Chapter 17 - The next piece of the Puzzle

Garrett got back safely with many people talking about his new height, his new gear, and the huge sword on his back. But his squad mates knew he probably used a lot of crystals to grow and become more powerful given what they knew of him. Plus they were more than ready to grow like him in this world when their systems unlocked tomorrow.

Garrett promised them all that he would show them how to utilize their gear and stat crystals first thing in the morning. But for now he was ready for a nap and some good food besides the ration bars and MRE packs he had been eating for the last day and a half. With some chuckles he got some food from the kitchen the survivors had set up and he went to meet the General, the Mayor, and the Police chief.

All of them looked serious faced and tense as he entered in. And shocked them all with his build and his taller form. The General seemed to get a weird glint of intrigue in his eyes as he eyed Garretts form but quickly hid it as he sat down with his meal of beef stew and a large soup bread roll for dipping into the sauce. Garrett ate while giving them the details of the time after he stayed back to tackle the horde. All the way up to this morning with the evolution he went through. He kept his thoughts about the summons to himself. No need to get their hopes up for reinforcements until he could actually bring them in.

The General seemed to tense up and get nervous when he got to the part about the alpha though.

"And it was able to talk, was a former commander of the terrorist organization I fought before winding up in this apocalypse, and it seemed to be glowing a weird green all over it body." Garrett finished as he had described the fight to them in detail minus what it said about the master minds behind this apocalypse. He analyzed the General and saw he was afraid and tense at that information.

General Byers cleared his throat at that information and then asked, "And since it could talk, did it say anything strange to you Colonel?"

Garrett had the Generals interest but knew to hide it behind the other information the Alpha said, "It said the zombies in the area was thanks to it and it had enjoyed seeing us try to survive against the hordes of former humans he turned. The Alpha also knew how to use weapons and used some heavy assault weapons against me.It was a close battle."

The General seemed to deflate a bit out of relief after hearing that but Garrett would remember how the General reacted.

He decided to finish up the meeting and went to bed. His squad were ready to train with him in the morning. And according to them their supplies will last them another month or so given how they had gotten another 30 survivors while Garrett was gone.

He nods in happiness knowing their camp was growing well.

They now had 30 children, 13 elderly, 67 adults. And of those adults there were 25 volunteers to join the 15 defenders in protecting their growing home.

Garrett went to bed with a plan for raiding more survival stores and maybe a gun store or two for the training materials and ammo needed for helping train those volunteers.

But that's neither here nor there. He goes to bed happy to be sleeping in a cot with proper bedding. Instead of random couches and chairs in stores while he is blacked out from evolving.

He falls asleep at 9pm and wakes up fully refreshed only 5 hours later. Looks like his body's current constitution is suited for efficiency more than the advanced human version.

Well he won't look a gift horse in the mouth. He heads to the gym in the City Hall they set up for training in when he noticed something.

As he goes there he sees the system message saying, Tutorial week is over! All points earned form zombie and living people kills are now doubled! Store is updated with more items to purchase and look through! Happy shopping players!

Garrett smirks at this and begins to look through the store while heading to the make shift gym. However out of the corner of his eye something moved. He quickly looked over and noticed a strange sight.

He saw someone walking towards the survivor sleeping area with a heavy backpack.

Now that normally wouldn't be an issue. After all some soldiers are given access to the supplies when the survivors need blankets, medicine and such. But a whole heavy duty military back pack?

That causes some alarm bells to go off in Garretts head.

He rushes towards the figure and sees them about to throw the pack into the sleeping area of the survivors where the families slept and managed to grab the pack out of the air.

The person throwing it runs off as they pull out a switch.

Garrett gasps and throws the pack through the glass window nearby and grabs a heavy duty triple layered mahogany table from nearby to plug the window hole. He just barely makes it in time as the back pack goes off and explodes with a loud, Bakabooooooommm!!!

Everyone in the sleeping area screams and wakes up from that and the children begin to cry. Garrett's quick thinking saved them. And while the table is now wrecked, Garrett himself only suffered first degree burns. Until he notices a weird stinging sensation in his arm. He looks down to see shrapnel shards coated in a sickly green glowing goo. He hisses in pain and worry as the full brunt of the shards in his arm hit him. They look like ruined pieces of metal from support beams. Pulling them out isn't hard. It's the fact that the green glow seems to be seeping into his arm that is worrying him the most.

