Episode 5: From Top to Bottom and Up.

A new day has begun. The third day. No rescue. Nothing. All zombies. I woke up in my room and gone to the balcony to view the outside world. Destruction.

Just like what the zombie movies portrayed. But much uglier. The smell. So bad. The dead bodies that turned zombies. The dogs that turned zombies. All of them. I guess even the zoo animals can turn zombies too. I wonder how strong the zombie lion is. Scary. Okay! Stop thinking about it.

And so, I brushed my teeth, bathed myself. Thankfully, the water is still operational. Now I'm all set again for another harsh day. I noticed too that I adapted too fast? If it's the other members, they won't believe that they were already living in a zombie apocalypse.

I dressed my self with another set of clothes and went out of my room to get something to eat. I saw the other members already woke up and the two cooks who leveled up to 8 has started cooking and already prepared our hot coffees and two milk cups, for the children. As I stare at those two children, I wonder, if they start leveling up now, when they reached our age, wouldn't they be stronger than us? But they were only 9 years old. As per their parents. I guess I can teach them some easy martial arts later when we're done cleaning this building. All in all, we got some great food supplies from 7th, 8th and 9th floors.

After eating some pancakes, heavy pancakes, I asked the others to gather to plan the day. They all agreed. I think I'm becoming the leader of this pack. I don't want to but I guess my martial arts experience is coming out of my aura. I know I'm only 21 years old but I could say I give off a matured 21 years old person. Maybe, 30-year-old middle-aged man vibes? I'll asked them about me later in the future.

All were gathered and I asked to update our plans. Yesterday was not efficient. We have two teams now. If the other 6 new members wanted to, they can join. Which the 6 members agreed but the husband didn't allow his wife to join, so 5 new members then.

The other 7 new members previously from 7th floor also asked if they wanted to join. We all agreed. So new 13 members in the squad? Good. 28 plus 13, 41 members for the squads. Since we got 14 members for each squad, the 13 new members must need to be integrated within the two squads… or create a new squad? I asked their view on this and they all agreed with creating new squad. So now, we need to allocate carefully our level 11-12 members. We have 13 members within level 10-12 and 15 members within level 7-8. Another 13 members with 0 levels. So, we need to have these 13 others to level up as well. With that, I suggested to have these new 13 members be the second liners, allocated from each squad.

Now we will put 4 level 10-12 members each in squad one and two and 5 level 10-12 members in squad three. Put each 5 members with level 7-8 on those squads. Put 4 new members on two squads and 5 new members in one squad. That levels everything. All in all, squad one will have 13 members, squad two will be the same and squad three will have 15 members on their side.

Everyone agreed and I was again assigned to train basic combat for these 13 new members.

After the allocations, I mentioned to upgrade our strategy. What I suggested was that, we will push one squad from 8th floor up to the rooftop floor. Another squad will push for the 10th floor and rescue survivors there. Once done, recuperate and clear out the zombies from roof top to 10th floor. Lock the 10th floor and then go back to 8th floor.

Once the two squads were back, they will rest for 30 minutes and switch with the squad blocking the zombies from below. After 30 minutes, the squad fighting will switch again with the rested squad, the other squad will line up to be next while the squad who just finished will go to the back and recuperate and will line up again. Every 30 minutes two squads will recuperate and every 30 minutes, the squad will switch over to kill zombies.

I demonstrated the flow for better understanding with my hands. Everyone seems attentive though so I continued my explanation and after 30 minutes. The Plan has been straightened out.

We all dispersed and waited 3 hours to start our operation. Some sat on the hallway and checked their status window. Some chatted with the others. Me, on the other hand, is training the new members for basic combat and briefing them on what will happen and what to expect. What to do and what is not. I also demonstrated some basic attacking skills to them. And always reiterate to attack the zombies head toward their brain. I shared them my assumptions that the zombies can only operate with their brains active and infected.

After 3 hours, the 13 new members joined their assigned squads. The mother who will be left inside the 8th floor was also briefed on what to do. Anyways, we will be on the 8th floor too to block off the zombies from going up. The two squads were only responsible for the zombies from above floors.

After a few minutes, all stood up. The children were at the back holding their mother's clothes. Each squad were lined up. We, as the squad one, will block off the zombies from below and start to push zombies from above stairs to make some space for the two other squads.

I closed in to the door and saw zombies already filled the exit stairs again. What an endless thing to exist. I held the steel bar and took it off the door's handles, the same with fire extinguisher. I hold off the door being opened and look at both sides, the two members nodded at me and I nod back. I looked behind and they also nodded.

All set! Ready! "Go!" I shouted and opened the door. My katana was already pulled out and slashed towards the first zombie who wants to enter the hallway of 8th floor. Same happened with the other two members. Now, we've pushed them, "Clear up the way!" I shouted. "Yes Sir!" They replied back.

