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
"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
"How about this? You don't try to kill me again, and I won't hurt you," said Donald.The young girl just glared at him, and Donald wondered what he should do if she refused. It was too dangerous to let her live after she had tried to kill him, but he had never killed a person before. Killing the zombies was already a tough hurdle. The only reason he was okay with it was because it was a life or death situation, and it was easy not to think of them as people.People didn't go around biting other people. At least not the sane ones. Also, they didn't have twisted bodies, so he could pretend that the zombie in front of him hadn't been a person before. What happened earlier with Amanda didn't count either. That had been an unfortunate accident, and he was going to stand by that thought.After several moments of intense silence, the young girl finally said, "Fine."Donald was about to put her down but hesitated. "Are you really going to keep your word?""What do you mean?" the young girl de
The woman didn't seem to believe him, but Donald was being completely honest. The last thing they needed was a repeat of what happened outside not too long ago. As soon as he thought this, Donald felt ill and tried to calm himself down. It wasn't his fault that Amanda died. It was just an unfortunate accident. He was only doing what anyone else would have done in his place.Only someone crazy or with a death wish would have continued to try to pull her up with zombies literally biting at his feet. If they hadn't been chased by zombies, things would have been different. His thoughts must have been visible on his face as his superior looked at him with a strange expression. It wasn't actually a worried or pitying one. It was almost like she had an understanding expression.Donald pretended he didn't see it as he said, "We should get going before the zombies from the upper floors decide to come down."She raised an eyebrow and said, "They haven't come down in hours. I don't think that'll
Donald couldn't hide his shock as he stared at her with wide eyes. "What? But how?""How did I control the zombies?" At his frantic nod, Nicole said, "It's simple. I manipulated their blood."His face immediately curled in disgust. Was that how she did it? He supposed it was true that zombies had blood. It wasn't like the blood vanished the moment they became zombies, but it was hard for him to wrap his mind around. The image of her waving her arms around as she tried to control their blood popped into his head, which he quickly waved off.Even though he had only known her for a brief time, he could tell that she wouldn't do something ridiculous like that. Maybe she used her mind to control the blood. As soon as he thought of that, he broke out in a cold sweat. If she could really control their blood with her mind, who's to say she couldn't do that to a real person? He tried to keep his face blank, but she seemed to see right through him."If you're worried I'll try something with you
Donald smiled as he asked, "What are the restrictions?"[The user cannot ask very specific questions, such as, can zombies see humans within a one mile radius.]That was a strangely very specific question. He wasn't sure why he would ask such a question. Obviously, he would have asked if the zombies relied on sight or hearing to attack, but he wouldn't have thought to ask how far they could see and specifically about humans. Donald wondered if the question itself was a hint about the zombies' characteristics.[The questions must be in yes or no format. Any other format will be ignored and possibly penalized if the user pushes it. Questions that can't be answered with a yes or no will also remain unanswered.]He expected as much, but the last part bothered him. If the system wouldn't be able to answer the question with a yes or no, wouldn't that mean it didn't know either? That wasn't exactly reassuring. He thought the system would know everything about what was happening since they we
When she put it like that, Donald felt like a fool. It would have been nice if she had said it more nicely, but it really looked like the system had made him out to be a fool. Why had the system betrayed him like this? Wasn't it supposed to be on his side? What was the point of trying to trick him into thinking it was fine to ask questions when it wasn't?[The system is not purposely being deceitful. There are rules that have to be followed.]Donald wasn't sure what to think of the message. On one hand, he was kind of glad to know that the system was trying to screw him over. On the other hand, it didn't really change anything. He still couldn't ask questions, as he wouldn't be able to get an answer. Nicole cleared her throat, reminding him that he wasn't alone and couldn't brood on his own."Now that we have wasted enough time," she said as she pointedly stared at him. "We should make our move. Before I send a zombie out, we should at least try to assess the situation without getting
Donald waited anxiously to hear what Nicole had to say. He tried not to fidget, but with each passing second, he found himself checking the stairs and entrance. Why hadn't she said anything? Was she still thinking over his idea? All she had to do was say they would go with his idea or that she refused. It was that simple.After what seemed like centuries, Nicole said, "We should set up some traps, but they have to be quiet if we want to avoid drawing the zombies a floor above us."At the reminder, he glanced back at the stairs and grimaced. He had sort of accounted for them in his plan, but not really. His plan also relied heavily on the idea that the other zombies wouldn't notice what they were doing. Donald didn't think the zombies coming inside would be loud, but it was a dangerous assumption to make and would need to be handled properly."Should we