Nothing Left to Burn

Growing up I was a fan of both Deadpool and The Walking Dead, never would I imagine I would more or less have the best of both worlds.

At the age of eighteen I was flattened by a bus on my way back home from school, and the horror of being reborn into a world quickly wore off when a blue screen in a strange bedroom appeared in front of me.

[You have been gifted the power of the Gamer!]

Immediately confused, I waved my hand through the screen. It was incorporeal, and the bedroom was completely unfamiliar to me. As was, my own body?

I touched the screen and then it changed.

[For a quick tutorial press here.]

I accepted, no other option really.

[Gamer Status

Name: Marcus Liederman

LV: 5

Age: 19

HP: 100/100

MP: 100/100

STR: 8

DEX: 9

VIT: 13

INT: 11

WIS: 7

LUK: 11

Skills: Born here in rural Wildford, South Carolina, raised by your two older brothers, you have an extensive survival background. In hunting, fishing, trapping, shooting, and camping. Your two brothers were also helping you to become a mechanic someday.

Perks: Immune - One of the few people among those in the entire world able to develop an immunity to the virus.

Survival Skills: LV 53

Mechanic Skills: LV 24]

So wait, if I was now some sort of...hillbilly I'd never heard of, where was my family? Where was I? What was happening?

[Tutorial Quest created! Scan the room!

Learn about your new environment, and discover where you are.

Accept Y/Deny N

Limit Time: Five minutes

Reward: +5 LVs]

Odd, but given the fact that I was supposed to be dead. Not too odd, I suppose.

I looked around the room and the truth was that I was now a new person, someone who liked baseball, mechanics, woodcraft, and steak, or at least, judging from the barbeque and grill catalogs, was interested in buying them or getting into cookouts.

But it was the view from the window that interested me. I was in the second floor of a regular suburban home, and as far as I could tell, the entire world had gone to shit. There was few empty buildings around, a car still on fire nearby, and what appeared to be...zombies?

That or folks with their limbs missing, walking around aimlessly.

The zombies filled the entire town, and didn't appear to be like the normal zombies I was suspecting. Such as slow or weak, nor too stupid, that was just a feeling I got from looking at them.

[Quest completed!]

[You have gained five levels! You now have 25 skill points to attribute to your stats.]

Apparently knowing I was in a zombie apocalypse constituted being able to determine where I was. Dawn of the Dead, The Last of Us, and The Walking Dead were on the table I guess.

I opened the menu just by wanting it to show up, nice to know it was a mental interface for whatever this thing was. Strangely, by raising the STR stat to 16 I felt twice as strong. And judging by my build right before I was transported into this new body, I'd say I was twice as strong as a normal guy.

So if I raised my intelligence and speed stat, which, The Gamer said was DEX, I'd be twice as fast and smart, perhaps resourceful as a regular person.

I suppose it was worth a test.

Sure enough, I was right. I could move around a nightstand, a well sized wooden bit of furniture with complete ease when it normally would've taken great effort.

I couldn't stay in this house, that much was clear, and I also needed to figure out where I was as well, location wise, instead of universe wise.

...

I clambered out of my bedroom through the rooftop connected to the bedroom window and as far as I could tell, I was trapped in a decently sized rural town surrounded by the undead in all directions.

If I wasn't blessed with something like this Gamer power, it'd be pretty safe to say I was fucked.

The town was in a sorry state, cars were left abandoned in the middle of the road, and there was nothing around that gave me any sort of direction towards a larger city. However, judging by a few of the signs I was able to read properly nearby, this was actually South Carolina, a town towards the border with Georgia when I used a pair of binoculars back in the bedroom to spot a highway sign leading to 'Atlanta.'

I went back into the room and began to pack a few things with what was likely my old backpack for school.

I found a hammer in a small toolbox, used it to pry off nails from the bed and clothing wardrobe, and hammered a few nails into a signed hardwood baseball bat I found in a trophy case.

Soon, the Gamer noted what was in my new Inventory.

[Inventory: Two bags of wires, a baseball bat with nails in it, hammer, screwdriver, nails, screws. Bowie knife.]

Not a bad start if I wanted to get the hell out of this town, but I'd need more. Namely food, and a way to get all these zombies in all directions to fuck off and let me get out of here.

Before I went, I found a pair of dumbbells resting against the foot of the bed and started to use them.

The Gamer already let me get stronger just by looking around, I wondered if doing regular training and reading could help. I was right, reading books on Geography, metal working, and using the dumbbells to do squats and curls leveled me up another six times.

I invested the remaining points into DEX, VIT, and STR, considering I'd need to move pretty fast, run for long periods of time, and hit very hard to deal with zombies.

As I had suspected there were zombies downstairs, about four of them judging from what I'd seen from the second floor indoor balcony. I could easily try to leave the house using the rooftop access I had from my bedroom but I was curious to test my skills.

If I couldn't kill a few zombies on my own, how could I ever survive in this world? Even if running would ultimately be smarter.

With the element of surprise, I snuck up on them, and swung the bat with nails as hard as I could into one's skull.

