Information

The Main Building of the school campus was secured and is now free of zombies.

Thomas stared at one of the windows and saw zombies on the school grounds.

It was still raining heavily. Thanks to that, their senses are confused to the point they didn't notice them clearing up the building.

They'll be the next target for extermination, to build a stronghold, he needs to purify this place of abomination, which in this case, a zombie.

But to do so requires a lot of manpower and weapons, which he hasn't had right now.

He looked at one of the soldiers who were goofing around and having fun.

The soldier noticed his silent gaze and tapped his fellows who hadn't felt the gaze.

As soon as they noticed it, they stood straight and in a professional manner.

"Sir!"

"Guys you don't have to be serious whenever I'm around, I'm not a king."

"Uhm...sir, it's just that your sharp eyes ordered us to stop."

"My eyes?" Thomas chuckled. "What are you talking about? Don't worry about me, you deserve to have fun. But tomorrow, we're back to business."

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers saluted.

Thomas walked away from the window and tapped the three soldiers on the shoulder.

"I'm still young guys, I admit that I don't have knowledge the same as you, who are programmed to have battle experience. So I'll do my best, to lead you in the best way I can."

"Understood, sir!" the soldiers saluted.

"I'm going to the teacher's office now, I need to look for something and if you see anything suspicious, report it to me."

"Sir!"

Thomas walked out of the room and went to the teacher's office.

Two soldiers are on guard, protecting one important person, his classmate, Felicia.

Thomas watched her, seemingly looking for something.

"Felicia, what are you looking for?" Thomas asked.

Felicia glanced at the door and saw Thomas, who was walking over to her slowly. "I'm looking for my cellphone."

"Cellphone?"

"Yes," Felicia confirmed. With her flashlight, she was able to find her cellphone.

Thomas suddenly realized something.

"Speaking of cellphones, we can use it to know the situation on the ground," Thomas said and continued. "You know, news about what's happening and where those zombies originated?"

Felicia hummed in thought, it was a good idea. But she has something important to do first. She pressed the power button and the smartphone lit up. Thomas sat on the desk and leaned over to see the screen.

"You only have 20% of battery. Good news, we can use that to search the internet."

"Before we do that, I need to contact my family, see if they are okay," Felicia replied.

"Ah...okay."

Thomas walked away to give her privacy and also give him time to ponder.

After being trapped on the rooftop for three days, he is desperate of getting information about the outside world. He only knew that those zombie creatures started showing up three days ago. But looking back, when he was at the rooftop, flumes of smoke billowing can be seen. Meaning that whatever caused this already spread.

But to what extent? Is it an epidemic? Pandemic? Endemic? What kind of virus are they dealing with? He doesn't know.

Who knows, maybe it's already around the world. He needs to know this information fast but he can't force Felicia to do so, she still has the right to check up on her family and it'll only take a few minutes.

Since the purge, Thomas killed another hundred, which boosted his apocalypse dollars and experience points.

Speaking of which, he's curious about the change in his system.

He opened it up and the system display showed up.

[User: Thomas Harrier

Level: 11

Experience points: (18,000/23,511)

Total zombies killed: 450

Skills: Marksmanship, Driving Proficiency.

Shop Tab: Available balance (185,000), New features unlocked (Small Facilities)

Summon Forces: Available souls (535)

Quest: Ongoing - Build a base for your stronghold.

Reward: Random Blueprint and 50,000 Apocalypse Dollars.

Notification: New achievement unlocked (Reach level 10),

Fortune Wheel: You don't have a ticket! The ticket will be credited to your account for every 1535HRS

Perks: For every ten missions you complete, the next mission rewards will be multiplied by a tenth fold. That applies to the first mission of the user.]

Looking at his resources, he can summon additional soldiers. But how will he tell that to Felicia? It's not like they are coming here out of nowhere, she'll surely notice it.

But the pros are too valuable to consider. With more troops, he can send them to different buildings to exterminate zombies which could take days with only 16 of them. The more the troops, the more area they can cover.

An idea abruptly popped up inside his mind. He could say that.

So he'll summon additional troops, new weapons, and workers that will serve as the cleanup crew. The school is filled with terrible smells after all.

Thomas planned to summon them when Felicia is asleep, so she won't be able to see the whole process.

The moment he got satisfied with his plan, he returned to Felicia, who seemingly look troubled.

"Felicia, are you okay?" Thomas asked as he walked over to her.

"I can't contact them..." She said weakly as if she was going to cry.

"Why not?" Thomas asked again but in a gentle tone.

"They won't pick up," Felicia replied and breathed heavily.

"Try to call them again," Thomas said.

"Could it be...that...they're..." She looked like she was about to burst into tears.