He manages to pull them all out and grabs a spare shirt that was laying out in the sleeping area to cover up his wound and the infection. He had an intruder to grab.

He looks back and sighs in relief to see everyone okay. But then rushes down the corridor the stranger ran down. Not noticing his new green wound... is now seeping and disappearing with a light blue glow instead before it disappears fully.

He manages to catch up to the. Right as he sees them shoot down the three guards at the door. The three soldiers he met when he first came to City Hall.

All of the shots were kill shots right through the face.

Garrett sees red as he comes up and punches the back of the individual who was causing all this havoc.

The strangers pure black outfit flutters as Garrett hears a loud crack come from it. And he notices the person was wearing high grade level 4 combat armor that was slightly better than riot SWAT armor. It saved the life of this person as Garrett pulls his pistol out ready to shoot the man under it.

Their helmet flies off from the punch as they skid across the ground and stop 25ft away.

His squad mates come over too and the remaining defenders surround the intruder.

Only for them all gasp as they see General Byers there. Seething with a green tint to his eyes. His veins are also pulsating with the same green glow as he growls a bit as he stares at them all. His pistol out and a sawed off shotgun at the ready. The Defenders slowly encircle him while Garrett asks one simple question, "Why?"

The General snarls as his teeth seem to elongate, but he smiles wickedly at them all, "Well with the tutorial week over. My system told me that all points I could get from kills of zombies went up to 20. But kills I get from hunting down people if I gave into my desires go up to 1,000 points per kill! So with over 110 living people here... well let's just say I was ready for a points spree."

The people surrounding the general were all horrified at this news and Hicks said to him while leveling his rifle to go between the generals eyes, "So you were ready to turn into a zombie and kill us all?! Just so you could buy things from the shop?!"

The General grins to himself as he holds up his arm and a bracelet shines from it. He grins as he goes, "I was already heading there. How do you think my battalion of 150 men failed to eradicate the zombies here? And who do you think gave the order for them all to have coincidentally have had the experimental super soldier pill? Turning so many of them into Variants and Mutants? And how do you think I was able to purchase this bracelet of advanced Disguise magic? It works wonders for hiding my half undead state from you all for the last few days! And for giving me this wonderful super shotgun from the Doom universe!"

The people were shocked to say the least. But Garrett was actually seething and silent with rage. He glared at the shotgun and the bracelet knowing each item costs thousands of points in the shop. And the fact that he used his own mens lives to purchase them? Well that just leaves a poor taste in his mouth. "So sir... You gave up the right and duty to defend the weak, to protect our country, and betray civilians and your own mens trust for what? Power? Survival? Give me some reason!"

The General smiled evilly and said, "Immortality. You see Colonel, in this Alpha form I am turnign into... I gain a certain something. Alphas are self sustaining and don't age. Heck they even regenerate! I could do without the craving fro living tissue. But eh. Just like a vampire... you can't have it all. I will tell you this though... I do so love the fact that you have evolved."

Garrett goes pale at how the General knew that already.

Everyone looks between the two titans as they fight verbally. "You see it was easy to tell. You are bigger, stronger, and healthier than when you left. And my system is telling me that killing you is worth... Around 25k points? So I am Reaaaalllly motivated to axe you off before you become an issue for my future plans. And for the plans of the council who set this in motion with the tasty bribes they used in the UN? Well... We are all really looking forward to ruling this world once we get to that level of power."

Garrett flexed his arms and readies his twin pistols and goes, "Too bad you won't be getting out of here alive. I am going to stop you and learn about who else has become Alphas. So be ready... I am ending you here General."

The General glances left and right before smiling evilly and saying, "With all these point sacks around? Might as well get my points spree started with you all!"

He leaps up and levels his super shotgun at Garrett and lets the first shot fly.

Current stats of Garret Grimsborne (Super Human):

Str- 319

Agi- 300

Sta- 285

Int- 253

Sense- 255

Store points - 276,200

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