Strangely, I didn't vomit at the sight of a rotten brain being splattered across a kitchen wall, fungus and other strange molds spilled around in the zombie brain soup. What was more shocking, was how fast its friends responded.

The other undead in the room all ran towards me, not walked or limped, ran. They appeared to have the full motor function of a regular human, just with very little reasoning or cohesion beyond consumption.

Of, at this moment, me.

Even armed with a baseball bat, I would've been overwhelmed, but my recently buffed stats did their job. I repelled the first two, and took out another zombie's knee, the rotting leg flying away like a fat moldy salami.

It collapsed, and soon I was able to shove back its friend when it tried to bite me on the neck, and I pushed it away, the bat between us acting as a shield.

When his friend got back up leaning off the marble kitchen counter, and reached towards me, I swung so fast and hard that its whole upper body was practically shredded. Its whole arm and chin bone were disconnected, leaving it completely useless.

I turned, ignoring it and smashing downward on the last of them.

Pancacking the last zombie's head with a red, sploshy, and mushy mess where their head and neck were, I turned around, barely winded. About five minutes into this apocalypse and I'd barely broken a sweat and killed four zombies with relative ease.

The kitchen was relatively empty, besides from two cans of beans and a two thirds eaten box of cereal. I'd also managed to find a water bottle and add it to my inventory.

I looked into the mirror and saw my new appearance. I looked exactly like what I expected, if I imagined an average guy wearing a plaid button up, jeans, and a white shirt with dark hair and pale skin.

I made sure to loot the entire house but nothing was useful besides from a flashlight and a bag of stale chips. The upstairs bathroom included some medicine, made sure to pack that as well into my backpack.

[You've cleared a house of Undead and Supplies! You've gained +10 LVs!]

Let's go! That's right.

...

I felt practically invincible standing on the porch of the home I'd just looted, and outright attacked the other seven zombies standing around aimlessly in the street or eating someone's corpse.

Not afraid to get bit or scratched, hell, the Gamer told me I was Immune to whatever infected them, I was safe from their attacks. As difficult as it would be for them to land it, because I was simply too fast and hit too hard with my baseball bat.

I began to turn rotting flesh, into cold hard EXP and LVs.

Either because the Gamer allowed me to remain composed at all times regardless of fear or danger, or because I simply didn't give a shit if these things could hurt me and I knew I could kill them, I absolutely bodied all of the zombies.

I smashed, crushed, and ripped apart the zombies with my baseball bat, or outright tore them apart and threw them into each other. I began to hit so hard with my baseball bat augmented with some nails hammered through it that I literally imploded a zombie, crushing it inwards when I tore through its shoulder as it tried to latch onto my shoulder to bite me.

Its guts were released outwards from the holes poking directly into its visible ribs and organs, and I think every possible innard within the zombie, bones and all, were all ripped through the baseball bat. Like a butter knife passing directly through some glazed hot marmalade, passing in two slippery waves.

The adrenaline rush from destroying these things was so addictive. The EXP I got from killing them even more so.

Soon, the entire cul-de-sac's worth of zombies and supplies were mine. My backpack now went from somewhat empty to almost bursting. I had gained two very useful perks from scavenging and killing about forty zombies in about as many minutes.

[Skilled Survivalist - You loot 20% more efficiently and are 20% harder to detect by hordes of Undead.]

[Fighter - "Never bitten." You move 10% faster than any person, seeing things move a tenth slower when in combat.]

I sat on the roof of a destroyed car, eating a sandwich I'd made from the supplies I found on the biggest house on the block. I liked that quote the Gamer gave for the perk, almost like it was an achievement. Never bitten.

Not that I cared, I was already immune anyway.

I had looted an entire cul-de-sac, left an entire pile of lifeless husks that were previously furious living dead folks, a few were even still groaning when I'd boredly left a few of the smaller ones embedded into a nearby chain link fence.

My baseball bat was red and stringy with blood, guts, brains, and shards of rotten bone, and I didn't lose my appetite at all when eating around the trophy stack I'd made. Fuck these freaks, I'm trying to enjoy my meal.

"Shut up!"

I crushed a particularly loud one's face under my boot when I ripped it out with one arm from the fence and smashed it against the asphalt.

There was only one question now, how did I leave?

One end of the street leading out of the block of houses was cut off by a large stack of ruined cars and other rubble and debris. And there was a sizable horde of zombies I didn't think I could take on just yet on the other end of the street. I could kill forty zombies in just over half an hour, just not all at once. At least, not as of now.

There was nowhere else to go, all of the houses led towards other suburban areas that ultimately would just have me running circles until I eventually found access to the highway or further into this town I was trying to get the hell out of.

I sighed, after I finished my sandwich.

I climbed across a few rooftops, my baseball bat holstered in its comfy slot on the backpack I carried, and went to the highest point in this cul-de-sac.

I was a bit towards what would be the east of the center of this town. The only way out would be to hop house to house until I reached the highway, pretty damn far.

It would probably take me the whole day just to get there, and I wasn't in a hurry, but after looting and passing through several abandoned homes, I wasn't in the mood to do it all over again or just go across rooftops constantly.

