Sam slept until early morning the next day. He stood up took his clothes off and went in the shower.

' No running water...so it wasn't a nightmare.' Sam thought and took out a clean set of clothes from his drawer.

"So our world really changed. I still can't believe that life is a game from now on. I need to get stronger and find some trustworthy companions. Most likely it will be easier to find food and water than one or two people I can trust. In times like these everyone thinks of themselves first. 99% of the people will sacrifice others for their own lives." Sam concluded after thinking about the first day and his encounter with the Cornwell's.

" Right now I'm alone so I need to become stronger! I have to level up and get my hands on some equipment and skills!" Sam said with resolution.

He sat down and planned his next steps while eating some hard white bread with honey.

" I have to search and clear this whole building and while I'm at it I will kill every zombie in here. Hopefully I can level up one or two times and find some useful items."

Sam took his shield and club then walked on the corridor. He decided to check the fifth floor first. He slowly opened the door to the staircase. It was silent.

'Seems safe. I should head upstairs.' Sam climbed up. He opened the door to the fifth floor crouched and looked inside the corridor. One zombie stood in the hallway and looked at Sam after hearing the door opening.

Sam took two steps forward and held his shield in a defensive position in front of his body.

After the zombie encounters in the last days Sam was quite calm when facing a single zombie in an open space like this hallway.

The corpse of a slim built woman stumbled towards him. When she in reach Sam took the initiative to swing his club at the zombies head. With a cracking sound the zombies skull shattered and it fell to the ground.

After this fight Sam observed the corridor. It was just a few stairs up from his apartment but Sam had never been on the fifth floor before.

He saw three doors in the straight corridor.

'These apartments must be quite a lot bigger than the others in this building.' Sam thought and went over to the first door.

He listened at the door and heard some faint noises. He tried to open the door. It was unlocked so he looked inside.

The spacious living room was empty but he could hear sounds from the room on the left.

' I need to clear the room on the left first. Maybe it's a survivor?' Sam thought and sneaked to the left.

He peeked inside the room. His hope of finding someone alive was shattered when he saw the bloody scene in the room.

Inside stood a bed and a zombie stood next to it.

The head end of the bed was covered in dry dark red blood.

The zombie faced the other direction so Sam decided to kill it as fast as possible from behind.

He started to run as quietly as he could. When the distance was about two meter the zombie turned around but Sam had already lightly jumped and was smashing his club from overhead. With a perfect hit and the sound of bones shattering the zombie sank down.

'Level up!'

'Congratulations Sam Williams for rising to Level 2!!! You can distribute one stat point now'

'For safety measures I put another stat point into defense.'

'Stat point allocated'

"Yes! With this my combat abilities rise again." Sam said happily but afterwards he didn't forget to check the remaining rooms in this apartment.

After he was sure it was safe Sam returned to the bedroom.

He hat a theory now he could gather some new hints.

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He looked at the corpse on the ground.

'When he was still living this guy must have been around 20 something years old. I have to check for bitemarks."

Sam wanted to know if the guy was bitten because he could clearly tell that he must have killed himself. He had a big bloody cut across his throat and the bloody knife lay on the bed. That's why half of the bed was covered in blood.

" I cannot find any bitemarks. So that means every human turns into a zombie after he dies. At this moment it doesn't matter if bitten or not." that's what Sam needed the most apart from skills and weapons. Information!

He had to gather as much as he could. About this new world, items, skills, quests and monsters.

Sam left the bedroom and searched the rest of the rooms. He found a bottle of water and a can of pineapples so he decided to take a break before continuing.

After an hour Sam left for the next apartment. He noticed sounds but wasn't as afraid as before. He opened the door and saw two zombies with their backs in his direction. One of them was sitting on the ground while the other was standing behind him gnawing on his shoulder.

The one standing turned around first and walked in Sam's direction.

Sam let the zombie continue until he was one meter away and smashed his head before he could even touch Sam's shield.

'One left' Sam was relatively calm...until the other zombie stood up.

This one was about two meter tall and muscular like a bodybuilder but Sam had his eyes on the zombies hands. He was wearing gloves!

Not some boxing or martial arts gloves. The ones the zombie was wearing were made of dark brown leather with small metal plates at the back of the hands and at the fingers.

'This must be some equipment! Maybe medium armor? Doesn't matter I need to kill this zombie anyways. But let me check these gloves stats first.' Sam decided and focused on the gloves.

(Medium Armor Gloves ->Defense +2)

(Male Zombie Level 3)

!!!

'So I can get some information from the monsters too when I focus on them!' Sam smiled.

He got another good piece of information.

The bodybuilder zombie walked in Sam's direction.

' He seems slow but it will be difficult for me to get a clean hit. I have to get behind him and end this before he turns around.'

Sam put his shield to the side. He needed to be as quick as possible for his plan.

He waited for the zombie a moment before they collided Sam awkwardly rolled on the ground to evade the attack. Sam stood up as quick as possible and clenched his club as hard as he could swinging it at the back of his opponents head.

Bam!

Sam felt a huge impact in his arm but it wasn't enough to kill the level 3 zombie.

In the next moment Sam swung his club again while the zombie turned around swinging its massive arm.

The impacts happened at the same time and the sound of bones breaking filled the room but Sam didn't know if it were his or the zombies bones. The zombies arm had hit Sam right in the shoulder and flung him three meter away through the flat screen TV. He had problems breathing and felt himself lose consciousness.

'Am I dying?' Sam pondered

In the last second before he lost consciousness he caught a glimpse of a red window.

He didn't know how long he had slept but when Sam woke up it was still daylight outside.

He saw the red screen but it wasn't a 'level up' notice it was something else.

'Congratulations Sam Williams! For defeating an equipped monster one level higher than yourself you are awarded with two stat points.'

'Nice! Ok, I put one point into stamina and one into attack. The monsters are going to get stronger with us so I shouldn't focus too much on defense.'

'Stat points allocated'

Sam slowly stood up. His right shoulder hurt quite much after the hit from the zombie but probably because of his defense stats it was not too serious.

He walked at the zombies side to look at the gloves. There were blood and other fluids, which Sam couldn't identify on the gloves.

Sam was reluctant to wear these gloves but he may get the chance to clean them so he took them off the zombies hands.

After the gloves completely left the hands of the zombie Sam looked at them again and they were clean. They actually looked like a brand new pair of gloves.

"Wow this system is awesome. I don't have to worry about infections when picking up dropped equipment." Sam concluded and wore his new pair of leather gloves. " I have about one hour left until the sun sets, let's check the last apartment and return home" Sam spoke to himself.

The last apartment was locked and no one responded to Sam's shouts.

He took his spoils and headed in the staircases direction.

After a few steps Sam froze. He thought about something and headed back in the first apartment. He checked the bedroom with the corpse again. He found the knife on the bed. It looked plain,with a wooden handle and a crude made blade.

"That's not something someone would own in today's time." Sam tried to lift the knife but it felt like it weigh 30kg and he could just barely lift it.

(Beginner Knife -> Attack +1)

"Ok,just as i thought." Sam stood up and went in the second apartment.

He searched the corpses and near them. He couldn't find anything so he checked all of the rooms again.

"I found no weapons,that means...either they started somewhere else and left their weapons or...they might be spawned from god? That would mean there are a lot less 'player' than I expected." Sam pondered.

He casually looked out the window.

" It's getting dark, I should head back down."

Sam took his spoils from the corridor floor and returned back to his own apartment.

On the way back he thought about the day.

' New equipment and stat points as well as a few things to eat are quite the spoils. Also the fifth floor is clean now as well. I should check the other floors tomorrow, after that I will surely level up again.'