I realized with a start that that was the direction the Howl had come from, and that made me curious.
None of the other players seemed to care, though. A couple of them were high-fiving each other, and one even got down on his hands and knees and bowed sarcastically to one of the big zombies as it stopped past, doing his best “we’re not worthy”.
I didn't like being out in the open like this. Sure, there were strength in numbers, but who knew what weapons the Survivors had by now? I was already starting to live in fear of the arc of a mortar or the rocket flare of an incoming dumbfire missile. Standing out the middle the street like this made my skin crawl.
Without a real destination in mind, I found myself moving toward the building that had the mysterious figure on top of it. It was an office building. The fact that we’d just butchered a player out here probably meant that there wouldn't be much resistance inside, but just the same I went slowly.
The front door of the apartment wasn’t locked, and as I slunk through the darkened hallways and up the abandoned staircase, smelling only old blood that was probably just put there by the AI to remind me that an Apocalypse was supposed to happen in the games’ back story.
I wondered what I'd find when I got to the roof.
I went as slowly as I could, but even so I wasn't exactly built for stealth. It was nice to be able to trust in my ability to Hide in Shadows, but that ability obviously didn't stop the broken glass from crunching beneath my bare feet. I winced inwardly with every step, but there was nothing I could do about it. If I turned around now and went back out into the street I’d risk exposure for no reason. At least if I made it all way up to the stairs and found the roof, I would have discovered who the mysterious figure was at the top of it.
That was what I told myself, that at least. What actually happened was that when I got there I found the roof abandoned. I looked around carefully but there was nowhere to conceal anyone, and on a whim I even went and looked over the edge. I was twenty-five or thirty stories up and I didn't think anything would be able to survive that fall. Only a broken game mechanic would let us jump this distance and not be smashed to paste on the ground below.
So where had he gone?
I frowned, disappointed. I always liked to think of myself as a thinker. Those twitchy first-person shooter games weren’t really my style. I still played them, but I was interested in far more than just that.
That was why I appreciated being up here, even if I hadn't been able to find the player I was looking for. I could get a lot better view of the city, and that let me see that there were fires burning in probably a dozen places. The interior of Los Angeles was clearly shattered. It had been less than twenty-four hours of game time, and the whole city looked like it was already on its last legs.
Maybe the Survivors weren’t as good at this game as they thought they were. Looking at how quickly things had fallen apart, it was easy to believe. Just because you could afford the cost of entry to the Survivor side didn’t mean you were ready for it.
Either way, I wasn't going to figure out what was happening by just standing here. Perched on the edge of the roof like that, I was probably making myself an even bigger target. Anyone for blocks around could easily see me.
I took one last second to glance down at the street where I’d helped to take out the Survivor a couple of minutes ago. Most of the other Zombies had already dispersed.
So much for strength in numbers…
I needed to eat. Not in the game; back in the real world. I could feel that rumbling in my stomach that the game did such a good job of re-creating, but I knew it for what it was really was. Somewhere, back in the suburbs of LA, my body was demanding the nutrition I’d been depriving it of.
I didn’t want to logout. I didn’t want to ever logout, and that in and of itself was a little scary. But more to the point, I knew for sure that if I logged out right here I’d wake up dead. I’d probably advertised my presence too much, and if the Survivor that we’d killed had friends, it wouldn't take him long to go on to the forums or simply place a text or call to them and arrive with a posse to avenge him.
I needed to get out of the apartment block I was still standing on top of. And, since there was no quick way to the ground that wouldn't end up with me being flatter than a pancake, I turned around and headed back down the stairs.
But something was different now. I sensed a change in my surroundings as some instinct kicked a tremor down my spine and I paused because of it. A moment later I heard footsteps coming up the staircase followed by a low, trailing whisper. I took the opportunity to press myself back against the deepest, darkest pool of shadows I could find and waited.
Chapter 13
There were two Survivors on their way to me. I could tell that they were trying to be careful by the way that their footfalls were echoing up the stairwell. If they'd seen me from the ground, they’d be ready to take me out. Even if they hadn’t, they were being damn cautious.
What was I supposed to do? I ran through my list of abilities, just to make sure that I wasn’t forgetting anything. Grasp, Lunge, Infectious Bite. It wasn’t much, was it? Deep Dive studios had always claimed that they weren’t about having a wide array of skills, since nature had given our minds enough skills in the first place. They were of the mind that, by plugging straight into our brains, their abilities simply enhanced the arsenal that evolution had already given us.
Headshot gave you abilities that made you more effective, but a lot of what you had you brought with you into the game through instinct and experience.
Now that I knew my options were pretty limited, I had a question to answer. Should I fight? Probably. At least I thought that a lot of players would have, and without a second thought. But not me. It had only been one Survivor that had gotten the jump on me back on the street, and if it weren't for that Howl and the subsequent arrival of the newly-buffed horde I'd already be logged out and halfway through dinner, drowning my sorrows in cheap beer and even cheaper spaghetti.
