An agent in the apocalypse [Project Zomboid] [Waifu Catalog]

[kira-sakuya]

Starting World: Project Zomboid
Starting budget 140

Intensity [1]
So Far Away 0
Dropped-In -0 [140]

Bindings
Company Stamp free [140]
Empty Hand --20 [160]

Lures
Sticky Fingers -5 [155]
Faerie Feast -10 [145]
Alluring Whisper -20 [125]

Home Perks
Pocket Space -5 [120]

Talents
Body Tune-Up -5 [115]
Wild -5 [110]
Everlasting -10 [100]
Athletic -5 [95]
Martial -10 [85]
Communication -10 [75]
Educationalᵈˡᶜ -5 [70]
Soul -10 [60]

Defenses
Body x2 -10 [50]
Stress x2 -10 [40]
Wild -5 [35]
Defenses discounted for retinue members +2 [37]

Misc Perks
Sexual Calibration -2 [35]
Fertility Calibration I -2 [33]
Appearance Changeᵈˡᶜ -1 [32]
Time-Saversᵈˡᶜ -2 [30]
Exit Stage Left -5 [25]

Generic Waifu Perks
Paper Trail [You, Izumi Curtis, Chao Lingshen] -3 [22]
Grail Knowledgeᵈˡᶜ [You, Izumi Curtis, Chao Lingshen] -3 [19]

Companions bought -15 [4]
Izumi Curtis(T4)[used] from Fullmetal Alchemist
Chao Lingshen(T5)[used] from Negima!

Specific credit modifiers -4 [0]:
Gain combat training [-2]
Gain survival training [-1]
Gain leadership training [-1]

 

[kira-sakuya]

As I opened my eyes, I paled. I was standing in the middle of a street, surrounded by around fifteen "people."

Spotting my companions nearby, I shouted, "Be ready for combat! Everything around us is hostile!"

"Chao, disable anything approaching us."

Chao's spear immediately came into play. Not knowing what these people were yet, she reversed her grip, using the shaft and butt of the weapon to knock them away rather than stab them.

"Izumi, find us shelter." Izumi had already punched a zomboid by the time my words came, she cringed at the blood and bone fragment on her hand, before looking around.

While I was giving orders, a zomboid near me lunged at me.

The pale and bloody face, a mouth wide open in a snarl appeared in front of me, making me fall.

Before I could be bitten a spear knock it away. I quickly got up and rushed behind Izumi.

Damn there was so many of them, in the game we appeared in a house not outside.

As I was thinking another zomboid launched itself at me from the side.

Falling from the shock placed me outside of the zomboid range.

A thump from Chao's spear impacting the side of the zomboid's head made it fall on me. In fear I pushed it aside, got up and rushed away.

'Oh my god the smell.'

Preventing myself from vomiting I forced myself to turn my sight to Izumi's back and concentrate on it so as to not be distracted once again.

After what felt like half an hour—but couldn't have been more than a few minutes—Izumi suddenly turned into a narrow alley.

"Up!"

A metal fire-escape ladder hung several metres above us. Izumi jumped, caught the bottom rung and pulled herself up with ridiculous ease.

A moment later, she leaned down and extended a hand.

I grabbed it.

She practically hauled me off my feet.

Once I regained my breath I turned to see the situation.

I found that we had left the Zomboids far behind. Sighing in relief I entered the windows Izumi had just opened, Chao who had already joined us following me closely.

The room seemingly safe I turned toward my two companions. It was strange to see Izumi Curtis so young, in her story she was considered between thirty and forty, and there she stood at twenty five, watching me with a wary look in her eye. Chao who was looking around us curiously until now also turned toward me.

Feeling slightly awkward, I cleared my throat. "We don't have time to do introduction right now, we still are in danger."

At my word Izumi who had been observing me turn back to the room her hand on her knife. When did she find it ?

"Here's what you need to know. Those things outside are zombies. They're hostile, they seem to rely mostly on sight and hearing, and destroying the brain stops them. There aren't many unaffected people left in the area. Everything else can wait until we're somewhere safe."

"Zombies ?" Asked Izumi, the only one who didn't know the popular style of game.

It wasn't me who answered her this time. "Walking corpse, feral, no intelligence left, only a desir to eat, usually human. Tireless."

"So they're already dead ?" Asked Izumi

At our nod Izumi murmured. "Then I can kill them."

"Do you know how it spreads?"

"Yes. For now, just don't get bitten."

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"That's not an answer."

"It's the answer we have time for."

After a moment, she nodded.

Thump

A soft sound as if something fell against the door stopped our conversation.

Izumi approached the door with her knife in hand, Chao staying by the windows to cover our back.

I lowered my voice. "For the time being we can't do much for the survivor, but we will come back to it later."

"Before we move, we need to know what each of us can do. I'm Kira."

The name still felt strange.

It wasn't the one I'd been born with. Becoming a Contractor had taken that from me, leaving only the pseudonym I'd used before.

"Izumi, you're our best fighter and you have real wilderness survival experience. Chao, you're also a skilled fighter, and you're our strongest option for magic and anything technological."

I hesitated.

"I'm the weak link."

"I know computers and software. I bought a few advantages from the Catalog, but they're mostly long-term. As for fighting and survival... I had one day of training in each."

Izumi slowly turned her head toward me.

"One day."

"One day."

Her expression became the exact look I remembered Edward receiving whenever he'd done something particularly stupid.

"Izumi, you are in charge until we are safe, we will follow your command."

"You're suppose to be our contractor."

"And you've survived alone in the wilderness. I've spend most of my life at home or around civilization. Until's we're somewhere safe, you're in charge."

After a few second a single "Fine" came back.

By the windows Chao who was observing me let out a soft "Interesting."

Izumi's hand went behind a furniture and brough back a broom, she tore off it's head giving me the handle. "Don't try to kill anything. Keep this between you and them. If one comes close call us we will deal with it."

"We avoid fighting unless we have to. We don't know how far we'll need to go, so don't waste energy."

Izumi then slowly opened the door, then with a quick thrust with her knife she killed the zomboid which had been standing before it. Seeing that the hallways was otherwise empty. She gestured for us to follow her.



It didn't take us long to exit the building they were in. Izumi advancing in silence, sometime opening a door just enough to look at the room before closing it once more.

Once outside she made us keep close to the wall, sometime passing beneath a window.

After a quarter of an hour they a slightly separated two story high house.

As we were kneeling behind a low wall, Izumi pointed to me.

"You stay there, keep the house behind you at all time. If any zombie managed to go past Chao you will hear it in advance. You make sure that no zombie come from where we come from. If you notice a zombie approach, you go warn Chao."

I nodded, placing myself back against the wall so as to have better view, in front of me was a long road with no way to hide, I would see any zombie coming from afar..

"Chao, you enter the house and you check every room. Once a room is checked, close the door behind you so as not to be attacked from behind."

Chao looked at the house.

"Do you want me to secure the house ?"

"Not yet, we don't have enough information."

She glanced at me as she said that.

"For the time being we just need a temporary shelter."

Still looking back, I asked.

"And you ?"

"I will go around the surrounding and kill any zombie I find."

"Chao once you have finished, you stay in the house."

She then pointed at a windows.

"Place a strip of tissue on this windows to show that everything is alright."

I turned slightly to see which windows she was speaking about.

Seeing that we understood the orders she turned.

"Let's go."

And so I was left alone with only a broom handle to defend myself. Not really a hero's beginning.

'Stop, you already knew that it would be like that.'

In fact for the moment everything was going to plan, sure I clearly wasn't prepared to face zomboid but I already knew I would have difficulty in this domain.

I grew still as I saw movement on the road far away, but after ten minutes there was no more.

Thinking about my companion it was also going as he thought.

'Izumi is clearly wary, not surprising from her past. Still she seemed ready to work with me.... for now.'

'It's harder with Chao, I can't read her. From what I know she is usually joyful, but it was also to manipulate Negima.'

Hearing movement to the left I turned broom handle raised only to see Izumi come out.

"Anything ?" She has briskly

I pointed where I saw movement earlier.

"I saw some movement at the road twenty minutes ago, but nothing since. It may have been a zomboid passing by or an animal, I couldn't see."

Frowning while looking afar, she then looked at the house.

"Stay there."

She then left me once more.

As she went to check what I saw I looked behind me, there was a piece of tissue at the window.

'Everything seem good there.'

It took ten minutes for Izumi to come back.

"Two zombies, they shouldn't have been a danger but better be careful."

She stared at me.

"At least you were smart enough not to go check.

"You did ordered me to stay there unless danger."

"And you actually listened."

I frowned.

"You're the one I put in charge."

Izumi scoffed. "A contractor which listen to his waifu. A miracle."

The word waifu came out like an insult.

She motioned for me to follow.

Chao was waiting for us at the door having observed our conversation with interest.

Izumi raised an eyebrow in question.

"Two zombie, one in the kitchen another in the bedroom..."

At this time her word stayed caught in her throat.

"The one in the bedroom was only four years old."

I paled at those words, in the game the dev didn't code any child but obviously in a real world they would have been more susceptible to the illness.

Then something came back to my mind and I turned toward Izumi.

Izumi face had gone completely blank.

Then I remembered.

'Her child.'

I tried to distract them.

"What must we do now ? I suppose that we should place defense even if the house is only temporary ?"

Chao seeing the reaction of Izumi and understanding what I was trying to do, helped me.

"If the zombie use sigh and hearing we should close every curtain. Close the doors to give us more time to run away. Unplug any device which could do loud sound. If we want to stay long term I could create some defense, not much unless I have the material but it would be better than nothing."

Our conversation bringing back Izumi to the present, she nodded.

"We won't stay long term, only a day or two. We should however close the curtain, but not upstairs."

She lead us upstairs, while staying away from the bedroom to showed us, she then shut off the lights.

"From there we can see rather far away, we must always have someone keeping watch from there. The light must always stay off here."

"So while someone keep guard here the two other stay on the first floor." I noted while opening one of the curtain which was closed.

"No ceiling lights," Chao suggested. "Close the curtains and use a small lamp away from the windows. Less chance of anyone outside seeing it."

Izumi gave a small smile to this.

"Good idea."

"What about the door ?" Chao asked.

"It would slow any zombie, but it would lock us inside."

Izumi gave a firm nod.

I agreed, locking them has it's advantage, but I don't like not having an exit strategy."

"I have an idea for this." I said.

Leading us to one of the room upstairs then at it's floor to ceiling windows.

"If we put a mattress below this window, we'd have an emergency exit. A jump from the second floor might still hurt, but it's better than being trapped."

Izumi opened the windows, observe, then jumped out. She then checked out the hight and the garden it lead too.

She then came back inside the house giving me a nod.

"We will do that."

Seeing nobody propose anything further I lead them to other task.

"It's nearly noon, Izumi if you could prepare something to eat, Chao and me will clean the house. Then I will explain what I know while we eat."

Izumi which had started toward the kitchen at my first words, paused slightly at my last words.

"Place them behind the garage." She said softly.

I leaned toward Chao as I watch Izumi leave and whispered

"I leave the one in the kitchen to you."

I then went toward the bedroom, hearing a soft "Thank you" from behind me.

Using the side door so as not to go near Izumi with my burden, I went behind the garage.

Three other bodies were already lying behind the garage—apparently the zombies Izumi had cleared from around the property.

I placed the child slowly by the woman, there was a good chance it was her mother, he saw photo of the two together in the house.

I stayed there for a while, staring at the two bodies.

In Project Zomboid, I'd killed thousands of zombies. They were sprites and models. Numbers on a kill counter. Houses were containers filled with loot, and corpses were obstacles you stepped over.

There had never been children.

I looked down at the tiny body I'd just carried outside.

'Fuck.'

Until now, some part of me had still been treating this like the game.

It wasn't.

These houses belonged to people. Those things wandering the streets had been people.

And somewhere across Kentucky, millions of families were going through the same thing.

I swallowed and forced myself back toward the house.



They were now upstairs, the food on their plate nearly gone.

I then started with the story of the game, although much was still unknown even more than ten years since it came out.

"It started a few weeks ago. At first it was only bad smell which persisted."

At Chao interest, I stopped her. "I don't know how long exactly, but we should be able to find out from newspapers."

"Eight days ago, the phoneline were cut for repair, then six day ago a military truck carrying an unknown substance crashed. It was quickly secured by the military."

"Do you know where exactly." Asked Choa with map in hand

'She must have found this in the house.'

"I know it's somewhere near March Ridge, but nothing clearer."

