"Red Empress, what's the plan!"

Alice shouted as they could hear these creatures banging on the Doors, slowly but surely destroying them one by one in order to reach them.

"There's only one way to survive, you have to use the P30 injector"

The Red Empress said, they had taken with them some of them from before, but the Empress hadn't told them why they were taking them, now it was revealed that it was a last resort. The problem was that they had left them all with Chris, whom was standing there like an idiot, doing nothing, as if completely brain dead.

The moment the doors to the room opened, Chris seemed to react, as if by reflex he looked towards the open doors, but did nothing as the two cautiously entered the room, looking at him with a hint of regret.

"What's next?"

Alice asked, but for some reason she didn't like the response.

"You have to plunge one of the Injectors into Chris' chest, then I will control the body to destroy the intruders"

The Empress explained, but it sounded rather untrustworthy, it wouldn't be out of the question for the Empress to just take Chris' body and escaped by herself. After all her objective was Chris' survival, not to help them save the world or something, she wasn't the Red Queen, that wanted to just protect life, by containing the virus outbreak.

"What are you waiting for, inject him with the P-30 drug, otherwise you will all die"

The Empress almost shouted in despair, this was either her best acting voice or she was really counting on this as a last resort, with no backup plans in view.

Alice and Rain looked at the weird chemical and understood one thing, they had no clue on how to even put this thing on him or themselves. It was surgicaly inserted into the Lickers and they had to plunge it out of their decomposing corpses, they however lacked a medic, since Olga had gone her own way days ago.

It was Rain that had the idea of just sticking the thing into the monster, in hopes that it would work, sticking the needles randomly into his body, until one of them found his undead heart. The Red liquid of the P30 injector, begun to flow into his body and momentarily he begun to awaken. He felt as if he was waking up from a nightmare, not knowing that he was living it, he looked at his deformed hands, long claws taking the place of fingers, he tried to speak, but he felt his neck was clogged, he couldn't tell, but he now had more than one tongue, if you could call those abominable tendrils tongues.

"He woke up, this is a variable I hadn't planned for"

The Red Empress stated as she couldn't control his body, something in the drug caused his dead brain cells to be stimulated, maybe it wouldn't be for long, maybe it would only last for an hour or so, but they didn't have an hour.

"Chris! I know you can hear me! If you can survive for 5 hours, you will return to your prior human self! Now Concentrate! the enemy has breached the corridor!"

The Red Empress shouted as she didn't know what to do, this was her last card and it had failed. If she could control his body, she would have easily taken him out of the facility.

Chris looked at Alice and Rain, he was still confused, until the Licker appeared in the distance, something inside of him snapped. As if memories of his first encounters with the Lickers played in his mind, he charged at the monster and ripped its hands out as if they were made of cheap plastic, Stabbing it with them into the wall.

"Why is there a Tyrant in the facility?"

Somewhere far away a man in a labcoat asked the Red Queen, whom was surrounded by 7 other A.I.

"There is no records of any Tyrant being developed there"

The Red Queen answered stating the obvious paradoxality of the situation.

"You know that we dug you out of the ground in order to find out how you hacked our organization and all we found out is a missing REmp.data and tons of Errors"

The professor complained as they lost the signal again, due to the Red Empress hacking their cameras, all they had were a few bad photos of what seemed to be a tyrant.

Back at the facility, Rain and Alice followed the road of carnage that Chris left behind him as he went completely berserk, lost in his battles and struggles, unable to tell whether he was doing something wrong. Now all he wanted was to kill the monsters, to feel himself as a human, fighting for something beyond his own understanding.

They at last reached the Entrance of the facility, Chris was surrounded by Zombies, or rather he charged into their midst and begun killing them as if they were wheat to be cut with his razor claws. Before he knew it, his hour had passed, he begun to feel dizzy, there was blood on his hands, he screamed and a violent Shriek echoed into the winds as if calling for the hordes of zombies to attack him.

"I'm Still Human!"

