“Apocalypse changes everyone, some just hide it better. Sometimes even I don’t recognize what I have become, nor do I want to. There is nothing to gain from reminiscing about what is gone.”

~ Batrak, The only survivor of the 2nd Outbreak

The angry howls and screeches echoed in the distance as Leo dashed into one of the abandoned houses that had a clear view of the situation near the bitch’s residence. He shut the door and blocked it with a broken shelf before sprinting upstairs.

He couldn't bring himself to feel guilty or bad about leaving the woman to the horde. Leo only wanted to once again experience some normal human contact or maybe even form a group to make survival in this world easier. Instead, he received a woman consumed by madness that almost sent the entire horde after him.

Just my luck. Leo sighed as he sat in front of the broken window that gave him quite a nice view of the woman’s house.

Cursed Humans and Runners already spilled into the backyard, scanning every inch of the house, while the two Hounds sniffed and scraped at the doors. The Crawlers were nowhere in sight, but if the bestiary didn’t lie then Leo knew what was coming, especially when the woman had one of her windows broken.

The Voidlings continued to come, Leo already counted over twenty. Some just walked around as if they were securing the perimeter, while the rest joined with the fight against the doors or windows. Only it wasn’t really a fight and in a minute the glass shattered and the hinges broke, opening the entire house to the horde.

No wonder the System didn’t acknowledge my parent's house as a secure shelter if they could do that. I really need to figure something out for the next night.

“Argh!” A scream like no other pierced the air, echoing through the entire neighborhood. Leo flinched, ducking under the window as the Voidlings joined the scream like one organized orchestra.

The chorus alone sent chills through Leo’s spine and so he just sat against the wall, eyes closed as he tried to ignore the dying scream.

No matter what, I hope you find peace. Away from all of this madness. No one deserved death like this and even if Leo was almost numb to death after everything he experienced, he still recognized how fucked this world was.

Minutes passed as Leo listened to the Voidlings celebrating their hunt. Sometimes their howls and screeches would turn even more aggressive than they already were and Leo couldn’t help but wonder if the monsters fought over the right to eat their kill.

Not so high on the food chain are we anymore, eh? Leo let out a short, bitter chuckle. Humans were never the strongest creatures on Earth, but with technology, there wasn’t much humanity couldn’t achieve. And now they were all reduced to almost nothing, hiding from beasts that only waited to feast on their flesh.

More positive thoughts inbound. Leo shook his head and took another peek through the window. He already wasted enough time.

The Voidlings still walked around the house, but most of them never left the building after the initial rush and maybe, just maybe, Leo could use this to his advantage. The large block of flats seemed like a good place to maybe find more humans or something useful and with most of the security gone, the way in shouldn’t be too hard.

Just as swiftly as Leo entered the house, he jumped out of it, sprinting deeper into the cleared part of the neighborhood. With few houses between him and the Voidlings, Leo dropped true stealth, releasing a deep sigh as the drain on his Essence stopped.

The skill only required a bit of energy to sustain it over time, but with Leo’s meager reserves, every second mattered. Even the few minutes needed to travel around the area let Leo regenerate a portion of the Essence he lost in the last few hours.

That’s what I get for having a weak Soul and a strong Mind… Definitely need to get a point or two there.

And that was what Leo did as his journey took him to the end of the third street that, just like the other one, connected to the road that the block of flats stood by. The screeching continued to echo from the opposite side of the area and yet Leo still managed to dirty his claws and dagger with even more blood of Voidlings, whose death pushed him to level six.

Two to Soul. Let’s see what it really does. He commanded, taking a knee behind a fence.

The pain in Leo’s body, associated with the gains from his class, came and went in almost a second. Now no more than a weak sting from a blunt stick. And then the two free attributes came into play, burning through all of his body and soul.

He groaned as phantom hands grabbed the small pond of Essence and pulled in every direction. Leo bent forward, almost falling to the ground as his soul expanded with every pull. The inferno that Leo now recognized as his Essence, continued to ravage his entire being.

Leo coughed, his throat as dry as the desert. And then, just like with every power-up after a level, the burning and stretching stopped, leaving him panting for breath as his hand sneaked into his bag.

Yanking the bottle of water out, Leo drank it in one go, gasping as the water traveled through his body. What the hell was that?!

True stealth, which failed during the power-up, once again formed over his body, Leo’s eyes narrowing as he felt the initial pull of Essence. He had to grab the energy in a tight hold as it left Leo’s slightly larger soul and tried to just dissipate without activating the skill.

Leo’s essence now burned with a new fire and if not for the many points in Mind he gained, the energy would have probably tried to fight him for control once again.

So bigger reserves and more power overall for Essence? That makes sense, somewhat.

It presented a problem of keeping the Essence always controlled, but for now, Leo preferred to invest in Mind anyway so it shouldn’t be that big of an issue. Besides, his class offered one free point into this attribute even if Leo didn’t spend one of the free ones there.

I wonder if the power of Essence improves the efficiency of skills that don’t depend on the Soul. Something to experiment with later…

Picking up his bag again, Leo approached the edge of the fence and leaned out, scanning his path to the side of the block of flats.

