GEAR UP!

About an hour ago…

After walking for sometime,Ryan finally made it out of the forest. It wasn't supposed to take up to an hour but the exceptionally dense foliage and the caution he had to exercise to prevent alerting any other beast delayed him.

Unfortunately,trouble still came as he encountered two infected humans. Learning from the deers case he didn't take them lightly and went into attack mode.

Though he quickly dispatched them,he had to sit there for a while before continuing his journey due to his stomach nearly giving up on him.

It was his first time killing a human! While they were zombies,the thought that they were once humans made his stomach churn for a while but he got over it. In fact he even killed more before exiting the forest.

However he was in for a surprise as the campus had taken on a look that was vastly different from what he was used to. Since the forest was part of Apex badger's student love park,it boasted a constant stream of students. Furthermore,it was close to one mini cafeteria thus adding to the human traffic.

The place was a dream place to be for students to relax and catch fun.

Now however,the once graceful looking campus grounds had now become a slaughter ground.

There were streams of blood running down the ground as if he was at an abbatior. He searched for a while and couldn't find another human. He was about to give up and move to another spot when he heard a cracking sound causing him to perk up. Instantly he dashed to the side of an abandoned car while holding the Gravity wrench tightly.

Gradually,he saw a group of what seemed to be students walking towards his direction. As he was hiding behind a car they couldn't see him but he could them.

They had a funny gait like someone pulled out their bones and place them back the wrong way. Also they had this unnerving lifeless look on their face that was extremely pale. Clearly they were zombies.

"Hey system,it hasn't been long since the apocalypse started and there are already zombies in the school?"

[The virus that was released was from a top tier civilization,what do you expect?]

He was surprised as he never expected what the system said to be really true.

" I thought it was going to take a while before the Zombies started to go rampant. Judging from these zombies here it seems that they had just turned not long ago,just like the Blood bone deer from earlier and the other zombies. What exactly is this super virus?"

[ You're not authorized to know that but the only thing I can tell you is that you can be infected by the virus through bites and the scratching if their claws. You don't have to worry though as you have immunity against it.]

"What do you mean by that?"

[ The virus is not only mindlessly eliminating organisms. Rather it's inducing a forced evolution on them. Those that can withstand the corruption of a forced evolution will turn out fine,in fact they would even gain supernatural powers. Those that can't resist the corruption however will become…walking deads.]

"Ohh."

With a look of contemplation Ryan understood why it seemed that things were changing rapidly.

Watching as the zombies walked away he was about to start making his way towards the cafeteria to grab something to eat when he spotted some people he assumed to be students also hurrying towards the cafeteria. Instantly he climbed on one of the many trees for a better view.

As he was on high ground,he could see them while they couldn't see him due to the height difference.

Furthermore,they were clearly panicked.Even if they were not they would not be able to see him as he had hidden himself well.

He had initially wanted to get down and meet up with them but he cautioned against that. While there were some people he was aquainted with in the group,it was not on a deep level so he chose to observe them first.

From what he could observe,they had clearly planned this out as they were advancing along without meeting any zombies. Looking at them they could probably make it to the cafeteria...or so he thought.

While they had probably envisioned all the possible case scenarios from zombies popping up from their back and other extreme scenarios,they probably hadn't expected to walk right in front of one. For a brief second he could see both sides freeze before the zombie growled and lunged at them.

As most of them were simply individuals that had never seen blood before,watching one of the dreaded creatures start chasing them scared the ghost out of them. Instantly,their terrified screams rent the air as they all made a mad dash for the cafeteria which in turn alerted the other zombies.

Seeing this,Ryan was thinking whether he should help them or not. It wasn't that he was cold blooded or something but rather he was thinking logically.

Yes,saving them was acquiring good karma but would good karma do him any good right now?

Probably no!

Not that he believed in karma anyway.

Luckily for them though,right when he was contemplating,the system interface popped up in his face.

[New mission:Kill all the Zombies in the immediate surroundings.]

[Reward: Each kill drops 5 Gear points plus a mystery wheel of fortune.]

[Time limit:none]

"Finally! Just what I was waiting for"

Looking at the mission interface,a smile couldn't help but crawl to his face as he jumped down the tree.

And thus the scene where he totally one-hit KOed the zombies played out.

...…

"Ryan!"

Hearing his name,Ryan was surprised that someone was able to recognize him. While he was not a recluse he also didn't really mingle with people that much except for his close pals.

Taking a clearer look at the lady's face he felt like he should remember her but he didn't after thinking for a while.

"Hey Ryan it's me Melissa,your girlfri—sorry ex-girlfriend's bestfriend,we met yesterday at the party."

" Oh, Melissa."

Finally,he knew where that feeling of farmialiarity came from. They had metyesterday at the party where Maya had brokenup with him. She had been a very strong supporter of Maya and had also insulted him. He couldn't help but smile thinking about how fast the roles had changed. But he wasn't going to dwell on that.

"Melissa are you ok,hope you didn't get hurt?"

Right then the remaining group of students all came running to her. They had kept their distance at first but since there was no more danger they came up to her.

The one who spoke was a lady,who was Melissa's roommate. While they had abandoned her and she knew it wasn't anyone's duty to look after her,she couldn't help but feel resentment against them especially her boyfriend,Jason.

"I'll advise that we head into the cafeteria before the sun goes down,trust me zombies aren't the only thing we should worry about."

Seeing that these bunch wanted to start goody,goody welfare care outside at this time he had to remind them or else they would probably be surrounded by zombies again.

Instantly,everyone got to their feet and made way to the cafeteria with Ryan following at the back they quickly found some planks and chairs and barricaded the cafeteria and soon they were a lively bunch again as they worked.

Somehow they all felt safe probably due to the presence of Ryan—well all except for Jason. The death stare Ryan was giving him nearly made him shit his pants causing him to keep quiet till they barricaded the cafeteria's windows and doors.

He hated the looks he was receiving from everyone but planned to just play it low till he got his chance.