From Game to Reality: Dawn of Systems

Encounter

"Could he be mute?" The bald tan guy asked the others who shrugged still staring at Nolan strangely.

All three of them were dressed in the same attire, a combination of red and black with the same kind of badge on the belts around their waists.

"WHO...ARE...YOU...AND...WHERE....ARE...YOU..FROM?" The bald guy thinking Nolan was mute spoke in an extremely loud voice making hand signals.

The girl hissed covering her ear while glaring at the bald guy, "Don't speak so fucking loudly like a dumb goat, you'll attract the zombies you idiot!"

The bald guy looked regretful as he shut his mouth, but the guy with red hair who seemed to be the leader of the group stepped forward pulling out a paper and pen from his backpack, "If you can't speak then you should be able write." He said dropping the pen and paper on Nolan's lap who still stared at them looking lost until his eyes suddenly widened.

"You're all from the Mystic Oasis Haven!" Nolan suddenly exclaimed incredulously.

'No way, the legendary three from the Mystic Oasis Safe Haven, he'd actually encountered them in the game!'

While he was playing the game, there had been a mention of the safe havens started by some powerful people of this world, the most famous and populated safe haven was the Mystic Oasis haven because it held some of the strongest ability users in Nexupia, and some of those strong people had formed groups among themselves.

The legendary three had been mentioned within the game as hero NPCs that ended up helping to clear a certain city for the survivors to move into as they built up a huge wall that kept the zombies out of the cities, making the Mystic Oasis haven no longer have to live out in the woods in encampment as they could finally occupy houses.

That had been an update that was added to the game later, where players could go seek refuge in the city named after the group, called legendary city, and players could restock and get weapons and valuables if they completed minor quests inside the city, however Nolan hadn't gotten to play that part as he'd already gone ways past level one when that update was added, but he'd learned about it from his friends who also played the game and he'd gotten to see images of the said legendary three from friends as well. Which was why he'd been staring at them weirdly the whole time, it was that gnawing sense of familiarity.

"Uh...guys, maybe this guy isn't dumb after all, even though he isn't infected, the apocalypse might have done something to his mind cuz he looks a little..." The bald guy didn't complete his words, but he made a screwing motion to his head signalling that Nolan might be insane.

Nolan quickly shook his head breaking out of his thoughts, "I'm sorry, my name is Nolan Anderson, and I'm a survivor as well."

The red haired guy eyed Nolan before asking, "Which safe haven are you from?"

Nolan was speechless for a few seconds as he racked his brain before replying, "I'm not from any safe havens, I'm just one of those survivors who knows how to hide really well that's why I've survived."

"One of those?" The girl finally spoke up suspiciously, "There isn't anyone out there who is not with a safe haven and ends up staying alive uninfected, how did you manage to live till this point?"

The three looked at him curiously and Nolan chuckled awkwardly, "I guess I've got really thick skin, can't be killed easily."

They stared at him disbelievingly for a while, however they had confirmed themselves that he was uninfected, so they couldn't suspect him.

"Sure must be nice to have a thick skin like yours dude." The bald guy broke the silence approaching Nolan in a friendly manner, "Hi, my name is Paul, and as you could tell, we're from the Mystic Oasis haven."

Nolan reached over to shake his hand, however Paul quickly stepped back raising his hands in a surrender motion, "Whoa easy there, I know you're uninfected and all, but I stopped hand shaking ever since the plague, so we might have to skip that part of the formalities."

Nolan chuckled slightly retracting his hand not feeling offended by Paul not shaking his hand at all.

"Reuben." It was the red haired guy who introduced himself next.

"Maya." The girl spoke, she still seemed a little wary of Nolan and his claims of being a rogue survivor, it seemed utterly impossible.

"It's nice to meet you all." Nolan said politely.

"You should join a safe haven dude, otherwise you never know when you'll be a flesh eating rotten walking dead being." Paul joked plunging himself into a couch opposite to Nolan.

"A lot of safe havens are overpopulated now, so I'm pretty sure they won't accept someone who's been going rogue this whole time." Nolan replied.

