Chapter 8

Opening his eyes, Shades watched the dawn rays of the sun beginning to peak over the horizon. It was one of his favourite times of the day, the rising and setting of the sun. It made him think of new beginnings and an end to old roads.

Tilting his eyes downwards, his vision was filled with Mel’s ethereal hair.

‘She really is very beautiful.’ He thought.

He hadn’t been numb to the changes of her body. She was almost up to his shoulder in length, about the size of a sixteen year old. She was already the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

He thought about what she meant to him in the grand scheme of things. He knew if he’d been alone in this new world, he’d likely go crazy with all the horrors he’d seen. He had become numb to most of it already, but he didn’t think anyone could go through all of that without being scarred in some way.

He thought about looking for his mother at first, before remembering that she was on the other side of world on business. If she hadn’t made it to some place safe already, he doubted arriving there in a few months would make any difference. She was away on business a lot and with him living on his own most of the time, the thought of losing her didn’t hit him as hard as it would to a lot of others.

He rubbed Mel’s head again softly, his thoughts turning back to her. He had made the decision of not thinking of her in a sexual or romantic light of any kind before she was at least looked his age. It was becoming increasingly difficult with his teenage hormones getting in the way, what with her being half naked all the time, but it didn’t really feel right thinking like that about someone who looked like they could be his little sister.

Forcing his thoughts away from that avenue and into safer waters, he thought about what they would be doing today. He assumed they would just be continuing on their current path until something happened to change their plans. The big changes in the system had happened after the first day and the first month, so maybe the next change would be after the next month or even year? They’d just have to wait and see, getting stronger as they went along.

Preparing dungeon areas.

Time until completion and world distribution:

167:59:57

He blinked, surprised at the notification that just appeared in front of him. He quickly did the calculations in his mind.

‘A week.’ He concluded. ‘At least this time the message was pretty clear. If they meant the dens and common monsters when they talked about the environment, then the dungeon areas could be bonus areas where extra rewards or loot or whatever could be gained.’

He decided it could be worth the look if they ever encountered one.

Mel started stirring on his chest. Slowly waking up, she blinking owlishly at the screen floating in front of her.

“We’ve got a week until those dungeons start appearing.” He said. “What do you think? Could be worth a look.”

“Sure.” She shrugged. She didn’t say anything else as she yawned, showing off her impressive fangs, and settled back in, continuing to lie on him. It reminded him of someone who didn’t want to get out of bed. The thought made him grin.

“C’mon, Mel. Time to get up.”

She groaned, not moving.

“Warm.” She mumbled.

He sighed, thinking of how he could get them up and moving. He didn’t want to stay in one place for too long, especially with the monsters now able to roam freely and the level clock they were constantly up against.

Having an idea of how he could get her going, he tried to manoeuvre her body, endeavouring not to think about the warmth and feel of the skin of the scantily clad girl on top of him. Eventually he got her into position, despite her mumbled protests.

“Have a bite, then we’ve got to go.” He said as he positioned her mouth over the side of his neck.

That caused her to open her eyes and she happily bit into his neck as she held on to him sleepily. She still managed to take her time, but Shades didn’t particularly mind as they both enjoyed the relaxing sensation.

She finally got up once she had her fill.

“Thanks for breakfast.” She said, grinning.

He shook his head, smiling to himself, and walked over to the edge of the roof. Stretching his arms, he gazed over the city, or what was left of it. They had almost reached the edge of the border of the city, after a month of travelling. They could see a forest off in the distance, from where they were standing. They’d probably reach it in a few days. It would go on for miles, before opening up into farmlands and lakes, where they got their food and water from. That would then go on until it reached the sea, which separated the massive island continent they were on from the rest of the world.

Mountains and rivers dotted the island. Shades couldn’t remember but he thought there was even a small, dormant volcano somewhere on it as well.

If they followed the same semi-relaxed pace they’d been moving at, they would probably arrive at the end of the island in the next few months. Once there, he wanted to take a boat – if there were still boats working by then – and continue travelling north. The last time he spoke to his mother, just before all this started, she was somewhere in that direction.

