I woke up again, startled.

I thought I died. There was even a blue screen of death to confirm it. That was weird I didn’t known Microsoft had a contract with God or something. Okay, breathe.

Another blue screen appeared then in my vision.

RESTART ACTIVATED: reverted to 24 hours prior to the moment of death.

Oh, so that’s what had happened. I died and came back in time. Yep, that explained everything… No. I literally jumped for my phone and looked at the hour, three in the morning. Okay, that was good. It had been just a dream. Then I looked at the date, it was the day before.

…

Well, fuck

The blue screen blinked a few times and disappeared. I pinched myself in the arm to see if I was dreaming. It didn’t work. I slapped myself in the face. It didn’t work but it made me remember that I was a doctor. I ran myself through every diagnostic test that I could remember about seeing things that aren’t there. It also didn’t work but it calmed me a bit.

Okay, Adam, breathe. I was not crazy. I was a perfectly healthy and rational human being. I was just a perfectly healthy human being that for some reason has died, resurrected, traveled back in time 24 hours and now saw announcements screens like if this was some kind of game. I was sure there was nothing to worry about. In the worst of cases I would just make a new religion and take over the world

Nothing to worry about.

Wait, like a game? Will there be more information like a status scr…

The moment I thought about it the new screen appeared, floating just a bit closer that my arms could reach.

Name Adam Class None Race Human Level 1 Physical Attributes Mental Attributes STR: 21 INT: 64 DEX: 34 WIS: 86 VIT: 57 CHA: 69 Luck 0 Magic Affinity DEATH LOW

What the fuck? What kind of stats were those? I had pitiful strength and a ton of wisdom? After slapping a zombie I still had wisdom? And 69 in charisma?! That had to be the game trolling me. Wait, no, I was crazy, that was the only explanation, and this was my mind trolling myself. I was an autotroll and the world had become like reedit.

That would explain the zombies.

Okay, no, keep breathing. I tried to access more windows, options, help, log out. Oh, no the log out button didn’t exist, it was a murder game! Who would make a game where you can’t log out? That had to be the worst business idea ever. Who would play it?

Oh, yes, not a game. I forgot about that. I should keep my critics about that anime for myself.

I kept trying until I got to inventory. A blue window appeared with twenty empty cells. That was more like it, now I could prove that I was crazy. I took my pants from the floor and try to put them in the inventory. I knew it! If this was a game they would disappear inside my inventory but nothing happ…

A symbol very similar to my pants flashed in the first cell of the inventory. I looked at my hand were the pants were and there was nothing. I tried to make them appear in my hands again and they did. Then I repeated it twenty times just to see if I could.

Okay, new theory. I was crazy and I had developed magic powers. Nothing weird there. There was one last thing to try.

“Equip pants!” I said to the air with all the flair I could muster.

I looked down and...

“YES!” I yelled to the world. “Kneel before my obvious superiority to put my pants on without looking!”

No one answered, and for some reason I felt a bit sad inside.

Well, that settled it. It was undeniable, I was a god. A very weak god with low strength. I’ll have to do something about that, but first things first. Unless now hallucinations also included magic powers, this was real.

Which meant that tomorrow began the zombie apocalypse and I was fucked. Of course, having 24 hours to prepare for the end of the world was going to be fun, but still…

Civilization was going to end, and it was going to be awesome.

And sad, but awesome.

Now came the difficult part. I took the rest of my clothes and equipped them without looking. It was very dark but there wasn’t a purple sky so I interpreted that as a good sign. First I had to eat something because today was going to be busy.

I walked out of the room and towards the kitchen. The lights flickered on and I prepared something to eat. My house was not very big, it was kind of like the Simpsons house but more tiny and with not much furniture besides the essential to live there. None of it was really mine, it was just one of those things my parents left me and my brother when they died. The only thing that was truly mine in the house was the plants. I had dozens of flowerpots inside the house with different plants in them.

They were kind of a hobby, and I guess than that and the almost vegetarian thing came together the moment my brother showed me a movie about a slaughterhouse when I was eight. I still hate him for that but it was at that moment that I realized what I wanted to be when I grew up.

