Traveling And Growing

The zombie was five feet away from me. BANG.

The zombie fell limply to the ground at my feet with a gaping hole in its head. I glanced over to where the shot had been fired. Zane gave me a sloppy salute from the top side of the bridge. He held an AK in his hand. 

I began to roll away from the zombie as quickly as possible. I did not get far before it exploded. ZZZZZTT.

I felt large rocks hail down upon me as I protected myself with my hands. Thankfully, as I opened my eyes, I found that the worst injury that the explosion had given me were just bruises from the rocks. 

I stood up and I began to consume the stones. There were 16 of them and so I consumed 15. I wanted to leave the last stone for my brother because it was his. He had earned it. 

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You have consumed 15 Mana stones and have gained 75 Mana! 

Travis Scott: Level 11. Formation tier Awakener.

SYSTEM → [Input Command/Open Store]

Vitality → 100 // Strength → 100 // Agility → 100 // Stamina → 100 // Mana → 131

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I was curious about something, so I tapped the Input Command button. 

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[Input: Why did the beam of light get shot down on this planet?]

[Response: To bring an Apocalypse down upon your world. The One True Creator has graced you all with an opportunity. After all, the word Apocalypse means to reveal that which has been hidden to you. That is, Mana.]

[Input: Who are these gods? Will they stop meddling now or will they continue to change things?]

[Response: They were once mortals like you. Mana allowed them to become gods. There is just one god who is meddling with your planet though. His name is Zanoth, and he is the god of Anger. However, the other gods are watching and they are only able to give you things, but they cannot come to this planet as Zanoth can and already has. I will not tell you the other gods' names because they have not tampered with your world yet as Zanoth has.]

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'So, there are gods who want to ruin the world. This sounds like it is going to be a lot of fun.'

I closed my window and then turned to the bridge. My brother was still there and he was keeping an eye out for Zombies. We had killed all of them, but others might have heard the explosions. 

'Man, there were a lot of Zombies here after everything started, like thousands. They must have been so busy tearing things up and eating eachother.'

I shook my head and took four running steps. Then, I jumped all the way back onto the bridge. The others were there too, further down the bridge. They all gave me thumbs up.

I turned to Zane and I gave him the chunky green, but incredibly clear, stone. He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, that's nice."

It disappeared in a flash and I felt the Mana within him strengthen greatly. 

"Let's get back into the car and drive further down the road. We should try to kill as many Zombies as we can these next two days."

"Let's do it!"

As we walked back across the partially ruined bridge to the others, Tessa walked and met in the middle. "Yo Travis, what's the plan now?"

"We're gonna drive down the highway towards Dallas. We are going to spend the rest of the day killing Zombies. I will give you all some stones the next time we run into Zombies so that we can all put in work."

She nodded a few times. "Alright, alright, I'll be following behind you. Don't flip over or do some crazy shit because I'm gonna be hugging your ass."

I smiled. "Oh that's sexy."

She pursed her lips. "Isn't it?"

She turned around and walked away. I glanced over at Zane. "Let's get Jett and find a few more Zombies that are keen on giving us their stones."

"Sounds good."

We piled into my truck and I started it. As we drove down the exit ramp, Tessa followed behind us in her minivan. As she promised, she drove right behind us, to the point where she would rear end me if I ended up breaking too hard. 

'Was she trying to flirt with me or something? That's crazy.'

It took us about five minutes, weaving between destroyed cars, to find more Zombies on the road. There were about twenty of them up ahead and two were fighting each other. The others simply stared at the two fighting as if for entertainment. They did not see us, maybe because they were so fixated on the fight.

I held my fist out the window and I slowed to a stop. I wanted to watch the two Zombies fight. Their behavior was a little too strange. 

The two Zombies circled each other, but something was strange. I could sense Mana from them. I was not able to do that with other Zombies; only awakened. Suddenly, a green light grew in each of their hands. They held what looked like crude swords made of Mana. They were truly just spikes.

One zombie suddenly screamed at the other and began to make a beeline straight for it. "KIILLL!!"

Both Zombies raised their spikes and swung. Their spikes clashed together in a spark of erie green Mana light. They swung and screamed with strange dry and grating voices. "WEEAAK!"

"STUUPIDD."

"MYY LANND!"

One zombie eventually slipped up and he was subsequently pierced through the head with the other zombie's spike. As the defeated zombie fell to the ground, dead. The victor fell on him ravenously and began to tear him to pieces with his jaws and strangely long fingernails. The other Zombies just watched, but I did not.

"Everyone hold on. I am going to move in alone. If things get hairy, blast them to hell."

I threw my AR-15 down in the seat, and I stepped out of the car. I began to run towards the herd of Zombies. Several of the Zombies that had been watching the exchange turned their heads towards me as I ran towards them, but it was too late. I slashed through two of the Zombies' heads and just as quickly, I was upon the zombie that had a spike in his hand.

I shoved my knife towards the zombie's brain. A small green glowing shield formed just above the zombie's head and my knife slammed against and shattered. The zombie's neck snapped around towards me with a dismembered finger sticking from its mouth.

As I stared at it, horrified, there were two green lights behind me. ZZZZZTT. ZZZZZTT. I had not been looking, but the explosions surprised me and I stumbled back onto the ground.

I heard the other Zombies screaming and coming towards me. 

BANG. BANG. BANG… The others had opened fire. I didn't count the shots because they were constant, but the zombie that had the shield was ambling towards me on its limbs like a bear. 

I planted my hands on the ground and kicked the zombie backwards. I let myself fall on my ass as I fumbled in my holster for my glock. I had it out, but the zombie was almost on me again.

I flipped the safety off and I fired. BANG. It was deflected by a shield. BANG. the bullet pierced through the zombie's head. Its corpse fell at my feet. 

The other Zombies were about to blow. I got up and ran as fast as I could, but there was not much time. Lights lit the foggy air behind me and I was flung into the air from the explosions. ZZZZZTT. ZZZZZTT. ZZZZZTT…. 

I landed on my stomach, and I skidded across the concrete road until my head slammed against a ruined vehicle, and my vision turned black.