Chapter 33 - A Strangely Silent World

"Gwen, are you ready?" I asked Gwen after I had put on my black jacket.

"Almost!" She shouted from my room.

While I was waiting, I stopped to do some calculations.

The trip to Earth-2149 would cost me 2,000 Card Points. I had 3,700, so after completing the trip I would be left with only 1,700. It was still a lot of points, but I couldn't think about spending them, because I needed to save up so that I could buy features and items in the future.

"Okay..." Gwen said and opened the bedroom door, so I saw her wearing a jacket I had in the closet, a cap on her head and with a large backpack on her back.

"Hey, where are you going with that backpack? And what did you put in it if I don't even have food in this house?"

"Well, you said we were going to a world that's a zombie apocalypse, so I'm taking soap, bandages, clean clothes for three days, some cutlery and a few other items that might be useful." She said, looking at me as if this was the obvious thing to do.

I sighed. "I forgot to mention it, but I can store some things in a dimensional space..." I raised my right hand and, after a soft glow, a used toothpaste appeared on my palm.

"Why didn't you tell me before?" She asked and dropped her backpack on the floor.

"No problem, it won't be wasted work." I stretched out my right hand towards the backpack, and it disappeared in an instant."

["Backpack of Assorted Supplies" has been added to the Inventory].

Luckily, the inventory functionality in this system was intrinsic and there were apparently no limits.

Considering that we were going to a world overrun by zombies, I would normally be more cautious and go to a supermarket to buy some supplies, but the system gave me the option of returning to Earth-616 free of charge after 24 hours, so I didn't intend to stay in this world any longer than that. I thought that was more time than I needed to explore, find missions, gain skills and get out.

Well, I wasn't wrong about that, I just didn't know that things wouldn't be that easy.

After I turned Gwen into a Character Card again and put her in my inventory, I said out loud:

"System, I'm ready. I want to travel to Earth-2149 from the comics."

[Marvel Zombies (Earth-2149) - 2,000 CPs. Are you sure?]

"Yes."

[2,000 Card Points have been debited].

[Interdimensional travel starting in 10 seconds...]

This time, I was a bit more used to the travel method, so for me the whole process was much quicker than the first time. However, fast doesn't necessarily mean easy.

Just like my first time, I fell to my knees on the hard ground, and it took a few seconds for my vision to adjust When I finally managed to focus, I realized that I was in fact in a completely different place. The sky, or what was left of it, was a sickly shade of red, and the air was impregnated with the smell of death and rot. Clearly, I was standing on top of a building, one of many in a city completely in ruins.

All around me, I could see how collapsed buildings and rubble were all that made up the landscape, all shrouded in an oppressive silence, the kind of silence that only exists in places where life is no longer part of it.

I turned my head slowly and saw the first of them: a zombie. It was on top of the neighboring building, with pale green skin and empty, soulless eyes. Its walk was erratic, as if its legs could barely support the weight of its decomposing body. When he got too close to the ledge, he simply collapsed without letting out a cry of despair or anything like that. It had no brain left.

However, it wasn't these simple zombies that I was worried about, and this world quickly decided to give me proof of that.

Suddenly, a sound eerily similar to the roar of a beast echoed from some corner of one of the buildings. I was completely taken aback and my breath went out of me for a second.

"How could I be scared of Murdock while there are worlds like this? I'm really in Marvel Zombies..." I whispered as I stood up.

It was at that moment that the system interface appeared again, flashing with several new notifications.

[Congratulations, you've completed the interdimensional journey!]

[The return trip will be available in 32 hours for ZERO COST].

[Main Mission: Survive for 24 hours in the Marvel Zombies world].

[Reward: 10,000 Card Points].

"Okay, that's a good reward, but why has the time it takes to get the trip at zero cost increased so much?" I started to get a little nervous, but I took a deep breath. "Calm down, Lucas, it's okay. You just need to walk to earn missions. "Let's go by goals... First, I need to survive for 24 hours."

Deep down, I knew that these would be the longest and most dangerous 24 hours of my life.

I looked around and easily deduced that the top of a building wasn't the best place to survive a zombie apocalypse, and without decent weapons walking outdoors would be even worse.

"Maybe I'd better put Gwen off the letter only when I've already found a safer place."

Turning around slowly, I saw the door leading inside the building. It was a heavy metal door, already rusty and battered by time. With my free hand, I tried to open it, and it creaked loudly as it gave way.

'Son of a bitch...' I held my breath, hoping that the sound wouldn't attract anything unwanted.

Inside the building, darkness seemed to swallow up any trace of light. I swallowed, forcing my eyes to adjust to the dim light.

The narrow, gloomy corridor in front of me was covered in dark stains on the walls, while the ceiling dripped a suspicious liquid. In addition, my every step echoed in the silent room, as if I were announcing my presence to anything that might be lurking. The elevator was unusable, considering that this place was obviously without power, but I easily found the staircase.

I descended the steps slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. After what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, I reached a floor where the open doors of some apartments made the darkness not so suffocating. That's when I heard it. A low, almost imperceptible sound, a moan.

It was faint, but constant, coming from one of the apartments on this floor. I didn't know whether to keep going down, to go back and investigate, but I was in a world of zombies and I wanted to deal with it like someone dealing with an ingrown toenail.

When I located the apartment where the sound was coming from, the first one on the right of the staircase, I peeked through the ajar door and saw the source of the moaning. A single zombie, banging its head repeatedly against the wall. The movement was so slow and repetitive that it was as if this creature was trapped in an endless cycle of agony.

[Side Mission: Eliminate a zombie to earn 1,000 CPs].

The creature had its back to me, its decaying flesh and bones showing, an easy prey.

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