A Serviceman's Inventory

I spent the remainder of the day arranging the belongings I had on me. Setting things up in the house. I figured since the house was fairly sturdy, and clean, it'd be the best place to set up a base, at least a temporary one.

One of the benefits of the house was the fact that it was raised. With the design of the house being above ground, it gave me a height advantage to look out for any zombies. Another design advantage was the two entrances, both on opposite sides of the building, and each having two front doors, one at the top of the stairs, and one at the bottom.

Admittedly, there wasn't much room in the actual house, however, I couldn't complain when I'd been given a relatively safe place to stay.

The final bonus of this house was the garage down below. The metal garage doors had protected the items inside from nature for ten years, with an old car being stored inside. After looking through the glovebox, I found the car's original manual, giving the name. "Vaz 2101. Huh, a seventies shitbox." It wasn't exactly in driving condition, however, with a bit of scavenging, and repairs, I believed it would be a good vehicle to use in the future.

The time had hit noon, or at least somewhere close to it, judging by the sun. I had spent all my time up till now working out, which left me sweaty. My body aches from the intense workouts I had done, yet there was an odd sense of euphoria that I got from it. I put my clothes back on after wiping off the sweat on my body with a rag, before putting my sheathed blade on my belt.

Today would be a day of death.

I wasn't confident in the safety of the house. Yes, it was a pretty good spot, but it was also in the middle of a small village, meaning that the undead were close. I left my bomber jacket in the house as I exited the building.

It appeared that I would have a busy day, as I had already seen a zombie not too far away from me, maybe thirty feet at least. I unsheathed my blade, holding it in a forward grip as I made my way toward the walking corpse. The growls of the corpse sounded in my ear as I quietly got within a few feet of it. Judging by its clothes, I could tell that it was another person who lived in this town at one point.

Before I could put down the corpse, its head turned toward me, letting out a confused growl before turning fully towards me. I took a good ten steps back before the growl turned to a full nasally roar.

"RAAAH!" It began sprinting at Me, which caught me off guard. Whether due to it being a rotting corpse for a decade, or just because I was decently strong, I managed to push the undead to the side, watching it fall before quickly stepping on it.

I felt the rotted flesh squish under my boot, disgusting me. Without any ounce of hesitation, I brought my knife down on the corpse's head. The knife was so incredibly sharp, that it went through the corpse's skull like butter. It twitched a few times, before finally ceasing its movements.

[Killed Undead. 5 Gold Awarded.]

I dismissed the notification, quickly standing up as I heard the sounds of footsteps. I looked around, seeing two more undead, both letting out the same roar as the first one before charging towards me.

One undead, I could take on with little issue, however, I wasn't confident in my ability to take two on.

I didn't have much of a choice right now, as they both came sprinting at me. The first to reach me was the corpse of a female ina. Traditional trad-wife attire. Like before, I dodged the attack it threw my way, that being an overhead swing, before kicking it onto the floor. With little time left before the other zombified corpse attack, I switched to reverse grip, turning around just in time to nail the corpse right in the forehead, killing it instantly.

[Killed Undead. 5 Gold Awarded.]

I turned back toward the other one. Their attacks were predictable, yet I knew being too confident in killing these things would lead to my death.

One should always have caution after all.

The undead's arm seemed to have dislodged after the kick, barely attached by a couple strings of flesh. Like before, I allowed it to come to me.

Its movements were a lot more sporadic than before, as if the sudden loss of function in its arm had caused it alarm, yet as it attempted to bite me, it was put to rest by the same knife that had ended victims of the same fate it found itself in.

[Killed Undead. 5 Gold Awarded.]

As I looked at the three corpses, the same sense of satisfaction washed over me. I didn't understand why, but every time I killed one of them, it felt right.

I didn't bother to search the bodies. I doubted there would be anything worthwhile on them, and I'd only dirty myself if I did. So, after wiping down the blade, I approached the nearest house.

The door was locked, and the windows boarded. It gave me hope that maybe, just maybe I wasn't alone in this town. I knocked on the doors receiving no response. Perhaps it was empty. Either way, seeing the boons that could be found in this house was certainly worth the effort I was about to exert.

I wanted to break down the door, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was metal. I moved to the boarded windows. Despite the dry rotted wood, it was still in good enough condition that eve when I tried to pull it out, I was unsuccessful. "Fucking ey... What do I do?" I thought about using my knife to pry open the board, but the thought of bending the blade quickly made me reconsider.

[It would appear you are having trouble. Would you like to view the system's Functions?]

That damned screen appeared once again, yet it provided some sense of relief to me. Having no ideas left in my arsenal, I spoke up. "Yes, show me the functions."

[The system provided to you serves to strengthen you, and aid in your survival. There are six main functions of the system.]

In front of me, another window appeared, displaying six words.

[Status]

[Universe]

[Inventory]

[Companions]

[Shop]

[Quests]

[Status, as the name suggests, is the user's statistics. Their name, age, height, race, level, and many more things are recorded in this section of the system. As the user kills more, their level will increase, providing them points they can add to the categories, Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic. Each will strengthen the user in a particular way.]