Really weird.

Slash. Slash. Slash. Stab. Stab. Stab. Flesh and blood were the only thing we can hear aside from the low-level members shouts. I guess, they also adapted already. However, the 13 new members were not quite there yet.

Anyways, my squad one has already pushed the zombies from below and above stairs. There is enough space for squad two to enter and they did. I shouted, "Ready?" The squad two member replied, "Ready!", "Switch!" I shouted again. The back liners of squad one who were fending off the zombies from above jumped back and the squad two members jumped forward to assault the in-coming zombies. "Squad three! Enter!" "Yes sir!" The third squad followed through and entered the space we provided. The Squad two pushed and pushed while the third squad followed. 20 minutes passed and we already see the stairs going to 9th floor all cleared up so I asked the other members to remove the bodies. And they did. We have 13 members in this squad so 4 members can accommodate the space.

I wish I have a shield though so I can mimic the romans and spartan warriors. Much easier to fight also. Well, too much wishful thinking. 30 minutes has passed and so, I shouted, "Switch!" The other four members waiting jumped forward while we jumped back. The four members starting attacking the zombies. We did not leave the line and kept observing near so that if a zombie tried to pass from our line, we can kill them easily. Well, those 4 members were quite a high level already. Probably running to level 10. They got two level 10-12 members so they can catch up unless they also leveled up which would be the case due to our kill counts. I could have killed hundreds already without counting. I can't count them anyways. Haha.

30 minutes passed; no incident has happened still. Good going! "Switch!"

I and the other level 12 member along with level 1 members took the line from the previous ones and started killing the zombies. I also asked the back liners to observe zombies coming towards the two new members to avoid accidents like bites. They did and very good at that. That way, the two new members leveled up smoothly. They were still shaking though. Battle Rush, I guess?

Finally, I leveled up. Took too many zombies to level up. Sigh. 40 experience was still big, its just less 10 experience so not that big of a loss.

It's been 2 hours since the two squads have gone up. I wonder what happened. It's almost 12 PM in the afternoon. I hope they were alright.

After another 30 minutes, the two squads appeared and walked down the stairs. They have another 20 new members rescued. We asked them to bring a bed out of one room so we can block off the zombies from going up again.

After 15 minutes, the group of men and women brought the metallic bed and we positioned it horizontally so it will fit the whole stairway width. We added some weights as well as support so zombies will not be able to push it.

Ahh… finally a rest.

The other members in squad one also laid their butts on the floor. We're all fatigued. Same with the two other squads.

The new members also sat. They were surprised of our coordination. Anyways, after resting, we gathered all the members and new members. And explained what happened. The two squads also confirmed some apartments were not answering so they assumed they were empty; they did not try my way to check on those apartments but I'll do it later. They also found occupants trapped at the rooftop. 10 members exactly. They confirmed they were from outside and were not occupants. The other 10 were occupants of 10th floor.

After providing all the necessary details the new members need, we will now ask them to stay or would they want to join the squads? But I quickly thought not to ask them and asked the other members to do it later. We've already planned up all the details so adding new members now will change some things in our plans. They can still join later once we cleared up the building.

They all agreed.

The new members will then stay in 8th floor until we come back from the bottom floors. They didn't disagree so we tried to recover as fast as we can and ate for some energy. We also checked our status screens as some also reached level 12 and 13. The new comers leveled up to 4-5.

I put the same allocation and did not use the skill points. I will try to take that sword mastery up to level 10. I wonder how many skill points would that cost. I'm a crazy one ain't I?

[Level: 13]

[Class: Swordsman]

[Exp: 120/2700]

[HP: 2200/2200]

[MP: 50/50

[Attributes:

Strength: 70

Agility: 5

Vitality: 46

Stamina: 29

Intelligence: 5]

[Free Attributes: -]

[Skills:

Sword Mastery (Passive) – Level 3 (2 Skill Points Required > Level 4): +20% Damage using Swords.

Vertical Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while vertically slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Horizontal Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while horizontally slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Concentrate (Active) – Level 1: (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): +10% Mental Strength (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)]

[Skill Points: 1]

30 minutes passed and we're all freshened up. Squad two will be the first one to push the zombies and will switch by 4-5 members and once all were switched up, the next squad's line up will take the place from those who backed off. Until all the members per squad were used, everything will refresh and the same strategy will occur. Those small switches will be 10 minutes each. Total of 30 minutes per squad.

Slowly, we took off the blockade one by one. Until the metallic bed was the only one left. We slowly removed it and got the squad two ready for assault. One… Two… Three! Go!!!

The members who removed the metallic bed shouted and the squad two members attacked. We were now lined up per members per squad.