Reuben nodded, "That is true, however it depends on your abilities, safe havens that are full might not accept you, but then they might depending on your ability, if you have a rare one, they'll quickly grab you in. What's your ability?" Reuben asked.

"Grass mutation." Nolan replied unabashedly.

The three exchanged glances.

"I've never heard of such a strange ability before, can you show us?" The girl still suspicious asked with her hand folded beneath her chest as she stared at Nolan with a kind of gaze that made Nolan feel judged.

The others didn't say anything, but their gazes seemed to agree with her, so Nolan nodded, he wasn't sure he could remember how he did it earlier, but he didn't want to show them that he was a rookie who'd not even used his powers for over a day yet, so he raised his hand and muttered,

"Active grass mutation." Right as he said that, a picture frame hung on the wall suddenly started growing grass all around it that slowly surrounded it until it covered the whole picture.

Nolan retracted his hand.

The three continued to stare at the grass covered picture for a while before looking back at Nolan.

"That's it? Ha, nothing impressive, I'm definitely wondering how you managed to survive with such a lame ability." The girl scoffed.

"Don't b mean Maya." Reuben said, before he directed his words to Nolan, "You ability is quite... unique."

"Thank you." Nolan replied not feeling bad about the fact that they seemed to find his ability lame even if the guys didn't voice it like the girl Maya did.

"Why don't you come back with us to the Mystic Oasis haven, the higher ups might just accept you in if you're lucky, you can't just continue to roam around a zombie infested city alone." Paul suggested.

"What? You want us to bring him? What does he have to offer? He'll definitely be sent back right from the gates." Maya spat but fell silent as Reuben directed a stern gaze her way, she rolled her eyes but no longer said a word.

"The purpose of the safe haven is to accommodate as many survivors as possible, they can't just turn down a living being regardless of his abilities, that isn't right. So you will be coming with us Nolan, after we've completed our mission." Reuben said steadily.

"He'll probably die before we finish this mission anyway, will he survive clearing out the most zombie infested city in Nexupia?"

Nolan ignored Maya's sarcastic sounding words and said what was on his mind instead, "You guys are clearing the city already?" He asked with a surprised tone.

"What do you mean by already, how did you know we would be clearing out this city?" Paul questioned with suspiciously narrowed eyes.

After being speechless for a few seconds as Nolan realized he'd actually blurted the question he'd asked in his mind, he quickly replied, "Just a guess, last week some guys from another haven came into this city, I heard them saying the higher safe havens are dispatching their members on missions to clear the cities, so I guessed when I heard this from you guys too."

The three nodded no longer finding his words suspicious, rolling her eyes disinterestedly, Maya stalked up the stairs, "I'm taking the room on the left for tonight, no one should disturb me, and I'll kick you in the nuts if I even hear you by my door Paul."

Paul scratched his head guiltily as she said the last words, he'd definitely been thinking of going to knock on her door for a little late night chat just like they did at camp, but apparently she was in a bad mood tonight so he decided to mind his business. Maya's bad mood was something he was very familiar with, and a kick in the nuts was something he'd definitely experienced a few times before in her bad moods.

"Let's rest for the night, by tomorrow, we'll be embarking on the first step to clearing this city. Think you can handle it?" Reuben asked Nolan while Paul fluffed up a couch pillow sprawling on the couch he'd been sitting in, good thing it was spacious enough to accommodate him.

"Yes I can, but I have to ask one question." Nolan said.

"Go ahead."

"Why did you guys choose this city among all the lesser infested cities?"

Reuben shrugged, "Why not?" He replied as if it wasn't a big deal, then continued, "The apocalypse had ruined the world we knew, in the blink of an eye everything changed and we all had to struggle to survive, we trained endlessly just for times like these, the chance to take back our world, if we can do that, then why not? The first step would be to attempt to reclaim one of the biggest cities in Nexupia."

