By the time the brothers were ready to roll out the sun was setting in the sky.
“Going to get dark soon.” Abe said as they exited the Police Station.
“Yup. We need to hole up for a bit and then re-deploy in the morning, too many unknowns in the dark.” Moses said.
“Eli you did your university degree over at Murdoch Uni right? Any ideas?” Abe said.
Elijah rubbed his chin as he thought. Directly across from Fiona Stanley hospital they had escaped from sat Murdoch University campus.
“Well it was a long fucking time ago. There aren’t really many secure buildings on the campus and the population density will be higher which means more zombies and cultivators.”
“The closest building just over the road is probably the best bet. It’s the Wesfarmers building. If we clear a section we should be able to secure it for the night.”
“What’s our policy on cultivators?” Abe asked as they made their way across the road.
Elijah looked at Moses for an analysis.
“Statistically it is unlikely many people will be armed. Our tough gun laws in Australia mean hardly anyone in metro area will have a gun at home. Potentially some small firearms in the hands of organized crime.”
“In terms of earth based weapons the motherlode will be found in Police or Military installations. We will be ahead of the curve with our Glocks in that regard.”
“But it’s the weird cultivation powers that are more unpredictable. Take Elijah’s Red lightning for example at full tilt it could probably kill one of us almost instantly. One of the cops I killed manifested a void type power that made my hair stand on end. If I hadn’t of killed him before it could activate it fully I’d be vaporized.”
“I suggest we treat everything as hostile unless it is clear there is no threat. Standard 21 foot kill zone.”
“Agreed.” Elijah said.
All three brothers were also equipped with knives they had found in the Police Station. Along with the Glocks and other equipment they were starting to build up a small arsenal.
“Zulu’s incoming.” Abe said as he crossed the road. Four zombies moved towards their group while another closed in on the left.
Moses cut to the left and knifed the three zombies in the head, while Abe silently killed the other four.
Elijah threw his knife at a random zombie and it flew through the air perfectly and sunk into the zombies head killing instantly.
As Elijah pulled the knife out and wiped it off he noticed something. Since the upgrade to Qi Condensation level 1 he felt a bit stronger and faster.
There must be some kind of minor physical upgrade that accompanied the growth in level.
“Get away!” a voice screamed.
The brothers flanked towards the noise carefully dispatching zombies as they moved quietly and efficiently.
A woman in a green surgical gown ran in the distance carrying something in her arms. A big zombie burst out of nowhere and sprinted down the road and flung itself on her back.
As it landed on her it ripped her head off her body and began to stuff it into its mouth.
Elijah squinted as he watched the zombie feed. The zombie was bigger than a normal zombie by a significant margin and its speed was considerable.
“Some kind of zombie boss?” Moses whispered.
Out from under the woman’s body a small form crawled out.
It was a baby Koala.
“Is that…...” Abe asked.
“I forgot at the back of the campus here is the Veterinary science school. That lady must have been a Vet.” Elijah whispered.
The baby Koala began to hiss at the zombie boss as it ate the Vets head. At first the zombie just ignored it as it scraped at its legs with its tiny claws.
Suddenly the body of the Koala began to swell and it expanded to around 6 feet tall. It looked an enormous bear with a powerful body.
Sensing a threat the zombie boss swung out at the Koala.
“Nyaaaahhh!” the Koala bellowed as it battered the zombie with its claw.
The zombie boss staggered back as its head was shorn off its body and it collapsed on the ground.
The Koala chased the zombie boss’s head and pressed down on it with its claw until the head popped and a small black marble rolled out.
The Koala licked it up and ate it and strange aura seemed to pulsate in its body.
“Nyahhhh!” it wailed one more time before its body began to shrink back to normal size.
“holy shit.” Abe exclaimed.
“Death by Drop Bear…..that’s as Australian as it gets.” Moses laughed.
Elijah drifted to the side of the body of the zombie boss and saw a milk bottle had rolled out when the Vet had been killed.
He picked it up and held it out to the baby Koala.
It eyed him angrily at first before it hopped over and began to suckle on the end. It seemed like the transformation had exhausted it as it collapsed after drinking.
Elijah picked it up and carried it as he rejoined the group.
“You seriously gonna bring that as pet. It could kill all of us.” Abe asked.
