After shaking hands, I calmly asked:
"Ella, can you give me a detailed description of how many zombies are near and around this apartment complex, how strong the zombies are, and places where we can get supplies?"
Ella, after hearing me calmly ask her about those pieces of information, looked me in the eyes and sat on the floor, and started to reluctantly give a detailed description of the current state of the apartment complex:
"Jefford, there are a ton of zombies around this apartment complex and not just a few stragglers. If my calculations and intuition are right, there could be at least a hundred thousand zombies near here, since before this apocalypse, this district where this apartment complex stood had a high-density population. Moreover, when I was out trying to scavenge for supplies, the streets, alleys, and other apartment buildings were filled with those terrifying zombies. Yet fortunately, there's no mutant zombie around here except for..."
Ella suddenly stopped speaking for a moment, and for the very first time, I saw her look scared and bothered, as if a bad memory suddenly resurfaced once again.
Seeing her in such a state, I immediately asked her in a gentle and worried voice:
"Ella, are you okay? What's troubling you?"
Ella, after hearing my worried voice, continued to speak once again. Yet her soft, relaxed, and confident voice from just a moment ago when she was helping me overcome my problems and worries was almost non-existent, and it felt like she was being overwhelmed by fear of something or someone.
She continued to not speak for a couple more seconds, leaving only silence between us, until I finally couldn't help it anymore and broke the silence and said in a soft voice:
"Ella, you can share it with me. I will listen to you with my full attention, just like you did for me a couple of minutes ago."
Ella, hearing my reassuring and soft voice, looked at me and slowly nodded, and started to continue to speak in a more timid voice:
"Um, Jefford, there might be a lot of zombies around here, yet for the past couple of days I have not approached nor sensed any strong zombies lurking around here, except for that... 10-foot-tall bulky, muscle-packed giant mutant zombie that had huge popping veins in its arms that looked like they would burst at any moment.
But I think it wouldn't hear us since I just saw it a few hours ago when I looked for supplies, and it was walking away from this apartment complex with its distance already surpassing 20 kilometers. And besides that, there is no real threat against us—if you're truly as powerful as you claim.
And for the supplies, there's a big supermarket near this apartment complex, which is a few blocks down, though getting there would mean taking down thousands of zombies in the street, which is not an easy feat to achieve."
After hearing all that Ella said and taking in all the necessary information and mentally mapping out a plan of action, I stood up from where I had been crouched, the sound of my boots lightly scraping against the floor, and approached the door,
And glanced at Ella at the back and said in a calm and confident voice: "Ok then, we shall first address the task regarding the deceased family beside this room, then after that we will go to kill those zombies around this apartment."
"Okay, I understand," she replied as she raised her staff above and whispered a chant under her breath, and in seconds, a soothing blue glow surrounded my body — a powerful buff spell that surged strength into my limbs, enhancing all of my attributes by 25%.
Then, overcome by curiosity, I checked my status:
[JEFFORD CLIFF] (MASTER)
HP: 2,300 / 2,300
MANA: 1,000 / 1,000
MANA REGEN: 1 MP/SEC
CLASS:
• STOREMAN
• CLOSE COMBAT WARRIOR (LVL 1)
• FORT WARRIOR (LVL 1)
ATTACK POINTS: 10 (+45)
ATTACK SPEED: 2 (+0.25)/SEC
BUFF: ALL ATTRIBUTES IMPROVED BY 25%
DURATION: 24 MINUTES & 46 SECONDS
OTHERS: NOT UNLOCKED
---
After looking at my stats, I felt a strange feeling of happeniss, and immediately glanced at Ella and said, Let's go, which she quickly nodded.
We stepped outside the room, boots echoing on the hard tiles,
and made our way to the nearby room, where I heard those heartbreaking pleas until we reached its open door and I peeked inside and saw:
Two horrendous zombies with bloody mouths and sharp teeth were currently munching stomach of a dead man with blood soaking into the floor. They devoured him like starving, animalistic monsters.