The town center might have some useful supplies too, but that's where most of the undead were massed. I think the smartest option would be to somehow draw all of the undead in the town with a giant distraction.

...

When you know you're absolutely invincible, only one answer remains to the question of doing whatever the fuck you want: Because I Can.

I was able to loot every empty home I came across and dispose of the Infected there with ease. Netting me a nice few levels in the process.

However, I came across something adorable, and it needed my attention instantly.

There was a Golden Retriever locked up in someone's backyard, its owners likely abandoned it when the apocalypse began. It barked towards me when I was walking across a nearby rooftop as I headed toward the exit of the town to leave.

When I dropped into the backyard from the fence around it, it didn't growl or get angry with me. It seemed friendly enough, I couldn't get bit by dogs and turn anyway. Plus I saw flocks of birds and dead gerbils and other animals around, and they didn't turn as well.

I approached the dog, and it seemed excited I would let him out of a large cage.

The Golden Retriever panted with its tail wagging, weaving in between my legs.

The poor thing was probably starving and thirsty, so I fed it some water into a handy metal dog bowl that was nearby and gave it some pieces of beef jerky I found.

Being enough the earn its trust, I was surprised when I began to walk away from the house, and instantly the dog began to follow me.

"Sit. Stay, roll over." I turned towards the Golden Retriever pup.

The dog obeyed all three commands.

I rubbed its stomach. "Good boy, what's your name?"

According to its collar, it was named 'Billy.' He looked more like a Donnie to me, but I decided not to really give it a name until I spent a bit more time with him.

"Come on." I whistled him up from the ground of someone's back patio and the dog followed me without question.

We left through the side door and confronted a few more undead out in the street.

I soon realized that dogs weren't affected by the virus, or fungus, or both, or whatever the hell was affecting the dead. So when I blasted one's head off with my baseball bat, and Billy chewed a zombie's neck to pieces, I just realized it was just more food for him.

I don't think rotten flesh would be perfectly healthy for him, especially from a zombie, but then of course, back in my old world, dogs ate rotten and raw meat all the time and they were fine. This couldn't be too different.

Billy finished his meal after he jumped on several Infected and ate tore them to pieces with his jaws. For such a good natured pup supposedly, I was surprised at the switch it retained to kill Infected for survival at a given moment.

"Good job boy, follow me."

The dog followed me.

…

I decided to loot as much as I could from the surrounding town before heading out, but then I realized just how many Infected were massed near the town center. I had gained over ten levels just from killing fifty, so it would be a massive EXP boost to gain a few more from killing ten times as many or so.

First, how to do so.

I couldn't take on as many just on my own, even with the dog helping me. I would need a bit more firepower, and namely a distraction to make sure they were as contained as possible to not be surrounded.

I used the binoculars in my Inventory to scan the town, and came across a truck stop with a few trucks locked out back in a chain link fenced up lot. And a large gas station right near the town center.

"Bingo." I lowered my binoculars. "You wanna blow some shit up boy?"

The Golden Retriever smiled, continuing to pant as we looked out from the rooftop.

"You wanna go blow some shit up huh?"

He barked, whining and turning around to begin to leave the ledge. I didn't blame him, it was pointless to stay here much longer.

…

I had grown strong enough with how leveled up my STR stat was that I could blast through heavy wooden locked doors with just a shoulder tackle with complete ease.

We were quickly attacked by Infected, Billy pinned one down and I disconnected another zombie's head from his neck with my baseball bat with nails in a single swing.

I kicked another Infected with its arms outstretched to me as it groaned, and it flew backwards right off its feet, with a large spike from a knocked over shelving unit stand going straight through the back of its head.

I looked around the abandoned truck stop. Not much here but the dead mechanic and other two regular civilians turned into zombies and bits of glass and debris across the floor.

There wasn't anything to loot, so I found some keys in the dead mechanics pockets to open an office in the back. There, I found a set of other car keys that I knew were for the trucks nearby.

…

Some Infected out in the street failed to get past the chain link fence as I sat in a semi truck with Billy.

"Okay we're going to have to drive this into a gas station."

Billy sat in the passenger seat, the Golden Retriever panting quietly and quickly licking his mouth to close it before continuing to pant and smile.

"That will make an explosion. We have to jump out before that happens."

Again, no reaction, the dog wasn't stupid by any means, but it was still a dog.

"Alright, explosion. Explosion bad, explosion go boom, explosion kill us." I mimed explosions to try to convey to the dog it would kill us both if we didn't jump out of the truck in time. "We jump. Jump, okay? Before the explosion."

Whining, the pup leaned down and rested his chin on the passenger seat of the semi.

I sighed, waiting for night to fall to allow for more Infected to see the fire the explosion would create. I would just have to put Billy in the driver's seat with me and jump with him.

…

After the sun had started to go down, I flattened the Infected that still hadn't left the chain link fence with ease when I floored the gas and the semi roared away.

"What you won't do. You'd do for love. You tried everything, but you don't give up." I sang the few broken lyrics I still knew of What you Won't Do for Love to myself as I drove towards the town center at full speed, gaining the attention of several undead in the process.