An Eco terrorist. Unfortunately my parents thought that wasn’t a real career and pushed me to be a doctor which I didn’t really like. Don’t get me wrong, I like it now. I like helping people and nothing beats the sensation to enter the hospital with your head up knowing you can do something to help people live a better life. To be ready with all that knowledge and ask that ill person that’s counting on you…

 What’s the range of your health insurance?

Which is the first question always of course. What a hero I am.

I finished preparing the food, got my laptop and started eating while thinking my next step. Okay, it was obvious that no one was going to believe me so I had to plan how to survive the zombie apocalypse. I thought the simplest way to start was to ask Google.

The first page was something like this.

How to survive the zombie apocalypse

Step 1: If the unholy hordes of hell are unleashed upon the world the first you must do is repent for your sins and donate everything you own to the church of morm…

Yep, that probably wouldn’t work.

How to survive a zombie apocalypse

Step 1: you have to get yorself a katana because it’s the most awesome weapon that can hack people heads off and that is awesome and nobody will dare to attack you because of it.

Step 2: you have to find a loli as a companion ‘cause there is just so much people you can the heads off before you get bored and a loli will help you spend time with conversation and sex stuff.

…

That was… illuminating. And useless.

Okay, new plan, I didn’t have any idea about how the zombies started but I imagined that getting out of the city where most of the zombies will be was the first step. I needed food, water, medicines, weapons and transportation. Oh, and friends that can help me survive out there. And money to buy everything. That was going to be a problem.

I looked more things on the internet and made a list of indispensable things. It took me almost two hours to finish the list and I believed I had everything. Then I downloaded lots of books about everything I could think of, from basic encyclopedias to heavy books about mechanics, engineering, maths, all the seasons of Doctor Who…

I doubted the internet was going to survive and I was sure some of those things could come in handy sooner or later.

It was a simple plan really. It turns out the end of civilization wasn’t so bad when you knew it was going to happen before hand. The biggest problem was going to be the money to buy everything because I was broke.

And I wanted a Tank.

So I drove to the nearest bank I could find. It was still dark in the city, not an ominous darkness but a bit creepy. I guess that’s the best you can get when you are either very early in the morning or very late in the night. The closest bank was closed, of course, but had an ATM.

I got a card from my wallet and prepared for the inevitable.

You are broke.

No, actually there wasn’t a window to tell me that but it was basically that. I fought with myself for a bit trying not to trash the ATM until the rage won and I kicked the machine with all my strength.

I only hurt my foot but whatever. Fortunately the pain faded very quickly when a window appeared in my vision.

You have found a trove of unclaimed money. You have found a trove of unclaimed money. Would you like to claim it? Yes No

The confusion lasted as much as five seconds before I smashed the button.

Congratulations you have found 16430 $.

I stood there dumbstruck. Okay, If I was actually crazy and none of this was real I preferred to be crazy. I walked away from the ATM like if nothing had happened and entered the car. Then making sure nobody was looking I opened the inventory. A new tab was flashing with the money on it.

“Take a thousand dollars from the inventory,” I said out loud without thinking.

A few bills appeared on my hand and I quickly thought to make them go back to the inventory.

Okay, now I could go for the second step. Buy a tank.

Needless to say they were out of tanks in the crazy neighbor summer sale, so I had to try to find an alternative.

I did found more ATM’s and stripped them bare of money. Now for the next few hours I was going to be rich. Huh, weird. I thought if I ever became rich I would be against taxes and the government. I guess it doesn’t work with the zombies and all of that.

I looked up in the internet vehicles that could be useful during a zombie apocalypse and found that there are actually some companies selling things like that. None close by unfortunately so I’ll have to find something around here. The closest thing I found was a bulletproof car that consumed too much fuel to be of any use.

No. I needed something else, something that could resist a zombie attack if the zombies were on steroids like these ones seemed to be. Something that wasn’t necessarily fast, but safe and maybe armored. Something like a…

“Adam?” somebody called from behind me.

I was still in the car looking things in the laptop and the sudden yelling startled me for a moment. When I calmed down I looked behind and got out the car.

