“Nothing has changed. We need this food, so we’re taking it,” Michael said decisively.
Michael parked the car next to the entrance. The faculty copied him before stepping out of their vehicles. They looked around in fear. They could already see zombies approaching them. They were out in the open with no walls to defend them. The principal was terrified, but she didn’t let it show on her face. She had to be a leader right now.
Thankfully, Eric and Michael were now considered experts in the art of killing zombies. They dispatched the zombies in the surroundings with ease. Eric frowned as he watched a zombie disperse into light. He looked at Michael and noticed the same frown. Michael said with a grim face, “There were level 2 zombies today.”
“Yeah…” Eric was concerned. If the same thing happened tomorrow, wouldn’t that mean the zombies were going to grow in strength as well? That was a troubling thought. Eric shook his head, pushing the idea to the back of his head. He had to focus now. Eric stood in front of the group as they entered safeway. Michael guarded the back, while Mr. Lane stood in the middle.
The faculty without weapons grabbed carts and began to split up. Eric blocked them, “We should travel as a group. We haven’t cleared the store of zombies yet.”
The faculty looked around the store and realized he might be right. They had felt a false sense of security when they saw that there was no fog in the store. They shook at the thought of encountering a zombie if they were alone.
Michael began to walk away from the group as he said, “I’ll clear the store, you guys do your thing.”
Mr. Lane took Michael’s position in the back as the group began to explore safeway. Their expressions grew uglier and uglier as they made their way through the store. They thought they were quick, but it looks like they were too slow. Most of the store had been cleaned out, leaving very little for them. They took what they could. Soon, their carts slowly filled up with goods.
There were a few zombies in the store, but they were easily killed by Eric and Mr. Lane. Mr. Lane fought a bit awkwardly, but swinging a baseball bat wasn’t that hard. Thirty minutes later, they almost filled up their cars. This was the last trip, so they began to head towards the front entrance. It was then that they encountered another human.
It was man wearing a heavy coat. Beads of sweat flowed down the side of his head as he entered the store. He looked around warily, and when he saw the Eric’s group, he froze. The two groups looked at each other briefly. The man glanced around the store and saw that it was completely empty. The only food remaining was in front of him. Greed filled his eyes as he remembered his family back at his home. He grit his teeth and yelled, “Give me some of your food!”
The principal shook her head, “I’m afraid we can’t do that. We are from a school, and we have hundreds of mouths to feed.”
The man scowled, but when he recalled how empty his kitchen was at home, he mustered his courage. He reached for his waist and pulled out a gun. He pointed it at the principal and shouted, “Don’t fuck around! Give me some of your food!”
Eric’s group shook in fear as they looked at the gun pointing right at them. Mr. Lane took a step forward, “Now, now, don-”
The man saw the bat in Mr. Lane’s hand. He quickly pointed the gun at Mr. Lane and yelled, “Drop your weapon!”
Mr. Lane quickly grew terrified. He realized that this man was serious. Nodding slightly, he dropped the bat. The man grew calmer as a feeling of power and control flowed through him. He pointed at the carts and said, “Go load that food into my car, quickly now!”
The principal frowned, “Sir…”
“Shut up!” The man shouted, unwilling to listen to her. He was afraid that if he did, his heart would grow soft. He couldn’t let that happen, not with things how they were.
Eric realized the situation was turning worse. At this rate, they wouldn’t acquire any food at all. Who knows if the other stores would have food? This might be their only chance. He squinted his eyes and slowly pushed a cart towards the man, hiding his baseball bat as best he could. When he was just in range of attacking, the man took a few steps to the side, keeping his distance.
It was at that point that he just so happened to see the bat in Eric’s hand. His eyes widened in surprise, “You!”
The man swiveled his gun towards Eric, his finger on the trigger. Realizing that he couldn’t hand the food over, Eric made a decision. He would risk it. Just as he planted his foot on the ground, a loud bang rang through the store.
The faculty gasped in shock as the man fell the ground, a hole in his head. They turned around and found Michael with a gun in his hand, smoke still rising from the barrel. Eric immediately recognized the gun. It was his moms!
Eric gave a thankful nod before looking back at the man. The light had already left his eyes. Sorrow filled Eric’s heart. He wasn’t alone in this, the faculty felt profound sadness as well. How had things come to this? Just a little bit of food caused people to kill each other? Michael put away the gun as he walked up to the man. He said, “Good thing I stayed hidden just in case.”
Eric frowned, “You expected something like this to happen?”
“Yeah,” Michael shrugged as he knelt down and searched the man. He picked up his gun and keys.
Although Michael just killed a man, nobody said anything about it. Who was right? Who was wrong? Nobody really knew at this point. The group unloaded the food into their cars while Eric stood guard. Michael used the man’s keys to check his car for ammo, but found nothing. Although dissatisfied, he knew this gun used the same ammo type as Jane’s gun.
The group left safeway and made it back to the school. Their trip was successful.