With the gas station in sight again, I floored the gas, and then opened the driver's side door and grabbed Billy by the collar, bailing in time.

The truck rammed right into the gas tanker and created a giant explosion, the blast powerful enough to rock the ground, solid pavement all the same.

It would've been smart to leave, but then I decided, why not power level my stats with the Gamer a bit more by looting a police station?

Billy and I easily evaded the few approaching zombies who noticed us and not the explosion, even though they could run. The dog was fast, and I ran much faster than the average person because of my DEX stat.

I ran towards the police station, blasted the lock open with a pistol I had looted from a nearby house in this town, and closed the door behind me.

The entire place was abandoned, useful.

…

[You've leveled up Shooting to LV 60 (16% to LV 61)]

[You have gained +1 LV from power leveling a survival skill!]

Thanks to the hunting experience this new body of mine already had, I already had shooting skills, but nothing with an M16 or automatic rifle. However, thanks to the Gamer, I learned how to load, shoot, and reload extremely well with an M16 I looted from a couple gun lockers this police station had.

I even found a couple useful grenades and shit.

Well time to mow down the entire horde I had massed around that gasoline fire.

"Sit boy." I made Billy stay in the shooting and training range the police station included, likely used by cops to train before the zombie apocalypse.

I left him there, and began to shoot zombies like there was no tomorrow. Sure this was the apocalypse and ammo should be conserved, but fuck it. I already got massive amounts of EXP from slaughtering Infected, why not get even more?

Because I can.

I hurled grenades at them, killing dozens of zombies easily. I was so fast and strong with The Gamer that I could run up walls in an arc while blasting them to pieces with an M16 I was razor sharp with.

[You have gained +12 LVs from killing Undead!]

Sweet, that's a fourth of the horde.

Soon, I shot and blasted my way directly to the gas station I blew up. I was able to hurl any zombie that got close enough to me right into the fire, burning them alive, and the rest were all blown up, shot, or beaten into bloody, rotten, bony pulps.

My M16 would just rifle all of these things to death, and I could just smack them with the butt of the weapon so hard that I could cave their chest in, sending them flying backwards, comically knocking over the rest in the horde like bowling pins.

Another one groaned, reaching towards me as it ran at full speed as I continued to shoot its friends. I crouched down, grabbed the zombie by its pants, and threw it straight it into the gasoline fire to cook it alive.

I think the Gamer was giving me bonus points for any zombies I killed with fire.

The zombies continued to come, and I kept mowing them down. As long as they were disabled, such as shooting enough through their legs or chest so that they couldn't move, the Gamer counted that as a kill, and I got around 200 EXP for it.

I only needed 3000 EXP per level, and I soon harvested these rotten Infected for every single bit of EXP that they were worth until there was nothing left of a ravenous, massive, groaning, disgusting, moldy horde, but a few charred boots.

And piles and piles of slaughtered zombies.

…

I was now LV 121, I had reached Legendary status with an M16, shotgun, and pistol, from annihilating an entire horde of zombies just on my own.

Meaning I had perfect use of weapons in combat, as well as grenades.

From looting the entire town, now that it was pretty much Infected free, I also had Legendary looting. I ultimately had super strength from how many points I'd put into STR, and super speed from my DEX stat.

Given the amount of supplies I had, and the fact that I was basically unkillable, I thought about turning the town into a safe haven for survivors, but I decided against it.

Mostly because the morning after, I got a quest.

[CDC - Raze or Raise

You can choose to rebuild humanity, or absolutely leave it with nothing. Discover the truth of the Infected at the CDC!

Reward: Ability to return to prior dimension, possible cure for turning into the Undead.

Accept Y/Deny N]

Huh, I knew enough about the Walking Dead that this was the first season finale. While I knew the truth the doctor gave to Rick Grimes, I was unsure if it would be the same. After all, these Walkers weren't Walkers, they ran making them several times more dangerous.

Unfortunately, leaving the town wasn't that easy.

While gasoline usually could take up to half a year to be pretty much useless, and from the start of the apocalypse, it clearly hadn't been that long. The state of most of the cars and trucks in the town were terrible. I suspected most of the townsfolk here got the hell out of dodge the second they knew the end of the world was coming as fast as they could with whatever they could get their hands on.

However, after about a half hour of searching, Billy and I found a nice red truck capable of driving us pretty far.

With some Crafting, I was able to create a cowcatcher, capable of plowing right through debris and Walkers, er, Infected.

I also was able to substantially increase the amount of horsepower the engine created with a makeshift, but ultimately functional turbo I made from a mechanics shop and service station.

I left the town behind just as the sun was rising, driving straight towards Atlanta.

I let the window down, and Billy was smiling and panting in the wind as I drove with my Golden Retriever towards Atlanta.

I knew that would be the first step towards the CDC.

…

Nearing the western edge of South Carolina, a trap was clearly created, I could see well ahead.

Spiked trucks and other debris almost impossible to drive through was around, I could see hints of raiders, bandits, or whatever the hell else was ready to kill me and my dog to loot whatever was in my truck.

