Flintrose

Just like Leo lured the first walker, he whistles loud enough to attract his second target, but quiet enough not to pull the attention of all four of the remaining undead at once. He's confident in his abilities to be able to handle two, maybe three at once. More than that though? That's just asking for trouble. 

Hearing his whistle, an undead woman with long blood-matted ginger hair turns towards his direction with dead milky eyes. Her dirty yellow sundress flutters lightly in a sudden gust of wind as she begins to make her way across the corpse-littered parking lot with a slow unsteady gait. 

The last three undead are huddled together near the pumps, which is probably a few dozen meters away from where Leo is hidden amongst the trees. As the woman nears his position, Leo moves out from behind the trees and quietly disposes of her in the same manner as the previous zombie. 

[+1 Level in Bladed Weapons]

[+3 Exp]

As the woman's body unceremoniously drops to the ground, Leo keeps his gaze glued to the group of undead ahead of him. Seeing as they didn't seem to notice the demise of two of their hungry friends, he sends a silent prayer to the Cosmic System gods or whoever was responsible in thanks. 

Taking the last three walkers on individually seems quite unlikely, so Leo wipes the blood off of his knife using the woman's sundress before smoothly returning the blade to its sheath on his waist. With his knife put away, Leo reaches towards his backpack to remove his ol' reliable crowbar while confidently making his way towards the stationary group. 

When he's around ten meters away, one of the three undead must have heard him because they snap their head towards his direction and let out a frightening bloodthirsty wail. The zombie's wail caused Leo to pause his advancement in surprise. Wailing wasn't the only surprising thing this zombie did though, because as soon as they finish, the undead that released the wail begins to sprint towards him with terrifying speed.

Having previously thought that zombies could only walk, a shocked Leo hastily raises his crowbar to meet the runner with a heavy swing to the head, completely caving in its skull as they get laid out.

[+3 Exp]

Ignoring the kill notification, his attention deftly switches to the two remaining undead that are thankfully still a ways away and are only shambling towards him at a mildly quick walking pace. 

Using this time as a moment of reprieve, Leo begins to think about what just happened. 'Did that zombie have some kind of mutation? How many different mutations are there?' Those runners are way deadlier than the walkers that he is starting to get used to, and he hopes that he didn't have to encounter them too often. 

Shaking his head at the craziness of the sprinting zombie, Leo decides to charge the remaining two. Dealing with them was easy. Overall, their speeds are quite a bit sluggish. Whether it is their reaction times or their movement speeds, they aren't much of a problem by themselves. When they grouped up and surround you though, that's when the slow ones become a problem.

The sprinters, however, Leo can easily see them becoming a nuisance, and he did not want to even think about what it would be like going up against a group of those yet. Until he's stronger or better equipped, he needs to play it nice and safe. 

Thwack! Thwack! 

[+3 Exp x2]

[+1 Level in Melee Weapons] 

Thanks to his strength and the weight of the crowbar, all he needs is one good swing to damage the brain. With ten strength, Leo imagines that he'd be able to take out zombies much easier, considering that his crowbar would probably be as light as a foam pool noodle by then. 

After taking a quick cautionary look around, he decides to head inside the gas station since he can't spot any more undead outside. The entire front wall of the small store is made completely of glass, so Leo has plenty of light to walk around without needing his flashlight. 

Stepping over the threshold of the building, broken glass from the shot out door crunches noisily under his boots. Standing still, Leo trains his ears for any sudden movement within the store. 

Thump thump… Thump thump… Thump thump…

For twenty seconds, Leo doesn't move–he just listens.

The store is near silent. Very faintly, though, he can hear a suspicious scratching sound coming from a closed door in the back. From the sign Leo could see on the wall, it is the gas station's restroom. 

Since the scratching is the only noise he could hear, Leo begins to slowly walk further into the building, all the while keeping the door in his line of sight. With his high perception level, it's unlikely that a zombie will sneak up on him again, but you can never be too careful—he was reincarnated with superpowers, anything is possible at this point. Figuring that he should take care of whatever is in the restroom first before looking around for supplies, Leo puts his crowbar away and takes out his knife once more. 