Chapter 14
The morale among the students were low. At any moment, zombies might break in, so they were always stressed out. Most of them didn’t sleep very well, and they were concerned about their families safety. Not only that, but the food from the school kitchen wasn’t very good. They were hoping for a miracle. Where was the military? The police? Hope was dwindling as hours went by.
It was then that the faculty arrived, carrying boxes of food into the cafeteria. The students looked over in surprise. Rumors were going around saying that some of the faculty left to go gather food, and it looked like the rumors were true! Delighted, the students ran over to the faculty.
The principal quickly stood in between the students and faculty, with Eric and Michael flanking her. She held a speakerphone in front of her mouth and said, “Everyone, calm down. We will be handing out food shortly, so please go back. Don’t worry, everyone will be able to eat!”
The speakerphone allowed the principal’s voice to reach every student. Her voice calmed down the agitated students and they could only acquiesce and go back. They watched as the faculty brought crate after crate of food into the cafeteria kitchen. The principal discussed with the faculty on the best method to hand out the food. After most of the seniors and juniors left, there were 670 mouths to feed. They had to ration the food to make it last as long as possible.
The principal used the speakerphone and told the students to line up. After some commotion, the students lined up, their stomachs growling in anticipation. The student who was first stood in front of a faculty member. Next to the faculty member was a large box full of perishable food. Apples, bananas, oranges, things like that. When the faculty member handed the student a banana, she frowned, “That’s it?”
“Yes,” The faculty member had a solemn expression as they explained, “we have to ration the food. Thanks for your understanding.”
“That’s bullshit,” The student muttered under their breath.
As the students acquired their food, resentment began to build up among them. Some were understanding, others were thankful, but the majority were resentful. Still, it hadn’t reached a boiling point yet.
Michael, Eric, Courtney, and Mr. Drew ate together as they discussed their experiences in killing zombies. In the middle of their conversation,
a student next to them saw what they were eating and stood up in shock and anger. The student yelled in a loud voice, “Why do they get so much food?!”
The food Michael, Eric, Courtney, and Mr. Drew were eating was enough to fill their entire stomach, unlike the students who were handed rations. The student’s shout caused everybody in the cafeteria to look over at Michael’s group. The resentment that had been planted earlier exploded. Another student shouted, “That’s not fair!”
“Why did I get just a banana, while they get an entire meal!?”
“This is blatant corruption!”
The students realized that the majority were on their side, so they quickly got riled up. The principal tried to calm them down, but the speakerphone couldn’t compete with an angry mob. Eric was incensed. He grabbed his bat and stood up. He took a step towards the closest student and said, “Unfair? You said it was unfair?!”
When the students saw Eric stand up with the bat, they fell silent, wondering what he was going to do, so all of them could hear him. The student who Eric talked to nodded hesitantly, “Of course it’s unfair!”
Eric slowly walked up to the student, his bat hanging threateningly at his side. Eric raised the bat, causing the student to flinch backwards and shout, “What are you doing!?”
Eric held the bat out in front of him, “Take it.”
“Huh?” The student froze. Why was he handing over the bat?
Eric chuckled bitterly, “Haha, you think it’s unfair?! Why don’t you go outside to fight the zombies then? Why don’t you go outside and patrol the school during the night? Why didn’t you help us get the food in the first place? HUH?! You said it was unfair?! I’m protecting your ass, what have you done?! If anything, you should be grateful! If it wasn’t for us, would you be here now? Would we still be safe behind these walls?!”
The student was speechless. Right, he hadn’t done anything except wallow in despair. He clenched his hands in anger, but no words came out of his mouth. Eric placed the bat over his shoulder as he glared at the students. He spoke slowly, “If you want to eat a full meal, then fight zombies with us! Otherwise, shut the fuck up!”
Nobody responded. With a snort, Eric walked back over to Michael and sat down. The student’s anger dissipated, replaced by fear and shame. They slowly sat down and fell silent.
After a few minutes, a few students stood up and walked over to Eric. Surprised, Eric looked up at them, wondering what they wanted. Among them was a girl, Elizabeth. Eric’s heart beat faster when their eyes met. This was his crush. Elizabeth was stunningly beautiful. She had long blonde hair, and clear blue eyes. Her nose was small, and her smile was perfect.
He quickly calmed down when he noticed next to her was her boyfriend, David. He was lean. Not muscular, but athletic. He had short black hair, and a strong jawline. He was handsome, but Eric felt he didn’t lose out.
“I want to help fight zombies,” David said with resolve.
“Yeah, I’m ashamed of just sitting here helplessly. I feel like I’ll go crazy if I don’t do something,” Elizabeth said through clenched teeth.
“Uhh, I just want to work for food,” the last student said. This student was thin and small, reaching 5’3 tall. Eric assumed he was a freshman.
Eric stood up with a bright smile, “Great! Welcome aboard!”
