Darkness.

Then, a whirl of color, spiraling around me like a chaotic tornado. Almost gives the impression I’m falling but it feels as if my feet were set on the ground. Slowing down, the colors start to stabilize into a picture.

Before me, the remnants of a once tall and proud city. Buildings crumbling, walls cracked and falling apart, the streets littered with craters. Two people, one a woman in her 20’s and the other a young girl in her early teens, were huddled together. Before I could puzzle anything else out, the picture fractures and then shatters around me.

The Screen pops up,

“Welcome to Fantasy Haven! You are in Sector %#&*, your guide will be with you shortly to explain your new world! Enjoy your stay!”

Dismissing the screen causes the picture I saw before to become my new reality. In the split second the world washes over me, I notice I’m about 7 meters away from the two girls. I hear them breathing heavily and there is a rustling sound - like many footsteps slowly moving towards me. Looking at the girls, I can see that they are sweating. Tears trickling down their faces and it looks like they are trying not to sob. Their heads and eyes jerking to and fro, frantically looking for... something?

Above their heads, there are names and their corresponding level? It’s blurry, but if I squint I see Josefina is the name above the older womans head, with lvl 7 following it. Madeline is the younger of the two, with lvl 3 next to hers.

I glance around but I’m right inside where an alley would have been, so my view is obstructed to each side. My pulse starts to quicken, remembering scenes like this during my tours in the military. I step forward, arm outstretched to catch their attention. That’s when the younger girl lets out a keening, wounded, “Noooo!”

Dozens of screaming voices follow the young girl’s cry, reverberating all around, and I realize - they’re being hunted.

Grotesque, emaciated bodies with open wounds, and dangling flesh in varying places were sprinting towards the girls. Zombies, my mind and eyes provide, with various different levels next to the names above their heads. Their levels are blurry and since they’re moving to attack the girls, I don’t take the time to try to examine something so arbitrary.

By the time my thought passes and I start to reach for my guns at my hips, it’s too late. The horde have already piled on top of the girls. Their screams are brief. Josefina, the older one, made eye contact with me and I could see her terror and sadness in the one lone eye amongst the sea of undead on and around her.

My eyes dilate, adrenaline flooding my system. A small smile works its way on my face. It’s too late for the two girls, but I can destroy their killers. Training, instinct, countless hours of practice all snap into place as my body relaxes and readies itself for war. Destroy the opposition.

There are over thirty in the mob, with more streaming in. Who wants to live forever?

The bizarre circumstances leading to my arrival here, the levels, the names, actual zombies - none of that matters to me at this moment. All I can think about is: there were two girls horrifically killed in front of me and I am living on borrowed time. I have the training, the ability, the weapons, and the confidence - now it’s time to force my reality on them.

Memories of games, movies, and stories about zombies bolt through my mind as I finish taking the two 9mm handguns out of their holsters. I’m in a corridor, I glance behind for a split second to gauge possible sneak attack angles - walls two meters high on either side, a few entry ways dotted either side like a residential or commercial alleyway would have. I have no knowledge of this place, so I’ll have to make it up as I go.

Looking towards the feasting horde, I notice a small infinity symbol next to a handgun at the bottom right of my visual. Not quite a HUD, but that information alone sends a tingle up and down my spine. Infinite ammo, perhaps? Let’s find out!

I begin firing on the stragglers who were slowly approaching the mass of broiling flesh, aiming for the head and hoping the same principle everyone who’s heard of zombies know - take out the head to kill the undead.

The two shots I fired simultaneously blow the heads apart like ripe melons. Not expected, but I can work with that. There was a brief moment when my vision was blocked by The Screen, but I unconsciously eliminated its presence. Later, I would regret this unconscious action I took. For now, it’s time to fight with all I have and see where this takes me.

Having fired off two more shots per gun, four more heads explode - the coordination for such a technique having been instilled during my intense training. I vaguely notice the bodies started to fade away after the heads were blown off. By now, the rest of the horde is aware of the loud noise maker in the alley way and they start to stand back up to eliminate my party crashing.

From this point, I start edging back to keep some distance for easy kills. Occasionally sweeping behind me to make sure no other guests are arriving late to the party. Less than two minutes later, I’m in the middle of the alleyway with only a few remaining stragglers of what once was a horde.

Good news: infinite ammo is a thing.

The last zombies that would have been accomplice to the murder in front of me were dead. More screams, both near and distant, could be heard after I finished firing. Time to start survival mode and then work on my exfiltration of this undead city.

Not having any familiarity with this place, I glanced around quickly for a tall building I can use to get a lay of the land. I head back to where the girls were before they were killed, not seeing a suitably tall viewpoint while surrounded by walls in the alleyway.