10 minutes has passed and we heard "Switch!" We made a way for those who finished their time. The shouts of "Switch" has happened endless times during our attacks. We reached the 6th floor and immediately sealed it with a steel bar. We'll get back there later. The attacked continued so some leveled up and I did too! How fast was that? We're already at the 5th floor fire exit door. We also sealed the door and continued downward.

4th floor, 3rd floor, 2nd floor, and 1st floor. We're already one floor away from the entrance. I leveled up 2 more times.

[Level: 16]

[Class: Swordsman]

[Exp: 120/3800]

[HP: 2200/2200]

[MP: 50/50

[Attributes:

Strength: 70

Agility: 5

Vitality: 46

Stamina: 29

Intelligence: 5]

[Free Attributes: 30]

[Skills:

Sword Mastery (Passive) – Level 3 (2 Skill Points Required > Level 4): +20% Damage using Swords.

Vertical Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while vertically slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Horizontal Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while horizontally slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Concentrate (Active) – Level 1: (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): +10% Mental Strength (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)]

[Skill Points: 4]

While we were pushing and our line's done, I put the allocations as intended. And leveled up the Sword Mastery twice.

[Level: 16]

[Class: Swordsman]

[Exp: 120/3800]

[HP: 2650/2650]

[MP: 50/50

[Attributes:

Strength: 85

Agility: 5

Vitality: 55

Stamina: 35

Intelligence: 5]

[Free Attributes: -]

[Skills:

Sword Mastery (Passive) – Level 5 (3 Skill Points Required > Level 6): +50% Damage using Swords.

Vertical Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while vertically slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Horizontal Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while horizontally slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Concentrate (Active) – Level 1: (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): +10% Mental Strength (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)]

[Skill Points: -]

God, the required skill points. I can level it up when I reached level 19. How sad.

We reached the ground floor where the entrance of fire exit was located and the zombies just kept coming! We killed them all and made space from between the fire exit door and the zombies. So, when all were set, we recalled the members who were holding off the zombies outside and jumped back and entered the exit doors. We quickly closed off the door and sealed it off with a thick steel bar. We also added first extinguishers as support. The 2nd objective was done. Onto the 3rd objective. I looked at my wrist watch and its 5 PM in the afternoon already. The day just quickly passed by!

After confirming everything's alright and the seal were working fine despite the zombies trying to bulldozer the doors, we left the ground and climbed the stairs back to the sealed first floor. And thus, we killed the remaining zombies there and checked if occupants were present, and they were indeed.

We checked the other empty apartments and see if we can find food there. There were and that's good. All in all, we found 15 people there. 2 old people, 8 men and 5 women. Since we're climbing the stairs, two of our strength type members carried the two old people. We got to the 2nd floor, and found 23 people there and all the apartments were occupied. They thanked us as well and so, we briefly told them the current situation and will further explain once we all got to the 8th floor.

3rd floor was the same, we found 10 occupants. 4th floor, we found only 2 occupants. A man and woman. Partners. 5th floor, we found another 15 occupants, and 6th floor, we found none. It seemed that all were at their job site or travelling when the apocalypse happened so we scoured each apartment by the same tactic I did at 8th and 7th floors.

We found additional food supplies, water tanks, and kitchen knives. We found guns too, but surprisingly, it doesn't work. Huh? Why? It was loaded. No damage to be seen, one of the new members also confirmed that the gun should have no issues at all. Why can't we fire this gun even if its out of safety and loaded with bullet? Curious. We set aside the issue since we only got one gun and were not expert at all with gunsmithing.

We reached the 8th floor and since everything were safe for now, I and the other members got back to 10th floor to check the other empty apartment to see if we can find additional supplies and weapons.

Luckily, we did. But no guns, only melee weapons plus canned foods.

After fully checking the sides, we finished and went back to 8th floor. I can see all the squad members being so tired. They either started snoring or just plainly laying their bodies on the available sofas or beds. When we were back, all the other rescued members were looking at us and so I smiled at them.

I told them to relax for the day as its already 9 PM in the evening. They can occupy the rooms in 9th and 7th floors. All rooms were opened and not locked and so they did. So tired but before I sleep, I checked my stats and allocated my attributes.

[Level: 17]

[Class: Swordsman]

[Exp: 500/4900]

[HP: 2800/2800]

[MP: 50/50

[Attributes:

Strength: 90

Agility: 5

Vitality: 58

Stamina: 37

Intelligence: 5]

[Free Attributes: -]

[Skills:

Sword Mastery (Passive) – Level 5 (3 Skill Points Required > Level 6): +50% Damage using Swords.

Vertical Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while vertically slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Horizontal Slash (Active) – Level 1 (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): Deals additional 30% damage while horizontally slashing enemies using Swords. (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)

Concentrate (Active) – Level 1: (1 Skill Point Required > Level 2): +10% Mental Strength (10 minutes Duration) (1-minute Cooldown)]

[Skill Points: 1]

I laid on my bed and slept like a log.