T.A.G

While everyone was opening their own systems, Adithya was gazing at the blue translucent screen that popped before his eyes.

{

Host, awakened his personal system.

Mechanical Creator System initializing…

Initialization error…

Higher level system attached to host.

Mechanical Creator System is dismantled and assimilated into Cosmic library system.

Assimilation successful.

}

[

Adhi, do you want to keep the core of the Mechanical Creator System separate?

]

"Marie, what's happening? How could dismantle MC System?"

[

Heh, Adhi, even system have hierarchy and to its bad luck I am more powerful than it. So, naturally I won't let it stay independent. You only need one system. 

]

"Oh, Badass. But what use does its core have?"

[

Well, the primary use you get is to create another identity not tied to mine. And it will better for you to hide me before you are strong to defend yourself.

]

"Okay, I understand. Then keep the core."

[

Yes, Adhi.

]

"Adhi, what's really happening here? Is there really an apocalypse?" Tarun asked distressed and scared.

"What are the systems you both got?" Adithya asked curiously

"Assassin Mage system." Gaurav replied blandly with a smile tugging at his lips. Then we both looked at Tarun to hear what his system was but he was dodging our inquiring eyes.

"So, are you going to tell?" Gaurav asked nudging with his elbow with a curious and inquisitive expression

"Espionage Knight System." Tarun said timidly but with a satisfied smile

"Cool. I knew you always had makings of a great spy." Adithya said as he patted Tarun shoulder joyfully as Tarun asked curiously

"What is yours?"

"Mechanical Creator System." Adithya replied to which they both laughed and Gaurav said in a monotonous tone

"Well, you were always a mechanic maniac."

"So, where are we going?" Tarun asked as they were walking towards the forest behind the campus.

"Well, we should move far away from the city before the chaos that's going to erupt engulfs us." Adithya said gravely

"How are we going to get out? And don't you think we need to get some supplies before others empty it out?" Gaurav asked cautiously

"I have taken care of it already. Follow me." Adithya replied smugly as he led towards the place where the van was parked.

After walking for few moments, they reached before the vehicle which was covered and camouflaged using the forest. Adithya removed the covering and revealed the vehicle.

{

A vehicle has been detected near the host.

Do you want to upgrade it instead of the newbie gift pack?

Error…

Do you want to upgrade the vehicle or get two newbie gift packs?

}

"Upgrade the vehicle, Marie."

{

Upgrading the vehicle.

.

.

.

Upgrade successful.

Vehicle has three types of fuel. Petrol, diesel and solar.

Vehicle's exterior has been upgraded to more sturdy. (Remarks: Since the host has no capability in fighting hordes, it can ram through the hordes or even buildings. Consider it my life saving grace for you host.)

Vehicle is equipped with a Storage space (25mX25m)

}

"Marie, Put all the items into space."

[

Okay, Adhi

]

"Come on, guys. Let's go." Adithya said to the excited Tarun and Gaurav as he got onto the vehicle.

RING RING

"Hello, Mom." Tarun said seriously

"Son, where are you? What should we do now?" Indira, Tarun's mother asked in a distressed and scared voice.

"Mom, calm down. First, tell me what type of system did you get?" Tarun asked softly in a calming voice.

"Healer system." Indira said with a choked voice which Tarun mouthed to his friends. Adithya seeing his distressed friend asked for the phone and motioned Gaurav to drive the vehicle.

"Hello, Aunty. Its Adithya, Tarun's friend." Adithya introduced himself to Indira.

"Hello, son. Are you with Tarun?" Indira asked in an eased tone.

"Yes, aunty, me, Gaurav and Tarun are all together and we are coming to Bhubaneswar." Adithya replied in a soothing tone.

"That's good. You should all stay together and protect yourself. And you need not come to Bhubaneswar as it will be safe to stay in campus until military takes care of the problem." Indira said in a Circumspection.

"No, Aunty. I think its safe to protect ourselves. So, trust us aunty we will be careful while coming to Bhubaneswar. But first, do as I say, Take a day's worth of food and water from the supermarket. Don't fight with anybody and make sure to hide what you have. Don't try to help others. Protect yourself and go back to house and lock the door. Don't open for anyone except for us and all make sure to keep from others finding out you are staying in the house." Adithya said prudently.

"Son, you don't think military can't help, do you?" Indira asked warily.

"Exactly, I don't think military can control the chaos. So, you should do exactly as I said. Do you understand?" Adithya asked

"Yes, son."

"Good. Don't trust anybody, okay. Just know that Tarun is coming to save you. And one more thing, we will knock on the door, thrice first, then twice and then thrice followed by once. Don't forget it, okay?"