“Sam,” I said shyly. “You look good.”

Sam was one of my best friends since we were kids and he stole my money for an ice cream. The story is a bit more complicated than that but let’s just say that we became fast friends and for a few years we were practically always together. We grew apart when I went to college and he began to work.

“You are telling me?” he said sizing my up. “You look great. Wasn’t I supposed to be the cool guy and you the whiny one?”

I rolled my eyes and smiled. Maybe that deserves an explanation, if you think my strength is low now you should have seen me when we were kids. Sam was the tall, strong and slightly intimidating boy; I was the little runt that ran behind him every time something happened.

Now we were almost even in size if not in strength (thanks status screen).

“Please don’t keep that up or I will get hard,” I said. “How are you doing?”

He laughed. “I’m good, busy at the repair shop but I love to work with cars, remember?”

“Yes, you were always good with…” I said smiling and stopped to look at my phone that marked 7 AM. “Wait, You are going to work this soon?”

“Of course, people here work, not like you,” he teased. “Actually, I’m not really working, they are rebuilding part of the shop and I have to open it very early on.”

I nodded and said. “For your information I’m a very reputable doctor that gets paid shit and works a lot. So don’t start with that, please.”

“Oh, yes, the big doctor is very busy,” Sam said and I could feel the strain in his voice. “I suppose he is too busy to talk with old friends too”

“That’s not…” I started to say but stopped.

Wait, I just found my childhood friend that repairs cars for a living when I’m looking for a car? That’s just too coincidental don’t you think? Something weird was happening. Then I remembered the dying and coming back in time part and I realized that it wasn’t that weird.

Still, it was a good idea. He is my friend and although we haven’t seen each other for some time I still cared for him. Maybe I could make him come with me, maybe I could save him and his knowledge would surely help us survive. There was only something stopping me for trying.

He is black. No, seriously. I mean, I’m not racist or anything. The problem wasn’t that he was black, the problem was that he would be the black guy on the team and we already know how that movie ends. I didn’t want to spend the next weeks knowing the intricacies of his personality, how he aims to step over the differences of culture and race just so he can get eaten by a zombie in a heroic sacrifice that teaches us that he was secretly the best of us. Because that’s just rude.

And racist.

Or maybe I watched too many movies. I changed my planes in my mind.

“Actually, I need your help with something,” I said smiling. “And if you are not busy this afternoon we could go somewhere and catch up.”

He looked at me a bit startled. I think he was expecting a negative, maybe an excuse or something. His mind seemed to work around the idea and then smiled.

“That could work,” he said. “But it’s your treat.”

“Sure, sure,” I said chuckling. “But I actually need your help with something.”

 “You know I don’t like guys,” he said taking a step back smiling.

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously.”

“Okay, okay. What does the doctor need?” He asked.

I began trying to find a way to say it without sounding to crazy. Fuck it. “Well, the zombie apocalypse it’s going to begin tonight in about twenty hours or so and I need some kind of armored vehicle to survive.” I said quickly without stopping. “Also I want you to come tonight because I don’t want you to die despite that we have been apart for some time.”

Sam stared, looking at me open-mouthed for a second and then laughed loudly.

“I missed you Adam.” He said.

We talked a bit more of nothing and I explained a bit better what I was looking for. It turned out that there was someone in town that had something like that and may want to sell it. I tried to pry more details but he just entered my car and told me the direction in which to drive.

We spend almost half an hour driving to there and I was starting to get a bit impatient. I didn’t really have that much time to spare and he still refused to tell me more.

“I just want it to be a surprise,” he said smiling.

I looked at him and kept driving. “The end of the world is near! I don’t have time for this bullshit.”

“Trust me you are going to like this,” said Sam and then pointed at the entrance for a residential area. “Go there, is one of the last houses. You’ll see it immediately.”

The residential area was very big and the moment we entered it was obvious this place was for rich people.

“Holy shit, that guy has a giant statue on the lawn. Why does he have a statue?” I asked but kept driving. “Where the hell are we?”

“You are asking for a car prepared to survive the zombie apocalypse and find that statue weird?” he asked teasing.