"Since then the government and the army tell to all that there is no danger and that everything is under control."

"Three days ago the newspaper talked about an Illness Outbreak in Muldraugh."

"North of March Ridge." Choa noted. "What were the symptom ?".

"Some talked about 'flu-like' illness, other talked about a rabies outbreak, from the sign of bite wounds. The US military opened their medical facilities in March Ridge and Fort Knox, they may have more information."

"By this time the military had created an exclusion zone around the area."

"Two days ago, the President return early from the G7 summit, but the White House declare it has nothing with what happen around there. And the exclusion zone was increased to the whole region."

"Another event to note is that this evening there was a bright meteor shower over Kentucky. No idea if it had any consequence on the following event, but I know that you will want to know the most you can."

Chao frown.

"A meteor shower ? After the start of the epidemy ? Low chance that it did anything, but I will note it in case it's useful."

"Yesterday, more military personnel arrived from Fort Cambell, and a No-fly zone was established over the whole region."

"In three days the European Community will advises it's member state to close their borders and a quarantine camp within the Exclusion Zone will be abandoned."

At my words Chao stopped taking note.

"And the reason you know what will happen is ?"

I looked at her while wondering what she was talking about, then I remembered what happened with her last contractor.

"That is what happened in the original story, and our action wouldn't have impacted it."

That seemed to calm her slightly.

"Chao, let's me be clear, I will not use this part of your technology.".

She looked at me in doubt.

"Even if thing don't go as you wish ?"

I nodded seriously.

"As far as I'm concerned this technology is sealed, and you are not to recreate it."

While doubt still seem to cloud around Chao she seemed to accept my words, for now.

Izumi however had a frown on her face

"What are you talking about ? What technology ?"

Chao not wanting to talk about the technology which gave her pain and the loss of a friend looked away.

"The original Chao Lingshen developed a technology which allow her to travel in time to save her world." I explained

"And you don't want to use it ? You may be able to prevent this disaster."

"No !" Cried Chao.

I almost reached toward her, then stopped myself.

"Time travel is extremely dangerous, even without seeking of time paradox. No two world river of time is the same, some have correcting force bringing back the narrative to it's original state, other erase completely the time traveler."

Izumi meanwhile was watching Chao with wide eyes learning that this girl could travel through time.

"Anyway, back to the storyline."

"In four day a photograph of a zombie will end in a newspaper bringing panic to the whole world."

"How ?" Izumi asked.

"Pardon ?" Stopped in my speech I looked at her befubled.

Snorting she continued.

"You said that the region would be closed so how did this photograph went out."

"It is possible to exit the region by passing through the blockage of the military, at least if you weren't infected."

"Then why don't we take a car and leave the region ?"

At Izumi words, Chao looked intently at me.

"How does the pathogens spread ?"

I nodded at her with a wry smile.

"There two known way of propagation. Airborn and from infected bodily fluids entering the bloodstream. So a bite or unprotected sex."

"So us and everybody leaving in this region ?" She asked.

"We are protected, from either way by a defense I bought from the Catalog. We don't even create anticorp against it. Everybody else thought are contamined."

"So they will all transform into zombies ?" Asked Izumi

I shook my head.

"While there is two way of propagation, the airborn can be survived by a really small part of human, it may not even be ten percent. However even if one of those ten percent is bitten he will transform."

"But the military won't let's the bitten go out of the exclusion zone will they ?" Asked Izumi.

Chao answered with a sad look on her face.

"Of course not, but it's not like those who survived the airborn weren't contamined. They just survived it. However the people around them will breath the same air as the contamined, an air which has been contamined by them."

I raised my hands in defeat.

"Exactly, and so the virus has already left the exclusion zone, it just didn't have enough time to incubate inside the outsider. Which is why there is no sign of zombie outside."

I let a few second past before continuing.

"And that is beside the danger which is approaching them."

Izumi frowned before understanding.

"The noise."

"Indeed, so much people in one place create a lot of noise which will attract the zomboid. And what will happen when the military see the zomboid."

"They will shoot them, which will attract even more zombie, zomboid ?" She asked with a puzzled look on her face, before continuing.

"In the end the the zomboid will breach the border fence at multiple place leading to it's total collapse in five day."

I shrugged at the question.

"It was the name which were given to them in the original story."

"Anyway, I know what I believe is the most secure place to be right known, but what about you Izumi you are our expert in survival ?"

She looked at me with suspicions.

"What if I tell you that leaving the region is the safest thing to do ?"

"Then we will leave it. I already told you Izumi, when it concern survival I will follow your order."

Ignoring my answer she felled in silence then asked a few questions.

"If we leave now, how long will it take to be let through the military's blockage ? How long will they take to reach to closest large city ? Would we be able to secure a defendable place ?"

"I don't believe that we would be able to go through the military blockage in under five days, if we are optimist, maybe three days."

"The Knox illness, which is it's name, will be confirmed in different big city, all over the world, in eight days."

"All over the world in eight days." Izumi ask in shock, while I took Graal knowledge for my two companion, they hadn't really incorporated the knowledge yet.

"They ease of travel in this age make any disease easy to spread, unfortunately."

"As for a defendable base, we would be able to find some but acquiring it would take way longer than a month, moreover most gun shop will have been emptied by this time and we wouldn't be able to arm ourself."

"How long is the incubation period ?" Chao asked writing in her notebook once more.

"Around two and three days, quicker if you are bitten multiple time."

Nodding gravely Chao said.

"Ten to thirteen days."

Izumi tensed.

"Until what ?"

"The Knox Infection is spreading uncontrollably across the planet." I answer for Chao.

"In fact it was in eleven day in the original story. In eighteen days, every government will have fallen and billions will be dead, only smalls groups of immune survivors will remain."

"Faced with this much zomboid, it is only time before humanity fall." I tell them gravely.

Nobody spoke for several seconds.

Outside a car alarm could be heard far away.

The food on my plate had long since gone cold.

"And there is nothing we can do against this ?" Izumi asked.

She look at me.

"You have this much information, if you warn people, surely it can be prevented."

Chao still in though answer distractly.

"Not with a government who refuse to acknowledge the problem, we would be disappeared so as not to 'spread panic'."

She then raised her head toward me.

"That's why you brough us here didn't you ? Not to save the billions but to preserve humanity."

Izumi's face showed the shock she felt.

"How ? We are only three person."

"it's not the number it's who we are."

Chao pointed toward me.

"Someone who knows what's coming, and therefore knows what we have to prepare for."

She pointed toward Izumi.

"Someone who can allow us and other survivor to live through this apocalypse, in the less dangerous place."

She then pointed toward herself.

"A technical genius, able to give humanity it's control of the technology it lost, and maybe find a vaccine one day."

Izumi jumped at those words.

"You can create a vaccine ?"

Choa winced.

"Maybe, but I would have to be able to study it. I would need sample, I would need a specialized facility. It would take years of study, maybe decade."

Izumi slumped at that.

"That's why I say we weren't her to save the billions."

"But we can't let's them die." She pleaded.

I looked at the despair on their face.

"You missed a few point Chao."

"Izumi isn't only a survival specialist and a great combatant, she is also a great teacher, which mean that she would be able to train any survivor we rescue. Increasing their survival capacity. Moreover she is an alchemist, with it she can fortify a base, create defensive measure, but also create item you need that would need factory to craft."

He looked at Izumi.

"Am I wrong ?"

She looked at me still in despair.

"I would need to know what I had to created by yes it's possible."

The light came back to Chao's eyes.

"It would let's us gain a lot of time, we could have a city of survivor in years instead of decade."

I nodded with a small smile.

"While it's not much, I do have an idea for the surrounding region, outside the exclusion zone."

I sliver of hope appeared on Izumi's face.

I looked at Chao.

"If we use the emergency broadcast system, what would we be able to send ?"

Chao frowned.

"From here, nothing much, we would need access to a radio tower, and even then with the governement blocking communication...."

"We could send short broadcast, or some short message."

"Would it be able to send fax ? And what would be the range." I insisted.

"Maybe, it would have to be a short one, a page maybe two. As for it's range we should be able to reach the neerest town outside the exclusion zone." She said hesitantly.

I nodded.

"Last question, would it damage the communication system ?"

Her answer this time was clear.

"No, I may need to rig something, but once done it would be plug and play on the radio tower."

A slight smile was now on my face.

"In that case, if we have Izumi write survival instruction, a few important detail on the infection, like the fact that those who survive the airborn strain, can still be transformed with bite, we may be able to save a few more person."

Chao nodded while in though.

"The range is limited, but if we add at the end of the message a request to send it further we could reach further. It won't be much but even if a few more survive it would be a win."

I turned toward Izumi in warning.

"It may not be much, but it would still help the occasional person."

Izumi blinked at me in a daze.

I turned back to Chao.

"If you need me to help you with the software, tell me."

"How long would it take you to rig it ?" I ask Chao

Taking a few note on her notebook she frowned before nodding.

"It depend too much on the radio tower, I would need to inspect it to say for sure."

I nodded in thought.

"There is a big chance that the police station will crawl with zomboid, to much for only you to go, I would only be a burden but I don't like the idea of only one person to go anyway."

A few seconds passed, Chao taking some more note.

"Izumi, if you used alchemy to create a secure basement do you believe I would be safe to stay inside for a whole day."

Izumi nodded slowly.

"The ... zomboid... aren't stronger than a human ?"

I shook my head.

"Most aren't much stronger than me, the problem come when they form a horde, the simple press of human body is rather powerful".

Izumi then nodded more firmly.

"In that case then yes I can create a basement secure enough for you to survive a horde."

"It won't be fully secure, and I would be wary to have somebody stay in it for more than a week, and only if the weather stay the same. Be against zombies it should suffice. I would suggest stocking it with enough supply for a week, just in case a horde really come just on top of you and we take time to get rid of it."

"Good, do you have any objection with the plan this plan ?" I ask the two women.

Choa still her head in her notebook gave me a distracted "no".

Izumi however had a caveat.

"Not as such, however, that will need to wait at least a day. I would prefer for us to secure a bit more this base, find some food and I also want to check the land around here. Moreover you didn't tell us where this communication tower is."

'Oups, forgot about that'.

I took the map from Chao and spread it over the short table.

"We are at Riverside, where exactly I don't know."

I then slided my finger until it reached the river then along side it until I reached the police station.

"And the police station is there."

Izumi now greatly interested looked intently at the map.

"Tomorrow I will find where we are then we will plan how to reach it."

She continued to study the map, while Chao was still in her calculation.

I looked at the company phone, we had spend the whole afternoon talking.

"Now that they are decided, you get command back."

I tell Izumi with a smirk.

"Outside those objectives you tell us what to do."

Izumi shrugged, giving a few order to Chao then telling me to stay upstairs to keep watch to the surrounding.

As she was leaving, she seemed to thing about something, then told me to do like her.

She then proceed to do some awkward movement.

Left foot forward.

Step back.

Forward.

Sideways.

Never cross the feet.

Keep the knees slightly bent.

Keep my weight underneath me.

"Do those movement ten time, then rest for two minutes then do it again. Anytime you have time, do them, they will help you improve your footwork and prevent you from falling again.

She smirked at me then left, bellow Chao laugh could be heard, she clearly heard Izumi's order.

 

[kira-sakuya]

I had been watching the darkness for two and a half hours when the sun began to rise.

As dawn improved my visibility, I focused on a small group of trees roughly three hundred metres away. When I'd taken over the watch from Izumi, she'd mentioned seeing movement there and told me to pay particular attention to it.

I stifled a yawn. Keeping watch was way harder than in the movies.

I raised the binoculars Izumi had found somewhere.

'There behind the left tree a leg is sticking out.'

Seeing no movement, I quickly checked the other directions before returning my attention to the window.

A few minutes later, I sensed someone beside me. I turned my head and nearly had a heart attack when I found Izumi standing so close.

"Damnit, you want to kill me or something." I asked in a low voice.

"Your situational awareness sucks." She told me harshly.

I didn't take it to heart, I knew that she was harsh in her training.

"What did you see?"

I gave her the binoculars. And pointed at the tree.

"Where you saw movement this night, by the left tree, I saw a leg stick out."

She looked through the binoculars then asked.

"How long has it been?"

"At least ten minutes, unfortunately before that I couldnt see much."

She nodded then checked the other windows. Either because she didn't trust me, or because it was ingrane in her to always check twice... Or both.

When she came back she gave the binoculars back.

"Keep an eye out, if it move come find me. If nothing change it will wait until after breakfast."

Ten minutes later a sleepy Chao came by and continued downstairs.