"Okay, be careful." Adithya said as he gave the phone back to Tarun. Tarun and Indira talked for another ten minutes finally hanging up the phone.

Tarun put down his phone and sat beside them quietly for a moment. Then he abruptly expressed gratefully

"Thanks."

Adithya turned to see Tarun and saw genuine gratitude in his eyes. Adithya sighed and said as he patted his shoulder

"No need. You and Gaurav are my best friends, brothers. So, your mother is my mother."

"What is our plan after saving Tarun's mom?" Gaurav asked breaking the silence in the Van.

"We need to get to my family's cabin and then we should build ourselves a base." Adithya said reassuring them.

"Oh, are you going to become an emperor and are we gonna become emperor's right and left hand?" Gaurav asked in a playful and joking tone accompanied by Tarun's laughs.

"Who wants to be an emperor? That's too much hassle. You know me I only like mechanics." Adithya said in an irritated and lazy tone.

Gaurav and Tarun laughed at him mocking him for his laziness. Gaurav drove the van steadily on the road and as they reached the junction, he was about to turn for the road that's goes to the city but Adithya said

"Take the left to the highway, Gaurav."

"But we need supplies and there is nothing in this Van." Gaurav said in a frustrated voice.

"Who said that?" Adithya relied as he got up from his seat and walked to one side and opened a cabinet.

 He took three cans of cola and threw one to Tarun while dangling other one in front of Gaurav smugly. Gaurav slammed the brakes in surprise as Tarun and Adithya got thrown to the front due to inertia. They both got up from the floor rubbing their heads while cursing Gaurav for being an idiot while Gaurav relished in the flavor of the cola.

Adithya pulled Gaurav by his collar and threw on the floor as he got on the driver's seat cursing and irritated. He started the vehicle, turned left toward the highway and drove towards the Bhubaneswar with one hand on the wheel while another on the steering wheel listening to music.

"From where did you take the cola?" Tarun asked curiously

"Check your systems, there may be gift packs. Mine was upgrading the vehicle and I attached space in the vehicle." Adithya said smiling smugly.

6 HOURS LATER, BHUBANESWAR

A van slowly entered the city pushing through the vehicles stranded on the road. After the hour which the Earth system allotted passed, zombies started popping out on the roads. Gradually, the dead started killing the living, who rose up from being dead and started to kill.

 The chaos that followed was devastating, some holed up in their houses hoping for military or police to save them, some took to the streets to save themselves and some bitterly died hoping for someone to save them. After the second hour passed, social media platforms died, nuclear powerplants was abandoned or some even brink of destruction, vehicles were strewn on the roads as the people hid but the once that lived through the first hour started fighting back.

 Now at the fifth hour, Adi and his friends are entering a city to save Tarun's mother without knowing the danger that is lurking in the darkness. They drove towards the community where Tarun's apartment was located. His apartment building had 20 floors and apartment was 18 B. After parking the Van, Adithya stored the vehicle in his personal storage space. 

 Adithya took out his long sword, Tarun took out his poleaxe and Gaurav had a dagger. After entering the building, they walked towards the elevator but after pressing the button they waited few minutes. For some reason, the elevator didn't come down, so they went up through the stairs.

 They climbed the stairs carefully and noiselessly, but still it refracted the sound of their footsteps. When they reached the first door, they looked down the dark hallway and that's when they noticed, the building was eerily soundless.

 Tarun stared at the dark hallway without coming up, when Gaurav joked with his back turned to the hallway

"When you stare at the abyss, the abyss stares back."

In that hallway, his sound echoed eerily when Tarun and Adithya saw an eye staring back at them. They both froze as those eyes multiplied while Gaurav continued to joke until a groaning sound came behind him. Gaurav shivered as he tightened his hand dagger as he deliberately turned back. He was horrified with sight as he blended into the shadow leaving both of them as prey.

"Dumbass, you just had to run your mouth." Adithya said as he glared at the invisible Gaurav and then he continued to say authoritative tone

"Tarun, let's go. You follow me and Gaurav stay hidden and cover us." 

They started jogging up the stairs but this time they didn't care to make it noiseless but this was like opening whole can of worms. Zombies was being attracted to noise, climbing each floor up led the zombies in that floor towards us.

 Adithya and Tarun both cursed at their pig team mate as they starting taking out zombies while climbing up the floor. Finally, after an arduous run, they reached the eighteenth floor. They killed the few zombies on the floor and banged on the door marked with 18 B according to the code.

They had flurry of steps coming from the other side of the door and a woman's voice asking

"Son, is that you?"

"Yes, mom open the door." Tarun replied frustrated and distressed

"Wait a moment." Indira said as she starting moving something inside which we heard due to scraping sound made by them. The trio looked at each other and understood they are fucked because a horde was coming at them.

