Chapter 7: Encountering a Noah

'I guess it would be too much to ask for legendary equipment, but it has to be special if it glows, right?'

Thankfully, no one could hear his thoughts, but he probably wouldn't care as his attention was all on the orb. He clutched the orb in his palm and brought it up to his face. The orb was neither cold nor hot; when he inspected it closer, he realized he couldn't detect a temperature at all, but just holding the orb gave him the illusion of his body becoming tougher than before.

"Don't tell me…" He squeezed the orb since there weren't any notifications telling him what to do. Not only was he right in doing so, but his worries turned out to be true.

Constitution +2

"Motherfucking Jonathan!" Noah burst out in agitation. Anyone who would be given to live in this type of situation would like to be the cool character doing fancy moves and unbelievable kills, and yet here he is seemingly being driven towards the tank route. He had no one else to blame but Jonathan who started the curse by giving him the staple shield skill meant for tanks.

'Well, I'll at least be hard to kill and besides…' He looked towards his shoulder and attempted to rotate it. He was still experiencing pain, but after the received constitution increase, he felt that he would now be able to swing his hammer, although painful, it was better than not being able to use it. 'I wonder if I can get different orbs if I kill more zombies…'

He then turned to the small pile of gold at the bottom of the chest. Seeing the amount caused his eye to twitch since it seemed to be too much to have to carry around, especially when he doesn't know what it's used for.

Thinking about the gold caused him to reach for his pockets where he stashed the other three, but as he maneuvered around in his pants, he came to realize the money wasn't there?

'Did I get robbed by the zombies? No, that shouldn't be right… but where could it have gone?'

Noah felt that the gold would be really important in the future, so he had to find out. He started grabbing a handful of coins to try to decipher where they were going. As this was going on, another scene was taking place on the floor above.

...…..

"Mark, we can't hold on if we stay here, we have to leave the building 'now'. There's only so much we can do alone," said a slightly overweight male who, just like everyone else, was in their sleeping attire. He wielded a short one-handed mace, which still contained fresh blood dripping from its tip. You could tell from his exhausted expression and the still-flowing blood from the bodies before that they had just finished a hard-fought battle in their dorm room.

With him were three others who looked just as exhausted. Two of the others still hadn't recovered from their fear of what just transpired. So, he turned to the only one he could rely on at this moment, who just happened to be his roommate, Mark.

He had a boorish face, but he was a young prodigy when it came to sports, which was a big reason he was accepted into the school. Standing about 6 feet tall, he had a commanding presence about him. Jet-black curly hair that was neatly trimmed, and brown eyes that were full of alertness. His most noticeable aspect was his broad shoulders and muscular arms that currently wielded a two-handed sword. The other two just happened to be random students on their floor that they saved.

"I know you're right and, more importantly, I can't stay here when my big sister is so close to me and I'm not there to help her. Let's get out of here first and group up with people on the way. These things don't run, so if we rush out together and take them out as we go, then I doubt the rest of them could catch up to us."

The two made their way towards the door before a voice spoke up behind them.

"Wh-what are you d-doing? We should stay here and wa-wait till help comes." The most nervous one of the two almost screamed before he caught himself, covering his mouth while his eyes snapped towards the closed door.

The boy who stood next to the one that just spoke created distance from the male while making his way to the door like the others.

"I'm not with him, but if we can make it out of here safely and I can reach my parents, then I'll be sure to heavily reward you. I'm Charlie, by the way." The boy spoke directly to Mark with a tinge of nervousness in his voice, but also, you could detect a sense of pride in his tone at the mention of his family. The boy was short, a little below 5ft, which was extremely short compared to Mark. He wore a pair of big circular glasses with a bowl cut. His weapon was surprisingly a staff, which was perfect for him because of his short stature.

Mark looked towards the two people he and his roommate saved and shook his head. Charlie noticed this and thought he was turning him down because of what the person before him said, but then he heard him speak.

"I'm not waiting here any longer. I don't regret saving you, but my sister means more to me than you. If you still want to stay, then be my guest, but I'm going with or without you. Let's go, Jack. We have a lot of ground to cover."

"Wait!"

They were about to leave when Jack stopped their advance. Mark was getting a little annoyed since he was desperate to save his sister, but he couldn't voice his true thoughts since he couldn't do it on his own.

