Chapter Four: The colonised restaurant

As they turned onto Bengals street, the restaurant came into view. The peace Haven Restaurant was a large, fortified building with sealed off windows. But what caught Eggsy's attention was the horde of zombies banging against the walls and door, trying to get in.

“Looks like we're not the only ones interested in this place,” Marcus said, eyeing the zombies.

Ava nodded. “We need to clear them out before we can even think of getting inside.”

The group charged into battle, Eggsy's twin blades slicing through the zombies with ease. Jax's cutlass and Ryder's iron poles crushed skulls, while Marcus’ precision shots took out zombies from a distance.

Jane's agility allowed her to dodge zombie attacks with ease, her long wavy hair swinging to the side as she did this. Lena had also killed some, but most of the zombies were killed by Ava, Marcus and Eggsy.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally cleared the horde of zombies.

[Nine Zombies killed]

[+90 Exp received]

[Exp: 230/1999]

[+9 EP]

[Energy: 30/30]

“That was a nice one there.” Jane commented, glancing at Eggsy’s dual swords.

Shifting his gaze from the system, he turned to look at her. “Thanks, and you too. You’re good with those swords, I think I might have to learn some swordsmanship from you.” Eggsy replied, noticing the blue design on Jane’s shortsword.

“Actually, my grandad taught me how to use swords, he kept on rumbling about a dream he had some months back, and how it would be beneficial for my survival. I didn’t count his words valid at that time, but now I’m starting to realise that his dream was actually real.” Jane replied.

“So where is he now?” Eggsy asked before their discussion was interrupted by Ryder.

“Can we get on with what we’re here for.” Ryder said, a hint of jealousy was felt in his words.

“Come on, Ryder. We’re just talking.” Jane snarled, pushing Ryder away.

Ava knocked on the restaurant door, hoping someone would answer. At first there wasn’t any reply, but they could sense the movements of people inside.

“Will they open up?” Marcus asked, knocking the door again.

But instead of a welcoming voice, a harsh shout came through a speaker installed outside the restaurant.

“Stay away! We don’t take strangers here! You’ll only bring trouble!”

Eggsy frowned. “Well, it’s just as I said. They don’t take in visitors. I guess the ones that came before us must have turned into those zombie we killed.

Ava shrugged. “We had no idea, and they’re zombies after all. If we don’t kill them, they turn us into one of them.”

“Now what do we do? There’s no hope we’ll find anywhere else with food and supplies. If they’re not letting us in, we should find a way to get inside there and get on with whatever we need.” Ryder said, striking his iron rods against each other.

Just then, Eggsy's System notifications flashed.

[Secret Entrance Detected: Located at the back of the restaurant, hidden behind a dumpster]

[Caution: Unknown traps or security measures may be present. Be careful!]

Seeing this, Eggsy had decided to inform the whole group, but he was doing it in a way none of them would act suspicious of him.

“Guys, I think there might be an entrance at the back of the restaurant. You know, the workers would want to dispose stuffs and trash, they couldn’t be passing the main entrance. We should be able to enter through the back door.” He said.

“Looks like we have an alternative,” Marcus said, a sly grin spreading across his face.

“This is a bad idea. What if the door is also locked?” Lena raised an eyebrow, while trying to disrupt the group again.

“Then we’ll break it, Lena.” Ava’s expression turned resolute. “We need food and shelter, this is our best chance.”

Jax nodded. “Damn, I can’t wait to have one of those burgers in my mouth.” He said as he walked along with the group.

The group had started moving as they headed to the back of the restaurant.

As they got there, they found three dumpsters which have been used to block the entrance. It was filled with a lot of garbages and trash, making it hard for one person to carry.

Luckily, Eggsy wasn’t alone. The others had joined in as they dragged all three dumpsters out of the way, and a metal roll-up door was revealed. It was pulled upwards, giving everyone space to pass through.

“Looks like we're going in,” Marcus said, drawing his gun.

Ava nodded. “Stay alert everyone. We don't know what dangers may be lurking inside.”

The group entered the secret entrance, finding themselves in a narrow corridor. The air was fusty with an unpleasant odour, and the walls were covered in dust.

As they moved deeper into the corridor, Eggsy started noticing something strange. Not only him, but the others could notice the stain of blood on the walls and ground, and it seemed to go down the corridor like a person was being dragged.

At that moment, Eggsy had received a notification from the system.

[Warning! Approaching danger. Heavy zombie activity in the kitchen area]

“Guys.” Eggsy whispered, so his voice won’t gain the attention of the zombies. “We have some undead company in the kitchen.”

Ava nodded. “Let's get moving. We’ll deal with it.”

The group proceeded with caution, as they eventually reached the entrance into the kitchen place. The group of zombies had turned their gaze towards them as they lunged at them.

