SPACE SYSTEM IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC WORLD

CHAPTER 2

Akim's p.o.v

I continued to stare at the system panel in front of me with an awe look on my face, wondering what all these meant.

"Did I get reincarnated as a zombie slayer?" I laughed;

I had just gotten an ability that could manipulate space instead of turning into a zombie. I touched the scratch on my head and winced, "is this different from a bite? Do scratches not turn one into a zombie " I thought, remembering the logic of every zombie movie I had ever seen.“… how’s all these things happening to me, is there some kind of condition I passed? " Still thinking about the possibility of the system, was I the only one? Are there others that gain abilities? Do the zombies have abilities too?.

"Arghhhhh," I shouted, scratching my head. "This is all so overwhelming."

I started remembering all that happened that day, from the accident on the road to meeting my fiancee's affair, which made my heart ache as my mind started replaying the whole scene of her infidelity and how I could only stand and watch. I didn't know when tears started to roll down my face as I cleaned it up, thinking of how I was going to make Marcel my best man; how could he do that to me?." I wonder if--"

Ahhhhhhhhh!" Hearing a woman's scream, I jolted up on my feet and immediately remembered the predicament that I was in; I hurriedly stood up and ran to my study. Not wasting any more time I began to open up a secret compartment just beside the selves that had some of my first aid and emergency tools, which I used some time to clean my injury quickly and bandage it up but after that, soon I fitted most of the equipment into my spare military aid arm bag I always kept in here. However, the moment I rose and picked up my bag, I heard banging on the door and also some growling following it.

“Damn it, they’re here!” I panicked and immediately headed towards one of the nearby shelves and began to push it out of the way until a certain passage was now opened. This passage led to a secret pathway towards the apartment’s general parking lot, and without wasting any more time, I went through the entrance and pulled back the shelves to block this entrance to the passage, and just before I could close it the door to the room busted open and in came the zombies. I saw this and immediately sealed off the entrance while suddenly sprinting towards the parking lot, though upon reaching it, I saw the packing lot security man, who seemed to have already been turned into a zombie and had now noticed my presence. He didn’t waste any time to launch at me, but before he could launch at me, I took my regular defense stance, and just as the man pounced at me, I immediately evaded it by moving to my right side and tried to pull out my spare gun from the bag, then I noticed that it wasn't on in my bag then it came to me that while trying to evade, the bag must have gotten torn by the zombie judging by the hole on it and how my supplies were falling out then I saw my gun on the floor close to it. Before I could even think of anything else, the zombie launched at me, causing me to fall while it was trying to take a bite out of me; as I struggled to get it off, a system notification came in.

[SYSTEM UPDATE]

[THE SYSTEM HAS IDENTIFIED A THREAT TO THE USER]

[THE SYSTEM WOULD LIKE TO ASSIST THE USER]

[USER HAS BEEN GRANTED THE USE OF SPATIAL BLADES]

[DOES THE USER ACCEPT THIS?]

" I ACCEPT " I shouted as I tried to stretch one of my hands to the system screen; something started to materialize on my hand, emanating a blue glow and then turning into a dagger-like thing. Without thinking twice, I slashed at its head and managed to get up.

Taking in what just happened, I looked at my hand and saw a transparent blue blade. "Is this what the system gave m-" I was cut off by the zombie launching at me but this time I was able to dodge early enough and move a bit away from it then I ran towards it with the blade in hand as I stabbed it's head but the blade got stuck in its head then as I dodged one of his next attacks and removed my hand from the blade I had still impaled in his head initially I then thought it placed me at a disadvantage… but to my surprise the moment I let go of the blade, a new one appeared almost instantly materialized, driving me to now slash the security man at his right achilleas heel, inevitably making him fall to his knees.

I stood up and with another blade conjured in my palm, I began to repeatedly stab the zombie on the head multiple times until I finally pushed him to the ground and used my heel to smash his head finish by hitting the lounged blade I had there. I started to breathe heavily as I noticed that the zombie security man was now on the ground, not able to move at all as if he was truly dead, and the blades I stuck to his head and the one in my hand dematerialized.

"I guess they disappear when I don't need them again" I said tiredly "I need to get out of here"

Just before I was about to stand up, I noticed a purplish glow within the scattered brain matter of the zombie, and the moment I picked it up, a sudden bright light erupted at my side and a bright blue transparent box appeared.

[SYSTEM UPDATE]

[USER HAS ELIMINATED THE THREAT]

[USER HAS ACQUIRED THE BOX]

[USER HAS OBTAINED AN ENERGY SOURCE]

[USER CAN USE THE ENERGY SOURCE TO REMOVE RESTRICTIONS]

" Hmmm... Do I need to put the crystal in the box? " As I put the crystal in the box, it shined brightly as the crystal was absorbed almost instantly.