Michael stood up and coughed lightly, “Uhh, it’s nice that you want to help, but we don’t have any weapons.”
Eric paused, “Oh…”
They only had 5 baseball bats, and all of them were already used by somebody. Mr. Drew spoke up at this time, “I’ve been thinking about this problem. I think I have an idea.”
Mr. Drew led the group to the janitor’s room. Inside were brooms and mops, among other things pertaining to cleaning. Mr. Drew walked up to a mop and unscrewed the bottom part off. With a smile, he handed it over to David, “Tada! A staff appears.”
Michael’s eyes lit up as he thought, “Huh, I guess I was too narrow minded. I need to learn from this.”
Now that there were more guards, Eric took them outside to get them familiar with killing zombies. Thankfully it wasn’t as hard as the first day when there was over a hundred zombies. All of the zombies were isolated from each other. A few hours passed as the group killed zombies and talked with each other. Eric learned that the freshman student’s name was Connor, and that he was quick on his feet. His agility was actually 13 without having done any sports.
The sun quickly fell over the horizon, so they headed back to the school. David would be first on night watch, then Elizabeth, then Connor. This allowed Eric, Michael, and Mr. Drew to have a nice rest.
After a day of teaching the newcomers how to kill zombies, everyone leveled up. Eric and Michael reached level 7, Mr. Drew reached level 4, and the newcomers reached level 3.
The next day, Eric and Michael walked outside and checked the level of some of the zombies. Their faces fell as their worst fears were confirmed. There were a lot more level 2 zombies, and a few level 3 zombies. They were getting stronger with each passing day!!
Chapter 15
On the fourth day since the world changed, Michael reached level 8 and finally gained enough kill points to purchase a facility for his territory. There were other facilities that he wanted to buy, but they were too expensive. Michael operated the transparent screen and bought the facility for 250 kill points.
Quest Board
Users may purchase quests from the quest board. Once the selected quest is completed, rewards will be received.
*The difficulty of quests depends on the territory level.
*The owner of the territory receives the kill points that users use to buy quests.
*Only 1 quest may be active at one time.
Michael glanced at his kill points and found that they were reduced to 0. He mused to himself, “It seems kill points are a form of currency.”
A large screen appeared in front of him.
Where would you like to place the quest board?
Underneath the question was a 3d map of the school. Michael quickly figured out how to operate the map and selected a spot. With a flash of light, a large rectangular board appeared on the stage in the cafeteria. Everybody let out a gasp and wondered what was going on. Michael jumped on stage and quickly calmed everyone down, “Calm down, everyone. You are already aware of the kitchen, armory, and hospital facilities, and I’ve just purchased another one. This one is called the quest board, and it will speed up everyone’s growth. Check it out!”
Everyone looked at the quest board. No matter how far away they were, a screen appeared in front of them. Eric knew that Michael was going to purchase the quest board, but he didn’t know exactly what quests there would be. He looked at the quest board and read the list of quests that appeared.
F Grade Quest - 50 Kill Points
Goal: Kill 100 Level 1 or higher zombies.
Reward: Gain 1 stat point.
F Grade Quest - 200 Kill Points
Goal: Kill 50 Level 3 zombies or higher.
Reward: 1 skill point.
*May only be completed once.
There were only two quests, but Eric grew excited nonetheless. He’d already been doing the objectives of these quests without even having one, so it was like getting a pay raise for doing the same amount of work! Plus, a skill point was obviously rare. He was level 8, yet he only received 1 skill point. He guessed that every 5 levels he would receive one, and yet a single quest gave him a skill point!
He immediately accepted the second quest and began to walk to the main entrance. He looked down at his baseball bat and nodded in satisfaction. Yesterday, his bat ran out of durability and broke, so he had to stop fighting zombies early. The next day, the armory restocked his destroyed bat, so now he was itching to go out and complete the quest.
Michael licked his lips when he saw the two quests. He checked his kill points and found that he already gained 200. He figured Eric must have bought a quest right away. He chose the s
ame one as Eric and began to walk towards the main entrance. Mr. Drew, Courtney, David, Elizabeth and Connor had the same idea. They purchased the only quest they could afford, the first one, and began to walk to the main entrance
A level 3 zombie had 40 health. That was 30 more than a level 1 zombie. The zombies were growing stronger so they didn’t want to fall behind. If they did, they would be overrun.
Just as everyone was about to leave through the main entrance, they stopped. Everyone glanced awkwardly at each other. If they all left, who would guard the school?
Mr. Lane’s voice came from behind them, “Don’t worry, I’ll hold the fort.”
Eric looked over his shoulder, “Are you sure?”
“Mm,” Mr. Lane nodded, his face full of fear as he looked out of the school. He was afraid. He didn’t want to fight zombies. The only reason he did before was because of peer pressure. Standing guard here and fighting the occasional zombie was already the most he could do.
ZOMBIE SLAYER!!: A LitRPG Apocalypse Page 8