Exiting said alley, I look for any other stragglers. Knowing time was short, I move over to the young girls bodies. Like all other zombie topics, I’m going to assume they will turn into zombies themselves. I take one of my twin daggers out, take a deep breath while detaching my mind further, and stab both through each of their eyes. As the dagger blade was over fifteen cm long (over six inches), I still wanted to be sure the brain damage was enough to prevent them from turning.

Their bodies fade away, just like all the other zombies I killed, so I must have succeeded. I noticed a faint outline of what looked like a small bag for a split second after the bodies fade, but that disappears too after a second or so.

“Rest in peace.” I mutter while making the sign of the cross. I then glance around again, spotting a building tall enough to suit my purposes in the distance. Quick and quiet, I traverse the nine or so blocks to the derelict eighteen story building. Keeping an eye on my surroundings, listening to the yelling of the zombies as they rush to where they heard the gunshots, I duck in and out of cover to avoid any further confrontations until I at least have an idea of where to go.

I notice that sound is what attracted the zombies to the girls. I won’t assume that’s their only method of detection, but it appears the most keen of their senses. Keeping in mind the occasional dangling eyeball, it’s likely to be the only sense they use. Still, better to err on the side of caution until tested.

Based on how the sun is setting, I’m going to safely guess that it’s now late afternoon. While working in the cover of darkness didn’t bother me before, now that I hopefully have night vision, things will be much easier. Even if zombies are supposedly more active at night.

The front of the building is worn down. Chunks of debris that used to be the other floors of the building lay scattered around the base. I look for an entry point, of which there are many. Most of the ground floor must have been glass windows or similar back when the building was whole. Glancing inside the darkened interior, there is no noticeable movement or bodies shambling around. Hopefully my skirmish earlier dragged them all out.

I creep along the interior, looking for the staircase that will lead me higher for a better view point. The open floor design and tall ceilings makes me think it was a business or maybe a hotel. After getting an idea of my location, I decide to check for anything that may have been left behind. Finding the staircase up, I start the slow climb to hopefully get some idea on where I’m at.

Carefully opening the tattered door on the eighteenth floor, I’m surprised it opens without so much as a squeek. The last functional floor, now a mostly open roof of the building I was in, had more debris than inside the rest of the place. I gingerly start to make my way around the perimeter, testing every step before committing my full weight. I’d hate to fall through if it could be avoided.

The rest of the building was quiet. While I didn’t search floor by floor, there was no one else present as I walked up the staircase to my present location. Noting that there were no zombies or other possible enemies present, I mumble to myself, “Just need a police uniform and a hot sidekick with a tube top, then it’d be like those ‘Evil’ games my father fangirled about.”

The sun is truly setting now, casting long shadows amongst the remnants of the sprawling metropolis. Eerily quiet, no chirping of crickets or even birds calling out. No noticeable air traffic of said birds, no planes, or even helicopters. No flashing lights, neon signs, whirring gadgets, nothing. The city sounds abandoned, except for the occasional shuffling I’ve associated with the zombies.

I make sure to take my time looking around my surroundings, trying to find places of residence or maybe even a grocery store. I can check those places for sustenance and a place to hole up for a bit while I work on getting out of wherever it is I ended up.

Yes, wherever. Because there was no guide or what not to ‘assist’ me upon arrival. I doubt very much the two girls had been given that task, as being a guide also means being able to handle themselves. Maybe my logic is skewed, but that’s what I’m going with. Not that I’m worried about despairing, this is a similar situation I was trained for. Just without the, you know, zombies.

I’m basically near the middle of a sprawling metropolis, this building being one of the taller existing points to use for sightseeing. Debris, ruin, the occasional shambling undead, and skeletal buildings are all that remains as far as my eyes can see. Oddly, no vehicles were present. I half figured there would be hundreds littering the streets, but not a single one was present.

Getting a good look around, I start to note directions, landmarks, possible places with sustenance, possible locations for a hiding spot. I take time to mark it all out in my head, gauging distances and plotting routes.

“Let the games begin.” I muttered as I make my way back down.

Two obvious ways to handle this: the first being stealth. I’m good at it, been doing a lot of it in my career and rarely did things go FUBAR.

The second choice is going in loud.

Given my career, I rarely ever got to go this route for my missions. Those times I could were fun, obviously loud, and extremely planned out to eliminate most of the chances of being terminated. Wouldn’t want to fail the mission after all.

The third option, being a mixture of both, is what I will be using. Since my enemies are zombies and they are likely only attracted to sound, I’ll be popping a few of their heads then making for cover while the rest of the surrounding hoard is frenzied by the sudden sound. Let them all come running while I slip away to look around with a modicum of peace and less chance of being molested.

Exiting the broken tower, I begin the hunt. The hunt for zombies, the hunt for food, the hunt for survival.