Just by driving at full speed down the highway for about two hours gave me LV 58 Driving ability, so I evaded the road block by going off road, maintaining perfect control of the car, and flying right back onto the road with use of the throttle, and steering wheel.

[You have gained the Action Hero perk! You are now to evade Infected and Bandits behind the wheel of any vehicle!]

Nice, I chuckled, making those guys probably wonder just who in the hell had the ability to drive with near superhuman skill.

…

When I'd already left South Carolina and was well into the north of Georgia, I spotted something from the highway.

There was a farm nearby.

I could potentially trade with them, and I also needed a decent bit of information on the state of the world and just how the apocalypse began.

Already when I began to pull up, the house appeared to be familiar.

There was an old man holding a shotgun, with who I could only assume to be his son standing behind him shouldering a rifle.

"State your business."

I resisted the urge to smile, besides the Gamer giving their names, Hershel and Shawn Greene respectively, I already knew who they were and where I was.

Hershel raised his double barrel shotgun with a quiet clack. "Do I have to repeat myself?"

"It's okay paw, give him a minute."

"Uh, hi. My name's Marcus." I said quietly. "This is my dog er. Billy." I said, still wanting to name him Donnie or something else.

The Golden Retriever plots-ed right next to me, smiling a bit.

Hershel didn't lower his shotgun. "Pleasure," he said calmly. "Now what do you want?"

"I'm heading towards Atlanta, it's already midday. I was hoping to have a place to stay, just get some information. I'm willing to work, I have my own food and water and such."

Hershel lowered his gun. "We don't need extra hands, don't know who in the world to trust these days with all that's happened."

"Please, I'll be out of your hair in the morning."

"Don't see why we wouldn't need the extra help." Shawn shrugged. "Where are you from?"

"Small town between Augusta and Columbia, South Carolina. You've probably never heard of it."

Hershel glared at his son, and I saw him glance at a blonde girl in the window who shrunk back out of view.

Taking a second to think, Hershel paused, and then sighed quietly.

"There's fresh hay in the barn for you to sleep. Otis and Jimmy will give you work."

Hershel then leaned his double barrel shotgun against the porch railing. "If you go anywhere near my daughters, or betray my trust for giving you shelter. I'll blast your legs off, I'm sorry. No hard feelings."

"Don't worry about it. Your house, your rules." I shrugged, in his shoes with my own farm and family to take care of, I wouldn't mind. "Thank you for letting me stay."

"Shawn, show him where to go."

…

As the day went on, I got to know all of the farmhands after they let me park my truck by the barn.

Otis was a portly and sweet man, and Jimmy was a college freshman who stopped going to school because of the outbreak, and a classmate of Hershel's daughter Beth, who let him stay with them by helping around the farm.

"So what the hell are those things that die twice? Try to eat people?" I asked, helping everyone take care of the farm animals and pastures.

"No one knows," Jimmy said with a quiet grunt of effort, moving some bales of hay around. "The army just told everyone to leave town and head towards Atlanta, they were creating some sort of quarantine or safe zone there."

"And why didn't you?'

Otis chuckled, shoveling horse manure into a little wheelbarrow with a pitchfork. "You think we give two shits what the government has to say? We lived our whole lives on our own, never needed someone else to tell us what to do."

I actually really respected that.

The Gamer should've put me on a godly level above these people, and of course it did, but so far, I liked everything I heard about them.

"What about you? How'd you end up here?"

I thought about it for a second, Jimmy and I kept cycling the food for the animals in the second barn Hershel had.

"Well, my brothers disappeared when it all started. Left me behind as the last person in my town, I got out, and just started driving towards Atlanta. Figured it was the safest direction."

Jimmy shook his head. "Smart to head off on your own, but don't think Atlanta's safe."

"Yup," affirmed Otis quietly.

"The way the army handled things when the dead started running." he tutted. "These days, you shouldn't trust anyone you meet."

"What did they do?"

Otis and Jimmy didn't answer.

…

That night I slept in the barn by myself, Otis and Jimmy had their own spots elsewhere.

I decided to stick around after I finished working for about another week, no one told me to leave, and I suspected because I did such good work. The Gamer already gave me super speed and super strength, so farm work was a complete breeze.

I got some nice bits of EXP for it, but I mostly spent the time maintaining my truck and practicing bolt action rifle shooting with Jimmy and Otis in our downtime.

I had no intentions of staying on the Greene Farm as a farmhand, but I wanted as much information as possible on the army and Atlanta before I kept driving in that direction.

I met the entire farm as time went on, Otis' wife Patricia, Hershel's wife Annette, their daughters Beth and Maggie, and of course, Shawn, who helped us with farmwork.

Shawn was very overprotective of his sisters, just like his father, but he took a liking to me quickly, probably because he realized how useful I was being able to survive long enough on my own to reach his family's farm.

No one told me to leave, no one told me to stay. I guess these folks were a very live and let live sort of people.

One night, Jimmy, Otis, and Shawn decided to eat dinner with me out by the barn with Billy.