I chuckled, somebody isn't a morning person.

A few minutes went past before the two women came back upstairs, this time with food.

"Anything new?" asked Izumi.

I shook my head while taking the bowl.

"It didn't move."

Chao who was now more awake was clearly curious.

"Izumi saw movement toward those tree during her shilft, I checked when the sun rose."

"There is at least one zomboid, but it doesn't seem to move."

Now very interested she launched a few question.

"No movement? Since when?"

"Maybe for the last three hours. I can only confirm the last half hour."

"So they aren't always moving."

"Did it stop because of the night?"

"If so, what caused it to stop?"

"Lower visibility? Lack of sunlight?"

"The sun has risen, and it still didn't move."

By now she took the binocular from me and was observing the zomboid.

Meanwhile Izumi and I kept eating.

We had eaten half our breakfast when she gave them back to me.

"Keep watch over it, take note of when it move once more. We need to know if there is a time they are less active."

As she started eating she gave me orders after orders.

Izumi quickly put a stop to that however.

"We can't let it stay so close. It's a threat."

Sighing in defeat she nodded.

"I guess we will have other occasion to find out about it."

It didn't last long however and she went back at giving me other instructions.

"Still keep watch, if we can know at what distance Izumi can go to it before it notice her it would be a valuable knowledge."

I looked at Izumi before agreeing.

She thought about it before nodding.

"Good idea."

Izumi then asked Chao.

"Do you need anything to check the communication tower?

Chao nodded, taking out her notebook.

"I will need some tools yes. Some I will have to construct this time is pretty archaic after all."

Izumi having clearly guess something would happen gave a few order.

"Good, then for this morning, you will catalog everything we have in this house."

"And garage" Chao added.

Izumi nodded.

"And garage, then at noon we will see what we need to go fetch."

"Kira, continue to keep watch, you can help Chao to catalog what there is upstair, but your principal job is to keep watch."

"What about you?" Asked Chao

"I will get patrol the ground, kill any zomboid having come near, then I will see what the surrounding are like."

Izumi and Chao then got up, Chao taking with her the dish.

As she left she then turned to me with a smile.

"Oh and Kira? Don't forget your exercises."

Izumi muttered as she left.

"That was implied."



The morning passed quickly at first. Watching Izumi approach the zomboid we'd spotted earlier was impressive; she reached it before it even noticed her.

Once that excitement was over, however, keeping watch was hardly what I'd call riveting.

Keeping up with my exercises while doing it added some challenge.

Of course there was only so long you could do the same thing before it became dull, luckily I had a whole floor to catalog.

I started with the study. It contained a computer, a lot of papers, a hidden bottle of alcohol, and not much else. There were a few books on law and a heavy chair. The chair could probably be used for a barricade.

After checking once more through the windows that nothing had changed, I went to the bathroom.

There I found the mother lode: a fully stocked first-aid kit and, in the same cabinet, a large collection of medicine.

'Chao will have to check those before we can use them.'

Beside that a few hygiene products which could be useful so as to prevent sickness.

Once I checked the the bathroom I went to the bedroom.

Clothes, clothes, some jewelry, more clothes.

Closing the dresser, I checked the nightstand.

Oh my. Somebody had a lot of fun in this bed.

I quickly closed it again, giving the dead a little privacy.

At the other nighstand I found a 9mm and box of ammo.

'Dangerous, dangerous.'

I placed it back where it was. One day of training wasn't enough for me to handle a gun safely

'I will have to warn Izumi about that.'

Checking behind the door I found something which could be must more useful.

A metalic baseball bat, I directly took it and placed it near the stair so it's easy to grab in case of emergency.

In another room I found a few tools, three needles and a spool of thread.

By the time I finished it was mid-morning, I warned Chao that I finished then gave her the list. I then took a book named "How to maintain your tools, for dummies" installed myself before the main windows and began to read.

'In the game it's important to gain the most skill possible. If Izumi was there I could ask her what to do but she isn't, that way I don't lose time for nothing.'

Before coming to this world, I had a tendency to lose myself completely in a book and stop noticing what was happening around me. Here, with my current responsibility, I had to force myself to regularly check the windows and keep up with my exercises.

It took me longer to finish my book but my job was more important.

During the morning Chao came upstairs.

Watching me read she ask.

"What are you reading ?"

I showed her the name of the book causing her to snort.

I then explained to her.

"The original story belong to a video game, one of the thing you had to do to survive was gain some knowledge in many skill, mechanic, woodcrafting, maintenance, etc.."

"This is not a game though."

I agreed.

"No it isn't, but the goal of the game was survive, a few of its idea are good to keep."

A few second passed as I look from windows to windows to see if anything had changed.

When I came back to her, I did my exercise once more making her laugh.

"Besides, I'm from thirty years in the future. Some of the things I'm used to have changed. It's a good idea for me to get familiar with what exists today instead of relying on what I know from my time."

Chao, clearly not having though about that nodded.

"True, I knew it would be the case for me, but it's also the case for you."

"Yes, also we are really lucky that the apocalypse happen this year and not during my time."

"Why ?"

Came a voice from the bottom of the stairs, Izumi was clearly back.

Waiting for her to reach us I explained.

"In thirty years, the internet will be everywhere. Almost all of humanity's knowledge will be accessible with a few clicks... and a lot of it could be lost if the internet went down."

Chao gasped in comprehension and finished.

"But today, most of that knowledge can still be found in the libraries of major cities."

"Exactly" I said. "And this knowledge is necessary if we want to build the civilization back."

Izumi nodded in undestanding before frowning.

"Did you finish your cataloging".

I nodded.

"And to not lose any time I try to raise my knowledge."

I gave her the book, she checked it with an aknowledging look on her face.

I explained.

"This book is one of a large serie, it allow even the most novice to be able to use and understand what it's subject is."

She gave me the book back then turned to Chao to ask her about the cataloging.



I looked outside for what seemed like the hundred times, then went back to my book.

'What was this chapter about already ?'

It had been an hour since noon. I didn't contributate a much during the meal, Izumi and Chao talked a lot about what was needed, mainly Chao about some electronic items or another.

Izumi like could be expected, kept bringing her back to what was needed now, not in a week.

I did remember to warn her about the firearm I found in the bedroom.

"And you didn't manipulate it ?" She had asked.

"No. I don't know enough about guns."

A brief look of approval crossed her face.

"Good."

I smiled at the look of appreciation which had passed on her face.

I chuckled a little at the qwack she made when she opened the wrong nighstand.

"Go sleep."

I jumped a little at Izumi presence near me.

"The watch..."

"Right now you're exhausted. Exhausted people make mistakes, and a bad lookout is worse than no lookout if everyone thinks he's paying attention."

She then got me on my feet then made me follow her.

We quickly reached one of the room on this floor, however it was different than when I checked it this morning.

"I strenghtened this room, no zombie will came through."

"Stay there and sleep. Chao and me need to go find some supply."

She closed the window shutter, casting the room in darkness.

"It should take us three to four hours to come back."

As she reached the door she continued.

"With the door and windows closed you should hear if a zomboid enter. If so stay in this room, we will deal with it when we come back."

"If you wake before we come back, find something useful to do. But keep following the consign I gave earlier."

By that point, her words were going in one ear and out the other. I was simply too exhausted to pay attention.

As soon as I lay down it was light out as far as I am concerned.



When I opened my eyes, it took me while to notice that something was bothering me.

It wasn't the foreign ceiling.

No traffic. No distant engine. No voices from another house.

Nothing.

Then I remembered where I was.

As I got up, I approached the door and stayed to listen.

No noise, no groan.

Beside the door was the baseball bat I found earlier, Izumi must have brought it in.

Before coming out of the room I opened the shutter.

'No zomboid in the garden'

I watch a little further, before a frown came to my face.

I took the binocular, then look through it.

'A fire, it's not in the direction of the town.'

I look toward the sky.

'The weather isn't to hot, let's hope the fire won't propagate.'

Deciding that I would keep an eye toward it, I exited the room.

I quickly looked inside the different room on the floor,

'OK, no zomboid on this floor. And no zomboid visible from the windows.'

My baseball bat still in hand I slowly came down.

Ten minutes later I took a big breath.

'OK, no zomboid, now what did Izumi said.'

'Ah yes, follow the rules and don't be stupid.'

Thinking about what to do I went upstairs once more.

Not wishing to continue reading I went to the office.

Curiosity made me boot up the computer. After unplugging the speakers, of course. I didn't want the annoying Windows startup sound echoing through the house.

Getting into it proved almost embarrassingly easy. Either the judge hadn't bothered with a password, or he'd never expected anyone else to sit at his desk.

I didn't find much, a few software clearly used for the job of the previous owner.

As I was checking the mails was when I made a great discovery.

Apparently, the previous owner had been a local judge, which explained the size of the house.

More importantly, he was friends with the police chief.

Friend who told him that following the riot, the big guns would be moved outside the police station.

And right there in this mail, he ask if they can use on of the judge property, the one near the river.

'Damn, that's some useful info, but I'm not the owner, how can I know which property did the judge possess.'

As I though that, my eyes went to the cabinet full of paper on one side of the office.

'Unless.'

It took me a quarter of an hour to find what I was searching.

A portfolio with every property of the judge.

'Only two property by the river, one is a house the other a fishing shop.'

I doubted the police would have hidden weapon in the house, however I still noted them both to give to Izumi.

It would probably not be useful right away, but maybe in the futur.

Finishing to take note, I made my rounds, still nothing.

With nothing else to do in at the time, I though back to my though about the weapons which could be usefull in the futur.

'I really should...'

Going back to the office I took one of the notebook, the previous owner seemed to keep quite the supply.

'Must be where Chao found hers.'

I then proceeded to write everything I remembered about the game.

The lore.

The important place.

In big not to go to Lousville, the place is a death trap.

The damn helicopter.

'Damn, this helicopter could be useful in the futur, we should try to save it.'

A few technique which helped in the game.

I would let Izumi judge if those will be usefull

'Speaking of Izumi shouldn't they be back by now.'

I checked my phone, they had left three and half an hour ago.

'Still half an hour.'

I continued to write on the notebook, everything I though about I wrote.

Having nothing more to write, I went back to the armchair I placed before the windows showing the most.

Taking back the book I started earlier, I checked my phone once more.

They should be back soon.

However, as time passed, my concentration began to slip.

They were already half an hour late.

Dammit. Nothing could have happened to them, right? I chose them because they're ridiculously overpowered for this world.

My eyes fell on the baseball bat, and my hand instinctively moved toward it.

No. Izumi told me to follow the rules.

As I retracted my hand I heard movement bellow.

Before I could panic, I heard Chao's voice.

Relief flooded my body and I took a few second to collect myself.

When I came down, I found the two women with two big backpack.

Chao even had two big radio in her hands.

I stood there frozen.

Izumi who had heard me come down saw what I was looking at and with a snort said.

"And she wanted to come back with four."

Chao smiled sheepishly.

"They could've been useful."

"Not useful enough to justify the risk," Izumi cut in.

Chao nodded in acknowledgment.

"Did something happen while we were aways ?"

Asked Izumi.

I took one of the bag and proceeded to take out what they brought back while I answered.

"Nothing near the house. I saw smoke from a fire in that direction a couple of hours ago. It wasn't toward Riverside, and it didn't look like it was spreading this way."

As I was finishing I continued.

"I found something interesting, I will show it to you during dinner."

Nodding, she went back to her task.

"And did you do your exercise ?" Asked Chao with an impish smile.

Clearly this would be a recuring gag with her.

I sighed in desespoir, playing to her gag.

"Yes Chao I did my exercise."



Chao having some tinkering to do she went upstair and took watch.

"Bring your staff and come out."

Izumi told me.

A few minutes later we were standing face to face.

"Wouldn't the baseball bat be better ?" I ask her.

"In pinch maybe."

"Right now you have the strength. You don't know how to use it."

She tapped the broom handle.

"This gives you reach. Right now, reach is more useful."

I looked down at my arms. She wasn't wrong about the strength. They certainly weren't the arms I'd had yesterday.

Knowing what to do with them was another matter entirely.

"At this time, you shouldn't fight zomboid, you should keep your distance if we are around, and run away if we are not."

Then without any warning she rushed at me.

Before I could react she had managed to grab me.

"Dead."

She had disarmed me quickly and had placed her head near my neck to simulate a lethal bite.

Still, this time I didn't fall on my ass.

We quickly took our position back.

"It is important that you are always ready for an attack. The zomboid won't wait for."

Before she finished talking she rushed me once more.

