Spatial Manipulation System

Chapter 2 - Awakening

[Name: David Sawyer]

[Species: Hybrid]

[Status: Awakened]

[Level: 1 (Exp: 20/100 ] 

[Rank: - ]

[Health: 89/100]

[Stamina: 70/100(evolving)]

[Strength: 7 ]

[Endurance: 9 ]

[Dexterity: 4 ]

[Speed: 6 ]

[Available Stat Points: 5]

[Abilities: Spatial Manipulation]

[Skills: Spatial Blades(Lvl 0), Storage space(3 cubic meters)]

It took Dave a few minutes to understand the status window that appeared in front of him. But before he could think more about it, he noticed the greenish color under his wound had stopped expanding. 

He continued to observe it for a while but while it was no longer expanding, it didn't disappear either.

The loud shriek came again, this time followed by a horrified scream. The scream was short-lived, though; the abrupt ending made Dave's heart sink. 

Holding the rod tightly in his hand, he inched slowly towards the door, crouching a little as he got closer. 

Now hiding by the corner of the door, he could hear clumsy footsteps like someone was dragging their feet. 

Glancing at the short rod in his hand and thinking about his infected wound, his heart started to race. 

“I need a better weapon,” he thought and started looking frantically around the room when he suddenly remembered something from the status window. 

Spatial Blades!

As soon as the thought formed in his mind, he felt a powerful feeling overtake him and an unstable energy gathering in his hands. Feeling alarmed, he stretched out his hand, and a blueish line extended from it towards the sofa like a boomerang. 

The line vanished as quickly as it disappeared leaving Dave stunned. 

“What was that?” He wondered, staring at the sofa closely. Suddenly his pupils shrunk as he noticed something. A thin line on the sofa extending through it. 

Before he could think more about it, a pale face appeared at the doorway staring straight at him. 

Reflexively, he reached out his hand again sending a spatial blade at the pale head. 

The blue light flashed as the zombie leaped at him at the same time. Leaping backward, Dave swung his rod forcefully at an object flying at him, sending it spiraling backward toward the wall. 

Taking a deep breath, Dave observed the zombie warily. Its head was sliced clean off! His eyes trailed towards the object he hit, as expected, it was the zombie's head. Below the wall, black-colored blood mixed with yellowish goo flowed out of the neck stump. 

Smiling to himself, Dave felt a little bit more confident in himself. He didn't know what was going on with the world and was starting to feel impatient. 

He ignored the system message in his vision and rushed back to his room. He quickly picked up a backpack and started filling it up with supplies from the kitchen. Everything was paid for with his money, after all, so he felt no guilt leaving the house bare. 

The bag soon got full and he zipped it and picked it up. 

“This is heavier than I thought it would be” he paused and muttered to himself.

“F*ck, I'm such an idiot” he suddenly cursed, hitting his forehead with his palm. 

He picked up the back bag and just as he willed to store it, the bag disappeared. Closing his eyes, he viewed the storage space, and sure enough, the bag was in there. Taking in a deep breath, he hurried to the fridge and started packing more things with him. 

Very soon, he looked around the kitchen feeling satisfied. The dishes and utensils were all gone; he took all the groceries and cleaning supplies. Fortunately, it wasn't a lot since they never really stocked the house. 

His storage space was now full, so Dave hurried out back into the living room; as he grabbed the rod from the table where he left it, he noticed a shining crystal on the broken head of the zombie by the wall. Walking towards it, he picked it up to examine it. 

[Discovered Rank 1 Zombie Crystal, Absorb?]

“Yes,” he replied out loud.

[Storage +0.5 cubic meters]

[SP: +5]

“I can increase the storage space” he muttered to himself, his eyes widening at this realization. 

Hesitating no more, he hurried out of the apartment and into the corridor. He could hear screams of some of his neighbors and shrieks of more zombies but it was random and spread out. 

“Things aren't so bad yet” he realized. Glancing between the elevator and the stairway, he pressed the button for the elevator a moment later. 

“Zombies wouldn't know how to use this,” he thought as the elevator door opened and he got in.

As the elevator descended, he had some more time to think and his mind inevitably drifted to the betrayal of his girlfriend and best friend. He felt angry, but more than that was the pain; as he sighed, he felt the elevator come to a stop as the door opened.

A young man with blood splashed all over his face rushed into the elevator and as the door closed, a loud voice called out from the end of the corridor. 

“Hold it! Hold it, please!” They begged, their tone urgent and desperate. 

Dave glanced through the closing doors to see a red-haired woman running towards the elevator, and behind her, three zombies chased. He squinted and glanced quizzically at the man who entered first and was now trembling in a corner. 

He was sure he had seen them together before, the redhead was his wife! The man's wedding ring was clearly visible in his trembling hands as he held them close to his face where he squatted.

Feeling a bit apprehensive, he swung his hand forward, and a spatial blade flew out, passing through the side of the woman; it cut into the abdomen of a zombie beside her, cutting deep in but was unable to cut through. 