Nolan nodded in understanding, he admired Reuben and the others for their eager willingness of thinking about the betterment of others rather than tuck their tail in and think about their own lives selfishly.

He admired them for that, even Maya who had been quite mean to him too.

"Then I'll do my best to offer my help." Nolan said thinking this could also be a way for him to complete his own mission of killing 49,999 zombies as well.

"Very much appreciated Nolan, the world will thank you for it if this succeeds." Though Nolan's ability was nothing impressive, it was already noble that he didn't decide to run off to save himself and offered to help them clear the city instead.

After talking about a few random things for a while, the group all decided to rest for the night, they all got up bright and early the next morning making sure not to walk out until the sun was out bright and shining in the sky. They would never move in the dark as no one knew when those creatures would be lurking in the dark as one bite from a sneak attack of those creatures could render someone infected.

As they walked out into what seemed like the deserted streets of Blue city, the three seemed to be extremely alert.

"Stay close Nolan, just in case, so you don't get hurt." Paul said kindly.

"Does he look like a helpless little kid who needs protection? Let him fight for himself." Maya spat.

Nolan smiled bitterly but he didn't say a word.

"What's the plan?" Paul asked Reuben.

"Track down as many of these darned creatures as we can and finish them." Reuben said decisively then looked over to the next house close to the one they had spent the night in, "Let's start by clearing all the houses around us. Remember to stay close and..." He trailed off, looking into everyone's eyes individually with an air of seriousness as he added, "Don't get infected."

Paul and Maya nodded together, and Nolan nodded as well when Reuben's eyes fell on him.

"Let's go."

"Bam!" Paul kicked down the door of the house they approached.

"I told you to freaking stop making noises!" Maya yelled at him glaring angrily.

Paul shrugged with a silly smile on his face, "I like to be loud." He replied walking straight into the house, "Now where are you nasty ugly heads, show yourselves and die at the hands of this mighty hero." Paul said in a flashy manner as he stood tall in the middle of the living room pulling out a long rifle with a pointed tip.

'Cool.' Nolan thought internally as he stared open mouthed at the gun in Paul's hand, 'That's the Eight super bullet Blunderbuss, the super flashy yet expensive rifle among all the in-game weapons in player dimensions.' Nolan thought marveling.

For a player, an equipment like that took a lot of in-game currency to purchase which could also be exchanged for real money, however for an NPC, it probably came for free.

However, just as Paul continued his flashy braggy words about how he was going to blow the zombies heads into smelly meat patty, while the others had begun searching other rooms, Nolan suddenly noticed a shadow right above Paul.

Looking up, Nolan's eyes widened as he yelled, "Paul look out." It seemed a little too late as the zombie hanging stealthily in the ceilings jumped down onto Paul who hadn't been able to react fast enough to shoot, however, Nolan quickly activated his grass ability immediately immobilizing the zombie.

Coming back to his senses, Paul immediately directed the rifle at the zombie's head shooting successive bullets, "Piece of shit sneaking up on me, die!!!"

Reuben and Maya had also quickly rushed back into the living room witnessing Nolan's quick reflexes as he shot out his grass ability to hold back the zombie before it could pounce on Paul and bite him and immediately infect him.

After the zombie was laying dead and unmoving on the floor, only then did Paul stop shooting, looking gratefully at Nolan still breathless, "Thanks man, you saved my life."

Nolan was also still a little shocked as he replied, "No problem."

Reuben patted Nolan's back with a grateful smile while Maya still remained unimpressed,

"There's still nothing impressive about a grass ability." She muttered turning away from Nolan scolding Paul for his carelessness when heavy and multiple approaching footsteps filled their ears, they all turned around uniformly and the sight that fell into their view left their jaw's slacked.

"You dumb freaking goat, told you to tone down on the noise, now your stupid loud shooting has attracted them all." Maya scolded Paul once more who gulped watching what looked like an army of zombies approaching the house they were currently in as the zombies emerged from hidden corners, other houses and even alleyways.

Nolan felt like his eyes were going to fall out of his sockets.

'How are we going to kill this many of them?'