Meeting an 'Old Friend'

As the door opened, Nigel can see a 30-ish year old man that stood 1.8m tall with a buff bodybuild along with his unkempt long brown hair and square chiseled face.

The man eyed Nigel before he said, "Hello?"

"Hey, I'm looking for Alex Pearce from the Kaskus online community." Nigel spoke to Alex, keeping a calm demeanor as he was scared that he might get too excited to face his old friend.

"Ah, yes! that would be me. You must have to stumble upon this grandmaster thread right? Come in, come in and let's talk inside." Alex smilingly said to Nigel with a bright excited voice as he gestured his hand welcoming Nigel.

As Nigel steps into Alex's house, he can see the messy condition of the living room and the corridor as there was a lot of wooden boxes large and small pile up against the wall with what seems to be the stuff Alex created.

Alex then leads Nigel into the living room sofa, introducing himself happily with so much enthusiasm along the way as Nigel just nods to whatever he said.

After both of them got seated, he excitedly asked Nigel, "So what can I do for you? As you can see from the thread I posted, I create everything from sword, axe, spear, mace, shield, bow, crossbow, so on and even recreated weapons from game!"

"Do you have anything that works? Not the dull inferior one for cosplay or whatnot, I just want a good solid quality knife, sword, and crossbow. Do you have it?" Nigel asked Alex, he remembered the thing Alex told him that he used to be selling a bunch of weapons for cosplayers on the net to sustain his life.

"Absolutely! The one on the post is just to attract customers for my work to those cosplayers as nowadays people rarely sought the real thing, let's go to the garage where I keep all the good toys!" Alex responded to Nigel.

Alex and Nigel went into the garage, where Nigel see the tidy appearance that differs from the living room as he looks at all the tools orderly adjusted and the weapons properly arrange in a neat row of racks and shelves, creating a stunning view of gleaming steel under the dim lighting of the garage.

"Here we are uuh"

"Nigel, call me Nigel."

"Here we are Nigel, you can go ahead and choose from this bunch." Alex said to Nigel, pointing him to the bunch of weapons that were either hanging on the racks or lying on the shelves.

Nigel went ahead and inspect every sword as he also tries to hold them up one by one to get a good feel of it. Finally, when Nigel already has something he prefers in mind, he saw a shelf covered with black cloth looking rather mysterious on the corner of the garage.

'Is that what I think it is?' Nigel thought of the strongest sword Alex usually carried but got abandoned when Alex died by the zombie.

Alex looked at where Nigel sight landed on before he said in a proud voice to Nigel, "That one over there is one of my life's greatest masterpiece, do you want to take a look at it? It's not for sale though."

When Nigel heard that proud voice of Alex, he knew that he got it right.

Alex uncovered the black cloth and proceeded to open the safety box before bringing out a glistening katana with a silver and a tinge of black adorning the surface and a grey wave-like pattern on the edge of the katana.

"This is one of my masterpieces as I spent countless days and more than 12.000$ just for the trial and error, before making this out of the world katana that was made with a meteorite rock mixed in with high-quality carbon steel." Alex spoke to Nigel while holding the katana with an exhilarated look, just like a father's first time holding his baby.

Nigel grin as he had so much memory of Alex bragging about that meteor katana, he always gets annoyed at Alex never ending bragging before but looking at Alex exhilarated look right now makes him miss the time he spends with him.

"Wow, I bet it is powerful right?" Nigel asked Alex calmly as he got ready for Alex bragging once more.

"Of course, let me tell you about this katana prowess! This katana can cut railway steel just like slicing butter and ..." Alex keeps on boasting about the katana to Nigel.

Nigel just stands beside Alex and looking at the katana in his hand as he chuckles along to Alex's proud and boastful tone.

After Alex calm down from his bragging, Nigel finally spoke, "Pity that it isn't for sale."

"Hehe, I can't be selling this treasure of mine." Alex said sheepishly to Nigel.

"Haha, don't worry, I understand. Just sell me that sword, it fits into my hand nicely." Nigel points to the sword he had in mind.

"Ah, what a good choice! It is priced at 1.300$, so what about the knife and crossbow you want?" Alex said to Nigel as he picks the one-handed sword Nigel pointed to.

"You can just pick any combat knife you have and the crossbow too, just make sure the quality is as good as the sword." Nigel just let Alex choose for him as he trusts Alex's decision. If Nigel already said the quality must be the same as the sword then Alex will deliver.

"Here, a tactical combat military knife with the same materials as the sword, the price is at 240$." Alex took out a 30cm matte black knife with a brown leather hilt from the sheath. After that, he points to the side of the garage where a cabinet lie, saying to Nigel "And for the crossbow, I just have an aftermarket one right there for 379$, along with 12 bolts for 180$."

Nigel checks the black compound crossbow that was equipped with a scope, foregrip, and quiver that Alex recommended him before letting a satisfied smile, "Alright, I'm going to buy those items then."

"Great! Let's go finish the deal back in the living room!" Alex said to Nigel as he wrapped up the knife, sword, and crossbow in a wooden box before walking out of the garage and went to the living room with Nigel.

"So, do you accept bank transfer?" Nigel asked Alex as they sat down on the sofa of the living room.

