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2023-07-27 09:21:55Donald groaned as he opened his eyes. What happened? It felt like he had been zapped with electricity. As he sat up, memories from before he lost consciousness hit him like a truck. That had actually happened. It was a miracle that he hadn't died from being zapped with all that electricity. The thought that followed was of the zombie that had come after him.
At the sight of the zombie lying mere inches away from him, he scrambled away to put some distance between them. When it didn't move, he grabbed his ax and poked it with it. It didn't even flinch, and he poked it even harder. Seeing it still frozen, Donald breathed a sigh of relief. The moment passed quickly as he slapped his cheek to knock some sense into him.
Just because the one zombie in front of him wasn't moving didn't mean that he was safe yet. His head spun in all directions, searching for signs of other zombies, but there was not a single trace of them anywhere. Well, at least the moving ones. There were several bodies or pieces of bodies strewn throughout the office. Keeping himself from vomiting, he clutched his ax close just in case.
[The user has awakened. Proceeding with the introduction.]
He wasn't ashamed to admit that he screamed at the sight of the message popping in front of his eyes. Given the situation, to a certain extent, anyone else would react in the same way. Placing a hand over his heart, he stared at the floating message in front of him. His mind worked over time to process the appearance of the floating message as more popped up in front of him.
[Greetings, new user. Congratulations on becoming the first awakened before everyone else.]
[For this achievement, you will be given a gift box as a reward.]
The moment he finished reading the text, a blue gift wrapped box appeared right in front of him, floating in the air. Staring at it, Donald refused to come anywhere near it. Who ever heard of such a thing happening in the midst of a zombie apocalypse? It was outright unbelievable and suspicious. This might be some kind of ploy to kill him or something.
[This isn't a trap, user.]
[To survive the zombie apocalypse, a rare few have been given a system and powers.]
[You happen to be one of the few fortunate ones to survive the initial wave.]
Donald studied the message warily as he asked, "Did you just read my mind?"
[In order to better support the user, the system has been given access to your mind.]
[It's mandatory.]
That answered his next question. "Why should I believe you?"
[This system is bonded to the user.]
[If the user dies, the system also dies.]
Frowning, he considered the system's words. If it was really telling the truth, then it was on his side and would do its best to make sure he survived. Unfortunately, he had no way to confirm this. It could be spouting out lies to trick him and leave the moment it got tired of him or after it managed to get him killed. However, he had a feeling that he didn't really have a choice.
Lowering his ax, he said, "Okay, I'll believe you for now, but you better explain everything."
[Of course, dear user. The system will do its best to support you.]
[What do you wish to know?]
"Where did the zombies come from? What did you mean by awakened? What powers? Initial wave? What's in the box?" Donald asked as the questions flowed out.
[Someone was given a system and powers to infect as many people as possible. The system is unsure of the reason or how it happened, but in order to stop the zombies, the user will have to find this person and kill them.]
"What?" he blurted out, but the system continued on as if it didn't hear him.
[An awakened person is someone who was lucky to receive a system and powers. This increases their chances of survival and the possibility of killing the source of the zombies.]
[The system will help you grow stronger and possibly provide benefits essential in the current situation.]
[Everyone is given a random power based on several factors ranging from personality to the environment.]
[There will be several waves of zombies, which will get stronger the longer the source is alive.]
[The gift box has a random reward that can help you survive.]
Digesting what he just learned, Donald studied the floating box. It was a lot to swallow, but he got the gist of it. Basically, someone decided to start the zombie apocalypse for some unknown reason, and the only way to stop it was to kill them. He also had superpowers, which he apparently needed to figure out. Taking a deep breath, he tried to keep himself from freaking out.
After several moments of internal screaming, Donald asked, "What's my power?"
[You have the power to manipulate electricity.]
Donald blinked. Then he chuckled before it erupted into full blown laughter. Of course, of all the powers he could have gotten, it was to control electricity. All it took was getting electrocuted. Did that mean if he had been set on fire, he would have gotten fire powers instead? When he finally calmed down, he reached out to claim the gift box.
[Congratulations.]
[You have been rewarded with the power to manipulate fire.]
Gaping at the message, he could only say, "Seriously?"
[Error. Anomaly detected. Patching through to the administrator.]
[Connecting...]
[Correction. There is no error. The reward will be distributed as expected.]
[The user will obtain the power to manipulate fire.]
He couldn't believe his luck. Just moments before, he had been thinking about having fire powers, and the system handed them out to him as a gift. However, he didn't like the message from earlier stating it was an error. The system obviously didn't expect him to obtain fire powers when he opened the gift box. Was it rare to receive another power?"
[The user is correct.]
[Everyone is entitled to only one power. Having multiple powers is strictly forbidden. However, it was determined that the user can have two powers as long as the user focuses on one of them.]