Adithya and Tarun glared at Gaurav 'like if looks could kill he would have died hundred times in the span of a second' while Gaurav stated sweating profusely understanding the effect of his blunder. Sighing Adithya stepped in the front while Tarun and Gaurav stood to the side.

Zombies slowly climbed the stairs, stumbling on to the floor and standing back up. They deliberately took a step forward and as they were about to clash the door opened. The trio hurried in and closed the door behind them and started stacking things against the door. After confirming that they are safe, they all slumped on the floor sweating profusely. After taking a breath, Tarun hugged his mother joyfully while Adithya started beating up Gaurav. Indira seeing this, stepped in to stop it and asked

"What happened?"

"This idiot rambled his mouth loud and now all the zombies are on our floor." Tarun said irritated while Gaurav smiled sheepishly.

"How do I know this building is filled with zombies?" Gaurav said with sheepish smile in a nonchalant manner.

"Well, we are trapped now. Let's rest first and come up with a way later." Adithya said with a frustrated sigh.

2 HOURS LATER, 18 B, SKYLINE APARTMENTS

"What is the situation outside?" Adithya questioned

"It is not optimistic. Floor is still filled with Zombies." Gaurav replied frightened remembering the scene of the floor crawling with zombies.

"What about the people on the opposite apartment?" Adithya questioned

"Yeah, they are frightened and cursing us." Tarun replied as his face crunched in anguish remembering how Prakash, the tenant of the opposite apartment scolded him.

"What will we do?" Gaurav asked curiously

"Our escape is not the problem but we have to clear the zombies in this floor. Otherwise, those in the opposite apartment fate is to only die." Adithya said seriously.

"We are not saints, Adi." Gaurav said in a serious and firm tone.

"I know, I am not intending to be savior but we should not put other people lives in danger even indirectly." Adithya said in an earnest and unwavering tone.

"I am sorry." Gaurav said in a solemn tone with his head down.

"It's okay, buddy. Its not your fault. But still its our mistake. My father always says 'A man should own up to his mistake and find a way to fix it.'" Adithya said in a solemn and grave tone while he looked Gaurav in the eye with his one hand on his shoulder.

"So, what is the plan?" Tarun asked breaking the serious atmosphere.

"When we came in, this side of the wall is made of glass. So, I will use this ledge and break the glass from outside. Then let the sound and zombie's attraction to sound do the work." Adithya said with a smug grin, satisfied with his plan. 

"I will do it." Gaurav volunteered

"No, you don't have enough skill and power to do it yet." Adithya refused and continues to say

"I will do it and you have another job. While I attract them, you should silently assassinate the stranglers. We will clear this building as a favor to Tarun's mom. What do you say?" Adithya said with a grin while Gaurav also smiled as they both hi-fied.

"What will I do then?" Tarun asked excited at the task.

"You…" Adithya acted like thinking and then took out two parachutes and gave it to him as he continues to say

"Get ready for the jump. We dive from the rooftop and land on the Nandankanan Zoological park."

ADITHYA'S POV

Then I walked towards the balcony with an axe and climbed on to the ledge. I slowly and carefully walked on the ledge leaning to the wall. Finally, I reached by the window and looked inside. It was filled with Zombies, banging on two doors while rest of them walked order bumping into each other or the walls.

 After taking a deep breath, I pulled the axe high and slammed it on the glass with a loud thud. Nothing happened, as I tried again. After five tries, small cracks came on it. I continued to slam on it and finally with a cracking sound it broke.

 As the glass broke, a dense number of zombies also fell down plummeting from 18 floor high onto the concrete. The blood, intestines and brain matters smashed on the ground creating an unsightly sight. Following those zombies, some also fell down while others tried to grab me. The zombies that failed to catch me, were pushed down by the ones behind it. It slowly became a cycle until it stopped. I looked inside and saw they were not rushing towards me. So, I took out a magnesium torch and torched it.

 A white light assaulted the zombies as they came running to it like a moth to the flame. The horde of zombies slowly thinned out as Gaurav started killing the stranglers. Ten minutes later, the floor was cleared of all zombies as Tarun and his mom, Gaurav and Adithya walked up towards the rooftop. On the way, they killed rest of the zombies on the top floors and reached the rooftops.

 Then they buckled the parachute and did a tandem skydiving. As they reached the zoo, they opened the chute and safely landed on the ground. Adithya took out the van and Gaurav started driving it. As they drove through the zoo, Adithya suddenly said

"Stop."

Adithya got out of the car and walked to a car and saw a baby lion huddled in fear behind a rock. He looked at pitifully and scooped it up and asked

"Do you want to come with me?"

The baby lion whimpered with a nod as he smiled joyfully and climbed back into the car as they drove away.