Infection

Leo nodded. He got a decent grasp on the situation. As long as he preserved and kept upping his stats, he would be able to overcome all odds and live out his days. "Alright, I understand."

Leo paused and looked down at the naked girl on his shoulder and asked: "Nora, why are you naked? Can you not wear clothes?"

"I am a system! What clothes would I have!? Nothing can touch me except for you. Otherwise, I would just pass through you instead of being able to sit on your shoulder." Nora replied with a snort but quickly thought of something and covered her chest. "Don't get any ideas! I am a lady!"

"I know! I won't." Leo rolled his eyes. He would not complain about getting a nice view, but at the same time, it would not turn him on. He could look at pictures of a girl standing there nude all day, and it would not do anything for him unless they were doing something sexy. Maybe if he was a teen still going through puberty, but he had long passed that stage.

After getting dressed, Leo went to the kitchen area of his apartment and looked at his fridge and cupboards. When he saw his food situation, he couldn't help but frown. "Why was there no warning!?"

"You got a warning early this morning. But you ignored it." Nora replied, pouring salt into Leo's wound. 

Leo gritted his teeth and ignored the smart ass insect on his shoulder. "Looks like I will need to go out in two days. The food and water supply here is not enough to get by."

Leo understood that in an apocalypse situation, he could not rely on city water. Once power was cut, all water from his sink would not be drinkable. He also did not know if this water was tainted or not. Now that he thought about it. "Nora, how do I open the system window?"

  "Just think about it," Nora explained lightly. 

Leo did just that, and in seconds, his status window opened up. In front of him was a list of all his stats.

[Host]: Leon Rivers

[Level]: 1

[Infection Rate]: 0.1%

[Strength]: 1.02

[Stamina]: 1.01

[Agility]: 1.01

[Dexterity]: 1.03

[Intelligence]: 1

[Skills]

{Martial Arts (Lvl 3)} {Reading {lvl 2}} {Cooking (lvl 2)} {Cleaning(lvl 2)} 

[Boosts]

N/A

"Nora, can you explain to me what the infection rate is?" Leo asked. He was starting to panic. He was already infected!

"It is your exposure to the virus. As the chosen person, you have some resistance to the virus. Currently, you are at 0.1%. This is because the water you just showered with was infected with the virus, but since it was such a small dosage, it will not do much damage. As your infection rate goes up, the more likely you will be to lose your mind and attack those around you. Once it hits 100%, you will not have any chance of coming back. Your body will die, and you will become what you see outside. 

"But there is an advantage to having some infection rate." Nora's words slowly calmed Leo's nerves as he asked: "What advantage?"

"You will gain a boost in strength and speed. You will be stronger than your current self. But to do that, you will need to reach at least 20% infection to see any change." Nora explained.

"Then, if I get bitten?" Not that he wanted to get bitten, but he needed to know his chances of survival. 

"In your current state, you would last five minutes before changing. You would need zombie gummies to reduce the infection until it was zero." Nora smiled brightly. She named this drop herself!

"Zombie gummie….." Leo mumbled. "So currently, my infection rate is at 0.1%, so if I do not do anything?" 

"You will slowly turn into a zombie. It differs between how you were infected as well. Since this time, it was from a shower, the change will be slow. This is the ideal way to get infected since you can control the infection better. So you will be fine for at least a few days at your current rate. You will only see it go up every ten minutes or so." Nora's words allow Leo to finally fully relax. To reduce the infection, he could kill a few zombies, but to kill a few zombies, he needed to go outside. 

  "I have to go out anyway, so I might as well do it sooner than later." Leo hated to even think about it, but he had no choice. "I will take today to get  used to the situation and make my way to the store down the street." 

"Sounds like you are going to be fine for the moment. I do hope you do not die on your first outing." Nora's words were like a bucket of cold water on Leo's determination.

"Can you stop talking about dying!?" The last thing he wanted to do was die! 

Leo sighed as he walked to the corner of his room to pick up a sword her had in a sheath leaning against the wall. "Haven't used this since I stopped going to the dojo. This should work out."

Leo unsheathed the blade and looked at it. It was still nice and sharp. He only used it for training, but now he was finally going to use it for its intended purpose. "Nora, the weak point on zombies is their heads, right?"

  "I guess?" Nora shrugged. She did not know. Knowing how to kill them was the host's job, not hers.

Leo wrinkled his brow, but it seemed Nora did not know. He could only find out himself. He just hoped they would stop moving after the head was disconnected from the body. But when he thought about it, cutting the head off might just make it so they are nothing but a head. Either way, as long as the body did not move, he should be fine.