7 Fortification & Strengthening
He wakes up early and has gone to the sink to wash his face and also take a sip in it.
He is still hungry, and it felt a bit too painful now. Still, he decided to endure it. It is barely bearable because he have something to drink. Though he would really prefer if he can eat something other than drinking tap water.
It's been two days since he called the Tower. After that cold rejection, he decided to focus on his own survival.
He strengthens the walls of his room, fixed the whole bathroom, and also make some things on the scraps. He also goes to the other room every morning to harvest some scraps.
Right now, he won't do that though. He can't move any of the debris on the other room anymore so he decided to stop doing it.
The amount of scraps in his room is not that much, but it can be considered a trash bin with just the numbers alone.
As for the things he did. He have been working on a new plan.
This room is too small for him. So he wanted to expand to other places.
But he needed more upgrades. The way his upgrade works, it can somehow perceive the area he was trying to upgrade and is limiting it to a room or an area. Like on the hallways outside. Only the second floor hallway are repaired to an old looking hallway, but the rooms besides it and the walls are not included in it.
His upgrading ability is too specific. So he always didn't have enough upgrades to take care of everything he needs.
But he really needs to upgrade everything now. He wanted to close all the entrance to this building so he can truly feel at ease. Just looking at the door and window is grating to his mind.
In fact, he have upgraded his door and his window one more time because of fear that some sort of monster suddenly breaks through it.
These are the upgrades that he made.
(His Room)
Concrete Floor (1 Upgrade)
Concrete Ceilings (1 Upgrade)
Concrete Walls (1 Upgrade)
Sturdy Glazed Window (1 Upgrade)
Sturdy Padded Wooden Door (1 Upgrade)
(Bathroom)
Old Floor (1 Upgrade)
Old Walls (1 Upgrade)
Old Ceilings (1 Upgrade)
Common Bathtub (1 Upgrade)
Super Shower (4 Upgrades)
(Second Floor Hallway)
Old Floor (1 Upgrade)
He also made a new weapon. It's a weapon that will help him deal with his enemies. It's a gun.
Yesterday, while he was taking scraps on the clump of debris on the other room, he found a rusted and broken spring in it that seems to be a part of a pistol. He took it and upgraded it six times.
Now, it is known as the Energy Pistol.
The Energy Pistol can shoot energy shots, which seems to be some form of concentrated electrical or solar power. It's like laser. It can pierce through wood. He knows because he tries shooting it on the tree branches sticking out on the large broken wall on the other room.
With all of that, he only have a few remaining upgrades.
[Status]
Neil Howard (Human/Male)
Upgrades : 2
That's all the things that changes on his base.
He is still wary about the dangerous looking birds and those hopping rabbits. Also, the zombies below the destroyed stairwell below have increased. There are now three zombies staring on the stairs.
So he wanted to deal with it. He didn't want those zombies to gather until they managed to make a ladder to get to the second floor. That would be like the movie he saw about intelligent zombies gathering together and making a ladder to get to the top floor.
He have mentally prepared himself for this. Truthfully, he is going to do this yesterday but he chickened out after taking a look at the zombies.
Despite being moving corpses, they still look human enough. He just felt hesitant pointing a gun at a person, mostly because he really didn't have any experience pointing a real gun to person in his whole life.
He have experience with guns. Being someone who lives on New York, obviously he would have visited a shooting range once or twice in his years.
Still, pointing at a wooden target is different than pointing the gun at a moving being, even if it's a living flesh of corpse.
This time, he have made a mantra to himself. Telling himself that this is necessary for his survival.
He knows it. Killing must be done or he will be killed. If he hesitates here right now, he won't be able to survive.
So with those thoughts, he finishes taking care of his face and taking the metal pipe and his energy gun. He also takes the lantern for his light. It's still pretty dark, being an abandoned building without any lights.
"Well then, time to exterminate some zombies!"
~~o~~
He looks at the zombies just staring at him. Their arms outstretched and seems to be trying to reach him as they groaned with their slack jaws.