“I still remember that tiger cub you started to raise in ‘Nam so don’t get fucking started bro.” Elijah hit back.
Moses simply looked bemused by the situation.
“From today on Blinky Bill here is part of our team.” Elijah declared.
“Blinky Bill? You’re really going to name it that?” Abe laughed.
“Mate don’t you fucking worry. When you see me riding old Blinky into battle like a chariot of war you won’t be laughing!”
Carefully they worked their way across the street keeping noise to a minimum.
The appearance of the zombie boss had raised a new element to consider. All the zombies they had seen so far were slow and weak. But the zombie boss had been fast and appeared far stronger.
Slowly they made it to the Wesfarmers building before making their way into the foyer.
Behind the reception desk sat a man in an immaculate suit. He looked up as the brothers entered as he filed his nails.
“Gentlemen.” The man said. “What brings you to my humble lodgings?”
Though the man had no weapon he seemed to exude an aura of power.
“Name’s Elijah, and these are my brothers Abe, and Mo. The sun is setting and we planned to hole up here for the night.”
The man stopped filing his nails and slowly stood up and put his hands on the table.
“You want to camp in my castle?” he asked in an odd tone.
“Reckon I do.” Elijah replied. The red lightning qi in his body began to circulate slowly. His right hand cradled the baby koala while his left rested on top off his holstered Glock.
“We can help you clear the building. Make it safe.” Abe added.
The man looked at them with a smile.
“Ohh its safe in here alright. I already cleared the whole building of both zombies and cultivators. Just me and you three boys here now.”
“Found out a funny thing too. Seems killing cultivators makes me a hell of a lot stronger.”
The man trailed his finger along the table as he slowly walked out.
“And you know what’s funny? Just when I was wondering where to get some more points look what the cat dragged in.”
It was a small movement out of the corner of Moses’s eye that alerted him. Without a thought he drew his Glock in one motion and fired without aiming at a side stairwell.
A body dropped to the ground with a hole in its head.
Abe dropped on one knee as he popped rounds down the central corridor and clipped three other men.
The man in the suit disappeared out of thin air and reappeared behind Elijah before he could react. An explosion of energy rocked out and blew Elijah across the room and into the wall.
He hit it with a sickening thud and slid to the ground unmoving.
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Moses popped two rounds at the man but he flickered and was gone. A pulse of green Qi expanded out from Moses and the shape of the suited man flickering across the room appeared.
“Come get some mother fuckers!” Abe screamed as pulled out two Glocks and popped off rounds down the corridors.
As he tracked the flickering man in the suit Moses calculated the trajectories at high speed as his mind went into overdrive.
He shot a path of bullets that seemed random as the man flickered. What the man did not realize was as he dodged each one of the bullets he was travelling along a path pre determined by Moses.
With his off hand hidden by his sleeve Moses drew his second gun and shot underhanded off into an empty space. Just as the bullet whipped into the empty area the man flickered into being and the bullet caught him.
“Unnng.” he grunted as the bullet caught him stomach and sent him sprawling.
Moses calmly walked up the man and put a bullet in his head.
Elijah awoke groggily on the ground. The sounds of bullets flying could be heard and he instantly got a sense of the situation.
He began to slide along the ground around the back of the hallway.
“Status.” He heard Moses yell as he stealthily slid across the floor.
“Tracking four.” Abe yelled as he held two Glocks out with rock steady hands covering both hallways.
Fuck feels like half my ribs are cracked. Elijah thought as he crawled.
Peering around the corner he saw the three men gathered that Abe had pinned down.
A smile formed on his face as he began to rotate his core sea and drew the red lightning into his hand. It flickered into existence like a small red snake and began to circle around his fingers as if it was alive.
It even looks like a snake! Elijah thought in shock as he stared. A serpent’s head was clearly visible as the lighting flashed.
Leaning out slightly into the hallway Elijah aimed two of his fingers and released his hold on the red Qi.
BOOM!
The sound of thunder echoed out as red lightning exploded down the hallway and into the heads of one of the men.
His head exploded in a shower of blood and bone and his body dropped lifelessly to the floor.
Elijah followed up the Qi with several rounds from his Glock and a second man died.
The third man backed up and extended his hands in front of him and something purple began to glow.
Just as the purple glow looked ready to release it suddenly faded out and the man dropped to the floor.
