Survival Interval: 448

Michael was up with the sun. In truth, it was barely light outside, but he had gone to sleep very early the night before, and other than being ravenously hungry he felt good. Although there was now another swollen nob a couple inches from the other on his upper back, and his neck sported a new pink bump. Lucky for him, just as advertised pink dots had popped up all over the map. There was no rhyme or reason for their distribution, but there were thousands all over the tactical map. One had even ended up less than half a league away.

He could not be certain, but it was likely even located in the wharf district. Michael even had half the route unveiled on his tactical map. He would have to cross the bridge he had noticed upstream before he jumped into the causeway.

”Huh…. Well look at that,” Michael muttered. The causeway had a name. Beaufort Aqueduct. Perhaps they labeled major features, so that contenders could give better directions to one another. “Well that was sure sweet of them.”

Here he had thought that the creators had done their best to make any and everything less convenient for the contenders. Michael spent a minute unbarricading the doors and uncovering the hole. It was a bit of consideration for both himself and other contenders. He would hate to die because someone barricaded a door to use a location for a temporary shelter, and then left the barricade there. Not to mention he had ended up under the wharf once. He might end up there again. If he did, now there wouldn’t be a crate preventing him from coming back topside.

One last thought, had him return to lay a tarp over the hole, ensuring it was indented hinting of what lie beneath. Covering the hole might prevent zombies from noticing the hole from down below. The indentation would hopefully clue other contenders not to step there. It was the best he could do.

Without another look Michael departed through one of the doors. The sun was still below the horizon casting a pink glow in the sky and on the water. It was light enough. It did not take him long to encounter his first zombies. Three zombies were in an alley he stumbled in. They moaned in delight, having located their breakfast.

What they didn’t know was that they were lying in between Michael and his own breakfast. He charged confidently forward. They were just Tier 0 enemies, so he did not need to be overly cautious. It might be him imagining things, but now that he had kicked his dexterity up to 12, a 20% increase from where he had started, he felt in better control of his movements. His reactions also seemed sharper.

The three zombies dropped without offering up a thing. Now that he thought about it, so far only the wasps had given a drop up to this point. Three drops due to killing a monster and not one of them had been a zombie. Were there different drop rates for different types? Perhaps it was based on level of difficulty? Or maybe it was just a coincidence. Hopefully the zombies would quit being so stingy.

After only a couple of minutes, Michael found himself moving across the bridge spanning the aqueduct. He forced himself to slow down a bit. No point in burning up SP when not in combat. Who knows when he might need it later. However, it became a mute point as he slid to a stop. A large screeching sound came from the very first warehouse that he reached. It was the sound of metal being dragged across cement. The sound was close by, likely from right behind the door.

Michael was less than surprised when the door opened and the upper half of a man’s body leaned out to look around. Someone else had been in the wharf district and had barricaded themself in another of the warehouses less than a quarter of a league away. The person instantly saw Michael who was now just standing in the middle of the street. Upon seeing him the guy forgot caution and stepped out fully staring at Michael.

The guy was far fairer skinned than Michael, clean shaven, with his black hair swept back in a ponytail, but most noticeably the guy was fat, extremely fat. He likely weighed three times what Michael weighed. However, Michael could not disregard the guy. The man started with the same stats as Michael, and it was relative to the guys weight, meaning that both of them should be able to run about the same distance before their SP ran out and both would be able to move around the same speed.

The guy could be anywhere from 40 to 200 years old, not quite middle aged. “I guess you had the same idea as me,” The man chuckled. “Might not be my real body, but old habits die hard,” the man said, slapping his belly with his free hand. The other hand held a club that currently rested on the man’s shoulder.

Michael was not overly worried. If the man made a move on him, Michael would likely be able to pepper him with a hail of bolts before the man could close the distance. If anything it should be this man that was weary of him. However from his demeanor the guy seemed to be quite friendly. Was he just good at hiding his true intentions?