[SYSTEM UPDATE]

[THE ENERGY SOURCE HAS BEEN CONTAINED]

[STORAGE CAPACITY HAS IMPROVED

- STORAGE CONTAINMENT HAS SLIGHTLY INCREASED]

[PROFICIENCY OF SPATIAL BLADES HAVE INCREASED

- SHAPE AND SIZE OF THE SPATIAL BLADE depend ON USER

- SPATIAL BLADES HAVE BECOME SLIGHTLY STRONGER]

[RESTRICTIONS HAVE BEEN SLIGHTLY LIFTED]

[USER CAN NOW ASSESS THE STORAGE CONTAINMENT AND SPATIAL BLADES THROUGH THE BOX]

It seems I get stronger with every zombie I kill and the box is like my personal assistant" I chuckled.

But why does the system need crystals to remove restrictions? And why do I even have restrictions? What is the system? Who created the system? All these types of questions began to flow into my head as I stood up and went about picking up my bag and my supplies that had dropped on the floor I noticed there were a lot of dead bodies in the parking lot, I guess I hadn't taken note while I was fighting.

I picked up my gun, entered my car and started to drive off judging this place wasn't too safe. As I made my way towards the main street, I started to contemplate the reality of the zombie situation, as I thought about my family at this point. ‘since I contacted them on my way to the apartment earlier, just to make sure they were fine… though I can’t be too sure about that and I need to reach them… whose knows what if those zombies have already reached their side, since it’s just 120 miles away from there so I can’t risk anything at this point. My sisters also, though it’s been long since I’ve contacted them, I need to find out if they’re well or not. They’re both currently in college studying mathematics and physics, so I felt they needed to not be disturbed… but in this case, now, I have no choice. I finally made my way to the main suburban street and began to walk through it with my hands in my pockets and on high alert.

“I need to reach my family immediately before it affects them too.”

While walking, I noticed that most of the street was desolate, and so was most of the store. I stopped walking and faced one particular store that was just beside a police station, and I just grinned at the coincidence of meeting these two places at once.

“Well, aren’t I lucky”

I didn’t waste time, I first headed into the police station and immediately headed towards their ammo room, which I saw was still intact, so I gathered the useful ones I could find, a Glock pistol, an Ak-47, and a Heckler & Koch HK416, then I picked up some explosives along with some ammo piercing rounds and stored them inside the box. Having finished up, I ran out and went into the store beside it, breaking through the entrance door glass and successfully opening the door wide open. I saw that it was roughed up, but I still found some good foods I could store. I proceeded to pack most of what I needed, mostly food stuff, since they stay the same as when put inside the storage. After I was done fitting necessary supplies, including food, water, clothing, and weapons into my spacial storage I also got a bag and kept a few stuff inside so as not to draw attention to myself, I began to proceed out of the store… though the moment I came out, I saw that I was now gathered by zombies about four of them, which they all noticed me and began to rush towards me. I didn’t waste any more time and began to move, though I then thought about the crystal from before and how It could help me then I dropped my bag in front of the store. ‘Well, I guess I just need to take out just these four then!’I launched at them, putting my hand inside the box and then bringing out the Glock pistol I shot at the two farthest to me on the head then I kept my other hand inside the box and thought of a short sword,, as I brought my hand out of the box and slashed the face of the closest zombie, a spatial blade the shape of a short sword was in my hand

"Sweet" I chuckled

Having been armed and with the thought of becoming stronger I launched at the zombies shooting and stabbing each of them on the head after doing this repeated only one remained, "You are one tough one aren't you?" I said as it launched at me, causing me to run and slide underneath it, slashing its stomach open; I stood back up and shot its head multiple times till it stopped squirming.

"Whew that was crazy, I guess four was a bit too much for me right now" I said breathing heavily and sitting on the road

"Well one thing is for sure they only die when you destroy their heads disgusting bastards" I crawled towards it to pick up their crystals but I could only get one from the four.

“…hmm seems like only this one has a crystal, so I guess not every zombie has them… alright then, I guess it’s time to move on" I spoke out standing up and placing the Glock pistol back into the storage space then I started at the crystal and kept it inside my pocket. I picked up the bag and continued to make my way down the street, but something didn’t feel right as I noticed some guys following me, about three of them in total, and it seemed that this time they were all humans dressed in a somewhat rugged attire like a hoodlum. I led them into a close-by alley, and just before I was about to go to the other side of the alley, one of them called out to me.

“HEY YOU OVER THERE! WE SAW YOU WHEN YOU ENTERED THE STORE AND KNOW YOU TOOK SOMETHING FROM THERE!” one of the large-sized hoodlums spoke before another one finally said.“Yeah, so you better hand over the bag and maybe we could spare your life Hehe” they all had now came closer to me and seemed to have some weapons with them.