An Upgrade!

I didn’t have much trouble dealing with the zombies blocking my way with the help of my Baseball Bat. When I reached the end of the hallway in the east, I discovered five more zombies. But they weren’t a problem. The moment I announced myself, I swung into action and struck the undead with the bat in my hands. It only took one stroke of my weapon to kill them. Again, I only aimed for their heads. So when I defeated the five zombies, I earned another level and Credits for it.

I was now level 3 and sitting at 160 Credits. I needed to defeat ten zombies to reach level 4 and kill fifteen zombies to reach level 5. Killing twenty-five more zombies would also reward me with 500 C added to my collection. Afterward, I would get my sweet prize from my system - the Baseball Bat with nails all over it and survive.

That was my main goal. To survive and fight off these zombies obstructing my way. Do I want to leave this place and return to Earth? Well, in order for me to do that, I should focus on living first, not dying... Or not become the living dead. Get it? 

Once I cleared up a path, I headed downstairs and checked for my surroundings. It seemed I was good for now. And astonishingly, based on my map, I was at a ballroom of some sort, and the stairs leading to the first floor were just at the end of this place. The amphitheatre also had stairs on each side, and they led to rooms of the nobles and king and queen. I didn’t have to visit that place because of one thing.

But what caught my eye was another hallway directed elsewhere from the ballroom. When I checked my map, that corridor only had a room. Inside that unit were shelves filled with books and other encyclopaedias that were useless in this zombie apocalypse. It was a dead end, more or less. However, that hallway on the right also didn’t have any corpses or zombies in its vicinity. So I noted the place inside my mind and memorised every route of this place.

Also, there were a few individuals who caught my interest. It was a man beside a woman who had lavished jewelry around their necks and a cape resting behind their backs. I deduced they were the kings and queens of this place. Unfortunately, while helping these loyal servants of theirs, the rulers of this castle died with the rest of them.

May all of them rest in peace.

Once I stepped foot into the ballroom, dozens of sounds entered my eardrum. And they were all heading towards those places leading to the master bedrooms, the noble’s and king’s and queens’ rooms.

And… the ballroom was a pile of deceased people. If I had to guess based on their attires, majority of them were the butlers and maids of the castle, together with some noble ranks here and there. Lying around the tables was a pool of blood and other limbs torn apart or cut off. A bunch of organs were resting around, hinting that a feast was held here. And the other zombies were still wandering not far from where I was.

And that was why no zombies loomed over me, because the rest of the knights, nobles, and other people were found dead in this place. This must be their last defence, only to be eaten by someone who got bit and turned into them. 

I made sure these corpses were truly lifeless, or else I had to kill a bunch of them. But when I poked their cheeks, not a single soul came back to life. A relieved sigh escaped from my mouth upon knowing that it was safe… for now. And besides, there weren’t red markers on my map, telling me this room was a zombie-free place.

But as I strolled to the end of the ballroom, a recognisable sound came from a human. And he or she was screaming for help. Vividly. 

“Survivors? On that side of that map? Oh, come on!” I grumbled. It was a long way walk, and when I looked at the map, a sea of red dots was there, waiting for me. 

Before I could visit that place, I went downstairs and uncovered the ingress of the palace. Halfway down the stairs, there was also a window that showed the front side of the castle. Similar to the second and the first floor. But I didn’t check the entrance door, since I already knew what awaited me outside.

“Holy… shit.. This can’t be happening.”

Usually, zombie games require you to traverse a horde of zombies. And the challenging part was surviving from them with the little resources they had. But that was moronic. That part was only cool because you were playing a character, and you could revive it as soon as that character died, and it was never game over. This time, death was near.

The instance I glanced out the window, my eyes caught sight of the wave of zombies waiting outside. There were a bunch of them. It was like what I saw from my map. "Red dots, I meet you again," I almost said, while grunting. Some were knights wielding their swords, and others were magicians holding onto their staffs. It seemed none of the people in this kingdom survived, as they had either turned into a salad of meat or mindless eating monsters.

My heartbeat pounded like drums in a metal concert, and I sweat profusely after knowing what was outside the gates. This was crazy. There was no way for me to survive that swarm of undead, even with a bat… or a gun.

“Am I… stuck here?” I muttered, and returned to the ballroom, only to witness the corpses coming back alive. 

There were… dozens. No. Hundreds of zombies were in front of me, and they were all famished. The undead growled as soon as they saw me and started sprinting in my direction. And that signalled me to run away from them.

“SHIT! I KNEW I COULDN’T TRUST THAT PILE OF CORPSES!” Lesson learned. Smack those sons of bitches before moving on, most especially if I were to stay and roam around for loot or for information. 

Little did I know that these mountains of dead people came back to life to hunt me. Well, it wasn't "Little did I know". That was the idea of zombies, and, boy, I was a dumb fuck for not realising it. I knew I should’ve just burned them when I had the chance. But the thing was… I still didn’t have or learn how to cook myself a cocktail or something.

And then, while the zombies chased me down, my main quest, which was to escape the castle, became a new one.

[A new quest has been activated!]

[Save Princess Charlotte and her sister, Fey, from the zombies outside their room! Failure to save them will alert the zombies outside the castle to your position!]

[Reward: Backpack with contents]

[Escape the castle with Princess Charlotte and Fey! Failure to escape the castle with them will lead to alerting the zombies!]

[Reward: Desert Eagle with infinite ammo]

[Side Quest: Reach level 5.]

[Reward: Baseball Bat filled with nails]

“NOW WE’RE TALKING!”

The reward became more forgiving, but the missions were devastating. It was nearly impossible for me to leave this place unscathed. What more if I bought two people with me? Having a group in a zombie apocalypse wasn’t something I was keen on doing, but I guessed this system wanted me to play a hero instead of worrying about myself. Well, I could ditch the two princesses and escape with my life, but… that would leave a bitter taste in my mouth.

And besides, I was already surrounded by these bastards, so the smartest thing to do was to approach these girls and see what I could do with them.