He told himself in his mind as his conciousness faded away and his body was taken away by the umbrella personel. This was what the Red Empress had predicted would happen, this was her plan all along, to ensure his safety for the next 4 hours.

Alice and Rain escaped in the chaos, as their slim figures blended into the night, causing no small number of disatisfied shareholders. Whom sat there listening to the Professor's reports as to why he released the Virus upon the world. Inwardly some of them wanted to call him crazy, but right now, they knew full well that their own lives were on the line, it was time for morality to take a hike.

=Mission Success!=

Was the message that the people hidden inside the vault of the A.I. were seeing as they slowly found that their surroundings turned into dust, as if everything had been fake.

Those that lost their people who were dear to them during the mission, like Xiao, whose friend died, was the first to recover. She looked around only to find everyone there, some lying on the ground others stood, there were 8 people out of the original 11.

Jonas, whom was on a wheelchair before fell on his bum as this happened, but he was fully healed alas still in hospital clothing, dressed as a patient, the system didn't seem to care much about clothes. Hera and Chris were also naked, one sitting and cackling and the other seemingly asleep. The most however shocking discovery was Chrysa, because she was alive, alas they had no idea where she had disappeared during the mission, since they were told she died from drug overdose.

Nick stood up, in his biker outfit, he looked into the air and then went to the people still sleeping and gave everyone a kick, one after another.

The moment they woke up the system begun to work and calculated for them how many points they had earned, creating a High score list for everyone involved in the mission.

Chris took with a huge margin the first place, with 7000points, while second place was Nick with 4880points, the rest scored all scored around 2000+ or less, it was mostly because they did nothing and most of their time were protected by the NPCs.

"Wake up everyone, congratulations on losing your virginity!"

Nick announced trioumphantly, causing everyone whom was still in a daze to look at him.

"Now that you've all experienced a mission, how many of you want to become strong and how many wish to just survive the next mission?"

The only one confused by the question was Chris, whom was still shocked after finding himself being human and absolutely healthy, alas naked.

"Once you decide I will explain to you how the system store works, unfortunately I don't earn any points for doing so, but..."

Nick begun to talk as unsatiently, as if someone pushed the start button and forgot a radio on.

The other people were all still confused as they looked at the score board floating in midair at the center of the room, as if held up by magic.

"...don't worry, normaly missions only have 3 objectives, unless you derail the plot, this time it was crazy..."

Nick continued, acting as if they were all the best of buddies, while the others just started awakening from their stupor and regroup into camps.

George was the leader behind whom the Jason and Jonas now stood, they supported him as the new leader, especialy after he came with the NPCs to save them. Truth be told it was easier for them to do all the physical labor the mission needed, if they had guns, maybe they would be even more useful or so they believed after surviving their first mission.

The women for one reason or another gathered towards Nick, hoping to just survive long enough to return to the real world as Nick had promised would happen eventualy.

Chris was the only one who had no affiliation and wasn't close with any of them, he silently looked at the two groups, hoping for someone to give him something to cover himself with, but the others were more interested in what Nick had to say.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Four survivors and four mission doers, this is better than I expected, once you put your hand on the score tablet the store will open, but before you go all in and do that, let me finish explaining"

Nick said and everyone looked at him attentively as if seeing a teacher, nobody looked at him as a kidnapper or with distrust, because everyone wanted to survive.

-Could I have some clothes?

-Please wait for me to finish, I'm sure that after I finish you will be 100% sure that you made the right choice

Nick told Chris and then turned to the two groups, the survivors and the Heroes.

"I really hoped that you George would have understood how dangerous being a mission doer is, but it's alright, as long as we don't derail the plot you'll at least survive for a few more missions, maybe we'll get another movie geek in the next batch"

Nick said, somewhat jokingly, but one could feel a hint of regret in his voice.

-What about the people who helped us?

-You're called Chris right?

-Yes...

-If you mean the NPCs, then who knows, who cares, maybe we'll return to that same movie at some point in our life when we're old and the system runs out of movies to torture us with

-NPCs?