“Alright, Mel.” They did their habitual fist-bump at the start of a new day. “Let’s get moving.”

Sarah looked behind her, worried. They were hurrying as quietly as they could through alleys, avoiding any suspicious looking buildings or sounds that didn’t come from a human.

They were a group of seventeen people, ranging from their twenties to forties. They all lived in the same apartment building and had agreed to group up.

They had started off with thirty-four.

Most of them had been taken by zombies, while others had fallen to random monsters that lived in the buildings. They had fairly quickly decided to check out a building thoroughly before everyone entered it.

The guy in front, their impromptu leader, motioned for everyone to stay still and quiet while he checked out the street that their alley opened into, gripping an axe that he picked up tightly.

Sarah didn’t know where they were going. She didn’t think anyone really did, they just had to keep moving. They had stayed in the building for as long as they could until the food and water started dwindling. One of them had suggested they go out to find another place with more food and water. Most of the people disagreed, fearing what was out there, but they quickly came around when they noticed the problems they faced.

Some stayed behind, too scared to leave, while the rest took what they could. The guy who suggested it in the first place died only a few days later. By then they had gone too far to turn back.

Their immediate destination was a supermarket not too far away, where they could hopefully stock up on much-needed supplies. They just had to get there.

The guy in the lead, Jake she thought his name was, came back. They huddled around him.

“What have you got James?” A guy his age asked.

‘James.’ She corrected herself.

“A few walkers between us and the next alley, the rest are further away, but I think we can do it.” He whispered. “Didn’t spot any of those monsters.” Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. “If we’re quiet and quick enough, we’ll make it.”

They all looked at each other. Some determination, but mostly weariness and constant dread filled their eyes. They all nodded, however. They knew that staying in the same place would mean their death.

They quietly crept to the end of the alley and looked around once they reached it.

“Alright guys, you know the drill. Let’s go.” James whispered, motioning for them to follow him.

Quickly and as quietly as seventeen people could, they hurried to other side, avoiding the zombies as much as they could. They picked up their speed when some of the corpses slowly started shuffling in their direction.

They almost breathed sighs of relief when, only a few seconds later, they reached the other side of the street and the beginning of an alley, without incident. They saw a few more zombies in the alley though, and with the ones on the street shuffling after them, they couldn’t turn back.

Jake strode in front and, swinging the axe, chopped the first one in the head, splitting it vertically open. Ripping it out, he moved on to next, everyone hurriedly following behind him, still doing their best to not make too much noise.

Four zombies later, they reached the end of that alley and, without stopping, ran straight over the next street into the supermarket’s two large glass doors. Shutting them behind them, they smiled in relief over the fact that they finally made it.

Sarah was first relieved then worried when she looked around.

“Guys?” She called. “There aren’t any zombies in here.” She pointed to the eerily silent shops and large empty halls.

“Well I, for one, am thankful.” A middle-aged woman stated. “We can hold here and stock up on some supplies.”

The people nodded and started moving off in search of the food stores.

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Sarah mumbled as she slowly walked after them, looking around nervously. A few of them had the same idea as her and cautiously followed after the main group.

It wasn’t long before they reached what they were looking for. A large store that sold general items along with food, water and other accessories. Everyone split up and went through the aisles, taking shopping carts and grabbing what they could off the shelves.

Sarah went to the far right of the store where the clothes were kept, glancing down each aisle to see if she could find something that she could use.

Walking down the middle of a pair of shelves, she suddenly gasped, stopping and staring at a giant hole in the floor in front of her. It was almost two metres wide and went deep enough that she couldn’t see the bottom in the dim light of the mall.

‘What could’ve caused that?’ She wondered, slightly panicking.

Just then, a low rumbled was heard. The ground started shaking a little as if a tank was rolling past.