I didn't think a direct confrontation was the answer. At least, not yet. Maybe I’d get lucky and I’d manage to hide form them the same way I’d hidden from that first encounter I’d almost had.
As the voices approached I had a moment to rue the fact that I couldn't understand what they were saying to each other. Deep Dive Studios had some BS explanation that the part of my Zombified brain that had once understood human speech had rotted away but the real reason was to stop me from cheating by eavesdropping.
It was a shame, but since listening in on them wasn’t going to do me any good, I concentrated on their footsteps instead. They were close and getting closer, and down at the end of the hallway I could see the double doors that they would have to push open if they came all the way up the staircase.
I was still on the upper story. If they were planning on searching this place floor by floor, maybe I’d have a chance to slip past them and get away. There were only two of them. How quickly could they really scour every nook and cranny?
If I was smart, what I’d was get to the stairwell, then wait there in silence until they entered one of the other floors. Once they had, I'd slink down, trying to get past them so that when they were ready to ascend once more I would already be below them.
It seemed a good enough plan to me, so I moved toward the double doors, ready to enact it. I didn't know if it would work, but it sure stood a better chance of being successful then standing here and trying to find a place to hide so that I could log out.
But once I was halfway down the hallway and headed for the stairs, I realized that they weren't going floor by floor. They were coming all the way up. I paused, cocking my head as I listened to their approach.
Sure enough, they were picking up speed. On their way to the top floor, right where I was. And worse, judging by the fact that a slice of light suddenly spilled forth underneath the very double doors I had planned to push through, they had flashlights. The darkne
ss wasn't going to be much use to me, and when they drove away the darkness I doubted my Hide in Shadows ability would be anything short of useless.
I froze in place, though this time it wasn't just a defensive maneuver. I was scared. If I my heart was able to beat I was sure I would have heard it banging around in my chest, pumping a roar of blood through my veins. As it was, the strange breathless silence that surrounded me at all times was beginning to become unnerving.
Where should I go? What should I do?
If a frontal assault wasn't on the cards, it was certainly madness to stand here in the middle of the hallway like an idiot. There weren’t many options so I ducked into one of the offices and looked around frantically for a suitable place to hide.
My elbow bumped something. I barely felt it, since my nerves were so deadened. I did hear the jarring impact though, and when I whirled around I saw the globe I’d knocked off of a desk rolling loudly across the floor. Who the hell keeps a globe on their desk?
Well, for one, the guy who used to sit here… And now the noise was going to bring the Survivors straight to me.
Sure enough, the footsteps from the stairway got faster. Maybe they could have talked themselves out of investigating the noise if it had been a soft one, but there was no way they were going to ignore the racket I’d just caused. Even if they hadn’t been planning on checking out the talking on the way up, was too unnatural in the loudest sound echoed through the hollow building for them to ignore.
Especially if they were looking for me already.
Where could I hide? Under a desk? I may as well be back in the hallway if I was going to be making choices as stupid as that.
And there was no point in trying to climb out the window and cleaned to the side of the building. I didn't think I could even open it with these twisted Zombie hands. Even if I could I’d make too much noise, and the risk of falling was too great.
Instead, I whirled around to face the door I’d just come through and decided to simply hide behind it. It was a terrible plan, but it was all I had. If the Survivors came in here and gave the room anything more than a cursory glance from the hallway they'd find me, but if they didn't…
Wait a second. I bent down and scooped up the globe, this time taking as much care as I could not to drop it. I ducked my head out of the room and looked down the hallway hurriedly. Judging by the angle of light and the nearness of the voices they were only steps away from those double doors.
I took a deep breath, except that I didn’t because I couldn’t. Then I chucked the globe toward the other end of the hallway as hard as I could, aiming for doors that divided the little stairway that led to the roof from the floor I was on.
I surprised myself by actually making a decent throw. The globe was heavy, and as it spun through the air the metal stand that had once supported it precariously on a desk until I'd been so stupid as to knock it off rotated and crashed into the little window set into the door down there.
The glass shattered, and an instant later the globe clattered to the ground and spun off into the corner, where it rolled to a halt.
Critical hit! Your object goes where you intended it go. Double damage!
Awesome. I couldn't have planned it any better myself, though I ducked back into my room and hid behind the door instead of taking the time to celebrate. An accurate throw wasn’t going to mean anything if I followed it up by getting my head caved in because I got cocky.
Once I was in the office though, I couldn’t help but grin. It was nice to see that there was still math underneath this game, and any time there were random numbers involved it meant that I still had a chance. Maybe I’d only done double damage to a window, but I’d take it.
There was a big boom as the Survivors hit the metal door out there in unison, and I could hear it get thrown open so hard that the hinged doors smashed into the sides of the hallway at the exact same time.