“Shut up.” I said. “I’m not seeing anything that interests me here Sam. Are you sure…”

It was at that moment that I saw the surprise. And it was a big surprise, I could see it peeking over the hedge. It turns out that it wasn’t exactly a car what he was talking about. It was an RV, a big RV painted in camouflage colors, armored and with steel bars protecting the windows. I was in love.

“Okay, that is a surprise.”

Sam snickered and got out the car. “C’mon I’ll show you.”

We got to the house, which despite the RV looked quite normal and rich, and I thought no one would be awake, much less would want to show us the RV but apparently I was wrong. There was already a guy there that Sam recognized and explained what we wanted. And he showed it to us, just like that. I guess if you had that thing you would like to show it off too.

And it was amazing, perfect for everything I needed. It was a hybrid that worked both with fuel and electricity. I didn’t knew that even existed, not for an RV at least. You could drive just with electricity although it was slow as fuck and only worked for a few hours. It had solar panels on the roof that could recharge the batteries and even a tiny windmill that you could mount.

It wasn’t exactly armored, some parts like the windows were bulletproof but everything else wasn’t as protected. It was still tough an after testing it for a few minutes I was sure it could survive a zombie attack. There was also enough space for at least four people and carry provisions for a few months.

It was basically a moving base, slow and tough, but it was something that could protect us from the elements and the zombies if we were careful. That was everything I needed.

“How much do you want for it?” I blurted out without thinking.

The owner looked at me like if I just said the funniest thing in the world and smiled.

“I’m not sure I want to sell it, it took me years to put all the custom parts together,” he said but then seeing that I was serious he smiled. “Half a million dollars”

Sam whistled appreciatively and started to protest. I didn’t care. I walked out of the RV towards my car and got an empty bag. I looked around. They didn’t follow me so I could do this. I opened the inventory and willed the money to appear inside the bag. Half a million was practically everything I had stolen from the ATM’s but I still had more than enough to buy everything else I needed.

They were still negotiating when I came back and dropped the bag on the floor.

“Your money,” I said. “Can I take it now?”

Both stared at me. The owner opened the bag and almost dropped it after seeing the money. Sam looked at me weirdly. There was an awkward silence.

You have acquired a vehicle

Five minutes later I was driving the RV out of the residential area whistling and admiring the vehicle. Sam was silent.

“Where did you get the money?” he asked after a while.

“A wizard did it,” I answered, which was kind of true.

He looked at me. “No, seriously.”

I groaned. I didn’t want to show him now because it would probably cause more problems than anything so instead I thought of an alternative that would help me.

“Can we talk about it later?” I asked. “I can tell you tonight, okay?”

Sam thought about it and finally nodded not very convinced. We drove in silence to his shop and I left him get out after getting his number and I promised him again that we will talk that night. This way it would be easier to convince him to come and I could explain everything about 5 minutes before the zombie apocalypse started.

It was close to 9 AM when I got to the biggest mall there was in town. I pulled the list of things I needed that was several pages long and reread it to make sure that everything was there. Then I entered and ransacked the place like a madman. Since this was going to be the last time I was going to buy something I had to make it count.

First, I started with something that I almost forgot when making the list, clothes, lots of clothes for every possible environment and temperature. I tried to find clothes that fitted me and then I remembered Sam. Both my brother and Sam were coming that was for sure and they would need clothes too. At the end I just carried bundles of clothes that were just loosely fitting and kept going.

Second, I wanted food and water supplies. I got a ton of food cans that would last more time and boxes of water purifiers both chemicals and machines. I wasn’t entirely sure those were going to be very useful in the long run but it was the best I had.

Third, I found the weapons section. It was mostly hunting supplies and that sort of thing. There weren’t that many useful things here because I didn’t think firearms were going to see much use once the bullets ran out. A crossbow on the other hand…

Three hours later I finished with the list. I had everything from basic survival supplies to new laptops and external hard drives that I planned to fill with every bit of information that could be useful. I was also carrying a train of carts when I went to pay and the clerk looked at me weirdly.

“It’s for the zombie apocalypse, it starts tonight.” I said smiling.