This time I managed to bring the broom handle to block her left hand.

Unfortunately her right hand rip it from my hand and grab me once again.

"Dead."

Separing once again I asked.

"Shouldn't I learn some stance first ?"

At least that's what my book knowledge told me.

"If I were teaching you how to fight, maybe. But your first objective isn't to fight. It's to be ready to defend yourself at all times."

She slowly move around me.

"You could learn how to fight and become good at it, but if a zomboid comes at you from a side alley without you noticing, you'll be dead before you can react."

I had stood ready to react to any attack while she talked.

However it was when I though about her words she attacked.

This time, I was ready and managed to keep her away for two whole seconds.

Which meant that, two seconds later, I was staring at the sky with no idea how the hell I'd ended up on the ground.

"Better."

Came from Izumi.

"Now get up."

Growning, I got up while mumbling.

"This will suck."

Izumi a sadistic smile on her face answer me.

"Not for me it won't.



By the time we stopped, I hurt everywhere.f

For upstair I could hear Chao muttering.

Something about a piece of ancien history.

Crack

"At last."

Then a few click.

the occasional click;

Izumi looked upstairs.

"Don't break the house."

A dismissive acknowledgment

Izumi didn't let's be get a break instead of letting me recover.

"Your turn to cook."

I usually didn't mind, cooking. Living alone I was used to, but I usually didn't hurt that much.

As I start to prepare the meal, I was interupted.

"You're making too much food. We should eat lightly in the evening. We don't need as many calories as we do during the day."

Apparently the lessons hadn't ended.

"What about if we need to flee, wouldn't we need the energy ?"

Came from upward, clearly Chao was listening.

"A light meal won't stop you from running if you suddenly need to. It's prolonged exertion we'd have to worry about, and that's why you keep snacks in your bug-out bag. Right now we can't be sure we will have food in a week, we must ration what we can."

I nodded and followed her guidance.

Once the meal was quietly cooking, I brought up what I found earlier in the day.

"Chao ? You may wish to listen."

Then I explained the judge/police chief friendship, the weapons cache and the two place it could be.

"I'm not saying that we need them right now, or even in the near future. But it may be prudent to check the fishing shop to be sure they are well hidden."

"The house," Izumi corrected.

"Really? I noted it just in case, but I was sure they'd be in the fishing shop."

"Which is exactly why they probably aren't."

Chao's voice came from upstairs.

Izumi nodded in agreement.

"Uh !"

I didn't think about that.

"Did you find anything else on the computer"

Asked Chao.

"Not really, it was mainly about his job".

"Yeah, his job." Acknowledge Chao

"A judge would deal with a lot of cases, this could be a mine of knowledge, we would need to search it carefully but we may learn much about the area."

"Would it take long to find out ?"

Stopped her Izumi.

After a few second of silence came Chao's answer.

"Yeah, it could take a while, and there is no assurance that we will find something."

Nodding as she had guessed as much Izumi stopped the topic.

"Then it's not worth it."

"Even if don't check it right now, we could take out the hard drive and secure it somewhere it doesn't risk being damaged."

I proposed.

"How long ?"

"To take it out ? Five minutes, most of which will be to go collect the tools.".

"As for stocking it somewhere safe. We just need a box which can't take water, and place it somewhere safe."

Izumi nodded.

"Good, you can do that when you are free."

By now we had brought the food upstair.

Chao stood at the table, electronics all around her.

She quickly cleaned the table free.

The dinner passed quickly with only light conversation.

Knowing that I would have to get up early to keep watch, I quickly went to sleep afterward.

 

[kira-sakuya]

POV Izumi Curtis

I checked my gear a second time. I didn't trust the backpacks we'd found; they seemed flimsy to me. I would need to find some leather and make new ones.

I noticed Chao glancing at me in exasperation.

When we'd found them, I'd told her about my misgivings. She seemed to disagree with me, at least in part.

According to her, while that wasn't true of every modern backpack, these were fairly durable and considerably lighter.

She did however concede that they may become damaged faster.

Still it would have to do.

"Do you have everything you will need ?" I asked her.

Pausing to go through her checklist once again she nodded.

"Yep, I would have loved to bring a little more, but since you keep on insisting we must only bring what is essential."

Seeing her side eyeing me I knew she was trying to get me rising to her bait.

Chao was a sweet girl, full of energy. Really smart, too. She had a tendency to lose herself in her research, but I was used to dealing with people like that. Those two foolish Elric brothers were much the same.

I ignored her and turned to our contractor.

"Like we decided yesterday, it could take us quite some times, we may be absent the whole day."

"You know what to do and not to do."

We quickly left the house and moved at a fast pace, in only ten minutes we reached the town.

From there we advanced slower, knowing that we had a hard day before us we tried to evade any zomboid.

Yesterday we noticed how quickly they assembled when they heard a noise.

We had to killed four of them as they had seen us.

We dispatched them quickly and went to search a shop a little farther.

When we came out of the shop five minutes later more than ten zomboid were standing around our four.

From them we were more cautious, trying to kill them with surprise attack so as to minimize the noise.

Still for the moment it was going smoothly, since we passed by there yesterday, their numbers was fairly low.

We still had to kill a few of them, but we managed not to be noticed.

As we approached the center of the town their numbers began to increase.

"I don't think we can go through the town center without being detected." Whispered Chao to me.

Remembering the town map I looked around before gesturing to our left.

"If we follow the river there should be less of them." I whispered back.

To our left was a children park, it would be safer than to continue. The Riverwood Boat club may have some interesting thing, but this wasn't for that we came.

It was only a little further that I noticed my mistake.

I froze behind a tree.

In front of us were three zomboids.

Two were kneeling over a body, eating it.

The third was stuck in one of the children's toys.

All three of them were children.

Chao gave me a glance before offering.

"I can deal with them."

I shook my head. I would have to get used to it. It wouldn't be the last time.

We dealt quickly with the two kneeling, but when I approached the third.

The young zomboid looked up at me in confusion. For the first time, I realized that their faces weren't always twisted into snarls. Sometimes, they seemed to retain the expression they'd worn when they died.

I couldn't do it.

Chao turned me around and pushed me toward the river.

Thump

At the dull sound, I couldn't stop a few tears from falling.

Harsh words came through the block in my throat.

"If we ever find whoever did this..."

I couldn't finish the sentence.

I didn't need to.

Chao didn't say anything, she just slowly pushed me away.

She didn't need to say anything. The culprit were most likely already dead and if they weren't yet from our contractor's word they would soon be.



A few minutes later we were lounging the river and as I though there wasn't many zomboid.

"We are lucky it's a river and not the sea." Chao said, clearly trying to make me thing to something else.

"Why ?" I asked.

Amestris being a landlocked country, I'd never seen the sea.

Chao appeared surprised before continuing.

"The sea has waves, and when they crash against the shore, they make noise."

She stopped talking long enough to deal with a zomboid turning his back to us.

"It isn't always loud. It depends on the strength of the waves and the shape of the shore, but it's constant."

Seeing a few zomboid having fallen in water and struggling to come out.

"Between the noise, the zomboid who will fall into water and can't come out."

"Creating more noise" I continued.

She nodded.

"Yes, it will be a trap for them."

I though about it.

"That mean living near the coast is safer." I finished for her.

She waved her hand in a so-so movement.

"Not at first, during the initial infection, the cries, gunshot and all those loud noise will prevail but a week or later ? Yes"

We were now approaching the center of the town.

It took us nearly two hour to pass through it without getting seen.

"Damn." Came from Chao.

I had to agree, before us stood the bridge leading to the other part of the town.

A bridge with almost nowhere to hide hid, only a few car.

We managed to go from car to car for the first half of the bridge without getting seen.

However as we reached the next car.

"Damnit."

A zomboid trapped beneath the car grabbed for her calf.

Chao reacted instinctively, bringing her heel down on its head.

Unfortunately, the noise attracted every zomboid nearby.

"Run."

I ordered while running toward the big building a little farther, it had high fence.

We quickly reached it and vaulted above it.

I looked behind us, fifteen zomboid were coming toward us and more would come from the noise.

"We need keep out of they line of sight."

I rushed toward some tree.

"It's alright, they aren't numerous enough to bring the fence down, we have time."

I shooked my head.

"I would prefer them not to bring it down."

She cocked her head to the side.

"Why ?"

"This site is well placed, once the fence is strengthened and the building cleaned up it could be a good base."

Chao was looking closer now.

"It's not really hidden."

"No, but it's near the police station and several shops. It has a high fence on one side and the river on the other. There are also trees between here and the police station, so even if the station attracts a horde, they won't necessarily notice this place. Maybe not as a main base, but it could work as a secondary one."

"Yes, I can this it. The fence would need to be replaced by high walls to be safer. Can your alchemy do that ?"

I pushed the matter aside.

"Easily, but this is not enough and this is not why we can here."

Woof, woof.

Far in the distance we heard the bark of a dogs.

The zomboid which had came after them, not seeing them anymore went to the next source of sound.

Chao and I watched each other.

So concentrated on the zomboid we forgot to take the animals in consideration.

Shaking my head I made sure no zomboid were in sigh then went toward the police station.

"It's quiet" remarked Chao.

I nodded.

"The trees absorb the noise coming from the town."

I kept an attentive eye around.

"It also hide a lot, a zomboid could approach without us noticing. Stay careful."

Luckily we meet any zomboid and they soon reached the fence around the police station.

"Well, that's not good."

'No it isn't' I though.

Around the Police station were nearly fifty zomboid, and that was without counting those who may be inside the building.

Noticing a restaurant Spiffo something just in front of the Police station, I pointed it to Chao.

"We may able to attract them a few at the time to lessen the number."

Chao checked the map quickly.

"Nothing around, we will have full view of anything trying to take us by behind. A little further some house if we need to lose the pursuit."

I gave a little smile, the girl was learning.

Unfortunately the door were locked and we had to break a windows, luckily with some cloth we managed to lower the noise.

That's when our plan went to hell.

As soon as we broke the window a shrill alarm resounded.

"Not good, not good, not good." Chao kept muttering.

I looked around and pointed toward one of the house in the back but farther enough not to be seen by the zomboid attracted by the sound.

However instead of entering the house we entered the shed at the back of the garden.

We couldn't risk there to be another alarm on the house.

It proved to be a good decision since a few moment after we hid in the shed the noise of windows breaking came from the house. Clearly someone was home.

We stayed hidden for an hour, not moving nor making any noise to be sure any zomboid attracted by the alarm had reached it.

Chao looked at me with a wide grin.

"Well, we wanted them out of the police station."

I gave a snort of exasperation.

"Not the way I want it, but I guess."

Takin a detour west through a number of garden, we then went north toward the forested pond, then back to east toward the police station.

The alarm did its job and we met no zomboid on the way.

Before entering the compound of the police station we took time to eat as it was nearly noon.

We entered from the back, the closer to the water.

We went around the building of the police station.

I saw Chao frown at a container near the water but the communication tower being near didn't pay it more attention. She would warn me if something was off.

Once we went around the building we saw that three zomboid had came back to the police station compound.

We quickly killed them then I kept watch as Chao observed the communication tower.

After a quarter of an hour she approached me.

"I'll have to climb the tower. What I need is at the top."

I frowned, the fire department was hiding the base of the tower from the town but not the top.

"Climb from the river side, it will give you a little cover."

She nodded then began to climb.

It took her two hours to climb, do what she needed to do and come down.

Meanwhile I inspected the surrounding and kept guard.

Three times, I had to kill an approaching zomboid. Twice more, I had to lure one away.

The first sign that something was wrong was when she came down at all speed.

She approached me quickly then whispered in my ear.

"A horde is coming down main street from the west, at least two hundred strong."

I already knew the surrounding by now.

I whispered back.

"Do you know how to swim ?"

She placed her hand on her backpack. The electronic inside probably wouldn't survive water.

"I would prefer not to, but yes I do."

"Good."

I lead her to the pier and we hid behind some crates at farthest of the police station.

At first, there was only a low rumble from the west. Then it grew louder.

Hundreds of feet striking the pavement, mixed with the constant groaning of the dead.

It took two hours for the rumble to reach its peak.

I took a careful look from the side of the crate, but could only see ten zomboid, in the compound.

Luckily it seem that Chao wasn't what had attracted them.

It took two more hours for the rumble to quiet down.

When we came out of their hideout, there was not a sound.

They approached main street, not a zomboid in view, the car which had been in the middle of the road, now all push to the side.

"Well, it will be way easier to go back to base."

She stopped talking, looking at me with wide eyes.