The majority of the Voidlings were gone, leaving a few stragglers to just walk around the courtyard. And just like Leo predicted the Crawlers weren’t here, probably too busy with fighting over the right to their kill.

Leo dashed out of his hiding place, crossing the street and then jumping behind one of the many trees strewed around the neighborhood. No more than a hundred feet and one Cursed Human separated Leo from the block’s side.

Dagger in hand, Leo ran again. On his way, he slipped behind the Voidlings and grabbed its head, stabbing it before moving forward. If the other Voidlings noticed the body later, then hopefully they would just use it as another meal, not a reason to investigate.

Hugging the side of the block, Leo slowly sneaked around it, approaching one of the four entrances to the building. With electricity long gone, the advanced lock never managed to close the door again and so Leo just slipped in, welcoming the familiar darkness of the short corridor illuminated only by his taint.

He moved to the end of the hallway that led to the staircase and twisted the handle of another door, smiling as the lock clicked. The window in the door showed nothing dangerous on the other side, but Leo kept the dagger tightly gripped in his hand.

The door slowly slid open, immediately assaulting Leo’s ears with a soft creak and a sound so gut-wrenching that he froze, all hairs on his body standing up.

What the fuck? Crying echoed through the entire stairway, bouncing off the walls as it barely reached the ground floor. It had the tone of a small child and the edge of a Voidling’s screech.

Leo gulped, raising his tainted arm high as he finally moved up the stairs with a snail’s pace.

The wooden railing and white walls lacked irregularities or signs of some creature straight out of nightmares, and yet the crying continued. Check the first two floors and then get the hell out of here. Pop culture taught me enough of places like this…

He ascended to the slightly elevated ground floor and scanned the four closed doors, each leading to a different flat. Leo placed his claws on the nearest handle and twisted it inch by inch, not even thinking of yanking it with all his strength like he usually did.

The door didn’t budge and Leo frowned as he instead focused on forming another ball of Essence inside his hand. The pulse entered the ground and spread outwards, the entire floor momentarily flashing with a crimson light.

Keeping his eyes on the stairs going higher, Leo tried to process the feedback of the skill. Plenty of alive signatures, most probably from Voidlings. He grimaced. And there should be some kind of stronger weapon in the last flat on this floor.

Leo moved to the chosen door and tried his luck again. Locked, of course. He scowled as he pointed one of his claws at the keyhole and focused on the energy of his stealth. If I could just…

Before the metal could make any sound from the invasion, Leo pushed the energy of his stealth outwards, directing it straight at the lock, but still trying to keep its properties. Please work. More and more energy moved through his claw and Leo had to fight the urge to break the skill as the drain on his reserves became larger than ever.

In a matter of seconds, the entire lock glowed with colorless energy. And when Leo pushed more of his claws into the lock, it never released any kind of sound of crushing or breaking. He twisted the handle again and grinned as the door opened just a bit.

I’m getting better at this. His stealth collapsed at the end, but Leo was quick to activate it again, the monstrous crying never leaving him.

One more low-powered pulse and Leo moved, closing the door behind him as he sneaked through the entrance corridor of the house. Rooms on the left and right and yet Leo only stopped before the last door that should hide the only alive being inside this flat.

Raising his hand, Leo knocked on the door, only getting a short muffled screech in return. Of course it is Voidling. He frowned. Whatever, I don’t need to deal with you anyway. The monster didn’t try to fight the door so Leo had no reason to go through the trouble of destroying the lock and then killing the creature before it got too loud.

Ignoring the only trouble in the flat, Leo began looting, moving from room to room, trying to find the weapons his skill detected. Some additional food was nice and all, but the slightly chipped tip of his dagger showed enough to recognize that the weapon wouldn’t last for much longer.

Entering the last room, Leo’s eyebrows raised when his arm illuminated the many shelves inside.

A collector? Military fanatic?

Firearms new and old, knives of all kinds, and military decorations filled almost every shelf. Leo raised to his full height, hand already grabbing one of the many guns. Weird, it’s too light. Even with my new strength.

Identifying the weapon, Leo snorted. Replica. Great...

The same went for any other firearm and most of the knives. In the end, Leo was left with only two weapons that weren’t replicas or items of a broken quality. Still better than I expected. Leo shrugged, looking at the two common knives.

Weaponry never really interested Leo before and without identify, he would have never known that the straight knife with a black blade was a military fighting knife. The other one though seemed much more powerful, with a clipped blade as long as the one of his dagger. Bowie knife, interesting name.

Leo attached the leather sheath of the long knife to his waist while placing the other one in the spot of his dagger. The broken weapon might have served Leo well, but it was high time to part ways.

Armed with something that shouldn’t collapse at a moment’s notice, Leo walked out of the flat, remembering to come back here if he ever needed more broken weaponry.

Leo advanced up the stairs, the crying once again sending shivers down his spine. The moment he got to the second floor and his gaze landed on the stair leading to the third one, Leo thanked the god that his stealth muffled any sound he made as the whole vocabulary of curses left his mouth.

Any further way up was blocked by a thick, black web that dripped with fresh blood. It filled the entire staircase, covering walls, railing, everything. It created a scene straight out of a horror movie.

Leo backed off a step and like a rocket, he shot down the stairs never looking back.

No fucking thanks. Go eat someone else, whatever you are.