Donald couldn't believe his luck. This was like winning the lottery. With electricity and fire at his fingertips, he was certain no one could lay a hand on him. It was unfortunate that he had to decide which power would be his main one, but it was better than nothing. Carefully considering which would be the better power, he came to a decision.
"Make electricity my main power," he declared.
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Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 3: Leaving the Building (1)
[The power to manipulate electricity has been designated as the user's main power.][From now on, whenever the user defeats a zombie, the user will be able to earn points that can be used to boost the user's electricity powers.]That was both great and not so great news for him. Donald could become stronger by defeating zombies, but that also meant he had to actively seek out zombies to fight unless he chose to wait for them to come to him. He grimaced at both ideas, but the lesser of the two would be to confront the zombies himself. At least then it would be on his terms."What about my fire powers? Will I be able to boost them too?" he asked.Unfortunately, the user has chosen electricity to be their main power, so the user can't boost their fire powers.]Donald scowled at the lost opportunity. While he wanted to argue the fairness of the situation, he bit his tongue. The system did say he was lucky to even have two powers when everyone would only get one. On the bright side, he cou
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 4: Leaving the Building (2)
Donald didn't get a chance to complain about the results before the other two zombies came lumbering towards him. Raising his ax again, he swung at the closest one with the same result. However, he had to shut his eyes to prevent the bits of zombie flesh from getting into his eyes. Wiping it away from his flesh, he opened his eyes in time to see another message and the zombie about to bite him.In a panic, he stumbled back to get out of its range, only to trip over his feet. He fell on his back with a grunt as the zombie lumbered towards him. Donald scurried on all fours to put some distance between them. His ax had fallen out of his hands and was just out of his reach. Glancing between the zombie and ax, he took the risk of lunging for his weapon again.The zombie threw itself at him as he grabbed the ax. It crashed into his back, and he grunted from the weight. Thinking quickly, he managed to flip them over so the zombie was on its back with Donald crushing it on top. His actions sl
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 5: Meeting Another Survivor
Donald apparently lucked out, as there were no zombies on the next floor, or at least none he could see. He took a moment to survey the scene as he considered whether he should check the floor before moving on. It was the fourth floor, so he had to go down three more flights of stairs before he could leave the building. Then he could finally see how bad it was outside.He could try checking the situation by looking out the windows, but he had avoided them. While he would like to have a logical reason behind it, the truth was that he was just afraid of heights. As long as he didn't see how far away the ground was, he was fine. Deciding to forgo searching the floor, he headed straight for the stairs, heading for the third floor, when he heard noise.Immediately, he spun around with his ax swinging. His axe hit nothing but air. With a frown, he studied the surrounding area again. It might have been his imagination, but he didn't want to die just because he decided to ignore a possible th
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 6: Stuck
Teaming up with another person had been the right idea because, as soon as they got close to the third floor, they could hear a lot of movement ahead. Immediately, the duo stopped and covered their mouths to keep themselves from being heard. Hesitantly, they tiptoed to get a closer look and froze when they saw zombies everywhere. It was a literal death trap.The duo instantly rushed back up the stairs while keeping quiet. Since nothing came chasing after them, they must have escaped detection. However, this posed a huge problem for them. There was no way they could even attempt going through the third floor unless they had a death wish. From what they saw, there had to be at least over thirty zombies, and that was only what they could see."What do we do?" Amanda whispered in case the zombies might hear them."What's your power?" Donald asked back.At her confused look, he realized that she didn't know what he was talking about. That meant she didn't have any powers. Why? He got his p
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 7: End of First Wave
When the hour passed, Donald nearly breathed a sigh of relief. However, it was too soon to celebrate. It was just the first hurdle. They still had to see if Amanda received any powers. The two waited with bated breath to see if a system would pop up and inform her that she had powers. Several moments passed, and as time passed, their hopes got smaller and smaller.Amanda looked at him with a panicked expression. "Am I not going to get any powers?""You might have to do something to get them," he said."Like what?" she hissed. "You can't expect me to electrocute myself like you did."In response to her words, Donald stared blankly at her. She was immediately cowed by his expression and fell silent. While he understood she was frantic, she should know how to speak. He really shouldn't have teamed up with her, but there was no helping it. Maybe he could somehow ditch her somewhere and go solo or find someone else to work with."My system said that it's random," Donald started when a mess
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 8: Outside or Inside