I guess it was a nice sign they were beginning to trust me.

"Brought some chicken for you boys." Annette said sweetly as she walked out and helped feed us.

"Thanks ma."

She pecked Shawn on the cheek and we kept eating, mostly chatting about the state of things before everything changed.

As far as they were concerned their lives were mostly the same, and I actually appreciated how well they were able to keep the farm so well in order. I suspected because Shawn and his mother weren't locked up in the barn after they had Turned.

Maybe I had arrived on the farm before that all had happened.

After meeting everyone, as ultimately boring as being a farmer was, I decided to stay.

Even though Otis and the others had no evidence the government was actually responsible for the outbreak and its complete snowballing into the end of the world, I trusted the fact that they sort of left everything in the country behind.

Moreover, I realized that I would need a group of my own, if necessary when I eventually decided to leave. Which appeared sooner and sooner as I felt it was inevitable I headed towards the CDC.

Wherever that was.

…

"Hey."

I was on a dolly maintaining the brakes and axle of my truck, leveling my Mechanics skill, as Maggie Greene approached. I had only seen her at dinner a few times when Hershel let everyone in the house eat wherever they wanted, but I got the feeling she was as friendly as everyone else.

"Hey Maggie."

She was riding a horse, leading another one with her rein free hand. "Gonna head into town, my mom needs some medicine and some other stuff. Could use some company," she said casually.

I looked around, wiping my greasy hands with a towel.

"Don't think your father would appreciate that."

"It's just a supply run. 'Sides. What he doesn't know won't kill him."

Maggie smirked, and then with a few clicks of her heels, spurred her horse to fly past me, leaving a horse for me.

Billy instantly began to follow me when I mounted the brown horse.

"Stay boy."

The Golden Retriever drew a circle and then laid down near the truck.

…

Maggie and I rode towards the abandoned town center as I spoke to her on a dry and dusty road. "So, where is everyone? And the undead?"

I noticed how empty the road, houses, and towns near Hershel's farm were on the horse ride.

"My dad calls 'em sick." Maggie shrugged. "But anyway, the army told everyone to leave and go with them when they came through as soon as food riots started."

"Food riots?"

Maggie nodded. "Yeah. About a month ago, the government controlled the food supply, handed out rations to everyone. They closed all the grocery stores, bakeries, anywhere people got food."

I listened. "It didn't affect us, we made our own food. The folks here in town didn't appreciate it very much, and they hauled them all off to who knows where."

I was confused. "So then, where did the army go?"

"Well, everybody started getting sick. By that point, the army killed them, and rounded up the entire town then left towards what I can only assume is Atlanta."

"Why didn't they get you too? Or your family?"

"Got lucky I 'spose."

I smiled with her.

"So, is Jimmy dating your sister?"

"I think he's interested in her, just not the other way around. Why?"

I froze atop my horse.

"You like her?"

"Er-"

I tried spurring my horse like Maggie did, she laughed loudly when I completely failed and my steed huffed, resisted, and started going in the completely wrong direction I wanted.

Maggie sighed longly. "Glad we finally found something you're not good at."

"How're you supposed to control this thing?"

"I'll show you when you get into town."

"Trucks are so much easier."

…

We began to loot a familiar looking convenience store when I then asked her.

"Right, I remembered, how do you ride a horse properly?"

"Pretty straightforward, but you were doing one thing wrong."

Maggie put her bag of supplies down and walked towards me. "Turn around."

"Um."

"Turn around, go on."

I did so, surprised when Maggie placed her hands on my ribs. Hard.

"Feel uncomfortable?"

"Guess so."

"Well so does your horse. Say I wanted you to run around faster, turn one way, turn around. And carry you on my back all while I'm crushing your ribs like this. You're all tense, tense enough that your horse feels it too."

She wasn't crushing anything, my Stats were so high she'd need to stab me to feel anything truly painful, but it was decently uncomfortable.

"Got it."

I turned around slowly, Maggie tucked some dark hair behind her ear.

"So um." I cleared my throat. "What sorta supplies did you get?"

"Regular bits of medicine and such, you?"

Before I could say anything she reached for my bag.

Maggie blanked, looking downward quietly. "Condoms," she said quietly.

"Yeah, couldn't hurt to pack that." I was trying something because I though it might work after watching the second season of a show that surprisingly became my life.

If it didn't, it wasn't the end of the world.

"Why's that?" she grinned, putting it down nearby.

"Uh, you know. It's the only sort of protection I don't have. Got rifles, a dog, a truck. No protection for.-" I trailed.

"Your dick." she said quietly.

I cleared my throat. "Yeah I guess so."

Maggie chuckled. "I get that."

I was blank, looking at her a little surprised.

"What? I know what a penis is."

"No, no, nothing." I looked around the convenience store uncomfortably.

"What, say it."

I sighed. "No it's nothing I just. I'm surprised you know too much about sex, I'm really sorry I just-"

"I know about sex."

"So do I."

I was appreciating the headstrong way this girl talked to me, she was beautiful of course, but I thought it was charming just how she liked to mess with me.