THIS BASTARDS! I said, muttering to myself as I looked at the system notification saying:
[SYSTEM]
ZOMBIES DETECTED
EXTRA MISSION: ELIMINATE ALL ZOMBIES.
REWARD: GAIN INFORMATION ON SPEED.
NOTE: DUE TO THE PROXIMITY OF THE ZOMBIES, THE SPECIAL EFFECT OF YOUR CLASS: THE CLOSE COMBAT WARRIOR WILL BE ACTIVATED
---
After reading the notification, I slowly felt a sudden surge of strength that felt like all of my attributes had suddenly doubled, making me feel light, stronger, and faster in analyzing my surroundings.
I turned Ella and said in a confident voice: "Cover my back. I can kill those zombies in an instant."
She first felt hesitant, yet as she noticed that I suddenly got stronger, she immediately nodded and followed me closely behind, guarding my back as I rushed straight towards the zombies with no hesitation.
The bloodied mouth zombies immediately noticed and looked at me with their monstrous and hideous faces as they roared and charged straight at me.
My dagger met the first zombie's neck, and in one clean slice, his head was severed from his body.
And after that, I immediately moved my gaze to the other one and dpun, ducked low, and carved upward continuously through his stomach, through his chest, and until through his neck and head instantly taking him down. With the system saying:
[SYSTEM]
ALL ZOMBIES IN THE ROOM HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFULLY ELIMINATED.
REWARD: ABILITY TO STATUS CHECK MOVEMENT SPEED—BOTH PERSONAL AND OTHERS'.
As I stood over the mangled bodies and looked at the system message as it congratulated me, I suddenly heard Ella's voice full of urgency that was quickly calling me:
"JEFFORD… COME OVER HERE."
I immediately gazed at her and saw the heartbreaking scene.
A dead mother and her young daughter are soaked with their own blood inside the bloody bathroom.
Seeing the heartbreaking scene, I couldn't help but mutter to myself in a low and sorrowful voice, "...THIS IS TOO MUCH,"
As I continued to look at their lifeless bodies, I noticed something clutched tightly in the mother's pale, rigid fingers: A bloodied letter.
Which I slowly picked up and opened, and when I read it, I felt my heart was being pinched:
THE CONTENT OF THE LETTER:
TO WHOMEVER IS READING THIS, BY NOW WE ARE PROBABLY DEAD.
WE WERE BITTEN BY A COUPLE OF ZOMBIES OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT COMPLEX WHO CHASED US LIKE PREY'S ALL THE WAY HERE.
AND MADE OUR ONCE HAPPY FAMILY CRUMBLE.
I, THE MOTHER, EVEN HAD TO DO A PAINFUL THING AS A PARENT, AND THAT WAS ENDING THE LIFE OF MY INFECTED DAUGHTER FOR HER TO NOT BECOME A ZOMBIE!!!
IT REALLY HURTS THAT I HAD TO DO THAT.
SO, PLEASE KILL ALL THOSE MONSTROUS ZOMBIES AND TAKE THE RIFLE AND SOME GRENADES LOCATED IN THE BASEMENT OF THIS ROOM. YOU MYST USE IT TO PUNISH THOSE HEARTLESS BEINGS.
AND TO BE ABLE TO PROTECT YOUR LOVE ONES.
YOURS TRULY,
THE DECEASED FAMILY.
---
"...Thank you," I whispered, bowing my head in respect. After reading their last wish in the letter.
And then the system immediately notified me of the success of the special tasked mission and instructed me to continue downstairs for my reward. After that
I slowly walk down the stairs into the basement, with the air is musty, filled with dust and old memories.
And there I saw it on top of a wooden crate, like a final gift, sat an M16 rifle, gleaming and untouched.
I picked it up and inspected it.
It was lightweight and fully loaded.
Then, immediately, I stored it inside my interdimensional inventory and proceeded
to climb back up from the basement.