Immediately, everyone had gotten into action as they slew each and every one of the zombies, dispatching them as fast as they could.

“Phew, that wasn’t so bad.” Jane said.

From the zombies he killed now, Eggsy had received a total of 70 Exp, meaning he killed seven zombies.

[Exp: 300/1999]

[+7 Energy points]

[Energy: 37]

[Congratulations you have completed today’s Daily Quest!]

[Kill twenty Zombies]

[Reward: 50 Exp]

[Exp: 350/1999]

Eggsy was so excited at this news, sooner or later he’ll level up and become stronger than this. However, his attention was carried away when a certain person called out for them.

“Guys, check this out.” Jax said as he noticed a well-stocked storage room filled with medical supplies, and ammunition. However, there wasn’t any food in it.

“Well, I guess we’re going in then.” Ava said.

The supplies have been gathered into the bags of each members, even Eggsy have been given a bag to pack some of the supplies into, incase a situation arises where they had to split.

While they thought they were done with the Zombies, numerous amounts of footsteps could be heard running down the stairs, they could even hear as some of them rolled down the stairs. They were even trampled on by the others.

[Zombie Horde Incoming: Kitchen area, second floor!]

Eggsy didn’t even need the system to tell him, they could already see the horde of zombies.

“Get ready,” Marcus whispered, readying his gun.

A wave of zombies burst into the kitchen, and the group fought to hold their ground. Eggsy's blades sliced through the zombies, while Jane's agility allowed her to dodge attacks as she sliced off their arms and feet before cutting off their heads.

Each member had dealt incredibly with the zombies with none sustaining any bite mark or injury. This went on for a while until all the zombies have been eventually killed.

After clearing the zombies, they immediately went towards the door, but it seemed to have been locked from behind. And just as they were about to give up, Marcus had thought of an idea.

“Move over.” He said as he pointed his gun towards the door and a loud bang was heard, destroying the handle.

Soon, the door had swung widely open, revealing the full view of the restaurant with tables and chairs occupying the place.

“It looks… empty.” Ryder noticed.

“Be careful guys, the voice we heard from before must be somewhere around.” Ava warned before stepping in.

The group readied themselves, unsure of what to expect.

Marcus had followed after with his gun pointed towards the left and right, trying to spot anyone. Once it was clear, he signalled for the rest to come inside.

The place also had a second floor, so Lena had decided to check it out. She had done so without informing anyone.

The group looked around the place, there wasn’t any sign of anyone. But just as they were about to check the second floor, the sound of footsteps was heard and a Male voice could be seen walking down the stairs with a gun pointed at Lena’s head.

“Lena!” Jax called out as he saw her.

“Everyone, put your weapons down!” The man shouted, he was a fat pot-bellied man wearing a pair of round glasses.

They all recognised the voice, it was the same voice that had spoken through the speaker outside the restaurant.

As the man proceeded down the stairs, a group of fifteen people had appeared around them, all armed to the teeth. They consists of only ladies, and they all seem to be a worker at that restaurant. While the man was the restaurant manager, Hank Goonwit.

As the group were surrounded by the workers, each holding a gun in their hands. Hank had repeated his words with a scowl, his grip tightened on the gun as he sneered at the group of intruders.

“Do you want her dead? Get on your knees and toss your weapons away!” he barked.

The group hesitated, but the manager's gun and the outnumbered situation forced them to comply. Eggsy, Ava, and the others knelt, dropping their weapons.

The manager's team moved in, binding their hands with ropes and they were dragged into different rooms, as well as Lena.

However, Eggsy had found himself in the same room as Ava, the two of them suspected to be the strongest among the group, so they had kept them in a different room from the others.

After they had been tied to a chair each, the manager had came in to see them. A dirty smirk appeared on his face as he glared at Eggsy, but as his gaze fell on Ava, he smiled and licked his lips.

“At least these bunch have a lot of girls, compared to the previous ones.” He said laughing as he turned to look at the two female workers standing close to him. But what Ava did notice was the fearful look on the faces of the girls which was quite odd.

“I guess you two must the leaders, considering how you fought those zombies out there. Well, I’ll be interrogating you guys later, I’ve got some cooking to do. Have fun being tied up.” Hank laughed hysterically as he exited the room, while giving orders to the ladies to lock the room and the other room where the others were taken to.

The manager left, locking the door behind. While Eggsy and Ava were left alone, tied and helpless with no way of escape.

Ava shot Eggsy a worried glance. “What do we do now?” she whispered, hoping for a suggestion from him.

Eggsy went silent as he thought of what to do. “Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out.“ he said as he clicked a specific option on the system using his mind.

[-2 Energy points]

[Energy: 35]

[Tactical Analysis Skill has been activated]