The problem was that they might not be able to make it back up to the second floor without being seen unless they ran. Would the zombies hear them running back up the steps to go in from the second floor? Donald couldn't imagine their retreat would be quiet, especially as there weren't really any other noises nearby. There was a high chance the zombies would hear them if they didn't see them.However, staying on the steps wasn't an option. It was just asking for trouble if they remained out in the open. Even if these zombies couldn't see them, what if they decided to stop near the fire escape? Then they would be stuck, just like what happened on the fourth floor. There was also no guarantee that other zombies that could see wouldn't pass by right after.Descending the rest of the steps wasn't an option either. The zombies might still be far out, but they might not find a place to hide from the zombies before the zombies reach them. It was too risky to attempt going down the steps only
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 9: The First Floor
Donald rushed down the stairs just as he saw the first zombie reach the second floor. Luckily, the sounds of the zombies banging on the fire escape door drew their attention. However, he wasn't going to take the chance they might find him, and he hurried away quietly before they knew he was there. Reaching the first floor, he immediately scanned the area for any zombies.He should have checked before descending, but the zombies didn't exactly give him a choice. They didn't even give him a chance to pull out a backup weapon. While keeping an eye open for any zombies, he reached into his bag for one of the box cutters. As he rummaged through the bag, he couldn't help cursing himself for losing Amanda's bag.There was no way he could have saved it, but he still mourned the loss of all the supplies she carried. They could have helped him survive through this mess. Finally, finding the item, he pulled it out as he slowly inspected the area. Strangely, there were no zombies here either. The
Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide Chapter 10: Fighting Zombies For No Points
"What's going on?" Donald muttered to himself as he didn't fail to notice that he didn't get any notification about defeating the zombie. "Is there some kind of error?"[The system detects no errors.]The only possibility that Donald could think of was that some zombies weren't worth a point. What else could it be? He grumbled at the unfairness of the situation when he heard movement. Immediately, he spun around as his eyes darted around to pinpoint where it was coming from. It was silent, but Donald refused to accept it at face value.Donald got off the zombie while remaining in the squatting position. Holding the knife in front of him, he moved slowly away as he searched for the hidden figure. Since they weren't outright attacking him, it couldn't be a zombie. It had to be a survivor. The question was if they were on his side or not. He really hoped they weren't an enemy.Suddenly, he saw a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye. Snapping his head in that direction, he was sta
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- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Author's Note
Hello everyone. I just want to thank all my readers who have been following along for so long. Donald's story has ended unless readers are interested in a sequel.I didn't expect to finish this story so quickly. Compared to my other two books, this one was completed in no time flat which I'm both proud and sad.Anyway, there are several things that I want to let you know.I'm hoping to wrap Rise of the Demon King: Caleb Gonzales's Rat Race up before the end of the year, but we'll have to see.I also intend to start a new story on Meganovel either in the same setting as Rise of the Demon King, but with no connections to the other two books or a different setting entirely. Maybe I'll do another zombie story.On another note, I've been debating whether I should publish a book not on Meganovel, but as an eBook like on A****n. It'll be under a different name since it'll be different than what I post here. It's something I'm considering.The last thing to note is that I'm still on the fence
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 188: The Aftermath (2)
"I didn't realize he had his own group," Walter said as he looked at Donald.Donald's father nodded. "My son is a very capable man, so if you may excuse us, we need to get going. The rest of our group is waiting for us.""Hold it," Arthur said. "I find it suspicious that Donald has his own group but was going around joining other groups. Was he trying to sabotage other groups?"Even though Donald wanted to speak up, his father spoke over him and said, "I'm afraid that was because we had gotten separated. He didn't intend to do anything to your groups. He was simply trying to stick with a group until we could meet back up."Listening to everyone talk, Donald found himself wondering if something had happened while he wasn't aware. Why were his family and the others acting like he was the leader of a group? That wasn't true unless they had secretly made him the leader without him noticing. They hadn't, right? He really hoped they didn't because he wasn't leader material."I would still l
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 187: The Aftermath (1)
Walter frowned as he observed his surroundings. All the zombies collapsed after the news that the zombie user was dead was announced. It was hard to accept that the threat hanging over their heads was really gone, but the proof was right in front of him. Well, until he saw the body, it couldn't really be called proof. However, there was a reason why he hadn't gone in.Whoever had killed the zombie user was still inside. Instead of rushing and possibly offending such a powerful person, he would rather wait outside to meet them. He needed to make a favorable impression on them if he was going to get them on his side. Now that they were free from the shakles of the zombie apocalypse, they were free to do whatever they wanted.If he got the person who killed the zombie user on his side, people would flock towards them. He just needed to raise up the hero, and his group would be the one people looked to. However, the hero hadn't made his appearance yet. Walter wondered what was taking them
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 186: What Comes After the Zombie Apocalypse