But as I looked at the stairs as I was about to step, intending to climb, I saw Ella, who was looking at me in shock, and asked:
"You… have an inventory!?"
"Yeah. And I can also combine materials. That's how I made the medicine that saved your life." I said as I reached out and gently patted her head.
"H-Hey! D-Don't pat me like I'm some kid!" she pouted with her cheeks flushing.
I laughed slightly, then proceeded to ask her, "So, what did you find?"
"Canned food and noodles. Not much, but it'll keep us going," she said while still flushing.
"That's perfect, but let's not eat here," I said as I glanced back at the blood-soaked floor.
Ella, hearing me, said that she immediately looked around and said:
" I know a better spot though, not completely safe, but much better, spacious and calming to the mind in certain areas of it."
"Where?" I asked
"Across the street, to the mall near here, since it was partially closed when this zombie apocalypse suddenly appeared. Though, will have to clear the zombie-filled street just to get there."
I paused for a moment, thinking about it, and then said: "That's great, it will be two birds in one stone. We can get a nice place to eat and gather some essential supplies at the same time and place. Let's go there, those are just normal zombies."
She looked at me with hesitation and said: Are you sure, Jefford?
Yes, just trust me, the guy who created an antidote that stopped you from turning into those monsters. Thought it was unfortunate that it can't be used to heal those who have fully turned into zombies.
After hearing my persistence and argument.
She looked at me seriously for a couple of seconds, then nodded.
Immediately after I saw her nod, I immediately spoke to her in a soft and reassuring voice: "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Hearing my reassurance, she finally relaxed and followed me as we got out of the decreased family's rental room
After getting out and walking a few steps across the corridor, we finally reached the stairs, which were filled with blood stains, with terrifying growls of dozens of zombies on the lower floor. Then suddenly, the system appeared once again:
[SYSTEM]
MASTER, I DON'T SENSE ANY STRONG ZOMBIES OR HUMANS NEARBY.
YOU MAY FREELY UNLEASH YOUR WRATH NOW.
---
Perfect, I said with an excited voice as I heard multiple zombies started to notice the presence of me and Ella and started to growl loudly as they climbed up the stairs and appear in my sight: multiple horrendous zombies with some having opened parts of either their chest, stomach or neck that showed their disgusting greenish blood that further stained the stairs as they runed towards me and Ella.
Yet despite of their large number and horrendous faces, I just smirked and without hesitation, I charged. My blade danced through the crowd of zombies, precisely slashing their heads, separating it from their rotten bodies.
Ella, seeing how effortlessly I cut down the heads of zombies after zombies, just started in awe, yet when she noticed one zombie coming close to me, she reflexively used her staff to whack the zombie's head, pinning it to the ground and kept whacking it until its head broke, spilling blood.
Noticing that she had my back and that she would help me made me fire up even more, and I started to kill more zombies one after another, much faster as we advanced down the stairs
But then… I heard a much larger group of zombies groan monstrously from outside the building. Making Ella's face turn pale, and said to me in a scared voice: "So… what's your plan, Jefford?"
I turned toward her with a grin that tugged at my lips.
"Watch this."
I pulled out the M16 and opened fire against the fast-approaching zombies that immediately made my system notification go wild:
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATIONS]:
LVL 1 ZOMBIE KILLED
LVL 1 ZOMBIE KILLED
LVL 1 ZOMBIE KILLED...
---
BRRTT!, BRRTTT!
Gunfire thundered through the building.
The first line of zombies fell in heaps.
Ella froze, shocked by the firepower.
And started to get wary of the sheer amount of ammunition being used.
"Jefford! We have to retreat! We'll run out of bullets at this rate!" she said in a scared voice.
I turned to her and said, "We can hold them up," as I tossed her the second rifle that I duplicated and said in an ordering voice:
"KEEP FIRING—OR WE DIE!"