Behind him stood Abe with a bloody knife in his hand.
“You tag the fourth?” Abe yelled out as he continued to cover access points with his Glock in one hand and knife in the other.
“Clear.” Moses said as he emerged into the hallway with something in his arms.
Elijah dragged himself up and rejoined the group and couldn’t help but laugh when he saw Moses held the Koala.
“Think you’re a Sith lord now? Blowing people up with that dark jedi lightning shit?” Abe laughed.
Elijah smiled as he caused a few red sparks to appear on his fingertips.
“Didn’t stop me getting my ass handed to me by that bastard in a suit. I didn’t even see him move.”
Moses pondered a moment as he listened.
“There appears to be a wide variety of cultivation methods, each geared to different modalities. Some more inclined to defence or offence and others strange and unpredictable.”
“My guess is that guy in a suit was either teleporting or moving at an incredibly high speed in short bursts.”
“Ammos getting low already.” Abe said.
“Let’s get set for the night and take a stocktake.” Elijah ordered.
The brothers worked their way up a few flights of stairs and didn’t find any zombies.
“Those guys really must have cleared the whole building out.” Moses noted.
“Aww and we didn’t even get the chance to thank them.” Abe laughed.
They found a corner office that could be barricaded and pulled furniture into the room to seal of the entrances.
Elijah grabbed a canvas bag and put a number of plates and glass cups from a kitchen area into it before smashing it repeatedly on the ground.
Then he spread the small bits of glass around the entrances and the outer room. Anyone that tried to sneak into the area during the night would give themselves away by the sound of glass underfoot.
Finally as the last of the light died they sat down to rest.
Moses handed out some cigarettes he had found and everyone lit up while they kicked back.
The baby Koala had woken back up and Elijah began to feed it milk.
“So what do we know?” Elijah said.
“Well for one not all zombies are created equal.” Abe said. “Look at that zombie boss, bigger, faster, stronger. If we can evolve, its possible zombies do too. That could mean a race against the clock.”
“Agreed.” Moses said. “No matter what way you look at we are in a race of evolution. Both humans and zombies will get stronger as time passes.”
“These guns? They are only partially effective even now. Unless we have methods to upgrade their damage they will become useless after another few levels.”
“I also have a couple of theories. I got a lot more points from killing a cultivator than a zombie, but I got different amounts from different cultivators. I suspect that when you kill a cultivator you get any of their unspent points.”
“Wow that could be a game changer.” Elijah said.
“Exactly. Hunt zombies for the volume killing, but pound for pound killing other humans will get you more bang for your buck.”
“Unless it’s a zombie boss. You’d have to think that zombie boss the Koala killed was worth some serious exp and points. Also it looked like it ate something that was in the zombies brain. We should start checking the for that.” Abe commented.
“What’s to stop someone simply nuking a country and getting shitloads of points?” Elijah asked suddenly.
“Maybe nothing.” Moses replied. “Though there could be some limiter at play. Perhaps you can’t gain benefit from killing more than a certain amount of targets at once. Or equally there could be some kind of proximity limitation.”
“Let’s get our hand on a rocket launcher and test it out.” Abe said.
“Well I know where to get one.” Elijah said. “We need to think strategically, right now the most critical thing is farming exp and points. In these early days weapons make a huge difference in kill potential.”
“Tomorrow we need to hightail it down to Jandakot airport. It’s about a 10 minute drive south of here. There is an area they use to train helicopter pilots. We jack a chopper and take it to Campbell barracks in Swanbourne.”
“This is the base of the Australian Special Air Service. SAS shit, you remember old Tommy Bindoon? He used to be the main man out there before he retired. They got live-fire ranges and sniper towers for training so they will definitely have weaponry that we will want to raid.”
“We stock up at the SAS base and then redeploy over to Garden Island. It’s the largest naval base on the western side of the continent. Only connected to the mainland by a long bridge. Probably like 30 minutes in a chopper.”
“You got all sort of military infrastructure out their, gun boats, submarines, weapons the whole lot. Plus the island is off the coast so no zombie swarms. Harder to defend against cultivators in boats, but these can be taken care of with snipers at the higher access points.”
“Agreed.” Elijah nodded as he pulled up the shop interface.
Scrolling through the potential items his eyes stopped on something that made his heart race.