The clerk nodded and began the long job of taking every item and passing it through the machine. It took him half an hour and he was sweating by the end of it. I didn’t even listen when he said the price and dropped another bag full with the rest of the money I had. After a few minutes of silence followed by the manager coming down to help I managed to convince them to help me carry everything to the RV.

It took me another two hours to put everything inside where it wouldn’t bother and I was starting to panic. I had already used half a day with all of this and there were still more things to do. I still had to get medicines and try to convince my brother.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The medicines were easy, obviously. My brother… I would have to worry about that later.

I sighed and started the engine. The way to the hospital was quick although my new car didn’t help with that, the moment I stopped there was an army of people looking at the RV and taking pictures. That wasn’t very good considering what I was planning to do, but there was not much I could do about it. I didn’t even remember where I left my car.

I entered the hospital from behind to be as inconspicuous as possible and tried not to meet anyone. I had to do this quickly and silently.

“Adam,” called my boss.

Shit. Okay, new plan.

“The end is near!” I yelled. “FLY YOU FOOLS!”

My boss and everyone that was close by stared at me. I don’t know why, that wasn’t the weirdest thing I’ve done.

“Are you okay?” asked my boss after a few seconds. “Your turn began a few hours ago.”

“Yes, yes. I know. I’m sorry, but I didn’t feel very well,” I lied and then seeing the opportunity I lowered my voice and made the puppy face. “I think I’m crazy.”

He looked at me. “We already knew that but…”

“No, no, seriously. Like, I’m seeing things and I’m pretty sure tonight will start the zombie apocalypse,” I said and then yelled to everyone that was there. “Purple clouds and black rain! That’s how the end begins!”

I babbled for a few minutes until some people moved away and my boss took me to another room.

“Okay, okay. You are either crazy or trying very hard not to work,” he smiled and gave me a prescription. “Why don’t you take a few of this, sleep a few hours and come tomorrow to see how you really are?”

I nodded silently keeping the play and went to the stockroom. One of the marvelous things about a hospital is that we need to keep thousands of medicaments ready but, of course, we couldn’t take them freely. We also couldn’t self-prescribe ourselves so I couldn’t take everything I needed like that.

I could steal them. Yes, they would probably find out sooner or later but since both the sooner and the later where going to be filled with zombies… I got to the stockroom, there was no one there and I began looking for the good stuff. Antibiotics, pain killers, basic medical instrumental, I send everything that could be useful directly to the inventory and after a while I discovered something useful.

Every cell in the inventory could carry only one item, even when I tried to bundle several of them in a bag they were pulled in the inventory separated, but I could carry more than a hundred items that were similar. I didn’t really found how much the limit for every cell was before I had finished getting enough meds.

“What are you doing here?” asked a voice from behind.

I looked at him and recognized him as one of the people that worked in here.

“I want drugs,” I said smiling.

He stared.

“Actually I wanted this in particular, but since there was nobody at the door…” I said showing him the prescription.

He read the prescription quickly and yelled at me for entering the stockroom but at the end he just gave me the pills and threw me out without noticing that I left a few empty boxes behind. The way out of the hospital was a bit complicated because I was sure someone was going to notice immediately and I was going to pass the end of the world in prison, but nothing happened.

And that’s how you commit the perfect crime, but just in case I didn’t dare to look behind until I was safely in the RV and went back to my house.

The way back was interrupted by a stop to refuel, recharge the batteries and eat which I had forgotten to do since this morning. When I got to my house I was so tired I just dropped in the bed and slept. I suppose in hindsight I shouldn’t have done that because I lost a few hours until Sam called me to tell at what hour he could.

I woke up late with barely nine hours left until everything went to hell and I still had to talk to my brother and maybe find a 4th person to come with us. My brother was… complicated. Knight was the old one and liked to do things his way. A sudden invitation tonight wouldn’t work. I started to ponder a way to do it while I took the opportunity to take what was going to be my last warm shower in a while.

I could drug him and just get done with it, but for some reason I doubted that would end well. I could show him my awesome inventory powers but that was a bit risky and could backfire. I was playing with the inventory still deep in tough when I realized there were probably more blue windows that could help me.