Both Survivors came running past, but I didn't dare try and catch a glimpse of them. Their flashlights worse throwing light in every direction, and I could tell by they are panicked breathing and their hurried footsteps that they were scared. They went sprinting down the hallway towards the opposite door, totally bamboozled by the sound I’d just made.
For my part, I didn't move. All I did was listen. My goal wasn’t to ambush them. Right now, all I wanted to do was make sure that I wasn’t dealing with more than two of them.
It was unlikely that I could handle the pair of them by myself, but I certainly didn't want to try and make my escape only to run into another one, bring up the rear.
If there's anything that makes you cocky in these games, its power. The Survivors thought they had all of it, and so they worked even checking the rooms they ran past. I don't even think that they could imagine that they were being tricked. They ran unerringly down the hallway, falling so eagerly for my diversion that they pushed open the doors and rushed up to the roof.
I smiled to myself, pleased that they were clearly unaware that their prey was about to make its escape. They were so stupid that for a second I wondered if some of the Survivors could possibly be NPCs, powered by a diligent though not very imaginative AI. Could people that had invested that much money into this game really be that stupid?
I shrugged to myself. I suppose the globe had rolled into the shadows. Maybe they hadn't seen it, but nothing was going to make a gamer more arrogant and bloodthirsty than giving them a pile of weapons and sending them off to butcher hundreds upon hundreds of unarmed opponents.
I couldn't wait any longer. The roof wasn’t that big and I couldn’t imagine what was taking them so long to return. Even though I thought that they were both acting like fools, they must have realized by now that they’d been tricked. I was expecting them to come back in and search the place properly, going door-to-door like they should have in the first place.
And since there was nowhere to hide in this little office, I'd be a sitting duck.
My stats still meant that I couldn’t move very fast, but I pushed myself at top speed out of the office and into the hallway. When I turned to face the double doors at the end of it, I froze. How far would I get before they found me? Probably not very far, if I was being honest. They'd hear me, and if they didn't they could probably search the entire top floor then come looking for me before I made it out.
That wouldn't do.
Oh well, I said to myself. You’re never going to know how far you can go in this game unless you grab every chance it gives you.
Instead of trying to escape, I turned around again and went to the door they’d just gone through. The ones that led to the roof. Maybe I could sneak after them. Maybe if they get close enough to the edge I could push one of them off the building and try to take the other one out before he shot me or clubbed me or sent me tumbling after his buddy to the pavement below.
I mentally shook my head, unsurprised when the Zombie version of me shook his head as well. That wouldn't work. It sounded too much like a fair fight, and I had no interest in that.
Instead, I examined the door. There was enough sunlight trickling in from up the stairs that my Low Light Vision was kicking in nicely, showing me all of the details I could possibly ask for.
There was a lock on the door. It was a simple one, one that only required me to grab a knob and twist.
I put my hand out and pinched the knob with my fingers, but when I tried to rotate my wrist the damn thing just wouldn’t go. I struggled with it, trying to keep calm even though I was becoming increasingly frantic. I needed to be quiet, but I needed to hurry even more.
I could just about have cried. The lock was so simple. I could practically see the mechanism that I had to operate, but try as I might I just couldn’t make it work. The frustration made me growl, and I fought the urge to just try and tear the knob off in desperation. I’d locked doors like these a hundred million times in my real life, but this stupid game with its stupid Zombies had me wrestling with whatever gr
ey matter they’d left me with as I tried to lock the Survivors out.
But the game wouldn’t let me. It just wasn’t going to happen. The Zombie’s clearly had their own set of rules, and one of them was that the rotted brain in my skull flat out couldn’t accomplish some of the things it had once done with such simplicity in life.
I was powerless. And worse, I was probably out of time…
Chapter 14
The game flashed a message in front of my eyes.
You do not have access to that skill yet.
Great. It was bad enough that I couldn’t complete the task of locking the Survivors on to the roof, but the way the game had phrased it made it sound like maybe I would have access to the skill. Just not yet, no matter how badly I needed it.
And, since I couldn't lock this door to save my life, literally, those two up there would turn around and come back in end my game for the week. Everything up to this point had been for nothing.
But I’m no quitter. The door itself was pretty simple, just like the lock. The hinges were on this side, which meant that it opened in this direction. If I couldn't even twist the knob that would lock the door I doubted I could do anything to really affect the hinges themselves, and even if I wanted to I didn't think that I the strength to do it myself. So, that ruled out sabotage.
The window I’d shattered was still in place. Not that that mattered, but other than prying a piece of broken glass out of the frame the only things I could use as tool were pieces of the various crap lying on the ground around me.
I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t even operate the lock. I could have a full toolbox right next to me and the game wouldn’t let me use them. I was a Zombie, not a mechanic or an engineer.
Headshot: One in the Gut (Book 1 of a Zombie litRPG Trilogy) Page 6