Maggie stepped towards me a little bit, we were already decently close to one another.

"Do you now?" she said, about two inches from my face.

"Um, sorta."

I did have sex before in my past life, not too much, but never with anyone nearly as attractive as Maggie.

Maggie rested her cowboy hat nearby on an empty convenience store shelf.

"You do?"

"Yes." I whispered, I could see her trying to kiss me.

"Show me." she said.

…

Kissing and Foreplay were skills apparently I got EXP for, I ignored that shit, the Gamer really had no sense of shame or timing.

Maggie and I were rolling around in the back of the store like teenagers, which I guess I still was, but she was in her early to mid twenties.

Kissing Maggie was amazing, felt amazing, she was surprisingly a good kisser despite this snarky and mischievous farm girl vibe she had going for her. I wasn't going to ask where she got so good, especially because her parents were so protective, her brother too.

Don't think about all that right now dude, you're getting laid.

Was I?

I tried something as we made out, I gripped Maggie's ass experimentally. The girl didn't freeze, rather, she seemed to moan a little, grinding against me a little more.

Maggie hissed in to my neck, our lips met again.

Glad the end of the world was fun for some people.

I moaned when Maggie's hand brushed my crotch.

"You're hard." she whispered.

"Yeah." I said quietly.

Maggie straddled my lap, starting to unbuckle my belt.

The girl unbuttoned her plaid shirt, kissing me when she pressed me down against the floor. I felt my hands feel up her naked back, and Maggie unclipped her bra and placed it aside lightly.

I was greeted by the prettiest pair of breasts I'd ever seen. They were perky, not particularly large but not small at all, capped by slightly puffy but still gorgeous nipples. I wrapped my lips over one of them, and I heard Maggie gasp loudly.

I gripped her tighter to me, holding her hair.

She released my cock with a speed I'd never expected, fuck, this girl was hot, but I was surprised she was this pent up. Was this her first time? I was a bit too scared to ask and I didn't want to ruin the mood.

"You have a big one." Maggie smiled, holding it at the base. "Thick too." she pumped it.

I couldn't help but groan a little bit.

"Maggie." I said clearly.

"Uh-huh?" she asked quietly.

"Try kissing it."

"Okay."

The girl did so, and the incredible sight and feeling of Maggie pressing her lips to the tip of me. I bit back another moan, this was amazing.

She kept blowing kisses up and around my erection, jerking me off a little.

I felt her release me after I closed my eyes, and I saw Maggie undress herself a bit more, taking off her belt and shimmying down her jeans and light blue panties down her long, smooth, somewhat toned legs.

Guess that farm work paid off.

Wearing nothing more than a purple and blue unbuttoned plaid shirt, Maggie straddled me, rubbing herself against my cock. She leaned up a bit, and confused at first, I realized what she was doing, she was rubbing her clitoris against the tip of my cock.

A bit odd but I liked it, it felt nice for me and I'm sure it did for her.

Maggie leaned forward and in, pressing harder against me as I leaned against the convenience store counter.

"Hey, Marcus," she whispered, kissing my lips and then my cheek.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"You ever do anything like this before?"

In my past life, yes, a few times. But now? Technically no.

"Not really, why do you ask?"

"Just wondering, I haven't either."

Maggie gripped me at the base, I could feel my erection pulsing in the softness of her hand. She rubbed me a little against her lower lips, fuck, I wanted it to slide in so badly.

Maggie had trimmed herself a little down there, I barely had either, but honestly I didn't notice too much, she was just so gorgeous. Her body was perfect, every curve smooth and laid bare, what incredible skin.

I passed my hands all along her, and Maggie kissed me again.

With almost desperate fury, she gripped the nearby condom I had found and looked like she was trying to rip it open.

"Hold up, slow down."

"What?"

I was a bit worried for her. "Are you sure about this?"

"You're cute, in decent shape. I like you." Maggie shrugged, still sitting in my lap.

"No it's just, we only met a week ago."

"I've watched farm hands come and go on my daddy's farm since I was very little. I've never seen anyone like you."

I guess that made sense, none of them had the Gamer nor knowledge of what exactly this universe or other zombie apocalyptic ones meant. But still, I liked her, and I didn't want to take advantage of her.

I smiled. "I like you Maggie, I just want you to be sure."

"That's so sweet."

Maggie grinned, wrapping the condom over me. It was kind of difficult but with my help it slipped right on and it rolled to the bottom perfectly.

"I like you a lot too, but can we just fuck now until we're all dried out?"

I laughed quietly, smiling when I kissed her neck, holding her tighter.

"Sounds good to me." I couldn't lie to her, I knew I needed this too.

I still couldn't believe I was getting this lucky, I could feel Maggie rubbing me against her entrance.

"Fuck." I hissed, moaning quietly as I kissed her bare and beautiful breasts.

Maggie gripped me and then slid me inside of her slowly.

She appeared to shriek for a moment, I had expected that to hurt.

"You okay?"

"Y-Yeah."

Because she was on top of me, it was lucky that she was able to keep the pace. Maggie slowly began to ride me, being her first man she was with, she felt impossibly tight, almost too tight for there to be the proper amount of friction but it still felt great.

