to the limited light coming through the windows behind her. A second later a backup light at the far side of the hallway flickered on and she screamed. The red outlined zombie was running right at her. His bulk filled the hallway more than it should.

She pulled the pistol and saw that it put up it's arms to protect it's face and head. The echo of the gun firing in the hallway was deafening and a bit disorienting. When all the chambers were empty, she saw that if she hit it, none of the bullets did much to stop it's progress. She stood frozen and the large zombie slammed into her (Health 9/18). He continued to drive her through the doors to the lobby.

Pain flooded through her body and her vision wavered. She found it difficult to breathe. Once in the lobby, the creature lifted her up and threw her against the wall behind the desk like she was a rag doll. She slammed into the wall and parts of it broke away. Antoinette felt her body slide down the wall into a heap on the floor (Health 4/18). She saw the boss walking confidently towards her and she held up her gun hand to shoot, but her gun wasn't there. She must have dropped it when the monster slammed into her; or when she crashed into the wall.

Her body ached, but she still held the bat in her hand. She tried to stand but her legs felt like jelly. If she could barely stand, she didn't know how she was going to be able to defend against the oncoming zombie. This was how she was going to die, she knew it. She wondered if there was any type of do-over. Was she going to be able to try again, but this time be more careful? She managed to stand when the creature was only feet away. She raised the bat to attack as the zombie pulled it's fist back to throw a punch. She knew that it was only seconds until her face was crushed and the game ended. She tried to swing but her arms weren't doing what she wanted. She felt helpless and alone and a tear slid down her cheek. She closed her eyes and waited for death.