"The base, it's east of here, if the horde follow the road they will pass a few hundred meter. If they don't..."

"It's on their path" I finished.

We quickly walked toward the base.

At first we advanced in silence each thinking about what we would find at the house.

Then Chao smirked at me.

"I guess you do care for him at least a little."

I nearly fell at her words.

"He's a Contractor. Contractors are slavers who treat us like property."

My words were full of bitterness but Chao shook her head to me.

"Not all of them."

She corrected herself.

"Well it depend of what you mean by slavish scum."

"My previous owner only enslaved two people while I knew him, and both of them were evil enough to deserve it."

"As for using us, that's true to a degree, but it isn't the whole story. There can be genuine companionship too."

"Look at Kira, he choose us for our capacity, he clearly appreciate our body, from the quick glance he give us. But he also respect us. He even placed you in charge."

That was true, he seemed at least a little different.

He used us yes, but he is smart about it.

He knew when to follow orders from someone who knew better.

He hadn't come outside yesterday, even though staying inside must have been boring.

The way he listened when I taught him. The gun he hadn't touched even though it had been right in front of him.

And when I'd said we should help the people who were going to die, he hadn't immediately refused. I'd proposed a few things we could actually do, and he'd listened.

There was also the matter of the child.

"He is a contractor, I am sure sooner or later he will ask us to his bed. Right now he only listen because of the immediate danger but who know what will happen after."

Chao shrugged.

"I wouldn't mind sleeping with him, he is cute after all. As for changing once the immediate danger, he may listen a little less to your order once the focus won't be focused on survive but that's normal."

It was true that he was attractive. His muscular body reminded me of my husba—

No. The original's husband.

"Beside, if what you say is true then why are you teaching him ? If you don't care what happen to him."

"Obviously because I don't want him dying and getting us sent to another Contractor who could be even worse."

However it didn't feel quite right to her.

It had been a pleasure to train him last evening.

And it wasn't completely because she had an excuse to brutalize, not that that wasn't pleasurable.

He learned quickly and rarely made the same mistake twice once something had been explained to him.

More importantly, he listened to me.

Shaking her head.

"We are nearly there."

As we approached the house, we found it surrounded by a sea of zomboids. Some of them were eating something.

"You don't think that's him, do you?" Chao asked, suddenly pale.

I frowned.

"If the fool listen to my instruction then no."

"But then what could they be eating ?"

'Damn I really hope it isn't him, we need him to save this world.'

We stood behind the same tree Kira had seen the zomboid the previous day.

'How ironic' I couldn't help but think.

"Do you think we could take them ?"

I shook my head.

"There must be three hundred of them, even if managed to take them out, we would be exhausted and injured. We would be defenseless."

"No, if Kira was caught, then it's already too late. If he managed to hide inside the panic room then he is safe, even three time this number can't break inside."

Chao nodded at my words.

For four hours we stood there, the horde not moving

Looking up, I told her.

"The darkness is nearly there, we need to find somewhere safe to sleep."

She nodded.

"I saw a house we could use. It's near the town but there mustn't be much zomboid left."

I agreed. I also had a house in head, but I didn't say anything.

Turn out we had the same house in mind.

Sleep didn't come easy this night.

During the night I seemed to hear the low rumble of the horde for a while then nothing.

For once Chao was wide awake when the sun rose.

We quickly ate breakfast. Chao wanted to rush straight back to the house, but I stopped her.

"We may need our strength."

Once we reached the house we were surprise to only find a few straggler.

We quickly took them out, them neared the body.

It wasn't one body, but two. They were almost unrecognizable, but there was clearly a man and a woman.

We quickly entered the house, it was a mess. The press of the horde had destroyed almost everything that wasn't solidly built.

Two more zomboid were in the house, trapped a destroyed room.

We got rid of them then once upstairs, I breathed in relief.

The wood of the door had been clawed at, the wall did the same, but it was in one piece.

I tried to open the door but it didn't move. I was beginning to worry, we should be hearing Kira call for us by now.

Chao checked the door.

"Jammed, the press of body must have deformed the mechanism."

I nodded, pulled out a piece of chalk I always kept with me, and spent the next two minutes drawing an alchemy circle.

When the flash of alchemy faded, I finally saw Kira.

He was collapsed on the bed, apparently asleep.

And there was a woman in his arms.

The flash of the alchemy had clearly woke him up.

To cover my relief I turned to Chao and told her half in jest.

"And you said he wasn't like the other contractors ? He already found another member for his harem."

 

[kira-sakuya]

As I watched the girls go out, I thought about what I was going to do today when I had a funny thought.

'Wait, is this what a housewife would be like when she see her husband go to work ?'

Chuckling, I clean up after breakfast, before stopping for a second.

'I even clean the house.'

Laughing I went upstairs I frowned at the mess Chao had made with her tinkering.

I wasn't usually meticulous like this, but in this world it could be a matter of life and death, if we need to leave in a hurry and someone trip on one of them it could be dangerous.

Once the cleaning was done, I did my exercises and kept watch.

A while later my eyes fell on the office door.

'Right the data'

I took some tools and proceeded to dismantle the hard drive from the computer.

Luckily while the computer was ancient for my standard, as a child I worked with one only a few years recent and so had no difficulties.

Once in hand I quickly found a plastic box stuffed it with clothes so has to prevent it from being damaged if it was knocked around then stuffed downstairs in a out of the way place.

I finished closing the computer back, it's composant could be of some use in the future.

Another walk around the house to be sure everything was as should be, I stopped when I noticed that I was hearing something.

In fact I was hearing it for the last hour, but it was such a banal sound that I only noticed now.

On a tree near the house was a couple bird singing at each other.

It was like taking a edge hammer on the face.

'Animals, why didn't I think about that ?'

In the game there were farm animals but no others.

I rushed upstairs and took my notebook and started writing.

'In the game the zomboid didn't attack animals, they were attracted by them but didn't attack them. Is it still the case ?'

'If the animals survive the zomboid, we will have to deal with them once they go back to being savage.'

'Couldn't we use them as a early threat warning ?'

I wrote everything I could think about the animals in the game, and the difference with a real world.

'A hound would be a great help, warn you in advance of any approaching zomboid, attack any who try to take you from behind. However they would need to be trained no to bark, the bark of a dog could be as bad as a gunshot.'

Thinking about a dog barking I thought about all those pet who had been stuck inside for three days probably starving.

'Wait no, If they started barking they would attract zomboid who would break windows to enter, allowing the dogs to leave. Other pets still be trapped thought.'

In the end I couldn't do anything about them an decided to think about something else.

I triple checked the panic room, making sure there was enough to last a few days.

I also checked my bugout bag, which Izumi had made me make.

Everything I needed was inside.

Now what to do for the rest of the day, it wasn't even noon.

'OK, what can I do to improve our chance of survival.'

I looked around and my eyes fell on the cabinet then decided to group each item type, so as to be able to take what we need when we need.

By mid afternoon I had gathered the food, the medicine and the tools.

Wishing for a break, I sat in the armchair upstairs and continued to read the book I started.

As I told Izumi this book didn't explain how to create sophisticated tools, but it show you how to change the handle if its broken, how to tighten a tool who was becoming loose, this sort of thing.

It may be simple, but it was still useful knowledge.

I had just finished reading and was thinking about an anecdote given at the end of the book when I heard it, a low rumble.

I quickly looked through the house but no sign of the sound, it was as I was looking through the window in the safe room that I noticed that it was coming from the city.

Before anything I checked once again the safe room, but as expected everything was where it should be.

Not noticing anything from the windows, I quickly went to bathroom and took the bag containing the medicine and brough in the safe room, I did the same with the non perishable food.

Sure there was already some, but best be safe.

After checking that nothing on the house could attract the zomboid I locked the house and every windows, then closed myself in the safe room.

For an hour and a half the sound grew, by now I could distinguish the sound of hundred of feet and the growling of zomboid. I paled.

'A horde, already ?'

I kept the window's shutter half closed so as to be able to see outside without being seen.

By now I could see, it was like a human wave coming toward the house.

I looked warily at the walls of the room before shaking my head.

'No this is something that Izumi did, there is no way for it to fail.'

As I was reassuring myself my eyes fells on the front of the horde.

From a shed bordering the road a group of five person came out to see the source of the sound.

They stood only a hundred meters in front of the horde.

It took them a few seconds to understand what they were seeing.

When finaly they reacted and decided to run away there was only half that distance.

Of course if that wasn't enough, the direction they decided to take was this house.

They must have thought that this was their only chance.

I frowned when I see then come, why aren't they running.

Indeed, while they were walking quickly, they should be running to get away.

'They must be injured.'

'Damn I hope none of them were bitten.'

As they came closer I understood they slowness.

'Two elderlies, an injured man, a pregnant young woman and a young man.'

The young man was supporting the young woman.

Now came the problem, by the time they reach the house the horde will nearly be on the house.

'I could stay in the safe room, the zomboid won't even notice me and I would be safe or I could have them join me.'

I looked around me.

'It would be a little tight but we could stay there.'

The decision was strangely easy.

I opened the safe room and came down, making sure that nothing would slow us.

By the time I had opened the door they were only ten meters away.

And the horde twelves meters.

"Come quickly."

I barked surprising them.

The injured man who had slowed even further fell on the elderlies causing the three to end on the ground.

The young man seeing this looked at me.

"Help my wife, I will get them."

The young man then rushed toward the three.

"Don't be a fool."

I warned him, for me they were already dead.

I took the woman in my arms, I was lucky to have gained strength from the Catalog, she was heavy. Then brough her to the house.

As the young man reached the elderlies the injured man transformed in zomboid and launched himself to the old woman.

Before the young man could reach the elderlies he was surrounded by the zomboid.

Behind him the elderlies were submerged.

The woman howl when she saw that made a few zomboid turn toward us.

Swearing I swept the woman in my arms and rushed inside the house.

I latched the door to give us a few second then rushed upstairs.

"Don't move from there." I ordered as I placed her on the bed in the safe room, I then closed the door and barred it.

Hearing the door crash downstairs, I placed my hand on her mouth to prevent her crying to be heard.

It was ultimately useless as the zomboid hit and scratched at the walls and door.

Now fearful sound were added to the crying of the young woman.

I placed my mouth near her ear and whispered.

"Sssh. This room was reinforced and should resist their attack."

The woman tried to stiff her cry.

It seemed as if it was an hour later when she talk back.

"Wh... What do we do now ?"

I looked at her, she was around twenty years old, and had a friend next door type of face.

"At this moment we are safe, this room will not be breached. We also have enough food to last us a week."

I turned my head to the door from which could be heard the sound of the zomboid hitting it.

"Supporting this with our sanity whole will be harder."

I then pointed to her round belly.

"This isn't a movie, so please tell me we won't have to deal with that."

An almost smile came to her face, before sadness came back.

"No, there are still two months left."

I nodded while restraining a relieved sigh.

"That's good, I didn't brink makeup, and what is an actor without makeup ?"

I continued to joke to keep the woman's mind out of her lost and out of the sound which still came through the door.

"What are you going to name him ?"

"Her." She corrected me.

"Fr... Frank and me were thinking about calling her Eugenie."

"Eugenie ? That's a French name no ? Didn't think an American like you would use a French name."

"His parent's came from France. They died during his childhood, it was a way to honor them."

Changing once more the subject.

"My name is Kira, and I must apologize to you." I told her.

She looked puzzled.

"I assure you, I don't usually bring woman to my room and my bed just after meeting them."

A strangled sound came from her.

"No, I assure you I usually try to at least get to know them before."

She scoffed.

"I am Sky, and I am afraid, I am already married." She answered without noticing.

I place an afraid look on my face.

"Damn I hope he won't misunderstand, I don't want to be hit, for touching another man's woman."

A slow tear fell from her eye.

"Then don't touch me, my man is strong you know. In fact it would be better if you got out of the room right now to prevent any misunderstanding."

I looked at the door from which the zomboid's noise still came out.

"Ah. I'm sorry I forgot the keys and won't be able to."

We continued to talk, with me trying to keep her attention on something else.

Asking her what was her job. She was working to become an history teacher while on helping her paysan husband.

What were her hobbies. Spend time with children and dancing.

It was only late in the night that she finally fell asleep, exhausted by the day.

Outside the Zomboid's noise lowered. Still he didn't come out, an inactive zomboid was silent.

Once the noise completely stopped I too fell asleep.



Flash.

I jerked awake.

"And you said he wasn't like the other contractors? He already found another member for his harem."

