Slowly Grasping Everything

Light shinned dimly into the room. The sun was blacked by the pillars of smoke filling the skies. Leo slowly got up and rubbed the spot between his brow. He had a headache from not getting enough sleep.

"What time is it?" Leo asked as he sat up.

"According to your world's clock, it is seven in the morning. I just heard someone leaving the apartment next door. They are probably doing the same as you." Nora replied. She hoped Leo would not be missing out on too much, but she knew he did not sleep well last night. And in order to fight, one needed proper rest.

"It's fine. With how things are, what they can carry is limited. We can only hope there are not a lot of people with the same mindset." While Leo said this, he was quite amazed that someone still had the guts to leave the house like he was planning to do. With everything going on, many would rather risk starving than try to get food elsewhere. The fear of turning into a zombie would hold them back.

Leo quickly stripped down while Nora spied on him. He got dressed and prepared to leave the house. "Nora, do you have any advice on the best method of staying clear of zombies?"

"Make as little noise as possible and try not to get spotted?" Nora replied. She was basing her words off of this world's entertainment industry.

Leo nodded. He also thought this, but he wanted to ask just in case. He slowly took down his barricade before opening the door. The scent of blood filled his nose, causing him to frown slightly, but he did not feel sick from it at all. Luckily, he had a strong stomach. 

He could hear the sounds of irregular shuffling. The long, dimly lit hallway that had two entrances at each end. There was no elevator. There were no rooms on the far all since it was only the outside beyond the plaster and wood that the building was made out of. 

He looked left and right and saw splashes of blood here and there. He had no idea when it happened, but someone was attacked at some point. He thought back to his half dead sleeping the day before and figured it happened during that time. 

To his left, the door was wide open with streaks of blood on the carpet leading towards the left stairwell. And on his right, the door was tightly shut, and no signs of blood. "I will go right!"

Leo muttered to himself as he slowly made his way out of the house. His first objective was the bike rack, where his bicycle was chained up. He did not plan to ride it but push it through the streets. He only had to make it two blocks to get to the convenience store down the road.

In one of the rooms he passed, he could hear the sounds of someone inside cursing. It made him think back to the girl who lived to his right. He wondered if she was doing okay. He did not know her, but he felt it would be sad for a girl that young to die in the apocalypse. Although he, himself, also knew at this time he should not be caring too much about other people. This was not to say he would not try to help someone if he could.

Leo stepped lightly on the metal stairs as he began walking down them. The outside was filled with the scent of blood. Off in the distance, he could still hear some screams of people who were probably under attack.

But his mind was currently concentrating on the shuffling sounds he was hearing below. He looked down at the end of the stairs to see what looked like an old man hunched over, walking with a severe limp. The way he dragged his foot that was mangled behind him looked like something right out of a movie. 

Leo was not stupid enough to think this man was alive. He quickly drew his sword, moved forward with practiced speed, and swung his sword horizontally. The sharp sword passed through the brittle skin of the old man, lopping off his head before he could even react. The head fell to the ground and rolled a few feet before finally coming to a stop.

Blood sprayed out of the top of the man's body, causing Leo to quickly jump back. The body swayed before collapsing on the ground. Leo took a rag he had in his back pocket and wiped his sword off with it before tossing it to the side. 

[You Killed A Zombie…]

[Experience Gained….]

"Leo. Look! You are lucky. A zombie gummy!" Leo looked down at the body to see in a dry spot a green ball sitting there. It glowed ever so faintly, showing that it was not a normal object. 

Leo walked over, picked it up, and stared at it. It was no bigger than a marble. "How much does it reduce infection by?" Leo asked. He had no idea what any of this stuff was going to do.

  "You have an inventory for drop items. Just picture a video game inventory and think about opening it." Nora replied. She knew she had forgotten to tell him something during her explanation yesterday.

Leo did as he was told, and sure enough, a slot type inventory opened up. He took the zombie gummy in his hand and pushed it into one of the slots. The gummy quickly disappeared and reappeared in the inventory.

He tapped the item in the inventory and saw a small tool tip pop up.

[Low Quality Zombie Gummy]

[Reduces Infection by 3%]

"So there are different qualities…." Leo was beginning to understand how things worked slightly. "Alright. I will learn more about it later. For now, I need to go to the bike rack." 

After closing his inventory, he went around to the back side of the building, where he had to kill two more zombies. One more zombie gummy dropped, which surprised Nora because item drops would not drop at a high rate. She had to admit Leo's luck was good.

Leo grabbed his bike and walked to the front of the house, where he saw many zombies slowly walking in random directions. He knew this would not be easy, but this was a bit more than he had expected. But what he found strange was his ability to just cut a zombie down, even though it used to be human. He wondered if this was how the human mind set worked when faced with what humans considered monsters.