Zombie Rebirth

I ran to the end of the nearby pier. The monster was easier to see, both because I had drawn closer, but so had it. Massive tentacles continued to pound the sand. Two or three would rise at once, slamming down with titanic force. Shockwaves traveled through the wet sand, rippling outward in complex interwoven patterns. They radiated out from the body, which on its own stood a dizzying eighty feet tall. I was sure the beak would be fearsome, enough to swallow whole ships.

One question kept occurring to me as I looked on.

“What was the name of the machine?”

If I could remember what the name of the machine was, I could figure out what creature I was facing. It was either an octopus of immense proportions, which meant intelligence, cunning, and a mean streak a mile wide, or something worse. A Kraken.

Two more arms moved forward, impacting and sending ripples through the softened sand. The pier I stood on was firmly anchored, though I wondered how it would do when the water returned. Curiously, though I had expected it to already rush through, it seemed to be holding up some distance behind the approaching monster. I focused more intently on the creature to see if I could identify it. Sure enough, the window popped up a minute later.

Ebon Dragon Kurco

Race: Kraken

Level: 16

HP: ???

MP: ???

Stamina: ???

“I am so doomed.”

The Kraken reared back on the back most arms, baring its horrifying beak as it slid free from the fleshy folds of its mouth. The beak opened wide, revealing a black barbed tongue, and it roared. The sound was so loud, it physically impacted me, sending me sprawling. I leapt back to my feet, wondering just what I could do against the monster. It was ten levels higher than me, which means it was well past the evolution point. And I had… nothing. I tried accessing my inventory, only to find it would not open. I tried summoning my brass knuckles to my hands, but that didn’t work either.

“What do I do?”

The Kraken finally fell from its reared position, bringing two arms down directly at me. It was close enough that I was in real danger of being crushed by the arms. It had suckers near the base that were clearly larger than me. This thing could fight a modern battleship, never mind a single human.

I sprinted the other way, legs and arms pumping frantically to get clear of the attack. The tip of one arm smashed through the pier where I had been standing not two seconds before. A spray of sand erupted thirty feet into the air. That attack would have reduced me to atoms, never mind a thin paste. Knowing it would attack again, I leaped over the railing to the sand below. It was an eighteen foot drop, which felt as small as stepping off a curb in the city. Part of me marveled that I was able to deal with such a drop with ease, but the rest of me focused on containing my mounting panic.

By chance, I saw a coin the size of a dinner plate hovering in the distance. It looked to be about chest height, and would have been covered by the water before it retreated. I changed direction to head straight for it, which saved my life. An arm slammed down right where I had been, sending me tumbling. I was upright and sprinting for all I was worth in less than a second. I closed the distance, reached out, and snagged the coin. It was gold, with electrum filigree all around the edge and an intricate design on one side depicting the Kraken. On the opposite side, I saw something that gave me hope. It was a pair of crossed swords. As soon as my hand touched it, the coin shrank and pixelated, moving to, then into the palm of my hand. I saw a counter appear in the bottom left of my vision. Two crossed swords as an icon, with a ‘1’ next to it. I tried to do something with it, and was rewarded with a small menu popping up.

Weak weapon: 1 token

Strong weapon: 3 tokens

Epic weapon: 5 tokens

Legendary weapon: 10 tokens

“Okay,” I grunted out. I was still running flat out, hunting for more tokens. “Tokens can get me weapons. Find more tokens.”

I spotted another one floating above a set of rocks. They were slanted, like they were from a long-forgotten impact. I ran to the far side, avoiding the Kraken’s arms by zig-zagging like a football player on steroids. Once I had a clear shot, I ran up the ramp-like stones and jumped to grab the token. As soon as my hand touched it, an arm swept into my view. My eyes grew wide as I watched the tentacle approach in slow motion.

This is going to hurt, I thought just before the wrist-thick limb slammed into my chest. I hurtled away, breaking a personal speed record, marveling as the pier passed overhead before I plowed into the sand like a meteorite. My head smashed into a buried rock.

I woke up with sand in my mouth, blood in my eyes, a ringing head like I was standing inside the bells at Notre Dame, and pain everywhere.

“What happened?”

An earthquake rocked the world around me. Sand cascaded down into my little hollow, partially burying me again.

“Oh yeah. Kraken.”

I struggled out of my pit, shaking off sand as I climbed. A moment later, I was clear. I noticed my token counter had gone up by two, instead of one. Somehow, I had claimed a third token.

“Maybe it was buried in the snack. Snack.” I frowned. “Snack.” Something was wrong.

“Snack! Toast, why can’t I say snack?”

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I cast my gaze around, looking for more coins. I finally spotted a trio of coins floating right outside an ice-cream shop on the beach. It was about three hundred yards away. I broke into a ragged run, still feeling pain everywhere. I was certain I had at least a handful of broken ribs. The Kraken had hit me hard. What was more shocking was the fact I hadn’t outright died from the hit. A quick glance at my health bar showed I was missing about forty-percent. I had no idea how long I had been unconscious for. I could practically hear Basil’s voice shouting from nearby.

“Lucky bastard!”