“It’s fine. It's good to be cautious in here when meeting new people. But things have to start somewhere. My name’s Phil, Phil Nasser. Decided to join the battle, because I was sick of being just another loser living at home in my mother’s basement,” the guy offered. He made no attempt to get closer.

Nope, his first impression was definitely right. This guy was almost definitely what he seemed. “My name is Michael Nacht.”

“Good to meet you Michael. Are you fine with being added to my friend or contact’s list.” Michael stared in response. “Oh, it's just a list of contacts that you can chat with if you are close enough anyways. Who knows when one might need a bit of help, and who will be around.”

“Sure,” Michael replied, opening the contender page. Phil Nasser’s name appeared on his contact list. Michael found two more options. There was a party list and a friend list. He did not get the chance to ask.

“Sure you are wondering about the difference between the three lists since they don’t appear until you’ve met somebody. You can have as many people on the contact list as you want, so there is no reason not to add people as you come across. The friend list is more limited, although I have not found out how many. You can only have five others in your party. Learned that one from the encyclopedia.”

“I met up with a sweet young lady yesterday, and we were able to figure out a bit more. All of the lists are reciprocal, so if you are on one of my lists then I would have to be on the equivalent. If I drop you from my friends list then my name would drop off your friend list as well. If we were in a party we would even be able to see each other on our tactical maps, provided that we were within a few hundred feet of each other. You know the ring of a map that moves along with you at the center.”

Michael nodded. Apparently, this guy had learned quite a bit, and had even met someone else. Not too surprising. Michael had slept for a third of the first day, and then spent almost three more hours under the pier scraping out a hole.

“And the women you met,” Michael trailed off glancing around. This guy seemed fairly straight forward, but it did not hurt to be careful.

“Ahhh, last I saw her, she planned to leave the wharf district. While I stayed here and grinded on the Tier 0 zombies. As far as I know, she is still alive. The man said sharing his interface with Michael. The guy had Rebekah Clark on his friend list. The name was white, so presumably she was still active. Goes, by Becky. A tiny little thing with brown hair and freckles.”

Michael nodded. The fact this Rebekah Clark was still alive was a good sign this guy was not a nefarious person putting on a good face. Despite what he knew he found it hard to picture this guy darting around bashing in zombies heads. “If you don’t mind answering… Have you gotten any drops from Tier 0 zombies?”

“Sure thing, I got five of em. Probably took me killing over fifty zombies or so. Why do you ask? Don’t tell me you haven’t gotten a thing.” Phil said, sounding genuinely concerned.

“Oh no, I got several. I was just wondering since all my drops came from giant wasps. I killed probably ten zombies, and did not get a thing. I was beginning to wonder.”

“No joke, now that you mention it, I think I saw one of those wasps in the distance. You must be quite something if you took down a bunch of those. I noticed you got a unique piece of gear. Can’t believe I’m running into someone who got a green drop this early.” The guy dwelt on that fact for a moment. Michael did not try to deny it. The Wasp Nettle Bracer was fairly obvious.

“Anyways, can’t say I know exactly how the drops work in this battle, but like any other battle I would expect they get better the more difficult the opponent. Right now around 10% of the tier 0 zombies are giving a white drop. However, that will likely change. Who knows in a week or two it might take you killing 50 Tier 0 zombies to get a single drop. Of course that is assuming that you don’t just find one laying about somewhere on the map, hahaha,” Phil chuckled. “Haven’t found one lying about myself, but you can be sure that I have been looking. May I ask how you found the green drop.”

Michael did not see any harm in telling him. “It actually showed up on my map when it came into my sphere of influence.” (Michaels name for the ring of map that moved along with him.) “It was at the center of the wasp nest. I almost died several times yesterday, getting it. Got more than a little lucky,” Michael said, downplaying things.