He pointed the gun he is carrying, his metal pipe is put on the wall, leaning besides it along with the lantern.
Just looking at the zombies makes him scared. They look very terrifying. It is a lot more scary than just the ones from the movies and horror games.
The way their skin looks very horrendous, like all it's color turned a bit blue and green at the same time, their eyes all red and sometimes even black. Their tongue hanging out or their teeth seems to be more sharper than it's supposed to be, the many exposed organs and bones in their body. It is grotesque and shocking.
This is also why his hesitation is slowly vanishing as his mind registers these creatures as real monster. Not animals that acts on natural instincts, not humans that think and feels, but real monsters.
".... Right. Just shoot them I just have to shoot them and everything will be fine!"
He mutters to himself as his finger touch the trigger. He can feel a cold sweat running through his cheek, his hand seems to be shaking as he tries to aim at the zombie carefully.
"I can do this. They are just zombies!" He tries to convince himself.
The zombies are groaning below, still trying to reach him with their outstretched hands. It felt like they are trying to beckon him down, which he obviously won't do.
"Come on, just pull the trigger Neil! Come on Neil!" He kept repeating to himself.
He kept losing his aim due to the shaking of his hands. He already knows that they are monsters so he shouldn't hesitate.
But instinctual habits are hard to change. Since he got to a shooting range, his shooting instructor heavily taught him not to point it at a person. The gun is only used for self-defense, and not for outright killing.
The gun discipline has been taught to him, and he has been trying to keep it in mind. It became a habit. Guns is something neat on hand so he occasionally holds one and use it on target shooting.
"Take that notion off! I have to kill him!" He gritted his teeth.
He takes aim once again, and felt that he can have a shot on it's head.
"Now!" He did a warcry.
A sound that seems to sizzle through air shoots through the head of the zombie. The concentrated heat passes through it's skill, and then scorched the floor.
The shot made a hole the size of the marble on it's forehead. The zombie made a last moan before it succumbed to it's fatal wound, dead and truly unmoving.
The two others seems to not care and is just stupidly raising their arms.
"Haaaa.... haaaa... haaaa...." He took a mouthful of air, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart.
He did it. He killed a person. It is a zombie, but it stands like a person, and is shaped like a person. He suddenly felt mentally tired, like he have already done enough.
'No!' He chided himself mentally. He gritted his teeth and glared at the two zombies. 'I have to finish what I did!'
He pointed the energy gun at another zombie again, this time without taking much time for it. He took a deep breath and then focus his aim at it's head. Then he shoots.
A burning noise, and then the zombie was shot through face, just by the side of it's nose near it's head. The zombie staggers before continuing it's groggy actions.
It seems like he didn't manage to do a headshot, so he tries once again and shoots the zombie on the head. This time he hits it and it fell to the ground, unmoving.
The last one took him two tries before he is finally done taking care of the three zombies.
With that, it's done. He killed the three zombies.
He stares at the unmoving bodies of the living dead, trying to process what he just did.
'I killed the zombies.' He thought, but still felt unbelieving.
It's an irrational thought. Something that is supposed to be stupid. They are zombies so it is fine to just kill them.
But this is being human. Hesitation is natural for him, being a highschool student who didn't see any dead people personally.
There are the internet and news of course, but he didn't really go and browse for that. So he can be called as an amateur for it.
Despite common belief that America is dangerous, it's not really a place where everyday there is a shootout on the neighborhood. That's a stereotype.
There are conflicts, but it's not really something on the open. Most of the things happens behind the scenes.
It just happens that he didn't experience any of those behind the scenes on his life. He mostly kept to himself, going to school and being generally a teenager for his family. Being an average guy who befriends and goes to party, and generally being annoying to his brother and sisters.
Killing is out of the question. It's not a part of his daily life.
He took another deep breathe before turning his back at the corpses. He didn't want to look at it that much.
"I have to upgrade more things. Then I can truly call myself safe after all of that!" He mutters, trying to take his mind off at the zombies he killed.
He took his things and go back to his room, leaving the area where the three rotten corpses lay.