“Skills,” I said.

Skill: Save Point

Obtained ability Able to revert 24 hours back in time after death. Cooldown: 1 month.

What? Obtained ability? When did I get that ability? I didn’t remembered anything unless…

The fucking rock! The one I tried to use against the zombie! That’s why I ended up slapping him, if this was like a game it could have dropped from the death zombie. Shit. I didn’t really knew if I was incredibly lucky or what, but I hoped that ability was not very common or things were going to be crazy.

If things weren’t going to be difficult enough with the zombies, now I realized that people could probably obtain super powers or magic or something, and thanks to the awesome teachings of the walking dead I knew that survivors were probably going to be much of a threat than the zombies. And now they have magic.

Fantastic.

A sudden knock on the door woke me up from what I was thinking. I froze, if this was really the same day I had already lived by this hour I was already home and nobody had called. What could have changed that?

I got out of the shower, dressed as quickly as I could and opened the door.

“What the fuck has happened with you today?” my brother greeted me the moment I opened the door.

Great. He was mad at me for something. Things had just gotten more complicated. I wondered what the luck stat did because I couldn’t be so lucky in some things and be so fucked in others. Fine, I thought that if things had to be bad it was time to take the heavy artillery.

“I’m pregnant,” I said. “The baby is yours.”

His face crumbled, completely broken by the news. He walked inside and dropped in a chair. I could see the pain in his face of finding the truth this way but there was nothing I could do about it. He deserved to know the truth.

“Why didn’t you told me sooner?” he asked in a whisper that almost sounded like a whimper.

“I just found out this morning, sorry.” I continued.

He looked at me and I was amazed he almost looked about to cry. “That’s the reason you didn’t go to work today?”

 “No, I was busy preparing for the zombie apocalypse,” I said.

“Oh, c’mon!” groaned Knight. “You can’t just jump from baby surprise to zombies. You know the rules of the game!”

I grinned. “The rules don’t apply when I’m telling the truth.”

“You are preparing for the zombie apocalypse?” asked Knight slowly staring at me. “It’s that the reason for that monstrosity you have parked outside?”

I looked outside towards the RV. “Yes, I just bought it, it’s the Zombinator.”

You have named your vehicle.

Nice touch.

“Are you out of your mind?” he asked. “They called me from the hospital telling me you were acting strange and now you have a… Zombinator?"

“Pretty much, yes.” I nodded.

“How..? Wh…? Where did you get the money?!” yelled Knight.

I rolled my eyes and sat in the furthest chair from him. “Why do you always do that? Can’t you… I don’t know. Trust me for once in your life? I don’t need you to babysit me.”

“You bought a Zombinator!” he yelled like if that settled everything.

Okay, that wasn’t working. It was time for a new plan. He was to mad and scared right now. I needed to go into this from another way. Knight had always been very protective and it just got worse when our parents died.

“I saw Sam today,” I blurted out.

“Don’t you dare change…” he started to say but stopped and looked at me.

I admit that was a low blow. Sam was important to me and he knew he couldn’t just leave it out.

“Okay, look. Something is happening,” I began saying, “something weird that might sound crazy to say right now but it’s something important and I need you to stop freaking out.”

Knight didn’t say anything and just waited for me to continue.

“I don’t really think you can believe me right now even if I tell you,” I continued. “I invited Sam to come tonight and I will explain everything, okay? Tonight. But I need you to trust me right now and for the next hours no matter how crazy it sounds”

He looked at me for a few seconds trying to see how serious I was and finally nodded.

“No matter what I do you can’t stop me,” I said looking at him too see if he understood completely. “Even if I ran, or I bleat like a lamb, or I eat a cow, you can’t…”

“Yes, okay, okay!” he stopped me. “But you promise to explain everything.”

I nodded. At least that part was finished.

After I managed to convince my brother to stay the night I moved my attention to everything else I had to do for today. I went to the Zombinator, I had started to love the name, and got the new laptops to start downloading every book and thing that I could find.