"Yes, I do accept them. Here is my account number…" Alex told Nigel his account number before he continues to say, "Do you want something to drink? I have coffee, tea, beer."

After inputting Alex account number and showing the success transfer on his phone to Alex, he said "I want some beer, if you may."

"Wait here, let's have a drink then." Alex got up and went to the kitchen.

'Should I tell Alex about the impending doomsday? Or should I not? Well, let's just give him a hint.' Nigel asked himself as he thought about the apocalypse that will happen in 3 months.

When Alex came back with two cans of beer and hands him one of them, Nigel leans back to the sofa searching for a comfortable position, and opens the can as he cheers to Alex before he gulps a mouthful of beer into his mouth.

After having a conversation while drinking the beer with Alex, Nigel finally said to Alex, "But, aren't you curious why I buy a cold weapon?"

"Hahaha! No, it is the customer businesses on what he want to do with the weapon I forge!" Alex said to Nigel as he laughed at him.

"What if I told you, if, there will be chaos happening all over the world soon?"

"The whole world? Sheesh, I'm always ready if something like that occurs. Do you know why I forge weapons? It is because from childhood, I already watch many movies that have the world f*cked up. And I want to prepare for some unfortunate events that depicted just like on the movies." Alex still let out a smiling expression as he said to Nigel before he sips his beer slowly.

"…" Nigel stupefied by the unexpected answered he got, as he never knew Alex's reason to be a blacksmith is because of that.

"It seems you're prepared." Nigel answered Alex shortly, then finished up his beer before he gets up, hold the wooden box of the weapon he just bought, and said to Alex, "By the way, thank you for the drinks and the weapon too."

Alex also got up while shrugging his shoulder and went to the door to see Nigel out.

Nigel stepped out of the door and look back to see Alex face as he reaches out for a handshake with him, "Once again, it's a pleasure meeting with you Alex."

"The pleasure is all mine. Thank you for buying my weapon and do come back if there is anything you need again!" Alex replied while shaking his hand with Nigel.

"Alright then, I will be seeing you again if there are any. Goodbye." Nigel turned around while waving his hand in the air.

"Yeah, goodbye to you too!"

Nigel walks to where he parks his car, throw the box into the back seat before he got into the car, and quickly starts the engine, and drives back to his apartments.

Along the way, he can see the lively night streets that were full of peoples walking back and forth with a various expression etch on their face and many cars packing the road as they are heading back to their house after works, some just went to works, and some enjoying the nightlife.

He keeps on looking around the liveliness from the inside of his car as he want to enjoy it. He miss the feeling from living life before the apocalypse, where the world was full of beautiful things and although there were bitter things too, at least it was not on the same level as the apocalypse.

When Nigel feels the rumbling of his stomach, he finally recalled that he didn't have dinner yet. Nigel looked around the road to finds some restaurant for a quick dinner, after he catches sight of a pizza shop he drives the car to the drive-thru and orders pepperoni pizza, lasagna, and an ice cappuccino.

He takes a look at the passenger seat where the report of his workout development, and the do' and don'ts on how to maximize his workout plan, which states that he shouldn't consume a big meal at night. Nigel just chuckles at that and ignores it, as he right now just wants to enjoy a hearty meal for his dinner.

Nigel finally remembered the troubled his ex-boss brought to him and he can't help but feel the agonizing pain his body in, he swore to himself that he must get revenge for the thing Ahu has done to him. He will get it done after his body healed and in his top condition, if he just went to him right now, he will just make the injuries worsen.

Just as Nigel think about how to get revenge, the employee on the booth talked to him and hand in the food that he ordered. Nigel pays up and said thanks to him, then Nigel step on the gas as he continue to drives back home.

After one and a half-hour of driving slowly, enjoying the peaceful scenery along the road that was rare in the apocalypse, he arrived at his apartment basement parking lot.

Nigel head into the lift with his bag and the wooden box, once in a while he got stared directed by someone at his somewhat bluish face because of the bruises he got, but he doesn't give a damn about all of it and quickly went into his apartment room.

Ignoring his stuffy body, he put the box he brought beside the tv cabinet and went into the bathroom before he threw his dirty and wet clothing into the washing machine and take a shower cleaning up his body.

'Iris, can you help me healed this body?' Nigel called Iris, wondering if The System can help with his condition.

[Yes, we can.]

'Really?' Nigel asked Iris to make sure he heard right.

[As this is your very first time asking us for help, we will give you a medicine for free and make an emergency instant delivery to you free of charge. Are you sure you want to use it?]

'Yes, as long it can heal the injuries on my body!' As Nigel heard it, he now thinks the cold robotic voice of Iris was the most beautiful sound ever.

[Please, wait a minute.]

Just exactly one minute later, when he is still drying his body after showering, he heard Iris once more.

[Emergency instant delivery will now be used.]

Suddenly, he senses an intense pain assaulting him and an incredible amount of energy left his body. Making him feel weak all over his body as he crashed down to the ground with a splitting headache.

Nigel almost blacked out, but with his sheer willpower, he resists the feeling. Abruptly, in the air in front of Nigel, he sees an incredible thing happen.

There was a translucent white glittering line coming out of his middle forehead to the air in front of him, on the end of that line, a small black sphere the size of a toenail floating with two lines that connected to his forehead and the other one on it connected to the ceiling.