“Sphere of influence. I like it. Hmmm.. they allow drops you haven’t seen to show up as bait, hmmm. Can’t see how that’s a bad thing. As long as you're not stupid enough to realize there would be risk that would come with it. I haven’t run into any of the beast or plant types yet, perhaps they are more rare, or perhaps it is because of where we are at. Guess we will see. Now what do say, how about we both continue on to that pink drop. I’m absolutely famished.”

Michael nodded in agreement. If anything the big guy would not make a move on him prior to eating. The guy did have his priorities. “Oh, and just so we can all remain friends. Let's do it this way. If you kill something and it results in a drop then it will be yours, and the same for me.”

Michael nodded again. He could agree with that. The two continued forward at a determined pace. Several groups of zombies accosted them, and they both easily cleared them out. Michael used his bat to conserve ammo. Despite having expected it, it was funny to see a very large guy moving as fast as Michael could. The man had apparently added the points into strength since every zombie he struck was brought down with one swing. Michael could only manage that about every other zombie, when he hit them just right. The rest he was forced to give a second swing.

There eventually was a drop, and Michael could only frown when it occurred on Phil’s size. “Ha, ha, ahhhh. Looks like I was the lucky one this time,” Phil said, collecting the white drop.

As friendly as the guy was, Michael wanted to slug him in the face. He knew the guy meant well, but when someone else got a windfall and you didn’t. Them laughing and being joyful about it never felt good. He just sighed and continued on. A minute later they made it to the pink drop.

The drop was a handful of plastic tubs. One of the lids had been removed, and several palm sized cans layed on the wood, hinting that yet another person had already been here. “Well looks like someone else could not stand to wait for the sun to rise,” Phil said looking around. “Can’t lie. I thought about it myself, but I didn’t want to wind up something else’s dinner. The other person probably went and hunkered down afterward. We should be good.”

Phil did not wait for a response. Seconds later he was attacking the pink drop site. He opened a can immediately and shoved its contents in his mouth. His immediate hunger being sated, he then proceeded to move around opening other tubs lids. There was one other type of canned food, and bottles of water. “Well I’ll be. Just Sardines and tuna. Guess, they are sticking with the theme of where we are at,” Phil chuckled.

Michael opened his own can of tuna. He had never had fish or any other kind of seafood. He had only even had meat a few times in his life. Without giving it much thought he shoved it down. He then went for a can of sardines. The lid peeled off, revealing a line of six pickled fish. He tried one and despite being extremely hungry he gagged. He set the can down.

“Yeah, it's an acquired taste,” Phil chuckled as scooped out all six fish and shoved them in his mouth.”

Michael was starting to see why this guy lived alone in his mother’s basement. He was friendly, but he doubted most people could tolerate him, except in small doses. Still he was glad that someone like Phil was the first person that he had met in the battle.

Phil continued to shovel food down, while Michael shoved as much tuna and bottled waters into his inventory as he could. He did enjoy the tuna, so wanted to fill up his supply. Although he hoped it was not the only option they would have during the survival battle. If he got nothing else out of this experience, he could die having tried many exotic foods. Ten minutes later, they were both ready to depart.

“Well Michael, if you would like you are welcome to stay along and clear warehouse after warehouse with me? With the two of us, it should be a lot easier and quite a bit less dangerous.”

Michael considered the proposition, but eventually decided against it. It was not a bad strategy to team up to prevent being overwhelmed, but Michael felt an itch to set off on his own. He was not ready to commit to staying with someone else as of yet. Not to mention, he was looking to find something of real note, to rise to the top of the list. He did not think that grinding zombies would give him the leap forward that he desired.

“No… Thank you. I was hoping to continue on my own for a while. At least until things start to get difficult to go at it alone. Perhaps we add each other to one another’s friend list. Then there will always be a chance that we will team up later.”

“Well I’ll be. Since you are refusing the offer to team, up I was going to recommend the same thing.”

Moments later they wished each other luck and Michael departed. The sun rose at his back as he traveled west. It was time to see what lay beyond the seawall.