-Well we have 16 hours for you to understand, since you were away most of the time, while the others already know about the ins and outs, you messed things good

-Me, mess?

-Don't bother apologizing, I know it wasn't your fault, it just happened that you fell in love with an NPC, oh sorry, I believe you fucked all three of them

Everyone else who didn't know looked at him as if he was their enemy or something, the situation had turned from the amiable teacher giving a lecture to a public shaming.

"Now hear me out well, I'll only tell it once, once you open the store there will be 4 categories to chose from, Equipment, Consumables, Evolutions and Knowledge"

Everyone opened their ears, since it sounded like something that could be useful to their very survival.

"Equipment contains clothes, armor, weapons and vehicles, the more high tech or magic something is the more it costs, I advise all of you to buy some simple clothes from the system, but don't overdo it, you can only keep one outfit, anything you cannot wear will disappear in 8 hours, all you get for buying them is a 50% discount for the next time you buy the same item, 100-200points for clothings are points well spent, select clothes that allow for movement and cover most of your body, that might help in case of acid or fire in the future"

Everyone agreed and Nick gave them time to browse through the clothing session while he just recovered his biker helmet and gun for half their price.

Chris was shocked as he looked at his own points, the score board said he had earned 7000points, but in reality he had 10800 due to him having become a tyrant during the last round. He didn't know why he had so many points, but he wouldn't complain for the extra points. Only Nick knew that the person would be given 10% of the points back from any in-mission mutation or evolution, meaning that the Tyrant mutation would cost him around 38000points if he really wanted to become that sort of monster.

Clothing was real cheap even the designer brands didn't cost more than 10points, anything more than 10 were military gear or knight armor, even the biker helmet cost 12points to get. Chris went for a retro turtleneck matrix style coat look, he pondered a lot whether to buy sunglasses to go with it, but finaly gave up on the idea, spending around 120 points in total for 12 articles of clothing, gloves included.

"The second category is consumables, here you will find food, ammo, bombs and trinkets, I advise you to not spend more than 20points, but for your first meal you can chose up to 100p of food that is your favourite, don't go around trying delicacies, you'll just be wasting points, while your favourite food you will eat again and again, thus a 50% reduction on it is a must have for everyone"

This was when the feast begun, as everyone begun to order their favourite food, varying from person to person, while Nick only got some military ratios and water, conserving his points for smoke and ammo, he just couldn't not smoke.

Chris just copied his actions, not understanding the deeper meaning of his words, what he really said was eat well, because this meal might be your last. Chris wasn't the only one however to copy his actions, George and the other guys too copied him at first, only to later be swayed to buy something more sating to eat than a can of beef n' veggies and some dry biscuits.

Chris however was different, he spend only 3 points on food, like Nick had, not really knowing why however, probably thought points were too precious to waste on food.

"The third category is called Evolutions, this is where 80% of your points will be going to, you can lose a weapon, but you can't lose your head without dying, evolutions can be cheap and expensive, we call any evolution of bellow 10.000points a cheap evolution, for example the basic T-Virus zombie evolution costs only 8000points and it will turn you into an intelligent zombie, you'll be harder to kill, but really slow and rigid, for this category I will tutor you one by one on what to buy"

Nick offered and went on from one to another helping them buy the best possible enchancements. They didn't even doubt that he did his best to help them, after all he told them already he would do anything to survive and they were his tools to survive.

Once he reached Chris, Nick was a bit shocked because he had over 10000points, truthfully he was a bit envious of him, but he then amicably smiled and begun to offer him options on how to use his points, He could use all but 500points, that was the price of a pistol and ammo. Which was the what he was the basic thing every one of them needed to have as a beginner.

The evolutions might sound like something out of a fairytale, but reality was that anything below 10000points was trash with more disadvantages than advantages and those evolutions of 10000points he could chose from were far inferior than just spending 100 points to raise his stats.

"What about the Knowledge category?"