I stared blearily at Izumi.

"...What?"

Still half-asleep, I asked.

"Izumi ? Chao ?"

Then a shot of adrenaline came through me as I jolted up.

"The horde ?"

"Gone" answered Izumi.

"Sorry we couldn't come sooner." added Chao

"However when we came back yesterday evening the house was surrounded by nearly three hundred zomboid."

I waved her words.

"You did as you should, if I was caught by zomboid it would have been too late. And if I managed to reach the safe room then I was safe. Izumi made sure of that."

Izumi turned to the bed, ignoring my praise.

"And this is ?"

"This is Sky, she and four other came just before the horde. I couldn't let's them out so I tried to make them come in."

I then explained what happened the previous day.

Izumi frowned.

"There was only two bodies outside, not four."

"So two of them could be safe."

Came Sky voice from the bed.

I winced but it was Chao who answered.

"Not two, but one may be safe."

"But you said that two were missing."

Izumi was the one who answered.

"Kira told us that one of the men with you was injured, was it due to a bite ?".

"Yes, but what does that have anything to do with that."

Chao explained.

"It was a disease who transformed the people in zomboid. We are immune to the airborne virus, however the bite is still dangerous for us. A bite can transform us in them."

It was clearly new information to Sky.

"Slowed with a wound to the leg, the man wouldn't have been able to run away from the horde. However if he transformed, he would have joined the horded instill of being killed by it." Continued Izumi.

Tears were once more on Sky's face.

Chao then asked me.

"What about her husband, could he have fled ?"

I thought about it.

"I lost sight of him when they surrounded him. I never actually saw him go down."

"So he is still alive." Sky asked me. "But then why didn't he come after us."

"He could be." I answered. "And it's possible that he flee in another direction. Specially since I closed the door behind me when I brough you in."

Hope came back to her face.

Izumi then asked me.

"Do you know when the horde left ?"

I knew why she ask and what her next words would be."

I shook my head.

"No, they kept us awake all night, I was exhausted and fell asleep. I know it couldn't have been before midnight."

"Then we can't stay here, if they are still nearby and something attract them back toward riverside it would be bad."

Sky who had regained hope had a betrayed look on her face.

"But if Frank come back and don't find me he will think something happened to me."

I turned her to look into her eyes.

"Sky, right now it is dangerous to stay here. We can't stay there in the hope that he came back."

"But... But..."

Chao asked her.

"If Frank doesn't find you there, do you know where he would go ?"

Sky answered instantly.

"At the farm, it has a solid basement, he could hide there. And there is a lot of food there."

"And where is it." Chao asked

"It's West of Riverside."

Chao looked at Izumi.

"The site near the Police station ?"

Izumi thought for a second.

"It would need a lot of work but as I said yesterday, it could be a secondary base."

"For our objective we need to be near the Police Station, it would be two birds in one stone." Said Chao.

"The Police Station ?" Asked Sky.

"But it's full of zombie."

"Zombie." Ask Izumi.

Chao answered with a smile. "It's what walking dead are usually called."

She then send me a smirk.

"It's just that someone decided to call them zomboid."

Izumi gave a wry look.

And no whatever Chao said I didn't pout, it was it's name in the game damnit.

Of course I couldn't talk about the game with Sky nearby.

"Anyway, we were there yesterday when the horde passed, it brough with it most of them." Said Chao

"I don't doubt that some are still there and that some other may come back, but for now it should be fairly safe."

Frowning Sky asked.

"What do you need the Police Station for ? I fairly sure that there isn't much gun left."

"Izumi is a survival expert" I say while pointing her.

"We decided to sand a survival track to allow those outside the Exclusion Zone to survive the epidemy."

"But they are safe, this damn Exclusion Zone was to contain the virus."

Chao shook her head.

"That's not how it work, we are all contaminated, we may have a lesser quantity of the virus in us and we may be somewhat immune, but we are also contagious to those who are not immune."

Sky paled.

"So all those who got out ?"

"Are currently spreading it outside. By now it should be already impossible to contain." Choa finished for her.

"Anyway". I continued. "It's only our thought, it may not be true."

"What is true however is that if does happen this way, a survival track would be of help for many. If it isn't it will probably be ignored."

Sky nodded at our words.

"Still..." She said hesitating while looking at the walls.

"Don't worry I have an idea for Frank."

I turned toward Izumi.

"Do you think you have enough time to repair the safe room before we need to leave ?"

She looked around and looked around.

"Then please repair it. Chao please collect everything we need to take with us. Sky help her."

Izumi and Chao seemed curious but decided to trust me for the moment.

I however went to the garage.



We stood outside the house, at our feet the bag we would bring with us.

A hint of acknowledgment was on Izumi's face.

I stood proudly while saying to Sky.

"That way, he will know that you have survived and left."

On the side of the house, I had written with some paint.

"SAFE ROOM UPSTAIRS

REINFORCED AGAINST ZOMBOIDS

BRING FOOD + WATER

CLOSE AND BAR DOOR"

And beneath I draw a little figure of a pregnant woman making a sign of victory.

Sky smiled at me.

"Thank you Kira."

I nodded with a smile, then looked at Izumi for instruction.

Izumi also nodded.

"It was a good Idea Kira, even if we never have need of it again, somebody else could."

They then took the bags on their bags then started walking toward Riverside.

After a quarter of an hour, while Sky was speaking with Izumi, who was sometime looking at her belly with longing eyes. I slow and came to Chao's side.

"I don't actually think Frank made it."

Chao glanced toward Sky.

"But you told her he might have."

"Because he might have. And right now she needs that possibility more than she needs my opinion."

"And it's not all." I continued.

"In the game there was no children, be they victims or survivor."

Chao paled for a moment.

"You worry about the child's reaction to the virus present in his mother."

"Her." I corrected. "But yes. If you could inspect them when you have time ?"

Chao scoffed.

"Of course I will, as for an excuse, I could use the fact that so much walking could have a negative impact on the child."

We then continued walking in companion silence.

 

[Nobodym8]

Nice. Zomboid doesn't get many fics, if only for it's lack of a main plot to follow.

 

[kira-sakuya]

"So, what did you find yesterday ?" I asked Chao as we were going through the street of Riverside.

"We found a place called the Riverside Suite. It's a hotel near the center of town, right off the main street."

She began to describe the hotel.

"It's surrounded by a high fence and has direct access to the river. Izumi should be able to secure the grounds."

"Replace the fence by high walls, and if we do it well, the Zomboid won't even know we are there."

"What about inside ?" I asked.

"There's plenty of space, so we could build additional facilities if we needed them."

"We didn't check inside since we had other priority."

"Why did Izumi say that it was only good as a secondary base ?" I asked.

Chao shook her head.

"I don't know."

"Because it's too exposed." Izumi who had slowed answered.

"It's true that the location gives us easy access to the town's infrastructure, but as yesterday proved, it can easily be surrounded by a horde."

Now everybody was listening to her, even Sky who's mind had been on her husband.

"Sure, the walls would protect us, but we'd be trapped."

"Not if we escape by boat." Proposed Chao.

Izumi nodded.

"Yes, but that would restrain our access to it."

"That's why I said it could be a good secondary base, and not just for us. If we plan it well, it could be an self-contained site."

I though about it.

"If we don't build any gates into the walls and use rope ladders instead. Only someone capable of climbing could get inside"

Izumi agreed pleased.

"Indeed. And we could rig up a simple pulley system to haul supplies to the top of the wall."

"It would mean, not to use any car in the compound."

Shrugging, Izumi answered.

"Car are loud, they would attract Zomboid from far away. There are a lot of other system to move supply."

"If we talk about having different base we could have different level of base." Said Chao

"For a primary base, we'd need several layers of security. High walls, obviously, but also mirrors to check for Zomboids hiding near the entrance."
"Since people would be coming and going regularly, rope ladders wouldn't be practical. We'd need a proper entrance with two heavy doors and a security vestibule."

"One door would have to be closed before the other could open. That way, even if a Zomboid slipped inside, it would be trapped between them."

"The secondary base, or at least those of the side of the 'Riverside suite' could also have a security vestibule, but the other security could be lower."

"If create more tertiary base, we could use the wall and rope ladder."

"And for quaternary base or safe house, we could create a safe room like the house we came from."

Izumi, Kira and Sky looked at her strangely. Then I said with a smile.

"That could be a good system, however it would take a lot of time to implement."

I though for a few moment.

"Chao, that's actually a very good system. Could you work out everything we'd need to implement it? Once you've done that, we could put together a pamphlet explaining how individual survivors or groups could build their own secure compounds."

"It would have to be easy to understand and implement, using sturdy materials that people could find almost anywhere." Said Izumi.

Chao already in her head with planning. Muttered

"We could also make it so the level of protection could increase with time."

"That would be obvious, let's not forget that not everybody has the same gift as Izumi." I agreed.

"She may be able to create a wall in a day, but it would take a while even for a group to create a one meter tall wall surrounding a house."

As we approached the center of Riverside we stopped talking, however it seemed that no Zomboid came back since the horde went through.

We quickly reached the Riverside Suite.

Four Zomboid was wandering through the grounds.

"We could wait in the restaurant in front while you clean them ?" I proposed .

Izumi and Chao looked at each other.

"Let's not." They said together.

Sky and me looked at them strangely.

Chao sighed.

"We tried entering another restaurant a little farther away. It had an alarm, and we attracted every Zomboid in the area."

"Better not risk it." Said Izumi as she entered the compound.

Sky and I stayed silent as we followed them.

The first two Zomboid were easily took care of, the other two had to be lured away from the batiment, they were too visible from it.

We slowly entered from the right wing and found a room.

Izumi looked around, and closed the curtain.

"Chao, Sky you stay here."

Looking at Sky who seemed ready to protest.

"Think about your state."

To Chao she said.

"Keep them safe."

She then turned toward me.

"You are coming with me."

We exited the room and Izumi made a sssh gesture, and to stay there.

She checked the three room around, and the corridor she then came to me.

"This time you will help be deal with them, however we will do it smart. If I gesture one to you, you go kill it, however if not you stay hidden."

I nodded and followed her silently.

We quickly advanced, but there was no more Zomboid at this floor.

On the second floor however we found three of them. Luckily they were in different part of the floor.

The first Izumi made me deal with, I couldn't approach it stealthy since it had already saw us.

As it rushed toward me, I used the end of my staff to keep it at a distance. When it slowed down, I swept its legs out from under it.

Once it was on the floor, I planted my boot on its neck to immobilize it.

But as I prepared to crush its skull with my staff, the pressure from my boot snapped its neck.

From there it couldn't move and I could hit his head.

I was full of adrenaline by the time I killed it.

Turning to Izumi I found another Zomboid on the floor it's head caved in.

Seeing me look Izumi only said.

"It was attracted by the noise of your fight."

'Damn and I was proud of my fight too.'

Seeing the look on my face Izumi frowned.

"Don't be an idiot. You fought well. You kept your distance and used the staff's reach to your advantage."

"Don't forget that you're a beginner. Of course you're slower and noisier than Chao or me. That's why I'm here."

As she spoke I noticed that she stayed tense.

At the same time, I heard a faint scraping sound behind me.
My eyes widened. I dropped into a crouch and turned just as another Zomboid lunged at me.
Luckily, I'd ducked low enough for it to miss.
I raised my staff and used its momentum to send it tumbling past me.

Once it hit the floor, I planted my boot on its back.

After taking a few second to recompose myself I used the tip of the staff to spear it through the head.

It's hands which were clawing at by leg then fell limp.

Once the Zomboid dead Izumi said.

"You also really need to improve your situational awareness."

Looking around for sign of another Zomboid, Izumi knelt before me.

She then pressed lightly where the Zomboid clawed at me.

A sharp pain went through my leg making me hiss.

"Also, stepping on their back to immobilize them is a good idea. Doing it from the front where they have total use of their hand is a bad idea."

She then rolled up my pant leg to look at the wound.

"A few scratches, but nothing serious. The bruising is what's causing the pain."

"With your Catalog talents, you should be healed by tomorrow. In the meantime, you'll have to learn how to fight through the pain."

The sadistic smile on her face didn't bode well for me.

We continued toward the central part of the hostel.

From the second floor we could see below, where ten Zomboid was waiting for us.

Taking some time to analyze the situation Izumi gestured back from where we come.

"How would you deal with them ?"

"I would first check the other wing and all around the building." I said

"If there isn't many of them, I would fight them. If the sound of fighting attract some from the main buildingit would make it easier later."

She nodded.

"And then ?"