Thomas patted her back, stopping her to complete the sentence that could crush her heart. "Don't say that, I'm sure they are still alive, hiding as you do in the music room."

"But...but." She stammered as she wiped her tears with her sleeves.

Slowly, she looked at Thomas with eyes filled with hope.

"Thomas...please save them...you have troops right? Can you send a squad or something to my house?"

"I would love to Felicia but I can't risk the lives of my men," Thomas said genuinely, although they are just summons, they are human with feelings. They laugh, they cry, they can be happy or sad. Those are true emotions.

"What do you mean? Y-You won't help me?!"

"I didn't say that." Thomas refuted. "First I need information about what's happening to our world, we can use your cell. I want to know what we're dealing with. Like how does this unknown virus spread, how it originated, what's our government doing, the important things. Once I learn the answer for that, I assure you I'll conduct a rescue operation for your relatives."

"You sure?"

"Yes. So use the remaining data you have and search the internet." Thomas ordered.

"O-Okay." She said, sniffing her nose as she tried to calm down.

Felicia typed in some important keywords relevant to the search.

What is the virus?

One video showed up in the top list.

"Let's watch that."

"Okay."

A video is playing, and the title of the video is already depressing. "Extinction scale Event."

Extinction scale event? Are they really serious about that? The zombie only appeared in three days...Or was it?

[This is an extinction scale event.]

[The President of the United States is dead.]

[Three weeks since the first recorded infection, national governments all across the world have fallen.]

[Causes of the infection are still unknown.]

[There is no cure.]

Those are the main highlights of the ten-minute-long video.

"United States...Pandemic? Three weeks?" Thomas couldn't comprehend the information he'd just learned.

Are the zombies in this world is that strong? To be able to overrun the world in just a span of three weeks?

Thomas's chest tightened, Felicia could only cover her mouth in shock. Her phone was trembling in her hands.

"A-Are we...going to...die?" She asked with a quaking voice.

"I don't know. I truly don't know." Thomas answers honestly. "But we are not going to give up."

10 minutes later, the video is done playing. Felicia looked like she was about to cry. Thomas simply patted her back.

"The virus...already spread that far?"

"Shit!" Thomas slammed the table he was leaning on, startling Felicia.

"This is just too impossible. How strong are these fast-running zombies? It was as if it originated in all countries at once."

"Can you? Can you bring my family, our classmate to safety?" Felicia asked tearfully, while still shocked by the news.

"What's promise is a promise, I'll send a rescue team there in your house tomorrow while I wait for more reinforcement to arrive here by dawn."

"Wait what?" Felicia looked at him dumbfoundedly. "Reinforcement? Aren't we supposed to evacuate and go to your military base?"

"That's the problem, we do not have a military base."

"Then where are those forces coming from?"

"Just believe me, Felicia, I can't disclose to you the details."

"But..." Felicia mumbled as if she doubted Thomas's word. "Okay." She then let out a depressing sigh and went back to the internet to make some more research.

"As for our classmate and any students that are still alive, hiding somewhere, we will find and save them," Thomas promised.

A few hours have passed and Felicia had scoured the internet for any information regarding the virus.

She had given Thomas all the information she found, but Thomas was still clueless about the virus, everything she found was about the countries being overrun by zombies. There's too little information about how it originated. For how it was spread, there are two known modes of transmission.

Physical Contact: If a non-infected person is bitten or scratched by an infected person, the virus can spread directly to the victim resulting in their infection.

Bodily Fluid Contact: Infectious bodily fluids and materials are capable of infection through open wounds.

Several minutes later, Thomas noticed Felicia feeling drowsy and sleepy, he even saw a slight drool coming from her mouth because she's been staying up for a long time, seeing that, he decided to end their conversation, saying that he will sleep first, he needs to prepare for tomorrow's rescue operation.

"Felicia, it's late, you should rest now."

"Mm." She answered, slowly closing her eyes and laying her head on top of the table.

"I'll bring you to bed personally."

"Mm." She answered again and followed Thomas to the clinic, the only place where a comfortable bed can be found.

"Thank you for coming to get me," Felicia said as Thomas helped her lie down on the bed.

"You're welcome." He replied.

"Thomas..."

"Hm?"

"You won't let harm befall me right?" Felicia asked, a bit insecure.

"I swear. I'll protect you with my life, Felicia. And you can trust those soldiers that I personally ordered to watch you."

"Thank you." She smiled as if feeling relieved. After a few seconds, Felicia finally fell asleep on the bed.

Thomas stayed there by her side for a minute, making sure that's she was really sleeping before enacting his plan for midnight.

When he believed she was already asleep, Thomas left the clinic and pass the responsibility to the two soldiers guarding at the door.