I smiled, though it was conflicted. I still didn’t know where he had got off to.

The Kraken was still thrashing around, but a peek over my shoulder showed it had somehow got caught on the pier. It was currently busy destroying the structure to free itself. Perhaps it had got stuck when trying to get me. I didn’t care, it was a free moment to catch my breath. I touched the three coins and put my hands on my knees to do just that.

“Six,” I breathed out. I started doing some breathing exercises to bring my heart rate under control. Being a panicked, dumb animal would get me nowhere. I looked down at the token meter to double check I was right, and found I was completely wrong.

The crossed swords symbol still had a 3 next to it. Below the swords was a symbol depicting a shield, and that had a 3 next to it as well.

“Attack and defense. Okay, this I can work with.”

I mentally purchased the strong defensive option to see what I was working with. A little bubble suddenly sprouted from thin air right in front of my face, then popped. A sleek gray-and-black device fell from the bubble, despite the fact the bubble had been obviously empty. I caught it and turned it over to reveal a glowing blue button. I pushed the button and the device hummed, then flew from my hands to attach to my belt buckle. A shimmering transparent blue bubble formed just outside my reach.

“A shield? Not the best thing I could have gotten, but I’ll take it.”

I looked along the beach. I could see a few more tokens in the distance, but I could just make out a shield on the closest. It was over a hundred yards away. More defensive tokens. I turned my attention back to the Kraken. It was free and rapidly closing the distance.

“Shiiiiii–”

I broke into a run, twisting around the shop and sprinting for the marina about a half-mile away. If the beach held defensive tokens, I hoped something holding explosives, guns, yachts, and fuel would have offensive tokens. I didn’t know for a fact the marina had any of those things, but it seemed like it would. Video game logic demanded it.

“Hell, I hope there’s an AA-12 automatic shotgun loaded with explosive-tipped slugs,” I half-said-half-prayed as I ran. My pace ate the ground up at a prodigious rate, and I was in the marina 75 seconds later.

“I think I just set a world record,” I gasped out. Knowing the Kraken would follow me until either I was dead, or it was, I started searching. The marina was full, with over a hundred boats sitting canted on the sand. Some had fallen clear over, masts broken.

“Who still sails, when these yachts are faster and more luxurious?”

The answer occurred to me at the same time I spotted my first token. It was hovering ten feet over a fifty-foot yacht, about a hundred yards away.

“People who have money but want to appear like they still know what real work is.”

I laughed at my own stupid response. That hit had really rung my bell. I jumped and grabbed for the token, falling down to the yacht. My body had grown heavier, and I found that out in the most inconvenient way. I crashed through a windshield of the multi-million-dollar yacht. The glass slashed my skin all over, resulting in more of my blood leaving my body.

“Traitorous blood!” I glanced around the room, appreciating the obvious luxurious comfort. “Actually, I hope my blood really mucks this place up.”

I didn’t spot any obvious weapons. I was left with finding more tokens, but I had four. I just needed one more for an epic weapon. Six, if I wanted to be ridiculous and get a legendary weapon. And I did want to be ridiculous. What’s the point of all this, if I don’t get to be a little flashy?

I kicked broken glass out of my way and stepped out to the deck. Then I crouched and jumped, not sure what to expect. I thought maybe I could make the eight-foot jump to the pier, grab on, and climb up. I was not ready to launch up and over the railing, landing with grace like a cat, crouched and ready.

Okay, I didn’t land with grace. My foot snagged the railing as I screamed and flailed, unprepared to fly like that, which resulted in my redirecting my face into the planking. I felt something break, and prayed it was my nose and not my teeth.

I got up, internally swearing. That had hurt. I reset my nose, feeling the hollow crack of bone-on-bone as it moved. Tears swarmed my eyes, falling freely.

“Son-of-a-bitch!”

I spat blood out, then got back to the hunt. The Kraken was about two hundred yards away and closing fast. I sprinted to the far side of the marina, snagging two more tokens along the way. That was when I hit paydirt. There was a locked building with a diesel pump outside. I could see a token floating inside the building through a grimy window. It seemed weird to me the windows would be anything but clean in the otherwise spotless marina. I shrugged, put my arms over my head, and jumped through the window.

When I stood, I was amazed. It was everything I had hoped for. Nails, paint, barrels of diesel fuel, I could make a bomb. Or I could use the four tokens floating in a row.

I smiled, collecting the coins. The meter flashed when I picked up the last one. I figured it meant to either notify me that I had enough to get a legendary weapon, or I had reached the cap. Either way, it didn’t matter. I had no more than ten-to-fifteen seconds. I chose ‘Legendary Weapon’ and watched the meter drain to zero. Then I waited.

And waited. Nothing happened for a long moment. I could hear the Kraken crashing through the far side of the marina, destroying piers and flattening millions of dollars worth of boats. I stepped outside the maintenance shed, and that’s when I saw it. The streak of flame in the sky. It was just a dot, but quickly grew in radiance. A moment later, I had to jump clear as it rocketed into the ground with a thunderous crash. I stood, dusted myself off, and went into the wreckage of the maintenance shed to find my new legendary weapon.