Being careful to not step on any more glass, Leo stealthily makes his way over to where the scratching is coming from, only to frown as the restroom door is locked. He doesn't want to leave an undead to the fate of being locked in a restroom forgotten by the world, so Leo heads over towards the cashier's counter to see if he can find the key. Besides, three exp is behind that door and he doesn't want it to go to waste. 

He doesn't have to look too hard for the key, though. The counter and the area behind it is an absolute mess, but the key is attached to a broom handle, which makes it much easier to spot. Everything of 'value' is missing from around the counter, including the cash register itself. Once more, Leo can't help but shake his head at the absurdity of some people's priorities. 

When it comes to a full breakdown of civilization as you know it, it should be pretty obvious that paper money backed by credit that no longer exists isn't exactly top priority. What has real value are things that you can barter with others for items of equal and varying values such as alcohol, bullets, food, water, and so forth. Honestly, just general commodities if anything. 

Grabbing the key, Leo promptly returns to the locked restroom and begins to unlock the door. No longer is the undead just scratching, Leo can hear them growling and smashing against the door with their weight every few seconds. With each thud, the door rattles dangerously against its hinges. 

Getting his knife ready, Leo exhales a heavy breath out of his nose and tugs the now unlocked door open. Just as soon as the door opens, a large obese man in a blood-stained white short sleeve shirt with a gnarly bite on one arm comes charging out of the restroom with a vicious snarl. 

"Graaaahh!" Releasing a guttural roar, blood mixed saliva dribbles down his large quivering chin as he stomps towards Leo like a raging bull. 

If it weren't for his enhanced senses, Leo would have probably been caught off guard by the zombie's speed. With barely widening eyes, he instinctively ducks under the man's jiggly pale arms and lands a quick kick to the side of the runner's knee in one smooth motion. 

Crack! 

With the powerful force of Leo's kick and the simple fact the recipient is so top heavy, the knee shatters–toppling the large zombie to the ground in a flailing mess. Not wasting precious time, Leo quickly finishes him off by stabbing his blade into the man's skull with a decisive execution. 

[+3 Exp]

"Heh, that was a close one." Leo mumbles with a dry chuckle, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. Looking at the large obese corpse, he can't help but shake his head again. When his instincts took over, it was like his body was on complete autopilot and he just responded naturally. There was no thought in the moment, just pure instinctual action.

Now that he had the first order of business settled, Leo begins to perform a thorough scan of the building for any more threats. Disappointingly, during the search, he manages to confirm that whoever looted this place really did take everything of value. 

Most of the food and drinks are` gone, leaving only moldy and rotting food behind. On the bright side though, he manages to snag a couple bags of jerky out of an employee locker in the breakroom. It isn't much, but it replenishes what he had eaten that morning for breakfast. Figuring they'd come in handy, he also grabs some paper plates and plastic utensils from the break room as well. 

Before running out of the gas station, Leo makes sure to take a good peak outside to make sure the coast is clear. Zombies, he felt that he could handle pretty well, but the building is located on the highway and he doesn't want to be spotted by the Grizzlies or anyone else that may come by. Having faced two undead wailing their heads off was bad enough, he's just thankful that no one was passing by at the time. 

Since the parking lot is now clear of undead, Leo is able to take his time and get a good look at the surrounding area. A little further ways down the highway is another gas station, most likely the local competitor of the one he is currently at. While it's tempting to go and see if there is anything worthwhile over there, odds are that it would be just as looted as this one. 

Something interesting though, is that located between the two gas stations only a couple dozen meters away–a local street that began to slope down a bit. Making his way over to the street, Leo begins to see the tops of buildings. The highway is located on a higher elevation, allowing for drivers and passengers to overlook the town below.

While the town isn't too large, it still provides Leo with a breathtaking view. Interestingly enough, the town is built alongside a wide curving river, which he can see running through the forest valley in the distance. On the edge of town, he spots a small port with many different fishing boats that catch his attention. With any luck, he can maybe find something useful down there. 

Taking advantage of his time above the quiet town, Leo starts to look for any areas that could potentially be the Grizzlies' base of operations. He didn't have to look long though, as in the middle of town Leo can see quite a bit of movement surrounding one building in particular. 

