Chapter Two - Night Fight

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Locke swallowed his screams when he heard the sound, it was the sound of something walking behind him, something heavy, his whole body went cold and cold sweat ran down his forehead, his whole body was shaking and his heart was beating like crazy. 'There's something behind you', his instinct told him, 'something dangerous'.

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The noise came up again, this time a lot closer and Locke started to smell a rancid smell of rotting meat, 'move' the voice in his brain said 'move you idiot bastard! You will die if you stand still like an imbecile' the thought popped out, sounding differently than his inner voice did, freeing him from his stupor, Locke turned and could see a figure in the distance, he looked like a man tall, half naked, the man moved by dragging one of his legs, in a nauseating walk.

'This isn't human' a voice in his head said, 'it shouldn't exist', Locke found his own thoughts strange, the thing crawling towards him wasn't human? Why the hell would he know that?

'This must be some homeless person, or someone trying to play a prank on me' he tried to affirm to himself, but still he felt in his guts that it was not a prank or a homeless person.

The smell of rotting meat started to get stronger, the creature was closer, and this time Locke was sure something was wrong when the creature started to grunt at him.

'I don't know what the fuck this is, I have no idea what's going on, but I have to get a weapon' Locke turned and ran into the trees, he soon saw a sturdy branch in a reachable place and in a jump pulled off the branch, assuming a battle position he turned to the creature and waited.

The creature continued towards him, and in the light of the moon Locke could at last observe what was in front of him.

The creature looked human, but it shouldn't be moving at all, it looked like a big, bald man with gray skin full of wounds, with a few tufts of big hair stuck around his head, but the bald parts had no skin, and the white skull was visible in them, one of his eyes was absent, the other was a morbid gray color, the skin of the nose and mouth was missing, leaving the hole in the sample bone next to a row of sharp teeth.

As a healthy young man, regardless of his poor reality Locke had had his fair share of fun, like games, books and cinema so he immediately recognized the creature in front of him.

"Zombie"

The Zombie continued to hobble towards Locke, extending his hands in his direction, his nails were like the claws of a bird of prey.

'Kill it' his instinct shouted 'tear this abomination to pieces'. Locke felt his body burst into a murderous will, for some reason all his fear was gone, in its place a strange bloodlust had arisen, he hated this thing in front of him, he felt he had to kill this thing at all costs .

Locke jumped towards the zombie, he deflected by a hair from the outstretched claws and hit the side of the zombie's leg with the branch, knocking him to his knees, then, with a big swing he hit the side of the zombie's head, dropping it and breaking the branch, without thinking twice he grabbed a large rock nearby and threw it over the zombie skull with all his strength, crushing the creature's head. Only after killing the creature did Locke realize how much stamina he had used. He put his hands on his knees and tried to take a breath.

"Don't stop your fool!" the voice came again, and this time Locke was sure it was not his voice of thoughts, "Where there is one there is always more!" the voice amended.

"Who ... Who are you?"

"And does it matter now, *sshole? You need to find the way out! " The voice answered.

"Way out? What way out? "

"Why was I given to the worst candidate right away? Listen to me and move now!" The voice responded with apparent anger.

Locke swallowed his doubts and replied "Where to?" "Left in the middle of the trees, you must find the center of this formation to escape".

Locke starts ran in the direction the voice commanded, passing trees, bushes and other obstacles he kept running as if life depended on it, well, apparently it did.

"Yea! Yea! Yea! You're getting close, just a little while longer ... damn, there are others ahead, be prepared! "

Slowing down, Locke kept going, he didn't ask what was ahead because he already knew, and soon he could see other zombies.

There were three of them, one was a woman with a horrible appearance, her entire face had been eaten and she had no arms, another was a short and thin man, he looked like the most human of the three with the only indication of his dark nature being the fact that his intestines were out of his body, the third was the largest of the three, he had no skin and one of his arms stretched into a sharp bony tip.

"Damn it!" said the voice, Locke now realized that the voice was feminine "The only way for you to survive is if I give you the reward now, say "accept reward""

"Accept reward?"

"First reward redeemed, basic dagger acquired"

Locke felt a strange sensation in his right hand, small points of light appeared and then a short dagger appeared in his hand, the blade was short and simple, and its handle and guard were black, it looked like a two-edged knife.

The dagger fit surprisingly well in Locke's hands and without thinking twice he ran towards the nearest creature, the woman, "aim in the head" the voice screamed, the zombie started to turn with the noise, but Locke was more fast, driving the blade into the creature's neck, kicking it towards the zombie at the end and dropping it in the process, Locke removed the dagger, with a quick movement Locke ran towards the third zombie, the intestine zombie tried to grab Locke with his claws, only to realize that there was nothing left in front of him, so the tip of a dagger came out over his forehead, ending his pathetic existence.

The tip zombie was getting up at that moment, roaring angrily, Locke repeated his maneuver and kicked the gut zombie towards him, the tip zombie impaled the corpse with the bone tip, Locke took the opportunity to finish one more with the dagger , the blade stuck in the head of the zombie on the end and yet again Locke emerged victorious and again he was exhausted.

"The requirements have been met, level one has been reached," the voice said to Locke, a strange sensation coursing through his body, freeing him from exhaustion.

"Level one? What are you going on about? "

"We don't have time for that right now, keep going to exit before you find more zombies"

Locke took a deep breath and ran again in the orderly direction, feeling his lungs burning, he finally reached a clearing where a strange circle full of intricate designs emitted a purple glow, "There it is" said the voice in visible happiness, happiness that Locke did not share, because around the circle there were a lot of zombies.

"Damn, how am I going to get through this?"

"Ignore them and run with all your might, as long as you reach the center of the circle I can get you out of here"

"But what if one of them bites or scratches me? I don't want to become a zombie! "

"Don't say nonsense, you fool, do you think this is R * sident Evil by any chance? As long as you are not surrounded or seized, these abominations cannot do anything to you! "

Deciding to trust the voice that helped him until that moment Locke crossed his arms in front of him and rushed in, he felt the pain of either claw scratching his skin but none of them was quick enough to grab or knock him over . Striking sporadically and using all his strength he managed to reach the center of the circle.

"YES! Until never rotten bitches! " Said the voice in his head, and in a bright light it enveloped Locke, forcing him to close his eyes.

When Locke opened his eyes and found himself a short distance from his car, with no sign of a zombie in sight, Locke almost doubted whether everything he had been through had actually happened, but the dagger in his hand and the scratches on his body confirmed that everything he had been through had been real, the tiredness of his last desperate effort was also quite real.

"Get back in your car and rest, you don't have to worry anymore, not with me here" the voice said.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Locke leaned back while breathing hard, mental tiredness breaking through, after a few seconds he calmed down. "You ... Who or what are you?"

"I would prefer you to rest first, but I suppose that is impossible in the face of the situation, before explaining what I am, I need to ask you ... Do you remember your father?"