My status soon popped up infront of me, the first thing I noticed was that I had gone from a Level zero to a level one.

[Name: Theron Kostopoulos]

[Age: 18]

[Height: 6'5]

[Weight: 210 pounds]

[Race: Human]

[Skills: Limitless, Natural Talent, Soldier]

[Buffs: None]

[Debuffs: None]

[Magic(s): Creation, Destruction]

[Level: 1]

[Strength: 5]

[Endurance: 5]

[Dexterity: 5]

[Agility: 0]

[Magic: 0]

[Skill points: 5]

[Gold: 30]

I looked at the "Skill Points," thinking about what I wanted to invest in, before remembering my current predicament.

I placed three points into strength, before placing the remaining two into endurance. I felt a brief coolness rush through my body before quickly disappearing, as I examined my new stats.

"I might just be able to work with this," I said to myself before looking at the remaining five tabs in the main menu of the system.

[Universe is the user's current whereabouts in the ever-expanding multiverse. Once you reach a certain threshold of strength, or meet the quest requirements, you will be given access to other universes, allowing for multiversal Travel.]

It was quite an interesting thing to read about, giving me hope that I might somehow escape this undead nightmare I found myself in.

[Inventory is the user's storage system. It allows for the user to store any and all items they come across without any restrictions.]

A window popped up over the description, showing me my inventory, making me gawk at what was in it.

[Combat Blouse (Cadpat Woodlands)]

[Combat Blouse (Cadpat Arid)]

[Combat Blouse (Cadpat Arctic)]

[Combat Blouse (Cadpat Multi-Terrain)]

[Combat Trousers (Cadpat Woodlands)]

[Combat Trousers (Cadpat Arid)]

[Combat Trousers (Cadpat Arctic)]

[Combat Trousers (Cadpat Multi-Terrain)]

[CAD pack Rucksack (Cadpat Woodlands)]

[Tactical belt (forest green)]

[Pistol Holster (black)]

[Rifle sling]

[CAF Flak Vest (Cadpat Woodlands)]

[Canadian MK4 Gortex Wet Weather Boots]

[CF Green Military Beret]

[CG634 Standard Combat Helmet]

[CG634 Helmet cover (Cadpat Woodlands)]

[CG634 Helmet cover (Cadpat Arid)]

[CG634 Helmet cover (Cadpat Arctic)]

[CG634 Helmet cover ( Cadpat Multi-Terrain)]

[Black Wool Balaclava]

[Black Leather Winter Gloves]

[Standard Issue Gun Cleaning Kit ×2]

[Colt C7A2]

[Sig Sauer P320]

[30rd Mag-C Mag ×10]

[Sig Sauer P320/P250 15 round magazine ×6]

[Boxed 5.56×45 Tracer rounds ×10]

[Boxed 9mm FMJ Rounds ×50]

[SRD9 Titanium pistol suppressor]

[SureFire SOCOM556-RC2 Suppressor]

[Klondike bar]

My gear. All of my gear from before I was brought to this world was in my inventory. My rifle, my uniforms, my pistol, boots, everything I was issued by the Canadian Army was in the inventory, awaiting use.

I was elated. Having all of that present within my inventory was a boon, making me regret not looking at it sooner.

Another realization hit me after the initial excitement wore off.

With this inventory, I wouldn't need to find a backpack, or continue using that makeshift bag. All I needed to do was deposit what I needed into the inventory.

I decided to hold off on the rest of the system introduction, standing up, before grabbing the boards nailed to the window firmly. With a bit of effort, albeit a lot less than last time, I yanked the first board off, setting it down gently onto the cobbled dirt, before doing the same to the other two boards.

With the boards removed, I could finally take a look inside the house, to which I paused.

Laying on the floor was the mummified remains of a woman, bottles of bleach surrounding her. It appeared that she had chosen the easy way out, not that I could blame her, yet the thought of ending myself was something that hadn't entered my mind from the few days I'd been here.

I attempted to slide the window open, but it was locked from the inside. With only one option in sight, I looked around behind me, looking for any undead before grabbing one of the boards on the floor.

With a violent swing, the shattering of the window's glass sounded for anyone in the area to hear. I used the board to break off the sharper shards of glass, getting it smooth enough to get on through.

And so I entered.

The familiar smell of decaying flesh reached my nose as I took a look around the place. Dead fly larvae was spread all around. "Such a terrible way to off yourself," I said as I looked at the empty bleach bottles.

She had most likely choked to death on the chlorine gas produced by the bleach, yet as I looked up, I began to question about whether she had been the one to end herself, or if another person had. A Makarov was placed on the coffee table mere inches away. I picked it up, unloading the magazine to find four bullets in the magazine, a fifth one already chambered.

It wasn't a suicide. There's no way someone would choose such a painful way to die, when the less painful method was right by them.

At least, I hoped no one would.

I inserted the magazine back into the gun, before moving onto what I thought to be the bedroom. As I opened the door, I was left stunned, not even my skill was able to aid in the feelings I felt.

"What the fuck..."