Chapter 17 - Out of my way

"GET OUT OF MY WAY BITCH."

David shoved a zombie aside as he ran for his life. Turning a corner on the streets, he flashed a glance back to see a car being pushed aside by a monstrosity on four legs. Knowing that outrunning the beast was impossible David tried to find a safe place to hide.

He could fight against it but what good it would do when the rest of the pack was already making their way towards him, [Enhanced intuition] was ringing bells all around him and it added to his ever-growing panic.

A crash came from the right prompting him to take a left as David made his way to an apartment. It was a tall gated community with probably more than twelve floors. Of course there was little chance it would stop the monsters but David had an idea.

Crossing the smashed gate David made his way inside a building with a monster hot on his tail. Once inside the lobby, David looked around and found the elevators. There was no power but that didn't matter as David pried apart the doors and closed it just as the monster lunged at him,

"Fuck you! Holy fuck just leave me alone. Fucking whore…"

David cussed at the monster while smashing apart the top of the elevator and dragging himself out of the lift. The elevator doors wouldn't hold the monster for long and would snap like a twig when the monster's friends reached this place.

Summoning the [Eldritch arm], David made the arm's fingers wrap around the elevator's cables and grabbed onto it,

"Ok this should work, go"

The arm zoomed up the cable and took David along with it as it quickly reached the top floor. It pried apart the doors and David got out. A look below revealed that the beast had managed to break the doors and was trying to sniff David out.

Looking at the [Eldritch arm] David sighed,

'Don't fail me buddy.'

The arm was much stronger now than it was back in the village. David could use its floating abilities to stay in the air himself using the arm as a platform. David figured he could use the arm to fly or glide of the building and into the distance shaking of the beasts.

"Really can't you just give up?"

The monster was climbing up the elevator shaft and its companions were following, David stopped hesitating and ran up the stairs connecting and entered the terrace. Standing at the edge of the terrace David looked down at the world below, the city was brought into ruin by a zombie apocalypse.

Judging by the destruction this had been the case for a long time. David wouldn't be surprised if he was the last human in this city.

"Alright, let's do this…"

With these last words David jumped of the building, but instead of falling to his doom David glided off the building using the [Eldritch arm] as a board. The arm slowly carried him to a four storey building nearby, it was big enough to defend and there weren't any of those beasts near it as far as David could see,

'Maybe there will be some food…'

Looking back the monsters were scouring the rooftop in search of David but couldn't find a trace. David soon landed on the rooftop of the building and dismissed the [Eldritch arm]. The arm was strong but staying afloat with David's weight really strained his mind. He could already feel a headache forming cause of the exertion.

There were a few zombies around the building but they wouldn't be a problem. Other than have a more strength then the average human because of their undead status allowing them to feel no pain, zombies otherwise had no other special abilities. Their sense of smell and sight were even worse than when they were human and hence zombies purely relied on hearing to attack living beings.

David suspected though that they might have some unknown sense that allowed them to track human beings. Seeing as there were no immediate threats he went inside the building and found it to be an old office.

A quick search later and David found some vending machines that weren't looted. He emptied all the snacks into the holding bag and continued searching for something useful. After finding nothing else of importance David sat down on the floor, leaned against wall, and opened a bag of chips.

...…

Mission: Survive the apocalypse

Background: You are a survivor in city Z with no living family or friends. You're on your own in this ruined world.

Mission objective:

Survive for three months.

Rewards:

10000 points

Nightmare Card

Bonus Rewards: [Hidden condition must be met]

Access to mission dimension

...…

The mission was simple with no side objectives to accomplish. All he had to do was survive. David easily killed a couple of zombies and leisurely walked down the street when he came across the monster.

It was a mutated quadruped flesh monster with no sight or auditory organs. Yet it somehow sensed David and roared calling its companions to hunt him down. Its large mouth was outlined with sharp teeth and was quite agile.

With the help of [Spirit Channelling] David managed to keep some distance from the beast and avoid its jaws. The monster didn't tire like David and would have sooner or later caught David had he not come up with the risky plan.

This wasn't one of David's [Dream mission], a [Nightmare mission] posed significantly higher risks. David would have to be more careful while roaming the streets. Resting would have to wait as David wanted to leave the area as soon as possible.

He was currently in the monster pack's territory and he wanted to be as far as possible from them,

'I should get out of here, while the monsters are still near the apartment.'

David glided of the rooftop and landed near the streets. He made his way down to the downtown area while ignoring any zombies in his path. Any noise might attract those monsters or something worse.

Soon he spotted an entrance to the subway which he took. He was in one of the denser areas of the city and the underground might be safer. There were a few zombies here that David cleaned up before heading down the tracks. Through the subway David might be able to travel to a safer region.

There was no power but David's [Spirit Animal], the little monkey lit up the path with its faint blue glow. The [Spirit Animal] would guide its host so David followed the monkey to a safe place. Perhaps he might even meet some survivors thought it was unlikely.

It occurred to David that there were chances the underground might be inhabited by terrifying monsters but so far there was no living thing in sight. No rats or insects or the sound of dripping water. It was eerily silent but the monkey's heart-warming glow drove away David's fears as he travelled further along the tunnels.

After a long walk David eventually came across another station but the monkey after stepping on the platform jumped off and continued through the tunnels. [Enhanced intuition] also gave of a faint warning and so David followed the monkey.

After a few hours of walking David left the underground. Exiting the station David realised he was at the outer edges of the city. There were more homes nearby and less zombies as well. David walked in search of shelter as the sun was going to set soon.

It was common lore that zombies were stronger at night and while that may or may not be true for the zombies here, David didn't want to test it out. David found a small house and settled down on the bed in the upper floor.

David still hadn't found any food other than the junk food from the vending machine. The house seemed to be wiped clean of all the essentials. The owners must have evacuated when the zombie outbreak started. In such low population density locations the people must have had enough time to evacuate.

After locking all the doors and barricading the entrance with furniture David opened a few bags of chips for dinner before sleeping on the bed and calling it a day. Tomorrow he would scavenge for water and food. It was hard sleeping with a parched throat but David didn't trust any of the water sources for now and he didn't spot any bottled water on his way.

It was quite a pleasant night with no madness inducing whispers, except the occasional zombie roar in the distance. The chase and the long walks made David tired enough to sleep in such a dangerous environment.

In the morning David was up and scavenged the house hoping to find something he missed yesterday. When there was no loot David went and ransacked the other houses. Most of the houses were emptied of food and mundane weapons like kitchen knives and pans.

Luckily he found some bottled water in one of the houses which he finished instantly,

'Damn, I should have saved some.'

After clearing out the entire neighbourhood David moved to other areas and wondered if he would ever meet other survivors.

'What a coincidence.'

A group of people were in battle in the distance. David crept his way near them and realized that they weren't fighting with zombies but rather two different groups of humans were duking it out in middle of the streets.

On a closer look David spotted something.

'Is that…'