He's too far away to get a clear view, even with his near-perfect sight, but now he has a general location of where to look. Not wanting to get caught standing in the middle of the road and not having any nearby trees to hide behind, Leo begins to lightly jog into town.

Entering town, Leo takes note of the occasional dead body that he'd pass by. He hasn't seen any walkers yet, but that's to be expected if this road was used frequently by survivors. What made him frown though, is that it wasn't only adult corpses that he saw… 

The virus didn't discriminate between young and old, ugly and beautiful, man or woman, everyone gets infected just the same. After encountering only adult zombies, Leo had forgotten that harsh reality of this new world. He hopes that he won't have to lay to rest any children zombies any time soon, Leo is not quite sure he could handle that this early on. 

Looking away from a child's corpse with deep sadness, Leo ducks into a nearby alley between two buildings. Sure, he can hop from building to building looting everything as he goes, but that isn't his goal. What he needs to do is make his way towards the center of town and see if he could find a good vantage point of the suspected base. 

All that movement he saw from back on the highway could very easily be a bunch of undead and not survivors, so he needs to be careful. Even though the quest never specified whether or not this Grizzly group is friendly or hostile, he prefers to assume the worst after what he's seen.

You don't just tie a dead body onto your hood for looks, you do it to send a message. 

Cautiously walking from alley to alley, Leo's head continuously swerves back and forth to look for threats. Every little scutter or shuffle makes him pause and gauge the situation with a critical eye or ear. In the second alley he enters, he has to dispose of two walkers that are in his way using his knife. 

Both of the undead were looking away from him, so Leo quietly sneaks up behind the closest one and stabs his knife into the back of their head. He tries to catch the body as it fell to soften the blow, but the second walker still heard and turns around. 

Leo was half expecting the second walker to be a runner, but thankfully they aren't and he's able to easily dispatch them with a blade to the face. Ignoring the exp he got for the moment, his attention is drawn to the notification of a brand new skill. 

[New skill acquired: Sneaking] 

With the acquirement of the new skill, knowledge on basic stepping techniques are promptly downloaded into his brain, making him grin in satisfaction. This skill is sure to be useful down the line and will pair well with his blade skill. After imagining what it'd be like to be a ninja, he shakes the silly thought from his head and continues on his way.

Testing out a new techniques for weight distribution, he notices that his footsteps are notably quieter. With practice, Leo can easily see himself moving even more silently than the woman that got the drop on him yesterday. 

Moving from alley to alley, Leo continues to practice his new skill as he makes his way closer towards the center of town. Thanks to this practice, he is able to level up the Sneak skill two more times in twenty minutes. Sneaking for so long slows down his progress a little bit, but he'd rather be safe than sorry. 

As he gets closer towards the middle of town, the number of buildings steadily began to increase. Leo doesn't encounter too many undead, but he does end up having to take out three more on his way, which gets him to level three in Bladed Weapons. 

So far, this little trip into town has been very beneficial and he's making lots of progress. However, he is still low level, and so are his skills, which would explain why it's going so smoothly. Leo didn't know when, but soon he expects the speed in which he levels up to slow down drastically. 

After hopping over a chain link gate as quietly as he could, he can't help but wince at the loud sound of metal clinking together. Once more, he says a silent thank you to whoever put him into this world as nothing apparently heard the noise.

Even though he appreciates the Exp, Leo didn't want to have to fight through undead every single step of the way. Not only that, but he is close to his goal. The building that captured his interest is only a block away and he didn't want to get spotted when he was so close. Because of this, a little ways back, Leo got an idea when he spotted a nice six story red brick apartment building, which he now finds himself directly behind.

The building is tall enough and close enough that he can safely observe his target without the threat of being seen. Now that Leo had reached it, all he had left to do is make his way to the sixth floor. 

"Alright, easy peasy." He mutters under his breath, trying to decide whether to go up the fire escape on the back of the building or go up through the inside. 

Safety-wise and speed-wise, it makes much more sense to use the fire escape. While the chance of him getting spotted going through the inside is near zero, he is very willing to bet that there will be an untold amount of undead wandering around inside. The Exp would be helpful, but does he really want to battle who knows how many undead in such an enclosed space?