"Once the compound is secure except for the main wing, I will try to attract them once or twice at a time then kill them once far enough. Then I will repeat."

"If more see you and give chase ?"

"I would have them chase me through the building then lose them. It will also make it easier to deal with them later."

I though for a second then continued.

"However if they are close enough, I may have more and more join the fight if I don't finish it quickly."

"Let's say everything go as you plan, and you managed to attract one at a time. Wouldn't it take a while to deal with them."

I shrugged.

"I wouldn't say slow and steady always wins the race, but in this case, we're not in a hurry."

Izumi seemed satisfied.

"Good plan."

Then continued.

"We're not going to use it, though. I'll deal with them myself."

"You, will stay upstairs and keep watch from the others entrance. If you see any other Zomboid join the fight, warn me."

Izumi approached cautiously the group of Zomboid.

It was impressive the level of stealth she was able of.

She managed to only be two meters aways when a Zomboid turned it's head toward her.

As soon as she noticed the Zomboid turning it's head she lunged.

She lunged forward and drove her knives into the backs of two Zomboids' heads.

As they collapsed, their bodies knocked three more Zomboids to the floor.

Izumi pulled out another knife, dodged an outstretched hand, and stabbed another Zomboid through the head.

The four other Zomboid being a few meters away, she took the time to knife the three Zomboid on the floor and taking back one of her knife.

By then the four other Zomboid had reached her.

Izumi vaulted over a desk taking some distance.

The first two Zomboid tried to follow her over the desk leading to two other Zomboid.

One of her knife however broke leaving her with only one.

The second to last was also knifed as it approached, however the knife was stuck in it when it fell.

Looking around for another weapon, the only one she could find was the knife still in on of the first Zomboid she took off.

It was however a little to far, and with the Zomboid in the way, she risked to be grabbed.

She was preparing to make a dash for it when I called out.

"Izumi, catch!"

I tossed her my staff, and she caught it without hesitation.

Two moves later, the last Zomboid was dead.

I stared at her in awe. She'd taken out two Zomboids and knocked three more down in a single movement.

How she dealt with nearly every Zomboid with one or two move.

As i joined her she tossed me my staff back.

She wasn't even breathing hard.

Trying to stay professional I warned her.

"I heard something hitting a door at the third floor."

Looking around herself and listening for any approach, she collected her two knife then got up the stair.

"We will deal with it first. With a little chance the noise of my fight will attract the Zomboid left in on the first floor and will be easy to deal with once we come back."

The third floor was small, only three room.

The first two were empty, a storage room and a bedroom.

The noise however came from the last room.

I turned to Izumi for instruction, which she answered by gesturing me to deal with it.

Not wanting to be lunged at as soon as I opened the door I place my staff in front of me tip first.

It appeared that I did well to do so since as soon as the door was opened the Zomboid lunged at me.

Knocking it back with a quick jab of my staff it fell on the floor. I evade it's grab attend and hit it with the staff.

I looked around for another Zomboid and found nothing.

I stared at my staff for a few second.

"Izumi ?"

"mmh ?"

"I've noticed that we often finish off Zomboids once they're on the ground."

Izumi agreed.

"Yes, they don't seem to have much balance."

"Yeah, well, my staff isn't very effective against something lying on the ground."

Izumi frowned.

"No it isn't, but the idea is for you to get used to rather easy weapon before finding a weapon more adapted for you."

I nodded.

"Yes, but it's only for the finish that the staff is bothersome. I saw a hammer in the storage room, couldn't I keep it with me and use it once they are on the floor to finish them."

"Show me."

We went back to the storage room, there in a box was a hammer.

There wasn't anything particular with this hammer, it was the same hammer you could find in any house.

Taking it in hand, and making a few hit, she gestured me to do the same.

"It's a good idea, but I see a two great weakness, can you guess what they are ?"

"Well, it has a much shorter reach, so I'd have to get a lot closer than I would with my staff."

She agreed.

"Yes, you would have to evade their grab at you to bring it down. And the second weakness."

There I was clueless.

"No idea sorry. I mean it's not made to be a weapon, but neither was my staff."

"Exactly." She said. "It didn't happen with your staff yet, which is why you didn't think about it."

"Proper weapons are designed for fighting. Your staff and that hammer weren't. They can work, but they aren't built to withstand repeated combat."

I looked at my staff and it was true that there was already sign of wear.

"You can use the hammer to finish them off, but keep an eye on its condition."

"Remember what happened with my knife. A weapon breaking during a fight can be life threatening."

Placing the hammer at my waist we continued our exploration.

We first went back to the first floor of the central wing but found no other Zomboid.

In the basement, we found the hotel's utility facilities: a kitchen, laundry machines, and a backup generator with a large fuel tank.

At this Izumi showed a nodded of approval.

"Good. It's well positioned, and the smell won't spread far enough to attract animals."

In one of the storage room attached to the kitchen we found the chef, it was the only Zomboid in the basement.

Coming back upstairs we went to the west wing.

Since the west wing only contained a swimming pool, it was easy to clear.

There was only two Zomboid, on blocked by a sunning chair.

The other was floating in the pool, moving its arms and legs but apparently having forgotten how to swim.

I dealt with the one by the sunning chair, and Izumi dragged the one in the swimming pool away before killing it.

After another round around the compound in case a Zomboid came during this time we went back to Chao and Sky.

 

[Billbo baggins]

So I haven't read any of this yet but I just want to make sure. This is a waifu catalog. Did you mean to put this in the sfw side? I mean of there is no smut cool just wanted to double check lol

 

[kira-sakuya]

So I haven't read any of this yet but I just want to make sure. This is a waifu catalog. Did you mean to put this in the sfw side? I mean of there is no smut cool just wanted to double check lol

Click to shrink...

No NSFW, they will have sex but it will be implied.

 

[Billbo baggins]

No NSFW, they will have sex but it will be implied.

Click to shrink...

Got it just double checking lol

 

[skulker558]

...That is some hella-butchered English. Second chapter has me re-reading several sentences and it's beginning to give me a headache.

 

[kira-sakuya]

...That is some hella-butchered English. Second chapter has me re-reading several sentences and it's beginning to give me a headache.

Click to shrink...

Sorry about that english is my second language.

 

[kira-sakuya]

While Izumi went back to Chao, I stopped at the gardener shed.

"I'll take care of the bodies. Go check on the other two," I told her.

Looking around while remembering the map of the zone, she pointed me toward the back of mail service.

"There is a shed that way, place them behind it, it should be far enough from this place and from the police station."

Waving toward the shed she then continued walking.

The door was luckily locked with a simple latch. Entering I looked around and quickly found what I needed.

Using a wheelbarrow would be easier than carrying the bodies, and it would also keep me from getting covered in blood.

I started from the west wing and the first floor of the central wing.

Those two areas alone contained twelve bodies. Since I could only transport four at a time, it took several trips.

Of course I didn't bring them behind the shed I first brough it to the portal.

Then I when to the other floor of the main wing and finally the east wing.

By the end of it I had nearly twenty bodies by the portal.

Checking that I had my staff with me I turned to the west of the portal and lounged it toward the mail service office.

It took me three hour to bring them from the hotel to the back of the mail service office.

It was a hard and boring work, but somebody had to do it.

On my second-to-last trip, my luck ran out when I heard a window break.

It seemed that a Zomboid had been left in the mail service office.

Of course as I worked I kept my weapon to me so I was able to deal with it fairly easy.

With Izumi nowhere nearby, I remained cautious. I tripped the Zomboid as usual, then finished it off with my hammer.

Checking around to be sure no other Zomboid was hiding I finished my work with a Zomboid more to move.

Being near the river I use it to clean myself from the blood, I then went back to the hotel.



When I reached the hotel, I saw Izumi and Chao coming from the back of the compound and wave at them.

"Hey !"

I looked around. Sky nowhere to be seen, I asked Chao.

"Did you find something ?"

"I was just discussing that with Izumi. Remember, I'm a researcher, not a doctor."

"Yes I know a lot about the body thanks to the work I did with Hakase-chan but I know little about pregnant women."

"As far as I can tell, Sky and her baby are both healthy. But without the proper equipment, I can't be certain."

"Any advice for what she can do and can't do ?" I asked.

"It's still soon enough that she can stay active."

"Of course that doesn't mean she should be traveling like we just did. And we must prevent her to be in danger, so no fighting Zomboid or searching house."

"What do you need to be able to know her state ?" Asked Izumi.

Chao looked at Izumi with compassion then took out the town's map.

"There's a children's medical center a little farther east. It should have the equipment I need to examine her."

She then continued. "There should also be medical textbooks I can study."

I frowned. "During an epidemie, the medicals centers will be full of Zomboid. There will be to many for only the two of us to deal with."

Izumi looked at me grateful before shaking her head.

"Chao and I will deal with it. I need to overcome this weakness."

I tried to correct her. "It's not a weakness to..."

However she cut me with a harsh look.

"Yes, in our situation it is a weakness."

We stayed in silence for a few minutes.

Izumi then asked.

"Will you need to bring back a lot of stuff ?"

"Yes. The biggest machine we won't be able to move, but I will need some of smaller machines. We will need a vehicle."

"And after what you said about the infection and the baby, I'd rather have the means to monitor both of them properly."

Izumi look at the sky.

"Tomorrow. We still need to block those portal then eat."

"Where is Sky by the way ?" I ask.

"When we told her we'd be staying here and couldn't visit her farm today, she offered to clean up the bloodstains left by the Zomboids." Chao answered

"Will she be ok ?" I asked in worry.

"It's better for her to be busy than to keep worrying."

Still worried I proposed to go help her.

"Leave her alone for now." Izumi told me. "For now, help me barricade the portals."



I stood in front of the hotel with a notebook and a pen an began drawing up a rough plan.

I'd been inventorying the main wing since the girls left that morning, but I'd only managed to finish the basement. I needed a break.

I already draw the hotel and it's compound and now I was trying to work out how to secure the compound and make it as self-sufficient as possible.

'The parking will stay as is for now.'

I looked behind me.

'The fountain will have to go. It's a waste of water.'

I draw a cross over the fountain.

'Moving supplies from vehicles to the hotel will be a hassle. We could use handcarts, or perhaps install a small rail system with trolleys..'

I hesitated, pushing the trolley over the compound would waste more endurance, but the rail system wouldn't be easy to implement.

'The rail system would allow someone to unload the truck easier. I'm just not sure if it's worth it.'

In the end, I sketched the rail system but added a question mark beside it.

Going around the hotel I checked what was there and directly crossed the smaller fountain as well as the seating arrangement.

Looking toward the river I added a few barrier to prevent any Zomboid from floating to the compound.

'The dock will need to be reinforced if we want it to accommodate larger boats.' thinking further I added. 'And some place for fishing.'

"Admiring the view ?" asked Sky who had joined me a few second ago.

I shook my head.

"Thinking about what could be improved." i then added. "This dock could be used for a ship with a little strengthening. We could also fish there."

Sky looked at me weirdly.

"Fish ? It's not really the time for fishing?"

I stared at her then barked a laugh.

"No. For food. If what I fear happen, thing will go from bad to worse, then we have to think about how to secure food source. After a while canned food will be used."

"Oh!"

Sky had deerlike eyes, she clearly hadn't thought about it.

She then looked at my sketch then the compound then pointed to the east near the river.

"You could make a field there. A large selection of low maintenance crops could feed survivor for a while."

She thought for a few seconds.

"Potatoes, artichokes, dry beans, garlic, asparagus."

As she spoke I wrote her idea. Knowing nothing about this subject.

"My husband would be able to help more. I usually help him, but it's not my job."

At the thought she stayed silent for a while.

"Kira." She hesitated. "I'm sure my husband will go back to our farm once he see the message. When can we go find him?"

I too hesitated. It felt like a lie to say this.

"I'd prefer to have Chao examine you first. But even if you're fine, I don't feel comfortable making you walk that far."

"But we could take a car, like the two did this morning."

I frowned.

"Cars are noisy, and fuel will become harder and harder to find. We should only use them to move a lot of material."

Seeing her become frantic, I said.

"Listen, once the compound is safe, I could ask Izumi to go look at your farm for your husband. Maybe leave a message if he isn't there."

She begrudgingly seemed to accept.

I went back to my sketch. Sky followed me but it was clear her head wasn't in it anymore.



"And finally, the pool. We don't have much use for it, but it should be fairly easy to convert it into a laboratory. The floor to ceiling windows are bothersome, but you should be able to replace them by walls. Leave just a meter to allow light to pass."