"Are you alright?" Nicole asked as she stared at Donald, who was staring at Amanda's lifeless body.Snapping out of it, Donald said, "Yeah, I'm good."Nicole frowned as Elizabeth said, "You don't have to lie. It can't be easy to kill someone."That was right. He was a murderer now. The thought felt strange. When he was strangling Amanda, it didn't feel real. It was like watching a stranger kill with his hands. She was unexpectedly sturdy, so he ended up relying on his power to finish her, and he wasn't talking about his electrical power. He ended up using his fire power for the first time.He wasn't sure what possessed him to do it, but he called up his fire to burn her body to a crisp. His hands still stung from the flames he had unleashed. Since it was still weak, he wasn't invulnerable to fire. Fortunately, his father was able to heal them, though he couldn't meet Donald's eyes. That was fine. He understood why his father was acting that way.Despite knowing this, it still hurt tha
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 185: Anticlimactic Finish
After several moments of silence, Donald asked, "What just happened?""I'm not sure," Nicole admitted as she lowered her arms.The group was still trying to process what had just happened. They had been fighting for their lives against Amanda, who decided to call for backup, which was a giant hand. However, the giant hand had turned against her and crushed her instead. It was actually quite anti climatic. The one person who had been terrorizing everyone had been finished off just like that.That's when Donald noticed that the zombies were still moving. "Guys, I think she's still alive."Everyone stared at him in disbelief as Donna said, "You can't be serious. You saw what happened, didn't you?"Of course he had. His eyes had been wide open since he wasn't one of them who flinched. However, how would it explain why the zombies were still moving? If she were dead, they would have surely stopped since her power would no longer be moving them. The system also hadn't made any announcements
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 184: Making Their Move
Donald flinched when he heard Amanda's scream of rage. Looking back, he met her bloodshot eyes with his own. She was practically seething with rage. It was fortunate that he was able to take the hostages while she was distracted, or else she might have killed them right then and there. What was even better was that his mother and Elizabeth were waking up."How dare you," she snapped."Is that all you have to say?" Donna taunted. "I suppose you don't have the brains to think of anything else."He was relieved that Donna drew Amanda's attention away, but he was now worried that she might have bitten off more than she could chew. Now that she had Amanda's undivided attention, she was in serious trouble. Donna had only managed to kill one zombie so far. The others were only slightly injured, as they were more powerful than before."What's going on?" his mother muttered, drawing Donald's attention.Bending down, he looked her in the face as he said, "Mom, I know you're confused, but we rea
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 183: Choosing a Hostage
Amanda cackled. "I thought so. There's no way you would pick your family."Donald could only grit his teeth and glare as she dared to touch them with her dirty hands. It was disgusting watching her get all handsy with them, especially when they weren't awake. If he could, he would rip her hands off so she couldn't touch any of them again. Unfortunately, all he could do was watch as her hands trailed from his family members to Donna."You know I considered purposely letting the person you choose be the last one just to see the look on your face," she said, causing his heart to lurch. "However, I'll be nice this time and listen to you this time."As she said this, she suddenly shoved Donna forward. Her head hit the ground with a loud thud. As if breaking free from a spell, Donna snapped her eyes open. She blinked several times with a groan. Then she took a good look at her surroundings. Seeing the glazed look in her eyes, Donald could tell she was still out of it from whatever Amanda di
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 182: Thoughts of Revenge
The dark look on Amanda's face sent shivers down Donald's spine. "Is that so? Then I'll take responsibility."Donald immediately realized he had gone too far, but it wasn't entirely his fault. Trying to reason with an insane person was difficult, especially when she wasn't willing to listen to logic. What was more worrying was that she was now bending over the hostages as if deciding what to do with them. He didn't like where this was going. However, there was nothing he could do as she laid a hand on his sister."How about I feed one of them to my zombies? How does that sound?" she asked with a sinister smile."Don't!" he shouted as he took a step forward.The zombies around them immediately reacted and stepped forward, making him stop in his tracks as Amanda said, "You shouldn't make any sudden movements. You don't want to make things worse, do you?"He scowled. "Don't lay a hand on them."She only smirked. "I think I like this new plan better. What better way to get revenge than to
- Rise of the Desperate: Donald Carter's Zombie Survival Guide
Chapter 181: Meeting the Zombie User
Donald gasped as he opened his eyes. Sitting up, he immediately checked himself over. There didn't appear to be any bitemarks anywhere. In fact, he didn't appear to be injured in the slightest. Any scrapes or bruises he had could be chalked up to being pushed to the ground by the zombies, which didn't make sense now that he thought about it.Why hadn't the zombies tried to bite or kill him? If the zombie user was out to get him, it would make sense for the zombies to hurt him. However, it seemed that they had been careful with him, which wasn't something he thought was possible. How were zombies capable of moving him with their stiff and awkward bodies? Finally taking the time to check his surroundings, he saw that he was in the company building."Why am I here?" he muttered to himself."You're awake," someone said.He spun around to see who spoke, but he couldn't see anyone except zombies. Donald was immediately struck by the memory of what happened before he blacked out and flinched