She saw what caused the disruption barely moments later as a huge white worm-like creature, with bones protruding from its decaying skin, burst of the ground a few aisles from her. It released an ear-piercing shriek, rising a few metres from the ground before diving back down. Screams of pain and shrieks of panic accompanied it abrupt entrance and exit.

A few moments later, it burst out again, causing more screams to erupt from the people she came with.

Darting out of the aisle, she ran to the front of the store and finally saw the damage it caused. The top half of a person lay across an overturned shelf. Rubble from the floor was strewn across the surface. It erupted from the ground again and grabbed the middle-aged woman screaming back into the depths.

The rest of the group ran from the store into the main hallway of the mall, hoping to escape it, but it just burst from the ground again, swallowing another person whole. Sarah was close enough to see the rows of razor sharp teeth in its gaping round maw.

The horrific scene caused her to freeze up. It surged out of the ground in front of her and angled its lipless mouth in her direction. She knew it was going to come down on top of her but she couldn’t move her limbs. The blood drained from her face and her legs trembled as she saw it approaching. She closed her eyes and waited for the end to finally come.

Just then, a crash was heard above her. Opening her eyes, she saw a black blur fly through the shattered roof window and collided with the worm creature, causing it to smash into the ground a few metres away from her. It still wriggled around furiously and tried to roll over, shrieking all the while.

Something burst out of its head though, sending bits of flesh and bone flying everywhere and splattering on the ground around her.

“Damn. Probably not my best idea.” It seemed to say.

Coming out of the shock she was in at still being alive and the sudden turn of events, Sarah saw a man climb out of the hole in its head. He was covered in blood and was wiping pieces of flesh from his arms.

“Mel, remind me never to try that again.” He said, looking up.

Sarah did as well and noticed a half-naked, dark grey girl come floating down from the hole in the ceiling. She looked to be trailing black smoke as she flew over to the man that now stood on top of the worm.

She blinked when she saw it starting to disintegrate into dust when the stranger jumped down from where he was standing.

Her mouth was still stuck on the ground when the stranger walked closer and she was finally able to see what he looked like. He looked to be trailing smoke himself, or was that the disintegrating pieces of flesh from the monster? She couldn’t tell. He had midnight black hair and wore all black clothes with a dark grey long overcoat. He didn’t look scared of what was happening at all. Didn’t have that paranoid, weary, dread-filled look. His skin was past the point of pale and had a grey colour as well. His most noteworthy feature, however, was his eyes. Those blood red orbs stared into her very soul, giving her a shiver down her spine.

It- He stopped about a metre away.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Ye-yes.” She managed to stammer out after a second.

He nodded, looking around at the debris and choas the monster’s passage caused. Sarah also now noticed the rest of her group picking themselves up, groaning at the bruises, cuts, and broken bones they received from this encounter.

“A tip for next time.” His words caused her attention to return to the person in front of her. “Where zombies aren’t, the monsters are.” He pointed at the pile of dust behind him.

Then he was gone. He jumped through the hole in the ceiling before she could respond and return from wherever he came as fast as he arrived.

‘That’s it?’ She wondered.

“Who was that?” Jerry walked up to her, binding a cut on his arm with a strip of clothing, staring at the pile of dust, just as she was.

She shook her head, still reeling after everything that happened. Still coming to terms with the fact that she was still alive.

Turning around, she looked at the last eight members of her group, helping each other out with their wounds, a soft sigh escaping her lips at those they lost.

“Come on.” She motioned to Jerry. “We better get a move on.”

Shades sat on the corner of a building overlooking the supermarket, watching as the small group of survivors hurried between the alleys, continuing on their way.

“That was nice of you.” Mel said, lifting a curious eyebrow as she floated next to him.

“Hmm.” He shrugged. “Can’t help everyone, but might as well have given them a hand while we waited for them.”

He looked back at the mall, hearing the distinct shrieks and rumbles of the Corpse Tunnelers. He dusted his hands off, standing up.

“Let’s finish what we came here to do and continue on our way.”

Day 53