Hours passed by very quickly while doing that until Sam came and I ordered food. But I didn’t stay to eat with them. The information I was saving was important, it was the legacy of thousands of years of investigation and development. We will need it if we hoped to live one day without fear of zombies and since I was the only who knew what was going to happen the task was mine.

They didn’t bother me. I think in some way they knew that what I was doing was important. And I wanted to go outside with them and enjoy a nice dinner without worrying about was about to happen but I couldn’t. It was sort of stupid really. They were there worried about me and I was worried about everything.

I didn’t notice what time it was until 2 AM. For some reason Sam and Knight hadn’t stopped me and were still talking and watching the TV. I closed all the laptops and got out.

They looked at me when I entered.

“Okay, I’m ready,” I announced.

 “Are you going to explain what is happening to you now?” asked Knight.

I nodded. “Yes, but not here. I…” I blinked thinking of something. “It would be easier to explain if I show you something first. We have to take the Zombinator.”

The looked at each other and followed me. I guess they talked because they weren’t asking many questions. I showed them or at least I showed my brother the Zombinator very quickly and started the engine.

This was it. We still had an hour before it all started which was enough to get far from the city. Everything was ready, I managed to do it. Then I saw the lights flicker in the neighbor house, the same neighbor that tried to save me when the zombies appeared and I made a decision.

“Wait a second here, okay?” I said and didn’t even bother to explain before getting out and walking towards the house.

I knocked at the door blaming myself for having forgotten about the guy. For what he showed me in the moments before my death, I knew he was a good shooter which could come in handy, and the fact that he tried to save me spoke for everything else. I wanted him on my team and I had space for someone else.

The door opened and… It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting an old man, but he looked barely thirty and fit like a Terminator. I had to stop staring when he asked something.

“Eh… sorry. John, right?” I asked.

“Yes, John.” He said smiling. “And you are Adam. Are you here for something?”

“Oh, yes, Adam, that’s me,” I said shyly. “I’m here because…”

I stopped. I didn’t think about what to say now. Okay, options. I could tell the zombie story which didn’t seem to work. I could ask him to come just like that. I could… don’t really know.

“My friends and I want to go somewhere,” I said pointing at the Zombinator. “I’m trying that for the first time and when I saw the light… Well, I thought maybe you may like to come, or something.”

He glanced at the Zombinator and whistled. “Wow, what a machine. I saw it before but I didn’t think it was yours.”

“Yes, it’s the Zombinator,” I said without bothering at the look he gave me. “Look I don’t really have too much time. I’m already running in a tight schedule because the zombies are about to appear and I would like to get out of the city before it starts.”

Shit. Damn me and my incapability to lie. For a moment I almost thought I had failed to recruit him.

“Zombies?” he said worried. “Can I carry a weapon?”

I stared. “Yes, actually that could be useful.”

He took it to heart and got out of his house minutes later carrying a rifle and walking hurriedly. I watched him enter the RV and greeting them.

Wonderful. What I just got myself into? I stared at them for a second before walking back inside the car. Our new companion sat in the seat closest to the door and both my brother and Sam were fiddling around with the supplies I bought. I didn’t mind, I was too worried about the time right now. I moved to the driver’s seat.

“No,no,” Sam said sitting quickly on the drivers position. “I’ll drive, just tell me where are we going.”

Huh. He didn’t trust me as much as I believed. Unfortunately that was going to change very quickly.

“Just get us out of the city,” I said. “Go north.”

He looked briefly to my brother who nodded and then started driving. Then there was silence. I think there was something in the air, something that warned us about what was about to happen. That’s why we were quiet, expectant like a dog with the ears perked.

I used the time to inspect the Zombinator better. It was a real marvel, there were several seats around that could be folded and hided, there were beds now stored in the walls along with all the supplies I bought. There was an electric kitchen and a tiny sink, there was even a TV that I imagined wasn’t going to get much use.

My brother was still looking around and whistled. “Are we going to play beisbol?” he asked.

“What?” I asked confused.

He moved around showing me the twenty steel bats I had in a bundle. “You have a lot of things here and this…”

“No,” I said quickly. “They didn’t sell katanas in the mall and for some odd reason I doubt cutting bone is as easy as they make it seem in the movies so… I thought those would be easier to use.”