Chris asked him and Nick was once more annoyed by the same question, he had already heard 6 times from the others as well.

"Fuck Knowledge, they are a bunch of books about how to do stuff, unless you want some novel to read, just forget the category even exists"

Chris was of course determined to visit it later to see what's inside, but for now they had just finished, his new stats looked like this...

124 Intelligence

181 Mental capacity

200 Cell Vitality

161 Reaction Speed

099 Muscle Density

168 Immunization Strength

The only thing that changed was Cell Vitality as Nick explained how important it was for survival. It didn't just make you look handsomer and more youthful than before it added to your survivability, a regular person has around 100-200 cell vitality, 200 being only when he's born and it will deteriorate as you grow, his prior 98 Cell vitality was around the normal average for an above 30 years old adult.

"Now most of you have added Cell Vitality as I asked, when it's time for the next mission to begin, we will do some strength training, you will experience some rapid boost in all your stats, but it will only last for the mission, so don't be surprised if you suddenly found yourself bulging with muscles after training"

Nick told Chris whom had added the most points in the stat, more than maybe even himself, but Cell Vitality was the best stat for beginners, it was proven over time and everyone was shocked of how they now all looked younger and more beautiful.

Now when the women looked at Chris, they blushed for a moment, before remembering how he used to look and then returned to normal as if waking from a nightmare.

"What's the Follower Category?"

Chris asked, because the store had a 5th category, which Nick hadn't even mentioned.

-Wait you have unlocked the follower category, why didn't you ask me about it sooner!

-Why, what is it?

-Which characters do you have available?

Chris entered and there were 4 characters available in the form of cards with stars, Alice being a 3 star character, while Rain, Olga and J.D only being worth one star.

When Nick found about him having Alice available as a follower he went crazy, swearing loudly as if he had done the greatest blunder of all times.

"Everyone Else, did any of you also have the followers category unlocked?"

Nick asked the others, but was met with blank questionable gazes, they didn't have the category at all.

-Let me explain, after completing a mission, you have a small chance to unlock the followers category, if I knew you had Alice as an Option, I wouldn't even care about it, since she's worth at least 10000points to buy anyways

-It's 27 thousands to buy

-Then at least I didn't blunder too much, but still you could have gotten 3 fully equiped and battle hardened followers for those points

-How do cards even work?

-Since it's now in the past if you survive the next mission, I'll explain everything

-You do remember we have 16 hours?

-Alright, you got me

"Listen up everyone, this has to do with another function of this space, called Inventory, once you call Inventory, you will see a floating window in front of you, like mine right now"

Everyone was excited to see the window, but then they were shocked, because his inventory had a house inside it, tons of food ingredients and even a bike.

"What do you want, I've been in this game for much longer than you guys and the bike would be useless in the underground mission anyways"

Nick stated as if trying to explain himself.

"But couldn't you have used it during the mission?"

George asked, before Nick could explain more, only for his question to be explained not long after.

"You can only use the Inventory in this space, once the mission begins, you lose this function and anything you're not holding onto, this allows you to chose which items to take for the mission, the house is worth 1200 points and you will all eventualy buy one, because it's cheaper than just buying a bed and I didn't use them to persuade you that we're in this death game with them, because it wouldn't work"

Next thing he clicked on the house, suddenly a small path lit up out of the darkness leading to a small house. Truthfully speaking if they hadn't seen him click on it, they wouldn't have even known it was his house.

"The ladies can come sleep inside, don't say I'm not a gentleman, the rest can sleep on the floor, you can't die until 8 hours pass, you can even try shooting yourselves if you don't believe me, no let me show you"

Nick took off his helmet and pointed with his gun at his temple before shooting a bullet, it passed right through him as if he was a ghost.

"Don't try it after the 8 hours rest time, because you will die"

Nick said and then went towards his house with Hera and Chrysa accompanying him, only Xiao stayed behind to accompany George and that only until the mission begins again.

"Didn't know you added 10 points in cuteness"

George joked as they sat down together.