Maggie placed her hands on my chest, starting to try to ride me faster.

There was no blood, I suspected riding horses since she was very young was probably the reason.

When Maggie's previously virgin pussy got accustomed to me, that was it for me. My turn.

Maggie giggled, her bare legs wrapping around me when I pushed her up a bit, pulled out of her, and picked her up with one arm.

She gasped in the air for a moment and then I laid her gently on the counter.

Our lips met again, and then I placed myself at her small pink opening again. It was hard to describe why, but Maggie had a pretty vagina.

I began to push inward, and then, I hilted my entire cock into her.

Maggie moaned, starting to gasp against the grey shirt on my chest.

I started to push in and out of Maggie, and the girl wrapped her arms and legs as tightly as she could, even her pussy was gripping me for dear life. Her insides felt so amazing, so tight, and hot, and comfy.

She screamed when I started to thrust into her at full speed.

"F-Fuck." she whispered, mixing her fingers into my hair.

I picked her up off the counter, fucking in the air now. Her ass was unbelievable soft, feeling quite round in my hands while we fucked.

When I pushed all the way in, I felt my head go blank for a second. Maybe I was rubbing the tip of my cock against her cervix or something?

Either way, I was practically losing all coherence within my brain when I went in that deep.

"Right there!" said Maggie desperately into my ear. I did it again, this time resting her against the wall of the convenience store. "Ah!" I heard her gasp when I gripped her bare thighs and ass.

I pressed my lips against her, absorbing her moans.

I decided to use some knowledge from my previous life from having sex with a few girls. As nice as sex was, only certain spots tended to be the ones that helped them climax.

Maggie started to scream, I'm pretty sure this was the most pleasure she felt in her whole life. Not that I blamed her, she was a farm girl raised by ostensibly, the most strict parents she could have.

She kept moaning, and I kept rubbing her clitoris, pressing into her as deeply as I could. And I kissed her neck, making sure not leave any love bites.

"A-Ah!"

Maggie dug her mouth into my shoulder, I could feel her nails raking their way across my back.

When she pulled back, eyes wide, moaning, pointing her chin upwards, her body starting to contort a little bit. I could tell she was going to orgasm.

I kept fucking her, pushing in and out, more and more as deeply as I could, feeling every bit inside of her. And that feeling I got when I reached as deeply in as I could was unforgettable.

"You going to cum, Maggie?"

"Y-Y-Yes!" she shrieked. "Yes!"

Maggie lightly pushed her my hand away from her clitoris to get me stop. Panting, the girl drooped a little in my grasp. Unlike it being a comically large amount, Maggie simply shook a whole lot, and there wasn't a rush of fluid around my cock and it sprayed out of her. She just felt a bit wetter, collapsing in my hands.

I wiped away a bit of the sweat that had appeared on her forehead.

She smiled weakly at me, and with one arm again, I rested her on the counter and pulled out.

I took off the condom quickly and began to jerk myself off, "Squeeze your tits together, stick your tongue out."

Maggie didn't question at all how dirty this would be, instead doing so, holding the nicest pair of boobs I'd ever had the pleasure to see with my own eyes.

I felt my orgasm build up at such a sight, such a feat this all was, and how amazing it had felt.

"Let it all out." she said, looking up at me laying on the counter.

I bit my lip, and then soon, felt myself cum. I squeezed out every single drop possible right onto her stomach, naked tits, and her mouth a little bit.

I was barely winded, helping Maggie clean up with some supplies we had scavenged.

"Thanks." she said, wiping all of my cum off of her.

…

I was sitting fully clothed now, my legs back up on the counter as Maggie began to draw her panties up her legs standing before the entrance to the convenience store.

With a quiet snap, giving me a fantastic view of her ass, Maggie smiled at me over her shoulder. "Never thought boys could be that much fun," she said, drawing up her jeans too.

"It was great for me too." I smiled to her. "Amazing actually, you?"

"Mhm!"

"Say uh, you won't be telling anybody about this right? I really like you and all but-"

"Yeah, I'm not interested in having my dad string you up by your balls trust me."

I laughed quietly, and Maggie walked over to me, smiling.

She cupped my face, kissing me quickly. "I gotta head back first. Speaking of which, you try anything funny like what we just did anywhere on the farm. You aren't going to have to worry about my father, you hear me?"

"Why, what're you capable of?" I challenged.

Maggie smirked buckling her belt and rebuttoning her blouse.

"It's the only way we're gonna get caught, so don't try anything."

She began to leave but I caught her by the wrist, drawing her towards me.

I drooped my legs over the counter, standing up to kiss her tightly. As soon as I felt my tongue rub against hers, she pulled away, smirking.

"Don't make me repeat myself. Stay away from me on the ranch."

She expertly got on her horse within seconds, put her hat back on, and spurred her horse to full acceleration with great control.

As I watched her ride off, I let out a long breath.

Well fucking great.

Now I actually had a reason to stay on the Greene Farm. Or leave before it became a matter of time that everyone knew Maggie and I liked each other.