Just as he readied to swing another blade, a wave of exhaustion washed over him and he felt dizzy. 

For the first time, his status window appeared without his prompt and his eyes fixed on the glowing red stamina bar. 

[Name: David Sawyer]

[Species: Hybrid]

[Status: Awakened]

[Level: 1 (Exp: 40/100 ] 

[Rank: - ]

[Health: 89/100]

[Stamina: 10/100(evolving)]

[Strength: 7 ]

[Endurance: 9 ]

[Dexterity: 4 ]

[Speed: 6 ]

[Available Stat Points: 10]

[Abilities: Spatial Manipulation]

[Skills: Spatial Blades(Lvl 0), Storage space(3.5 cubic meters)]

It didn't take him long to realize what happened. The spatial blades cost stamina to cast and he just ran out. He wondered what would happen if his stamina dropped to zero but he wasn't about to test it. 

Putting his hand through the elevator doors to stop them from closing, he called out loudly.

“Sprint, they are too close behind you” 

The woman heard his words and stumbled, she was about to look back when Dave shouted again.

“Don't look back, it's right behind you!” 

“Oh God” she shouted in horror and suddenly dashed forward. It was unknown where she got the strength of the speed, but she sprinted through the corridor so fast that the zombies behind her couldn't follow. 

Entering the elevator, she collapsed on the floor as Dave stood anxiously at the door watching the approaching zombies.

He noticed something off at this moment. The zombies that attacked him in his apartment moved slowly but these ones could run. Squinting his eyes, he watched as one at the front reached the elevator and took a long leap. Fortunately, the doors closed just in time and the elevator continued its descent. 

Taking out an energy drink from his storage space, Dave gulped it down quickly and checked his status.

[Stamina +50(1:23:57)]

As expected, he got some stamina from it but it seemed there was a timer. He took out another energy drink and was about to gulp it down when a hand stopped him.

“Two plus the adrenaline from running from zombies can kill you” the redhead woman warned.

Dave considered for a moment and obediently put away the drink.

“Thank you for saving me. I'm Hei Yu.” The woman reached out for a handshake, which he accepted. 

“Have you seen what's happening out there?” Hei Yu asked and Dave shook his head with a sigh.

“There's chaos everywhere. There's not many of those monsters like you see in movies but there is enough to kill everybody”

Dave thought back to his infected injury and shook his head. It was only a matter of time before they infected more people and there would be enough to wipe out the planet. 

“We need to get away from populated areas,” Hei Yu continued.

“We?” Dave asked. 

“I see you have some abilities, we can only rely on you. We can help you with some inconveniences. Like driving or lookout at night or some other menial tasks.”

Dave paused and gave the woman a once-over. She seemed very astute. He looked towards her husband, shivering in the corner, and a sigh escaped his lips.

“I know a place” he replied just as the elevator started to open.

The lobby was eerily quiet as they stepped out of the elevator. Blood stains marked the wall by the staircase causing Dave to grimace. He stood in front of the elevator for a while, scanning around warily. 

Part of him wondered if Clarissa and Allan managed to escape the building but he wasn't thrilled about finding them. 

“Let's leave. More people will soon rush in here,” Hei Yu warned, and Dave nodded. They both glanced back at Hei Yu’s husband who trembled behind them without saying a word. 

“Stay behind us, Peter,” Hei Yu warned, and the man nodded rapidly. She sighed and turned to Dave who stared ahead as if he couldn't see them. 

Through the glass doors of the lobby, they could see pandemonium outside. 

“Alright, stay close and stay behind me,” Dave warned, and they inched cautiously towards the entrance. Dave slowly pushed the door open and they all rushed out.

“Parking lot, I have my keys with me,” Hei Ying urged, following behind Dave, who swiftly changed direction. 

They hurriedly crossed the streets, trying to avoid the attention of other people running around, and reached the quiet parking lot only a block away. 

It was quieter here and they could already see some zombies roaming around. 

“They all look like Rank 1s; get the car; I'll attract as much attention as possible,” Dave instructed. 

Hei Yu hesitated for a while before rushing ahead.

Watching her go with her husband Peter behind her, Dave followed behind cautiously. 

Sure enough, their movement soon attracted the attention of the zombies as they dragged themselves animatedly towards the trio. 

Taking advantage of them being scattered about, Dave rushed forward and attacked the closest zombie with a sharp swing at the zombie's head. 

The zombie raised its hand and swiped at him but Dave was quick to jump back. 

“Okay, they swipe really quickly,” he muttered to himself before rushing forward again; he kicked at the zombie's knee, forcing it to collapse on one knee, then pierced forward with the rod right through its eye. 

As he retracted his rod, a crystal revealed itself and he quickly grabbed and absorbed it without reading the system message. 

He hurried forward and attacked another zombie who had gotten close to Hei Yu and her husband. 