Under the scrutiny of everyone's gaze, Jack pointed towards his clothes, which were battered and bloodied. "How about we change into better clothes before we leave? Plus, we could try giving your sister a call before we blindly go and look for her."

Everyone stopped and stared at Jack as if he was a wild animal. Their anxiety and adrenaline were at an all-time high that they forgot about something so important like their cell phone.

Being fat in this situation benefited Jack since he was more self-conscious about his appearance, which made him start to think about the necessities.

Having agreed to his suggestion, they ransacked the room for anything useful. Even the boy who was against them at first, who they found out was named Tom, also helped since he was afraid to be alone.

While that was transpiring, not only Mark but Jack also tried reaching out to their family on their phone, only to be met with static on the other end. This caused Mark to panic even more for his sister's well-being as he rushed for the group to leave.

As soon as they rushed out of the room, they were met with a small group of zombies in the hall leading to the stairs. Unlike Noah whose screams led them all to his dorm, the zombies here were more spread out, and you could often find them clawing at random doors trying to get in.

Without the intention of rallying the people on the other end of the doors, Mark led the way as he mowed the zombies in front down one by one. Even though he was panicking for his sister, he enjoyed the looks of awe being directed towards him as he led the group. 

Everything seemed to be going as planned for them until they reached the next floor. 

They were about to keep going till they heard a voice. 

"Motherfucking Johnathan!" They heard the voice agitatedly scream out which caused them to halt with extreme caution. Just the voice alone caused them to want to know what was going on. The lack of subsequent noise from the "things" heightened their curiosity and added an air of suspense to the situation.

"Should we go check? Jack asked timidly, he was afraid to go but at the same time he had a soft heart. 

"No, why would we go after he just yelled like that? He'll bring those things towards him." Of course it was no one else but Tom who spoke this remark. 

Jack only looked towards Mark for his opinion. He was most aware that if they encountered more zombies along the way then Mark would be the one to have to deal with them. 

Mark stayed silent for a few moments, not only was he thinking but he was also listening. The people who all turned into the 'zombies' habitually growl while creating noise in most of their actions so he paid close attention to distinguish between the noises in the hall and the surrounding area. 

The longer he didn't hear anything else the more curious he became. Not just because that meant there was someone else that could fight toe to toe against the zombies as he could, but it also meant that it would be that much easier to save his sister. 

"I think we should go check, but at the first sign of danger we leave." 

Tom and Charlie didn't agree with this decision but they stubbornly followed anyway. They moved towards the hallway only to find the entire hall emptied. They were confused when they compared it to the scene from the floor they were on previously but the scene they came upon made them understand why that was. 

In the middle of the hall, there was a door—or, well, at first, they believed it to be a door, at least a broken door, until they finally realized it was actually a wall of dead corpses.

An audible gulp was heard from within the group.

Despite their uncertainty and apprehension, they couldn't help but follow Mark's lead as he pressed forward with determination, his curiosity driving him forward despite the ominous atmosphere surrounding them.

Mark's curiosity grew as he observed the sheer number of dead zombies, sparking a desire to discover the identity of the individual capable of such a feat and whether they had survived. Despite the chaos unfolding outside and the safety of his sister, Mark's singular focus was on uncovering the truth behind this extraordinary accomplishment. The idea that someone else might be more special than him, despite his belief in his own uniqueness, weighed heavily on his mind as he approached the room, with the others following closely behind.

As they approached, the smell of blood grew stronger, and soon they could hear someone rummaging through coins, interspersed with small chuckles amidst the clattering of metal. Despite their initial caution upon seeing the bodies at the door, nothing could prepare them for the horror that awaited inside the room. The scene they beheld was so disturbing that it would haunt their nightmares for years to come.

The gruesome sight of the room, littered with numerous bodies and blood splattered everywhere, leaving the small group in shock. As they entered, they spotted the person responsible for the carnage, sitting amidst the chaos and casually playing with coins from the chest they were now familiar with. What chilled them to the bone wasn't just the blood covering him but the unsettling smile on his face, contrasting starkly with the horror around him.

The overpowering stench of blood assaulted their senses, threatening to make them sick. They fought to keep their composure in the face of the gruesome scene unfolding before them. It was Charlie's violent reaction, his retching as he emptied the contents of his stomach at the sight of brain matter oozing from a nearby zombie's shattered skull, that finally drew Noah's attention to their presence.

"Coughs! Sooo…can I help you with something?"