My neighbor nodded in a silent agreement with me and kept looking out of the windows. Knight sighed and sat in the closer chair to the TV.

“I hope that explanation you are going to give us is not filled with zombies,” he said and turned on the TV.

I was going answer him when I saw what was on the TV and the answer died in my mouth. The TV was silenced but it was pretty obvious what they were saying. It was a news report showing Times Square filled with people like when the New Year begins. There was a party, a celebration of some kind, dancing and singing.

And purple clouds on the sky.

I groaned. Of course! The end of the world was going to come and we will see it in high definition. We would not want to lose a minute of it. I jumped out of the chair and looked at the sky.

It had started.

“Guys?” Sam called from the driver’s seat. “Something weird is happening.”

“Don’t stop driving!” I yelled at him. “Go faster and out of the city now! Don’t stop for anything.”

He looked at me. “There is people in the middle and…”

“Ram them in you have to!” I yelled and when he looked at me startled I got closer. “Please, Sam, if you care for our lives, if you ever trusted me. Don’t stop, please”

My pleas seemed to work and although he tried not to kill any of the people that were starting to fill the streets, he didn’t stop for the lights.

“What is happening?” asked Knight getting close to me.

I could see he was scared but trying to hide it. I don’t think I ever saw my brother like that before, so lost.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. I...” I tried to say. “Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing. Trust me, please.”

He nodded absently looking between me and the sky.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep…

I launched the pager to the wall, not bothering to look at it. I knew what it meant. There was no more time left. I looked at the streets that were starting to fill with people curious of the purple clouds and cursed. We were almost out of the city, just a few more minutes at this speed and…

Then it started. The black rain started pouring both here and in the TV. I closed my eyes trying to convince myself that I was crazy and nothing was going to happen. For a second I almost believed it was true. Then the screams started and the streets filled with people a minute before where now filled with glowing points of purple light.

“RAN!” I yelled to Sam a second before the first zombie jumped to the Zombinator.

Fortunately Sam didn’t panic. He saw the glowing eyes jumping several meters in the air towards us and made the RV run forgetting any issue he had with ramming people.

Several blue screens appeared then one after another.

Congratulations! For surviving the first 24 hours the system has been unlocked.

You are the first person to unlock the system. A special reward will be given.

Calculating…

Ability Save point has been erased from the system.

For your actions trying to warn people of the results of the black rain you have been awarded 25 points of karmic luck.

I stared at the windows. It was insane. I didn’t have the time for it now. I couldn’t concentrate while we were being attacked by zombies. I ignored the blue windows and moved to where I had stacked the crossbows. I took two of them and gave them to Knight and Sam, they didn’t react. My neighbor was armed and looking through the windows.

The Zombinator was flying through the streets and leaving the city with the occasional zombie ramming at us trying and trying breaking inside. They didn’t manage to do it, only a bump that rocked the RV but didn’t manage to break anything.

Calculations finished. A class has been chosen that fits your knowledge and actions.

Class: Druid The druid is a class with powerful ties to plants and animals. They are wardens of nature. Healers and protectors of life. + 25 WIS

+ 5 INT

+ Low life affinity.

I looked at the new window dazed while another zombie rocked the RV. I didn’t have much choice did I? Maybe this could help us get out of here alive. I pressed the yes button.

WARNING You already have an affinity with death, since the chosen class has an opposed affinity it will be erased.

Would you like to continue? Yes No

Yes, of course. I didn’t have much choice right now. Why would the system ask that if..?

I fell to the ground yelling in pain the moment I accepted, a window flashed before my eyes. My body was burning and I felt more pain that I ever did in my life.

Erasing death affinity.

“Adam!” my brother yelled and moved to me. “What is happening?”

I tried to answer but the only sound that came was another scream. I could feel some kind of power burning me from the inside and I understood clearly that the pain was going to make me pass out. So much for that, there was not much I could do to help now, but before I blacked out I managed to say one last thing.

“Run you fools.” I whispered.

Everything turned black.