Attacking from behind, he swung hard at the zombie's head, knocking it down instantly. But it wasn't dead yet as it quickly tried to rise but Save rushed forward and stabbed into its head forcefully. 

Unfortunately, this time, the rod didn't go through, and he got his arm grabbed by the zombie. 

Left with no choice, his hands glowed a quick flash of blue light as a spatial blade shot forward from close range severing the zombie's head in two.

Quickly picking up the crystal, Dave rolled around avoiding a claw swipe from behind. He picked up a brick from the ground and smashed sharply at the ambushing zombie as its hand retreated. The zombie's head cracked audibly and Dave followed up with a smash with his rod. 

“Hurry, get in” he heard a voice and turned around to see Hei Yu standing by the door of an SUV. Her husband had already gotten into the backseat. 

He quickly collected the two crystals from the zombies he just killed and rushed towards the black SUV. As he ran around the car, Hei Yu entered and started the engine and as soon as he got in, she drove off. 

Breathing hard and in a daze from his earlier actions, Dave stared straight ahead, his mind blank.

He had gotten in a lot of combat training during team building events and was even an ace of his friends at the office but not once in his life did he ever think he would need those skills. 

Earlier in the fight with the zombies, he felt adrenaline and instinct take over all of his actions.

He took in a long deep breath and allowed his mind to slowly settle as he absorbed the two crystals he just got. 

“Status,” he called in his mind, and a window opened. 

[Name: David Sawyer]

[Species: Hybrid]

[Status: Awakened]

[Level: 2 (Exp: 0/200 ] 

[Rank: - ]

[Health: 100/100]

[Stamina: 100/100(evolving. . .)]

[Strength: 7 +5 ]

[Endurance: 9 +5 ]

[Dexterity: 4 +5 ]

[Speed: 6 +5 ]

[Available Stat Points: 25]

[Abilities: Spatial Manipulation]

[Skills: Spatial Blades(Lvl 0), Storage space(5 cubic meters)]

Right as the window opened, he felt a warmth flow all over his body and his rapidly beating heart slowly calmed. He reached for the backpack behind him, pretending to take out something he took out a chocolate bar from his storage space. 

He cleverly masked his blank stare by slowly eating from the bar as he considered what just happened. He leveled up and his health and stamina bars reset. Plus he gained 5 overall stats but no free attribute points.

It was still an amazing growth regardless and he could still feel his body slowly improving. It seemed the stat growth was gradual instead of instant. 

“Soon, these streets will be teeming with zombies, and no one can get in those shops anymore.” 

Hei Yu commented beside him and Dave snapped out of his thoughts. 

“Can I see your phone?” He asked as he noticed an older couple loading items from a store into their pickup truck. 

“Hold on”

Accepting the phone, Dave quickly dialed his Mom's number from memory.

The call was answered quickly and an anxious voice came through.

“David is that you?”

“Hey, Mom, it's me. Are you and Dad okay?” Dave replied putting a hand over his mouth as his tensed expression fell. 

“We were trying to reach you, but no one was answering the phone; I was worried sick. Your Dad was about to drive down there. What's going on?” 

Dave could hear her quivering voice even as she screamed at him. 

“I'm sorry, Ma, I left my phone at the apartment. I'm okay, you don't need to come out here. Have you heard from Jessie and Ruth?” 

“Yes, I just got off the phone with them. They were in class when it started, apparently, Campus Security is keeping them safe” 

Dave considered for a moment before shaking his head. The campus was certainly not a very safe place to be. They would be okay for a few days, but when supplies start to run low, that's when the real problem would start. 

“Okay, just stay home with Dad, and I'll come to you, okay?” 

“You have to tell your Dad that. He keeps going on about not having enough supplies” 

“Okay, give Dad the phone” 

“Hey David, can you make it over here” Dave heard his father's gruff voice only a moment later. 

“Yes, yes Dad, I'm driving over with some friends. Just stay indoors okay, I'll bring as many supplies as this truck can carry”

“Remember, canned foods, antibiotics, weapons” 

“I got it, Dad. Just don't go anywhere, okay?”

Dave saw a grocery shop in front and gestured for Hei Yu to pull over in front of it. 

“No, no, no, Hei Yu, keep going, don't stop.” Behind her, Peter, her husband, suddenly started to speak, but both Dave and Hei Yu ignored him. 

“I'll stay here with her car,” Hei Yu suggested, and Dave simply nodded before rushing off towards the store. 

Grabbing a brick from the ground, he smashed the glass door and reached in to open it from the inside. 

Once in, he grabbed a few duffle bags and started loading supplies into them while at the same time subtly loading his storage space with as much as he could.

It didn't take him long to fill up the two duffle bags, his storage space, and his backpack. 

Rushing out, he headed right for the car when three figures suddenly appeared in front of him, obstructing his way. 

“Shit,” Dave cursed as he noticed Peter on the ground, all bloodied, and Hei Yu tied up by the car as she cried and struggled with her binds.