Her eyes widened seeing that I had actually duplicated it and wanted to ask how did I do it, yet the loud growls of zombies made her stop and focus on what was really is important right now.
She grabbed the gun, held it firm—
and aimed it at the zombies that were quickly coming from downstairs and began firing, monstrously yet precisely.
Side by side, we mowed down the dozens of zombies, creating a pile of corpses until there were no standing zombies left
"Phew… that was a nice workout," I said, panting.
Ella, hearing me say the word "workout" immediately looked at me with a serious face while also panting and said:
"This is not even worth mentioning compared to what possible big battles and hordes of zombies that we will need to fight and survive, right?
Hearing her say something that was completely true, yet I didn't want to experience
I immediately grew quiet. Then, after a few seconds, I looked at her with a serious face and said with a voice full of emotion:
"Yes, Ella, that is certainly a fact that we can't deny. We cannot deny that this apocalypse is happening worldwide wide creating more zombies, and the more zombies, the more chances of powerful mutant zombies that we will need to kill.
That's why I'm doing this. The reason I'm fighting every moment is because I'm scared that if I won't be able to quickly become stronger and continuously get stronger I might not be able to save the people that I care and cherish like what happened to Marianne who I just helplessly looked at as she was mercilessly being devoured by my coworkers that had already turned into heartless monsters.
And above all, I'm scared that one day I may fall too and turn into a heartless monster."
After letting out all of those words, I started to cry again, with my body trembling in sorrow and fear, yet it had suddenly been covered with the feeling of care and love due to warmth and when I looked behind me:
Ella was hugging me tightly, yet at the same time felt soft, and said to me the words that brought calmness to me:
"I'm here, Jefford, I'll stay with you through thick and mud,"
Hearing and feeling once more her kindness and love, I couldn't help but start to yearn for her warmth, and the smile that I didn't notice that I was staring at her face so closely and intently.
When I noticed how close we were, I immediately tried to pull back, yet Ella, seemingly unbothered by the closeness of our bodies, continued to hug me tightly and proceeded to bury her face in my chest.
Um.... Ella, I know this is your way of showing your care, but our bodies are so close to one another. I said in a low and blushing voice as I continuously felt the warm breath of Ella on my chest.
But the reply that I heard from her strangely made my heart beat faster, but not one of those caused by the zombies:
"Just let me do this for you, Jefford. I want you to feel loved and cared for amid this apocalypse, and above all, let me feel the warmth of someone I like, not just as a friend or a companion but as a man.
I know I'm so selfish, how could I tell my feelings to you when we just met each other, how could I try to replace Mariannes place in your heart so early?
But I'm really sorry, Jefford, I couldn't hold it.
You were just such an admiring man: From how brave you were trying to save your co-workers in the control center, from how you didn't just let yourself die without a fight against that grotesque long-tongue zombie mutant and from how much you care and worry towards the people that you care and cherish and above all, even we just met I could tell how selfless you were:
You instantly made a vow to protect me, and that vow that you just made a moment ago was something you kept with utmost care. You were always in front of me against the zombies, and you always protected me. How could I hold these emotions?
How could I not want to show my love and care towards the person that I have fallen for, who is currently crying in front of my bare eyes?"
After hearing all of those heartfelt, emotionally filled words that Ella just spoke to me, I immediately embraced her in a tight and warm hug as well and said with a tone full of emotions:
"I'm happy to hear that Ella, How could I not also slowly admire you when you are also so brave from saving me when you saw me lying unconscious in the seaport despite the huge risk, how could I not trust you with all of my heart you when you waited for me to wake up for 3 days, how could I not feel drawn to you when you made me calm down and feel the warmth and care of a true kind human. "
"How could I not slowly love you after all that you did?"
"So, Ella, despite of me just recently losing my first girlfriend, and that we only just met, I will accept your feelings with all of my heart," I said as I kissed her forehead, creating an atmosphere filled with love, care and compassion that surrounded the two of us for seconds.