Gathering Supplies
"La la… la la la," Lucas hummed as he walked around. The number of zombies seemed lower than he thought. Maybe the late-night start of the apocalypse meant fewer people were around, explaining the lack of new zombies beyond the first five and the vegetable stall's owners.
'Alright, so canned food, water bottle, and hmm… What else?' Lucas thought while looking at the meat and vegetable sections, searching for useful stuff. Moving away from those sections, he went to the left side of the meat area—the product section—an invaluable resource in his view.
"Ah, perfect!" Lucas grinned when he saw several cans of meat, a fancy find in the current mess. He quickly put them in his bag, happy about the lucky find, before continuing to explore the product section.
Soon, he found some soap in one stall. Being clean-conscious, he gathered all the soap he could find, along with some shampoo and body wash. While some stalls had useful stuff, many others were empty.
The only stalls still stocked with products seemed to be the late-night vendors who'd stay open until the early hours. 'Pretty dedicated,' he thought, not sure if they were dead or had run off without their stuff. Either way, those supplies were his now.
"Urgh..." An unexpected sound caught Lucas's attention, making him ready his spear and go toward the source. Suddenly, a dog jumped at him. He quickly positioned his spear to defend, but the agile dog dodged it, landing behind him. The dog stared with wide-open jaws before leaping at Lucas again, a crazy look in its eyes.
"A dog? Seriously? I can't even outrun a regular one," Lucas complained before using a shampoo bottle he'd picked up earlier to hit the dog.
"Bang!" The heavy shampoo bottle hit, making the dog tumble, though it quickly got back up and lunged again. Lucas quickly got his spear and thrust it through the dog's chest and out its back, stopping the creature.
Even though the dog struggled, Lucas held the spear firm with one hand and got his baseball bat with the other. After a few swings, the dog's skull snapped, and its brain stuff got scattered.
---
[Level 1 Mutated Dog Killed, Awarding 60 Exp!]
---
"May you rest in peace," Lucas sighed, nudging the lifeless dog aside. He felt a bit sorry for the creature, knowing that in these tough times, it was about survival for both him and the dog.
Honestly, Lucas wasn't a big dog lover; he was always kind of scared of them. He preferred cats, the cute animals he'd always wanted to have, even though he never got to keep one. Lucas struggled with his feelings, not sure how he'd feel if he had to take the life of a cat. He hoped he wouldn't have to find out.
"If a level one dog is that fast, how about a level five dog?" Lucas wondered aloud, imagining a dog zooming toward him like a motorbike. He shivered just thinking about it, his skin tingling. Luckily, his improved agility would probably let him dodge such an attack.
A bit ahead, a freezer caught Lucas's eye. He went over and got two big water bottles, orange juice, and soy milk before closing the freezer. Even with the gross smell, he put up with it for a bit to get what he needed. The stench was already bad after just two days without a fridge, and Lucas didn't look forward to it getting worse as the stuff decayed more.
Ignoring the future smell, Lucas kept going, searching for supplies. He saw a couple of plastic bags filled with sunflower seeds on the floor, and without thinking twice, he added them to his big backpack. In an apocalypse, you can't be picky.
Lucas took a moment to thank the nice aunt who gave him the backpack. It was huge, like a mountain climbing bag, perfect for carrying lots of stuff.
Looking at the shrinking long-term food choices in the product section, he turned his attention to the fish area at the back of the market. This was a familiar spot where he usually sold his catch.
Despite being a fisherman, the stink of dead fish nearby was a bother he shared with most people. The fish section was oddly quiet. This lack of movement made Lucas think about leaving through the market's back to get stronger. He wanted to keep up with the growing number of zombies and weird creatures.
"AHH-" Lucas screamed, surprised. Two zombies suddenly appeared to his left. Quickly dodging the zombie on his right, Lucas got his spear and poked the other. Sadly, his hit only grazed the zombie, letting it grab some of his hair.
"Ouch!" Lucas cried as it hurt. He had to duck and kick the zombie away before jabbing his spear into its chest. The tip got into the zombie's chest, pinning both creatures. They were done for as their blood mixed.
Leaving the spear in their chests, Lucas rushed to a nearby fish stall for a cleaver knife. With all his might, he chopped both zombies' heads to make sure they were done. Blood gushed, and their heads fell at a quiet end.
Suddenly, another zombie jumped from behind, just missing Lucas's shirt before crashing into the dead bodies. A middle-aged man in torn clothes now lay in the mess. Lucas knew this unlucky guy.
"Oh, my neighbor, huh?" Lucas sighed in his head, looking at the changed man. He felt bad for his neighbor, even though they barely talked. Seeing someone he knew added a human side to the bad reality.
With a heavy heart, Lucas got the cleaver knife to face his zombie neighbor. He knew he was unsure, and no matter how hard he tried, he didn't think he could do it.
'Should I leave him here?' he wondered, not sure. But before he could choose, the zombie went for him. Its half-broken arm swung at him like a fast chain, leaving no time for Lucas's thinking.
Forcing himself to stop his feelings, Lucas bit his lip, getting ready for what he had to do. Knowing he had to kill the zombie, even if it was his neighbor, was more important than his doubts.
The zombie, wanting to eat, reached for Lucas with one arm, making him scared. Fast, he closed his eyes tight and hit the zombie's hand with the cleaver knife, chopping it off.
A mix of feelings took over Lucas as he stepped back from what he did. "God! What did I just do?" he asked inside, feeling the weight of his actions.
The chopped-off arm lay on the ground. The zombie, mad about losing its hand, let out a deep groan. It jumped again, grabbing Lucas and giving him a scare. Feeling the zombie's cold arm on his skin, Lucas acted fast. He kicked the zombie hard, making enough space for him to swing the cleaver knife down with power.
The blade hit the zombie's head with a gross thud, cutting it almost in half. The lifeless body fell on the spear still stuck in its chest, making it look weird. Lucas stood there, lots of feelings inside him. He looked at the three zombies stacked on his spear, trying to get how serious the situation was.
'Did I… just… kill my neighbor?' he thought, feeling the weight of what he did. Tired, Lucas looked at the mess of his fight with the three zombies. He couldn't help but think, "That was probably my almost-dying time."
Carefully taking his spear out of the dead bodies, he got a water bottle close by to clean the blood on his arm and leg. Leaving the cleaver knife stuck in the split face of the zombie, Lucas let it be there because there was no space. Seeing the blade sticking out of the zombie's face was creepy, but he thought it was better than holding a weapon used in close fights with a creature that bites and scratches.
Thinking about how close he got to danger, Lucas sighed. 'If I had been slower, it would have killed me,' he thought, stepping down on the knife to push it deeper into the zombie's face, like payback.
---
[Level 2 Zombie Killed, Awarding 100 Exp!]
---
"What? @?!%$? Is it still alive?" Lucas said in surprise. The fact that the zombie survived his first hit made him not want to turn away from it. Trying to pay attention to the system's messages while fighting was hard, and it almost got him in trouble.
"Level 2, huh? This is the first level 2 I've seen, and it was pretty easy to kill, except for almost ripping my back," Lucas mumbled, showing both his confusion and relief.
Right after, another surprising message popped up.
---
Achievement Cleared:
[Gold] Eliminate One Level 2 and Nine Level 1 Zombies in Two Days.
Rewards:
Inventory Pouch (0/100) [Epic]
Basic Dagger [Common]
---
"Huh? I'm getting more confused every day. An achievement? Did I meet some kind of clearing condition?" Lucas asked out loud, looking at the items that appeared in front of him. One was a golden pouch, small and interesting. The other was a plain black dagger, about the same size as the cleaver he used earlier.