It was the evening and I was showing Izumi and Chao my sketch.

"The walls are good. I like the firing slit and the parapet atop to deal with anything trying to breach the compound." told me Izumi. "But where do you intend to find the material to create it ?"

I placed my finger outside the wall then went around the compound with it.

"The floor outside the wall, it would add the benefit of creating a moat around the compound."

"We could also flood it." I muttered.

"No." Chao stopped me flatly.

"Why ?" Izumi asked suddenly interested.

"The moat is supposed to protect us from Zomboids. If we fill it with water, their corpses will contaminate it."

"Even if we remove the bodies afterward, the virus could still spread through the water."

"We could prevent this by allowing the water to flow around the compound and go back to the river."

She then pointed to the river.

"But that would increase the amount of contaminated material entering the river."

She looked at us intently.

"Don't misunderstand me, there is very little chance that no Zomboid corpse has fallen in the river."

She looked at Izumi.

"Hell we saw some 'living' Zomboid stuck in the surf when we went to check the police station a few days ago."

"The river is already contaminated, however the flowing of the river limit it's impact."

"Are you saying that the river will prophage the virus?" Asked Sky.

Chao shook her head.

"It could. The level of contaminated material compared to the volume of water however would make it take a while."

Shrugging.

"From what we know about the propagation speed of the virus as it is, the contamination of the water won't really affect it's spread worldwide."

"What about when the virus reach the sea?" I asked.

she shook her head once again Chao answered.

"Even if every human became a Zomboid and all jumped in the sea it wouldn't be enough to really impact the sea."

"The river is already contaminated. With that much flowing water, dilution should reduce the concentration, but I don't know how long the virus survives outside a host."

"And the sea?"

"No idea. The volume is enormous, so I'm not worried about contaminating an ocean with a few corpses. But until I know whether this thing can infect other species, I'm not making predictions."

Turning serious once more she looked at us with intensity.

"That is for flowing water, however any pond or lac if it's small could become pure contaminating source.

"No flooding the moat. Got it." Izumi brough us back on track. "Do you have any other advise?"

"Not about the moat exactly, but we will have to find a way to deal with large number of corpse. The Knox Infection isn't the only illness that they can bring."

"Should we just burn them?" I asked.

Chao shook her head.

"Not good enough. For now that will have to be enough, we will have to do it in a isolated place to prevent it's fume from spreading. However long term we will have to find some or create some specialized place."

"And anyone handling corpses will need to wear protective gear." She said looking wryly at me.

I could only give small laugh, I maybe immune to Disease, but it was stupid to take the risk.

"We will take this in account." Izumi said to Chao.

"I like the idea of creating relatively autonomous fields for the food." she nodded at Sky.

She looked at the proposition I gave them.

"What about if the electricity fail?

"I though about it and I have an idea but I don't know if it's possible."

"Chao, couldn't we use the river's current to generate electricity?"

Chao shrugged.

"It's possible, it' won't be enough power for the whole hotel, but if we limit it to some of the appliance it should be enough."

"How long would it take to make it." Asked Izumi.

"It depends on what materials we have available, but I should be able to build something in about a week." Chao answered. "That' is if you don't help me."

We all looked at the plan without saying anything.

"Very well, let's implement the most important change tomorrow."

We then spend the evening each doing our own thing.



The next morning Izumi began to draw the alchemy circle around the fountain with me and Sky observing.

"What is she doing?" Asked Sky

"She's drawing an alchemy circle." I answered.

"Alchemy? What like magic?" she asked clearly dubious

"Yea..." I stopped my explanation

"Wait a moments."

Hearing a dog barking near the road, I went to investigate.

A dog came racing past me, followed by two Zomboids.

Unfortunately, the Zomboids noticed me and changed direction.

The first being a few meter in front of the second I guessed that I had time to take care of it before the second arrived.

Like had become usual, I began by tripping the first Zomboid causing it to fall on the floor. However by the time I took my hammer out, the second one was already lunging to me.

"Shit."

I evaded it while taking my distance. I then placed the hammer back to it's holster.

Observing the two Zomboid I lunged at the first one, the tip of my staff pushing it back.

Unfortunately I didn't use enough strength to make it fall. Still it was a few step behind the second.

I tried another tactic.

I waited for the second Zomboid to lunge at me, then sidestepped and swept its legs out from under it.

As it fell, I swung my staff toward the first Zomboid's head.

The blow snapped its head sideways and sent it stumbling back three steps.

With a feet on the back of the second Zomboid and a little time before the first came back I swung my hammer to it's head.

In my haste, I missed and struck the asphalt instead.

The first Zomboid was already approaching.

Trying once more I finally caved it's head. I then got up to take care of the standing Zomboid which was to close for my comfort.

Dropping my hammer I used my staff to push it away once more, then followed with a heavy swing to it's knee.

Placing some distance between us, the Zomboid tried to get up only to fall back.

My eyes went to it's legs, clearly it couldn't support it anymore.

Sighing in relief, I took back my hammer then caved this Zomboid's head.

Taking a breather, I looked up when I heard another dog barking.

'Nope.'

I went back to compound, Izumi was still drawing the circle and Sky was looking at me.

"They are back in town. We will have to be careful."

I went to a bedroom and took of an apron and some gloves.

Then I brough the bodies at the same place than the others.

As I came back in the compound a bright light came from the alchemy circle.

When I could see again, a three-meter-high wall surrounded the compound, and the fountain was gone.

I inspected the walls.

'Yeah, no Zomboid is coming through that.'

I climbed onto the wall. A moat two meters wide and one meter deep now surrounded the compound.

Nodding in satisfaction, I turned around and saw Sky staring at the new wall with her mouth hanging open. She then turned to Izumi full of question.

Leaving them to it I went to the west wing. The pool was still there.

'Guess she couldn't do everything at once.'

Taking of the apron and the gloves off, I went to clean myself.



"The food storage is empty." Sky said as we were eating.

"Izumi and me will go find some food" I said after having swallowed.

"How far is your farm? We could use the occasion to check it."

Hope bloomed on Sky's face.

"It's west of the town, it's the first farm through Long Branch Road. From the town after the church it will be the first exit to the right."

With our backpack an weapon we went through the town.

As we were going west we passed by a few house, one in particular attract my attention. The door of it's garage was open with a corpse laying in front.

I pointed it to Izumi and we went to check it.

Inside the garage, we found a large collection of weapons, mostly bladed ones.

At a corner was a gun cabinet, however it was empty.

Izumi gave it a glance then ordered me.

"Close behind you."

She then went to examine the weapons.

She picked up four kukris, tossed one to me, put another in her backpack, and replaced her old knives with the remaining two.

"Take care of this, it's good stuff."

She then went to longer weapons, she hesitated between two weapons. The first one I recognized as a Japanese Naginata, the second look like it but was Chinese. Checking the note beneath it, it was called a Guandao.

She took each in turn and proceed to do some Kata.

In the end she replaced the Guandao and took the Naginata.

Gesturing to me to come closer she pointed to another weapon, I knew this one too, it was a Poleaxe.

"It's got good reach. You can use the spike to keep Zomboids at a distance while still dealing damage. The hammer head is useful for bringing them down. It's heavy, but with your physique, that shouldn't be a problem."

I took it in hand, it was indeed heavier than the staff, and I would have to be more careful not to injure myself than with the staff but it also gave me a greater sense of security.

As we were exiting the garage I saw two bikes hanging from hooks.

I took them down and checked them. They were in good state.

"Izumi?" I called Izumi who had already exited the garage.

As she came back inside I pointed at the bike.

"Easier than on foot."

She observed the bike and nodded.

"Good idea." She then turned toward some bucket and piece of metal.

"In fact..."

She quickly drew an alchemy circle around the buckets and scrap metal. A flash of light later, a bicycle trailer stood in their place.

"Oh!" I blinked then helped Izumi to attach then to the bike."

We exited the garage taking some care to close it behind us. There was still some good stuff in it.

Now that it was easier to move, we passed the church and drove for two hours before reaching the fork Sky talked about.

Sky's farm had a small, single-storey house, a shed out back, a vegetable garden, and a chicken coop.

Two large fields stretched out in front of the house, with enough space around them to cultivate more.

As expected nobody was in the house beside the three Zomboid outside.

As I told Sky I would I left a note on her bed.

"SKY IS ALIVE.
SHE'S WITH US AT RIVERSIDE SUITES, NEAR THE POLICE STATION.
— KIRA"

As I came outside I found Izumi giving food to the chicken.

"They could be useful later to generate food." she told me.

We explored around for while, found two other house and a barn nearby. And two other Zomboid.

There was some tools and enough grain to plant the field outside.

We left everything where it was, not wanting to be burdened during our trip back to town.

After a short break to eat and drink we came back to Riverside.

As we reached the church we heard some kind of commotion behind.

Going around we found a couple and a child running from ten Zomboid.

We dropped our bike then rushed to help.

"Protect them." ordered me Izumi while lunging toward the greater pack.

I reached the father while he was fighting four Zomboids with a baseball bat. Grabbing his arm, I pulled him back toward his family.

Once we were far enough I took my poleaxe and knocked the closer Zomboid.

"Protect your family." I told him.

"If any get past me, knock them down!"

The four Zomboid had reached me by then.

A heavy swing of the poleaxe to the head of the right most one fractured it's head and launched it on the two other next to it.

Not given the time to do more I had to back away as the last one lunged at me.

The poleaxe was heavier than my staff, and I'd misjudged the swing. The last Zomboid lunged at me before I could recover.

Unable to bring the weapon around in time, I continued turning and kicked it in the torso.

Given a few second, I looked at the battlefield.

Four more Zomboids had reached Izumi, who was cutting through them with her naginata.

A fifth one came after us.

Luckily the first Zomboid seemed to be dead, and the two other pinned beneath it.

The last one which I had kicked didn't fall. Luckily my poleaxe was now in position and a quick stab to the head took care of it.

Hearing a loud smack to my right, I found the man hitting the new Zomboid on it's head, killing it.

Nodding at him, I went to the two pinned Zomboid and finished them.

By then Izumi was coming toward them having delt with her group.

As she reached us she looked around then said.

"Let's go inside for now."

The man who was opening his mouth to talk stopped himself and nodded, keeping a firm grip on his baseball bat.

Inside, the church was empty. Clearly any Zomboid came out during the fight.

"We're safe for now." declared Izumi.

"Hi. I'm Kira, this is Izumi. Do you have any idea of what is happening?" I asked.

"I'm Kyle, this is my wife Cassandra. The little one is John."

I observed them as they spoke. Kyle and Cassandra seemed to be in their mid-forty and John who clearly didn't seem to appreciate being called "The little one" was around thirteen.

They looked like they could fit well with our group.

"We have no idea what's going on. We came to spend some time with a friend and ended up trapped here because of the exclusion zone." Kyle said.

"A few days ago, our friend turned into one of those things. We've been moving from place to place ever since." A clearly exhausted Cassandra continued.

"I'm telling mum, their zombies. Must be a government experiment or of some big time company."

Smiling at his son Kyle continued.

"We tried to exit the exclusion zone, but at first they didn't let us leave, then this morning the military post was attacked by a huge number of those zombies and we were forced to leave."

"We managed to place a lot of distance between them and us but then the car run out of fuel and we stopped to refill. That's when this group found us."

"What about you?" John asked excitedly. "You were awesome! Especially you, miss! The way you took out those zombies was insane! Just like in a movie!"

Click to shrink...

"We are part of a group of four survivor. We build a base around an hotel near the police station."

"Izumi is a surviving expert so we managed to live until now, however the food in the hotel is gone so we went to find some."

"What about Kyllie's house?" John asked his parents.

Kyle and Cassandra exchanged a look.

"Our friend was a prepper." Cassandra said. "She kept a lot of food stored at her house, along with plenty of tools."

"We can show you where it is. If you'll let us join your group."

I glanced at Izumi before answering. She gives a small nod.

"Sure. I was going to suggest it anyway."

We then shook hand, and they brough us to their friend house.

It was indeed full of food and tools. There was even a bunker full of canned food, other tools, electric generator and a lot of other thing. Weapons being one of those thing.

Observing all this Izumi nodded in approval then turned to us.

"Take the perishable food first. Leave the canned goods for emergencies."

Cassandra and me then began to move the food to the bike trailer.

From a few room away, I heard Kyle ask Izumi about the tools.

"We have enough in the hotel, and if need be we can come back for them."

Two hours later and two other house searched for food we went toward the hotel.

 

[Nobodym8]

You accidentally quoted one of John's dialogues.