Chapter 39

- Xenon -

It woke after five hours, a time I've spent observing their movements on the map. The system's log are not to be underestimated, and so is its capacity to save information apparently, because I could rewind everything in the map however much I liked, even with several nifty features, like tracing movement history. And let me tell you, it was erratic at best.

The walkers clearly didn't have a clear goal in mind, meaning they weren't targeting my house specifically, but now they were glued to the area, since they were pretty sure a meal was here for some reason. They walked in circles, eventually going back to their starting position even if the cycle took hours for some of them. But one thing was crystal clear to me: they had no intention of leaving any time soon, unless something else draws their attention I would guess.

Should I spend god knows how much time holed up in here, waiting that by flukes, someone nearby would make some noise and they would move to his direction? I had no intention of doing so, my LUK stat didn't look anything impressive right now, and I was never someone who liked to rely on luck that much.

At first, I believed they'd move on to another direction if they didn't find anything, but it was good to know for future references: in case I'm in a tough spot: cover yourself in zombie guts and get the hell out of there, no point waiting for a miracle.

I wanted to get it done with as soon as I saw the new walker 'spawn', but I'm glad I always over-think situations, though I mostly notice the mistakes that were made in the show. The first time this strategy was tried, it ended up failing because the weather, aka rain, decided to fuck with them, so they lost the walkers' scent right in the middle of a hoard.

I looked outside, and noticed the days' light was getting dimmer, which shouldn't happen at this time of the day, and that brought the sky's state to my attention: it was cloudy as hell, meaning there was a slight chance it might rain, and I was not about to leave my success up to chance when I had a choice. I decided against acting that day, and waiting quietly for the next.

I ended up being proven right: it did rain that day, and I would've died had I decided to go through the escape plan that day. It is as they say: only the paranoid survive. I'm not sure anybody says that, but I hope they do, because it's true.

I spent some time exploring the house, looking if there was anything of use to me, more specifically the food they had gathered. They had a lot of food, enough to last the two of them a few weeks I'd say, not counting the excessive amount of alcoholic beverages.

Overall, it seems this little kidnapping was more of a blessing than anything else. Not only did I get one more weapon, two levels, a system upgrade and a broken skill, I've also solved my "vehicle" problem by a large margin. They had a VAN, and a big one at that, stationed right outside the house. And I didn't even need to hot-wire it; they had the keys and everything.

They did unload everything I had on my pickup, so it makes it much easier for me. I'll just use my inventory to put everything inside the van before taking off. I ate my fill that day and went to sleep. I was surprised I was able to at all, because of the constant growling and the fact that I'm surrounded by more than a hundred zombies, but I eventually got used it, especially since I knew I wasn't in any real danger as long as I don't make any noise.

- The next day -

The first thing I did after waking up was check the map to see how the situation has evolved, and it seemed nothing has changed. I checked the sky outside, it was clear enough, so I had nothing to worry about as far as the weather was concerned. I searched for clothes, something that would cover as much skin as possible, that I would dispose of right after.

After a hearty breakfast, I went back to the living room. The walker was still sitting safely on the couch, not even able to make a sound. I promptly executed it.

What followed was even more disgusting than what I did the previous day, where I take a handful of whatever was inside its stomach and apply it all over my clothes. By the time I was done, I was a bloody mess of internal organs. I avoided the intestines… I already had shit all over myself, I didn't need ACTUAL shit on top of it… And so, came the moment of truth. I wasn't sure if it would work or not: while the theory sounded good, especially since it's been used in the show… this was as real as it gets. So I braced myself and slowly opened the door…